Chapter Twenty-Six: Zirconia

"In the flush of love's light, we dare be brave. And suddenly we see that love costs all we are, and will ever be. Yet it is only love which sets us free."

-Maya Angelou

Wesker -

We were nearly to Cairo when I came awake with a start, breathing deeper than I probably needed to. My chest ached in general, not just my lungs either. I hissed the breath back out in a quiet curse on Excella as I shook my head and tried to clear my vision. We were in a car, that was good. I'd ordered Valentine to get it for us. The road was in the middle of nowhere in Africa, but that was to be expected. At least if there had been trouble during my bout of unwelcome unconsciousness then she'd taken care of it.

Claire had fallen asleep with her seatbelt still half around her, but had leaned over and set her head in my lap at some point...she'd gotten her face stained with blood but it would wash. At least it wouldn't stain her hair. I half wanted to touch her, but I wasn't sure I had the strength, the extreme dosing from Gionne had done a number on my body.

"Good, you're awake." Jill's cold tone let me know I had yet another issue that had nothing to do with the hopefully now decaying Excella. "We have to talk, you and I."

"Oh? A good old fashioned chat to pass the time on a road trip?" I half-snarked. Regardless of if I wanted to admit it, if Jill didn't have any P30 left to control her, then I currently had little I could do about it. At least she hadn't shot me yet, that was a positive sign.

"Don't push me you miserable bastard, the only reason I didn't drop you off for the scavengers is laying in your lap right now." Jill snapped at me, the vehicle wavering as she glared at me instead of the road a moment. "If it wasn't for Claire, I'd be happy to kill you..."

"That, and you aren't completely sure how." I pointed out. Knowing there was more than the redhead slumbering nearby that was keeping Jill from acting. "What of Claire?"

"She's stupid." Jill said, matter-of-fact. "Possibly even dumber than you, though that whole kill most of the planet thing leaves the jury out on that."

"Do you have a point beyond playground insults?" I asked, as tired as I was sure I sounded. I knew Valentine would have no love for me when she broke free of the p30, but this behavior was beneath her.

"I do. That girl loves you." She spit it out like it was poison, as if she could barely stomach forming the words. "Hell knows why, I'll never understand...but she does. She is the only reason we were still even at the helicopter when you got there. Just short of begging me to know if you were okay, even though your actions got her dropped into a volcano...even though you made her into...who knows what she is now."

"Not unlike your own miraculous recovery given the brain matter you left on those rocks." I pointed out, though had stopped looking at Jill's scowling occasionally through the rearview reflection to instead watch Claire. Even after I'd let her get hurt, while being chased by a small army, she was worried about me. Then, she'd always been a bit of a girl scout...but I appreciated it all the same. Her concern for me.

"Either way. She came to, and she wanted you. She had faith in you when she shouldn't, she still does." Jill remarked, pulling the car over. She pulled a gun to point it at me. Was it going to come to this? I wasn't going to just let her shoot me this time if I could help it. Not that I was completely convinced I'd be fast enough to dodge.

I met her gaze, waiting to see if she'd pull the trigger this time. The hatred in her face, I knew she wanted to. Then, she still wasn't convinced it would actually finish me either…

"I want your word that you'll leave Uroborus dead. You won't pull anymore god of the human race schemes." She demanded after several seconds of us not blinking at the other.

"What good would my word be to you?" I let out a single bark of laughter at the implication. "You have less reason to trust me at my word than almost anyone."

"Perhaps, but she does." Jill nodded toward Claire. "Do you really think she'll keep putting up with your shit if you pull another one of these schemes of yours?"

I grit my teeth lightly at her remarks. Sadly I didn't have a quick retort for that. Valentine wasn't wrong, Claire had said it herself on the plane. That if I succeeded she would never be with me...not ever. That it would be the one deal breaker in a lifetime of other mistakes that more than qualified as reasons for her to sprint as swiftly as possible away from me.

"You need to give her your word, not me." Jill continued, not having dropped the gun. "If you think I'll be incapable of finding her to make sure you've been honest, think again. I got to know a lot about how you operate these past months."

"I could always kill you instead." I pointed out.

"Maybe." Jill agreed. "Then, she might not forgive you that either, and there goes your plan to at least pretend to be a somewhat decent human being."

"I could always say another attack happened and you fought valiantly, but took even too much damage for me to resolve. Then, you know, be there to console her." I smirked at the narrowed eyes she gave, able to duck to the side and reach up to snatch the gun away from her with a smug smirk. "I never took well to threats."

Claire -

I came awake coughing, nothing like choking on your own spit to inspire consciousness. I held my chest as I kept trying to get a normal breath back. I was still very sore, but I didn't hurt nearly as much as I had during previous returns to consciousness. I was able to move my legs and move the sheet to look at them. They were really pale...but otherwise they looked normal. I moved slowly to sit up, glad no extreme pains shot through my body. Definitely better than last time. Wesker wasn't here, though I could presume I was in a room that belonged to him by the dark linens. What had happened after the shoot out? I didn't really remember much other than I ran with Jill, and then Wesker had helped and we drove out?

I'd survived a fall in a volcano, I guessed a little disorientation and pain was to be expected.

I remembered pulling that lever. I stopped his plan to take over the world. I took a deep breath and carefully slid from the side of the bed, shaking a little as I took my feet. My muscles uncertain beneath me. I was lucky to have legs at all. That was definitely Wesker... The virus he'd infected me with? Had I died and come back then? As he had? I winced as I recalled the burn of my skin...the heat that had suffocated me to unconsciousness. I was okay now though...I'd made it. We'd made it through more than the dramatic fall into the lava...

