Thicker than Water

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Alex Chambers stood on the helicopter landing pad his fingers pressed to his forehead to block out the morning sun. He was dancing from one foot to the other, unable to hide his excitement.
"I see them!" He shouted back to his mother, who was standing near the entrance with a medical team. None of them knew what kind of shape their heroes would return to them in but Alex didn't seem to care. Already he was hopping up and down waving at the chopper as it drew closer. He cheered when Chris Redfield waved to him and repeated the action when Jill Valentine did the same. But as the helicopter touched down his smile began to fade. Not everyone he'd hoped to see was stepping out.
"What happened?" Rebecca Chambers soon came to stand beside her son, her lips set in a thin line as she looked from Chris to Jill. "Where is Parker?" She'd done her best to keep herself from saying this man's name first but she couldn't seem to help herself. "Where's Jessica?" She added, hoping this would make for a decent cover up.

"I'm not brave." Rebecca muttered, hating these words almost as much as she hated herself. "You wouldn't say that if you knew." That said she pushed herself away from him and got out of the car. The officer was talking to Chris and he seemed completely uninterested in her.

"Yeah?" That was all Alex needed to bring his head out from beneath the patrol car. "What's that?"

"Then tell me!" Parker practically pleaded. "Rebecca... How can I take your nightmares away, if you never let me into them?"

Jill clucked her tongue and shook her head. "It's s secret, I have to whisper it... To do that, you would have to come all the way from under there."

"This is my burden, Parker. Not yours." Rebecca turned back to him, holding out a hand for the badge. "You've taken enough from me. I think I'll spare you the rest."

Alex fell for it completely. He climbed out from under the car and scooted up next to Jill, holding a hand cupped to his ear. "Well? What is it?! I swear I won't tell!"

Parker shook his head and pushed the badge into his pocket. "Don't force me into doing something drastic, Rebecca. After what happened here today... It is more than enough to have you committed, anyone could believe you are a danger to our son."

Jill smiled and leaned in closer. "We're having a baby." She breathed.

Chris could feel the tension in the air. If he were so inclined he could have cut it with a knife. "So what happened to that fancy place where they speak nothing but Parker?" He asked Rebecca, pulling her against him and hugging her tightly. He glanced at Parker over her head, raising an eyebrow as he made a gesture towards his pocket.

"Really?!" Alex was sure his face was going to split open. "I'm gonna be an Uncle?!" He realized he needed to lower his voice and he blushed. "Sorry. I'm just so excited." He confessed. "Someone to play with...you know?"

Parker shook his head, indicating he would tell him later. "I think it's best if we go another night now." He told Chris sadly. "I doubt anyone is in the frame of mind for dinner with friends."

Jill laughed gently and pulled Alex into a tight hug. "Just our little secret for now, okay? I want to surprise Chris when I tell him."

"No." Rebecca was shaking her head now, pushing away from Chris. "I've had this dinner planned for weeks. We're going." She said firmly. She wouldn't look at Parker as she got into the car and started it. "Let's go. We're already late."

"Like he's gonna surprise you?" Alex asked. He jumped when his mother started the car. "I almost forgot!" He grinned and got to his feet, offering to help Jill to hers. His father taught him that it was what a gentleman did. "Mom has a surprise for Dad tonight. Come on! We're gonna miss it!" The Boogeyman was completely forgotten.

Parker felt somewhat helpless as he called Alex over, genuinely worried Rebecca would race off without them. He hated feeling helpless. He was supposed to be the rock that Rebecca and Alex could lean on at times like this.

Once she was on her feet, Jill glanced down and saw the oil stain on her dress. She sighed heavily, but simply walked over to the car. She guessed she should get used to having stains on most of her clothes.

Alex waved to Jill and Chris and joined Parker, giving the man a sudden hug. The boy was so affectionate and caring for others, those that knew his true father had a hard time believing he truly belonged to him.
Rebecca was silent as they drove, finally ending up at a tiny Italian place at the edge of town. They rarely went there but she knew that this was Parker's favorite.

