The bonds of family

First topic message reminder :

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!"

"Uh huh..." Logan clearly didn't believe Chris. "And if Jill's already there?"

"And when he stops needing her?" Parker asked uncertainly. "Everyone eventually wears out their use to people like him, Sherry."

"She only cares about the bagels." Chris growled. "I'll punch him in the face if he's messing with her. Mark my words." 

"That's why we're going to get to her first." Sherry said cheerfully. "All you need is to fight fire with fire. And what better way than to use your own monster? Wesker will never see that coming."

"You really think Jill would let that happen?" Logan had been a part of their lvies long enough to see how things worked between Chris and Jill.

"I don't think a little girl is going to scare him all that much." Parker teased, going so far as to reach out and ruffle Sherry's hair.

"Yep." Chris said as he kept stuff gear into his truck. "Then she'll probably want to get me naked. So don't get jealous or anything. It happens alot, you know." His hairy mutt surged past Logan and jumped in the front seat, giving the dark haired man a toothy snarl.

Sherry sighed And motioned him to follow her to the plane. "come on, old man. We're going to have enough trouble as it is without your creek in bones giving us away." she teased.

"Yeah, I hear you two terrorised those poor neighbours of yours with a nice little skin show yesterday." Logan snorted, narrowing his eyes at the dog before getting into the back of the truck.

Parker made a big show of acting like he could barely walk due to his old age as he hobbled to the plane.

Chris' face went a bit red and he rubbed the back of his neck. "Serves them right for barging in." he muttered. 
By the time they reached the bakery, he was hot under the collar and  thinking about that incident. For some reason Chris was spoiling for a fight as a parked a Ross the street and got out.

Sherry gave one last look at the empty airstrip,ashamed of herself for hoping to see Jake. She knew better. He wasnt going to be there. She lifted into the sky, her heart in her stomach. He truly didn't want to be with her. He'd made his choice.

Logan hadn't missed the fact that Chris had said very little on the drive over. He had tried talking about anything at all, and Chris just seemed to be clenching his jaw and watching the road.
Jill was indeed inside the bakery, helping the owners move some boxes around.

"You call yourself an agent?" A deep voice that wasn't Parker's breathed against Sherry's ear once the plane was in the air.

Chris all but broke the doors down as he entered the shop, giving the owner a thunderous glare. "Bagels, huh?" he growled at Jill.

"Jake." Sherry turned her head, grinning at the young man. Her eyes were sparkling with joy.

Jill had her back to Chris, though she quite audibly sighed before setting the box down and turning to face him. "Oh, I'm sorry... Does my box carrying disturb your sulking in some way?" She snapped.

Jake stole a kiss from Sherry before she had the chance to turn her head back. "You really left me behind to bring fat boy?"

The green eyed monster was evident in Chris. He was glaring at Jill now, shaking his head. "if you wanted to leave, you could just say so." He growled. "Carrying boxes my ass." He turned to leave, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Jealous or something?" Sherry asked, motioning him to sit in the copilot's seat.

"Don't you dare make this about me!" Jill hissed, glaring as Chris' broad back. "You've been pushing me away for weeks! You would rather go fishing with your buddy there and get shit faced, than have to spend time with me!"
Logan was discretely trying to place himself between the bakery owners, and these two. He had seen how nasty they could both get.

"Should I be?" Jake asked with arched brow. "Got a thing for older guys now?" He added with a smirk.

"I am not! I do not! Chris snapped, though he didn't tutn back to look around her. "But if I did, does it doesn't give you the right to go running to someone else!"

"Probably. To both of those question." Sherry purred unablet to keep much of a straight face.

Jill picked up a rather hard bagel and threw it at the back of Chris' head. "How can you still not trust me?!" She roared, having had enough of her lover's jealousy.

"Damn... Well lucky for you, I still think older women are hot." Jake remarked with a playful wink.

"Because I know how you are!" Chris shouted back, unwisely Saying the first thing that came to his mind. It didn't matter that he meant that she was beautiful. What it sounded like was that he thought she was a whore.

"Well, regardless. I'm glad you're here." Sherry said, handing him a headset. "This isn't much fun and I doubt your dad is going to welcome us with open arms or anything like that."

The look of utter betrayal in Jill's cobalt eyes was heartbreaking when Chris spat those words at her. She had nothing else to say to the man she had wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of her life with. Jill pushed past Chris and went straight out the door. 

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you what had been going on." Jake breathed. "You know how it is... Family secrets."

Chris grunted several times, unable to even move his body. His mother used to say he had foot shaped mouth. He could do nothing but prove her right...

Every time Claire even moved Steve was on his feet, worried she was waking up and more than hoping she would. He didn't know what to do with her. He certainly didn't know what to say to her. She'd never understand that he hadn't meant to hurt her. 

"Yeah." Sherry agreed, no longer able to look at Jake. Family secrets indeed. She would take hers to her grave and probably beyond. If she ever got to the grave that was.

Logan was watching Chris uncertainly. "You must really want her gone." He commented after a moment. 

Claire had finally woken with the mother of all headaches. To say it felt like her head was in a vice didn't quite cover it. The injured woman groaned quietly, fora moment not even realising where she was.

"So, remind me again why we're going after this woman?" Jake asked. "If she's as inportant as Wesker thinks she is, he'll never met her go."