Wesker had pulled me out of a volcano…then seemed to take on an army. We'd made it. Then, if he wasn't such a crazed idiot we wouldn't have fallen into a volcano and had the other mess in the first place. Was he still okay? Was Jill? I had to make sure he hadn't decided to start back up the death factory, but right now I was happy to have legs and feet to be unsteady on.

"Wesker!?" I called out weakly, stumbling and sinking into the chair near the bed. He had been here a lot, I could smell him along with the leather. I had hoped to make it more than two steps, but even those two had been less than graceful. Was he nearby? What was he doing? How much longer had passed while I went in and out of consciousness? How long had it been since the shooting? Were we in Cairo now?

"Claire." He was there then, a brush of wind shifting my hair. He'd rushed back the moment he'd heard me - from whatever he'd been doing. "You shouldn't be up on your feet...you pulled out one of your IV's."

I hadn't even noticed, I followed his gaze to my arm where the scar was already closing. Apparently I had powers now, well, that was nice maybe? I hoped it was anyway. There was still a line in my other arm, but it had been closer to the bed. He was carefully untangling it so I wouldn't risk ripping it out as well. I offered him a small smile at the gentle attention, this was the man I'd fallen for. The precise, careful touch that made me feel special, that softened my concerns about the world.

"Where were you?" I asked, as much as I wanted to trust him. I knew I had to be careful.

"Not working on restarting Uroborus." He remarked, knowing exactly what I was thinking. He'd usually been rather good at that as well. "That was the fear, yes? I'm less than pleased you interrupted years of work...but it's fine. You're all right. That's what matters."

"You've been taking care of me by yourself." I commented, able to see monitors from here I couldn't in the bed...some of my medications were on a two hour frequency. I knew he didn't sleep much but that was a schedule that had to have pushed even him. "Are you all right? Where's Jill?"

"I'm well now; to see you awake like this, dear heart." He replied, reaching up to hold my cheek. "It's been a while. I wasn't sure you'd fully wake for more than moments."

"How long is a while?" I asked nervously.

"Fifty-six days since the volcano happened." Wesker answered. "I was nervous you wouldn't fully wake again. It's been a while. Your mutation and regeneration seem to have finally ended. The fact you can walk at all this quickly is impressive."

"Fifty-six?" I stared in shock at the answer. The last I recalled it had been just a few days. I didn't know what to say to that. "We...Jill?"

"I stabilized her condition and I released her." Wesker stated. "As far as I know she's with your brother. Who is also fine."

"Did you let him know I'm all right?" I was a little surprised Wesker had kept his word to release Jill once she was rehabilitated.

"Not much chance of that. Do you think they'd take me at my word?" Wesker smirked at my suggestion. "If I took a video of you unconscious I don't think it would help much either. I didn't know when you might fully regain consciousness for more than moments...if you…"

He paused, clearly not wanting to finish the thought. Altering what he was going to say, "Perhaps you can record a video I could get sent."

"I am going to be okay." I reached out to push his hair back, it wasn't styled as I had come to expect. "No more wild world reform plans though, I'm not sure I can take another crash landing like that."

He laughed bitterly at the comment pulling me closer. Holding me with a fervor that said more than words could. I leaned my head on his, grateful for his dedication as I repeated, "I'm okay."

"I have been building." He stated after a long period of silence. Letting go to look at me while still stroking the skin on my arms. "I wanted to make sure we would have enough space."

"Are you a carpenter too now?" I wondered how that would list on a resume next to his other previous job titles. "You do mean an actual building right?"

"Yes, it keeps me busy. I needed to have something to do with my hands." Wesker replied. "On hold now that you seem more conscious than any other waking moment. Do you think you could eat? I could warm up soup."

"Please, I am sure my body could use more than I.V. nutrition." I nodded, watching him carefully sanitize and lock off my other I.V. line before reaching beneath me to lift me up.

"Careful," I said nervously, bashful suddenly at the idea of what his playing nursemaid would have entailed. "Thank you, for taking care of me."

"I shouldn't have let you get hurt in the first place. I should have found a better way." He shook his head, denying my appreciation as he walked me up steps and into a kitchen close to that of the other house I stayed in with him.

"You can't blame yourself, you did what I wanted. You helped Chris." I steadied myself after a short moment of dizziness when he put me on a stool. "Could we try maybe having no more pesky secrets about world domination?"

My comment earned me a half-hearted part smile, "Perhaps aim a bit higher at no secrets at all."

"Not sure I could still consider you you with no secrets at all." I smiled lightly at the tiny eye roll the observation earned. "Maybe just the really important stuff."

"I will do my utmost to remain darkly mysterious." He remarked, dry.

"Yeah, besides now that I am a badass B.O.W. I can probably take you down if you don't behave yourself." I pointed out.

"Yes, well let's start you with taking down this chicken noodle soup." He slid a finished bowl to me before retrieving crackers.

"Don't make light of me, I will be kicking your butt before you know it." I stated with as much bravado as I could muster.

"Look forward to it, now eat. " He gestured at my bowl but a vague sense of amusement had reached his eyes. He watched me until I dutifully raised the spoon and then turned to clean up the pot he had used. I smiled at his back.

This wasn't perhaps the most logical relationship. Not quite a diamond in the rough, but close enough to ignore whatever flaws might exist. Wesker wasn't perfect, but he was mine and I planned to keep him.

End Chapter

Aha, just a little Zirconia of a relationship (fake diamond?) looks the same? I guess I'm not actually that clever? Anyway. End of Fiction, I think about as positive as you can expect for Wesker really. Hope folks enjoyed reading it as much as I liked plotting it through to completion!

-Aura

P.S. I have another Claire/Wesker story in my head but it's still pretty early so I haven't posted it yet. I also have a comical Wesker learns to use his powers story you might enjoy (title: Lessons).

To my reviewers:

Crystal - I thinks it's a mostly good end.