Rookie Life

First topic message reminder :

“God Chris, of course I’ll be alright. No... I know it’s all new... I can handle it, seriously! Don’t make me come all the way out there and kick your ass. Yeah, yeah... love you too old man.” Claire hung up the phone, still grinning to herself. “So over protective.” She chuckled, standing in front of the mirror in the tiny apartment she had rented, looking at her reflection of her first time wearing the R.P.D uniform. “I got this.” She told herself, exhaling the breath she had unknowingly been holding. It wasn’t her first day on the force that had her nervous... it was what her big brother, STARS hero, self proclaimed ladies man Chris Redfield was going to do once she set foot in the precinct. Maybe he wouldn’t notice... maybe STARS never even paid attention to lowly grunts with big ideas. Claire had kept her secret for this long throughout all her training, what was a few more weeks?

Claire pouted and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. “I don’t see why the big doofus has such a stick up his ass about it every time I even mention me joining the force.” She muttered. “Good enough for him and Jill, but too good for screw up kid sister, right?”

“Perhaps.” Wesker responded, making no effort to hide the once over his steely gaze have her. “Don’t say you weren’t warned.”

Barry shook his head. "He's always had big dreams for you I guess. He's worried the force might do something to you. There's not alot of women you know." He added gently. "And you've heard the stories about Wesker. The guy is ruthless. Even I don't want you to run into him. He's eating Jill and Rebecca alive!" 

Rebecca snorted as she pushed away from the desk. As usual she felt as if she were little more than a sheep who'd wandered into a wolf's lair. "Maybe he'll at least buy me dinner first." She snapped, heading for the door.

“So both of you think I can’t handle it?” Claire replied icily. “Thanks, I feel all warm and fuzzy from all that confidence.” She added, folding her arms across her chest defensively. “Of course, the fact I’m only nineteen and already made it here means nothing, right?”

“I wouldn’t count on it, little lamb.” Wesker remarked, unknowingly playing into her wolf and sheep metaphor.

"You sure you won't rethink the college route?" Barry asked, shaking his head. "You know Jill has connections...so do I. It won't be hard to make the switch..." He was pleading and he wasn't even trying to hide it. 

Rebecca hated herself in that moment. Wesker had managed to make her feel worthless with little more than a grumbled sentence. 
"I can't go." She said to Richard as she left the office. "I have a family emergency and I have to go home. I'm sorry. You guys have fun..." She was quick to leave the STARS office so he couldn't talk her out of it. All that was left was to make a beeline for her hometown.

“And what is college for? To find a job, right? Or are you a Neanderthal like my brother and think a woman’s place in college is to find a husband?” Claire asked, clearly rather upset that everyone around her thought she couldn’t do this. “Despite the overwhelming lack of faith in me, I got this.” She added, already heading back to the door. “I don’t need connections either, I can get those on my own.” She breathes over her shoulder, not wanting some kind of special treatment once word for our who she was.

Wesker didn’t feel bad for what he had said, he never did. Not once had he pretended to be anything but who he was with Rebecca, with any of them in all fairness. The only lie came when he disappeared for hours to attend ‘meetings’ that were never held in the precinct.

Rebecca sat in her car that afternoon, watching the rookies as they finished their first day. She waved to Claire as the other woman headed to her own car, desperate to get her friend's attention. She needed her best friend to talk to. 

At the end of the day, Chris could tell Wesker was in a sour mood. That certainly was making his day better at least. After the Captain had returned from his usual meetings they had tortured him with shenanigans that had even Forest hiding under the desk. 
Chris was almost sure he was either about to get fired or about to get transferred.

The way Claire waited until most the rookies had dissipated and glanced around made it clear she was trying to be covert. For one, Chris could be anywhere, for another, she wasn’t sure how it would look if she was mingling with STARS on her very first day. “Whoa, who shit in your coffee?” Claire asked with a wry grin when she saw the look on Rebecca’s face.

As appealing as it was right then, Wesker knew transferring Redfield out of of STARS completely was counterproductive. Humiliating him however, that was sounding more and more delicious as the day wore on. “Jill, do you have a moment?” He asked coolly as he approached her desk. Of course, the young woman balked at those words. “Uh... sure, Captain.” She breathed, rising from her seat and following Wesker into his office where the door was promptly shut by the other man.
“Now she’s in trouble...” Forest remarked, nudging an elbow playfully into Chris’ ribs. “Man... what I wouldn’t give to be alone in a room with her...”

"You wouldn't believe..." Rebecca shoved the bill of her hat down and scooted further down in her seat. "Let's go get shit faced and find a guy to take home." 

Chris shoved Forest roughly and got to his feet, sliding closet to Wesker's office. He didn't trust the other man. Nevermind the fact he didn't give him a reason to.

“There’s some pretty cute new recruits, you know.” Claire teased, thumping her friends hat playfully. “How about we get you shit faced and send you home with one?”

Inside the office Wesker hadn’t spoken right away, instead choosing to make Jill feel as uncomfortable as possible, people usually agreed to things when they were uncomfortable. The conversation was brief once it did begin, Wesker had picked Jill out as the best of the teams at hand to hand combat. He wanted to instruct her with advanced training.

