Clearance Level Death

Chris Redfield stood on the balcony of his apartment and watched the rain. This whole idea was never going to fly. He was more than a little certain it was going to get them both laying in a pile of bodies like the one they'd seen in the sewers a few days ago. But his sister was gone and he had to find her. He reached for his phone and called Jill, hoping she would listen.

Rebecca sat on the edge of her bathtub, her head in her hands. She was burying herself and no one even knew it. She couldn't believe she was doing this all because the Captain said she was special. What if he was simply using her? What if he didn't mean anything he said to her?

Halfway across town, in a much rougher neighbourhood, Jill Valentine sat looking out at the rain too. She was perched in her open window, one slender leg pulled up, the other hanging outside the window, only a foot or so above the metal gearing of the fire escape. She took a long drag of a cigarette and watched the smoke fade into the air that was just a touch too cold for a September night. No sooner had it disappeared she heard her the shrill cry of the phone by her bed. She flicked the remains of her cigarette out into the night and pulled herself back indoors. “Missing me already, Red?” She teased, knowing no one else called this late. 

Just as Jill’s phone cried into the night, so did Rebecca’s. Wesker sat at his desk, files and photographs spread out in front of him. It wasn’t the same desk where he plotted the deaths of the people who trusted him most, this was his true desk, deep in the bowels of Raccoon City. Here in the hive… he believed himself an untouchable god.

Chris laid out his plan, his stomach in knots. He knew what this would cost the in the long run. "But Jill, we have to. I have to find my sister and we can't just sit around while Chief Irons ignores what we saw." Chris lit another cigarette and took a long drag, waiting for it to calm the churn of his stomach. "And for what it's worth...I always miss you."

Rebecca heard the soft purr on the other end and closed her eyes. She was a terrible person. She would burn down the world for Albert Wesker if he asked her to. She doubted he knew or cared. "What's up?" She asked, sounding almost afraid to know.

Jill smiled at that last bit, not as apprehensive as Chris about this plan of his. Unlike him, she had much less to lose, wading feet first into danger with him was like a really exciting date. "We'll find her, I promise. She's as difficult to keep down as her meathead brother." She assured him with a grin he couldn't see.

"What's up?" Wesker echoed in amusement; sometimes he forgot how young his lover really was. "I believe Irons is attempting to disband STARS. He thinks he can do so much as take a breath without my say so." He snorted. "Have you had eyes on the other four recently?" This was how it was with him on the phone; business. He didn't dare risk someone overhearing anything else and ruining his plans.

"Come over." Chris whispered, sounding as if the last part hadn't even sunk in. "I need you. I need to make sure you're safe." He added, taking a long drag and resting his head on the brick wall. "I can't remember the last time I had a good night sleep anyway."

" Come over." Rebecca breathed, starring at a thin shape that lay on her bathroom counter. "We need to talk anyway. I'll make you breakfast...or not..." She sighed. "Just promise you won't kill me."

Jill's grin faltered slightly. She worried about Chris more than he probably saw, and hearing he didn't sleep made her stomach sink. She understood that pain all too well. "What's the matter? Too chicken to come pick me up yourself?" She teased a moment later, knowing how he felt about the location of her tiny apartment. 

Wesker was painfully quiet for a moment, even an ice cold man like him would dread the words 'we need to talk'. "You know I never make a promise I cannot keep." He finally breathed, a pathetic attempt at humour.

"You're probably right." Chris said, never missing the chance to play the hero. "I'm on the way. Don't you dare open the door for anyone and have your gun ready. Even for me." He said gruffly. He was quick to hang up and flick out his cigarette. He grabbed for his gun and his keys, forgetting his shirt. 

Rebecca laughed softly. "Just remember, if you do kill me...you'll be missing out on alot of good stuff." She purred, hanging up the phone. She got to her feet and moved to the kitchen. She was starving. But then again that was nothing new.

Jill rolled her eyes when the line went dead. “I’m a big girl.” Sometimes she felt Chris forgot the kind of childhood she had had. While she hadn’t spent time in an orphanage like him and Claire, Jill had still had to grow up fast. Some of her first memories were of having to clean up her fathers messes, or fend off men banging on their door looking for him.
By the time Chris would arrive at her apartment, the door was open just enough for a shaft of light to slip through. It wasn’t from a lightbulb, it was a dull glare from the tv. Jill wouldn’t be anywhere to be seen. 

