Means to an End

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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!"

Chris had made it to the elevators on the opposite end of the floor. He'd even managed to step inside before the tentacle shot out and wrapped around his ankle. He was jerked back into the hall before he could even find something to hold onto.
For the next few minutes, the creature treated him like a dusty rug, beating him against every available surface. As the Nemesis dropped him to the floor, Chris couldn't decide whether the floor was spinning or his head was.

Rebecca was muttering for Claire not to be as stupid as she was. She'd finally gotten it through her head that calling for someone else wouldn't do anyone any good. It had never saved her before and this time...it had hurt them more than anything else.

"You don't want him!" Vioets brave voice shouted when the Nemesis picked Chris up again, this time with its hand, preparing to injure him in the way it had Jill all those years ago. Strngelym the creature hesitated somewhat, merely to turn and look at the little girl. It was clear it was scanning her to determine if she was a threat, or a suggested target. Whether Violet would consider it fortunate or not, the monster ultimately decided she was neither.

Claire came to just as Parker came tearing around the corner looking for Rebecca. All of them ended up back on the floors Claire grunting in pain as her injured shoulder slammed into an already blood smeared tile.

Chris grunted in pain as the creature turned its attention back to him and shoved an ugly purple tentacle into his stomach. "Violet...get back to...Becca..." He ground out, grasping the tentacle and yanking it away from him.

"Oh for heaven's sake, Parker." Rebecca groaned, landing hard on her bottom.

"No! You need me!" Violet insisted, forgetting that people still only saw a preteen young girl. "I won't let him keep hurting you!" She added, running down the hall and sliding between the creatures leg, much in the way Chris himself had done.

"Well I was worried about you!" Parker exclaimed, pulling Rebecca into his arms, despite the fact she was covered in Claire's blood.

"Violet..." Chris couldn't say anything more as the beast slammed him into the wall. His head hit an exit sign on the way to the opposite wall. "Violet...no...get out of here..."

Rebecca gingerly slid her arms around Parker, almost as if she were afraid to hug him. "I was worried about you too."

Violet crouched down and picked up her father's knife where it lay on the ground, splattered with his own blood since the Nemesis had forced him to drop it. The monster was having far too much fun slamming Chris around to even see what violet was doing. Even she was naive enough to think it would stop it for long, but the threw the knife with perfect accuracy, landing the blade directly in the monster's one good eye.

"We can tam about this later. Right now, Chris is giving us time to get Claire out of here." Parker breathed as he helped Rebecca to her feet.

Chris groaned as he slammed into the ground. He stayed where he was for a moment as the monster howled, holding its hands over its injured eye.
It took him several moments before he was able to get back to his feet. He ran for Violet and grabbed her around the waist, yanking her under his arm and making a mad dash in the direction the stairwell.

"Do I even want to know what he's dealing with?" Rebecca asked, as she turned to Claire and again helped her up while Parker did the same on the other side.

"Put me down!" Violet wailed as Chris ran with her under his arm. "I just saved your bacon!"

Parker shook his head. "Just move as fast as you can." He didn't tell Rebecca the monster had basically ignored him, he didn't want her getting any ideas about going back to help Chris. "Jill is still around, she's probably already found Chris by now."

"And now I'm saving yours." Chris grunted as he kicked open the metal door and continued to carry the struggling Violet down the first flight of stairs. "Seeing as you're mine, kiddo. I'd say we're sharing the bacon."

It was clear that Rebecca was already getting that idea. Her side of Claire was rather slack as she stared toward the darkening hallway. "I should...make sure." She muttered, more to herself than anything else.

Violet ceased struggling, seeming to accept that despite her strength, Chris was still much stronger. "And what about Jill?" She questioned. "I never even got to speak to her..."

"No! You should do your job and make sure Claire survives this!" Parker barked, knowing exactly what Rebecca was thinking. "You really wanna be the one to tell Chris his baby sister is dead?"

"Jill will catch up." Chris ground out his stomach on fire. "She's...better at this than me..." He admitted, stumbling when he reached the next floor down. He set Violet on her feet and lowered himself to the nearest step, grunting as he pressed his fingers to the gaping wound in his stomach. "She's...okay...kiddo." He managed.

"There's nothing wrong with you." Rebecca snapped, Parker's tone surprising her more than she wanted to admit. "You could get her out of here just fine."

Violet sat down beside her father, tiny fingers resting lightly on his knee. She hated this feeling. The dark haired girl could see, even smell, that her father was infected with something new and dangerous, something that he wasn't protected from. It was like her, one drop of her blood would be just as lethal to him. "You need help." She whispered. "He sent that monster after you, I know he did." Violet didn't need to say the name, they both knew who she was talking about.

"But I can't fix that bullet wound!" Parker cried out in exasperation. "I can't create a drug to fight off any infection!"

"Wesker is dead." Chris managed, resting his other hand on Violet's. "We'll be okay, kiddo. He can't keep us apart again...don't worry."

"And neither can I now that Alex is in Wesker's hands!" Rebecca shouted back.

"Don't tell me not to worry!" Violet shot back, her bright blue eyes looking directly up into her father's. "He isn't dead! Don't you get it? I'm not just some kid afraid of some mythical boogeyman!"

"So that's it? You'll just give up because something went wrong?! Wait... Wesker has Alex?" Parker was frowning, not sure he could keep up.

"Violet, we killed him." Chris ground out, once again getting to his feet. He could see a row of undead beginning to shuffle onto the stairs above them. The line of blood he was leaving was more than enough to keep them coming. "Your mom and I blew his ass up." He added, hauling her under his arm and heading for the next set of stairs.

"Yeah. That's what I said." Rebecca hissed angrily, nodding her head. "Goddamn it, Parker! I asked you to keep him safe! Who gives a fuck about me?! It was never about me!"

