Chapter 1

The warm sunshine felt good on her skin as she exited the airport with her brother. It had been two months since the Rockfort incident and she was getting over her troubles. Her only problem right now was worrying on how they'd treat her. How he'd treat her.

"Leon." she whispered. Her brother turned around to face her.

"Huh? Claire did you say somethin'?"

"Oh, no Chris. It was nothing." Claire pushed her brother lightly on the shoulder,

"We'll see the Rookie soon enough. Don't you worry about that."

Claire's eyes squinted down and shoved her brother with a little force. Chris chuckled and grabbed Claire's hand and led her to a car.

"How'd we get this? Do you have the keys?" asked Claire as she looked at the car.

"Your FRIEND, Leon got it for us."

"Leon?"

"Yup." Chris walked over to the gas tank and opened the little door. He pulled out a magnetic box and took out a pair of keys. Chris smiled and turned back to Claire shaking them at her.

"That was a smart thing to do. Somebody could have stolen it."

"Not while I'm watching it." said another man's voice.

Claire whipped around and saw the image of the one and only Leon Kennedy. He got close to her and she flung herself over him. Chris saw this and gave him the first of many Redfield "death glares".

Leon coughed and Claire released him. Claire turned to her brother and put her hand on her hip.

"Why didn't you tell me that Leon was coming?" asked Claire with the same death glare as her brother.

"I wanted to surprise you!" said Chris.

"And I came to surprise you!"

"Huh?" questioned Chris

Then he turned around and saw the lovely figure of Jill Valentine.

"Jill?" asked Chris as he tried to take in her beauty.

"Redfield you JACKASS!" screamed Jill as she looked at him.

"W-what?" said the stunned Chris

"I thought that you were dead. You had me worried to death!" Jill walked over to Chris and put her arms over his shoulders.

"Valentine, I'm sorry."

"I forgive you." They were really close to each other and the space between them was getting smaller. But a loud cough came out from the other direction.

Chris and Jill turned to see Leon and Claire staring at them with giant smiles on their faces.

"Get a room you two!" screamed Claire as she pointed her finger at them.

The two instantly had Crimson flush across their faces. Chris walked over to Claire and shoved her a bit.

"Alright let's get our shit in the trunk and go!" said Chris as he turned the key in the trunk lock.

Claire and Chris threw their small bags in the trunk at walked to the front of the car. Chris got to the drivers seat while Jill was attempting for the back seat. Claire put out her arm in front of her and pointed to the front passenger seat.

Leon and Claire got in the back together. Chris noted this and turned the rearview mirror on them so he could see if there was any 'funny business'. And then they were off. After a few minutes of silence Claire had to break it up.

"So.. where are we going exactly?" asked Claire. She shifted only her eyes to catch a glimpse of Leon.

"We're going to the safe house." said Jill as she turned her head back. Jill saw Claire's eyes shift toward Leon and she smiled.

"Safe house? Who's all there?"

"Well there's us and some others."

"Like who?"

"Well there's: Rebecca, Billy, Carlos, Barry, Ark, Lily, & Lott."

"Who the hell are they?" asked Claire

"You know Barry." said Chris as he switched lanes.

"But who are the others?"

"Rebecca was from S.T.A.R.S. as well. Billy met up with Rebecca before the mansion. I met Carlos in Raccoon and Ark-" Leon cut off Jill and ended the sentence.

"Ark was a friend of mine. I sent him to Sheena Island and he got into some trouble with Umbrella. He found two kids named Lily and Lott so he took them in as his own." Leon turned to face Claire and gave her a slight smile.

"Oh I see. Wait where's Sher-" Claire looked over at Leon and she saw guilt flood his eyes.

"I'll... I'll tell you later. Just don't ask now."

Claire shut her mouth and continued to look at Leon. He looked up at her and gave her another smile. She turned away and started to stare at the back of Chris' head. Leon noticed how sad her face looked since she came back. Claire hardly smiled at all in the car, and she mostly stayed quiet.

The Claire Redfield he met a few months ago was full of life with a smile always on her face. He knew that the smiles were for Sherry, but they always made him feel like he was still living a normal life. Leon turned to Claire and she turned to him at the same time. They just looked at each other. They both could see the sadness and grief in both of their cold blue eyes. They knew the pain and hurting that they were suffering from. But Claire's seemed to intensify since the last time they met.

