The bonds of family

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Claire Redfield was sat at her desk, chewing on her pen as she stared at the faded photo in a battered frame. She had just gotten back from Rio on business and she had already thrown herself into another case. The photo she kept safe was taken such a long time ago, Sherry was still just a little girl in it, and Leon... Well he was no different. They had all been so happy when they made it out of Raccoon City, despite everything that had happened. It was years later and Claire still sometimes woke with nightmares of that place, and her time spent at Rockfort Island. She had barely spoken of it to Leon when she had made it home, but she figured Chris probably told him everything anyway. That was when she had drifted apart from the people she called family. They all seemed to have their mission and she had always just been 'Chris Redfield's baby sister'. Claire was much like her brother, in the aspect that she just wanted to help people. A shame Chris thought she was still that nineteen year old student. They still spoke on the phone often, had dinner together at the holidays, but pinning big brother down long enough for anything more seemed harder work than finding all traces of Umbrella and making them disappear for good. The young woman shook her head to try and clear the melancholy away, then pushed the dark red hair from her eyes. "Come on Claire..." She scolded herself, laughing quietly when she thought of the fun her friends had made in the past when she talked to herself.

"Hello?" Jill wasn't expecting the phone to ring, given that she thought no one but Chris had the number, and he hadn't been gone all that long.

"You are under the impression I couldn't make you." Wesker snorted with all the sibling hatred any other family may share. "You have once again created some fantasy world inside that pretty little head of yours."

"Jill? Is Chris there? This is Sherry Birkin. I need to talk to him about Claire..." Sherry nervously tore at a paper on her desk while she spoke, losing her nerve.

"it's no fantasy. I read the report." Alex hissed, her eyes now sliding around the room. She got up, seeing the feminine things that decorated it. her fingers brushed a perfume bottle that rested on the dresser. "Such a mystery. That you would be fascinated with her even as a child..."

"Claire? What's wrong, is she okay?" Jill asked, suddenly sitting up from where she had been lay down still tangled in last nights sheets. 

Wesker allowed Alex to wander, thinking her no more than an annoyance. "What can I say... I like things that do not die easily."

"She sounded strange." Sherry said. "She called me. That's certainly not normal." She sighed softly. 

Alex sprayed the perfume on herself with a smile. "I heard she was brave enough to fish you from Africa. Perhaps there is some real use to her..."

"What did she say?" Jill asked, trying to tame her hair blonde hair as she moved around the room looking for her clothes. "Chris was convinced that Leon screwed her over last night and went looking for her."

"Perhaps." Wesker replied, giving nothing away. He wasn't about to tell Alex anything about his injections.

Sherry told her what Claire had said about Leon. "maybe thats all it is? She's upset with LeoN and maybe Chris said something to make it worse? Can you call Chris?"

Alex went to Ramona's closet, hunting through clothes the younger woman no longer believed she owned. "So practical...nothing at all like Spencer...and yet so lovely. I will see her." she purred, pulling out a soft white dress and holding it against her.

Jill sighed softly and ran her fingers through her hair. "Claire spent the night with Leon, that's as much as i know. I'll try and call Chris, can I meet you somewhere?"

This seemed to finally cross a line for Wesker and he snatched the dress out of Alex's fingers. "You really shouldn't compare yourself to Ramona, you will only end up hating yourself even more."

"There's a diner...Frank's. Can we meet there in an hour?" Sherry asked, grabbing her gun off the corner of the desk. "I'll see you soon."

Alex's lips curled into a wicked grin. "How interesting." she didn't say anything more, her fingers sliding over the silken material of the dress. "I am not leaving, Albert. Especially not knowing how muche she seems to matter to you."

"See you there." Even as she said the words Jill expected she would be arriving with Chris and the three of them would end up just eating lunch or something. It never entered her thoughts that she wouldn't be able to get hold of Chris.

Wesker finally squared up to his sister, standing a good head above Alex as he peered down at her. "And what? You want to take her place?" He sneered.