"We have enough time for you to run in for another." Chris said gently as he came to stand before her. "If that's what you're worried about."

Parker got out the car, and opened the door for Alex, then moved around, doing the chivalrous thing of helping Rebecca out of the drivers door. "I hope you're hungry." He told her, trying to make an effort to put the days events behind them.

Jill smiled slightly and shook her head. "Unless... Is it really noticeable?"

Rebecca didn't answer. She felt as if an entire years worth of putting things behind her was out the window. Parker had told her how he still felt. He believed her to be crazy. She should have known better than to let her guard down for him.
Without meeting his eyes she handed him the keys. "You go first. What's waiting in there is for you." She whispered.

Chris took off his suit jacket and placed it over her shoulders, shaking his head. "It's a little chilly tonight anyway." He chuckled, taking her hand and pulling her back toward the car.

"Waiting?" Parker asked, pushing his keys in his pocket as he took hold of Alex's hand. "You're coming in too, right?"

Jill was smiling as they walked back to the car, pushing her keys into Chris' hand. "You mind driving?" She asked

Rebecca nodded. "In a minute." She whispered, stepping aside so that they could pass her. "Just..go ahead. Please?"

Chris raised an eyebrow, surprised that Jill was letting him take the wheel. No matter how much he complained she'd never done that before. He opened the door for her and soon enough they too were pulling into the parking lot of the tiny restaurant.

Parker was somewhat apprehensive. After what he had said to Rebecca about their son being taken from her, he knew she had every reason to disappear without a trace. "I love you." He told her, not thinking there was anything it the restaurant and their favourite table waiting inside. He was still holding Alex's hand when both males did finally enter the restaurant.

Jill had tried to fix her hair and touch up her make up as Chris had been driving, and was now pulling her shoes back on from here she had kicked them off earlier. "Chris... You know what I said earlier, about starting a family..." She wanted to know his feelings on the matter before she broke the news to him.

The moment he opened the door, there was an outcry of joy. Parker would find his mother and his siblings all but mobbing him and Alex. They were covering the boy with as many hugs and kisses as he himself was receiving. His mother was speaking quickly in her native tongue, barely able to finish them through her tears of joy.

"Yeah?" Chris asked her with a wide grin. "I was thinking we'd go for a girl first. Then a few years later a boy or two. God, Jill I can't wait!" He gushed, unable to hide his excitement at the very thought.

Parker was completely awestruck. For a long while he couldn't move, let alone respond to all the questions that were being fired at him. Finally he grinned, lifting Alex up into his arms so he could see past all the heads that were mobbing them. "Well kiddo, this is your family!"

This thrilled Jill and she reached out, squeezing Chris' fingers tightly. She really couldn't wait to give him the wonderful news now, but she wanted it to be more special than her just blurting it out. "I hope our daughter gets your eyes." She breathed, reaching over and kissing Chris before climbing out of the car.

Alex looked at the large family that was smiling at him as if he'd been their's all along. He wasn't sure what to make of them really. They were loud and rather touchy. He wasn't used to all that.
His grandmother was already demanding that Parker let the boy down. She was saying something about how thin he was and how this was not a good thing. Alex gave Parker a worried look before he was pulled away into the crowd.

Chris couldn't help but grin like an idiot, although it didn't last long. Not when he saw Rebecca sitting on a bench outside the tiny place, sobbing into her hands. He gave Jill a pleading look. He wasn't really sure how to handle this.

Parker was groaning loudly when his mother insisted Alex was too thin. "It took years to get rid of the fat you gave me!" He called after her in their native tongue.

Jill smiled sadly and patted his chest. "You go on in, I'll try and sort this out." She breathed, then sat down beside Rebecca. "What did I tell you about keeping stuff bottled up?" Jill asked the younger woman gently.

"I don't want to get fat!" Alex protested, not realizing that he was speaking in Parker's language. All at once the entire room had gone dead silent. The young boy's face went red. He was not used to many people looking at him.

"Parker thinks I'm crazy." She sniffled. "He wants to take Alex away from me and have me committed."

