Whenever I'm alone with you

You make me feel like I am home again

Whenever I'm alone with you

You make me feel like I am whole again

Alice awoke before Claire did. She smiled down at the redhead nestled closely in her embrace. She realized that this was the first time she had ever awoken next to the younger woman in an actual bed, and the feeling was spectacular. She wanted to spend an eternity reveling in the feeling, but she had little time. She was sure that Chris had been awake for many hours - he was an earlier riser than she was - and she was just as sure that he had long-discovered she was gone.

She was going to be in trouble.

But even with all these conclusions, she couldn't resist soaking in the feeling of just holding Claire, watching her when she slept, looking so perfectly beautiful. She was loathe to wake her, but she knew without a doubt that if she slipped away, if by any small chance she wasn't here when Claire woke up, she was in way more trouble than anything Chris could dream up.

"Claire, baby..." she said softly, one hand shaking the younger woman's shoulder. "Wake up." Claire groaned, her face clenching into an unpleasant grimace, but even then she looked beautiful. "Come on, baby, I have to go."

That seemed to do the trick.

Claire's eyes snapped open, a look of rage and panic curiously mingled as she gazed into the brunette's bright blue eyes. "What?" she hissed, trying to get her angry point across while simultaneously being quiet enough not to wake Kmart down the hall.

Alice couldn't resist a smile, but it was the complete wrong reaction. Claire's face turned red, her eyes narrowing. "I have to get back to the ship. Before anyone realizes I'm gone," the brunette mumbled in way of an explanation.

"Why?" the redhead complained, snuggling closer to the older woman's warmth. "Can't you just stay for a little while..." Alice knew where the complaint was really stemming from...Claire didn't want her out of her sight so soon after being reunited, and she completely felt the same, but still...she had obligations.

"I'll be back. I promise...before you even realize I'm gone."

"I doubt that. I miss you already." Alice chuckled at the redhead's comment, not even bothering to try and contain the swell of emotion that welled up in her at the words. Gently, she tilted Claire's face toward her own and brushed their lips together.

"I have to..." It was practically a plea now, and Claire grumbled.

"Fine. But if you're not back by nightfall, I'm coming to find you, and when I do, you're gonna be in trouble."

Alice smiled, unable to resist kissing the redhead again. "I'll do you one better," she replied, earning a raised, auburn eyebrow. "I'll be back by mid-afternoon."

::::::::

Whenever I'm alone with you

You make me feel like I am young again

Whenever I'm alone with you

You make me feel like I am fun again

By the time Alice made it back to her life boat and to the Armada, she had already been away from Claire for an hour, and it was an hour too long. It was torture, watching the woman she loved fade into the distance, and they both felt the weight of it. Alice could tell just from the distraught look on Claire's face. It was the desert all over again, and they both were thinking it.

As she pulled the boat up to the dock latched onto the side of the ship, Chris was waiting for her. His scowl was something out of horror movies, and his arms were crossed indiginatly across his chest. Gods, did he look like Claire when she was mad. His piercing green eyes were shooting daggeres at her, and if Alice was anyone but Alice, she was sure she could be recoiling from it. She didn't however. She met his steely glare head on, with a calm serenity that unnerved him.

"Where the hell have you been?" He interrogated, his eyes narrowing ever so slightly as a small smile curved her lips.

"Scouting."

He could hear the amusement in her voice. "Bull shit, scouting. You went to see this convoy of yours." And she could hear the anger in his.

"So what if I did? It's none of your damn business." She was back to deadly calm, but Chris knew her well enough by now to know that that was when she was most dangerous.

"None of my business? Alice, how do you expect to keep these people safe if you're gone! What if Umbrella had attacked!" She couldn't resist a snort at this, and flashed him a disbelieving glance.

"Umbrella is destroyed. The only complex left running was this ship, and Wesker is dead." She had him there, and they both knew it.

Chris sighed in exasperation, but he knew well enough to let the subject drop. "So, since you came back, I'm guessing it's safe enough to being the ship inland?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. Didn't really check out the entire island. My...scouting...was rather limited." She replied matter-of-factly.

