Here's chapter one

I still don't own RE... or the Dark Crystal... which Rebecca stole her cat's name from...

Chapter One: An Old Friend

Las Vegas, NV

July 22nd, 2008, 11:58 pm

Rebecca bumped the fridge door with her hip to shut it, as her hands were otherwise occupied; one with the phone, one with a bottle of Bacardi watermelon rum.

"Yeah, Jill, I know," said Rebecca, popping the cap off the bottle, and taking a drink, "I'll be ready, don't worry." She took another swig from the bottle, and choked when she heard Carlos shout something in the background. He had clearly done it on purpose. Swallowing with more than a little difficulty, she said, "Tell your husband he nearly killed me just now... Oh, he thinks it's funny? I'm sticking a fork in his leg at dinner tomorrow- no don't tell him! It ruins the fun..."

Rebecca glanced up at the clock; 11:59.

"Listen, Jill, I'm gonna go. Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow. Yes I heard him. Tell him I love him too. Night. Bye."

Hanging up the phone, Rebecca flopped onto the sofa, with a tired groan. Her cat- one of them anyway- a fluffy silver tabby christened "Fizzgig" lept up and made herself comfortable on Rebecca's lap, purring loud enough so that she vibrated. The several clocks in the house chimed as they struck twelve. It was now ten years to the day since the nightmare that was Umbrella had begun- for the STARS at least. Ten years since that chopper had gone down; since she'd lost her team; since she'd disobeyed direct orders, and allowed a convict to go free...

Well, Edward, Kenneth, Richard, Enrico, Kevin, Forest, she thought, before saying aloud, "Here's to you guys. Hope you're having a better time tonight than I am." With that, she took a long drink.

Without warning, her other cat- a calico, named Jinx- shot by, puffed up to twice her normal size, and growling. The growling often caused Rebecca to wonder if her pet was a cat, or a watchdog. Jinx didn't stop until she had reached a window and could stare outside from it. Fizzgig, awakened from her nap, hopped off her mistress' lap, and followed her playmate.

"Nutty creatures," Rebecca muttered, once she had taken a look herself, and had seen nothing. She continued to mutter to herself, as she grabbed the cats, "Paranoid animals... Speck of dust touches the glass... A leaf blows by, and you both raise hell..." as she headed towards the laundry room, she ended her muttered rant with, "I should have listened to Caine, and gotten fish instead." With no further ado, she dropped both balls of fluff on the laundry room floor, and locked them in the room. If she didn't, they would either keep her up all night, or get into things they shouldn't while she was asleep. To put them outside would just be asking for run-over pets... and for all that they annoyed her sometimes, Rebecca loved the furballs

Finishing her drink, Rebecca headed for her room, fully intending to crash, and sleep till somewhere in the vicinity of noon. It had been a long day at work. A long day. Tomorrow- or that day, if you wanted to get technical about it- was her day off. And it was staying that way. She wasn't getting called in again, just because Toby got lazy and decided not to show. She knew for a fact he wasn't sick half the time he called in... His most common reason usually sported either red, or blond hair. She knew; she'd been one of those reasons for a while. Bastard only calls in "sick" when he knows it's my day off, and I'm the only one who's available to cover for him.

With that bitter thought in mind, she fell uncerimoniously onto her bed, and was out before her head hit the pillow. Thankfully, she fell into a good dream, instead of the usual nightmares that plagued her.

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July 23rd, 6:15 am

A tail brushing under her nose brought her out of a good- okay, wonderful- dream, as she sneezed. Judging from the fluffiness it was-

