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 grunted as one of the bullets slammed into his upper arm. "This is not my day." He muttered, wondering if fate was going to let him die now that he'd found Jill. It wouldn't surprise him.

Riggins took him past a hallway that was nothing but glass on either side. It gave the passer a full view of what was going on in the labs. The one where Rebecca was, was busy with experiments. Even the tiny woman was hoping from one place to another, clearly in her element.

Jill was stalling back over to finish them both off when she dropped to her knees and roared in pain again. The pain of fighting the control was quickly killing her.

It was as Parker paused to watch Rebecca through the glass that the thought occurred to him; did Rebecca truthfully need rescuing? She looked so happy, the kind of happy he had never seen in her. Aside from keeping his promise to Alex, what reason did he have to make her miserable again?

Chris took this moment and dove on Jill, pinning her beneath him as he tried yet again. "Stay with me, babe." He breathed, gritting his teeth. "I'll do anything if you just hit me because you're mad at me and not because that bastard's making you."

Rebecca turned in that moment, her warm smile returning. She ran to the door and opened it. "Mr. Luciani? Can I get your help for a minute. Please?"

Jill's back arched up off the ground as Chris gave the device the final pull it needed the drag the tendrils from where they were buried in her flesh. That done, she gasped, barely able to breathe.

Parker was doing everyone he could not to simply reach out and touch her cheek. "anything for a genius." He told Rebecca cheerfully.

"It's okay..." He whispered, moving to where he could pull her into his lap. "It's okay now. We're all right. You're safe now."

Rebecca wrinkled her nose at this. Like always she hated being called that. "I was hoping you could open this pickle jar." She told him, turning to her desk then back again to hold it out to him. She didn't seem to remember that this had been one of her terms for marriage. She'd told him she'd needed him to open pickle jars for her.

Jill buried her face against Chris' shoulder and sucked in a shuddering breath. "God... Chris... I couldn't stop myself! I'm so sorry!" She practically sobbed. Later on they could look back and laugh at the fact that she was one the being rescued, yet her first words were an apology.

Parker remembered this clearly as he looked down at the pickle jar. "Yeah... Sure..." He breathed, popping the lid with little effort. "Any time, day or night... I can open a pickle jar for you." He whispered as he held the jar out.

"I'm surprised you didn't say I'd gotten slow." Chris chuckled, holding her tightly. "It's okay. You're okay now. Screw this. We're going home."

"My hero." Rebecca said softly, her fingers brushing his as she took the jar and turned away from him. "Thanks again, Mr. Luciani. Your wife is lucky to have someone who opens pickle jars."

Jill was clinging tightly to Chris, wishing she could simply let him sweep her up and carry her away. "No, Chris... Wesker, you have to stop him! You're the only one!" She insisted.

Parker was left staring after Rebecca even after she walked away. She truly didn't remember him. This really was a new kind of hell for him.

"There's another time for Wesker. I'm worried about you." Chris told her, his rough fingers moving along the new wounds that would one day be terrible scars.

"A pickle jar can get you in a lot of trouble." The Captain hissed, when he returned to find that Parker had no longer been following him. "What did I tell you about her?!"

"Chris... I'm fine, really." Jill insisted, though she knew she would drop the moment he and Sheva left. "Wesker is going to use Uroboros... He's going to infect the globe." She allowed herself to close her eyes for a grief moment as Chris' rough fingers traced her wounds.

"It was just a pickle jar." Parker insisted innocently. "And... Wells she's so small!"

"But..." Chris didn't want to leave Jill. He needed her. He needed to know that she would stay with him. "I can't. Jill..."

Riggins laughed at this, nodding his head. "She's nothing like her sister, is she?"

"I love you. Now go!" Jill insisted, dropping a quick kiss on his lips before physically shoving him toward the elevator wesker had taken. "Keep him safe, please?" She implored Sheva.

Parker laughed slightly and ran his fingers through his hair. "That's for damn sure! Does that sister have a sugar daddy too?"

Chris squared his shoulders, though his gaze held Jill's until the doors separated them. He found himself hoping Parker was having better luck at this than he was.

"You're not seriously thinking of trying for her. Are you?" Riggins asked, raising an eyebrow. "Even after what I told you?"

