Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It’d been five months since her divorce from Ethan was started, and four weeks since it’d been finalized, and Mia could say with some degree of confidence that she was handling things rather well. Not great, she was only human, but she was carrying on.

She and Ethan’s divorce had gone through uncontested. They’d sold the house through their lawyers while Ethan was in Louisiana, and Mia and Rose moved into a smaller house in a quiet suburb on the other side of Raccoon City. Ada had helped her find it, and Mia discovered that her best friend really did know everyone in town when the day after Mia mentioned in a text that she was house hunting during a break at work, Ada had emailed her an appointment confirmation with a realtor in town. Rebecca Chambers was a force to be reckoned with, and she’d had a list of houses to show Mia and Rose when they walked into their appointment the following week. Both Mia and Rose had fallen in love with the house they eventually purchased, Rose for the fenced in backyard and Mia for the double car garage.

Rose had gone through summer break without speaking to her dad, and Mia had done her best to mediate between the two. Rose had stated point-blank that she was too mad to speak to him, and that she had nothing nice to say so she wouldn’t say anything at all. Ethan, receiving this decision via email from Rose, had tried to push Mia into talking their daughter around. After the fourth attempt to get her on board, Mia had had enough. She’d just said that Rose’s feelings were valid, and when she was ready to speak to him, she would.

When she wasn’t leaving her dad on read, Rose was spending most of her time with Sherry and Jake during the summer break. The three, a girl named Moira who was in a band with Jake, and a new boy named Piers who had apparently picked a fight with Jake the day he moved to Raccoon City, making Rose immediately pull him into their friend-group, could usually be found in the backyard of Mia and Rose’s house, at Ada’s using her pool, or going to different B movies purely to sit in the back of the theatre and poke fun at them.

Mia, for her part, was either at work, home, or at Ada’s with the kids, spending time with Ada and getting to know Jill. The two were approaching their eight-month anniversary and Mia had never seen her normally stoic friend so truly happy. Ada would have ripped a strip off of her for mentioning it, so Mia just sat by and enjoyed time with her best friend and her new friend, who happened to be her best friend’s girlfriend.

By the time September rolled around, Mia was focused on getting Rose ready to go back to school. After a day of shopping with Leon, Helena Harper, Sherry and Jake, Mia and Rose bid the quartet goodbye and headed to Ada’s for dinner.

Leon, being Ada’s other best friend, usually had a standing invitation to come to dinner, but, Ada had gleefully explained, Leon wouldn’t be able to make it that day. He’d finally asked the librarian out on a date, but the only day they were both free for dinner – Leon being busy with Sherry’s plethora of extra-curriculars and Helena being her sister’s legal guardian - was the day Leon and Mia planned to take the kids shopping. Rose, the little terror that she was, had taken great joy in pretending she didn’t know her best friend’s dad was going on a date, making the very dry remark of, ‘Miss Harper, what a crazy, random happenstance, running into you here!’ when Helena met the group at the mall. Mia had sighed and apologized while Sherry and Jake tried not to laugh, and Leon looked like he wanted the ground to open and swallow him. Luckily, Helena was used to Rose’s brand of humor.

Pulling into Ada’s driveway, Mia parked her car next to Jill’s and shut the engine off with a sigh. She turned to Rose, who looked equally exhausted, and said, “What a day, huh?”

“I never want to go shopping ever again. I just want to eat myself into a coma until Labor Day.”, Rose muttered, she and Mia getting out of the car.

“Rose, that’s tomorrow.”, Mia felt compelled to point out, receiving a shrug from her daughter as the two walked up to Ada’s front door.

The two walked in, calling their greetings as they kicked their shoes off at the door. “Auntie, we’re here!”, Rose announced.

“In the kitchen!”, Ada’s voice called back.

Ada’s kitchen was smaller than what Mia would have expected for a house that size, but it was always welcoming. Ada, though she would never admit it, was a brilliant cook, and she genuinely enjoyed doing it. The room itself was tidy, the shelves filled with Tupperware, plates, mugs and glasses, and the kitchen table to the back had space for six, or, as Ada would say, eight if you really like your neighbor.

Mia and Rose made their way in and found Ada sitting at the table, a cup of tea in hand, and Jill standing at the breakfast nook behind her. Ada smiled tiredly at them, then said, “I was wondering if I had to plan a rescue. Get everything you needed?”

“God, I hope so.”, Rose grumbled, all but throwing herself into the chair on Ada’s other side and curling herself into her aunt while Mia sat across from them. Rose, though she projected an image of toughness that wasn’t entirely just for show, had always been tactile, even as a child and especially when she had to be around a lot of people. When she was little, after every family event, if she wasn’t in a quiet room getting cuddles, it was a cause for crisis.

Ada laughed and wrapped an arm around Rose’s shoulders, tilting her head back to see Jill when she walked by and placed mugs of tea in front of Mia and Rose. “Thanks, babe.”, Ada said to Jill, who waved the thanks off and took her place at the table. Ada turned her attention to Rose and then added, “The first week is all introductory stuff anyway. What could you possibly need for that?”

“Clothes, mostly.”, Mia admitted. “She had a growth spurt a month ago, and from the pains she’s been having in her legs, I wouldn’t be surprised if another one is coming.”

“I thought you’d gotten taller.”, Ada mused, pressing a kiss to the top of Rose’s head while Rose grumbled something that sounded like, ‘sitting right here’. “Excited about going back though, kid?”

“Excited. Sure.”, Rose said shortly, her face pressing against Ada’s shoulder.

“Rosie, come on. You like school, you even got all the classes you wanted first semester.”, Mia said gently.

“Yeah, but it’s just so… I just hate being stuck in there for eight hours a day.” Rose admitted. “I like seeing everyone and finding out what everyone has been up to, but I could find out most, if not all of that if I bothered to log into Facebook more than once a week.”

Rose had been avoiding Facebook, and all other forms of social media, after her dad posted pictures of he and Zoe in New Orleans. It wasn’t that he’d left that bothered her just then, she’d said to Mia later after she’d calmed down from a tear-filled rant. It was that he looked so much happier than he had during their last vacation that bothered her. Mia had tried to remind her that everyone looks happier online than they really are, but Rose hadn’t been in a mood to listen.

Since then, she’d put herself on a social media diet, limiting herself to fifteen minutes per week and any message that wasn’t from Sherry, Jake, Moira or Piers was ignored. She’d taken particular joy in angry reacting to a picture her dad posted and then leaving all the messages her dad sent her on read. Mia knew it was petty, but if that was how Rose chose to express her anger, Mia wasn’t going to stop her. It was better than punching people.

“Well, honey, I’m sure your friends will be more than happy to bring you up to speed. The ones you haven’t spend the whole summer with in my pool, anyway.”, Ada commented. She turned to Jill quickly and said, “Hey, whatever happened to that new teacher?”

Jill let out a sigh of frustration while Rose’s ears perked up. The principal put both hands around her tea mug and replied, “Nothing happened, which is the problem. Dr. – oh, excuse me, the new Countess Dimetrescu couldn’t be bothered to return my emails or phone calls for when she would be starting at RC, and then had the audacity to leave me a voicemail saying that she’d received a better offer so would not be joining us.”