"Limited to what?"

Claire's body...Alice thought with a smirk, but, instead of replying, she brushed past him and climbed the steps to the deck.

::::::::

However far away I will always love you

However long I stay I will always love you

Whatever words I say I will always love you

I will always love you

It took Chris, Alice and Luthur another three hours to get everything situated. They had split the two-thousand some-odd passengers into groups consisting of 200 people a group, since they only had enough life boats to carry two-hundred at a time. The first group milled onto the deck, trampled down the stairs and piled into the four life boats that had been the only ones left on the ship after the crew had abandoned it. The four men the trio had appointed to drive the boats back and forth sat at their respective propellers, ready for the call to head off.

Alice and Chris were to accompany the first two-hundred to shore while Luthur stayed behind on the boat to prepare the next group for their turn. Once they made land and got the first group situated, Alice would stay behind while Chris went back to the Armada. Alice would see to getting the landed survivors situated, with the help of Claire, and Chris would make supervise the transport.

The ship, once it was empty, would be moved to the large cove between the mainland and the large island that would be the survivors new home. Power would, obviously, be shut down, but the trio had agreed - and Claire had later agreed as well - that the ship was too valuable to lose. If something ever happened, the ship would provide an escape, and it was simply too valuable to lose now.

The wind brushed against Alice's face as they headed toward the shore. Her lifeboat was the one in the lead, and from the closeness, she could barely make out the forms of people standing on the beach. The most noticeable was a redhead who, even at this distance, Alice could tell had an arm slung around the shoulders of a shorter blond. A smile immediately stretched her lips. My girls...she thought happily, her eyes refusing to leave the pair even as they drew closer and closer.

The closer they got, the more apparent Claire and Kmart's wide smiles became, and Alice couldn't help the swell of happiness she felt just seeing it. She was home...she was reunited with her family, after so many months of separation, and the feeling couldn't have been more liberating.

She didn't even wait for tact as the boat eased onto the gravel beach; she simply flung herself from the boat, jogged the distance between her and Claire and, the redhead meeting her half-way, took her in her arms. "I missed you," Claire whispered against her ear. Alice smiled and clung even tighter, lifting the redhead easily off her feet and spinning her around like she had seen so many times in old-timey movies.

The redhead's laughter ran out sweet and clear, and Alice's heart soared at the sound of it. Finally, knowing she was creating a scene, she gently placed the smaller woman to her feet, and the pair reluctantly pulled apart.

A few feet away, Chris stood, his jaw slack and his hands hanging limply at his sides, watching the pair before him. Well, his eyes were focused more solidly on the redhead, but he occasionally flashed a glance to Alice as well. This can't be...it's impossible...he thought, even as he studied the woman held in Alice's arms. He had studied the figure the whole way to the beach, his eyes narrowed with suspicion. At first, he refused to believe it. Now, there was no denying.

After sharing a quick, soft kiss, Alice turned toward Chris. Her eyes had yet to leave the redhead, just as Claire's had yet to leave her own, and their fingers twined together on their own accord. The brunette flashed Chris a quick glance, and her steps faltered when she saw the look on the man's face. Claire seemed to notice this, for her perfectly sculpted forehead scrunched in slight confusion until, that is, she turned her eyes toward the man that held Alice's attention.

"Chris..." The name left her lips before she even realized she had spoken, and Alice's head immediately whipped toward her. The redhead and the soldier were studying one another intently, and the brunette's eyes darted from one to the other.

"Claire...?" she asked, squeezing the fingers intertwined with her own. This seemed to break the younger woman from her trance, and she turned surprised eyes on Alice. "Who...who is he?" she asked, almost afraid to know the answer. She didn't want to know why Chris was looking at Claire like she was a ghost, and she didn't want to know why Claire was looking at Chris like he was something precious that had been lost and was found. She didn't want to know why, but she had to.

"He...He's my brother." With that, the redhead stepped forward and moved toward her brother, leaving a shocked and silent Alice behind.