Almost the moment the doors shut Jill dropped to the floor. Her strength had failed her, leaving her unconscious and her would be rescuer soon to be on a ship.

"Me? Nah, it's not like she would want me." Parker replied, truly believing that. If he hadn't pursued her so fiercely in the first place... He doubted Rebecca would have wanted anything to do with him.

Chris again found himself facing off against Wesker. Through a plane crash and an inevitable fight to the finish in a volcano, he couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right. Wesker didn't act like himself. He'd gotten way too animalistic to be himself.

"If you're just dying for death then try it." The other man shrugged. "It's not like I can't replace you."

Sheva didn't even know Wesker, and she felt it too. From what she had seen of him so far, he was calm, calculating. But this thing that was chasing her now... It was more like one of the villagers.

Parker shook his head, turning away from the labs. "Maybe I should take a crack at big boobs instead?" He laughed, not knowing that Excella was soon to be dead.

Chris wanted to believe they'd won. He wanted to believe that so much as he lay on the chopper floor beside Jill that he simply let go and did. Albert Wesker was really dead this time and they were free. All that was left was to pick up the pieces and figure out how to fix whatever had been done to the woman he loved.

"Like I said. You'll get your turn." Riggins snorted, shoving Parker toward the security bay and far away from where Rebecca stood peering around the corner at them.


Three months seemed like a lifetime for Chris. He'd been hoping that Parker would be back with Rebecca when they arrived at the main headquarters but there had been no word.
Jill slept a good portion of the first month and though Chris found himself lonely and desperate to talk to her, he knew that this was for the best. He was there for her when she woke up screaming from the night mares and for the time, that was going to have to be good enough.
The rest of the time was spent trying to cheer her up. The darkness in her eyes truly defeated him. He had no idea how to take it away. For the second time in his life, he truly felt helpless.
That night he came home, bringing with him Jill's favorite dessert. He was aiming for a smile but would take whatever he could get.

Three months was enough time for Parker to prove himself within the security team at Tricell Italy. He'd gotten so good, in fact, that he was in the position to take over Riggins' job. The other man was giving him hell for it too.
Rebecca had found some reason to need Parker's help at least once a day. She'd gotten so tired of pickles, she'd begun trying to find other things for him to do, just so she could talk to him. She didn't know why but she truly adored this man. She felt that she should know him better.
There was a bit of a shift when Excella's death and the cause of it was revealed. The exectutives at Tricell were busy playing cover up and it was so bad that things were filtering up from the lower levels. Even Rebecca seemed a bit stressed by it.
Rebecca had fallen asleep at her desk that night. In the morning she was stiff and rather cranky. It didn't help that she had the shape of a pencil in her cheek. She was touching it with her finger when Parker walked by. She wanted to beg him to take her out of there but as usual she bit her tongue. She'd heard what he'd said about Excella. She was not his type at all.

Jill wished she could be strong, just like Chris wanted, or so she thought. The nightmares weren't even the worst part, as the scars on her chest were a constant reminder of the fact she had been someones slave. That night as Chris came home Jill was sat on the couch, simply staring at the darkened tv screen. She wore a baggy t shirt and shapeless sweatpants, just as she did everyday. The battle suit Wesker had made her wear had left her feeling exposed and self conscious, barely able to let even Chris touch her. The mental scars were going to take a very long time to heal, and they would test just how much the two former STARS members did actually love each other. Of course, with Jessica still at BSAA HQ, it meant there was someone still poking at the raw wounds.

"Bagels?" Parker asked cheerfully as he dropped by the lab, as always with the pretence of doing his security checks. The bag he dropped on Rebecca's desk smelled like it had come straight from the bakery, Parker had even brought Rebecca's favourite soft cheese to smother the bagels with. He always brought little things from their past together, as though little by little trying to get her to remember.

Chris knelt before Jill, careful to set the food aside and place his hands on her knees. He'd forgotten to be careful with her earlier on and she'd nearly broken his nose. He didn't blame her for being defensive. He just wished she would tell him why.
"You know that show you like is still running. We could watch it while we eat." He suggested softly. "It's not good to sit in the dark so much, babe."

