Hi everyone! Thanks for the lovely reviews, I'm a little rusty in writing, so it's great to see that what I wrote so far is appreciated.:D I've written all the way to Chapter 9 by now, but I want to update day by day to see how this goes (and to see if I need to edit some stuff up too), so advanced warning for those who want to see action against BOWs – it's not happening until much later!

Special mention goes to Stardust4: are her eyes blue?o_O I've been trying to find out info on what her eye color is, but since I couldn't find an official source, I just stuck with the most common eye color. lol Oh well.

Chapter II

It was a few months after the Raccoon City explosion. Barry had brought Jill and Carlos to their makeshift base. Ever the father figure, he had bustled about getting spare clothes, blankets and pillows for the tired duo, apologizing for the rude arrangements. Jill had waved him off, thankful for having warm clothes again and a place to sleep in. It felt like old times again, when she would drop by her teammates' apartments to borrow some supplies. Granted, having a helicopter in your own backyard isn't what you would call normal, but it was something familiar to Jill, and she wrapped the thought around her more tightly than she did her blanket. For his part, Carlos was beside himself in gratitude. The mercenary life had made his living arrangements meager at its best, so getting clean blankets was a luxury he wasn't used to.

Jill padded softly downstairs, not wanting to wake the others. It was barely dawn, and she was getting a little hungry. She smiled softly to herself, remembering the times when she and the other S.T.A.R.S. members went out to eat at the local diner. Being the only girl in the team (Rebecca only came in the same day of the mansion incident), she was constantly teased for her big appetite. A human garbage disposal, Enrico good-naturedly kidded her. Smiling slightly at the memory, she tiptoed downstairs. She successfully reached the kitchen, and just as she was opening the refrigerator door, a sharp voice called out.

"Who's there?" A man's voice said sharply.

Jill whipped around. She froze for a minute, and then relaxed. For a brief moment, she thought it was Albert Wesker, the traitorous captain of the S.T.A.R.S. Alpha team, but she saw with relief that the man had dark hair, but she couldn't make out any of the features. "I could ask you the same thing," she said, her tone inquiring more than aggressive.

"Jill?" The voice said incredulously. As he walked into the light, Jill got her first look at the newcomer.

"Chris!" She gasped out. Without thinking, she rushed to his side, but stopped herself just as she was about to throw her arms around him. No way was she going to embarrass herself by repeating what she did in the mansion. Instead, she compromised by punching him in the arm, while grinning from ear-to-ear.

"Ow! Is that the way to treat your long-lost partner?" For a minute, Jill could have sworn that his arms were slightly raised on his sides as though to hug her, but then he started rubbing the spot where Jill had hit him, and she dismissed it as a trick of the light.

"Long lost? More like a few months," Jill said, scoffing, but her huge grin belied her thoughts. She missed him, and Chris could see that, and he returned it, the rare Redfield smile on his face. "Besides, you're the one who left your partner," she kidded. To her surprise, Chris's grin dropped, and he looked uncomfortably at the floor. "Hey, what's wrong?" She asked softly, touching him on the arm.

"You probably hate me, huh?" Chris asked, not lifting his eyes.

"Hey, what are you talking about? Why should I hate you?" Jill replied, puzzled.

"If I didn't leave for Europe, you probably wouldn't have to go through all that crap you did. To top that off, I wasn't even there to get you out of it. Some partner I made."

Jill hesitated, and to Chris's surprise, she lifted her right hand to cup his face. "Hey, I won't have any of that, okay? What's important is that we're safe. You, me, Barry, Rebecca… We're all here." She looked up at him, and was surprised to see some indescribable emotion in his eyes, a look she wasn't aware was reflected in hers.

"Jill, I…"

"Oh, oops. Sorry, am I interrupting anything, Chris?" A tall red-haired girl suddenly popped her head in through the door. Jill immediately stepped back, snatching her hand as though burned. She looked at Chris almost accusingly, her gaze switching from him to the unknown girl and back again.

Chris didn't notice. He was too busy glaring at the young woman who was grinning toothily at him. "Yes, as a matter of fact, you were," he said, his low voice a growl. "Jill, this is Claire," he said, indicating the red-haired girl who waved cheerfully. "My bratty little sister, and the reason why I couldn't pick you up myself."

Jill barely registered Claire's amused outrage. She was in shock. So that was the reason why Chris was gone for a long time. At the same time, she surprised at the wave of relief that flooded her senses. His sister. She was so busy with these strange thoughts that entered her mind that she started when Claire waved a hand in front of her face. "Uh, what?" Jill asked, shaking her head to clear it. "Sorry, what were you saying?"

"I said, it's nice to finally meet the famous Jill Valentine at last," Claire said, grinning at her. The younger girl had been paying attention to the former S.T.A.R.S. members' reactions, from the scene she just interrupted, to Jill's glare toward her, and Chris's look of frustration. She was amused and delighted at what she saw.

"Oh, I don't know about famous, not only you count those news reports about me being a cop version of Chicken Little," Jill said wryly.

"Oh, who cares about the news these days, anyway?" Claire replied, waving her hand. "I'm talking about my dolt of a brother here, who can't seem to talk about anything about you. His letters were bad enough, but he went on and on about how great you were on our way here. It's nice to finally put a face to the name," Claire said, grinning widely.

"Oh, he did, did he?" Jill said, with a smirk, looking up at Chris, who was scarlet with embarrassment.

Claire looked at the scene with satisfaction. It looks like her brother might get something good out of this yet.