Chis phone had been dumped off long before he'd been taken to his final destination. The ringing could be heard by a small squirrel that was far too busy eating to care.

Alex laughed wickedly, shaking her head. "You were NE er a bright one, we're you?" She patted his chest. "It's not you I want. It's her."

Jill rang several times just to make certain, but by the time she was arriving at the diner to meet Sherry she was quite obviously worried. He had barely let her out of his sight since they had returned from Africa, so this disappearance made no sense.

"I never knew you enjoyed pert breasts and long legs." Wesker snorted, though he knew it was bad news if Alex had taken an interest in Ramona only after reading Spencer's notes.

Chris was lost in darkness. He was calling for Jill as he always did but as always she didn't answer. 
sherry sat at table in the diner, nervously waiting for Jill. She'd tried to find Claire but came up with nothing. It wasn't looking good for the Redfield siblings. 

"We are a lot alike." Alex purred. "I suppose that's a good thing. Perhaps that will make her more receptive to what I have to offer."

"Anything?" Jill asked literally the moment she sat down opposite Sherry. "I can't get a reply from Chris, or Claire. You think maybe they're off arguing somewhere together?"

"Whatever it is, Ramona's answer is now." Wesker replied confidently. "If it was you she wished to deal with, you would have heard from the little princess before now."

Sherry shook her head. "it's like Claire dropped off the planet. Or she hates me. I can't decide which." she sighed. "As mad as she sounded I'm betting on both."

"If you didn't have your hand in it,  guessing I would have." Alex clicked her tongue as she moved away from Western and sat on the bed. "So selfish, little brother. Keeping all the good sweeties for yourself. It's time you learned to share."

"What does she have to be mad at you about? Leon came and swept her off her feet just like she always wanted." Jill commented, motioning to the waitress that she would like some coffee. "Claire and Chris are too alike for their own damn good."

"What can I say, I wish I was an only child." Wesker snorted. "It's rather cruel, isn't it? I can have a thousand genetically superior offspring, if I choose to, while everyday you tick closer to biological damnation."

"So what do we do?" Sherry asked, chewing on the straw of her soda. "It's not like either of them have a tracker in them or anything...Claire doesn't like me anymore. She'll ignore me."

"You shut up." Alex snapped, close to losing her temper. "I will see her. I will see what keeps you sniffing around her. Oh, did I tell you? I met your son the other day. Nasty boy. A lot like you."

"Claire's just... not herself right now." Jill assured Sherry gently. "Don't take anything she may have said to heart."

Wesker kept his expression rather stony when Alex spat this at him. "No life of your own, so you must sniff around everything of mine?"

Sherry didn't look at Jill. "I go on my first mission next week. To find Albert wesker's son. I'm probably not coming back. She's going to be mad. It's probably better this better this way." 

"Someone has to clean up the mess you leave." Alex snorted picking at the lavender sheets she sat on. "Does your pet know about him? what ever will she say?"

"Sherry..." Jill didn't know what to say. Her first instinct was to tell the other blonde that she was too young to be taking on such an assignment, until she realised Sherry was already older than she had been when Wesker screwed them all over. "You can't leave things like this. Claire loves you, anyone can see that."

"I fail to see what relevance his existence creates." Wesker replied coolly. "Then again, I should expect such thoughts from you, after all.. What man was ever foolish enough to touch you?"

"Maybe I should call Leon to help and just go." sherry shrugged. "She'd rather see him anyway. I'm not stupid. I get it. I mean it's not love or anything but..." she turned her head, searching her purse for change to pay for the soda. "I'll him some dramatic story. He'll be here soon. Don't go anywhere." She muttered, dropping the change down and getting to her feet.

"My aren't we getting touchy." Alex laughed, deciding this was a subject she wanted to persue. "I've given Jake's information to a friend. He's made good use of it and the boy. maybe I'll pass it on to your Ramona. She might want to test him. See if he tastes better than Daddy."

