How the hell did she get herself into these kinds of situations?
Claire was now screwed beyond belief of anything and was more than likely going to die. Woohoo. So she had been in these kinds of situations before, you know, the whole Raccoon City getting infested with zombies and she had to try and survive while getting into even crappier situations and almost dying thing. Umbrella was really starting to piss her off. Why the hell did they have to go and make some stupid virus that reanimated dead cells? Why did those damn guards at the Paris facility have to capture her? Why did they have to take her to an island in the middle of fucking nowhere that had the T-Virus and keep her prisoner? Apparently, some of her brother s complete hatred of Umbrella was starting to rub off on her. Not that it did much good when you re on a plane flying to who knows where.
At least she met Steve.
When she first met him on the island, she was just as reluctant to trust him as he was with her. But, there is strength in numbers. And he was kinda cute. So, they eventually ended up helping each other out and eventually found a plane that was SUPPOSE to be flying them home. Fate have it, Albert Ashford, the cross-dressing freak, as she liked to put him, turned on the auto-pilot and now they were off to wherever the hell he felt like sending them to and now Steve and herself were alone on a plane for who knows how long it ll be.
That wasn t necessarily a bad thing.
As much as he could be annoying at times, he was very good company. Although, having any human companionship would make her happy, she found that she was having a very good time with him. When they weren t being chased by the un-dead. He was very sweet, putting her own needs before his, having to kill his own father so that she wouldn t get hurt (even though he would have to have killed him eventually, but its the thought that counts). He was also quite the comedian and had a certain charm about him that was starting to get to her. And like she had said before, he was pretty cute for someone 2 years younger than her. What s a 2-year difference anyway? But it wasn t time for her damn hormones to making her feel weird. Both of tem were in a life or death situation and had to be focused at all times. Any distractions could cost them their lives. And this was what made it her most difficult mission ever. How could he not distract her?
Somehow, maybe, if they made it out of this alive, he could take her to a movie or something. All the more reason to not die.
Ok, this wasn't as bad as he thought it would be.
So, maybe he had been a prisoner for the same company his late father stole from. That was definetly bad. And then a virus had broke out on the island he was imprisoned on and had been attacked by the newly re-born zombies and had been sitting in a tower while waiting for someone to get his ass the hell out of there. Zombies? What the hell was the world coming to? He thought he would never see the day when he would die from a zombie apocalypse. But Steve had been lucky, for he had received a guardian angel in the form of a Ms. Claire Redfield. And he wasn't about to complain about being stuck on plane heading to who-the-hell-knows-where alone with her for God only knows how long.
Steve had never been a believer in the whole love-at-first-sight crap that you would see in all those romance movies and he cursed himself for falling victim to that fucked up philosophy. After seeing Claire coming out from behind the building that she was hiding behind, glistening form the sweat she had worked up from trying not to die, you'd sure as hell fall in love. At first, he was reluctant to trust her, as most people would be. Seriously, if you were on an island full of fucking flesh eating zombies everywhere and this random girl comes outta nowhere and wants to team up with you, instantly you would follow with no questions asked?
Didn't think so.
However, after being with her for a while he knew that she was one of a kind and fell deeper in love with her. Who wouldn't love Claire? She was smart, funny, beautiful, kind and brave enough to go running around on that God-forsaken island and actually try to find a way out. If that didn't take guts, he didn't know what the hell did. In a way, they needed each other. They never would have been able to get off Rockfort Island if they hadn't worked together simultaneously. It felt nice to be needed. Steve felt like he had a greater purpose besides saving his own skin. He needed to make sure Claire got to her older brother Chris safely. That was top priority.
But now the question that was pondering his mind for sometime needed an immediate answer, what was there to do on a plane alone with Claire?
Damn, she was tired. Who wouldn't be after fighting zombies for hours on end?
Tired was an understatement. She was exhausted! If she even thought about closing her eyes, she would more than likely go into a coma. She wished she could sleep forever. At least then she wouldn't have to deal with all this shit. But then that would be admitting defeat and she would rather do this everyday of her life rather than give up. She needed to get to Chris. She needed to help Steve find a new place to live (seeing that he was an orphan now, poor Steve T.T.
She needed to get some fucking sleep.
Stupid plane had to be hard and uncomfortable. Sitting on the floor was starting to hurt her ass and this plane didn't see, like the type where you would just find a pillow or food or ANYTHING that would make this trip to hell enjoyable. Damn those bastards at Umbrella. The least they could do was make the seats and floor somewhat comfortable. Claire hated to whine, but she'd rather be fighting the zombies than be sitting on this plane. She sighed a big, long, depressing sigh.