"No. You blew a copy up." Violet corrected rather matter of factly, as though Chris was an idiot.

"I do! I love you, and I guess by now... I should know that you didn't give a rats ass about that!"
"Guys... Please..." Lciare begged wearily. "We can't just... Stand here..."

It was confirmed. Chris had known it. He'd seen it in the actions. Wesker never lost control. Never. But that one had. "Fuck." He growled, stomping now as he headed down the next flight. He wanted to. He wanted to throw himself on the floor and kick and scream like a baby. "Just...don't tell your mother." He managed after a moment.

"Yeah. You cared so much you went behind my back and fucked Jessica!" Rebecca snarled, narrowing her eyes at him. "Don't pretend you're the innocent party in all this!" She added, picking up her slack on Claire and pulling her forward.

"How can I tell her anything, when she could already be dead?" Violet asked, proving to be rather less than optimistic of late. She certainly seemed so different from the little girl Alex had first met, who longed for the stories from her books to be real.

"You wouldn't let me touch you!" Parker all but howled. "You thinknjessica was any different than a common whore to me?!"
Claire groaned as Rebecca tugged on her as they moved forward. "Guys... You're drawing them right to us..."

"Your mother will out live me." Chris said, for a moment feeling a strange chill slide down his back. It was almost as if the grim reaper were right there, telling him he wasn't going to make it this time.

"I think that you're full of shit!" Rebecca shouted back, ignoring Claire. "All that bullshit you fed me about a faithful marriage and waiting until I was ready. How long did you really wait, Parker? A whole five fucking minutes?!"

"Why? Because she's a monster like me?" Violet asked, seeming very much like a rag doll after being carried the way she was.

"I did want a faithful marriage! But shit, Rebecca... You didn't exactly make things easy for me! You looked at me... Like I was HIM! Like I was going to rape you in the middle of the night!"

Claire had given up thinking Rebecca and Parker could help her out of there. She knew she needed to be the one to help them, and to do that, the first thing she needed was something to numb the pain. Parker and Rebecca were so caught up in their argument, they didn't even see Claire limp away.

"Because your mom is awesome." Chris said slowly, now seeing that they weren't going to get any further down. The hallway was filling up below as well as above. "I fucking hate hospitals." He growled.

"You have no idea what I went through, Parker! Days of being forced to do whatever he wanted...You don't know what that was like. I looked up to that man. I thought I could trust him. I can't afford to let my guard down again! Even for you!" Rebecca all but screamed.

"The undead things... They don't like the taste of me. I can help you, please..." Violet pleaded.

"Then you never trusted me, did you?" Parker asked, his voice no more than a broken whisper. "I'm not him, Rebecca. I don't know how many more time, or ways, I can say that."

Chris was trying to keep going but suddenly he found himself too tired to go on. Gently he set his daughter on her feet again and fell to his knees, each breath harder than the last.
"Hey! Who forgot to invite me to the party?" A voice shouted above them, moments before a set of zombies flew over the edge of the stairs and landed somewhere below.

"All I asked was that you be a father to Alex." Rebecca breathed, her own voice breaking along with her heart. "It wasn't...and it isn't your place to fix me, Parker. I should never have brought you into my mess."

Violet frowned when she realised the stranger had made her jump like any other startled child. "Friend?" She asked her father bluntly, the look in her cerulean eyes making it clear that one word from him, and she would attack.

"You say it isn't my place... But how can I be a father to Alex, and not also care about the woman who gave life to him?" Parker breathed.

Chris nodded slowly, fighting to keep himself conscious. "His name is...Leon." He gasped out. "He...loves my sister and I...I hate him." He confessed, realizing that he might die never having told his sister that he was truly proud of her.

"I don't know." Rebecca muttered, as always she was shutting down. It was clear by the look in her eyes. It was better to simply exist than to think of the hows and whys of it.

Violet's eyes narrowed slightly as they looked up at the man her father had just told her he hated. Her quick mind was weighing up her best course of action. Given that her body had ceased to grow at the rate it had been, she was still far too small to carry her father herself, but this man, Leon, he could help in that task. But then again... She could go and find her mother, bring help back to Chris.

"Oh no you don't!" Parker knew that look all too well. "I won't let you just shut me out again! I love you, Rebecca! I will keep on saying it until you tell me you believe me!" He added, giving her shoulders a gentle shake.

"Geez, Chris. It's no wonder the government wants a watch put on you!" Leon chuckled, another set of undead meeting their second demise. "You never go anywhere where you're not followed."
"Groupies..." Chris shouted back, trying to hide the pain in his voice. "What can I say?"

"Parker..." Rebecca shook her head, trying to change the subject. "We don't have time for this right now. We need to find the others and get out of here."

"You're spying on him?" Violet demanded, placing herself between Leon and her father, small arms folded across her chest.

"No! We are not just walking away from this again!" Parker insisted. "We finish this once and for all... Or we die where we stand." He added, somewhat melodramatically.

"And you are?" Leon raised an eyebrow as he looked down at the little girl now in front of him. He kept her gaze for a moment before he raised his gun and began firing on the zombies that were heading up the stairs towards them.

Rebecca couldn't help the smirk that spread over her lips, nor the laughter that followed. She laughed until she was all but crying. It was something about Parker that changed everything. He was such a passionate man. She truly did love him.

"A much better shot than you." Violet snorted as she glanced over her shoulder to see how many of the undead Leon had just felled. "My name, is Violet." She informed Leon, though didn't say whether she would be using the Valentine she had always known, or Redfield now that she was with her father.

"What did I say?" Parker pouted, looking rather adorable, like a little boy not happy that someone was laughing at him.