Rebecca shook her head. "No. In fact I want nothing to do with this town tonight. Or maybe the whole week." She said firmly. "I may find someone to shack up with and never come back." 

Chris wasn't angry he was furious. It wasn't because he didn't get picked, it was because he knew what Wesker was doing. At least he thought he did. 
He assumed this was the other man's way of showing off to Jill. Albert wesker would show her the alpha male he was and she would forget all about Chris.

Claire quickly lost her teasing smile. It was lucky she had changed before leaving, plain clothes were enough to back up the excuse she had simply been to visit her brother. “Alright, my bike is round the corner, how about you lead, I’ll follow you to whatever shit hole dive you choose?”

Wesker did indeed know what he was doing, and it wasn’t what Chris thought. He did however, know this was exactly how the younger man would react. This was the wedge he needed to drive them apart and make them both train harder. He needed them focused.
Outside his office Jill seemed a little shaken, knowing this wasn’t the good news she thought Wesker expected it to be.

Rebecca plunged herself into the darkness of the dance floor. She spent the night drinking until she could barely focus. Finally she felt better about everything. For a little while, her troubles were forgotten. 

Chris wasn't waiting for Jill as he usually did. He wasn't even at the home they shared. He'd left work and headed straight for the bar, not even bothering to leave a note.

Claire was careful. She knocked back a few shots, but stuck to coke after that. One of them had to be clear headed, judging by what Rebecca had planned. She was at the bar, watching Rebecca, trying to figure out what had her straight laced friend suddenly rebelling.

Didn’t put too much meaning in him leaving work without her, she had been the one to insist they keep up the charade of living apart any way. It was only when she got back to their spacious apartment that she realised things were off. Suddenly the day ad taken a sideways turn, and she hadn’t even seen it coming.

Rebecca felt a delicious shiver running down her spine as powerful arms slid under her legs and lifted her up. The taste was familiar but she was too hazy to put her finger on it as she deepened the kiss with the apparent stranger. Her foggy mind wished Wesker could see her. Her certainly would think she could handle herself now.

Chris stared across the bar at a woman he was sure looked a lot like his sister. But after hours of drinking, everyone had begun to look that way. He'd threatened the bartender twice for trying to cut him off and yelled at another woman for coming on to him. He was going to end up in jail if he wasn't careful and he was staring not to care.

The music was growing fainter, the body vibrating thump less prominent. The smell of sickly sweet alcohol was soon replaced by car exhausts and the coming Dawn. There was no one else out here... no one to hear her scream, should things not go how she wanted. The blonde stranger trailed featherlight kissed along her slender throat, whispering that she was in a whole world of trouble.
Claire had unfortunate been ordering herself another coke in the moment Rebecca had been swept away, and it was not by sheer luck it had happened that way.
“Oh come on, it’s just one little drink, not like I’m asking you to marry me, handsome.” The brunette teased as she held a glass of amber liquid out to Chris.

"Technically..." Rebecca moaned helping the stranger unbutton her jeans. "The parking lot is never empty...someone is always leaving..." She added as she was lowered into a back seat and her passionate stranger pushed himself inside of her. Her head fell back and her nails dug into his shoulders. A part of her knew. She couldn't escape him.

"Nope." Chris said gruffly. He stared hard at the glass in front of him and shook his head. "You look like my sister and my girlfriend would kill you."

Everything about Rebeccas surroundings would be familiar, from the expensive leather seats, to the sandalwood scent surrounding her. Wesker wasn’t a man who had any weakness, it Rebecca Chambers was the closest he came to one. If not weakness, he would realise he was indeed careless around the little medic, evident in the hungry way he was claiming her right there in the back of his car.

“I’m disappointed you think I would blame her.” There she was, the girlfriend the rest of the world couldn’t know existed. “It’s your ass I would take it out on, Red.”

Rebecca fell asleep to a soft murmur in her ear. She wasn't sure what her lover had said only that as her eyes closed he pressed a kiss to her forehead. 

"I actually don't have a girlfriend anymore." Chris grumbled, a loud burp and a hiccup making it clear he'd reached his limit. Another sip and he'd start a bar fight. He was already beginning to crack his knuckles. "See that blonde guy over there? I'm going to totally kick his ass." He growled loudly.

Claire was filled with fury when she realised her friend was missing. She was grabbing any guy she could and demanding to know if they had seen her friend. This wasn’t good. Claire knew Rebecca made poor choices when intoxicated.

Jill wouldn’t deny that those words hurt. “You’ll be lucky if you have a job at this rate.” She grumbled when she saw Chris starting to crack his knuckles. “Don’t make me embarrass you in front of this entire bar, Red.” She warned.

Chris ignored the woman beside him and began crashing through the crowd. He was shoving people aside and shouting for the blonde man. He threw the punch and never even realized it was his boss. He never even noticed that he was even elbowing his own sister as a bar fight broke out. Chris Redfield felt better than he'd felt all day. Unfortunately, it wasn't a feeling that would last too long.