" You alright, Claire?" Steve asked, with concern in his voice.
" I'm ok Steve, just tired and uncomfortable."
"Anything I can do to help?" Damn that adorable smile that he was giving her! How could she resist asking the question that had been on her mind?
"Can I sleep on you?!" She blurted out. Claire quickly covered her mouth when coming upon the realization of how wrong that sentence sounded, and poor Steve was about ready to have a heart attack.
"I-i mean like o-on your shoulder or s-something like that...if that s ok....." She quickly corrected herself
Steve seemed surprised at first, having suffered from the very real fact of having a heart attack, but gave into her request. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity, why pass it up?
"What the hell, go ahead." He scooted closer to her and allowed her head to lie on his shoulder. He heard her mumble a quick thank you before passing out into a sleep that was desperately needed.
-
Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit, holy shit, holy shit. So much for focus. How the hell was he suppose to not focus on Claire when she was fucking laying on him. She was so beautiful, laying there with the light shining on her; she really did look like an angel. Maybe he could just give her a quick one, before she woke up. Before he even knew it, he was leaning in his head and was about to make contact with her oh-so luscious lips.
Steve hesitated. No. He couldn't do that to her. She was sleeping for God's sake, that would be taking advantage of her and that he would certainly not do. Damn him and his respect for women! But, as luck would have it, she started to turn away from him and leaned her head back against the walls of the plane. Damn.
Well, at least now he could go and take a little look around the plane. He got up quietly so he wouldn't wake Claire and headed back to the storage cargo area. When he opened the door, he was greeted with an icy blast of cold air. Apparently, there wasn't any heat going back there. Fantastic. He walked into the room and took quick glances at the names of the items inside the crates that were stacked against the walls. Who knows, maybe he would find some food. However, after rummaging through many piles of boxes, they contained nothing of useful value. Steve sighed, hearing his stomach roar at the thought that there was no food to be found. He glanced up...was that...a hidden crate? Indeed it was. Steve found a crowbar next to the mysterious box and opened it to reveal that its contents were............a bunch of empty bottles that smelt like... booze and tequila. Apparently all the Umbrella employees were drunks as well as villains. Bastards. After another disappointment and a full half hour of freezing his ass of, Steve let the crate tip over as the plane hit a slight bit of turbulence and walked out of the cargo hold, with a fresh batch of hopelessness in him.
The dull light from the windows poured in and woke the brunette from the deep sleep that she had fallen into. Claire opened her eyes slowly to adjust to the little light there was and stretched out like a cat would and relaxed her muscles from the position she slept in.
"That was great. I feel sooo much better." But there was no response from the boy who was suppose to be there. "Steve?"
She pushed her self up and brushed off the dirt that seemed to stain the floor around her. "I wonder were he got off to." Claire thought out loud as she moved forward to do an inspection and see were the red-head had gone. She gazed around at the familiar background of her airborne prison and had found that her foot had seemed to have found its way towards an object that proved to be unavoidable to trip over. Down went Claire with a small yelp of surprise and she closed her eyes and braised herself for impact of her face to the floor. However, it did not come. She opened her eyes, questioning why she wasn't on the floor by now. She was sure the floor didn't smell this good. A glance upward showed that she was face-to-face with was the toned chest of the missing Steve Burnside. To her embarrassment, he had appeared from out of the blue and stepped in before she could plummet to her certain doom. Both of the two were stuck gazing in each other's eyes, too embarrassed and too stunned to really do much else. But it was Steve who broke the silence and added in
"Didn't realize you were so clumsy, Claire" He giggled a bit as he saw her face grow a brighter red than before, pissed and embarrassed altogether and pushing herself away from him.
"I'm not clumsy."
"Whatever you say Claire, whatever you say. "
"Where the hell were you anyway, you scared the shit outta me." Claire asked.
"Well, as comfortable as I was, I figured that I should check out the cargo hold, see if there was anything useful."
"I take it you didn't find anything?"
"Nothing but a few empty liquor bottles..." Steve faded off, reflecting how idiotic the employee's of Umbrella Inc must be.
They both sighed. "Drunk bastards."
A moment of silence followed, the two teenagers standing quietly, looking at each other from the corners of their eyes. And then, the two were laughing hysterically, at nothing in particular, just enjoying the moment of peace that they had for who knew how long.
"Hahaha! I haven't laughed like that in a long time. It felt good." Claire exclaimed, calming down long enough to make a sentence.
"Well, I guess there hasn't been much to laugh about latle, has there?" Steve smiled sadly, which Claire took note of. She had been meaning to ask him something, but it seemed so wrong...too painful to really even think about. But she had to ask, her curiosity got the better of her and she couldn't stop herself before it was too late.
