In China, in that locker room, Jake knew he'd done, or said something wrong. When Super-Girl, Sherry, turned and looked at him, a frostiness in her eyes that perfectly matched the frostiness in her voice, he knew. It took him weeks, months, after the whole debacle in China was over and done with before he found out what.
When Super-Sherry had invited him to drop in on her if he was ever in the states, he didn't really think that would happen. What, with his blood being so important, he didn't want to be snatched up and dragged off to the United States version of the Chinese facility.
But, somehow, he found himself standing in an airport, waiting for her to come pick him up. He didn't expect her friend though.
"Jake! Over here." Sherry called out, and Jake turned, his bag slung over his shoulder, and stared. She had done something to her hair. It was all…bouncy. She noticed his staring, and blushed, a perfect shade of pink to complement her face. Jake started to wonder when he started to think like that. "Claire did my hair for me. It looks stupid, right?"
Standing behind Sherry was a tall woman with her red hair pulled back in a ponytail, who waved. "Hi, I'm Claire. So, Sherry said you and my brother didn't get along in China?"
Before Jake could answer the odd question, Sherry bounced before turning to face Claire. "Claaaaaire! You promised me you wouldn't bug him about that stuff. I already told you that they were both being jerks then." She then caught what she'd said, and turned back to him. "Sorry?"
"Nah, it's ok, Super-Girl. China was…an interesting place." He forgave her with a smirk, before following the two women out of the terminal. They all filed into a beat-up blue jeep, and Claire started to drive.
"I could have driving, Claire." Pouted Sherry from where she was banished to the back seat with Jake. "I'm not Leon, I know how to drive."
"Shush. You two catch up or make out or whatever you were planning on doing when Jake finally visited. Just pretend I'm not here." Claire winked at Jake in the rear-view mirror, and he felt himself heat up while Sherry shoved her face into her knees and groaned.
"Ohmygod Claire! What is even going on with you!" Sherry complained, before abruptly straightening and turning to Jake. "So, Jake, have you killed any more monsters lately?"
This time Claire groaned, as Jake happily filled Sherry in on the hundreds of C positive carriers and monstrosities he had killed since they'd seen each other last. The car was just about to lapse into an uncomfortable silence when Claire announced that they had arrived.
After China, part of Sherry's pay had gone into getting her a house, something that had been all fixed up and furnished for when she'd returned, and Claire quickly parked beside one of the best cared for bikes Jake had seen.
"Who rides?" He asked, pulling his bag out of the trunk.
"Me," Claire replied, tossing the house and jeep keys over to Sherry. "I lost my old bike, my first one, in Raccoon, and after I got my job with the FDA I decided to treat myself."
Jake paused a moment longer to look over the bike. "Well, you chose well. That is a beautiful motorcycle." Before he or Claire could say anything else, Sherry called to them from the door.
"Hey! Once you two are done your love affair with the bike, it looks like Leon stopped by." Sherry made a face, scrunching her nose up in a way Jake found strangely endearing. "He seemed to think it'd be funny to drop off beer and Chinese food."
Jake snorted. It sounded like something the other agent would do.
"Oh, and it looks like Helena dropped off…." Sherry then went completely red, and started to sputter. Claire pried the note from Sherry hands, read it over, and burst into laughter, tears leaking from her eyes.
After she'd reached her composure, she wiped the liquid from her face. "Well Jake, it looks like Helena likes you. And that's all I'm going to say on the matter." Still snickering, she moved into the house ahead of Jake and Sherry, and started to bang around in the kitchen.
Sherry puffed out her cheeks, before exhaling and gesturing to Jake. "Come on, I'll show you around and give you a place to put your bags." They both pulled off their boots, and padded along the floor as Sherry named rooms.
Finally, they reached one of the two spare rooms in the house, and Sherry pushed open the door. "Well, there you have it. Casa Birkin. Please enjoy your stay and remember to tip your hostess." She joked.
"Oh, and what does the hostess like as tips? Money, candy, companionship?" Jake asked without thinking, and Sherry sputtered.
"J-Jake!" she protested, but still with a smile on her cheery face. "Anyways, the food should still be hot, so let's go eat drink and be merry."
Shaking his head, Jake followed after the Birkin girl, berating himself for his comment.
Four hours later, and Jake was sure that he'd be regretting more than just that comment and he sat on the ground in front of one of the couches. A beer in hand, number unknown as he lost count around 6, a carton of ice cold Chinese next to him, and Sherry was sprawled out on the couch behind him, snoring lightly.
Claire was still up, maybe even better at holding her liquor than Jake, and he shook his head. "God, even her snoring is cute."