“That’s aggravating.”, Mia commiserated, having heard all about the new health sciences teacher RC High School had been trying to bring on board.

“You’re telling me. The worst part is that it came down to two candidates, so now we’ve got only one choice.”, Jill sighed, her shoulders inching up around her ears. Ada’s free hand floated up to rest on the back of Jill’s neck, who sighed quietly in appreciation and tilted her head back to rest against it for a moment. She looked back at Mia and said, “I wasn’t thrilled with the choice, but the board vetoed any argument I would have made.”

“Oh shit. Wesker?”, Ada asked, surprise on her face. Jill nodded, and Rose sat up straight beside Ada.

“Who is Wes-“, Mia started to asked.

“Wait, Jake’s DAD is going to be working at RC?”, Rose demanded at the same time Ada whistled and said, “How’s Redfield like his ex working at his school?”

“Not at all, and yes, Rose. Jake’s mom has been notified; I presume Jake has not been.”

“No, I’d have heard about it. Oh man, he hates his dad, he’s gonna blow a gasket.”, Rose said aghast. “Isn’t there rules against this? Can’t you do something to stop it?”

“There are regulations against parents teaching their children, which have been put in place. Jake will not be in any class being taught by his father. But other than that, my hands are tied, Rose.”, Jill explained, sounding like she hated having to say it in the first place.

“Can I tell him? I can’t not, Mom, he’s one of my best friends.”, Rose begged, looking between her mom and aunt in concern. It was moments like this that reminded Mia just how deeply her little girl cared about the people around her. Rose mostly preferred to let her actions speak for her, and her group of friends saw that the most from her.

“Wait a minute, Rosie, put the phone down.”, Mia said firmly, waiting until Rose’s phone was placed on the table in front of them. Once it had been, Mia looked to Jill and Ada and asked, “Who is Wesker? Other than Jake’s father.”

“That’s a… Well, a complicated question, honestly.”, Jill sighed, her hands around her mug of tea again. “Albert Wesker was the vice principal of RC, he’s actually the one who hired me. He was also the science teacher and, unbeknownst to any of us at the time, on the board of directors at Umbrella Pharmaceuticals. He was also the foster son of Umbrella’s founder Oswell Spencer, and head of their R&D department .”

The name brought a sour taste to Mia’s mouth, making her grimace. Umbrella had been in the news for years for their philanthropic work, and the sheer amount of money they were putting into the school system in Raccoon City. They’d crashed and burned when TerraSave, the company Mia worked for, obtained files detailing the frankly horrifying experiments being done in their R&D department, and promptly sent them to every news outlet in the country. They’d been utterly destroyed, despite a rigorous campaign done to try and salvage their reputation by their head of communications, Alex Wesker, and Mia hadn’t thought anyone linked to Umbrella would show their face in Raccoon City again. Apparently, she’d been wrong.

“And he thinks he can come back to RC without being run out of town on a rail?”, Mia asked skeptically. TerraSave had, admittedly, made out like a proverbial bandit after Umbrella’s demise, but the company’s shadow was one that still hung around in Raccoon City.

“Wesker always was a ballsy son of a bitch. To this day, I don’t know how he did it, but when Umbrella went under, he escaped without so much as a scratch. Not a trace of evidence linking him to anything, and believe me, I looked.”, Ada said unkindly, her arm back around Rose’s shoulders. She turned to Jill and asked, “Does he know Redfield is still working at RC?”

“Oh, he knows.”, Jill said darkly. “It was the first damn question he asked me when I called him to tell him to take his application and rot in hell with it. But by then, Superintendent Irons had already got wind of it, and it was taken entirely out of my hands.”

Mia made another face at the mention of Superintendent Irons. She’d only met the man once, when they’d run into each other at a fundraising event for TerraSave, but she’d spent most of the night keeping Claire Redfield, Chris’ sister and Mia’s co-worker, from going for the man’s throat. Claire hadn’t said anything, just said that he was more rotten than most of the bureaucrats in town and that she should steer clear of him. In the aftermath though, Mia had dug into the Superintendent and while nothing had ever been proven, she’d found more than one independently verifiable accusation of inappropriate workplace behavior and worse.

“So Irons pushed it through. Wesker must have something on him.”, Ada mused, then snorted. “Not like that’s hard to do, all things considered.”

“I don’t know what he could possibly have that hasn’t made it’s way around town, but yes, Irons took any say I may have had and, when Dimitrescu bowed out, which I’m sure was totally unrelated, I didn’t have a leg to stand on.”, Jill said dryly.

“Okay, but what does Chris have to do with this? Were he and Wesker close?”, Mia asked, seeing Jill flinch at the question.

“They were, but… Oh Jesus. Very few people know what I’m about to tell you, Mia. It’s public record if you know where to look for it, but we’ve worked pretty hard to keep it buried.”, Jill said with a sigh. She squared her shoulders and glanced at Ada, getting a nod, and then said, “Chris and Wesker were in a relationship, after he and Irene broke up. It lasted about a year, and Chris was, as far as I knew, pretty serious about it.”

Mia heard Rose mutter something that sounded suspiciously like, ‘so that’s why Jake hates him’, but filed it away for later, looking at Jill and Ada. “But?”, Mia asked.

Jill sighed again, suddenly looking very tired where she sat. “There isn’t a delicate way to say it. Mia, Chris was the one to find out about Wesker’s involvement in Umbrella. They were at Wesker’s old apartment and Chris came across some files of projects Wesker was working on for them.”

“So, Chris told TerraSave about the experiments?”, Mia asked.

“Sort of. When Chris found out, he told me. I thought I was the only one he told. We’d both heard Claire talk about the rumors of the shady shit Umbrella had been doing, there’d been rumors for years, but no evidence.”, Jill explained. “I asked him what he was going to do, if we were going to go to the board. It was a massive conflict of interest, if nothing else, but Chris said he was going to wait and see.”

Jill laughed darkly for a moment, and Ada’s hand rested against the back of her neck once again. It took her a moment, but Jill looked back at Mia again.

“He lied, is the long and the short of it. He told Claire, and the two of them decided to bring Umbrella down. Again, this is public record if you know where to look, but Chris and Claire’s parents were killed in an industrial accident that was never officially linked to Umbrella, but Claire had always been pretty sure of the connection. Chris stole Wesker’s ID card and he and Claire snuck into Umbrella to get the files. Claire gave them to TerraSave on the condition of anonymity, which was a façade at best. Wesker knew immediately what Chris had done, but he said barely anything, mostly I think to keep Irene and Jake as far away from the whole mess as he could.”

“Nice of him.”, Rose said savagely. “Doesn’t really make up for leaving Jake’s mom to deal with the shitshow they were in the middle of, or not even bothering to come back and help Jake take care of his mom when she had cancer, or even sending a ‘hey, glad you’re not dead!’ card after Jake’s accident. But sure, he kept them away from the mess he made. What a guy.”

“Rose!”, Mia scolded.

“It’s alright, it’s nothing I haven’t heard before, Mia.”, Jill said tiredly.

