Alpha Team

It was a little after midnight, a time most of the building was in darkness. But several shots were ringing out in the basement level. 
“Take. That. You. Son. Of. A. Bitch.” Jill was hissing as she fired her weapon at a distant target with a picture of Wesker’s face taped to it. It had been several weeks now since Chris had aided in her escape from Africa. Several weeks of tests and evaluations to prove she was coping just fine. Of course, masking trauma was all par for the course when you were a Raccoon City survivor. What pissed her off the most, was knowing she would never get to make Wesker suffer like he had her. That’s why she was here, rather than at home, sleeping. Sleeping meant the nightmares returned. Here she would. Urn herself out until she simply collapsed from exhaustion.

Chris stood outside the basement door, listening to Jill. He closed his eyes, his guilt flood deep into his gut. 
He should have been the one. Wesker would have killed him. Jill would never have suffered. As always he was selfish and useless. She deserved better than him.

Rebecca couldn't sleep. She hadn't slept much since returning from Africa. 
She told the others it was simply all the work she had to do from their return. The remains of Wesker's virus alone had left them with a mess. 
She sat with her coffee, staring at the wall. She hadn't seen him in years. He'd chosen a virus Jill and Excella over her. Then worst of all...death

Once the clip was empty Jill simply stared down the range at the target. He deserved worse than death inside of a volcano, and that was something few would agree was too good for him. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths; instructions from Claire when she felt herself getting overwhelmed. She had to keep going, for Chris’ sake. He needed her now more than ever. Time apart had made her partners suffer, that much was obvious. Once she felt calm enough Jill packed everything away and head out. It was only as she opened the door into the darkened hallway and slammed into something solid yet warm that she cursed again.

“That doesn’t count as dinner, you know.” A familiar female voice commented from just behind Rebecca. “Coffee will stunt your growth, and you’re already a midget.” Claire Redfield teased as the office Claire she had slumped into wheeled over to Rebecca’s desk. “What did I tell you about self care?” She chided before Rebecca could respond.

"I like it when you say that word." Chris purred. He knew better than to touch Jill. He simply stood where he was, grinning down at her. "You ok, blondie?" He asked her. 

"I took a shower..." Rebecca protested, waving Claire off. "And I am not a midget." She added with an indignant snort. "What are you doing up at this ungodly hour?"

“Fuck you, Red.” Jill responded, though she was grinning as she said it.

“Part of the job, right?” Claire responded as she spun around on her chair. “Can’t sleep until you do, rookie.” She added with a man impish grin.

Chris laughed, reaching out to wipe the sweat off the tip of her nose. "I'm sorry I can't make it go away. But if you want...I can give you something else to think about for awhile." He teased. 

"Who are you calling rookie?" Rebecca snapped. She hadn't meant to come across with that tone but she couldn't pull anything else out of herself. "You need to be looking after, Jill. I'm not your problem. I'm busy cleaning up the mess Tricell made. I don't need a shrink for that."

Jill’s grey-blue eyes looked up at her partner for an agonising moment. “I like what I’m thinking about right now.” She finally breathed, even at this late hour he still smelled so good.

Claire shrugged and blew a bubble with the gum she was chewing. “The big guy is looking after Jill. And for the record, I didn’t come here as your shrink, I came here as your friend. I’m worried about you, Bex, we all are. That mess Tricell made? That’s the BSAA’s issue, not something you need to clean up alone.”

Chris gave her a devil may care grin and leaned close. "I love you, Valentine." He whispered. "It's going to be okay. You're home now. You're safe. He can't hurt you."
He held out his arms to her, aching to hold her. Even though she'd come back, he hadn't truly gotten to get close to her. 

Rebecca knew it wasn't her mess alone. But it was something to focus on. It was easier to burn and dissect the remaining pieces of Excella than to remember the pain she was trying bury so deep. To make it worse Jake had suddenly disappeared, refusing to give her so much as a reason. 
"I'm just working, Claire." She answered after a long while. "You know how I get when a new virus comes along."

“Yeah... but that means I can’t hurt him, either.” Jill breathed, the look on her face betraying that she knew how wrong that sounded. She edged forward, those outstretched arms promising so much. Finally she simply lurched forward, burying her face into her partner’s shoulder.

Claire stopped swinging in her chair and simply watched Rebecca. “I do, and I know when you’re lying to me, Rebecca.” She replied firmly.

"You blew him up inside a volcano." Chris breathed into her hair. "How much more do you want to hurt him? Becky found pieces of his hair on the chopper's landing gear. Maybe we can sneak them out and jump on them." He kissed her temple. "I say we get drunk first. Hell, we can go to Vegas and get really crazy. We can get married and throw his ass in this giant torch thing as soon as we do it." Chris said passionately. "What do you say, Valentine?"

Rebecca sighed. "Jesus, Claire. Do you have to poke so much?" She leaned forward on the table, setting the coffee aside to inspect a message she'd received on her phone. 
Yet another cryptic text about disappointment in her findings. She shook her head and put it back down. "Alright, what am I lying about, Doctor Redfield?"