Wesker stared down at the four photographs spread out in front of him. Two of them were no issue, but Redfield and Valentine… they were already stirring up more trouble than he needed. He knew their weakness, it was simply waiting for the moment to beat exploit It. He quickly pushed all the files back into their folder and began the ascent back to the surface. Rebecca’s words had him intrigued enough that he barely even registered the drive to her adorable little apartment until he was knocking on the door.

Chris kicked the door open, his gun already out and ready. His chest was heaving. He didn't know why but he'd been expecting this. He'd heard someone breathing and he wasn't sure if it was his imagination or not. But now he knew the truth. There he been someone else on the line. The same as the last night he'd heard his sister's voice. 
He passed the Tv, ignoring the reporter who was telling of a random attack on a mother and child on the other side of town. Jill's bedroom was a mess but that was no real surprise, her windows were open and the cool air from a coming storm spilled into the room. The feel of it made him uneasy. It was too quiet. 

Rebecca answered the door, wearing an apron that said 'food is science too' and carrying a plate of brownies. Her face was all but covered in cocoa powder but she was grinning like a fool. "I ruined them." She announced. "But I think I discovered lava brownies so it's fine. Screw breakfast." She added, standing on tiptoe to kiss him.

The cold steel of a gun pressed to the bare skin of Chris' back as he checked the windows, a silent figure having stepped from the shadow of the kitchen. "Oh Red... always making me watch your six." Jill purred, though the gun didn't slide away, she was indeed laughing. The fact he had come here in such a hurry for fear of her safety he didn't even bother to put a shirt on made her swell with fresh appreciation for her partner. 

Wesker couldn't help the suddenly easy grin that stretched across his lips. Something about this woman made him forget he was a cold, heartless, bastard. The kiss lingered a moment longer than was civil on the doorstep before he walked her backwards, still holding her brownies in one hand, kicking the door shut behind them. "I hope you aren't this careless in your lab..." He teased, licking at some of the cocoa on the tip of her pert nose.

Chris stood glaring at Cheif Irons' desk, his arms crossed and his lips set in a thin angry line. The chief was livid. The mere suggestion that he and Jill wanted to go undercover and look into Umbrella had the man throwing things. "The two of you have lost your goddamn minds." He roared, his coffee cup slamming into the wall next to Chris' head. "There is nothing to investigate! The two of you need to get back to the assignments you've been given. You're lucky I don't demote you both further." He snarled. "Don't you think you've done enough damage? Your Captain is now a traffic officer. All because the two of you came back with a line of bullshit about a mansion you'd managed to find in the woods. Two teams are dead and you two want to go undercover. Let's not go there." Finally he managed to sit back down, his hands shaking. "Get the fuck out of my office before I have both of you filing paperwork so far down in the basement you'll never see the light of day again." He hissed after a long moment. 
Chris pulled Jill with him into the ornate hallway he hated so much. He didn't stop pulling until they were in the elevators and back in the main hall of the police station. He didn't need to ask his lover how she felt about the whole thing. He knew. He felt the same way. 
"Did I miss something?" He muttered. "Did he just try to say the mansion never happened?" 

Rebecca finished cleaning out the STARS office and shoved the last box out into the hallway. Exhausted she sat beside them and closed her eyes. This wasn't how she'd planned to start her career and certainly not how she'd planned to end it. She'd wanted to be a field medic. She'd wanted to help people. She'd done none of that. All because she'd fallen in love...
She should never have told him she was pregnant. The moment she'd shown him the test he'd simply turned around and walked out. She hadn't even tried to call him back. She'd decided not to bother. If he felt this way then it was best to remove him. She'd been through enough.

Jill glanced around, then discretely gave her partners fingers a tight squeeze. "This goes deeper than we thought." She agreed, chewing her lower lip as her gaze drifted off to the side somewhere. She was lost in thought, considering their next steps. "If the Chief is a part of it, we can't trust anyone. Chris... We can't even tell Barry and Rebecca about what we're doing." She finally surmised.  "It has to be now. Now we told the Chief what we want to do, there's every chance he will block us at every turn, or worse, have us transferred like he threatened. If we hold off on the plan any longer, we'll lose our window." She finally sighed and slumped down into one of the ornate benches. "This is a fucking shit show and we're all on our own."