“After the news broke, Wesker vanished.”, Ada continued, her hand still resting on the nape of Jill’s neck. “Neither hide nor hair of him has been spotted in RC for years now, I’d have known. The last time RC saw the back of a Wesker was when his sister hit the road after her Hail Mary attempt to save Umbrella didn’t work. But, apparently he’s decided to come back after Vickers’ very convenient early retirement.”

It took Mia a minute to place the name, then remembered hearing about how the old science teacher at RC High, Brad Vickers, had abruptly retired. He’d quickly moved out of town all together afterward, leaving no forwarding address and a cloud of confusion about the sudden departure. Mia wasn’t one for conspiracy theories, but even she would admit that the whole thing looked a little suspect.

“But why would he come back? It’s been almost fifteen years since Umbrella went down.”, Mia wondered. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Rose stiffen where she sat, and when Mia made eye contact with Ada, she saw the same awareness in her best friend’s eyes.

Ada looked at Rose, who very determinedly avoided eye contact with everyone in the room. “Something you want to share with the class, Rosie Posie?”

Rose went quiet for a long moment, which was one of her tells when she was debating telling the truth or not. She let out a breath and said quietly, “I might have an idea, and honestly, I hope I’m wrong because if I’m not, Jake is going to go on the warpath when he finds out his dad is back in town.”

“What is it, Rose?”, Mia asked.

“Jake’s mom has been sick a lot lately.”, Rose started hesitantly. “It’s why we spent all summer keeping him out of the house, she’s been in and out of the hospital so much that he was starting to go a little squirrely. Sherry said it was bringing back some bad memories, from when he was little.”

“Do they know what’s going on?”, Jill asked quietly.

“I haven’t been told, exactly, but Leon has been the one driving her to the hospital for her doctor’s appointments.”, Rose explained, and Mia nodded. After Jake’s accident, which occurred the month after he got his full license, driving was a source of extreme anxiety for Jake. Rose gulped, then said quietly, “Sherry told me she overheard them on the phone, and from what she heard, she’s pretty sure that his mom’s cancer has come back. I don’t know if she’s asked Jake or if they’ve talked about it, but with the way he’s been acting lately, it would make sense.”

“Oh no.”, Mia said softly, while Jill cursed quietly from across the table. Mia looked at Jill and asked, “You knew him, would he use Irene being sick as an excuse to come back?”

“Not a chance.”, Ada said bluntly. Jill quietly said her name, and Ada continued, “What, he waited fifteen years for his ex to get sick again to suddenly pretend to grow a conscience? It’s not out of the realm of possibility, if we feel like being charitable, but highly unlikely. I don’t buy it.”

“You have a better idea?”, Mia asked. Her best friend usually did.

“The Wesker I knew, he never did anything for anyone else that wouldn’t benefit himself first and foremost. He let his own sister hang out to dry for experiments he, in all likelihood, not only planned but participated in. If he’s so bent on coming back to Raccoon City, to the same school that the ex who destroyed his family business works in, the same school the kid he hasn’t seen in almost two decades and who hates him goes to, that he would get Irons involved when I know he could not stand the ground that man stood on, much less the man himself? I mean, granted, Vickers was a spineless sack of crap on his best day so his leaving could possibly be a coincidence that Wesker took advantage of, but to orchestrate the rest of it? He’s got a reason.”, Ada said with certainty. “And what I can also tell you is that whatever that reason is, it won’t be good for anyone.”

“And there’s no way of stopping him from coming back?”, Mia asked.

“Nothing legal, unfortunately.”, Jill answered with a shake of her head. She looked at Rose, who looked utterly miserable where she sat, and said, “I’m so sorry, Rose. I tried everything I could, I know how much this is going to hurt Jake.”

“I need to tell him. I – You don’t understand, if Jake walks into school and sees his dad with no warning, he’ll go off like a volcano.”, Rose implored. She looked at her mom and said, “Mom, please, don’t ask me to lie to him and Sherry. I can’t – I won’t do it.”

“Rose-“

“No, Mom, I won’t do it.”, Rose said firmly. She looked at her mom, and Mia felt like she was looking in a mirror when she saw the set of her little girl’s face. Rose would not be backing down. “Sherry and Jake have always had my back, they’ve basically held my hand through all this crap with Dad, they’re family. I’m not going to lie to them, especially not about something as important as this. I get why you’re worried, but I’m more worried about Jake. If his dad is going to come back here and cause some shit, especially if his mom is sick again, I need to tell him. You’d do the same for Aunt Ada.”

Rose didn’t know it, but Mia had done some very similar things for Ada when they were younger and Ada found out she was adopted. Mia looked to Ada and found her best friend watching her, and she had the sneaking suspicion that they were thinking of the same incidences. Ada nodded, her arm still around an indignant Rose, and Mia smiled at her daughter.

“You’re right, Rosie.”, Mia agreed. She gently pushed Rose’s phone toward her across the table, then added, “Jake deserves to know, and whatever happens, we’ll all face it together, alright?”

“Right.”, Rose said with a smile, snatching her phone from the tabletop and immediately opening her messenger app.

Mia let out a quiet sigh, taking a sip of her tea while watching Rose tap away at the screen. The three adults in the room each remained quiet, though Jill had her own phone out and was typing out a text to who Mia suspected was Chris.

There was a moment of utter stillness in the kitchen, and then Rose let out a gasp, followed by a vehement exclamation of, “Oh, thank God.”

“What is it?”, Ada asked. Rose placed her phone on the tabletop so the three women could read the screen.

The phone was open to a group chat between Rose, Sherry, Jake and Piers, with the most recent messages being from who Mia assumed to be Rose and Jake.

WinterStorm: ‘so, I don’t know how else to say this, but I have a question’

BearCommander: ‘Is it if we want to play a game? Because I am bored as all hell rn’

NathanDrakeCouldNever: ‘You’re literally on my couch, beside me, playing Halo right now. Bored my ass’

BearCommander: ; )

NathanDrakeCouldNever: ‘what’s up, Rose? You ok?’

LightningLt: ‘never use that emoticon again omg’

LightningLt: ‘but also ^ what Sherry asked’

WinterStorm: ‘okay marrieds, calm down’

WinterStorm: ‘so. Here’s the thing. I’m at my aunt’s house with my mom and Valentine rn, and I just found out Jake’s dad is going to be teaching at RC.’

WinterStorm: ‘@BearCommander did you know about this??? Are you okay???? Also wtffffffffff??? Also apparently your dad dated Redfield?????????’

NathanDrakeCouldNever: ‘… oh boy’

LightningLt: ‘wait Capt. Redfield is into guys?????’

WinterStorm: ‘NOT THE POINT, PIERS’

WinterStorm: ‘@NathanDrakeCouldNever Sher did you know about this???? And you didn’t tell us?????’

NathanDrakeCouldNever: ‘It wasn’t my story to tell’

BearCommander: ‘Thanks, babe’

BearCommander: ‘Yeah, I knew that fucker was coming back. He showed up at the hospital during one of mom’s appointments. Turns out they’re still married because he never signed the divorce papers, so he’s still legally her next of kin or some bullshit’

WinterStorm: ‘WTFFFFFFFFFFF’

LightningLt: ‘!!!!!! What an asshole’

BearCommander: ‘Kennedy punched him in the face like, as soon as he walked in’

BearCommander: ‘it was awesome tbh. I didn’t have to do shit’

BearCommander: ‘but yeah, Rose, I knew.’

