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.

Claire's lower lip trembled slightly, though she tried to hide it by chewing on it as she nodded. The young woman's fingers were shaking as she brought up her brother's number on her phone, not even sure what she was going to say as it rang.

"I'm just fine, Princess. I even had time to take care of a little business of my own." Wesker purred, folding his arms over his chest in silent challenge to Ramona. "You're dying, I hardly think you are one to command me to do anything."

"Redfield." Chris answered the call rather gruffly, not paying attention to who was on the other line. He was busy tracking the bug he'd left on Jake, not sure he wanted to let the boy keep walking around free. 

"Dying from a little virus your sister gave me?" Ramona scoffed. "I hardly think so. Albert, stop trying to change the subject."

"You need to come, now Chris. I'm in the hospital with Leon and Jill..." Claire breathed. "Jill was shot in China, they... They don't think she's going to make it." Her voice caught in her throat to think of losing Jill for a second time. "You'll hate yourself forever if you let things end like they did."

"Try cancer." Wesker replied firmly, not budging an inch. "You really thought you could hide it from me forever?"

"Claire...what the hell are you talking about?" Chris sounded even more gruff after listening to his sister speaking. "Have you been drinking? You sound strange. Call me back when you calm down." He started to hang up, not believing a word she was saying. 

"I'm not hiding anything from you." Ramona said, her slender fingers moving over the gun. He was forcing her hand. He was going to make her shoot him. Even she could see his movements were a bit sluggish. He needed the injection. "My health is none of your business."

"Don't you dare hang up on me!" Claire roared down the phone. "Jill is dying, and you don't even care! She was only in China in the first place because she was worried you were going to get yourself killed!"

Wesker snorted and actually laughed at that statement. "You're really playing that card, while fixating on my health?" He sneered.

Chris didn't need his sister to tell her it was his fault. He already had that sickening feeling in his stomach. "I'll be there when I can. She's probably better off if I don't come at all." He said softly. "I'm glad you're with Leon. At least he won't screw things up too badly. At least not until Ada shows up." He added, handing up on his sister.

Ramona shook her head. "You are more important in all of this than I am and you know it." She said firmly. "You're the god. You're the one Spencer rose to that status not me. Everything that was created...all the blood and sweat that has gone into all of these companies have been for you and about you. my health, like the old man's is nothing."

Claire stared down at her phone even after Chris had hung up. The last thing she had needed was for someone else to speak her biggest fear out loud.

Wesker advanced on Ramona until her had her backed up next to the door frame. "All for me? Jake has my blood, what real use do I have now?" He breathed, leaning down with his lips just above Ramona's.

"He'll come." Leon said gently. "Just you wait." He went on, pulling her close to him and kissing her temple. "Despite all this darkness, your brother is still a good guy. He won't let Jill down or you either. Come on, let's go get some coffee and you can catch me up on the last six months. I've missed you." 

"Jake doesn't want this life. That much is obvious." Ramona said, glaring up at Wesker. She was one of only two women that did not back down to him. "These companies...this life is yours. It will be long after Jake and I are gone. I have worked hard to make sure of that."

Claire nodded and rested her head gently against Leon's chest. "I missed you more." she whispered. In truth, Claire was afraid to enjoy these moments with Leon too much, worried something would tear them apart and she would be left with nothing but scars.

"And what if he does want it? What then?" Wesker asked, leaning his head lower to let his lips breath Ramona's slender throat lightly.

"Oh I doubt that seriously." Leon laughed softly. "All I did was think about you. Some days I could barely work for thinking about you. It was pretty bad. I got yelled at all the time." He turned her toward the cafeteria, hoping to take her mind off Jill for a while. He was more than a little certain the elder woman was not going to live through her injuries.

"Want what?" Ramona breathed, losing her train of thought. Wesker's lips were oddly warm against her skin. Gingerly her fingers threaded into his hair. She couldn't help herself she had to touch him.