"Well that sure isn't the usual pep I see." A friendly voice would pierce into Rebecca's thoughts as 
Kevin Ryman plopped down in the floor next to Rebecca. He kept in contact with most of the surviving STARS members, given how many times he himself had tried to enter their ranks. He offered her his usual carefree grin as he turned his head to watch her. "That face is either... they ran out of donuts... or some asshole stomped all over that fluffy little heart of yours. Please tell me it's donuts..."

Chris kept pacing. "Jill...I think you should let me do this alone. I don't want anything to happen to you." He said quietly. "Just give me some time." It was bad enough that his sister was missing. If he lost her too... He wasn't sure what he would do. 
"You two break it up!" Irons stomped past them, his face still red. "Get to Traffic, Redfield. Your former Captain is just dying to see you." Chris flipped him off, his fist shaking. 
"Be careful, Jill." Chris finally muttered over his shoulder. "Just don't do anything I would do and you should be fine." 
An hour later he was trying to avoid Wesker by sitting at the back of the room while orders were being handed out for the day.

"Kevin!" Rebecca nearly fell over as she realized who was speaking. She turned and threw her arms around him. "I've missed you so much! And it's the donuts thank you very much.'' She laughed.

Jill had been sent down the K-9 unit. Far away from files and documents she could potentially rifle through; it seemed Irons knew he employees well.
“Valentine?!” A tall man with shaggy brown hair had been bailing a giant bag of dog food out of a storage locker on his shoulder when Jill entered the dank basement. “Well shit, I didn’t think he would actually send you down here!” The man dropped the bag and grinned at Jill, offering a large hand out to her.
Jill shook the hand, looming a bit perplexed as to who this man was and how he seemed to know her.
“Oh come on! Don’t give me that look! It’s Karl, we met at the Christmas party last year…” His voice died off when he realised he was coming across as somewhat of a pathetic loser. “Uh… anyway, sorry to hear what happened to the teams.” He added quickly, running his fingers through his unruly hair. It was painfully obvious he had been infatuated with her since their first meeting. Perhaps this was intentional on Irons’ part; he assumed her Defoe ring Karl’s advances would leave her too busy to focus on other things.

Kevin held Rebecca tightly, steadying her against him as she laughed. “Oh phew, I thought I was going to have to go kick some ass!” He declares with a chuckle. “And between you and me… I’m not the hotshot ass kicker I know you think I am.” He added in a hushed whisper.

A few weeks had passed and Chris was sure he was going to kill someone. He hated the traffic department. It made him want to strangle everyone. However, he'd begun to hear whisperings from the people on the different shops. Umbrella was everywhere in Raccoon city. Everyone sold things that the company made. Even perfumes that he'd bought for Jill years ago had been manufactured by them. 
People were getting sick and no one knew why and no one was asking questions. But the number was not enough for the chief to do anything. Or so he said. 
Worst of all, Claire was still missing. No one had seen her. It was still like she had dropped off the face of the planet. It didn't help that Jill had retired and now worked with a place she said he would be better off not knowing the details of.
That night he sat across from Jill at their favorite restaurant. She was a million miles away. He was beginning to wonder if she even knew he was there at all. 

Across the same restaurant, Rebecca and Kevin sat at a small table leaning over a baby book. The two of them were deciding what to buy for the baby. Kevin had helped her to all but forget about Wesker. At least until she was all alone at night. 
Kevin had given her the strength to apply for a doctorate far away from Raccoon City.

To Chris Jill may have looked a million miles away, it she was watching him intently. It was almost like she was studying his face in the event something tore them apart and all she would have were her memories. She was leaning with her elbow in the table, her chin resting in her hand and an almost sad smile on her lips.
They had tried to make people listen to the truth about umbrella, but they may as well have been trying to convince the city they had proof of the Easter bunny. Chris was a good guy, the kind of guy who would one day lead an army as it’s hero. But Jill… she didn’t hold herself on quite so high of a pedestal. There was always the voice of her father in the back of her mind, whispering that she was fooling herself into thinking she was one of the good guys. Jacque Valentine… ever the supportive father figure. That was why she had been digging on her own. Chris needed to be their ears within the RPD, and he couldn’t do that if she dragged him into the seedier side of intel gathering.
The smart thing would have been to end things and go it alone, but that wasn’t an option. She loved her big squish too much to ever just walk away from him.