WinterStorm: ‘oh tfg I was so worried, you have no idea. I thought we were gonna have to hide a body on the first day back from summer break’

WinterStorm: ‘like, I’d help obvs, but I don’t think my aunt dating Valentine would be enough for us to get away with it’

WinterStorm: ‘but I was worried, so I wanted you to know. Homies don’t lie to homies, even by omission.’

NathanDrakeCouldNever and LightningLt loved a comment

BearCommander: ‘still might have to hide a body if he tries to be all… dad to me after fucking off when I was like, five, but nah, we’re good. Mom and I talked about it after Kennedy kicked his ass out’

BearCommander: ‘Thanks for being straight with me tho, appreciate it’

Mia had a bunch of questions, none of which she really wanted the answers to, but at that moment, she was mostly filled with pride in her daughter. She smiled at Rose, seeing the tension leave her.
“Well, that’s one problem solved then.”, Mia commented.

“And the school year hasn’t even started yet.”, Ada replied, her tone light but a cross expression on her face. She turned to Jill, who wore a similarly dark expression. “When is Wesker starting? First day back?”

“As far as I know, yeah.”, Jill said with a nod. “I’ve asked Josh to give him a tour around, Sheva didn’t even give me the chance to ask her. As soon as the teachers were notified, she sent me an email saying that she was moving her health and fitness classes to the other end of the school.”

“You mean Ms. Alomar?”, Rose asked, her eyes on her phone while the three talked around her. “Her and Redfield are pretty tight. She’s like, the only person I’ve seen tie him in track trials.”

“That’s right. Sheva was one of the last hires Wesker did, but from what Chris tells me, she’s never liked him. I guess Umbrella was involved in more than one accident, and Sheva’s parents were casualties.”, Jill explained. “When the truth came out, Sheva and her husband Josh threatened to quit if Wesker wasn’t removed from the school. Her and Chris have been friends ever since.”

“What’s she think about him coming back?”, Mia asked.

Jill side-eyed Rose, then said, “Well, I haven’t exactly asked, but if I had to hazard a guess, I’d say anyone who found themselves hiding a body wouldn’t have to look far for an alibi.”

“Hm. Funny, that.”, Mia said dryly while Rose pretended to ignore the adults talking around her.

“Speaking of the first day back, I need to make a call really quick. Is Helena still on her date with Leon?”, Jill asked Ada, who pulled her phone out of her pocket and skimmed through her messages.

“Seems like it.”, she said with a nod, then tucked her phone away. “I haven’t gotten any messages from Leon about how it went, so I assume it’s still ongoing. Why? What’s up?”

“Helena put me into contact with a friend of her’s who does fireworks, I wanted to see about getting them for the closing of the back-to-school carnival.”, Jill explained, swiping through her own messages as she spoke. “The friend, Ingrid, is pretty invested in the date going well, so I told her I’d keep her updated. Well, about the carnival, and about the date.”

Rose perked up a little, then asked with a gleeful smile, “Is Ms. Harper being as annoying as Leon is about their whole… thing? Sherry was so ready for this date to happen, you have no idea.”

“That’s what I gather. Be right back.”, Jill said, kissing Ada’s cheek and then walking into the living room to make her phone call. Ada watched her go with a fond smile, and then looked to Mia.

“Jill has been stressing about this carnival for weeks now. She’s had Redfield and Leon running around like madmen, trying to get everything ready. With Wesker coming back…” Ada shrugged, her arm still around Rose’s shoulders. “By comparison, I think she’d plan a hundred festivals if it meant Wesker stayed gone.”

“Is Chris handling it okay? It must be a lot to process.”, Mia asked, pointedly saying nothing about the smirk Ada sent her.

Ada shrugged again and said, “From what Jill tells me, he’s been having bad dreams a lot lately. I guess he and Claire saw some shit when they broke into Umbrella. The kind of shit that’s hard to unsee.”

“I bet.”, Mia agreed grimly. Mia knew more than the average civilian did about Umbrella and what was contained in the files Chris and Claire leaked, but what she knew was sickening, and she didn’t even know the full extent of it. If Claire was there the whole time, which Mia assumed she had been with how close she and Chris were, it would explain her taking a sudden work trip to Penamstan, to check up on how the sanitation and housing projects they’d been working on were coming. Mia had been puzzled when the news broke, especially with how sudden it was, but Claire had brushed it off and said she needed a change of pace.

Ada, who always seemed to know more than Mia talked about, sent her a pointed look over the kitchen table. “Mia.”, she said warningly. “Whatever you’re thinking about, stop. Umbrella was a long time ago. Chris is a big boy, he doesn’t need you to try and make this better.”

“I know, I just-“

“Mia. Seriously, I’m saying this as your friend. Leave it alone.”, Ada told her.

“I’m allowed to be concerned about my friends, Ada. What happened would be traumatizing for anyone, especially when the person responsible comes back.”, Mia defended, getting a nod and an exasperated look from Ada.

“Then be concerned, keep an eye out for Claire, but don’t go digging where it isn’t needed and for Christ’s sake, do not ask Chris about it. You’ll probably see him at the carnival, but just leave it alone.”, Ada said, holding a hand up when Mia made to protest. “He has access to some of the best mental health experts in Raccoon City, I made sure of it. If Chris wants to talk, he knows who to call.”

“Jesus Ada, I wouldn’t bring it up at school.”

Ada sighed. “Mia, I say this with as much love as I can, what happened in Umbrella fucked him up pretty bad. I can’t speak for Claire, I haven’t seen her much since everything happened, but Chris is not the same man who brought down Umbrella. It took him years to get to where he’s at now. I know you wouldn’t intentionally say anything, but I also know what you’re like when you’re worried about someone. This was buried a long time ago, so let’s leave it that way, yeah?”

“Yes, Ada, alright.”, Mia agreed with a nod.

“Thank you.”, Ada sighed, looking over to see Jill walk back to the table. Ada smiled as Jill sat down, then asked, “Any news on Romeo and Juliet?”

“From what Ingrid has heard, I’d be expecting a call from Leon. Apparently dinner went well.”, Jill answered with a smile.

“Great, so he’s going to be insufferable.”, Ada sighed dramatically, which Mia knew meant her best friend was happy at the news.

“Judging by the amount of emojis Ingrid said Helena used in her update, I imagine you’re not wrong.”, Jill laughed, making Rose snort with laughter. Ada nudged Rose, who looked up at her aunt.

“I don’t know what you’re giggling about, missy, you’re going to be in a confined space with both of them for an extended period of time every day when school gets back in.”, Ada teased, seeing a look of genuine horror cross Rose’s face and Mia could not stop her laugh.

“We’ll see them together at the carnival. I’m sure it’ll all work out.”, Jill said, aiming for reassuring and being undercut by the amused grin on her face.

Ada shrugged again and said, “And if not, at least it’ll be a spectacular trainwreck.”

