The next day at the office is stiff to say the least. Everyone's on edge and no one will fucking admit it. Jill isn't too keen on the idea of being first to speak up, still she feels like if she doesn't, no one will.

Thankfully, it's Richard who breaks the seal, "So is nobody going to apologize?"

"What do you mean?" Jill asks curiously.

"I think at least half of this office owns you an apology."

"Yeah, you're right." She agrees.

"Is that really what you want?" Barry asks.

"I just want to be treated like a person before I'm a woman, is that so much to ask for?"

Surprisingly, Enrico answers, "Yes."

"Excuse me?" She asks.

"Jill, you were in the military, weren't you?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Look, it's not good and I hate it as much as you do, but you are always going to be a woman before you're a person. I saw it all the time when I was an officer."

"What the fuck-"

"You're not telling me this is something new to you."

"No, it's not new, that doesn't mean it's not bullshit." She retaliates, voice harsh.

Enrico shakes his head ruefully, "It is bullshit, but it's reality."

The anger she feels is in her bones, like every ounce of her is infuriated by what she's hearing. Sure, she's always known that her womanhood is obvious to every thick-skulled man she's ever met; doesn't mean she likes hearing it.

She swears the guys then pass on apologies, but she can't hear them. The words are muddy and confusing in her brain. It shouldn't take a special kind of person to understand human decency, right? It's the 20th century, for Christ's sake.

By one o'clock, her fury has boiled down to a simmer, still upset but not allowing it to get in the way of her work.

Wesker emerges from his office and rattles off assignments, and what comes out of his mouth startles her.

"Jill, you'll be accompanying me to the scene in district 17."

"Um?" Chris starts to speak up as everyone else gets ready to depart.

"Yes, Chris?"

"I'm not assigned?"

"No, you, Forest, Barry, and Brad will be manning the office." He says, irritated as if that wasn't implied information.

"Is there a reason you're taking this case?" Enrico asks.

"Chief thinks there's something else out there he wants me investigating. Personally." Wesker's tone grows more terse as the subject wanes on.

Jill passes a worried glance to Chris as she gets ready to leave. His face is unreadable as she walks out the door. Climbing into a cop car with Albert Wesker is uncomfortable to say the least, she feels like he should be in the back instead of driving, but that's a whole other situation.

"Have you been troubled lately, Jill?" He asks.

"I'm alright, sir." She says.

"There's been commotion in the office the past few days."

"I suppose so." She starts reading through the case file. Another murder, body parts missing, eaten… Jill almost wishes she were the one dismembered.

Wesker says nothing else until they arrive on the scene almost an hour later, investigators have already taped off the area and the STARS captain seems to hold command of the situation in seconds. If she didn't hate the fucker, she'd be impressed.

She starts out with her typical investigation routine, though without Chris she has to pick up more of the evidence work.

"Valentine." Wesker catches her attention and nods her over to another area of the woods, "We're going to take up a trail, get moving."

She finishes her examination of a blood splatter before standing to follow him. There are the occasional blood drips on the ground, as if a bleeding limb was taken from the scene and continued to leak for almost two miles. Otherwise, she grows more and more wary. They're way off target and she can't even hear the other investigators now.

Powerless against the fear in her chest she finally speaks up, "Captain, where are we going?"

He chuckles, back still turned to her as he crouches down to look at something, "Oh, I suppose we're not going anywhere, are we?"

"Then where are you taking me?"

She feels herself bristling, skin chilled and on edge. She's starting to feel more and more like she's been tricked by the big bad wolf and lured down a dark path. She wonders if she's in the presence of the murderer she's been tasked to find. What if she's the Arklay cannibal's next victim?

"I think you're smart enough to figure it out." He stands back up, brushing his hand on his pants.

She regrets what she says next, "Be explicit."

In seconds, he's on her, tree bark digging into her spine as his breath sinks into her skin. A gasp breaks free of his grasp as realization washes over her, his broad forearm pining her shoulders securely to the tree behind her. His free hand pushes up the fabric of her shirt until one gloved hand rests on the tender skin of her stomach.

"You want explicit, Jill? That's what I like about you." His voice is deep, dark like the ocean floor, "Don't say I never gave you what you asked for."

"Get off of me so help me god-"

"Is that regret I sense? Oh Jill, I'd hate for you to find out how powerful a man I am." He says, placing his forehead against hers.

She struggles to move away from him, but no matter where she goes, he is right there.

