Note: Originally this was an alternate scene to Dusk till Dawn that I've fleshed out into its own one-shot. Never mind me, I'm just making more attempts to shake my writer's block...

Sherry Birkin had never had a birthday party before. As she placed her empty glass on the table beside her she thought about the last time she'd asked her parents to allow her to host one for her school friends.

One year, when she was eleven, her mother had agreed. Sherry's excitement bubbled over and the girl who had learned long ago that physical touch between her and the people she called her parents was restricted to special occasions, like posing for photos to show off their happy, normal family to strangers, wrapped her arms tightly around her mother and squeezed.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she had chanted.

Her mother's irritation had cut sharply through her short-lived happiness.

"Honestly Sherry, if this is how you're going to behave then you can forget it. You're not a child anymore."

Sherry had never mentioned her birthday again, and a year later the date may as well have been forgotten entirely as there wasn't a single person left to even pretend to care after the events of Raccoon City.

Except, many years later, a certain red-headed woman had managed to pull together a small rabble of misfits and throw Sherry the oddest of parties. The remains of which was scattered about the small garden of her home. Everyone had left after hours of eating, drinking and showing Sherry all the traditions she'd missed from all those lost birthdays. Now she took a moment to take it all in, resting back beside her final, somewhat surprising guest, who seemed in no rush whatsoever to take his leave.

Jake had arrived empty hand, apologising for his lack of gift. Claire had admonished him promptly even as Sherry insisted it didn't matter. Claire had, after all, bought out what looked like an entire shopping mall if the pile of gifts in her living room was anything to go by.

But Sherry was now considering all the things she'd missed in her life, perhaps it was time to experience a few more...

"Jake... I think I know what I want for my birthday..."

The man sat by her side slid a lazy look her way, his head rising from where he'd let it fall back against the cushioned back of the loveseat as he frowned at her hesitation.

"You think I can read minds, super girl? Shoot."

Her hand fisted in the skirt of her dress as she forced herself to look him in the eyes as she spoke.

"I want... my first kiss."

Even though her heart thudded hard enough to make her chest ache Sherry had to admit Jake's dumbfounded blinking at her request almost had her laughing out loud. Shock blanked out his expression for a moment before his eyebrows twitched and his mouth opened silently.

It would have been funny if not for the terrifying realisation that she had also offered Jake a bed for the duration of his stay, and if he rejected her now it would make it one hell of a long night.

Or... what if he mistook her request as an invitation for something more? With the way he was still gaping at her she half expected to see him disappear right then and there, leaving a cartoonish fog of Jake-shaped dust in the air.

Finally he found his voice, "You've never..." he began. There was no judgement in his voice, not that Sherry had expected any. She'd come to know Jake well in the short time they'd spent together. She supposed relying on each other to survive could do that, and even though she'd learned that she certainly trusted too easily sometimes Jake made her feel... safe.

Sherry nodded as these thoughts crossed her mind, "Growing up with my every move under surveillance, even if I'd ever had the chance to meet someone that I liked, it's not like I could have done anything about it. Not without it being written up and filed away somewhere..."

Jake made a small noise in his throat as the implications of her words popped into his head. Sherry was still staring at him and he noticed the whiteness of her knuckles as she fisted the material of her dress in her palm. Without a thought his hand reached out to cover her own, loosening her grip on the material. What Sherry was asking for seemed innocent enough. He could understand why doing things the traditional way would be difficult for her. But he also couldn't help but wonder... why him?

"If you don't want to... I'm sorry, it's a stupid idea. I don't know what I was thinking."

Jake felt his heart skip a beat as Sherry tried to pull her hand from his grasp. She was looking away from him now, her eyes fixed on the ground as her shoulders slumped. He kept his fingers wrapped tightly around her own, causing her to look up sharply as overly bright eyes questioned him. In her mind Sherry was begging Jake to respond. To say something even if it was "No." She couldn't help the feeling that she had just ruined everything. The wonderful evening she'd spent in the presence of her friends, her first real birthday in over a decade... the first friendship she'd ever formed as an adult...

They still weren't quite holding hands, yet they both found themselves looking down at the link between them. After what felt like an age their fingers eventually moved to intertwine.

Did this mean yes, Sherry wondered, not daring to look up.

