The bonds of family

Claire stared down at her ring, and realised she didn't want to contact Leon. She wanted him far away from Alex and any harm she could do him. "The last thing I remember is being put under for surgery. I don't know how i ended up here, or even how long I've been here." She confessed. Her secret fear, was that Leon would believe her dead.

Parker shook his head and rose to his feet. "I don't the help of some lovesick children!" He sneered. "I'll find Rebecca myself!"

"So then we need to contact...him..." Steve said sadly, pointing again to her ring. "Come on. We need to get to the communications room. He's probably so worried about you. He's probably crying his eyes out. You know how easy it is to fall for a Redfield and all that good stuff." He sighed loudly.

"Oh sure. That's why it's been six months and you're still here." Sherry snorted. "Come on. Think about it, Parker. This is Wesker's son you're talking to. Who better to find him? You're stupid to walk away from that."

"I think you have the wrong Redfield." Claire replied quietly. "And Leon doesn't cry." She added, using his name at last.

"Ot maybe you're too stupid to see beyond that?" Parker retorted. "You really think he's telling you everything? He's a goddamn Wesker!"

"I knew it!" Steve shouted, giving her a dark look as he turned back. "I knew you'd pick him. What the hell?" He shook his head several times, making it clear he felt more than a little betrayed. "I don't know what I was expecting."

"Hey! That was uncalled for!" Sherry barked. "Just because you're upset doesn't give you the right to take it out on Jake. It's not his fault. He can't help who his father is! He didn't ask to be born a Wesker anymore than you asked for him to kidnap your wife!"

"You don't even know him!" Claire hissed, feeling betrayed herself that Steve was treating her like she was the enemy. "I thought you were dead! You were in my arms, and you weren't breathing!" She added. "So please, tell me again how I betrayed you! How I ended up some pill popping loser because I couldn't move on like everyone else could!" At this point Claire shoved her hands roughly against Steve's chest, feeling just as pathetic as she had the night Chris found out she was a medicated zombie.

"Yeah?" Parker was watching Jake again, the stiff way the young man held himself betraying him more than he knew. "Does he talk about his mother?" He asked Rebecca suddenly.

"I told you to wait for me. I begged you to wait." Steve hissed, grabbing her hands and yanking her hard against him. "But you didn't. You didn't even try. Your precious Leon was all that ever mattered to you. I remember when you were trying to contact him back then, your eyes lit up. I never did that for you." 

Sherry turned her head to look at Jake, unable to help herself. "Why should he? She said softly. "His mother has nothing to do with any of this."

Claire didn't struggle free. How could she expect him to understand what she went through? "You think you have the monopoly on being second best to someone?" She spat, ashamed that a fat tear leaked free. 

"Really?" Parker sneered, able to recall everything Rebecca had told him. "So he never told you that she's still alive? Or that he's still in contact with her?" He added, his information correct until that point.

Steve pulled her even closer, pressing his lips to hers. He couldn't help himself. He'd been dreaming of that moment for so very long. He'd lost count of the years. She tasted exactly as he remembered, even better in fact. He wasn't sure he could simply let her go. Screw Leon. Screw them all. 

"Yes." Sherry nodded. "I knew that he'd been to see her. You're not trying to hurt me with your words, Parker. If that's what you're going for." She added gently.

Claire was surprised to find how easily she returned that kiss. They had been practically children the last time, and that simply made her pain that much worse.

"How about that Rebecca infected her with a synthetic cancer, and that now Wesker will stop at nothing to get his revenge?" Parker challenged.

Steve closed his eyes remembering that night on the plane. It was perfect for him, though it had turned into a dream that was made of sweet agony. This kiss brought it all rushing back and he was quick to push her away, shaking his head. "You made your choice." He muttered, again shoving his shaggy hair out of his face. 

Again Jake's jaw worked and this time Sherry knew that Parker wasn't lying. She'd spent enough time with the younger man to know when he was hiding something from her. "Why didn't you tell me your mother was sick?" She asked Jake softly.

Claire stumbled back a step, her dull sapphire eyes betraying how much the rejection hurt. She shared that memory too, and it usually preceded the nightmares she had of him dying in her arms. "I'll find the comm room myself." She told Steve quietly, turning away to hide her face from him.

"No one elses business." Jake replied bluntly. "She was sick. There was no cure. Not even my blood."

"Of course you will! Can't miss your precious Leon for too long can you!" Steve snarled, his eyes flashing red a moment before he turned and disappeared into the dark hallway they'd come from. 

"So you knew he was hurting someone?" Sherry asked Jake. "A pregnant woman?" She glanced at Parker, worried about his part in all this. She'd been played before. Many times in fact. It had cost her alot.

Once she was sure he was far enough away, Claire slid down the wall with her face in her hands. She was silently telling herself over and over that she could do this. She had to do this. The young woman glanced down and noticed that Alex had again put one of those damn bracelets on her and it was already amber. Claire snorted bitterly, thinking how similar it was to the collar Steve had been wearing when they first met; it was a means of making them feel less than human.

"I knew I didn't want my mother to die, is that what you wanna here?" Jake snapped, glaring hatefully at Parker. "You lost your mother in an accident, Sherry... I wont lose two of them to fucking cancer!"

Steve hadn't made it very far either. He still stood in the hall, his head hung low. He was left to wonder why Claire couldn't love him. What was so wrong with him? What did he not have that Leon did have? 

"Jake!" Sherry shouted. "You're supposed to be the good guy! What are you doing?"