The hand on her stomach moves up to her hair, twisting a strand as he chuckles, "Women like you deserve powerful men to stand beside. You're lucky to have been chosen by me."

"If you don't let go of me, I'll scream!" She threatens, so much fear inside of her that she can't manage to be anything but panicked.

"You won't." He says resolutely, "If you do, the least of your worries will be losing your job."

He presses his leg between her thighs. She feels the holster of his gun and catches his meaning with ease. The other thing she feels, she does her best to ignore. Fear is no longer a word, it becomes her entire being. Jill has never felt so small in her life.

His lips come down on her like a plane crash. At first, she screams and then she dies; accepts her fate because holy hell is she afraid. Allowing him to assault her body with merely a scream behind her crushed lips and practically turns to ash in his grasp. God, what she wouldn't give to be dead.

"Make the right choice, Jill. You know there is one." He says when he's pulled away, dropping his hold on her and walking off before she can regain her bearings enough to attack him.

In a moment of sheer rage, she twists around and punches the tree, feeling the distinct crack of her knuckles as the contact is made.

"FUCK!" She shouts holding her burning wrist after the fact. It's not broken though she wishes it were. Maybe that would act as a sufficient enough distraction from whatever the fuck she'd just endured at the hands of a monster.

Suddenly she hears a rustling from the thickest part of the forest. She pulls out her gun and readies herself. She doesn't expect to see Chris storming out from the cover he'd been (apparently) hidden behind, but she definitely doesn't expect Barry to be gripping Chris's bicep as if to restrain him.

"Chris? Barry? What the hell are you doing here?" Jill asks, lowering her gun, chest still hot with emotion as they approach.

"Killing fucking Wesker." Chris snarls, pulling back the safety of his gun.

"Chris." Barry says warningly.

"How did you get here?" Jill clarifies her question, standing between him and the direction in which Wesker exited the scene.

"It doesn't matter." He says, eyes hard and furious on her. Barry manages to get the gun out of Chris's hand while he's distracted.

"Barry." He says warningly.

"Chris, you can't just kill the fuck knot." Barry says,

"Why the hell not?" Chris bares his teeth at the older man.

"Look at me." Jill forces Chris's face back towards hers. Despite how unsettled she is by his rage she speaks firmly. "Why are you here?"

"I thought it was suspicious that Wesker came into the field. I didn't want to be right… Jill, I'm so sorry." He shakes his head, clearly trying to sort through his emotions.

"It's not your fault." Jill takes his hand. She can't really be fucked if Barry sees them like this, Chris is going to go on a murder spree for her if she doesn't stop him.

"I shouldn't have let you go with him, I should have told you to report his ass sooner." Chris looks like he's trying to decide who he should be angrier with: Wesker or himself.

"Reporting does shit." Jill shakes her head, "This was bound to happen eventually."

"Like hell it was." Barry can't help himself, "Talk is one thing, assault is another."

"It's something I always have and always will have to suck up; it's part of being in this field."

"No, no!" Chris practically shouts, "You don't have to deal with this Jill, what the fuck-"

"Reporting this kind of shit is just to leave a paper trail, it's not for us, it's for the company to cover its ass. The last time this happened-"

"The last time!? What last time!?" Chris demands.

"Back in the military. They just reassign you. No charges, nothing, you just get to start the fucking cycle all over again." She sighs, "Because I'll always be a woman first, right?"

"You're not going to just take this sitting down, are you?" Barry asks, disbelief clear in his tone.

"What choice do I have?"

"Report this! Christ, report his ass!" Chris is incredulous with her.

"Did you not hear me? Reporting. Does. Nothing." She reiterates.

"We have your back Jill. We'll go with you." Barry says calmly.

"You don't get it." She shakes her head, "It doesn't matter how many witnesses or statements or anything else I have. He's my boss, it will always be my fault, and even if I do report him it's just going to make my life worse."

"How can things get worse?" Chris is absolutely exasperated.

"You think he can't hurt people? Can't hurt me?"

"I won't let him." Chris says confidently.

"And what if he hurts you?" She retorts, "I'm stuck, I can't do shit."

"No, you cannot give up like this." Barry says harshly, "I'm not about to let this shit slide, this isn't right."

"Well guess what? Right isn't reality, this is how shit is." She shakes her head. There's a sense of loss falling on her shoulders. "You should go, before he gets back and sees you here."

"No, I'm not leaving until I can wring his neck." Chris says.