"Fizzgig," Rebecca groaned, sleepily, "Go 'way." The cat ignored her, and promptly made herself comfortable on Rebecca's chest. "G'off 'fore I throw you o-" Rebecca stopped mid-threat. Hadn't she locked the cats in the laundry room? Yes, she quite clearly remembered doing so. How had Fizz gotten out? Scrubbing at her eyes, she looked at the clock on her bedside table. 6:15. Wonderful. If Fizzgig had gotten herself out, Rebecca was going to kill her. Grumbling, she grabbed the offending animal, and got out of bed. She found the laundry room door open. Jinx was still inside, dead to the world atop the dryer. Decidedly displeased with being awoken so early on her day off, Rebecca shoved Fizzgig into the room, and shut the door with a little more force than normal. She didn't want to know how the damned creature had gotten out; not right then anyway. She drug her feet as she went past the kitchen, not even taking a second glance at the partially open door. Cat-proofing the laundry room could come after she had a few more hours of slee-

Why was the kitchen door open? She knew for a fact it had been locked. She had never unlocked it the day before. She carefully and quietly made her way to the door, and pushed it shut. Now wide-awake, she turned to run back to her room to grab her beretta. Before she could actually start to head for said room, however, the lights suddenly flickered to life. Adjusted to the darkness, and ill-prepared for the sudden flash of light, Rebecca's eyes protested greatly to the abuse, causing blue and green flashes to dance in front of her for several moments. As her vision slowly cleared, she saw that she wasn't alone in the room...

Leaning against the doorway, arms crossed, and a smug smirk on his face, was Billy Coen. He was almost exactly how Rebecca remembered him; dark jeans, wife-beater shirt- black this time- blue eyes cold, and calculating, black hair slicked back- except for that one lock that was determined to fall forward... Only a few things differed; the few strands of gray in his hair were a new addition, the handcuffs she had grown so accustomed to seeing were, of course, gone, as were his dogtags- which she herself still wore-...and he looked tired. Not "sleepy" tired, but weary... tired of everything in general... The kind of tired that started to show after a decade of fighting a never-ending battle.

To her credit, Rebecca tried to get words to form on her lips the moment she realized who the "intruder" was, but her brain just didn't seem to want to work, nor did her voice. Her being shocked into silence seemed to amuse Billy, for his smirk only grew.

"What's the matter, Doll? Cat got your tongue?"

Hearing the familiar voice allowed Rebecca to find her own voice. Alas, in hindsight, what she said wasn't exactly the best greeting in the world, "Billy? What in the hell are you doing here this early?... And have you ever heard of knocking?"

Billy continued to wear that smug expression, as he replied with more than a little sarcasm, "Hell of a greeting, after ten years, Princess. Missed you too."

Rebecca, realizing what she'd said, turned an interesting shade of red, "Sorry... But you shouldn't sneak up on a person like that..."

"Maybe you shouldn't be so jumpy," Billy suggested with a shrug, moving away from the door, to stand in front of Rebecca- (she was rather annoyed to find that her memory had been correct on how short he made her feel... and he wasn't even that tall himself!).

"Look who's talking," Rebecca shot back, "You move around alot, for a dead man." And with that, she promptly jumped up- damn height difference- and hugged him.

It took Billy a moment to return the embrace, but when he did, he did so with bonecrushing force, causing Rebecca to squeak- more out of need for air than surprise. I didn't really need those ribs anyway she thought idly, I'll have to thank him for ridding me of them, when I can breathe again. "Billy..." she said aloud, with a great deal of difficulty, "Oxygen... becoming... issue."

Billy laughed at her- it was a foreign sound, the genuine laugh; not the mocking sound she'd heard when he'd been amused with her admittedly stupid claims that she needed no help in a monster-infested train; but a true laugh- and released his slowly suffocating companion. He shrugged in what seemed to be a semblance of an apology. Then he reached forward and played with a lock of her hair, "that's a change," he commented. Rebecca could only guess he was talking about the length and color; when they'd met, it'd been boyishly short, and on the auburn-ish side of brunette. Now it fell past her shoulders, even when she pulled it up in a ponytail- or the occasional loose pigtails- and she'd been dying it a dark red for years. Frankly, she was surprised Billy hadn't taken to dying his hair to cover up the traces of silver. She said as much, making an 'old man' comment while she was at it. Billy ignored her, and promptly changed the subject to that of coffee.