"Sherry, don't." Jill breathed, hesitating to tell the younger woman's Claire's business. "At dinner last night... Chris went through Claire's purse, he found prescription meds she's been taking to help her with whatever it is she's going through. They had a huge fight and Leon went after her."

"That's her choice." Wesker replied with a nonchalant shrug. "I'm guessing you only passed the info along because he had the good taste to pass you over."

"It's ok." sherry shook her head. "you don't have to give some excuse. Claire is blowing me off. It's not the first time it's happened to me." she took her purse and stuffed her hands in the pockets of her jeans. "I mean...my parents were dying to get away from me. See ya, Jill." That said she left the other woman alone in the diner. 

"I passed it along because I have bigger fish to fry." Alex said, cocking her head as a lock turned on the front door. "Birkin's daughter for one. Ramona Briggs for another. I always get what I want, Albert. You know that."

Jill was left to stare at her sad looking cup of coffee. No closer to finding Chris, and with no way of even knowing where to begin. "So much for friends..." She muttered, finally realising Chris was the only one she had.

"What interest have you in the Birkin girl?" Wesker asked suspiciously.

Leon arrived a few hours later, looking like it was the last place he wanted to be. "What's going on?" He asked as he sat down. "Sherry said Chris and Claire are off somewhere duking it out?"

Alex gave Wesker a devilis smile and got to her feet, cocking her head at the sound of clacking high heels. Her purr was audible. 
"Albert, it's time. You can't wait any longer." Ramona said in the hallway. "Neil is pissed but I cut the date short. You need an injection..."
Alex turned her head, her eyes sliding over her younger "sibling".

Jill looked up at Leon with the kind of expression someone like her never usually wore; defeat. She had been through hell these past two years, and now this, she was trying to remain strong but it got harder the more friends you lost. "I wish that were true." She confessed wearily. "I can't contact either of them."

Wesker tried to remain stoic, but he could feel Alex watching him. "Now isn't the time, Ramona." He called back to her.

"She left the hotel before I ever woke up this morning and then had the nerve to tell me to screw off." Leon snapped. "I don't know why she's gone. I seem to have the effect on women. It seems Claire is no different. As for Chris...that one is weird. He was sticking to you like glue. Maybe he's upset about his sister and he's sulking."

Warning bells went off in Ramona's head. He never called he by her name. "It's just for that pesky STD." she snorted. "Your bitch should get it too." she added, fishing the gun from her purse. 
Alex smirked, liking the young woman more than before.

Jill shook her head insistently. "Chris was camped outside your hotel, convinced that you were going to break Claire's heart. Claire hadn't left when I last spoke to him, he was still waiting for her and that was late morning."

Wesker was trying hard not to smile now, he knew there was a reason he enjoyed the princesses company. "Well she has her own doctor, not that it matters. I'd never touch a frigid bitch like her anyway." He shouted through the door, smiling thinly at Alex.

Leon's face fell. "Oh god. I looked all over. I didn't see her. Don't tell me..." He dropped his head into his hands. "I never would have left if I had known."

"Oh no. You just get off on the real skanks like Excella. Look where that got you. Always itching your crotch. Real smart Albert."
Alex was glaring at him, her eyes narrowed. She had the fingers of her left hand in the pocket of her suit jacket.

Jill groaned and closed her eyes when she too realised that Leon had unknowingly walked out on Claire, when that had been the younger woman's biggest fear. "Telling you to screw off kind of makes sense now, huh?" She muttered. 

"Just thinking about fond memories, princess." Wesker snorted, aware of what Alex was thinking even if he wasn't looking at her.

"I'm a monster." Leon breathed his hair falling over his fingers. "I...I thought she was through with me...what can I do now? I told her I loved her...she must really hate me..."

"Glad that works for you." Ramona said, her footsteps stopping outside the door. "Why don't you leave your date in there and meet me in the kitchen?"
Alex'so gaze was in the door now, her fingers tightening on what was in her pocket.