Rebecca's eyes softened somewhat and she offered Parker a weary smile. "Bagels are my favorite." She whispered, as if telling him a secret as she opened the bag. "Strawberry creme cheese?!" She was no longer whispering and her smile had widened. "How did you know?"

Jill's dark gaze looked down at Chris, then glanced to the food he had brought with him. "I'm sorry I'm so broken..." She blurted, thinking Chris just wished things had slipped right back to how they used to be.

"I'm just lucky that way." Parker replied with a playful wink. "I brought you that coffee you like too, not the tar stuff that everyone else around here drinks. You like it frothy, right?"

"Broken?" Chris asked in shock, pretending to mis-understand her. "What's broken? Where does it hurt? Let me check." He leaned closer to her and playfully dug his fingers into her hips, trying to tickle her.

Rebecca gratefully took the coffee, taking in a deep breath. She'd been told she hated coffee but she certainly didn't feel that way about this one. "Hazelnut and caramel." She breathed, her mind bringing forth an image that surprised her. Parker waking her up with coffee and kisses...maybe she was just wishful thinking.

Jill's lips tugged into a slight smile before she started to squirm. "What did you bring us to eat?" She asked, eyeing up the mysterious package Chris had brought in with him.

Parker nodded, taking a sip of his own black coffee, oblivious to the memory Rebecca had just had. "I know we're not supposed to eat in here, but I knew you'd fall asleep in your lab again." He told Rebecca, smirking a little at the pencil imprint that was still on her cheek.

"I can't tell you." Chris said, pretending to pout as Jill leaned around him for the package of food. Inside she would find a ring box on top of it all. It was almost exactly like the ring Wesker had stolen from her and destroyed.

Rebecca laughed sheepishly and touched the imprint again. "I've been so tired lately." She confessed. "There's so much to do and I don't feel like I can keep up."

Jill's fingers curled around the box and she pulled it close before opening it. The darkness in her eyes shrank away slightly when she saw what was inside. "Chris, it's..." She could tell him how it meant that he had gone to all this trouble. "I don't deserve someone like you." She breathed as she looked up at him, brave enough with her ring back that she embraced him gently.

"Don't you have people who can do the work for you?" Parker asked as he looked down into his own coffee. "Because, well... I thought maybe I could steal you away, at least for a night? I'd really love it if you would come to dinner with me tonight."

"Then that's a yes?" Chris asked, ever assuming and always impetuous. He knew better than to return the hug with his arms. Instead he rested his forehead against her cheek. "I love you, Jill Valentine. Nothing will or can change that."

"Why?" Rebecca gave him a rather suspicious look. After what she'd heard him say about Excella, she'd already placed herself on the shelf.

Jill smiled and looked down at the ring in her slender finger. "Of course it's a yes, but..." Her smiled quickly faded and the darkness was back in her eyes. "I know I'm not the same person who pushed wesker out of that window..."

"W-why?" Parker stammered, having not expected he would have justify the reason. "Well... I like spending time with you, but it's always in the lab. I thought it would be nice to go someplace nice. But... If you don't want to..."

Chris' shoulders slumped but his expression didn't change as he leaned back and again rested his hands on her knees. "I know that." He said softly. "And you know what? It doesn't matter. You're still my Jill. Wesker can't take that away from you. He won't take anything else from us, babe. Never again."

"No. No...I do!" Rebecca protested her own ignorance, holding up her hands to stop him from leaving. "I really do but...there's a problem..."

"I want to forget..." Jill breathed, her fingers reaching out to stroke his cheek gently. "I know we're going to be okay..." She added, her fingers sliding gently through Chris' dark hair. "So long as you don't give up on me."

"Problem?" Parker asked, already knowing he was not going to like the answer.

"I would never do that." Chris promised her. "Trust me. When I thought you were dead all I wanted to do was be with you. I'm glad I didn't get around to ending my life. I might never have seen you again that."

"They won't let me leave." Rebecca told him truthfully. "I haven't been outside in at least nine months. Honestly I can't remember ever being outside."

"I knew you wouldn't give up on me." Jill breathed. "But... There was a part of me that wanted you to. I wanted you to rebuild your life Chris, even if I wasn't in it."

"What do you mean, won't let you? Are you... A prisoner here?" Parker asked, horrified that all this time he could have swept her away like he intended.