DISCLAIMER: All characters that are not of my creation are copyrighted and registered to CAPCOM. Story, however, is original, albeit this is the revision to the older version.

ONE: reunion one

JILL VALENTINE was sitting on the edge of her bed, scanning through newspaper clippings from the past that she pulled from a shoebox from beneath her bed. The articles denigrated the name of the Raccoon Police Department's special unit: S.T.A.R.S. She recalled the day that the first article came out after the Spencer Mansion incident. Chris had put up a fight with the Chief of Police for not fighting off the allegations; in fact the Chief enforced them. The surviving S.T.A.R.S. members knew his reasons for not defending them: He wanted to become the mayor of Raccoon City, and to do that he, too, blackened the names of the S.T.A.R.S. members and eventually rescinded their services to the R.P.D. And then the day of Apocalypse came not long after they were disbanded.

Chris, Barry and Rebecca had already left town to escape the pointing fingers in hopes to start a new life whilst Jill Valentine remained in Raccoon City to say her final good-bye. But little did she know that the T-Virus would leak into the city and claim the lives of hundreds of thousands of innocent people. And so she was thrust into the onslaught to fend for her life once more; and that was when she met him: The tall, dark, handsome Latino who went by the name of Carlos Oliveira. The two had fought together in order to escape the Day of Reckoning.

Having thus escaped the death of Raccoon City, the two made off far from the Midwest toward the east coast, more specifically New York. However, she would not stay long after having found out that New York housed the headquarters to S.T.A.R.S., so she fled the scene, leaving Carlos behind, and made for California—the only haven she knew that did not have a trace of Umbrella or S.T.A.R.S. And there, in the south of California in San Diego she settled with a roommate who was, coincidentally, Rebecca Chambers. The two had met on the corner of Grand and First Avenue. Rebecca was in San Diego to begin a new life with her fiancé Billy Coen.

She placed the articles back into their compartment and returned that to its home under her bed and walked over to her closet, pulled the door open and took two pieces of garment from their hangers and changed into them. She was now sporting a white wife beater and a pair of denim jeans that fit perfectly to curves of her form.

Turning from the closet, Jill walked out of her room, into the hallway that led to the main room. The ceilings in the complex were all vaulted, with light fixtures hanging about midway from the ceiling. The walls were splashed with white, which glowed a cream-like colour whenever the sun shone through the tall glass windows. The furniture was very modern and simple—nothing was too elaborate, save for the metal contraption in one corner of the apartment that served as a shelf for magazines and the like. The parquet floor was always clean and spotless and a plain pale teal rug in the centre of the room. Off to the right of her was the dining area and kitchen, and off to the left was the entertainment and study area—quite peculiar it was for Billy to have put the two together in the same place.

She then left the apartment, locking the door behind her and began her flight down the stairs, which was a rather long flight seeing that they lived on the fourth floor of the building. After having reached the lobby floor, she walked out the back way toward the parking structure, got in her 1998 Honda Civic and drove out of the structure onto Broadway toward the Horton Plaza for a little weekend shopping.

Traffic was light so the drive to the plaza was no more than fifteen minutes. Jill pulled into the five-story parking structure and drove up to the tollbooth. She rolled down her window and looked pleasantly up at the grossly obese man behind the window.

"Hey Frank," she said in a sweet, high-pitched voice—she had befriended half the security guards at the mall.

"Jill," he returned, tipping the bill of his hat in respect.

"So, you gonna open the gate or what? I've got shopping to do, Frank."

Frank smiled cheekily at her and reached for the green button to open the gate when he received a call from the main office in his earpiece. His face twisted from a cheerful glaze to one that was serious and almost emotionless. "I'm sorry, but the Chief wants to see you in his office at this moment. I'm going to have to escort you to his office this instant. I'll have one of the other officers take care of your car and you don't have to pay a cent."

Jill looked confused. "Adam wants to see me? What for?" she queried, stepping out of her car. Another officer then materialised out from behind the tollbooth and drove through the gates, which was opened by Frank.

"Just come with me, please." He said, leaving his booth to walk toward the elevator. Jill followed suit.

The two took the elevator to the third floor and stepped out into a small and dingy room. It was dimly lit by hanging fluorescents and had only a few watercolour paintings hanging on the wall.

There was not a body in the room save for the tiny haggard woman behind the desk staring up at the two. Her eyes were drawn then to Jill and scowled at her attire that was aforementioned.