::::::::

6 Months Later

::::::::

However far away I will always love you

However long I stay I will always love you

Whatever words I say I will always love you

I will always love you

"Alice! Claire!" The sound of their names being called, and the knocking on their door stirred the pair, and Alice couldn't help the frustrated groan even if she wanted to.

"What!" She shouted in return, not even sitting up in the bed.

"Breakfast is ready." Even through the door, she could hear the amusement in the deep voice, and she gritted her teeth.

"We'll be down in a minute, Chris," Claire answered, awakening at her lovers shout. She turned with an amused smile toward a very pissed off brunette. "Babe, relax."

"He does this on purpose, you know. One day. He can't give us one damn day to just fucking relax," Alice hissed in return. Claire's smirk didn't help the situation.

"Give him a little credit. At least he didn't burst in demanding to know your intentions with his sister," Claire commented, her amusement only growing the angrier Alice got. She resulted to placing lazy kisses on the brunette's collar bone, knowing it would soothe her.

"Only because he knows I can kick his ass. Besides, we covered the 'intentions with my sister' bit a long time ago." The kisses did, indeed, calm her anger, and she wrapped her arms around the redhead's waist. "He's just jealous that I'm banging the hottest woman left alive."

Claire's ministrations ceased, and one auburn eyebrow lifted. "That is so wrong on so many levels. First of all, I'm his sister, and second of all, you're the one he had the hots for, not me. If anything, these little digs are to punish me, not you."

"Why, Ms. Redfield, I do believe you sound jealous." It was Alice's turn to smirk.

"Not at all. I just don't like the way he looks at you. Him, or Luthur," She said with a hiss, promoting a wider smile from the brunette.

From the first moment they met, Claire's distaste for the basketball player became apparent. Even in the month since they had arrived, she still hadn't gotten over it. Not that Alice could blame her...whenever he was around her, his eyes did tend to wander, and Claire always seemed to notice. Luthur couldn't even use the excuse that he was unaware of the relationship between the two women, either. Claire and Alice hadn't exactly kept it a secret.

At least, he had taken the news better than Chris had. Needless to say, he hadn't been pleased to find out the infamous love of Alice's life had been his sister. The pair had danced on glass around one another for weeks afterward but, eventually, after a long heart-to-heart with Claire, in which she revealed she was very happy with the brunette and did, in fact, lover her, he seemed to get over and accept it. Since then, Chris had taken great strides toward acceptance. He even seemed to have gotten over the fact that the woman he loved was, as Alice had put it, banging his sister.

All was well in the world of Alice and Chris, for now at least.

It hardly seemed like six months since they had made it to safety. The survivors had settled well into their new homes, and the Island of Unalaska was more than able to support them. They occupied most of the island, small settlements springing up throughout the length of the island, and life had gone on much as it once had. Community leaders and representatives were elected to handle any communal disputes and make any major decisions. Claire, Alice, Chris and Luthur had all but given up their own positions, only serving as advisers on occasion, which was more than enough. They had all done their time as being the ones in charge, and all were content to simply live their lives.

"Claire! Alice!" The call sounded once more, this time coming from downstairs, and both women sighed.

"We better get goin' before he comes back," Claire murmured, burying her head in Alice's nape. The brunette traced slow patterns on her bare back, smiling against her red hair.

"Or..." Alice's tone caused the younger woman to lift her head, a questionable look on her face. "We could just stay here...and give him a reason to regret comin' a knockin'." Mischief sparkled in those baby blue eyes, reflected in her voice.

Claire's answering smile was just a devious, and she smirked. "Yes. Yes we could." With that, Claire leaned forward, pressing their lips together in a kiss that sealed the deal.

Parting notes; Yes, it's choppy and horribly written, but I've completely lost my muse for this piece. I have to say, I'm kinda glad it's finished...Dear God has never been my favorite (yes, we writers have favorites, just like parents have favorite kids ;D) and I have to say I'm not necessarily happy with the way it, as a whole, turned out. Maybe one day, I'll re-write it, and hopefully it will suck less. Anyway, thanks for sticking with me for this long, guys. I appreciate all your support!