Kevin was grinning as he sat with his arm lazily sling around the back of Rebecca’s chair. Every now and then he practically cooed when she flipped to a page that had a menagerie of stuffed animals on it.
That day he found her trying her best to be brave while sitting on the box of things that once sat atop her desk, he never for a moment thought anything would happen between them. Rebecca was beautiful, smart, brave. He thought she could do much better than his goofy ass. Boy was he glad to be wrong. He had never pressured her about the father of the baby, knowing who it was and the damage he could cause Rebecca, he was glad the asshole was AWOL. He happily stepped into those shoes, excited to meet the tiny life he had watched growing for all these months. He hadn’t told her…. It Kevin Ryman loved sweet Rebecca Chambers, even knowing she was still in love with her Captain.

Chris felt pressure from all sides. He'd worked hard to get to the STARS team and suddenly he was back down in the traffic department. The worst part of it was that he was working directly under Wesker who seemed to have more than a little grudge. He couldn't figure out why the man seemed to hate him so much. Aside from Irons he got along with everyone just fine. 
He felt like he was failing Jill. He never had time to get information for her because he was never in the station. He was always out in the city, which lately was a bad thing. People coughing and spitting blood into the street. It was a real problem. 
"Hey funny face." He said after a moment of looking at the sad way she was smiling at him. He reached across the table and gently slid his hand over hers. "What's wrong? Bad day at work? That Birkin jerk yelling at you again? I can go there and at least rearrange his face you know." 

"I'm naming him Jake. Did I tell you?" Rebecca asked, circling a gigantic teddy bear. It was clear by the gentle smile she wore that she was already madly in love with the child. Even though she was still terrified of pending motherhood, the baby boy would never have anything to worry about. "I think I've spent all my savings on buying things the minute I found out I was having a boy." She gave a heavy sigh and sat back, accidently marking Kevin's arm. "Oops. Looks like I'll have to buy you too." She teased. "Hope you're not too expensive." She laughed, purposefully marking him again.

Jill smiled again and squeezed Chris' hand in return. "You know I can rearrange faces all on my own, hot stuff." She teased, though hand't let go of his hand. That sad smile lingered, a sure sign she hated the role she had had to take with Umbrella. "Although..." Suddenly the ghost of her old devilish smile returned. "There is this one guy... a grunt called Carlos who guards the high and mighty science types some days... He's kinda dreamy, thinking I may just run off with him." She teased. "You know, leave you to clean up with all those soccer moms you attract."

"Oh babe, i'm the cheapest guy you'll ever meet..." Kevin teased, rubbing the tip of his nose against her own before stealing a kiss. "You already bought me with that adorable helpless act you have going on." He added, already making a mental note of what it was Rebecca was circling. She didn't know it, but she wasn't the only one spending money on her unborn son; Kevin couldn't wait to be a dad.

Chris cringed. For some reason her tone cut him deeply. He wanted to find this Carlos and tear him apart. It further solidified the truth that he was losing Jill and he couldn't take it. 
He rose to his feet, taking a deep rage filled breath. But the words he had for her were lost when he heard a scream of agony from across the restaurant.

Rebecca had been feeling strange for days but today it was worse. Her back was on fire and it felt like the baby was struggling inside her. But she was trying to stay calm. It was still a few months until it was time. 
But suddenly a sharp pain tore across her stomach that was more than the others an before she could help herself she threw back her head and screamed until her throat was raw.

Jill had shot to her feet too, her heart breaking to see that they had drifted so far apart Chris no longer knew when she was just having fun with him. Her deep tiny lips parted to plead with him not to do this, when the pain filled shriek tore into her ears.

“Fuck…” Kevin was shoving the table back, using enough force that to knocked almost everything on there onto the ground. “Becca… babe… I don’t know what to do.” He confessed in a panicked whisper. He was lifting her into his arms as she screamed. Everything was telling him she needed to be in the hospital. He didn’t even see their two co workers crossing the restaurant towards him.