Chapter Text

Mia didn’t know it when she pulled into the back-to-school carnival, but Ada’s words were like a prophesy.

When her car came to a stop and Rose all but jumped out of the car, seeing Sherry, Jake, Piers and a girl with dark hair named Moira waiting for her at the gate, Mia’s main concern was making sure her daughter didn’t get smoked by a car in the parking lot.

After seeing the group into the carnival, and being promptly ditched with a kiss on the cheek from Rose and a promise to stay in touch via text, Mia joined Ada and a very flustered looking Leon by the main stage. Apparently, Leon explained, he’d met Helena’s sister Deb, who had volunteered to run some of the games, just shortly after he and Sherry arrived, and Deb had taken great joy in grilling him, much to Helena’s dismay and Sherry’s amusement.

Ada and Jill had arrived at about the same time, and after Chris hustled Jill away to deal with something or another, Ada perched herself next to them and watched Leon sweat. Helena, who was the staff member in charge of coordinating the games for the day, had finally managed to move her sister along and left the three, and just as Leon breathed a sigh of relief, she placed a kiss on his cheek and reminded him about his promised stint in the dunk tank. Ada, she’d gleefully told Mia, had laughed so hard she’d almost developed a stitch in her side.

Mia shook her head with a grin, looking around at the bustling carnival. Raccoon City was a smaller town, and Umbrella’s collapse had almost ripped it apart at the seams.

In the aftermath, the remaining townsfolk had banded together to rebuild. It’d left everyone in town tightly knit together, and everyone in town had seemed to come out to support the carnival. In the crowds, Mia could make out Jill talking to the new Fire Chief, Carlos Oliviera, who was apparently an old friend of Leon’s from his time before coming to Raccoon City. He’d just moved into town a month or so before, on Leon’s suggestion, and he and Jill got on like a house on fire, to pardon the pun. Mia didn’t know much about him, and hadn’t thought to even ask what Ada had heard about him.

Mia clocked Ada’s gaze flickering to the two as she looked around, cotton candy in one hand and the other arm keeping her casually leaned against the sound stage. Jill was a beautiful person, but when she was happy and in her element, she was gorgeous, which Mia imagined very few people in the crowd around them weren’t aware of. Mia figured Carlos knew better than most what happened when you played with fire though, and nudged Ada gently in the side when a crease formed between her eyebrows.

“Hm?”, Ada asked, glancing over. Leon’s eyes went to where Ada’s gaze had been, and he rolled his eyes at Mia over Ada’s shoulder.

“You’ve got that look on your face that means I’m going to need to come up with an alibi by the end of the night.”, Mia teased, hooking an arm around Ada’s waist. “Jill adores you, just about as much you do her.”

“And Carlos thinks she’s great, I wouldn’t put it past him to try and get her to join the fire department when she retires from the school board, but she’s very much not his type.”, Leon added dryly. Ada looked genuinely baffled, and a little offended.

“Excuse you, Jill is everybody’s type-“, Ada went to respond heatedly before Leon nodded his head towards the group.

Another man had approached, and Carlos lit up like a Christmas tree when he spotted him. He waved the man over and the three spoke animatedly. Leon continued, “That’s Ty, Carlos’ fiancé. He does demolition for the PMC I used to work for. He isn’t in town much, but apparently he wanted to meet Carlos’ new bestie.”

“Of course he would, because Carlos isn’t an idiot and Jill is amazing.”, Ada scoffed, and Mia could feel her back relax. Mia stifled a laugh, resting her head against Ada’s shoulder for a moment.

“Who isn’t an idiot?”, a voice asked from their left, and Mia felt herself jolt just slightly. She could hear Ada’s smirk when Ada greeted,

“Not you, Redfield. Nice of you to join us. Managed to get the teenaged dirtbags who’ll be serenading us this fine evening in line?”

Chris rolled his eyes in response – Jake’s band had been practicing in the garage at Leon’s house most weekends, and Leon could grudgingly admit that they weren’t terrible. Rose, reluctantly, concurred, though that may have been because of what Mia suspected was a crush on either Moira Burton or Piers, possibly both. Mia thought they weren’t half bad, if the videos on Sherry’s Instagram were any indication, but she kept her opinions to herself. – and joined the group.

“I’ll be sure to let Jake, Piers and Moira know your opinions of their playing haven’t changed, Ada.”, Chris said dryly, smiling at Mia. “Mia, nice to see you. I thought I spotted Rose around the concessions.”

“You too, Chris. Yeah, apparently I’m not cool enough for Rose to hang out with at one of these things.”, Mia answered with a smile. “Sherry, Piers, Jake and Moira met her at the gates when we got here, and I haven’t seen her since.”

“She could be stuck with a worse group.”, Chris admitted, grinning. “Will you be staying until close?”

“Probably. I can barely get Rose away from them on a slow day. Depending how today goes, we might wind up camping out overnight.”, Mia laughed.

“I’ll put in a good word for you with the principal.”, Chris promised. In the back of her head, Mia knew she was smiling like an idiot, and she couldn’t bring herself to care. She was enjoying feeling happy for once in a very, very long time.

“Appreciate it, but I’ve got an in.”, Mia said conspiratorially, winking with her arm still around Ada, who for her part had rolled her eyes towards the sky like she couldn’t believe she was being involved in this.

“You disgust me.”, Ada said, with a whole lot of love packed into the words as she looked at Mia fondly. She turned to Leon, who was watching with a smile on his face, and then said, “Come on, Leon, let’s go find somewhere else to – Wesker?!”

Mia felt Ada wrench around where she stood, then looked over to where Chris, Leon and Ada were now looking, each with an expression of anger. The person she found herself looking at was, frankly, not what she had imagined Jake’s father to look like.

After dinner at Ada’s house, Mia had deliberately avoided Googling Jake’s dad. Her curiosity was killing her, and she probably could have found a picture in TerraSave’s files, but she knew herself. If she let herself do that, she’d start to obsess and then she’d spiral, and it just wouldn’t end well for anyone. She had a sneaking suspicion that Rose knew more about her friend’s estranged father than Mia did, and she made herself be okay with that. She figured that, when it became something for her to worry about, she’d do something about it then, but until that point, she wouldn’t dig.

The man standing in front of them did not, at all, look like Mia would have pictured Albert Wesker to look like. Irene Muller, who was a music teacher at an academy about an hour outside of Raccoon City, was a kind, generous and all-around beautiful woman, and Jake had, by all appearances, taken after her greatly. Irene was also kind enough to shame a saint, and Mia privately had a very tough time reconciling that woman with the man behind so many of the heinous experiments Umbrella had done in the name of science.

Jake didn’t take after his father at all as far as Mia could see, Wesker being about as tall as Leon, with blond hair and ridiculously pale skin. He was wearing sunglasses, and a shirt, slacks and shoes that Mia would bet cost about as much as what she’d spent on Rose’s entire back to school wardrobe. He held himself like someone who knew themselves to be very important, and while Jake could be cocky and boisterous, he had long since grown out of the arrogance he’d when he was a kid. It seemed that the father never had, and the thin smirk he gave the group in recognition made Mia’s skin crawl.