They both turned away and the rest of the ride was in silence. A few hours later the car pulled up to a long drive that had many trees shrouded around it. Chris started up the drive and a few minutes later a house was visible. The garage door started to open and Chris drove the car inside.

Once inside the door was shut by a large man with a beard. Chris shut off the car and jumped out toward the large man.

"Barry, long time no see!" Chris and Barry pulled in for a hug.

"Chris Redfield. You dumb son of a bitch! How the hell are ya?!?"

"Good. Good. Well here's Claire"

"The picture of her doesn't do her justice. She's a Redfield for sure. Come here you!" Barry grabbed Claire and gave her a giant hug. Claire couldn't hug him. so she just flailed her arm and hit him on the back.

Barry let go and let them get their bags out of the car. He lead them in the house through the kitchen and into the living room. Once inside Claire and the others could see six other figures inside of the room. At the same time they all turned their heads in the direction of the two 'new' people.

"Alright everybody. You may know them, and you may not. But here they are, the troublesome Redfields!" Exclaimed Jill to the other inhabitants.

"Chris!" screamed a girl with short brown hair. She got up from her seat and gave Chris a huge hug.

"Hey Rebecca. This is my sister Claire." Chris pointed toward her and she nodded her head.

"Uh. I wanna go unpack right now. So where will we be staying?" asked Claire as she looked around the house.

She was highly uncomfortable around the people. There was a man with a mullet, a latino guy, there was also a man with short brown hair with two kids by him staring at her like none other. He got up from his chair and walked over to her and Chris. He lent his hand out to Claire first.

"Ahh so you must be Claire. Leon really hasn't shut up since he found out that you were coming back. Anyways, I'm Ark. Ark Thompson." Claire didn't shake his hand. She just stared at it and walked past him.

Ark walked up to Leon and began to whisper to him.

"She's a little feisty one isn't she. I like her."

"Don't you even dare."

Leon walked away from Ark and went toward Claire.

"Uh you and Chris are going to share a room upstairs. I can show you where it is if you want."

Claire turned toward Leon and gave him a little smile. But then it disappeared when she looked over at Ark.

"Yeah." Claire grabbed Leon by the arm and started to walk to the front of the house. Leon lead her upstairs and to the first room on the left. He walked inside and Claire followed.

"This is yours and Chris's room." said Leon as he looked around.

There was only one queen sized and a dresser inside. Claire turned around and gave Leon an unhappy face.

"This is it? There's only one bed here."

"Have Chris sleep on the floor. Ark and I alternate who gets to sleep on the bed each night."

"Thank god for that. He's a little weird don't you think?"

"Like how weird?"

"He wouldn't stop staring at me. It was creepy."

"That's just Ark. He'll stop soon enough. Especially since Chris is here."

"Yeah I guess."

Claire walked over to the dresser and opened up a drawer. She unzipped her bag and pulled out a pair of clothes and some night clothes. She didn't have a lot of material possessions since Raccoon blew up. After she unpacked she walked over to the door and closed it. She walked back over to Leon and stood in font of him with her arms crossed.

"Leon. Where's Sherry?" Leon looked away from her and forced his eyes to the ground.

"Gone."

"Where?"

"I don't know. Claire I'm sor-"

"Dammit Leon where the hell is Sherry!"

"They took her away from me Claire. I'm sorry!"

"Who? Who the fuck took her?"

"The Government. They said that they'd put her in a safe place. Claire there was nothing I could do." Claire walked over to her bed and sat down. Leon followed and sat beside her.

"Claire please believe that I couldn't' do a thing. I tried but I had no legal custody of her." Claire shut her eyes and faced the ground. Leon saw some tears fall and he wiped then off.

"I believe you Leon. But why does everyone close to me have to leave?" Leon pulled Claire in for a hug.

"Hey, you still have Chris. And you also have me, and we're not going anywhere. You also have all those people down there too. Well except for Ark." Claire laughed a little and let go of Leon.

"Let's go down stairs. I'm sure Chris is starting to grow suspicious." Leon and Claire walked over to the door and opened it. Chris fell inside the room face first at their feet.

"Christopher Redfield. Were you just spying on us?" screamed Claire

"No. I just tripped, that's all." Chris got up off the floor and walked further in the room. Claire and Leon exited but they heard Chris say something under his breath.

"That little bastard has another thing comin' if he thinks he can get with Claire."