The fight didn’t last all that long, but the elbow to the face had been all it had taken to send Claire tumbling to the ground in darkness, all that had kept her from being discovered by the man she was avoiding.
Jill meanwhile was trying to subdue her partner before he got in even deeper shit for attacking their Captain. The slender woman was kicking the back of his knees, lowering him enough for her to clamp him into a headlock. “Don’t make me do this, Red, because you know I will if I have to!”

Chris grabbed the offender by the elbows and slammed them to the ground. His chest was pounding and he was still seeing red. Wesker would pay for Jill. If he wanted her he would tasted blood a million times over. 
The wicked smile he wore was enough. The next punch he threw was enough to spray them both with his blood. "Fuck you!" Chris screamed, furious that the man hadn't gone down. Around them he could hear shouts to call for police. He ignored this. One more good punch. That would be enough. But suddenly through the haze of red he couldn't tell who was who...

The bar fell into hushed silence when Jill picked herself off the ground and placed herself between the brawling men with purpose. “Can’t say you don’t deserve this...” She growled, a slender but powerful fist slamming into Chris’ jaw from one side then the other in quick succession before she landed a final blow to his nose.

Chris stared at the floor as he listened to Enrico tell him he was suspended for the rest of the week. He could still feel the tightness in his chest from the night before. He tried to wave off Rebecca as she reset his nose but it did little good. With Wesker in the room, raising a hand even to tell someone no would get him fired. 
"I don't need the speech." He finally snapped. "Just...do what you're going to do and get it over with." He added softly, wishing he'd opted to do this from his hotel room phone. 

Rebecca nodded at Wesker when she was done and stepped back. Because of Chris, her vacation was over. Because of the night before, she looked like shit. Yet ever the obedient one, she was at work as she was asked.

“What is the point in that, if you won’t ever learn the lesson?” Wesker asked simply. “Suspending you is merely an attempt to save the reputation of your team mates, it is not you punishment, Chris.” He added. “How do you think it looks to a precinct filled with fresh blood to see one of the STARS teams brawling in a bar like common thugs?” He asked, glancing to where Jill was remaining extremely quiet.

Claire wasn’t quite so perky that morning. She had dragged herself into the precinct, black eye and busted lip included, knowing it was better than to call in sick in her second day. She attempted to slip into the briefing room quietly, as though she had been there all along.

Chris' heavily bruised jaw muscles worked as he fought through an emotion he had yet to learn to control. "Look. I'll save everyone a reputation and fucking quit." He roared. "You can march my ass out of here with officers and whatever else if it makes you look good." He rose to his feet and shoved the other man, unable to hold his temper. "You get what you want. Rid of the trash, right?" 
"Chris..." Rebecca wanted to say more but the dark look from the Captain had her quickly seated again.

"You're late." Leon leaned over making a show of leaning down to get a pencil. "What happened to you, Cherry? Don't tell me you were the Redfield in that bar fight last night!"

“You would throw away a promising career, all for the sake of your pride?” Wesker asked thinly. “Or is there... something more?” He purposefully shifted his gaze to Jill as he said this, wondering how far he would need to push them before they broke.
“Captain, this is all getting out of hand.” Jill finally breathed. “Send Redfield home, like Enrico said. You can stew all week on how you want to truly punish him then.”

The colour seemed to drain from Claire’s smooth cheeks when Leon asked her this, though at the same time she felt a delicious shiver when he called her ‘cherry’. “I walked into a rogue elbow.” She replied with a grin she soon regretted, as it caused her lip to split a fresh.

Chris shook his head. But it was there. Even an idiot could see it in his eyes. He was tearing himself apart. "No. I said I quit. This job sucks. All of you suck." He shoved to his feet and grabbed for his jacket, trying not to look at Jill. She'd made her choice. He was making it easy for her. She loved this job and she was moving on. 
Enrico gave Wesker a desperate look. They needed Chris. He just needed to realize that there was more to this than the chip on his shoulder. 

Leon was quick to yank out his handkerchief and hand it to her. "That looks like it hurt." He said with a sad smile. "Want to get lunch and tell me what happened to the other guy?"

Jill couldn’t look at Chris any more than he could look at her, and it would be obvious to the more observant members of the team there was something going on between them. “Guess Brad isnt the chicken heart any more, huh?” She finally challenged, disappointed he would just walk out like this.

“Make it a burrito, and you’re on.” Claire replied, again making the mistake of grinning. “Damn, blue eyes, you’re making this more painful than it needs to be.” She teased, dabbing his handkerchief against her lip.

Chris didn't turn around. He wasn't about to let her know she was getting the better of him. He didn't even want to think of what Claire was going to say. 
Again Rebecca got to her feet and moved to go after him. It was a stupid bar right and she blamed herself for all of it. She didn't know anything about Wesker's hand in it.

Leon laughed. At least he did until the lir Captain leaned in between them. "All right, girls. This little tea party under the desk is adorable but you're not working. Redfield, you're going to get a reputation like your brother if you don't watch yourself." The elder man hissed. "Get your ass out there and find some cars double parked!" He added with a roar.