From where she stood, still with her arm around Ada, Mia could tell that her best friend’s hackles had gone up. Ada could never stand people who thought they were the most important person in the room, she’d always said that they usually had the dirtiest secrets. Mia had never known her best friend to be wrong about her judgement calls, even when they came out of left field, and she felt herself tense beside her.

Out of the corner of her eye, Mia watched Chris step forward, putting himself bodily between Wesker and their group. A woman had appeared beside him, almost out of thin air, and Mia watched RC High School’s head fitness and athletics teacher, Sheva Alomar, wordlessly stare down Wesker from Chris’ side. Mia had met Sheva a handful of times, mostly in parent teacher conferences, and she knew the teacher to be an outgoing and kind person. Rose had confirmed that while she didn’t put up with anyone’s bullshit, Sheva was one of the more popular teachers at RC, with an open-door policy for all students and never an unkind word to say. From what Rose had let slip, Sheva had been one of the only teachers Jake had opened up to about his mom getting sick again, and Leon and Sheva had coordinated making sure Jake was taken care of while Irene was getting treatment.

“What are you doing here, Wesker?”, Chris asked, his voice icy. It was a tone Mia had never heard him use before, in their admittedly limited interactions, but it wasn’t one she was terribly fond of.

“Nice to see you again as well, Chris. And I’m enjoying the carnival, of course. From what I gather, Jill has worked so hard on this. I wanted to see the fruits of her labour firsthand.” Ada, already tense, made to lunge at the man without a word of warning, and Chris put an arm out to stop her momentum. Mia wrapped an arm around her best friend, who looked like she was about to spit venom at Wesker.

“You keep her name out of your goddamn mouth.”, Ada snarled, pushing against the barriers both Chris and Mia had formed to keep her still.

“Now Ada, must we be cross?”, Wesker said with a put-upon sigh. “Once upon a time, I seem to recall us being friends. Or was my sister really your favorite Wesker?”

“We were never friends. I put up with you as long as your old man signed my paycheck.”, Ada spat at him. Mia could feel the muscles in her arm tensing up under her hand, and she exchanged worried looks with Leon. Ada took a step forward, then added, “You have some goddamn nerve, showing your face here again after what you did. Speaking of Alex, I’m surprised she didn’t rip your face off after you left her out to dry.”

“Oh, I’m sure if she’d had the opportunity to, it would have been her first port of call.”, Wesker acknowledged blithely. “As it happens, I haven’t seen her since our father passed some years ago. My sister has been working with a countess in Romania, doing research work.”

“Well, ding, dong, the wicked witch is dead. Here I thought Spencer would have outlived us all out of pure spite.”, Ada scoffed, and Wesker, to Mia’s frank astonishment, let out a laugh that didn’t sound entirely rehearsed.

After taking a moment to compose himself, which Mia spent wondering, again, how the hell this man had managed to get Irene Muller to marry him, never mind getting Chris to date him, Wesker smiled at Ada, who glared back at him. “Oh, I have missed that fire of yours, Ada. And, not to speak ill of the dead, but I’m sure if he’d had a say in the matter, he would have indeed outlived us all. But, heart attacks are such funny things.”

Mia heard Ada mutter about how she hadn’t known Spencer even had a heart, but her questions were cut off when Chris spoke. “Ada, it’s okay.”, he said, exchanging a look with Ada that Mia wasn’t sure how to read before bringing his eyes back to Wesker. “Well, we won’t keep you, Wesker. There’s a whole carnival to check out, be a shame to miss anything. Thanks for stopping by.”

Mia felt more than heard the brick wall that Chris’ words formed between he and the man in front of them, and she watched as Wesker’s shoulders tensed. She imagined that if he’d had less restraint, Wesker would have said something fairly impolite, but he seemed to paint on a sharp smile in response to Chris’ words.

“Of course. But, before I leave you, Chris, perhaps you can tell me where I can find my son. I’ve seen videos of his band practicing on my niece’s Instagram, and I wanted to wish him luck before his performance this afternoon.”

Between one breath and the next, Leon had gone from beside Mia and Ada to face to face with Wesker, a look like thunder on his face. Ada sharply said, ‘Leon, don’t-‘ a moment before Leon opened his mouth.

“I warned you not to contact my kid, Wesker. She doesn’t want anything to do with you, or either of them.”, Leon bristled, placing particular venom on the word ‘them’.

Wesker seemed entirely unfazed by the furious man in front of him. He seemed to regard Leon coolly for a moment, and then said, “And I haven’t, Agent Kennedy. Oh, excuse me, it’s Mr. Kennedy now, isn’t it? I forgot you retired after the custody agreements were finalized. William and Annette send their best, by the way.”

Leon looked about a breath away from jumping at Wesker, and Ada grabbed a hold of the back of his sweater quickly. She tugged firmly on the sweater and Leon looked back at her, getting a shake of the head in response to whatever unspoken question Ada read on his face. Chris put his hand on Leon’s shoulder and gently nudged him back to where Ada and Mia stood, then turned to face Wesker.

“You know what, I think we’re done here, Wesker. Jake made it very clear that he’d be just as happy to never see you again, and honestly, I can’t say I don’t know how that feels.”, Chris said calmly, and Mia saw the verbal strike land as Wesker flinched minutely. “And after what you and the Birkins put Sherry through, the fact that you have the nerve to stand here and talk about her is, frankly, appalling.”

“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean, Chris.”, Wesker replied, sounding like butter wouldn’t melt in his lying mouth. “Granted, Annette and William weren’t the most attentive of parents, but there was never any proof of wrongdoing.”

Leon moved to run at the man again, and Ada’s hand held onto the back of his sweater in a death grip. Chris gave the man a look of what Mia could only describe as loathing, though she didn’t think she was imagining the buried pain she saw as well. Beside him, Sheva was almost vibrating with rage and Mia watched as her hands clenched every few moments.

Chris shook his head, and then sighed quietly.

“I’m not even going to dignify that wish a response. Now I’m only going to say this once, then my friends and I are going to go enjoy the carnival and forget we ever spoke. I don’t know why you came back, and I don’t want to know. If I never saw your face again, it’d be too soon, so let me be very clear about this.”, Chris said quietly. “For the sake of the kids, we’ll be professional. As long as you do your job and don’t cause anyone – and I do mean anyone. – grief, we won’t have a problem. However, if I hear even a whisper of you getting up to your old tricks, Irons won’t be able to protect you, not from the town, not from Leon, not from Jill, and sure as hell not from me.”

“Precisely what tricks are you referring to, Chris? Science experiments?”, Wesker said dryly, and entirely too confidently for a man who was public enemy number one in Raccoon City. “In any case, consider me warned. I’m not here to cause grief for anyone, whether you believe it or not. Not that you asked, but I was notified that Irene was sick, and I wanted to help she and Jake. I understand that my son harbors great disdain for me, and not entirely without cause. However, I’ve made a bit of a name for myself these past few years; I have the money, and medical bills aren’t cheap, especially on a teacher’s salary with a growing teenager.”

“So you came back out of the goodness of your heart? Spare me.”, Sheva said with an eyeroll.