Jill leaned back and looked up at Chris in shock. All these years he had never once even hinted at marriage. Oh how she wanted to say yes. “Can we start with blind drunk?” She asked with a grin. “You need to know I’m still the same Jill, right?” There it was. Her number one fear; that she had come back... wrong.

Claire glanced to the phone, then back to Rebecca.I’m not a mind reader, Rebecca. I know you’re lying, just not about what.” She breathed as she pushed to her feet. “I’d say you know my door is always open, but that doesn’t really matter to you anymore, does it?”

"Yeah." Chris' tone was no longer filled with excitement. "But first you need to get some sleep." He turned them both toward the stairs that would lead them to her room. "Stop thinking about him. He's not even a zombie for us anymore." 

"Claire...wait..." Rebecca caught her friend's hand and pulled her to a stop. "I'm sorry. I'm just depressed. I thought...I really thought I'd be happy by this point in my life. But here I am alone and elbow deep in viruses and the guts of others. I have no family...nothing. Sorry. I feel stupid talking about it... Bad day..." She whispered, unable to meet Claire's eyes.

Jill’s heart sank, knowing she had upset him. “Being a zombie would be too good for that asshole.” She growled. Jill didn’t just want Wesker dead, that had been easy enough. She wanted him to suffer, like she and her partner had suffered.

“No family, huh?” Claire echoed, smiling a little. “Bex, you have me, you have a Chris and Jill. Hell, even Leon would go to war for you.” She added. “You are so far from alone, and you would see it if you just looked up every once in a while.”

Once again Chris was smiling. "What if we had Becky make a clone from the hair and we murdered him?" He teased, thinking it was an extremely far fetched idea. "Then we could...you know..." He pulled her with him, deciding not to waste the rest of the night on pouting. 

Rebecca finally did look up, her eyes red rimmed and her nose a beacon. "I'm tired of keeping secrets, Claire. I can't do it anymore. Tomorrow... let's get together for coffee. I have something I need to tell you." She got to her feet and hugged her friend for the first time in what seemed like years. "Just...promise you won't hate me. Ok?"

“Give him hell every damn day like he did before we found out what a genuine monster he was?” Jill asked, savouring the feel of her fingers locked within Chris’. “Make him do burpees ‘til he pukes, then we get to work on destroyed everything he cares about.” She confirmed with a nod.

“Oh Bex... nothing you tell me could ever make me hate you.” Claire breathes, returning the hug as right as she dared.”Nothing. I promise.”

The next morning Chris woke to find himself alone in the bed. For a long while he struggled to remember that the night before had been real. So many times he'd woken up to find that he'd only been dreaming and his partner was truly gone. But this time...
He sat up slowly and groaned. Weaker had changed Jill. There was no doubt about that. Bringing back the woman he'd known probably not going to happen. He was worried she would think that they couldn't get through that. 
He snorted as he shoved off the bed and yanked on his pants. "She knows a Redfield doesn't give up. Especially me." He muttered, heading out the door. 

Rebecca didn't sleep. She laid on her cot and stared at the ceiling until her alarm clock rang. 
She didn't realize how tired she was until she dragged herself into the shower and closed her eyes. 
She tried hard not to close them. That way she didn't have to see him with Excella. He hadn't even given her so much as a goodbye. She supposed the pieces of him all over Africa were goodbye enough.

Jill hadn’t slept much, even after spending the small hours talking about all the ways she would make Wesker pay with Chris. It was just before Dawn and she was running along the river near BSAA HQ. Running had often been a way to clear her head, but not now. Now she felt very little; not even the burn in her lungs. It was another reminder that Wesker had permanently changed her.

There was no goodbye, because that’s not what it really was. Goodbye implied a finality that mere mortal men suffered. Africa had ended up being a giant black smear over his grand plan, but it wasn’t a total failure. He had gotten valuable data both from Excella, and the many towns EO PPE that were infected. He knew Umbrella were still out there, in some capacity, and his data would need to be good enough to destroy them entirely. For now... he needed his son’s assistance in that.

Not far ahead Jill would easily be able to make out a familiar sight. Though no longer dressed in Umbrella fatigues, Carlos Olivara still sported his shaggy locks and five o'clock shadow. 
The man was leaning against a brick lamp post, watching the sun rising on the reflection on the river. He was waiting for her. 

Rebecca tried to call Jake again, her stomach in knots. Africa had turned her world upside down as much as it had Jill's.
She'd lost contact with her son and she couldn't even tell anyone. She'd lost the man she worshipped. 
When no one answered, she set the phone down and finished dressing. She and Claire were meeting for breakfast in half an hour. She had to at least try. Leaving her phone behind she closed the door and headed for her car.

