Means to an End

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Parker smiled at Chris slightly, patting him on the shoulder. "For what it's worth... I'm sorry too. I was so obsessed with finding Alex... I didn't stop to see the signs. I should have found out Jill was pregnant... Had I known that..." He paused and ran his fingers through his hair. "I do blame myself for what happened to her."

Chris never responded to this. As soon as they were inside the building he muttered something about needing to get Parker certified and left the other man to navigate the holding cells alone.
Jessica, it seemed, had been waiting all day and half the night for him. She visibly brightened when he was let into her cell. "Parker!" She gushed, leaping to her feet to throw her arms around him. "I knew you wouldn't let me down!"

"Nothing." Alex said softly, stepping off the monster with sneakers that were dirty and worn through. "Come on, dad. You said they're waiting for us."

"Violet..." Chris murmured, trying to swat away Rebecca's fingers. "Where is my little girl? She...was supposed to...find you?"

Parker shook his head. "They're waiting for you, sprout." He breathed. "I promised I would find Violet."

Jill shook head head. "I haven't seen her." She breathed. "Why is she out there alone?"

"Violet's here." Alex said evenly, looking over Parker's shoulder. "She'll follow as long as I don't speak to her. She hates me, you know."

"She's strong...like you..." Chris muttered, managing to knock Rebecca back for a moment. He was again pushing to his feet. "Come on...we've got to...go back..."

"Why would she hate you? A d why won't you tell me how you know her?" Parker asked with a deep frown.

Jill was the stronger of them right then, and pushed Chris back to the ground. "How strong do you think she will be if her daddy gets himself killed looking for her?"

"You dumped me, I don't owe you an answer, remember?" Alex snapped, motioning his dad to follow him. "Come on. You're going to need my blood too."

"You don't think I've passed the getting killed point?" Chris growled, his words slurring as he tried to get up again. He ended up simply looking like an overturned turtle.

Parker glanced over his shoulder, wondering if Alex saw the little girl, despite the fact Parker himself saw nothing but darkness. Alex was right though; Violet was still mad at him. The large man was limping along behind his adopted son, the two of them walking in silence.

"No! You most certainly haven't!" Jill barked. "Rebecca, how close to turning is he?" She asked her friend in a hushed whisper.

"An hour, maybe two." Rebecca responded, wiping at her nose. "I doubt it though..."
"Jill?" Alex stepped off the elevator and all at once broke into a wide smile. "Jill! You're alive!" He ran at her and threw his arms around her. "I knew it!"

"Hey... Did you get taller?" Jill teased, trying her best not to let Alex see just how truly defeated she was.
Parker was watching the stairwell beside the elevator, seemingly waiting for something. As it was, Violet didn't come down the stairs. Without a sound, the small girl dropped through the emergency hatch in the elevator roof.

"I did." Alex laughed, knowing that Jill was hurting too.
He couldn't help but laugh again when his mother joined them, hugging him as tight as she dared. "My baby." She breathed, sobbing into his hair. "I thought I'd lost you."

Cerulean eyes were peering around the elevator door, though the rest of the figure was hidden away as she watched the touching family scene. Violet knew she could probably never have that. After all... One little paper cut, and she could potentially start another outbreak.

"Violet!" Chris sensed his daughter was near, he just didn't know where. He shoved to his feet yet again and stumbled toward where he felt her. "Baby...it's me...don't hide..."
Rebecca lifted her head, her eyes resting on the young girl. "Violet...come on, sweetie." She said gently, trying to coax the girl out of the darkness. "You're safe now. You're one of us."

Violet would never believe that. However, the sound her father's voice was the very thing to lure her out. The dark haired girl, who, like Alex, was a little taller now, went running into her father's arm. Violet hugged Chris tightly, despite the fact she could smell the death on him.

"She's right." Chris breathed. "You're one of us now. You're mine. You're my baby girl."
Alex sighed softly, moving closer toward Violet but never touching her. "I found a syringe." He told the girl. "He'll need my blood and I really need your help with that."