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July 23rd, 7:20 am

Billy was, to be perfectly honest, surprised. He had come to Vegas expecting to find the girl who'd walked away from him on that hilltop all those years ago; the spunky but naive slip of a girl. Instead he arrived to find a still-spunky but decidedly more grown up woman in the girl's place.
Said woman was currently sitting across from him, valiantly defending her coffee from the two balls of fur whom were determined to get it, as they had been with all the previous mugs. The ringing phone distracted her from her battle. Holding a finger up in Billy's general direction as a signal that she'd be back in a moment, Rebecca went off in search of the phone. Billy watched her walk away, only half-aware of the less-than-appropriate thoughts that drifted into his mind, as he did so. Upon realizing the sorts of thoughts drifting into his mind, he shook his head vehemently. Not thoughts he needed to be thinking... Yet.

"Yes, Carlos, I remembered," Rebecca was saying as she entered the kitchen once again. "Jill thinks everyone is forgetful, remem-" her sentence was cut off when she suddenly yawned, "Don't do that," she said, once she'd recovered, "It's contagious."

Billy leaned back in his chair, the corners of his mouth twitching in a small smile as he watched Rebecca pace about the room, as she talked. She was silent for several moments, before she cringed, and held the phone away from her ear. Billy could faintly hear "they were on the desk!" coming from the object. Shaking her head, and rolling her eyes, Rebecca replaced the phone against her ear, clearly poised to remove it should Carlos once again need to shout.

Several more moments of silence before... "Jill? I told him I hadn't forgotten...Yeah, well, your husband's an idiot... Yup, he did... I could ask, but-... No, Jill, I don't-... Fine, but not right now... Because I haven't had even an hour to-... Jill!.. Carlos, I hear you on the other phone. Don't encourage her, and both of you get your minds out of the gutter. It's too early for that... No, that's not what I meant-..." whatever the reply was after that, it made Rebecca turn an impossible shade of red, "I'm hanging up now... Jill, you can't try to pull that routine over the phone. Now, really, I'm hanging up, and enjoying my morning..." if possible, she turned even redder at whatever Jill had said, "I'll see you later. If I hear one peep about this, I'll personally ensure that you both wind up on a slab in the morgue."

With a mock-frustrated sigh, she hit the end button on the phone, and dropped it on the table. "What?" she asked, seeing Billy's smile of amusement.

Billy only shrugged, and shook his head.

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Somewhere beneath the Nevada desert
July 23rd, 1:05 pm

Albert Wesker sat back and watched as Ada Wong took out her frustration on a punching bag; hitting it with enough force that he was sure it was going to give at any moment. He smirked a bit, proud, in a way, that he had pissed her off so badly.

"No," said Ada, firmly, "Get someone else to do it. I'm sure Hunter is dying to impress you."

"You put him in the infirmary this morning," Wesker replied, as calmly and cooly as if he were commenting on the weather, and not a man currently lying on a hospital bed with a shattered kneecap, several missing teeth, whom would have to forgo ever reproducing... All for a pair of wandering hands- both of which had suffered broken fingers, "If he's dying, it's not to impress me."

Ada shrugged, not relenting in her assault on the punching bag- which was starting to get a permanent dent worn in it from where her fists were continuously slamming into it. "Eben, then."

"Eben's a rookie, which is why he's going with you, and don't try to argue... Or need I remind you of our agreement, and what happens should you break it?"

The constant pounding ceased- the silence following was almost deafening. Ada turned to face her employer, jade eyes darkening with a loathing that the woman no longer bothered to keep hidden. Wesker's smirk only grew. He had Ada under his thumb, and she knew it, which made the fact that there was nothing for her to do but obey him that much more amusing. She should have thought about that before she tried to betray him...

The pair stared each other down, Wesker's cat-like gold eyes glowing red for a moment, as if daring Ada to defy him. Finally, Ada's shoulders sagged in defeat, though she said nothing. Wesker didn't need her to say anything, anyway.

"Good girl," he said, "You leave on Monday," he started to walk away, but turned back towards the woman after a moment, as if remembering something, "Oh, and Ada? If you do happen to see Leon, or any of his friends... don't try to help out. I'll know about it." With that, he did walk away, but not before he heard Ada muttering to herself.