This set Claire off, who started to snort into her hand, a mouth full of beef and broccoli contained as she shook. "God, you two! You two just…" Laughter done, she swallowed her food and smiled at Jake. "You two are insane."
Jake tossed her with his bottle before draining it dry. When he reached for another, however, his hands grasped nothing but air. "Huh…Looks like we're all out." Claire made a face at this revelation, before muttering something about Kennedy being a cheap bastard when it came to liquor. "Hey, so I'm assuming she told ya about me?" He asked, curious. Sometimes it had been hard to tell what Super-Girl had thought of him when they were working together, so who knew how she described him to other people.
"Weeeeell…" Claire drew out the first word, before finishing her bottle of beer off as well. "She said that you were really really hot. Like, super-duper hot. Underwear model hot. I remember that." She chuckled, and Jake found himself trying to imagine Sherry saying that to anyone, before failing. Drunk Jake was not as good as being imaginative as sober Jake.
"Anything else? He asked, digging into the cold chow-mein before making a face. It just didn't taste right.
"Hm…Well. There was one other thing…I think I was going to punch you for it…But I don't think I can right now. Maybe I'll get Leon to do it for me." Claire yawned, before trying to glare at Jake. "You said some meaaaan things in China. Somethin bout Sherry being crazy because her dad tried to kill her?"
"What?" That seemed to shock Jake a little, and he pulled himself up straighter. "What are you talkin bout?"
Claire pushed the take-out boxes away from herself. "She said, that you found out about Wekser. And you said that she knew what it was like to be crazy because her dad was crazy. That was really mean." Claire looked at him, fire in her eyes, and Jake was glad that they were both too drunk to do much of anything.
"I…Yeah, I said that, but I didn't mean…" Jake trailed off, suddenly remembering with startling clarity the look of hurt that had flashed across Sherry's face when he had said those words to her. "Her dad tried to kill her?" he asked, instead of letting himself stew in poorly timed regret.
"Mmhmm." Claire nodded. "He got all shot up cuza Umbrella, so he injected himself with his virus. After he started mutating, he needed to spread the virus to a stable host, one who's genetic something or other matched his."
"So…Super-Girl then." Jake said, before yawning. He couldn't tell what the clock said, but he was sure it was too early for them to still be awake.
"Bingo! Someone get this man a beer!" Claire crowed. "Anywhoo, he infected her, and it was killing her. Then her mother…" Claire made a face, a grimace and scowl combined before continuing. "Her god-damned mother, was content to let her die in the sewers because she was more concerned with spies. Complete bull-shit." Claire teetered, and Jake took back what he'd thought about Claire holding her liquor better than him. They both seemed to be equally drunk off their asses. "I'm gonna go to bed. Help me up and I won't get Leon to punch you."
Jake pulled himself up and pointed Claire off to where he thought the extra bedrooms were, before pushing all the food cartons aside. No point in Super-Girl waking up and stepping in a half empty box of chicken, he though, before clumsily dropping to one knee at the foot of the couch.
"Sorry I was sucha jerk in China." He whispered into her hair, before standing and fumbling his way out of the living room.
The next day, Sherry was up hours before either Claire or Jake were, and it would have stayed like that had Claire not gotten herself confused before falling asleep in the bathroom, or Jake passing out on Sherry's bedroom floor.
Both Jake and Claire had their heads pressed to the table as Sherry cooked, something greasy that make Jake's stomach turn but Sherry assured them would help with the nausea.
"How come you're so cheery?" Jake said into the place mat on the table and Sherry pulled a frying pan off of a burner.
"Well, one of my handy dandy super powers is that I never get hung-over because the virus in my body burns through it like candy. And I also only had three bottles. You two, on the other hand, drank about a case each, and then probably stayed up super late gossiping. What were you talking about, anyways?" Sherry asked, placing a plate covered in bacon in the middle of the table.
"Eh, you know, the usual," Claire said, pulling herself up and snatching up 3 greasy pieces of pork. "Boys. Then Jake braided my hair and I did his nails. Anyways," She spoke around her food, "How did you sleep?"
"I slept okay," Sherry said, sitting with them at the table and watching, bemused, as Jake and Claire left the cutlery behind and munched on the bacon. "I did have a weird dream though. Someone saying 'I'm sorry' to me. Anyways, how about you guys? Sleep well?"
She smiled at Jake, the heat and warmth in her eyes perfectly matching her tone of voice as they both listened to Claire complain about sleeping on the tiled floor. Now he knew he'd done, or said, something right.
A/N: Just a short...thing I wrote last night when I should have been asleep.
But I hope this was a good read and wasn't too OOC~
(What am I doing with my life I should be finishing my other stories before I start writing more oneshots XD)