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! Claire Redfield!" Steve screamed, raising his fist to smash her to pieces as he had so many before her. "Damn you!" 

"Yes! I've had it for six months!" Rebecca screamed, gripping the sides of the cot. " I was hoping she'd die First!"

"Steve?" Claire breathed his name, and bravely pushed herself to her feet.

"Well now... Isn't this a worry." Wesker told Rebecca icily. "You have the cure that could save your baby from the cancer she is about to be born with." He tutted and shook his head. "But if you never see the child, how can you cure her?"

Instantly the large fist went down and the red eyes softened. The bitch Alex had never spoken his name before. "C-claire?" Her name was a whisper on his lips. 

"In the drawer..." Rebecca let go of the cot and pointed at the desk on the far wall. "The purple syringe in the back. Two doses. That's all. One for her and...one for the baby...." she could barely get the words out before another scream left her. This time it had her calling for Parker.

Claire was face to face with the beast now, and dared to reach up and touch his green face lightly. "I thought you were dead." She breathed.

Wesker looked over his shoulder, then walked over to the drawer. It was only once he was certain the cure was there that he helped Rebecca deliver her baby.

"I thought you left me..."  steve whispered back, his human face shimmering for a moment. "no! I'm not falling for it again!" He shouted, hitting Claire hard enough to send her flying across the cell. 

"Let me hold her." Rebecca begged, holding her arms out for the baby. "Please, captain..."

Claire felt the back of her head strike one of the bars, and warm blood trickle free. It took her a moment to get to her feet, but she soon made a break for the open doorway, a hand pressed to the healing wound in her lower abdomen.

Wesker rose to his feet, and cruelly took a step away. "Ramona died a few hours ago." He told Rebecca with a hiss. "You had the cure, and you let her die. I warned you, mouse. I told you what would happen if you double crossed me."

"Don't run!" Alex shouted over the loud speaker. She was giggling wildly."it just sets off the hunter instict! The blood isn't helping either!" She cackled.

"No!" Rebecca howled, holding her arms out. "The baby is mine! " she screamed. "Give her to me!"

Claire wasn't about to do anything Alex suggested. She had sprinted past the destroyed cells, stopping with her back to one of them once she thought she had run far enough. The emergency light offered little illumination, preventing Claire from even telling how large this room was.

Wesker continued to back away with the child. "You were warned. You thought you were a hero, just like Chris and Jill. You're nothing."

Steve followed her, lumbering along hard enough to shake the walls themselves. "You're no better than Alexia! She was a crazy bitch and so are you! I won't stand for it anymore! Screw you! All of you!!!" He howled. 

"Please?" Rebecca was sobbing now, nothing but a quivering mess. "Captain!" She screamed herself hoarse as he disappeared with her baby, not yet realizing she would never see her again. At least....not as an infant...

There was nowhere left for Claire to run. Steve was behind her, and the wall was in front of her. "Steve! You have to listen to me!" She pleaded. "Remember last time? Remember how Alexia made me hold you while you died?"

Wesker had cleaned the child up and laid her down in the pod he had waiting. The child would be safe and well until he had Ramona prepared.
"Are you still certain about this?" He breathed, taking hold of his lover's frail hand. "She has the cure, we can still try it."

"I didn't die! My body went to sleep while I kept adjusting to the virus. Wesker was happy to tell me that while he was torturing me!" Steve snarled. "And you were happy to simply leave me there so you could run off with your brother! You didn't care about me! You're no better than anyone else ever was!"

"Its been too long. The cure wouldn't work and you know it." Ramona said, shaking her head. "I'm too weak to make it through the day at this point... I'm sorry, Albert. I tried. I really did. But this is all I have left to offer you."

"I didn't know!" Claire practically sobbed. That final moment had haunted her nightmares for so long that it was only recently that she had stopped waking in the middle of the night, screaming and ocvered in cold sweat.

Wesker sighed quietly and nodded his head. "We need to do it now." He agreed. "The child is strong and healthy, it should have no problem surviving the procedure."

"Didn't know and not even sorry." Steve snarled, his enormous for now hulking over her. "No one is ever sorry for me. No one gives a shit about me . least of all, Claire Redfield."

Ramona nodded, her heartbeat already slowing. "I'll see you in a few days." She whispered.

Claire didn't cower, or beg Steve not to hurt her. The woman with the dark red hair simply looked up at him, ready to accept her fate. "Claire Redfield died in Antarctica." She told him quietly.

Those few days were the longest Wesker had known. He seemed to be constantly pacing, checking vitals, and then the clock in a repeating pattern. Everything seemed to be going well, but that didn't stop the 'what if' scenarios from running through his head.

"Why?" The voice that spoke now was soft and human. There was nothing monstrous about it. "why would she do something like that When she had so much to live for? So many people to go home to?" 

At long last the young woman that now laid on the table took a gasping breath and opened her eyes. "Al...Albert..." though the body belonged to another it still possessed Ramona's voice.

"They didn't understand." Claire breathed, wishing she wasn't able to remember every awful thing her brother had said to her since finding out she wasn't as strong as they all were. Then there was a guilt she felt every day. She loved Leon, very much, but there was always that nagging thought in the back of her mind; What happens when Ada shows up?

Wesker had taken some time to pour over pages and pages of data while the lab was so very still. It actually startled him to hear Ramona breathe his name. For a moment he could only stare, surprised the transition had worked.