The other hand that had been stretched out behind her, resting close to Sherry's shoulder, moved. Jake's thumb ran a line across her cheek and down her jaw before cupping her chin gently. She could feel every hair on her body stand on end as he carefully angled her face up to look at him, and it had nothing to do with the chill in the air.

"You sure?" he asked. His voice sent a shiver down her spine and Sherry hoped he wouldn't read too much into it. As far as Jake would know, she was just cold, and this was just a birthday gift from one friend to another. Once again Sherry found herself nodding and wondered exactly what had happened to her voice. Her breath seemed to catch in her chest every time she tried to speak.

Jake realised from his sideways position in the small loveseat they were in it was going to be difficult. He thought for a moment before throwing caution to the wind and deciding if they were going to do this, they might as well do it right.

"Come here," he told her. With a nod of his head, he gestured toward his lap. Sherry's slight hesitation as she looked at him with bewilderment had Jake wondering if he was doing the right thing. He couldn't shake the feeling that he was somehow taking advantage of this opportunity. Of her. Sherry could insist the effect of the G-Virus meant she wasn't intoxicated all she liked but Jake still felt like the balance of power was off. His doubts must have shown on his face as Sherry was suddenly moving, clambering over his legs so she was sat facing him with her hands settled on his shoulders.

Jake was surprised not by just by her boldness but also how much he liked it. He didn't dare admit it as his own hands hovered uselessly until he placed them lightly on her hips, but he found himself incredibly turned on by her eagerness.

"Bad thoughts Jake. Bad..." he silently scolded himself as his jaw tightened.

"Is this okay?" Sherry asked, worried by Jake's lack of response. Little did she realise he was simply trying to control himself, or more accurately what was going on in his pants right at that moment. As long as Sherry remained balanced on his knees, he thought, he could get through this without embarrassing either of them.

Jake nodded, his mind going blank as he realised there was no backing out now.

"This is really what you want?" he questioned, still unable to shake his doubts as she nodded her head. "I need to hear you say it, super girl."

Emboldened by her beating heart and her position on Jake's lap which allowed her to look down at him while he studied her face, Sherry finally found her voice. "I want to. I want you to kiss me." Sherry replied.

He didn't need telling twice.

Sherry's eyelids flickered before sliding shut as he brought himself forward, closing the gap between them. There was only a moment of pause as she took in a short, shuddering breath before Jake's lips met hers with the gentlest of touches. It was enough to send a pulse of something entirely new throughout Sherry's body, right down to her toes. Her fingers tightened on Jake's shoulders as she tried to work out how to breath when her heart felt like it would beat right out of her chest.

After a few moments Jake pulled away slightly. Sherry kept her eyes closed as she savoured him, her tongue darting out to trace the tingling of her bottom lip in a way that had Jake resisting the urge to let his hands wander before recapturing her mouth with his own. The very thought almost made him groan loudly.

"Are you okay?" he asked instead, reminding himself of just why he was doing this. Sherry's eyes finally opened, bright but slightly dazed.

"I want you to kiss me again."

The words were out before Sherry knew what she was saying. The new, electric feeling that she could still feel buzzing in her limbs had her on some sort of high. For just a second she considered what would happen if Jake said no. It felt like they were toeing some sort of invisible line and Sherry wasn't sure what would happen if they crossed it. As for Jake... he only paused for as long as it took for those words to sink in.

His hand wound into her hair as he moved forward once more to close the gap. The kiss between them this time was not gentle, but still slow and careful as Sherry found her way. Her chest pressed against his as his other hand came up to find the exposed skin between her shoulders, keeping her pressed tightly to him. This time Jake did groan as she slid closer. The bulge in his underwear that he'd been trying to ignore could no longer go unnoticed. He didn't have time to worry about her reaction before the breath was pulled from his lungs as her hips rocked ever so slightly, causing a surge of hot pleasure to run up his spine. He responded in kind. Or rather his body did of its own accord, which took Jake by surprise just as it did Sherry if the small squeaking sound she made was anything to go by. Panic almost overtook him. Had he gone too far?

A hand ran down his chest, pausing over his pounding heart as if unsure of its path. The kiss remained unbroken.