"What! You didn't think I would teach my son the mother tongue?" Parker asked the silent room coolly, pushing through she gather Alex up again.

"In Parker's defense... He doesn't know what it is you're going though." Jill breathed.

Alex clung to Parker, all but shaking. He didn't know how he'd been able to do that. He hadn't learned enough to speak it that well. "I'm sorry." He whispered, as the room began to fill up with voices again.
When the door opened, Alex was forgotten and Chris was mobbed. The other man wasn't sure what to make of all these people. He hadn't been expecting this at all.

"And I'm not going to tell him either." Rebecca said firmly. "Ever. I don't want him to look at me that way. This whole day just went to shit." She groaned, digging her fingers into her scalp. "What the hell was I thinking?"

Parker found the only quiet corner in the restaurant and sat a,ex down, kneeling to to be at eye level with him. "You okay there squirt?" He asked, knwpowing this was probably a lot to take in. "You want to leave, at any time, and you just say the word, okay?"

"Rebecca, I know you don't think I understand... But I do." Jill breathed. "I was raped, when I was much younger than you. I carried that pain with me for so long, and I didn't want to tell Chris because I thought he would look at me differently, like I was weak." She stopped there, glancing down at the red fabric that covered her still flat belly. "The day I finally told him... It felt like I had been slowly suffocating until that moment."

"This is your family. Why would you leave them for me?" Alex asked, his forehead lost in line of confusion.

"And Chris just...accepted it?" Rebecca asked, finally removing her fingers from her hair and looking up at Jill with red rimmed eyes. "Did it change how he treated you?"

"You're my family too, Alex." Parker breathed. "You're also my favourite, but don't tell them that." He added with an exaggerated wink.

Jill shook her head. "Not one bit. In fact, he thought it made me stronger than he had realised. He was right, Rebecca. To survive what you did... It takes a very strong person."

Alex grinned at this and nodded. "You promise you don't hate me?" He asked, not sure why he was asking this. He didn't wait for Parker to answer, instead he got to his feet and pulled the large man's hand. "Come on. We need to save Chris."

"I don't call locking myself in my car with a gun very strong." Rebecca admitted. She spread her fingers over her knees, deciding it was time to tell her the truth. "Jill, Wesker was at that store this afternoon. He left my STARS badge on the floor and...I think he saw Alex."

Parker glanced over at Chris, smirking when he saw that several of his sisters were all but backing the poor guy into a corner. "I don't know... Wouldn't it be funnier to let Jill handle it?" He told his son with a grin.

Jill didn't overreact in the way Chris may have done. "Then we'll deal with it." Jill told Rebecca simply. "You're not alone in this, Rebecca. You, and Alex, have got all of us watching your back."

Alex snickered at this, watching Chris waving his hands at these women and trying to tell them he was taken. "Then...will you go back with me to my grandmother so I don't have to eat all that stuff alone?"

"Then you see why I can't tell Parker about Wesker." Rebecca said after a moment. "I'm terrified he'll go off to find him and I'll lose him."

Parker heard one of his sisters tell Chris that she saw no ring, so that meant he was fair game. He chuckled quietly, then nodded at his son. "I don't know though... She might just try and feed us twice as much!"

"Rebecca... If you can't trust him, you're going to lose him anyway." Jill relied softly. "Tell him, and also tell him that Chris and I are already on assignment to track Wesker down anyway."

Alex snickered at this. "It might be better than what mom feeds us!" He laughed, taking Parker's hand and pulling him toward the crowd.
"Parker! You bastard!" Chris shouted over the women. "I'll get you for this!"

"No." Rebecca was shaking her head. "Chris promised you would watch Alex for the weekend. Fuck Wesker. He's not ruining any more of my life." That said she pushed to her feet and squared her shoulders. "Can you tell them I'm coming? I'm going to make a quick change."

Parker smiled innocently at his mother when she shit him a questioning look. "What? You know how Daniella is when it comes to guys."

Jill was only too happy to do so. "That's what I like to hear. Like hell he is going to rule your life anymore!" She hugged Rebecca tightly, then headed to the restaurant.