Title: From A to Z
Author: Soshite
Summary: The Wesker and Claire relationship. Now alphabetized. A series of drabbles and ficlets centering around a most unlikely couple. AU
Rated: T
Disclaimer: I do not own Albert Wesker or Claire Redfield or any part of the Resident Evil franchise.
A is for Albert
In which Claire meets Wesker for the first time
Chris often spoke of his infamous captain whenever he had the chance to call his little sister in the evenings he had off from work and whenever she wasn't busy with school. It was always 'Wesker this' and 'Wesker that' whenever the topic of life in general was brought up between the two siblings. It had gotten to the point where the younger Redfield would tease her sibling about marrying his captain, which prompted a good amount of sputtering from Chris as well as demands about who was corrupting his baby sister at school. Because Chris sure as hell didn't teach her to say such crazy, insane things growing up!
And then Chris would laugh and she would laugh and all would be well between the two of them.
But seriously, Chris spoke about Wesker waaaaay too often. Would it kill him to change the topic once in a while? Like talking about his fellow S.T.A.R.S. members? Like that woman who was on the same team as him? Her older brother never spoke of this Jill Valentine as much as a man should, considering that the officer was rather attractive and not at all a bad person to be around.
Not that Claire could really say much on her front; most of the guys on campus had this habit of giving her a wide berth or being squids in disguise when they did try to approach her (and then they would soon join the group that kept avoiding her at all costs after she showed them what kind of girl she really was). Claire had been as dateless as an old spinster with twenty cats since going off to college, not that she really minded. She was practical and sensible; school came before romance, was her motto. As long as her future was on the line – and both she and Chris had fought very hard for it – Claire would not sacrifice her education for something that wouldn't last more than a few distracting months.
However, being dateless did not give her an excuse not to be meddling. As the younger sister it was Claire's explicit duty to nag her brother about dragging his feet and just go find someone to settle down with. And to stop being such a wide eyed boy scout when it came to Captain Wesker…whose first name she had yet to hear…no that she cared. She hadn't even met the guy yet, for crying out loud. It would happen eventually what with Claire coming down for the holidays.
Somehow, she imagined this Wesker fellow to be a looming giant of a man with large, overbearing muscles, a strong chin with really heavy five o'clock shadow and with a gravelly no-nonsense kind of voice you often heard in old black and white detective movies. For good measure, Claire also imagined this almighty, godly Wesker to carry a club around with him, specifically for whacking his men (and woman) into shape.
Yeah, that should be about right, Claire thought with a small smirk.
The day eventually came when the youngest Redfield would go see her brother down at the Raccoon City Police Department, wherein her older brother greeted her heartily with one of the tightest hugs he had ever given her. They exchanged words and then it was time to be introduced to everyone there. Alpha and Bravo team were both present – a rare occasion, though it had more to do with the fact that there were some troubling things happening out in the forests near the city, rather than a relative visiting the S.T.A.R.S. unit. But everyone was more than happy to say their hellos to the young lady when Chris made his round of introductions.
She met everyone from the chicken heart, Brad Vickers, to the second-in-command of S.T.A.R.S., Enrico Marini. Everyone present gave her a cordial word of 'hello' and 'nice to meet you', though some were a little more than cordial, which earned them a good glare from Chris about her still being a minor. That, of course, was a bold faced lie, because Claire was already eighteen years old. It got the reaction the sharpshooter wanted though and the guys backed off quickly. But there was someone missing from the group…
"Hey, where's Captain Wesker?" Claire asked, surprising her older brother. It had only just occurred to him that the man he most wanted to introduce his sister to was, in fact, not around. Barry, sitting at his desk cleaning his gun, was the one to supply the captain's whereabouts for the last hour or so.
"He's probably still talking with Chief Irons. There's been talk about sending S.T.A.R.S. into the Arklay Mountains to investigate some cannibalistic cu…"
All the while Barry had been talking Chris had been standing behind Claire making cutting gestures that he thought were being subtle, but that his sister knew he was doing. He didn't want his sister to know about the investigation into the cult, because he knew she would either worry about him or try some snooping on her own in some misguided attempt to help him out. Barry, finally seeing and understanding what his friend was doing, immediately started changing the subject, chuckling nervously.
Of course, the subject he had chosen made everyone listening in on the conversation to slap their foreheads.