When the cold air of the night had replaced Jake's mouth on hers Sherry had found herself unwilling to let him stop. His hands on her thighs made her legs feel like jelly, and as they now pressed against the bare skin of her back she couldn't help but imagine how they'd feel elsewhere. It was this thought that had made her to pull closer to him. Of course she'd felt the pressure between her legs, she just hadn't quite realised what had caused it until Jake's hips had arched into her. The sound that escaped her was embarrassing, although Jake didn't seem to mind.

As Sherry felt the evidence of Jake's arousal against her underwear her hand began to make its way down from his shoulder, stopping over his heart just as she realised what she was doing. She wanted... god, she wanted to touch him. Years of loneliness and neglect bubbled within her. She had spent so long with the only human contact she knew coming from a stranger's gloved hands that would coldly examine her body. She'd never been looked at with anything other than fascination, fear or even disgust.

Not like Jake. Not like the way he was gazing up at her now.

Sherry realised they were no longer kissing. They were still so close that she could see every last detail of Jake's eyes, the flecks of colour that seemed darker in the moonlight...

It was then that she also realised her own eyes were wet.

"Sherry?" Jake's voice brought her crashing back to reality. He sounded so worried, had she done something wrong?

"Shit," he hissed, "I'm sorry. I didn't... damn it. Sherry?"

It was then she heard the sounds escaping her throat. She was crying.

Jake froze. He didn't know what to do, or what had happened. He watched as Sherry brushed a tear from her cheek, looking just as confused as he felt. Briefly he considered winding his arms around her tightly, nestling her against his chest. Instead he remained unmoving and useless.

"I..." Sherry began, sounding surprised by the wetness of her fingertips.

Their moment was well and truly over, Jake decided. Carefully he lifted Sherry's weight off his legs and placed her beside him. Her thigh was still pressed against his and his hand remained lightly on her shoulder. He could feel her shivering even as she hid her face as best she could behind her short hair. Jake reached across to his discarded jacket draped over the chair's arm and placed it over her shoulders. It's warmth comforted Sherry enough that she was able to take a long, deep breath as she held her shaking hands out in front of her.

"I don't know what happened." she muttered, more to herself than Jake.

To his credit Jake did not jump to his feet and hightail it out of there as he might have done in any other circumstance. Jake did not handle crying women well. Especially ones he'd just been kissing. Instead he made a thoughtful sound and ran a hand over his head as he flexed his tense shoulders. "It's not your fault. Women often fall apart around me. I'm just irresistible like that."

Sherry stared up at him, mouth agape as Jake's curled up at the corners while he offered her a wink. The horrible sense of dread in her chest melted away as a strangled laugh escaped her. She had just cried all over his face and here he was, cracking jokes.

The laugh quickly shifted to an uncontrollable fit of giggles and she pressed her fingers to her mouth, apologising again. She felt a little light-headed. Perhaps she wasn't as sober as she'd thought. It would explain the brazen nerve that had allowed her to climb onto Jake's lap in the first place.

Jake however, was wrestling with his guilt over what had just happened. His instincts had told him he was making a mistake and yet he'd ignored them. Jake never ignored his gut as it was the one thing he'd always trusted. But when it came to Sherry... well, he wasn't quite sure which part of his body was making the decisions for him. Jake had never really done the "friends" thing before, but he was sure it wasn't typical to feel the need for a cold shower around them. Not with the type of bond he shared with Sherry anyway. The kiss was an exception. This wasn't a friends-with-benefits situation after all.

Withdrawing his hand from her shoulder, Jake edged away ever so slightly. His movement did not go unnoticed by Sherry who glanced at him through her hair as fear mixed with embarrassment and confusion. She'd gone and ruined everything with her stupid request and now she was convinced Jake would disappear for good this time, not just for a few weeks or months while he worked his various jobs. She needed to figure out how to save the night from becoming a total disaster.

Clasping her hands in her lap Sherry considered the one thing that had been the basis of their relationship from the beginning, other than almost being killed every few minutes of course.

Brutal honesty.

She knew Jake respected when someone was straight with him, he wasn't one to mince words. So Sherry took a deep breath before fixing her eyes somewhere around her knees as she decided to just tell the truth.

"I didn't realise it would be so..."

Jake waited for her to finish, his chest tightening as he wondered just what her analysis of the last few minutes would be. Had it been terrible? Had he gone to far? Why had he insisted she sit in his lap-

"Intense," she finally said with a sigh, unaware of the tirade of thoughts racing through Jake's mind. "I guess I didn't realise how much it still bothers me, growing up with the only human contact I ever had being... well, you already know."

