impending_bloom

not me calling Adler Scar Daddy and my sister calling him Scar Lord.

"Hey, what about the guy we're after?"

"Let's see. Adler...Adler..."

"Huh. Nothing. This guy is a ghost."

"Won't matter anyway, once we kill the fucker"

Jill Valentine X Carlos Oliveira

          “Jill?!”

            “Jill?!”

            Jill tries to perk up at the sound of the familiar voice. But as soon as she lifts her head, her body reminds her how tired and torn up it is.

            She lands back on the cheap bed with an unceremonious groan.

            She turns her head to see a familiar figure behind the glass wall: Carlos Oliveira. Wearing a pair of hospital-supplied scrub-like garments.

            He has a palm pressed up against the glass.

            “Carlos?” she asks as she flinches at the sound of her own voice vibrating through her very sore head.

            “Oh, thank god! When you passed out, I –”

            “Where are we?” Jill manages to find the strength to ask.

            “Jill?”

            Chris Redfield’s voice comes in through the speaker system of the room. Jill can’t help but to close her eyes and flinch at the voice.

            When the pain subsides, she looks in front of her to see Chris’s face behind the observation window.

            She suddenly finds herself feeling like some sort of experiment. Some sort of guinea pig in a lab just being watched to make sure it doesn’t have any reaction.

            “Chris?” Jill asks. “What are you doing here?”

            “Had to get to you before Umbrella did.” Jill notices as Chris’s green eyes travel between her and Carlos. “We’ve had you two in Quarantine just to make sure. I tried to tell the higher-ups that if you were infected that you would have turned by now, but of course they didn’t listen. The Quarantine lifts at the end of the week. Until then, rest. I know that’s not what you want to do, Valentine. But it’s what you need to do.”

            Unable to fight him on this, Jill just nods her head on the pillow.

            “I’ll be in touch. ‘Til then, get some sleep. That’s an order.”

            Jill just gives a comical roll of her eyes and a thumbs up.

            It hurts the bruised flesh around her left eye, but she doesn’t complain. It’s worth it.

            “See ya soon, JV.”

            She watches as Chris says something to one of her keepers in white and then leaves through the door behind.

            “JV?” she hears Carlos scoff. “Definitely Varsity in my book.”

When ordering Pizza is simply not ordering pizza. I imagine this taking place while Adler went Rogue.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I’d like to order a pizza,” Russell Adler starts, leaning against the wall of the phonebooth for support.

There is a very small gasp on the other side of the line, but the receiver asks her intended question.

“What would you like on it?” she says, sniffling.

  “Just cheese, light on the sauce.”

This tells her that he’s okay, that nothing is majorly broken or blown off. No life-threatening blood loss.

“But how’s the pepperoni?” Adler asks.

The kids are the pepperoni.

“Our pepperoni is great.”

Russell smiles into the phone. “Good. Yeah.”

There's a silence, a listening of breaths.

Natalya clears her throat. “What size would you like?”

“Probably a medium.”

This tells her he won't be home for a while. The bigger the pizza, the more mouths to feed and his won't be one.

"Is there anything else we can get you tonight?

"Afraid not."

“Alright, we'll get this ready for you. Thank you!”

“Anytime,” Russel Adler responds.

“Anytime,” she copies.

Their way of saying “I love you” without saying it. To keep everyone safe in case of prying ears.

Dadler Drabble

KUWAIT, 1991

RUSSELL ADLER

______________________________________________________________

“Gather your team – we leave –” Sims begins.

“There’s someone I need to talk to first.”

Russell ignores the questioning look his old partner gives him. “Make it quick.”

He heads over towards the landing planes. The cause of the black smoke surrounding the area. That's where she'd be.

“Nice flying, Sergeant!” Adler hears.

“Thank you, Sir!” a familiar voice calls out in response.

He sees her hoop and holler with her fellow Airmen and women as they celebrate their successful pass. “Glad you're on our side, Eaglet!” he hears them say. He smiles to himself, happy to see the childhood nickname stuck.

But it doesn't take her long to spot him. When she does, she pauses as her compatriots are filing away. Russell nods to his right, gesturing her to follow him.

And she does.

They meet in a nearby tent that is conveniently empty. The platoon's out on a rec mission.

"Dad?" she whispers, trying to stay out of the ears of any possible nearby eavesdroppers.

"Hey, kiddo," he responds, his voice gruff from the cigarette he just put out.

Sasha doesn't know if she wants to squeal or sob as she launches herself towards her father. They grip each other in a locked hug. Within a blink, Sasha returns to her childhood. A young girl hugging her father in braided pigtails, holding a teddy. And then in the next blink, she's back as the 31-year-old woman in a warzone.

“What are you doing here? Is everyone okay?” Sasha asks as she reluctantly pulls away to look at the face of the man she so rarely gets to see.

“Back home, as far as I know. Here? To be determined. Got a lead, asked Sims to help out.”

“Of course, you know Captain Sims,” Sasha responds with almost a laugh in her voice.

There’s a pause between them.

“How ya doing, kid? Airforce treating you alright?”

Sasha nods. “Can’t complain. But I bet you know that.” Sasha suspects he’s been keeping a close eye on her since her enlistment. Not that she can say anything about it. It’s his way of protecting her as best he can. From the shadows.

Adler just shrugs. “Not the worst thing I’m guilty of.”

Sasha’s green eyes catch her father’s blue look over her shoulder towards the front of the tent.

“You have to go. I know,” she says sadly. That's unfortunately how it's been for a long time.

“Afraid so. Sims is probably losing his shit waiting on me.” Adler places his hands on his daughter’s shoulders and pulls her in for another hug. “You be careful up there.”

“Be safe,” she returns.

Adler bends to kiss his daughter on the side of her head. After one last look into her eyes, he begins to exit the tent.

“Love you, dad,” she says without turning around. She knows if she looked at him again, she would break.

“Love you too, kiddo.”

She takes a deep breath when she hears the flap of the tent fall back into palce.

________________________________________________________

In my head, Russell Adler is married (the Ex-wife line was a misdirect) to Natalya Orlova (h/c Rachel Weicz [b.1940, Soviet Union. Immigrated to US with her parents at the age of 3] and they have 3 children.

Sasha Orlova (florence Pugh) : b. 1960, USAF Virginia Orlova (Elena Fisher from Unchartered) b. 1962