"Hey.... Steve?"
"Yeah?
"I-err, I really don't mean to be so curious but...." She bit her lip, trying to prevent the inevitable.
"But????" Steve retaliated, becoming curious himself about why Claire was acting so...odd.
" But I was wondering...how-how long were you at Rockfort, Steve?"
You could feel the tension in the room, the utter anguish that seized over Steve, turning away from Claire to have a moment with himself. She shouldn't have done it, she knew she shouldn't have! It was a stupid question anyways, even spending an afternoon unconscious there was torture, but she just had to ask. Claire kicked herself mentally.
"Steve, I'm really sorry! You really don't have to-" She quickly tried to apologize
"No, Claire. It s fine, really. You just...caught me by surprise, that s all. It was way too long, Claire." He faced her again, inhaling a deep breath.
"Steve, I really am-" But he waved her off again, dismissing her comment completely.
" You know something, Claire? I'm glad I went there, I really am. I mean, I got to meet you, right? Rotting away in jail, it was really worth it to see you." Steve confessed, blushing wildly and rubbing his shoulder as most men tended to do when they were nervous, as Claire stood there awestruck and flattered beyond belief. She had thought he was an asshole at first, a really cute, typical mal asshole. But this, this made her day a heck of a lot brighter.
"Steve, that s the nicest thing anyone had ever said to me. Thank you." And she gave him the most sincere smile she could bring out.
"I-I want to protect you, Claire. I want to make sure you at least get out of this alive so if anything happens to me, I can die happy."
"Steve, don't talk like that! Were BOTH going to get outta here and were BOTH going to protect each other." Claire declared. But she had noticed that Steve was walking much closer to her, a predatorial look in his eyes that seemed, dare she say it, flirtatious. And no sooner had she thought that horrific idea, she was pinned to the wall, his breath on the side of her neck, his arms surrounding her. He seemed completely different now, totally taken over by some unknown force. Maybe the virus was airborne and he had some odd side effect to it before he turned into one of the undead, though it seemed highly improbable and almost impossible if it weren't for the fact that it was Umbrella they were talking about. But it was not the virus that was causing this change in the redhead, oh no. The uncontrollable hormones of a teenage boy can really just pop out at anytime, and now seemed to be the time Steve decided to live in the moment.
"What are you doing?!"
"Protecting you of course." Steve pouted his lips, his big blue eyes gazing at her lovingly.
" And how the hell is this protecting me?" She asked, irritated and a deeper part of her screaming with pleasure at the situation.
"That's a stupid question, Claire. I thought you were smarter than that."
" Watch it, Steve. I still have my guns handy." But he simply giggled at her threat.
" Claire, your mine. I'm going to make sure that nothing happens to you, even if it means I need to stay a little closer to you in order to do that."
"But I-" But she couldn't finish her sentence before Steve's warm lips had collided with hers, kissing full on, Claire's eyes opening wide, stunned. What the hell did he think he was doing!?! They shouldn't be doing this, they had other things to focus on, more important objectives that needed to be met, more- oh what the hell, she'd let herself live a little, she deserved it, and she closed her eyes, returning the kiss.
He hadn't known what happened, just that he couldn't hold back anymore. He was falling more in love with her every moment, tempting him to do what he had been wanting to do for quite some time. It was like some sort of natural instinct told him to go for it; possibly ruining what they had already began to build. Her lips were oh so luscious, full and the perfect shade of pink. They tasted so wonderful, like cherries and some other fruit he couldn't quite make out, but it drove him crazy. Steve tried to be gentle and make it sweet, but the thought of Claire slapping him silly in a few moments was enough to make it more hot and rough. Seconds ticked by...why wasn't she doing anything? Wait, was she actually kissing him back? It seemed so, Steve could feel Claire give into him, encouraging him to continue and so they did. So she really did like him after all! He smiled inwardly, savoring her as she wrapped her arms around his neck as one of his hands cupped around her beautiful face, the other making its way around her waist. He decided to do the daring, licking her bottom lip, asking for permission to enter. She granted it fully and they roamed inside each other's mouths, each moment getting hotter than the last when a sudden jolt in the plane interrupted, sending them both flying. The two both groaned, feeling sore and irritated that they had been interrupted when things were starting to get interesting. Steve helped Claire up, offering her his hand and gladly accepting it. He moved towards the front of the plane and glanced out the window, squinting to make out something in the shadows. A building suddenly sprung out at them, scaring the shit out of Steve and yelled at Claire to get in the passenger seat and buckle up.
"Promise we'll finish what we started?" Steve asked.
"You know it." Claire smiled slyly at him, giving him a final kiss as they descended into the unknown.