"Oh babycakes..." Jessica had joined Steve in the hallway and was pouting as she pinched his cheek. "You're little girlfriend not happy to see you?" She purred.

"I never said I was a good guy." Jake pointed out, ready to kill Parker himself at this point. "I just chose to play nice."

"About as happy as your old boyfriend would be to see you." Steve snapped, shoving his hair out of his eyes. "Screw off, slut. I'm busy looking for a meal not tail." 

"Of course you did. Why was I expecting anything less?" Sherry snapped, throwing her hands up and shoving out of the booth. "Come on, Mr. Lucinani. I'll take you to Wesker. I'll get your wife back. Jake can sit there and sulk all he wants."

"Well that's a first." Jessica purred, being her usual forward self. "So that's how it is? Sweet, perfect little Claire comes back, and all of a sudden you're Mr. blue balls!"

Jake didn't move. He was still watching Parker. "Your kid's probably dead by now. You know that, right old man?"

Steve's face went red and he was suddenly extremely flustered. He shook his head, giving Jessica his nastiest sneer. "You don't know what you're talking about." He hissed. "It was one time and you pushed yourself on me." 

Sherry leaned across the table and slapped Jake hard enough to send his head to the side. "You need to find what you want, Jake." She growled at him. "You either want to be your father's son or you want to be with me. Come find me when you have it figured out."

"Oh honey..." Jessica laughed and shook her head. "You were begging for it!" She heard Claire approaching and quickly pulled Steve's lips down to her own.
Claire hadn't expected to see anyone here, but that didn't hide the shock on her face.

"Aren't you the one who said we can't help being our parents children?" Jake snorted, not even rubbing at his cheek. It stung like a bitch... and he needed it to stay that way.

Steve's face wasn't much better. His eyes were wide and he was fighting to pull away. Finally he managed it, shoving the hair out of his eyes. He didn't even try to explain himself to Claire. He didn't need to. What was the point? She had Leon. She didn't care what he did. For all she cared he was dead and could stay that way. 

Sherry's chest was heaving as she stood there looking at Jake. "I said that we could help being their children." She said softly. "I never said we had to be proud of it." She turned back to Parker and slid her hand around his arm. "Let's go. I promised I would help you and I will. I don't care if it was your people that shot and killed my father or not."

Claire's gaze met Steve's for only a split second before she carried on walking. She had no idea that was the woman who had once tried to come between her brother and Jill.

Parker wasn't even sure who to trust anymore. "She didn't love me." He told Sherry, not sure why he felt the need to say that.

"You're going the wrong way." Steve said, easily able to see Neil shifting around in the darkness nearby. "The phone to contact your precious Leon is that way." he added, pointing back the way shed come.

"If that were so, why are you free and she is still there with Albert Wesker?" sherry asked, glancing at Jake one last time as she opened the door for Parker. "I think she loves you very much." She said softly.

"I'm not contacting Leon." Claire told Steve without looking at him. "I don't need rescuing." She has seemed to develop an insatiable need to prove herself capable since being reminded of her past. 

"I'm not Billy." Parker replied sadly. "And Rebecca never trusted me, she always assumed I was in love with Jill... Or Jessica."

"You will if you keep walking." Steve grumbled, shoving Jessica aside as he showed his teeth to Neil. "I'm telling you, you need to call you boyfriend to come save you."

"Did you give her reason to think that?"Sherry asked digging into her purse for her keys. "I would be flattered if someone cared enough to be jealous over me. I think it means that she really does love you...that she's afraid of losing you."

"You're telling me?" Claire hissed, turning her suddenly fierce gaze on Steve. "You have no right to tell me anything, or to make me feel guilty for loving Leon! Go back to your whore." She spat.

"You mean she's afraid of being alone." Parker corrected. "I can't compete with Billy. How could I? He saved her."

"She isnt...she kissed me!" Steve protested. "Jessica is a whore! She's always trying to do things like this!" he was getting louder by the second, his skin changing color.

"And you're not trying?" sherry asked, glancing back toward the diner. She was disappointed when there was no sign of Jake.

Claire continued to glare at Steve. She had thought he would understand her, understand how hard life was since Antarctica. "You're just like everyone else." She told him finally. "Treating me like I'm incapable of anything."

"Have you every had the exact same argument again and again?" Parker breathed. "That's how it is. I need her to see how I feel, and all she sees is my friendship with Jill. I... I was ready to cut off all ties with Jill, to make Rebecca happy. I guess now..."

"Claire...don't go..." Steve was close to begging. He stepped toward her, his fingers held out to her. "I know you can do anything. I've seen how amazing you are. But...I know you belong to someone else now. I'm not crazy enough to steal you from him." 

"You know Wesker killed that guy right?" Sherry asked as she got in the car and waited for Parker. "I'll bet my right arm that she was arguing simply to push you away, not because she meant it. She was afraid the same thing was going to happen to you."

Claire took another step away from Steve then, shaking her head sadly. "Again... Talking like I'm property." She whispered.
The young woman had still had no idea about her brother and Jill, though news had recently reached Alex. It was just a matter of when she chose to tell Claire.

"Yeah, well... I'm a big boy. Tie my own shoe laces and everything." Parker snorted.

"I am not!" Steve shouted at her, the color on his skin darkening further. "I was just saying! You won't listen? Fine! Let the fool tear you apart! I was trying to help!"

"But you're not super human. Wester is." sherry reminded him. "Mr. Luciani? Are all men so pig headed? I swear Leon must really be a women. He's the only one with a rational thought in him."