"Cucumbers! Hahaha. Right. Cucumbers. You know what? I'm hungry. I want a cucumber sandwich. I think I'm going to go to the dining room…"
Sitting at her desk, Jill raised an incredulous brow at Barry. "You mean cafeteria, right?" she corrected. Barry nodded and stood up from his seat.
"Right! Cafeteria. That's what I meant. Um…see you, Chris! Bye Claire!" And with that, Barry Burton had left the office. Chris heaved a sigh at this, while Claire just chuckled, shaking her head.
Now, back to business…Wesker was in a meeting with the police chief, which could mean a while before she could be formally introduced to the man that her brother looked up to like a second father. Once again, Claire could not help the urge to imagine an ape of a man running a tight ship, club in hand and grunts in every other sentence. She had been warned that the captain was not much for words and only really spoke when necessary (usually to give orders or to give someone the berating of a lifetime).
"Maybe it'll be a better idea if I come back later, Chris," Claire suggested. Her brother was still on the clock and she couldn't take more of his time than was necessary. They would see each other again after he got off his shift. "It was nice meeting everyone, but you've got work and I'm tired from the long trip from college and really, the last thing I want to do right now is to meet your captain—"
"How disappointing. And here I was…so utterly ecstatic to meet the lovely Miss Claire Redfield at last," interrupted a deeply amused voice.
Claire froze. She stood stock still as the whole room went silent at the entrance of the one man who had been missing from the S.T.A.R.S. unit.. The door to the office creaked shut and heavy footfalls came her way. She did not turn around and did not breathe; for some odd reason hearing the man's voice had made her unable to move. All these months, Claire's imagination had dreamt up all kinds of voices for the infamous Captain Wesker to possess…none of them had been close to the real thing.
There was a deep timbre to his voice that gently rumbled with each enunciated word and there was also the slight hint of an accent though Claire had no idea where it could be from. Maybe Wesker was of British descent? She didn't know.
He chuckled and rounded on her, treating Claire to her first glimpse of the man who haunted her brother's telephone calls.
He was tall; broad shouldered and had muscle tone that was not at all similar to the overgrown caveman image that Claire had been so carefully cultivating in her mind for the last while. No, Captain Wesker was simply athletic in build and Claire's eyes wandered towards his strong arms and other places that quickly had her looking right up at the older man's rather amused face. Well, he seemed amused, but Claire could barely tell what with those sunglasses he wore obscuring a good portion of his face.
He nodded at her, then looked up at Chris.
"This is your famous little sister, I take it?" he asked, although he already knew the answer. At Chris' nod, Wesker smirked. "Ah, good."
He held out his hand; it was large – bigger than hers, at any rate – and covered in leather. "A pleasure then, Miss Redfield."
Claire, unbidden, smiled up at the man. She took his offered hand and shook it firmly. "The pleasure is all mine, Captain Wesker. Chris has said a lot about you."
Wesker chuckled and Claire imagined him rolling his eyes behind those dark lenses. "I'm sure he has spoken a great deal," the man stated, a slight hint of sarcasm in his voice. He focused his attention on her and Claire felt like standing at attention, but held back just in time. Wesker must have noticed her somewhat knee jerk reaction for a wry smile came onto his lips. "As you must know, I am Albert Wesker, captain. I prefer to be called Wesker, however."
Claire had a slightly delayed reaction as she tried to process the utterly normal sounding first name the captain had. It was…almost laughable how mundane his name was, after hearing so many horror stories about the ineffable officer of the law standing before her and acting – dare she think it – completely pleasant.
Her amusement must have been apparent on her face, since the blond man raised a questioning brow. "Do you find something amusing, Miss Redfield?"
Quickly, she covered her smile with her hand and shook her head. "Not at all. Good to finally meet you, Wesker. And it's Claire, by the way."
There came that wry smile and an acknowledging nod of his head.
"Claire it is, then," Wesker said, before bidding the rest of the team to go back to work (barking at them, really, Claire noted) and then slipping into his private office. Everyone else scrambled back to their work, the temporary distraction and novelty of Claire's visit now over and even Chris had to drag himself back to his desk. His sister followed though, pulling up a chair next to him, propping up her elbows on the wood.
Chris grinned at her as he sorted through some old files. "So, what do you think, little sis?"
Claire grinned at him, unable to get the sound of Wesker's voice out of her ears and the way he said her name like no one else did.
"Hmmm…he's not so bad," she replied.
Author's Note: My first time writing a fanfic for Resident Evil ever. How did I do? I'm sorry if I butchered the characters.