Disclaimer: I own nothing.

A/N: So first off I just wanted to thank everyone for all the faves and reviews. I can't believe that this story has become such a hit! My brother told me it was a dumb idea, but I'm glad I continued with it. I really do appreciate all the support you guys have been offering. Secondly, I know I don't have the best grammar but bear with me. And thirdly, if you haven't figured it out yet, this fic is leading up to Leon and Krauser's mission in The Darkside Chronicles. (I also want to thank that game for introducing me to Steve. Without him, I am incomplete XD)

Finding Steve : Chapter 4

Claire sat next to Steve and pulled his head into her lap. His eyes remained closed, fluttering softly. She stroked his face, pushing his hair out of his eyes. Slowly but surely his eyes cracked open and smiled when he looked up to find Claire's smiling face.

"Hi," he simply said.

Claire laughed softly as tears steamed down her face. "Hi."

"Did I win?" Steve asked.

She shuttered softly and failed miserable at holding her tears back. "Yeah, you won."

"Good." He couldn't keep his eyes off her. Even when her tears dropped on his face, he still stared into her eyes as if she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Claire scooted herself back in the dirt giving her more room to cup Steve's head in her hands and kiss him softly. It felt so natural, kissing him. And even though it took all his strength to do so, Steve lifted his arm to touch her face. They were perfect for each other.

But worry suddenly broke through the goofy grin on his face. "Where's Wesker?" he asked trying to push himself up. "Where's Chris?

Claire just now remembered what had been going on minutes ago. "Chris ran after Wesker," Claire said swallowing hard. She could have sworn she just heard gunshots. Angry shot through Steve's eyes. "Wesker isn't taking Chris away from you too. And I got some unfinished business to settle with that son-of-a-bitch anyway." But Steve couldn't stand on his own; he could hardly hold himself up, let alone his arm.

"You're too weak. I'll go find them," Claire reluctantly pulled herself to her feet.

"No," Steve said firmly. "I'm not doing this again. I'm going with you even if it kills me."

Chris ran through the dark following only the sound of Wesker's tailcoat flapping in the wind. The sound of a steel door slamming broke the silence. The door sounded miles away. Wesker had gotten away.

"Wesker!" Chris yelled in frustration. "You son-of-a-bitch!" Chris slowed his run and held his hand out in front of him, cursing himself for forgetting to grab his flashlight after he was thrown up against those crates. He swore he had a lighter somewhere in his pants, but he had too many pockets to go through them all right now. He then heard a soft squeak and the sound of wings. Just bats, he told himself. He continued walking forward until he heard another noise that sounded munch like a growl. Shit. He frantically began hitting on his pockets, searching for his missing lighter. He eventually found in the cargo pocket on his left leg and quickly flicked it on. He immediately found a pair of red eyes staring directly at him.

The dog snarled again before leaping towards Chris. He managed to dodge the mutated dog before shooting it several times with his handgun. How he wished he had packed his shotgun. His shooting was inaccurate since he had to hold the lighter in the other hand. After hitting the dog one last time in the head, it fell to the ground. He had to get out of here. Who knows what else could be lurking in the dark. He held the lighter out in front of him and noticed that the steel door was only a couple feet away. Thankfully there wasn't much of a lock on it. He guessed that Wesker used the dog as a distraction. Wesker knew just as well as anyone that Chris would have no trouble taking down a dog.

After picking the lock with his knife and even shooting it a few times, he made it through the door. He immediately recognized the dimly lit room as one of Umbrellas and hoped to God that there were no more past experiments lurking around. He looked around the facility quickly, not looking for anything in particular, until his eyes fell upon a handful of glass test tubes. Five were missing out of the ten. Wesker must have gotten just enough of the virus to finish his business with Javier.

Chris cursed under his breath. He knew that Wesker was long gone by now.

With a groan of dislike Claire helped Steve to his feet. He slung one arm over Claire's shoulders as she laced the other around his waist. He felt just as light as he looked, but Claire still couldn't walk perfectly. Carrying people was Chris' job. He was the one with the muscles.

"There's a passage in the back of the cave that leads to one of Umbrella's facilities," Steve said pointing into the dark. "That's where Wesker has been getting the supplies to duplicate the virus."

Claire handed Steve a flashlight before drawing her gun. Steve was glad that he was somewhat of a use to her. He steadied the flashlight as well as he could on the area in front of them. How long is this tunnel? Claire thought. They hadn't even been walking five minutes but it felt like it had been ages.

"It shouldn't be much further," Steve said with a groan as Claire stumbled on a rock.

"Sorry," she apologized faintly, her voice trailing off. "What's that?"

The pair continued forward as Steve held the flashlight out, both squinting to see the mound on the ground.

"Shit," The blood in Steve's body went cold. "That's a dog." He felt Claire's whole body tense up.

"It's it dead?" She whispered hoping not to wake it if it was just asleep.

"Yeah, I think it's dead. There's a pool of blood under it and it looks fresh. Chris must have just been through here," Steve steadied himself in Claire's arm. "We should keep moving."

The slamming of a steel door broke the silence. Claire froze. Could it be another dog or something even worse?

"Claire!" Her older brother's voice echoed through the cave.

"Chris!" She yelled back as Steve's flashlight flooded across his face. She wanted to run to him, but Steve's weight held her back. Chris ran over to them and wrapped his arms around them both.

"Where's Wesker?" Steve asked.

"He got away. All he wanted was the virus. I guess he wasn't up for a fight," Chris answered. "But we need to get out of here. I don't trust this place one bit."

"Do you know where he's going now?" Steve asked, anger flooding through his veins. He wanted to kill Wesker for dissecting him for his own wants.

"A friend of ours, Leon Kennedy, guesses that he's handing off the virus to Javier, but other than that, we have no idea," Chris said carefully pulling Steve's arm over his shoulder giving Claire a break. "But personally, I think that tracking him down isn't worth it. The virus is probably already in the hands of Javier, and were not even certain of that."

"We'll why can't we just break down Javier's door and see if he's got the virus?" Steve suggested.

"Because I don't want to start barking up the wrong tree all based on a guess from a government agent," Chris walked easily with Steve on his side. Claire walked quietly next to the two. As much as she wanted to side with Steve and go after this Javier, she knew Chris was right. "The guy is a drug lord. He's probably got more people than we can count after him."

"So we're just going to give up? After everything he's done to me?" Steve protested angrily.

"I don't know what more we can do. We don't have enough information on Javier to accuse him of anything, and Wesker could have totally lead us off his trail. He has a tendency of being too clever for his own good."

"I really do hate that son-of-a-bitch," Steve grumbled.

Chris laughed. "So do I."

Reeeeviiewww. Please and thankyou. This fic is turning out to be a lot longer than I thought, and I'm sorry if this chapter didn't end as epicically as you might have hoped. Wesker is a pansey. Anyway. Stay tuned for chapter five :)