“I came back to help wife and son. When Irene’s returned to health, I imagine I’ll be on my way once again. God knows there isn’t anything else in this town that’s worth my attention.” Mia could read a sliver of resentment breaking through the words, and she bristled at them.

Chris didn’t react to the words, though Mia imagined he wanted to if the tensing in his jaw was anything to go by. He offered a grimace that, if one was feeling charitable, could be called a polite smile. “Well, then let’s all hope Irene recovers quickly. Be seeing you.”

Wesker watched Chris for a long moment, and he opened his mouth before snapping it shut a moment later. Offering a clipped nod, Wesker turned and walked into the lines of people walking by the sound stage. Chris let out a long, low breath while Leon let out a quiet string of curse words, then looked at Ada with a nod. She let go of his sweater, and Leon said something about going to find Sherry backstage before running to where the security guards were by the stairs to the band prep area.

Sheva’s eyes were flicking between Chris and the crowd where Wesker had vanished, and she turned to the group. “I’m going to go find Josh and let him know, I’ll send Jill your way if I run into she and Carlos in the crowd, alright?”

“Alright. Thanks, Sheva, and be careful.”, Chris stressed, getting a pat on the shoulder before Sheva walked towards where the concessions were. Chris let out another deep sigh.

“Anyone else feel like they need to take a shower?”, Ada grumbled, putting an arm around Mia’s shoulders while her other hand slowly unclenched from around her very abused looking bag of cotton candy.

“There isn’t a shower hot enough, I don’t think. Thanks for the assist, Ada. I know your history with him isn’t the easiest.”, Chris acknowledged, getting a handwave from Ada.

“He’s a slimy son of a bitch. The thing that pisses me off the most is that I didn’t see the worst of it until it was too late.”, Ada answered. She looked to the crowd, spotting Jill making her way over with a look of rage on her face, and then said, “Looks like I’ve got some ruffled feathers to sooth. Redfield, you mind keeping an eye on this one for me? She tends to get into trouble when left to her own devices.”

“Pot, kettle.”, Mia said dryly, getting a wink from her best friend. Mia laughed and pulled her arm from around Ada.

Chris grinned at the two, seeming to relax for the first time since Wesker’s arrival. “I’m sure we can manage, you go on. And please, try to keep Jill from killing someone?”, Chris agreed.

“I’ll keep her from getting caught killing someone.”, Ada promised before walking to meet Jill.

Mia and Chris looked at each other with a grin. Mia glanced around, seeing the band beginning to set up their instruments for the show that was due to start. “And then there were two.”, she commented lightly, seeing Leon waiting at the curtain while Sherry and Rose helped Jake, Moira and Piers set up their instruments.

“So there is.”, Chris replied. Mia watched a few different emotions fly across his face before Chris said, “Mia, listen, I want to apologize.”

Mia blinked, then asked, “Apologize for what?”

“Jill told me that you know about my… complicated history with Wesker.”, Chris began. “He’s always been irritatingly good at getting under my skin, but I should have reacted better than I did.”

“Chris, I don’t even know the full story of what happened but from what I do know? I wasn’t even involved, and I wanted to clock him when he started talking about Jake and Sherry.”, Mia insisted.

“I thought, after fifteen years and a boatload of therapy, I’d have been less angry. Turns out, I was wrong. But I shouldn’t have let him bait me, he was just going for a reaction from me, and I gave him what he wanted.”

“But you didn’t, Chris. You took the high road. I don’t doubt in the slightest that he was trying to push your buttons, but you didn’t give him that satisfaction. You should be proud of yourself.”

“I’m not, but thanks.”, Chris said reluctantly. He let out another sigh and said, “Y’know, this is not how I planned on today going.”

“The universe has a funny way of biting us when we least expect it.”, Mia laughed.

“You’re telling me. I definitely didn’t plan on you meeting my own personal evil ex, but here are.”, Chris said dryly.

“God knows, I’m in no place to judge anyone about their exes. Mine is currently being left on read by our daughter out of spite. We all play the hands we’re dealt.”

“Jill told me about that. She also mentioned that the divorce was finalized?”, Chris asked. Mia felt her heart give a jolt against her ribcage, and tried to remain calm. That, she reminded herself, was a perfectly normal thing for two friends to talk about.

“That’s right. As of four weeks and three days ago, I am no longer Mrs. Ethan Winters. I’m keeping the last name, mostly for Rose’s sake, but now I’m just plain ol’ Mia Winters.” The sting of that notion had been a difficult one to reckon with, but as she said it out loud, it felt right to Mia.

“That’s great, I’m happy for you, Mia. Is Rose handling things alright?”, Chris asked, smiling at her.

“I don’t think the divorce was ever what bothered her, not really. I mean, it upset her, but I think it was the way it all happened that really hurt her. But, Ada got her into counselling and that seems to be helping her. We still have some bad days, but I think we’re going to be okay.”, Mia said with a happy smile.

“You will be. You and Rose are tough.”, Chris said with certainty. Mia saw him glance at something over her shoulder, and he frowned at it before returning to look at Mia. “Listen, Mia, this is possibly the worst way I could ask this, but would you want to go to dinner with me sometime?”

Mia felt like she’d been shocked, even as she smiled. She blinked quickly, then said, “I – I mean, yes, absolutely, yes, but… God, I – Like, as a date?”

“That’s how I had it planned in my head, but it can not be?”

“Okay, good, yes, a date. I would love to.” In the back of her head, Mia knew she was stumbling over her words and grinning like an idiot, but she didn’t care.

“Great.”, Chris answered with a matching grin, then pulled his cell phone out of his back pocket. “Jill offered to get your number through Ada for me, but that seemed… weird? And morally wrong?”

“Ada would have given it to you, without question. She’s offered to get me yours often enough.”, Mia replied, putting her phone number in and saving it under Mia W. She handed the phone back and said, “I know with school starting, you’ll be swamped, so just text me and we can plan something.”

“Will do. Speaking of, we should probably move away from the speakers, my days of moshing are far behind me.”, Chris quipped, pocketing his phone before the two moved back to the gates of the stage area.

The two made small talk for the next few minutes as the area around them filled with people before the show began. They were in the middle of a discussion of what Rose and her friends were planning for after high school when the MC of the concert took the stage, announcing Jake’s band.

While the opening chords of a power ballad that Jake may, or may not, admit to writing about Sherry began playing, Mia felt her phone begin vibrating in her pocket.

Mia saw Rose’s name on the caller ID and answered, “Hi Rosie, where-“

“Mom, I’ve been texting you for the last half hour, where are you?”, Rose asked, her voice pitched and sounding panicky.

Mia felt her stomach lurch. Chris gave her a look of concern as she answered, “I’m by the gates to the stage with Chris. Rose, are you alright?”

“Just stay there! Sher, they’re over there, let’s - oh my God, move, dude! Check your texts, mom, I’ll be there in a couple minutes!” Rose’s phone disconnected, and Mia pulled the phone from her ear with a sick feeling in her stomach.

“Is everything-“, Chris started to asked.

Before he could finish the question, Mia heard a voice she knew like the back of her hand calling her. The sick feeling in her stomach turned into something like a lead weight, and Mia turned around.

“Mia! Hey, I didn’t think we’d find you with all these people.”, Ethan greeted, he and Zoe walking up to where she and Chris stood.