Jill wasn’t really paying attention to anyone else who may have been out that early. She was looking ahead, silently trying to convince herself she needed to look to the future, not dwell on the past. It was a tough argument, as she often wondered if some decisions had been for the best. For example... should she have gone to Europe with Chris and Barry right away? Should she have somehow known Claire had been in the e at the same time as her?

On the roof of Rebecca’s car there was what looked like a piece of paper from a distance. Up close however, it became clear it was a photograph. Not just any photograph, it was of her in her RPD basketball uniform.

Carlos fell into an easy jog with Jill, wondering why she seemed so deep in thought. "Are you trying to ignore me, super cop?" He asked. His eyes swept over her hair and then down to her lean frame. So little had changed about her except the hair. But it was enough. 

Rebecca stared at the picture, a flutter making her heart beat faster. No one had ever seen this picture. Just the sight of it made her cheeks flame. Quickly she grabbed it, glancing around her to see who might have left it. Stuffing it in her pocket she slid into the driver's seat and groaned. 
Someone must have gotten into Wesker's lab after his death. This wasn't good.

Jill quickly skidded to a halt, her brain not wanting to register what her ears were telling her. “Carlos?!” She gasped, pale blue eyes wide as they scanned over him. He hadn’t changed, not even a little.

Claire was blowing on her coffee when Rebecca finally arrived. The younger Redfield was known for her love of insanely strong, black coffee. Breakfast was clearly no exception.

Carlos stopped as well, unable to help the grin that spread over his face. His chest was heaving but he chuckled. "You seem like you need a little Carlos in your world again." He breathed, wondering if she remembered the nights they'd spent together. 

Rebecca lowered herself into the seat across from Claire, remembering how often Wesker would rage about her and Chris. She couldn't help but smile about it. It was so bad one of Jake's First set of words was fucking Redfields. 
She laughed out loud before she'd thought better of it, remembering when Jake had hobbled up to his father and proudly shouted his new phrase. It was the first time she'd ever seen her lover completely shocked. 
She wasn't even aware she was still laughing as the waitress walked up to their table.

“What happened to not leaving me in a cold, cruel, Carlos-less world?” Jill huffed, though she did embrace him tightly. Of course, the gesture was one of friendship on her part, nothing more.

Claire didn’t make any attempt to interrupt Rebecca’s laughter. It was such a rare sound, she simply allowed her friend to continue while asking the waitress to give them a few more minutes.

Carlos returned the embrace for what it was. "You know...I'm a bit of a wanderer. I had things to do." He laughed. "You'll be pleased to know I found my sister."

Finally Rebecca was able to order and she sat back taking a deep breath. "Sorry...I read a stupid joke before I got here." She said, her voice soft as she looked around them. The picture had taken away her resolve to confess to Claire. Now she didn't really know what she was going to tell her.

“That’s wonderful news.” Jill agreed, simply smiling as she looked up at Carlos; it was so rare for people like them to get family back. She only had to think of what Chris and Claire each went through every time one of them was out of contact for too long.

Claire arched her brow slightly, clearly not sold on that answer. “Alright, so aside from your dessert coffee, what do we feel like? Bacon? Eggs? Waffles? Everything?”

Carlos' smile faded somewhat and he simply nodded. "Yeah." He said softly. "How about you? Did you find that meat shield you were looking for?" He asked, reaching out to touch a string of blonde hair that had fallen out of her hat.

"Just the coffee." Rebecca told her. "I'm not feeling too much like breakfast. I've got too much on my mind..." She added, finally deciding to fish the picture from her pocket and slide it across the table to Claire.

Jill’s smile quickly faded. She knew where this line of questioning was leading, and she didn’t want Carlos to know what happened to her, if he didn’t already. She didn’t want him treating her as some fragile, breakable thing the way Chris was. “If he catches you calling him that, he’ll sit on you.” She finally replied, though didn’t brush his hand aside.

Claire glanced down at the photo for a long moment, then back up at Rebecca with an amused grin. “I could lie, and tell you I’ve never seen it before?” She smirked.

Carlos laughed at her words. "I'm not scared of him. I've fought Nikolai." He bragged, giving her a wink. "Some zombies not withstanding. God...you look amazing. I've missed you so much." He added with a whisper.

Rebecca raised an eyebrow at this and simply stared at her friend. "Where?" She'd given it to Wesker when he'd teased her about how terrible she was on the team. Though it had been meant as a joke, he'd refused to give it back.

Jill was caught somewhat off guard by the words, and was certain she actually blushed slightly. “Never stopped you from leaving though, did It?” She asked softly.

“You sure you want me to answer that?” Claire asked, thinking it would horrify Rebecca to know it was in Wesker’s desk.

"That goes both ways." Carlos said reaching out to out both his hands on her cheeks. "I just can't live up to Redfield. No matter how much I beg." He leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers, kissing her slowly. 

Rebecca was now sure it was Claire who had put the picture on her car. She hadn't seen it seen it since Raccoon city. It made sense the other woman had it but why?