Steve began to shake wildly, backing away from her. "Don't look." he whispered. "You can't see me like this." he waited until she closed her eyes and fell on the floor, howling in pain. Moments later human hands were touching her face. "Claire...I thought I'd never see you again." 

Ramona had no idea her new body didn't work quite right and Tried to get off the table only to tumble to the floor. She cursed loudly at this, shaking her long dark hair.

Claire didn't dare open her eyes again. Her lower lip trembled and she quickly bit down on it. Like Steve, she too now thought this way maybe some sick trick Alex was playing.

Wesker chuckled quietly, and was there to pick her up. "You've never used those legs before, Silly girl." He breathed, still holding her close.

"You can open your eyes." Steve said, his hand now shaking. He was afraid she didn't want to look at him. She didn't want it to be him. She didn't love him. She never did. "Please?" 

Ramona sighed. "Legs are legs...aren't they?" She muttered. "Shouldn't they have come as a complete package?"

Claire slowly opened her eyes, which were watering considerably. Looking at Steve now reminded her that he had been here, alone, all this time. "I'm sorry." She managed to whisper.

Wesker chuckled again and laid Ramona back down. "If they've never been used, they will be weak for now. Muscle memory alone isn't enough I'm afraid."

"Me too." Steve whispered. "It's been a hell of a life." He laughed darkly. "I'm sure yours has been better." He said, lifting up her hand and inspecting the glittering diamond that Leon had given her. "So you're married, hum?" 

"Well that's a bitch." Ramona laughed. "What's become of Rebecca? Did I miss anything? Have you taken your shots?"

"I was going to be." Claire whispered sadly. "I don't know how long I've been here... But he only proposed the day before I had surgery." She added, seeming to be intentionally avoiding Leon's name. It had been a rather sore subject since she and Steve had first met.

"She's still in the lab, working on the T-Phobos virus, and yes, surprisingly I remembered to take my shots." Wesker replied with a smirk. "I put a leash on the girl, now she is no longer pregnant."

"That's why I smelled blood and infection," Steve said as he stepped back and shook his head. He had let go of her and turned his back, fighting to keep his emotions in check. "You were brought here to bring out my blood lust. Alex didn't know though..." 

"Obviously not." Ramona said, unable to keep from grinning wickedly as she looked herself over. "I'm almost afraid to look in a mirror."

"Didn't know what?" Claire breathed, reaching out for Steve as he turned away, before pulling her fingers up short.

Wesker smiled, having to restrain himself from kissing Ramona as he wished to. "Learn to walk, and I can show you to a mirror." He teased.

"Didn't know what you meant to me." Steve said as he pulled further away. "She's probably guessing it right about now. Those Weskers are smart like that. Fucking evil but smart as assholes." 

"As if it will take me that long." Ramona said, sitting up again. "How far has she gotten on the virus? Perhaps infecting her with it...No...Where is the Italian? Bring him here and infect him. She'll have it figured out in no time then. Mark my words..."

"She's worse than her brother." Claire insisted, keeping her voice low. "She... She infected me with something. I think she brought me here for more than your bloodlust. If I get too scared of something, the virus in my blood will cause me to change. There... is no vaccine. She needs to understand why I never mutated, why no women infected mutate, just the men. The women just suffer horribly."

Wesker was laughing as he shook his head. "Bossy as ever, I see." He mused. "How about you just take your precious little baby steps like a good little girl and leave the mouse to me?"

Steve couldn't help but smile. He shoved his fingers through hair that was even wilder than before and shoved it out of his eyes. "That's because she's never fucked with Redfield. Right? I remember what happened last time. "

Sherry Birkin looked at the broken man sitting across the table from her and chewed her bottom lip. She never thought she'd see a man like Parker LucianI look this way. She glanced at Jake who was sitting beside her, easily able to see his jaw working. He knew something she didnt...so.ething they both didnt...
"Parker...Chris and Jill are dead...I'm so sorry...we can try and help you but there is nothing they can do for you anymore." She said after a long and painful moment. Kinapped old friend or not, she'd made a promise. The Redfields deserved their peace. She could handle this.

"I failed, that's what." Claire told him with a heavy sigh. "Then, like always, I needed my brother to come save me." She added, seeming to gloss over the fact she had done just fine in Raccoon City, and had survived a lot since then.

Jake couldn't look at Parker. Sometimes he couldn't look at Sherry, knowing that so many words past his lips were lies.
"No... Not possible!" Parker insisted loudly. "Jill and Chris are soldiers, they do not just die!" He insisted, thumping a heavy fist down on the table.

"So...do we need to find a way to contact him again?" Steve asked, his red hair tumbling into his eyes as it always had. "It won't be hard for me to turn monster again and get into the communications room. It's really funny when people start running and screaming like little ants." 

Sherry jumped, Parker's reaction surprising her. "They...did..." She said softly, resting her hair over his balled fist. "I've told you before. "Jill died in surgery and Chris killed himself from losing her. I'm so sorry. But...I've told you...we can help you. I know it doesn't seem like much but...it is. It really is."

Claire shook her head, trying to offer Steve a smile. "We... Aren't exactly on the best of terms." She replied. "I'm afraid it's just the two of us."

"NO!" Parker roared again. "Chris would not be so weak!" He insisted, turning his hateful glare on Jake.