Mia felt more than saw Ada appear at her side like a ghost, staring Ethan down from beside her, and she could hear Rose approaching from the crowd behind her.

It felt like she was back in Jill’s office, the day Rose got into a fight at school. The anger rose up her throat like bile, and all she could bring herself to ask was, “Ethan, what are you doing here?”

“I can work remotely, remember? I wanted to see Rose, spend some time with her before school gets too busy. I asked Zoe to come so I can show her around and introduce them.”

Mia remembered, alright. Mia remembered the number of fights she and Ethan had had while Rose was growing up, her always pressing him to use his work’s option to work remotely so they could take Rose on family trips while she was still little. Ethan had always pushed back, saying he’d never get any work done that way and how else were they going to pay the bills? Never mind that Mia made more than him at TerraSave, or that he didn’t have to be present every moment, just him being with them would have been enough.

The memory of those fights, how frustrated and angry she’d always been, surged back to her. She wondered if that was something she should talk about in therapy.

Then, the rest of Ethan’s statement hit her, the part about introducing Rose to Zoe even though they’d already met, and Ethan knew Rose was still hurting from the divorce and their separation.

Mia saw red. The last thing she remembered between that moment and walking to her car with Rose was Ada stepping in front of her, and Rose going off on her dad like a bomb.

When the numbness began seeping out of her skin and Mia realized she had Rose’s arm wrapped around her waist on one side while Ada held her hand on her other, the trio were already halfway to where Mia’s car was parked. She heard Ada saying something about how Jill and Chris had firmly, but politely, asked Ethan to leave, and figured that that was why she and Rose were currently frogmarching her to her car.

Mia felt her breath get easier as she was guided into the passenger seat of her car, then saw Rose climb into the backseat while Ada took the driver’s side. Ada was talking to someone, Mia assumed Jill, through her Bluetooth as she put on her seatbelt, then said goodbye and disconnected the call. The two made eye contact, and Ada asked,

“Back with us?”

“Yeah.”, Mia said quietly. Ada nodded once, then started the car.

“Mom? You okay?” Rose’s voice sounded scratchy, like she’d been crying, and Mia tried very hard to swallow down the rage she felt.

“I’m okay, baby. Are you?”, Mia asked. Her throat hurt, and she didn’t remember yelling, but she imagined if Ada was that tense, and Rose was that upset, it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility.

“I’m so fucking mad, mom.”, Rose seethed, tearing up behind her. Mia put her hand back between the seats, feeling Rose hold onto it as she rested her head against Mia’s seat.

“I know, honey. I know.” Mia looked at Ada, then asked, “Did we make too bad of a scene?”

“You starting to shake, and screaming like a banshee before going catatonic with anger? No.”, Ada said tersely as she drove out of the parking lot. “Jake, Piers and Moira jumping down from the stage mid-set when Rose started yelling at her dad about what an asshole he was? That was something that someone could, potentially, consider a scene.”

“Rosie.”, Mia said gently, squeezing her daughter’s hand slightly.

“I’m not sorry, Mom.”, Rose replied quietly.

“I know, baby. Make sure you thank Jake, Piers and Moira though.”

She heard Rose’s quiet mutter of, ‘I will’ and then turned to look at Ada again. Ada’s jaw was tense as she drove in silence, and Mia could see her free hand tapping an erratic rhythm on the steering wheel. She figured, from the tension radiating off of Ada, that her best friend was waiting for her to ask about why Ethan had shown up without warning, with his new girlfriend no less. Mia imagined that, in the past, she would have possibly cared as to the why of it.

Right then, she really didn’t. They’d burn that bridge when they got there. She squeezed Rose’s hand gently, then said casually, “So, Chris asked me out to dinner.”

Ada hm’d and Rose let out a groan behind her. “Yeah, Jill mentioned he was going to do that.”, Ada said, equally as casual.

“And you didn’t think to tell me?”, Mia asked, smiling tiredly. Ada shrugged.

“And let you worry yourself to death about it? Pass. I saw that dog and pony show once, and that was more than enough.” Mia, knowing exactly what Ada was referring to, let out a laugh.

“Ada, I was seventeen. And I’d been waiting for Ethan to ask me out for literally weeks by then.”

“He took you to a hockey game for your first date, Mia.”, Ada said flatly.

“It was a very nice-“

“Do not defend him, Mia, I swear to God. And, you don’t even like hockey! You didn’t then, and you don’t now!”, Ada said vehemently, making Mia laugh even harder. Ada huffed, then added, “Anyway, Redfield was driving Jill up the wall about it when I told them that the divorce had been finalized. Between him and Leon, I was at my limit for adults who can’t process their emotions in an appropriate manner, i.e. on their own without using me or my girlfriend as a sounding board.”

“He was thinking about it for that long?”, Mia asked, getting a flat look from her best friend. She laughed, then said, “Okay, fine. So, yes, he asked me out for dinner, and I said yes.”

Ada nodded absently, signalling and completing her turn before replying. “Of course you did, you’ve only been talking about him for the last, oh I don’t know, half a year? If you’d said no, I would have lost my mind. When’s it happening?”

“Not sure. I gave him my number and told him to text me after things settle at school.”, Mia explained, noting that Rose hadn’t said a word about this latest development.

Even behind her sunglasses, Mia could see Ada roll her eyes. “Cool, so your first date is going to be in June, approximately?”

“Ideally not, no, but-“

“Mia, Redfield is a workaholic. It’s one of the many things you and he have in common. Oh my God, the two of you are going to die from anticipation at this rate.”, Ada said disapprovingly. She glanced in the rearview mirror and then said, “Rosie, when we get home, make sure you remind your mom to give me her phone. I’ll text Redfield and set this up my damn self.”

“Auntie, please don’t get me involved in this.”, Rose groaned. “I don’t want to think about my mom dating Redfield, it’s weird enough you dating Valentine.”

Ada said, ‘you like Jill though!’ at the same time Mia asked, “Rose, if I go for dinner with Chris, are you going to be okay with it? I wouldn’t do something that would hurt you.”

Rose was quiet for a long moment, then said, “I mean, I guess as far as guys in this city, you could do worse than Redfield. It’s just going to be so awkward if you guys become a thing, and if you get married, I am not calling him Dad.”

Ada let out a cackle while Mia felt herself turning red. “Rose, let’s get the first date out of the way, alright?”, Mia asked, laughing nervously to herself.

“And for better or worse, babe, I think you’re stuck with the Dad you’ve got.”, Ada added, frowning to herself. “I have always thought your mom was too good for him, but the only good thing I can say about him is that he loves you a lot. He was shit partner, but as far as I can tell, he was a good dad.”

“That about sums it up.”, Mia agreed quietly, then felt Rose squeeze her hand. Mia let out a tired breath, then said, “We’ll figure it out as we go, I guess. One day at a time.”

“While we’re figuring it out today, can we also get pizza? Everything happened so quickly that I didn’t even get to finish the soft pretzel I bought.”, Rose grumbled, and Mia felt her press her head against the side of her seat.

Ada laughed again, and Mia smiled. “I think we can arrange that.”