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.

"you'll think of something. Chris is the most resourceful guy I know." Sherry said solemly. "you don't have any other choice, Jill."

Ramona's body was giving up. as hard as she was fighting, it was fighting harder to end her. She could no longer even breathe on her own. Wesker was running out of time.

"I was always so afraid to hear those words." Jill breathed. "Now get going, Chris will be waking up soon."

Wesker had opened up the cell and dragged Rebecca out of it. "You had better work fast, mouse, or I begin removing some of the fat from your fake husband."

Sherry looked toward "that's means you're headed to tell Wesker what happened. Use it as an excuse to see your mother. I'll handle things here." She said, quick to turn and leave. 

"How do I know you won't do it anyway?" Rebecca snapped as she stumbled toward the labs.

Once they were alone again, Jill rested her head against the wall once more, feeling utterly drained. She didn't know how Chris was going to take all this when he woke up again, and she wasn't sure she was even strong enough to argue with him anymore.

"You don't." Was Wesker's simple reply. "But refuse, and well... I promise you I will slice the fat boy open."

"My head." Chris was sure his head was going to explode. He stirred close to dark surprised to find Jill up and moving around. "Jill! What the hell?!"

Rebecca had been in the labs most of the day pretending to work when Jake arrived. She watched him pass the glass, worried that Wesker had brought him in to hurt Parker.

Sherry had dropped some things off for the both of them, and Jill had been getting everything ready for when she and Chris left. "We need to leave." She told Chris softly, walking with one hand pressed to her stitches.

Jake had noticed Rebecca, but didn't acknowledge her. "What's with the lab mouse?" He asked his father.
"Ignore the girl. Why are you even here?" Wesker replied from where he poured over files beside Ramona's bed.

"Why? Are we under attack?" Chris asked quickly, grabbing for his gun. "Is it Leon? Has he found Claire?"

Ramona stirred when she heard Jake's voice. She reached out for him, "hey there, hero." she said, her voice drowned out by the the machines that were keeping her alive.

Jill shook her head, avoiding Chris' gaze as she pretended to be searching for something in one of the bags. "We died." She told him bluntly. 

"What happened?" Jake breathed, afraid to squeeze Ramona's hand too tight in case he hurt her.

"Oh come on . I know you hit me in the head and all but it wasn't that hard." Chris snorted thought he was rubbing his head a bit. 

"I'm dying." Ramona said, glancing at wesker. "You of all people should know that looks like kiddo."

"I didn't hit you, Sherry did." Jill corrected. "But we have to leave right away. Sherry has faked our deaths and we will be buried at the same service as Claire." She added, waiting for Chris to explode. "I died from infection... You killed yourself. Sorry." She did offer him a sheepish grin this time.

Jake shook his head. "No." He told Ramona simply. "No you're not. You're going to get off your ass, and you're going to go celebrate with him." He added, jerking his head at Wesker. "Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield are dead."

Chris scowled at this. "That does sound like me but...why? Why are we faking our deaths? Something must have happened to make her think that it was necessary to do that." 

Ramona smiled weakly. "Come on, kid. It's a nice thought but nothing that good ever happens to us."

"Us." Jill whispered, stopping what she was doing to look across at Chris. "She heard about the engagement... She thinks we should hang up our badges and leave things to her." The dark haired woman laughed softly and hook her head. "Her way of telling us we're simply too old now."

"It's true." Jake insisted. "Jill was in surgery with Claire, receiving a piece of her liver, or something. No one knew Claire was infect with some new virus. Jill contracted it after the operation, died. Chris shot himself in the head like the fucking coward he is." He added, purposefully not going into detail.

Chris shook his head. "That's not a good enough reason to kill myself. and you know it. I'm not letiting it go at that and I'm certainly not leaving the world I'm the hands of a Wesker." 

Ramona glanced toward Wesker, wondering what he thought of all this. Inside the labs, Rebecca was shaking her head, it was clear that she wasn't buying for a second.

"I can't do this anymore, Chris." Jill breathed, having to lean on her palms on the edge of the bed and fight through the pain now she was no longer on pain medication. "Wesker is dead. Spencer is dead. Are you really so unhappy at the thought of just spending your life with me, that you would rather throw it away chasing ghosts?"

Wesker was watching Jake, finding truth in the thought that Chris would indeed kill himself if both Claire and his precious Jill were dead. "Did anyone identify the virus Claire had?" He asked finally, concerned that Alex's research could still be out there and in someone elses hands.
"I don't fucking know." Jake snapped.

"We'll head to Montana." Chris said, the wheels in his head already spinning. "I've got money stashed away in another account. We can start our family. But if that kid starts anything..." he shook his head. 

"With you having their medic, no one would bother." Ramona reminded Wesker. She squeezed Jake's hand weakly. "I'm glad to get to see you again, kiddo." She whispered.
Rebecca tapped on the window that separated her from them and waved a syringe in the air, her eyes fixed on her former Captain.

Jill seemed to sag with relief and shuffled over to Chris, embracing him as tightly as she could. "Thank you." She breathed against his chest, though there was still an exhausted tone to her voice.