"One of these days we won't be playing by your rules..."

Wesker only chuckled quietly. Ada, my dear, by the time that day comes, you will be long dead... Eben will make sure of that.

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Las Vegas, NV

July 23rd, 5:42 pm

"Any particular reason you didn't give me a little warning about this, Doll?" Billy inquired, as Rebecca rambled on about dinner with a few of the "Scooby Gang" from her bedroom.

"I forgot?" Rebecca offered, poking her head out of the bedroom door. Said head was covered by the t-shirt she was trying to pull on. Shirt in place, she continued, "Okay, so I was afraid you wouldn't want to go... It'll just be Carlos and Jill... Jill's been bugging me to let her meet my 'mysterious pen pal' for years... She seemed to think you'd visited a few times... I think you'll like her. Carlos can come across as a bit of an ass sometimes, but-" she was rambling again. She seemed to do that when she got nervous.

"Alright, I'll go," Billy's answer had the much desired effect; Rebecca snapped her jaw shut. Flashing him a bright grin, she ducked back into her room, presumably to finish getting dressed. "So what's the point of this little get-together?"

"It's the twenty-third," Rebecca replied, as if that would make the reason painfully obvious, which it did. The twenty-third of July. A decade to the day since all this had started... "Jill and I got into the habit of hanging out every year on the twenty-third, to kinda cheer each other up... Chris was, and still is, aways off doing something else... Claire and Leon didn't get involved until later, and didn't know any of the guys we lost, so... and Carlos, well, he's only been joining us since he and Jill got married..."

"What about the other two? Tandy and Caine, right?"

"Yeah... They don't even know about it..."

"Ah... Not gonna be gloomy is it?"

Rebecca chuckled, "With Carlos around, nothing is ever gloomy."

That didn't seem to need a reply, so Billy gave none.

Not wanting to just stand around in the hallway, Billy made his way to the guest room- or rather, his room, for however long he decided to stick around. It certainly looked different than it had when he'd arrived that morning; plastic sheets had covered everything but the bed- which Rebecca had uncovered and made prior to his arrival- and all the furniture had been stacked along one wall. He and Rebecca had spent the better part of the day rearranging everything, so now the room looked fit to live in. The few things Billy had brought with him were already put away in various drawers, or on various shelves. The laptop he was never without, no matter where his travels took him, sat upon the small desk, open and cycling through pictures as a screen-saver. As it stopped on one, a picture of Rebecca, which the woman had sent him years ago, he remembered the way his young friend had looked at him, as they had worked. She hadn't stopped watching him the entire time, almost as if she were afraid he would vanish, and while she hadn't said anything, Billy knew she'd been desperately wanting to ask him something. Most likely on the subject of how long he planned on staying.

Truth be told, Billy wasn't sure how long he'd stay. He never stayed anywhere long... A month here, two there, a year in Denver, a week in New York. The moving around had long since stopped being about staying under the radar- there was no need anymore, anyone with knowledge of his failure to reach Ragathon base for his execution had died when Raccoon had been nuked (or maybe had been a zombie before that)... and of course before that, Rebecca had reported him dead. No, he moved because in all honesty, there was no reason to stay anywhere. What family he had left wouldn't have had anything to do with him, even if they'd known he was alive, and he had not a single person he could call a friend, aside from Rebecca. Yet he'd kept himself away from her, too. He really didn't know why, though it may have had something to do with some of the thoughts, and daydreams that drifted into his mind, when he wasn't careful.

Though... Billy reasoned with himself, She's an adult now... Not a kid. Definately not a kid anymore. The corners of his mouth twitched upwards in a small hopeful smile, we'll just see how things go...

"You coming?" Rebecca called from the hall, pulling Billy from his thoughts.

Shouting back an affirmative, Billy turned, and left the room, thinking he might just stick around longer than initially planned...

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Will post chapter 2 a soon as I'm done writing it...