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Jill admired her sleeping daughter, admiring how untroubled the infant slept. Jill had seen just how truly evil the world was. She had seen how many children were hurt in their world, and her heart broke for each and every one of them. She prayed to whatever God would listen that her daughter would not be one of them. She wished that she could sleep like her daughter, peaceful and free of nightmares. Sleep hadn’t been an escape for more than twenty years.
Her daughter was the perfect mix of her and Chris. She had Chris's dark blue eyes and Jill’s nose. Her contagious laugh sounded just like her fathers back before their war on bioterrorism, innocent and insouciant. Jill couldn’t believe that this baby was hers and Chris’. Everytime she went to bed, she feared that she’d wake to find that the whole thing had been a cruel joke played on her by the universe, and that she was still in Wesker’s lab, being tortured as a living, breathing factory. She thanked her lucky stars that Chris had rescued her all those years ago.
Jill could watch her daughter sleep for hours, relishing the calm moments she could spend with her daughter. She was a medical marvel. The doctors and scientists wondered if Jill would ever be able to fall pregnant after everything that Wesker did to her.
She watched as her child stirred, hoping that she would remain asleep. She and Chris were working so hard to get their daughter into a routine, and just like her father, the baby was as stubborn as a mule. Her eyes opened slowly as she began to coo.
“Hey Emmy.” Jill whispered gently. They had named her Emmy Pia Redfield-Valentine, in dedication to Piers Nivans, Chris’ young mentee who had given his life so that Chris could return home.
“How did you sleep baby girl?” Jill knew that her daughter had no way of answering, but Jill was determined to do everything she could to make sure that her daughter would hit all of her developmental milestones.
Emmy’s bottom lip began to tremble, and Jill knew her daughter well enough to know that she was about to cry. She picked up her daughter, and held her body close to her own. Gently, she began to rock the baby side to side, trying to soothe her.
“It’s okay Emmy, mommy is here.” Jill murmured. She stroked the baby’s skin, relishing the moment. For a minute it was just the two of them. Jill was terrified when Chris went back to work for the first time after Emmy’s birth, she didn’t know if she could do it alone, she was worried that she wouldn’t be enough for her daughter. Chris knew that she could do it. Of course she could do it, she had taken on BOW’s and bioterrorists on her own. Of course she could be a mother. The fear melted away, and Jill was a natural.
Jill heard the sounds of keys jingle at the front door, and she knew that Emmy could hear it as well. Her eyes lit up, she was a daddy’s girl after all.
“Is that your daddy baby girl?” Jill said as Chris’ heavy footsteps echoed in the room. She could tell by the footsteps alone that it had been another hard mission, and her heart broke for him.
Jill saw Chris before he saw her. His eyes were dark and sullen, he had a bandage wrapped around his shoulder, his uniform was stained. He needed his girls. Chris’s eyes lit up when he saw the sight of the love of his life holding their daughter. For just a moment, it was just them.
“Hey, Chris,” Jill said quietly, as to not disturb Emmy, who was slowly drifting off, back to sleep. Chris opened his mouth to speak, before closing it again. Instead offering her a small smile before holding out his arms for his daughter.
Jill carefully placed Emmy in his arms, watching as tears began to fill in Chris’ eyes before he quickly blinked them away. Chris gently laid a kiss on his daughter's head, breathing in her scent of milk and baby powder.
“I missed you Emmy.” Chris whispered to the now sleeping baby. Jill stood silently as she watched Chris cradle the infant's body. After giving his daughter another kiss, he laid Emmy back in her crib.
Chris walked right out of the room and into their backyard. It was modest and nothing special, they couldn’t afford much more. Their fight in bioterrorism didn’t pay much. Jill followed him through the house and watched as Chris pulled out a fresh packet of cigarettes and drew one between his teeth. Jill took a deep breath, and willed herself not to groan.
“You know I hate it when you smoke.” Jill said instead.
“I know.” Chris muttered, lighting the cigarette anyway, breathing in the tobacco, warming him slightly in the cool night air.
“You said that you would stop now that Emmy was born.”
“I know.”
Jill took another deep breath. Chris had clearly seen something awful on his mission. After more than twenty years of fighting bioterrorism, it takes a lot for either of them to be shaken, and Chris was clearly shaken to his core.
“Chris what happened?” Jill asked gently, Chris’ back still facing her.
“I don’t want to talk about it.” Chris grunted. “Go back inside, Jill. Just go to bed.”
“No, Chris. We’re not doing this, you have to talk, I can’t risk losing you.” Jill said, desperation evident in her voice. Chris was silent for a moment.
“I don’t want to scare you.” Chris said at last.
“You won’t scare me. Whatever you saw Chris, whatever happened, you can talk to me about it. You don’t have to do this alone.”
“I saw babies, Jill, they were dead.” Chris’ voice cracked with emotion. “They could have been Emmy.”
A tear rolled down Jill’s cheek. She felt frozen, the thought assaulting her mind.
“I couldn’t stop thinking about Emmy. It could have been Emmy that I saw.”
Jill threw her arms around Chris, not caring that he smelled like cigarettes. Chris had begun to cry himself, feeling safe enough to now that he was in Jill’s embrace.
“It won’t fucking end Jill. I’m tired, I’m just so fucking tired.” Chris murmured.
“I know Chris, so am I.” Jill whispered. “But we can’t stop fighting, we have to keep going, for Emmy.”
“I know.” Chris whispered back.