"Claire..."Steve was touching her fave in much the same way he'd done all those years ago. "I'm so sorry." he knew he'd never be able to say it enough but he had to try. "I should never have lost my temper like that."

"Because she's Parker's wife and he loves her." sherry said evenly, glad he'd been able to pull her out of her dark thoughts. "I don't think we're going to find a baby or anything like that but we need to keep that between us. Okay?"

"How long was I out?" Claire asked, deciding it probably best to act like it was no big deal.

"Does she love him?" Jake asked, flipping some of the switches on the controls when the plane shuddered slightly,

"a couple of days." Steve said, clearly ashamed of this. "I've made sure you've had stuff to drink and all that. You are ok. I...I don't know how to use the machines upstairs or I would have contacted your brother or Leon myself..." 

"I don't know. Rebecca was always kind of strange. The last few years she's been so stand offish... I can't tell you if she even cares for her own life..." Sherry admitted.

Claire was sat up now and rubbing her fingers through her hair. "Thanks." She told Steve with a reassuring smile. "What about you? Didn't anyone care I'm not locked away anymore?"

"Poor guy..." Jake breathed, like he spoke from experience. "So, let's say we find her, and manage to get her out of there... What then? They go back to pretending everything is fine? What if she doesn't even want to leave?"

"I think you were supposed to be food." Steve said with a shrug. "Alex is now planning something else and watching you to see why I haven't killed you yet."

"I'm not a marriage counselor, Jake. I don't know. I'm just going to try. It's the best I can do. That desperation in his eyes...how could I say no?" Sherry asked softly.

"And why haven't you?" Claire asked curiously. 

Jake let out a quiet snort of laughter and shook his head. "He's not a wounded puppy, you know."

"You know why." Steve snapped Refusing to even look at her. "Not that it's enough anymore. You've fallen in love with that Leon guy and I'm just a monster that hurts you."

Sherry didn't look at him. She didn't like or when he laughed at her. "He certainly looked like one when he was asking for help. I can't leave him like that. It wouldn't be right. I wouldn't do that to even Chris."

Claire looked up at Steve with a horrified expression. "Why do you keep saying that? I don't think you're a monster, and I don't think you intentionally hurt me." She breathed, pushing herself to her feet to stand face to face with him.

Jake snort and shook his head this time. "That bastard deserves everything he got. Acted like he's fucking king of the world or something." He remarked, not knowing how Chris was losing everything all by himself.

Steve looked like a lost puppy as he stood looking at her and shaking his head. "No. Never. I...I love you." He whispered. 

"Yeah. Chris is a bit...off..." Sherry sighed, wishing it didn't bring up memories of the terrible things the man had said to her. "I'm glad you came, Jake. Even if it is your father we're up against." She said after a moment, desperate to change the subject again.

Claire wished things were different, just as she wished her insides didn't twist painfully at the thought of Steve trapped here alone all these years. As Chris had always liked to remind her, Claire had been a broken mess when she had gotten back from Antarctica. It had taken her a long time to convince people she was over Steve. "You shouldn't..." She finally managed to breathe before stealing a gentle kiss.

"I know you, blondie." Jake breathed. "There's no changing your mind, and I can't have you going into the viper pit alone now, can I?" He added, glancing across at her. "I know you think you're untouchable, but you really don't know him as well as you think you do."

Steve let out a shuddering breath and deepened the kiss, sliding his fingers through her hair. It had been so long and she was so very precious to him. "C-claire." He breathed at last managing to pull himself away and look down in her eyes. "Don't leave me again. Please..."

The facility was dark when the plane landed but Sherry's senses were awake and fully aware that they were not alone. She and Parker made sure all the weapons had ammo. All the while she watched Jake out of the corner of her eye. He was simply cracking his knuckles.

"They aren't serious, are they?" Ramona asked, she stood beside Wesker,  shaking her head. Briefly she found herself wondering if this was what betrayal felt like. Seeing Jake out there attempting to work against her hurt. "I want the Birkin girl." she hissed to the undead soldiers standing behind them. "You were right. She's no good for our son..."

Steve would see a darkness in Claire's sapphire eyes that hadn't yet been there when they had first met all those years ago. She had lost a lot of people since then. When she had first met Steve, she was already in love with Leon, but accepting that he wanted someone else. "I don't think she will ever let me go, not after what I did..." She breathed, holding up her wrist for Steve to see the bracelet Alex had fitted her with.

Jake didn't like the stillness of the facility. He couldn't see any of them, but he knew all eyes were on them. He couldn't keep Sherry safe here, and that's what bothered him the most.

"I didn't expect you to listen to me." Wesker remarked, all too used to his lover ignoring his counsel. "I warned you what the Birkin's were like. It makes it worse that she was basically raised by those damn Redfield's."

Steve nodded at this. "So we need your brother and his whole crew. Right? I can get you into that room. you'll be saved from there. Trust me. I know your brother. I've been watching him all this time."

"It's not too late to fix it. Right?" Ramona asked, not looking away from Jake. She knew what a Birkin was like. She was itching to tell her son that the tiny blonde didn't care about him and never had. Birkins had been created to take care of Weskers. It was in their genetics. Given a syringe and time, she could prove it.