Violet turned her face away from Alex, burying it deeper against her father as she clung to him. Violet had learned all too well that acceptance was fleeting, and this time would be no different. If she looked at Alex... She would be able to see nothing but the memory of the expression he had wore when he found out what she truly was.
"Violet, honey, why won't you help Alex? He doesn't bite, I promise." Jill told her daughter gently, though the little girl shied away when the dark haired woman reached out to touch her.

"I'll do it." Rebecca told him, gesturing for her son to hold out his arm while she pulled the syringe out of her pocket. "Little girls have no business doing things like that, Alex. Don't be a fool."
She took the blood and gave it to Chris, then as her son guided, she did the same for Parker. All they could do now was wait.

Violet didn't stray even a little away from her father. She sat right there with him, curled in his lap as they waited. They were all safe so long as she was close by anyway.
Jill was silently heartbroken that her own daughter wouldn't even let her touch her. "I wish Claire was here... This is the kind of thing she was perfect at." She told Rebecca quietly.

"I can hear her now." Alex agreed, sitting on the other side of Jill. "Talking in that calm voice, telling us that the only way to get through this would be to rationalize it."
Rebecca laughed, resting her head on Parker's arm. "Chris would be yelling at her that rationalizing things would get them killed." She put in, closing her eyes as a row of tears slid down her cheeks. It had been too long. Chris hadn't even stirred. This time Alex's blood had failed them.

"And eventually Claire would win, because she would threaten Chris with intimate details of things she did with Leon." Jill laughed quietly, though there was no real joy in her voice.
Violet still hadn't moved from her father's lap. Her eyes were closed as she was curled against him, though the little girl wasn't asleep.

At long last Chris began to stir. He rested a hand on Violet's shoulder as his eyes opened slowly. "J-Jill?" He felt as if he'd been eating cotton. He could barely force even the most precious of words past his lips.

Jill's head shot up at the sound of her partner's voice. "Chris!" She was at his side in an instant, sandwiching Violet between the two of them as she hugged Chris.

"you guys found each other?" Chris asked trying to look at his lover and their daughter. "I knew you would...where's Claire?"

"Can you stand?" Jill asked, avoiding the issue of Claire completely, after all, she didn't have any information about his sibling either way. "We should think about getting you somewhere a little less exposed."

"Not another hospital!" Chris groaned as he fought to stand. Though her wasn't infected he still had a gaping hole in his stomach that would need time to heal.
Alex got to his feet as well and headed for the exit, not so much as giving Parker or anyone else a backward look.

"You'll get sick again." Violet whispered, still lingering by her father's side. "Let them help you, please?" the way she said it, was as though she wouldn't be leaving the hospital with them.

Chris shook his head. "I hate hospitals." He announced, trying his hardest to lift the little girl into his arms. He sensed the tone of her voice. He wasn't about to let her stay behind. "I'm going home. We're all going home. I've had enough."

"Dad... You don't have to carry me, you're hurt." Violet whispered, avoiding looking at anyone else. "I don't want to hurt you."
Jill glanced to Rebecca, noticing that Violet ignored pretty much everyone but Chris.

Rebecca raised an eyebrow at this too. "come on Chris." she said gently. "let me carry her... Or Jill. You need to keep yourself from bleeding to death."

"I don't need anyone to carry me!" Violet suddenly screeched, turning her coal black gaze on Rebecca.

Chris didn't let go of his daughter, holding her close to him protectively. "I'll take care of her, Rebecca." He said softly. "You need to take care of your own family." He added, glancing from where Parker and Alex stood several feet apart.

Parker desperately wanted to reach out and hold Alex, but how could he? The boy had dec,ared his hatred for the man he once called 'dad'.
Jill was feeling just as lost as Parker right then. Chris and violet had bonded so quickly, leaving her out in the cold. What kind of mother couldn't earn her own daughter's love? "We should move." She whispered finally. "It isn't save for so many of us to be stood around like this."