He listened silently as she spoke, watching as her hands wound themselves around each other nervously. Jake considered just how lonely it must have been for her. Sherry was always so positive and almost irritatingly cheery sometimes. He couldn't imagine how hard it must have been to grow up the way that she had. After all, just six months of captivity in China had left Jake climbing the walls at various points. Going through that for years, as a child... it was the height of cruelty.

"It's okay," he told her gently, "I get it."

The words felt empty and useless. How could he possibly 'get it'? Still, her cautious look of relief comforted them both. Jake didn't have to feel like quite such a leech and Sherry began to stop worrying that he would disappear into the night if she so much as blinked.

Jake ran a hand over his short hair and turned his eyes to the night sky, leaning back to his prior position as if nothing had ever happened between them. Sherry fidgeted as she tried to decide what to do next.

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

Jake's smooth voice took her by surprise. Talk?

"About what happened to you. I mean, I already know what they did but..."

His words faltered as he failed miserably at his attempt to console her. Wasn't that what people did in times like this? Talk about their feelings?

Sherry shook her head.

"Not tonight," she said. Jake tried not to show his own relief. Talking was not his strong point. He was a doer, a fixer. If he had the chance he'd gladly show Sherry how much he cared about what she'd been through by punching the life out of every last asshole who'd ever laid a hand on her. But for now there was little he could do. So instead he reached out, his hand palm out facing the sky as he watched her glance down at her side.

She didn't hesitate to slide her own fingers between his and he captured them tightly, hoping she knew he wouldn't let go again until she asked.

Silently he hoped she never would, but that was another conversation for another night.

"Next year I'll bring you something better," he promised. "Girl's like ponies right?"

Sherry snorted a little at Jake's suggestion, "Yes, I'm sure it'll be very happy here in my garden in the middle of Washington."

Jake's half-smile hesitated for a second before he spoke again.

"Maybe next year you could be somewhere else..."

Sherry finally looked him directly in the eyes and he was glad to see her own were now dry. She was frowning slightly.

"You mean I should move?"

Jake shrugged, "Move. Leave... take back control of your life."

Sherry's hand tightened around his own for a moment. What did he mean? Jake knew no matter where she was, in a house in the city or a call in a lab, she wasn't free. She couldn't take control of something that didn't belong to her anymore.

"I can't," she told him flatly. "I wouldn't even know how."

"I'd show you," Jake replied a little too quickly, as if the words had been on his mind for longer than even he'd known. "I wouldn't let you do it alone, super girl."

Sherry didn't know how to respond. Was Jake suggesting she run away? It was a ridiculous notion. She'd be chased. She'd be found. She'd spend the rest of her life being treated like a criminal, a threat. And Jake... who knew what they'd do to him. They'd probably lock him away too.

"Why don't you stay? With me?" she asked, her voice shaking slightly as she already knew his answer. Jake could never live like she did. He was no civilian and following orders just wasn't in his nature. It would be like caging a wild animal.

"Never mind," she told him before he had the chance to reject the idea, "I know you couldn't."

They sat in the moonlight with their hands clinging to each other until the sky began to light with a pinkish hue. Sherry allowed herself to imagine, just for a while, a life being truly free. Jake's thoughts were a mystery to her. She didn't dare glance to her side. She was afraid as soon as she did he would be gone and Sherry would be alone once again.

So when the pink turned to blue and Sherry found herself unable to fight the heaviness in her eyes she almost missed the way Jake pulled her against his side, letting her head rest against his shoulder. She thought she was dreaming when she felt lips against her hair, telling her something she quickly forgot as she let sleep overcome her.

"I could try, for you... I think I could do that."

Jake would never make a promise he couldn't keep, but trying wasn't a promise... it was something else. A chance to show Sherry that she was worth it, worth more.

For now it would be the last birthday she ever spent alone. He'd make sure of that at least.

Note: I mean I'm a little 'eh' on the ending, but sometimes if I don't stop I just write and write until have more fics than I can cope with and before you know it these two are on the run and I'm 50k words in with no real plot in sight...

It had inspired yet another fic idea thought. Send help.