"You know what I thought about?" Claire asked with a sad smile as they sat down. "I wish I had handled it differently when you talked about marriage in the car that night." She still wasn't certain if Leon had been serious or not.

Wesker smiled against Ramona's throat, his hands sliding down to her hips. "Continue the cancer treatment, and I'll continue with the shots." He breathed, not used to compromise.

"Me too." Leon admitted. "I was thinking maybe we could have a house and a couple of cats by now." He teased her. "Maybe a dog? And one day we'd talk about kids. It would be the perfect life. I think i'd love it." 

"You're not going to black mail me like that." Ramona admonished, fighting to shove him away. "Besides, I know you. You can't stand weakness." She added, shaking her head.

Claire stared across the table at Leon, surprised he had even thought about such things. "I think I would have too." She confessed. "I... I just always assumed Chris and Jill would have that life first."

"Very well. It would seem we are both living on borrowed time, little princess." Wesker replied as he took a step away, taking Ramona's gun with him as went.

"So you're feeling guilty?" Leon asked, hating to admit he was feeling a bit guilty too. 
"Claire!" Sherry ran across the cafeteria, waving her arms. "Leon!" though her eyes were puffy and swollen and her nose was red, she was grinning widely. 

"You really have lost your mind." Ramona muttered, shaking her head. Too late she realized he'd taken her gun from her. "Albert...what are you doing? I don't understand you all of sudden."

"Hey." Claire breathed, rising to her feet to greet Sherry. "What are you doing here?" She asked, trying to hide her exhaustion from the other woman.

"I gave you an option, Ramona. You rejected it." Wesker replied, heading for the door now. "You should make arrangements for the companies you hold so dear, in the event of our eventual deaths."

"I heard about Jill and I couldn't leave you alone here. So I hopped on another plane and diverted and..." Sherry threw her arms around the elder woman, needing the hug more than she wanted to admit. "Here I am. I...I've missed you so much." She whispered into Claire's hair. 

"You're making no sense!" Ramona shouted after him. "Why in the world would you do something like that? Explain yourself! You owe me that much!"

Claire was hugging Sherry tighter than she meant to. For the longest time she said nothing, instead simply stood there hugging the blonde and wishing things were better. "I missed you too." she finally managed to choke out.

"Owe?" There was such venom in that one word as Wesker turned around it was surprising it didn't burn through his tongue. "You kept my son from me, Ramona!" He hissed.

"I'm so sorry I just abandoned you when you needed me." Sherry started to cry, all the emotions she'd built up over the past few months with Jake were now getting the better of her. "It was horrible. You'd never have done that to me..." 

"And I'm not a bit sorry for it either!" Ramona shouted, her chest rising and falling wildly. "Do you have any idea how you have treated me over the years? How the hell was I to know you wouldn't treat a child the same way? And don't give me that 'it would be different because he's my blood' bullshit. You've never cared about anyone but yourself!"

"It's in the past now." Claire assured Sherry, not really wanting to be reminded of her own darkness these past few months. "You must be exhausted, why don't you book into a hotel and get some rest?" She suggested. "I'll call if Jill's condition changes, okay?"

"You never gave me the chance!"Wesker hissed, waving the gun at Ramona now. "You were just a child! A decision liek that should never have been left to you!"

"No. I'd rather stay here with you if that's okay? I don't want to be alone right now." Sherry said softly, leaning back and wiping at her eyes. "I've missed you so much. There's so much I need to tell you..."

Ramona turned her face away from him, his words burning a hole in the pit of her stomach. "yeah because I was far too stupid to do anything right." She muttered. "Go to hell, Albert." She turned her back on him, relieved when her phone rang. "Jake... Hey there, kiddo... Yeah...I heard about you being a hero... Very cool. You...want to see me? Why?"

"Sure thing." Claire breathed, gesturing that Sherry sit down at the table with herself and Leon. "Where did you want to start?" She asked, offering Sherry a paper napkin to dry her eyes.

