Means to an End

Parker smiled at Chris slightly, patting him on the shoulder. "For what it's worth... I'm sorry too. I was so obsessed with finding Alex... I didn't stop to see the signs. I should have found out Jill was pregnant... Had I known that..." He paused and ran his fingers through his hair. "I do blame myself for what happened to her."

Chris never responded to this. As soon as they were inside the building he muttered something about needing to get Parker certified and left the other man to navigate the holding cells alone.
Jessica, it seemed, had been waiting all day and half the night for him. She visibly brightened when he was let into her cell. "Parker!" She gushed, leaping to her feet to throw her arms around him. "I knew you wouldn't let me down!"

Parker shoved Jessica away from him perhaps a little too roughly. "You said you had information." He told her bluntly. "I'm not Chris, you're cheap tricks of seduction aren't going to work on me, so you can forget about using my phone too."

"There's no one alive to call on yours." Jessica pouted, returning to her perch on the far side of the room. She flopped down on her bed and made a show of inspecting her nails. "I've changed my mind. I'm not telling you anything. You won't even kiss me hello."

"You're lucky I don't shoot that mouth of yours, let alone kiss it!" Parker growled. "Do you have any idea what you cost me?!"

"No." Jessica looked up at him, blinking innocently. "What's that?" She asked, pausing with her nail file in mid-swing.

"If you hadn't called... Rebecca would never have agreed to go on that stupid mission!" Parker insisted.

"All because I told the truth?" Jessica asked, pretending to be surprised. "Parker, please. She wasn't any good for you. She never even rode you like you deserved. Look at all the pent up stuff. You need me. Just like you needed me a year ago."

"You've never been in love, have you?" Parker asked Jessica sadly. "If you could only feel the way I do about someone... You would know that what I did with you, none of it mattered. It was no different than two animals in heat. I felt nothing for you, which is why I spent my life with Rebecca."

"And when you had Rebecca on the table?" Jessica shot back. "What did that mean? It seemed like two animals in heat to me."

Parker was smiling at the memory. "Shows how clueless you truly are." He breathed. "Of course, not that that was any of your business."

"Oh we saw the whole thing. And then I turned myself in." Jessica told him with a wicked grin. "You shoved all that stuff off the table and then took her shirt off and she was all kissing you." She rolled her eyes, now playing with a strand of her hair. "It was pretty interesting but nothing to film a porno over."

"It was still better than the drunken night I spent with you." Parker replied, simply to spite her. "Who is 'we'?"

"Does it matter?" Jessica shot back, narrowing her eyes hatefully. "You were better with me, Parker. There was none of that whispering and begging to stay. It makes you weak. And look what happened when you got weak."

"And being with you would mean I wouldn't know if I was the only one you were fucking!" Parker growled. "You could be crawling with disease."

"That didn't seem to bother you that night at the bar. He said you fall right into that trap. All you needed was a beer and a little bit of flesh and you'd be all mine."

"Once again with the 'He'." Parker remarked. "How much is 'He' paying you to betray your own partner?"

"You're not my partner anymore." Jessica said softly, turning her back on him. "And I am not betraying you by getting what I want. You never even gave me a chance but you'll bend over backwards for that fucking doctor woman. I'm glad she's dead."

"Why would I have ever given you a chance, when it was clear you only had eyes for Chris Redfield?" Parker asked, sitting down, though his hand rested on the gun at his hip. "Rebecca earned the love I have for her, and one day... I hope I can earn the same."

"In the afterlife?" Jessica asked, glancing at Parker over her shoulder. "She is dead, my Italian friend. He took care of that. He told me so...even gave me details. It wasn't noble, believe me when I say that."

"You expect me to believe this bullshit, when you can't even give me the name of your latest obsession?" Parker asked, his gaze holding Jessica's steadily. Yes, there had been a time when he would have given anything to call her his own. But that time was gone, she had made it clear.

"You've never met him so what does his name matter to you?" Jessica shot back. "So many have reason to fear him. You should count yourself lucky that he doesn't care about you. Only that you were in the way."

"I am used to that feeling now." Parker replied truthfully. "If he cares nothing for me, why won't you tell me his name?" He asked, on his feet again and moving closer. "Could it be... You actually have feelings for him? That you genuinely wish to protect him?"

Jessica snorted darkly at this. "I hardly think so. He's got his toys. I am simply another means to an end. Just like you. I'm sure you'll understand that better than most. Wasn't Rebecca using you for your name and all that?"

Parker's smile was sad, proof that Jessica had wounded him somewhat. "I love Alex, and if my name kept him safe even for a little while, then so be it." He told her honestly. "Why do you care anyway? So what if she used me? It shouldn't matter to a cold herarted bitch like you."

"I never used you, Parker." Jessica said firmly, turning so that she was facing him. "I never asked you to do anything you didn't want to. How could you spend all that time sleeping next to a woman you could never have? What made all that worth it? And don't tell me it was the conversation or those stupid trips to the flea markets that you took with her."

"I love her." Parker replied simply. "And you might think the little things, like the flea market trips, to be stupid... But I simply enjoyed being with her. I enjoyed being with a woman who wouldn't pull a gun on me, or kick my ass, just for looking at her wrong."

"She sounds boring." Jessica said with a pout. "I'm glad she's dead." She added, now moving forward and seating herself in Parker's lap without being asked.

Parker was weary. He had spent so long fighting for a normal life with Rebecca and Alex, and Jessica was right; sometimes simple conversation wasn't enough. Without really meaning to he simply rested his head against her shoulder. He had to find Rebecca, and right then... He didn't even know where to begin.

"Forget about her." Jessica breathed, her fingers sliding through his hair in a gentle manner. "She isn't enough for you. I am. I have always been what you need and we both know it."

Parker shook his head, even with Jessica's fingers still in his hair. "You were good for my... Urges, but you are not the kind of woman I could spend the rest of my life with." He told her sadly. "Do you really see yourself as my pregnant wife?"