"I presume you are the requested Jill Valentine?" the woman said, tapping her fingers on her desk. Jill answered her back and was then escorted into the next room, which was much larger and more dressed up in furniture and tapestries. In an ill way, the office reminded her of a room from the Spencer mansion. All that was missing were a few walking undead and puzzle locks. "Miss Valentine is here, sir," the security guard croaked, then exiting the office.

Jill stared at the back of a tall leather chair; next to it was the back of a slim woman staring out the open window.

"What do you want this time Adam?" Jill questioned. "I'm not getting you any more doughnuts. You could have one of your off-duty men do that for you. I don't even work for you."

"Adam?" a man's voice sounded from behind the leather chair. "I believe you have the wrong person."

Jill was confused. At that moment the chair spun around. Jill's mouth dropped open, hanging agape. She felt her heart skip several beats, pounding severely in her chest. Then a thought crossed her mind: Oh my, God! What the hell am I wearing?

"Carlos!" she finally said, walking at a fast pace toward the oaken desk. "Oh my, God. What the hell are you doing here?"

"Surprise?" he said cheekily. He stood up, and at that same moment the woman who was staring out the window turned. Jill did not pay much attention to this woman; her full focus was on the man before her.

"Yes, I'm surprised. Why didn't you call?"

"I wanted to make an entrance," he said, his Spanish accent unmistakable. He was clean-cut, free of facial hair (somehow Jill doubted any would ever exist on such a fine and smooth face) and hair cropped shorter. His skin was still as tanned as ever and his steely hazel eyes even more breathtaking, and that smile…how it made her swoon and melt on the inside.

Suddenly, the woman next to him demanded attention by giving a fake cough in Carlos's direction. He turned toward her and said briefly, "Jill, this is Elaine. Elaine, this is Jill." The two women nodded their heads in greet. "Elaine was and is my partner in the newly founded California S.T.A.R.S. unit. She's also the Chief of this plaza here. Snazzy, eh?"

"Snazzy," Jill returned insouciantly. She thought, Who the hell says 'snazzy'?

Jill then turned her mind from the subject of "snazzy" to Carlos's well being. "So why did New York send you over here? I mean, how've you been?"

Carlos exhaled then said, "I ranked one of the top officers back in New York, so they thought I would be fit for this job here in California. And then when I heard your name around the office—the guys here talk a lot about you, it's kinda creepy—I wanted to make sure I caught you before you went off on me again." He lowered his head now, and his tone dropped to a sombre hum.

"Went off on you? Carlos, what're you talking about? I never 'went off on you.' I—I just couldn't stay anywhere near N.Y.S.T.A.R.S. They had too many ties with Umbrella, and…Carlos, I had to leave. Someone in S.T.A.R.S. would have surely had my name on their death list. But now that I think about it, how did you get into S.T.A.R.S.?"

Carlos got up from his seat, walked past Elaine and stood before Jill. He had a cheap smile laid upon his face and said, "S.T.A.R.S. was reformed after Albrecht was killed—Albrecht was the pendejo behind the complete corruption of S.T.A.R.S.—and Umbrella just disappeared off the face of America. So I was allowed in,"

"Lucky bastard," Jill said jokingly, landing a punch on Carlos's shoulder.

"Yeah, and that's where I met Elaine, of course. She's awesome, Jill," Carlos said, turning his head toward Elaine, who turned a deep red.

"Carlos!" she said roughly, fighting back a girlish laugh and smile.

"Well, Jill, I didn't call you up here just to meet you this once. I was wondering if, maybe sometime, you wanted to hang out? It's been a long time since we've last actually spoken, y'know? I mean, if you're free and all, 'cause I know you can be a really busy—"

"Yes, Carlos, yes. I would like to 'hang out' with you. But I can't right now. Here's my number in case you lost it the first time (since you haven't called me in a long time!). I've got shopping to do, sweetie," she said playfully, giving Carlos a little pat on the head. "Now give mommy a hug and I'll let you on your way. There we are," she said as the two embraced in a hug. Then she whispered in his ear, "I really missed you, Carlos. Till we meet again," and with that she let him go and left the office. "Bye Elaine. It was nice meeting you."

"I think she still likes you, Carlos," Elaine spoke with a distant voice.

"You're just jealous," Carlos said jocularly, laughing under his breath.