Wesker heard the name, and his already stoney expression only worsened. If Ramona was meeting their son, she certainly wasn't doing it alone.

Sherry spent more than a few hours telling her about Jake and the things that had happened to them. She also confessed her feeling for the young man which had Leon choking on a soda not too far away. Especially since Leon knew who the young man belonged to and Claire still didn't. 

"No. Jake, I don't think that's a good idea right now." Ramona said, not daring to look at Wesker. She wasn't about to add to the already darkening storm cloud that was hanging over them. "Besides, I'm in China cleaning up the mess from Neo-Umbrella. Give it a few months and then we'll talk. Ok?"

Claire assumed Leon was choking on his soda because he still thought of Sherry as the meek little 12 year old they had rescued all those years ago. "So... Why are you here, and he isn't?"

Wesker noted the pause, meaning Jake either wasn't saying anything, or was saying a whole lot of something.
"Oh no, I get it. The polite 'fuck you', because I handed my blood over to someone else?" Jake sneered down the phone.

Sherry shook her head, her eyes reddening all over again. "He...He doesn't feel the same." She whispered, burying her face in the napkin. 
"Put a stop to that!" Leon hissed over her head. "Bad, Claire! Bad!" He added, shaking his own head.

"Oh for heaven's sake. Would you get over your blood?" Ramona snapped. "If I wanted your blood I would take it from...myself." She stuttered over the words, barely able to keep from saying Wesker's name. "Seriously, one little girl flashes her tits at you and you're thinking you are something special? Get over yourself kid. I said right now was not a good time because I am dealing with...things that you don't need to worry yourself with."

Claire scowled at Leon over Sherry's head, not understanding his reaction. "Oh sweetie... He's man, they're jerks ninety nine percent of the time." She breathed, glancing pointedly at Leon.

"She did more than flash her tits." Jake purred down the phoneline. "Maybe that's your problem, you uptight bitch, you're just not getting any!"
From the look on Ramona's face, Wesker almost wanted to burst out laughing, without even knowing what was said.

Leon was shaking his head, trying to motion to Claire not to encourage Sherry any further. 
Sherry sniffled, "He said terrible things about my father and I tried to be positive like you always were for me. I think he hates me." 

"Fine. Come here and regret every minute of it. I certainly am." Ramona snapped, her fingers shaking as she attempted to hang up the phone. "Don't say I didn't warn you, kid."

"Sherry..." Claire breathed sadly. "I was a horrible person to look up to. I left you and Leon sitting at the city limits after we barely escaped with our lives... And it only got worse from there. You both have more than enough reason to hate me, especially these past few years."

"Fuck you, lady!" Jake snarled down the phone, simply to have the last word. It would seem he was his mother's boy.

"And yet we don't. We both love you. Very much." Sherry sniffed, her eyes extremely red now. "I can't believe I was so stupid. I wasn't supposed to fall for him. Especially knowing what I know. That should have made a difference. Right?" 

"I love you too, kiddo." Ramona smiled. "I'll see you in a few hours." She added with a sigh, somehow knowing he was already on his way. "But...at least be prepared to get a hug. You're not getting out of that this time."

"And... what is it you know?" Claire asked, not sure why her stomach suddenly felt so queasy.

"Hugs? Really?" Wesker snorted as the call ended. "What happened to keeping him at a distance and not knowing about you?"

"He's Albert Wesker's son." Sherry told her. Over the little blonde's head Leon was nodding quickly and mouthing, 'I told you so.' "That's enough bad blood that I shouldn't think of him that way anyway. Never mind that I was supposed to be protecting him and his blood." She went on, sniffling louder. 

"I never said I kept my distance. I said I kept him away from Spencer." Ramona said, crossing her arms over her chest. "I went to see Jake as often as I could. He and speak on the phone all the time. He knows I'm his mother and he knows why I had to let Maria raise him." She turned away from him and rubbed her temples, knowing this was going to be a long night. And with Jake coming it was bound to get longer.