Wesker didn't say anything to his lover or his son as he left the room to join Rebecca. "You better have something good."

Chris wrapped his arms around her but held her lightly, knowing she was in pain. "I'll raid the medicine closets and then we'll go. The world will miss us and Claire will be proud. "

Rebecca turned the syringe on herself the moment he hit the door. "It's the beginning of a cure. Enough to keep her alive...you can have it but only if you send Parker home. You still have me and the baby that is precious to him. That's more than enough. Do we have a deal, Captain?"

"The world has taken enough from us." Jill breathed, breathing Chris in like he was some form of drug.

Wesker showed no outward reaction to this, until eventually he simply smiled. "Well played, mouse." He breathed. "Yes, the fatboy can go." He knew that Rebecca had no idea what had happened to Chris and Jill.

Six months passed quickly for Chris. They settled in a place called Heaven and it was truly that. They bought a house on the lake and Chris fished on it every morning. He spent the afternoon working on an old truck he'd bought and playing with a scrongy puppy they'd adopted life was nothing short of perfect. 

For Rebecca life was not perfect. It was hell. Though she knew Parker was safe, she was still in the service of Wesker. Now nearly eight months pregnant she was miserable. Ramona was still sick. Her cancer still clinging to her bones. The cure had not taken as well as she'd hoped. It was still a fight every single day to remain alive. For both her sake and Ramona's.

Jill had healed fairly quickly, most likely in part to the mutations she had running through her bloodstream. It was a challenge some days when she thought about how little they knew of the virus Claire had unknowingly passed to her. That aside, she was more than happy. It had been nice to move to a small town where everyone knew everyone else after so many years of living day to day without roots anywhere.

Wesker had been venting his anger on Rebecca more and more over the months when Ramona showed little improvement. He would verbally abuse her every chance he got. He still hadn't told Rebecca about Chris and Jill, instead letting her believe they simply weren't looking for her.

Chris had seemed to forget his old life. He hunted for fun now, not to stay alive. He and the dog he called Mutt brought home all kinds of meats for Jill,l. The night the dog proudly brought her a rabbit in his mouth shaking all over with joy from the hunt alone. Chris wasn't much better. 

Rebecca wasn't so worried about Chris and Jill. It was the fact that Parker hadn't come back for her that had her so depressed.

Jill didn't have the heart to tell Chris she hadn't been able to skin any of the animals they brought home. She had a freezer full of meat she had bought at the market that she passed off as his kills. "Boots!" She shouted at Chris when he began to enter the house with muddy feet.

"I told you he didn't care." Wesker mused, used to that look in Rebecca's eyes by now. "You loss was Jessica's gain. And to think... It's was Jill you were jealous of all these years."

"Oh come on!" Chris whined, though he did sit down and kick off his boots. "They were muddy one time and you are making me pay for the rest of my life! Mutt doesn't have to take off anything! 

Rebecca didn't look up from what she was doing. Her stomach hurt At the thought. She was beginning to believe parker had said all those things just to gain his freedom. He probably didn't even believe she had been carrying his child and if he did he hadn't cared. The memory of seeing him with Jessica kept playing over and over in her head.

"Do you want to sleep on the couch tonight?" Jill asked, her head peeking round the kitchen door and into the hall.

"Good. Now finish the cure." Wesker sneered before heading to the door. He had seemed to make his mission for Rebecca to be as miserable as possible.

Chris gave Jill a wolfish grin and nodded. "We haven't done it there yet." He purred, taking off running to chase her aound the corner.

"I hope she dies." Rebecca hissed, not thinking he could hear her. "

Jill shrieked with laughter as she ran through the house , still holding the chocolate batter covered spoon she had been using in the kitchen.

"I thought you might." Wesker chuckled. "You really think I would let your fat boy go without keeping track of him?"

Jill had been right, Chris thought as he cornered his wife and tickled her mercilessly. They should have found Heaven years ago and given up on the world. Afterall, who actually missed or needed them?

"I was talking about Ramona." Rebecca hissed, turning her head so that her former Captain wouldn't see the tears burning in her eyes. She hated being pregnant. It made her show weakness. That was something he himself had taught her never to have.

Jill was shrieking even louder and hitting Chris with the chocolate covered spoon. She was laughing so hard she could barely breathe, a feeling she had thought she would never know again. Until they came here.

"So was I." Wesker replied coolly. "Parker roams free, but you need to remember what will happen if you fail in finding the cure."

Their scroungy dog was racing around them, catching chocolate as it flew through the air and barking wildly. Chris was laughing too, his world perfect and complete. 

"Don't threaten me, Captain." Rebecca snapped. "You're not the only one with the power to harm a loved one. While you're gone...who knows what I Slip into Ramona's IV."

Jill finally dropped the spoon and was ticking Chris back, soon gaining the better position and pinning him to the floor beneath her. "I still win." she breathed with a grin.

"And then we come right back to Parker and your baby. Anything like that happens, both of them meet an unfortunate end." Wesker commented coolly.