"No..." Rebecca knew that Umbrella was testing pregnant women and newborns. So far she'd stayed under the radar but this...
Another horrible pain tore through her as it felt like something was digging away at her insides. "Please...Kevin...take me home..." She ground out, a thin line of blood forming from where she was biting her lip. 
Chris made it moments before the waiter, glaring at Kevin. "What the hell is going on?" He hissed. "Was anyone going to tell me about this?!"

“Tell you about what? Pretty fucking obvious she’s pregnant, Redfield! Maybe you would notice if you pulled your head out your ass for once!” Kevin snarled, already stepping around Chris to head for the door. “Or are you too busy writing your ‘I hate umbrella’ manifesto?” He added over his shoulder before the door swung shut.

"Let's guess. How far up the fucking chain he is." Chris growled. He turned to Jill with his eyebrow raised. " Just how screwed is Becky?" He ground out.

Jill was still deeply wounded that Chris had thought she would genuinely just run off with anyone, let alone someone on Umbrella’s payroll. “Do I look like a fucking doctor?” She snapped, digging in her purse for her car keys as she too headed for the door. Jill knew the rumours just as well as Rebecca about what was happening to pregnant women. She needed to dig deeper to protect her friend.

The hospital room was dark and cool. Rebecca hadn't been there long when a sleek blonde haired woman entered speaking in hushed tones about her baby and his strange condition. She told her they would give her something for the pain and did so even when she protested loudly. After a few minutes she could do little but mutter to the shadow in the corner. "Please... They want to hurt him..." She breathed.

Chris leaned back in his chair, smearing to himself. " I can't believe they won't let us in. No friends. What the hell is Kevin? He's not family! He'll! He booked it when things got bad at the mansion screw that guy! "

“You sound so certain, Officer Chambers.” A cool voice remarked. “As certain as you were that a STARS reject was the perfect candidate to entrust your safety too. You begged him not to bring you here… and yet here you are.”

“Why?” Jill asked without looking up from the newspaper she was studying. “Because he’s her hero when you couldn’t be?” She added, though was still reading a story on yet more disappearances within the city.

"It was my choice." Rebecca whispered. "I can't deliver alone. I just have to be strong enough to get through this quickly." She'd spoken to the shadow before. The cool voice reminded her of her Captain. "I can do this..."

"Oh fuck off." Chris snapped, wondering how things had gone so bad between them so quickly. He stared at his desk before suddenly shoving papers off. "I can't do this. You have to leave. We can't play like we're even friends anymore. Not with you going around behind my back like this." Jill wouldn't know, but her teasing was the catalyst to the poison Wesker had been pouring into his ear for months.

"Again, you honestly think you are certain?" A cool hand pressed to her forehead. "You dropped a bombshell and fled before the aftershock. What right does that give you to make any kind of decision on anything?"

Jill calmly set her newspaper down and rose up to her feet. Her dark, jaw length hair was still gently curled around her face from their date, though she had removed her make up. Slowly she leaned over Chris' desk with her palms splayed out on it, sky coloured eyes boring down into his own. "If you wanted an out, just say it, don't be such a fucking coward by trying to pin it on me." She told him, her voice wavering with the emotion she was trying so hard to contain. There was a mug left on his desk, it had a photo of the two of them pulling goofy faces at the camera. She pushed it off, allowing it to shatter on the floor. He had broken them. She was in the belly of the beast looking for answers, and he had now abandoned her.

"Are you speaking to yourself?" Rebecca sighed. She'd forgotten how cool his skin had gotten. It used to be so warm. In the mansion it had been freezing. "You left when I told you. I've been dealing with this alone. I can do it. I can do anything..."

"Get out." Chris hissed. "This was never about us fixing this. This was about you wanting a way out. So there's the goddamn door!"

"No, you made the decision for both of us." Wesker responded. "Wasted no time with that RPD idiot, either."

Though she tried hard to act strong, the last thing Chris would see was a fat tear rolling down Jill's cheek as she finally turned away. Only once she was sat back in her beat up rust bucket of a car did Jill finally start to sob. To say he had broken her heart would be invalid, breaking implied there were pieces left behind to fix.