"Do this for me, please!" She practically begs, voice cracking as she places a hand on his chest.

His gaze softens to apologetic at the way she nearly crumbles before him, he's got her in his sure steady arms in seconds. Hand wrapped up in her hair as he kisses her forehead. Jill spots Barry's small sad smile as Chris grips her, somehow this is ever so fitting for them.

She pulls away and looks Chris dead in the eye, "We'll talk later, okay? Just please go back, if he finds you here he'll punish me, not you."

"Okay…" Chris clearly doesn't want to leave, nor does he want to fight her. Instead he kisses her lips. A breath of fresh air after kissing that dog Wesker, it's short and solemn but she takes it greedily.

Chris and Barry head back towards the rest of the investigation while Jill turns to where Wesker disappeared to. Captured by curiosity, she memorizes the area, tries to surmise what could be beyond the thicket of trees but is too afraid to follow. Mind conjuring up images of what could possibly happen if he did find her following him, she shudders violently.

Wholly unsettled, Jill races back to the scene and luckily Chris and Barry are nowhere to be found. The investigation is all wrapped up by the time Wesker returns. His very presence has her on edge, but she says exactly nothing even once they're in the car.

Half way back, his hand finds its way to her thigh.

Unable to bite her tongue any longer she lashes out, "Don't touch my leg."

Grinning, he slips his hand between her legs, fingers pressing against her center, to which she roughly throws his hand off of her. Face burning and body near trembling, she turns her gaze to the window hoping to see some kind of disaster to end this misery.

He gives a sordid laugh, "This will be fun, won't it?"

Jill isn't the type of person to cry, especially not in front of her boss, but Christ, she nearly loses it right then and there. The second they're parked, she's out of the car and back in the STARS office. Just about everyone is back including Barry and Chris; neither of whom say a word but stare enough to make her feel the weight of it.

She starts sorting through papers until Wesker enters the office. He says nothing, doesn't even glance at her, but his presence brings Jill down a notch. She feels a lone tear break free of her eye, despite how discreet she feels she is wiping it away, Chris roughly stands from his desk.

"Chris, are you alright?" She asks, an urgent warning infiltrating her tone. The office has snapped their gaze towards him, a fact which isn't lost on him.

She isn't certain he's breathing, the rage inside of him is so all consuming it's becoming him, but he manages to take himself out of the office instead of killing Wesker. Barry gives Jill a sympathetic smile as everyone else comments on how strange Chris has been acting all afternoon. Jill can't hear any of the words anyone speaks; instead she packs her things slowly.

By the time he's back, everyone else is walking out slowly, the end of the day finally upon them. Chris looks like hell, but she doesn't say anything until they're in the parking lot.

"You're coming over?" She asks.

"Yeah." His voice sounds almost raw as he parts ways with her.

Chris is waiting for her at her apartment complex, he's still very clearly angry, but more than that, he looks defeated.

She lets him inside and in seconds he's speaking. "We're going to HR tomorrow, you're reporting his ass and we're getting you a lawyer."

"Chris, please calm down-"

"First of all, I am calm all things considered, because killing him is still 100% on the table. Second, I don't really care if you think reporting this will do nothing, I can't sit by and let him get away with this."

Jill, at a loss for anything else to do, grabs his hands, "I can't do that."

"Give me one good reason."

"I'm so fucking scared of him." She admits for the first time out loud. "I… I just… I'm so scared."

Once again, Chris wraps her up in his arms and holds her firmly, lips pressed to the top of her head as she shudders against him. She can't be certain if she's really crying or not, it's been so long since the last time she let herself cry the feeling is unfamiliar.

"Never mind, we're killing him."

"Chris, please." She shakes her head, "You know we can't-"

"We work for the fucking police. We could make it look like an accident." He's so serious a part of her dies inside.

"I know." She takes her hands and holds her face, trying to center herself. The wetness of her cheeks spurs a shuddering cathartic sob throughout her body. Chris lifts her up in his arms with a quiet strength and carries her to the bedroom. Taking a seat on the bed, he props her on his knee. Part of her wants to hide from him, the other wants to revel in the comfort he emanates; caught between two wants she settles for forcing her face into his shoulder.

It takes a solid ten minutes for her to calm down. The tears keep coming and coming, part of her wonders if the tide of emotion will ever stop. When she finally looks up, she realizes his eyes are not dry either. Though he's got no tears streaming down his cheeks, there's no denying the emotion laying just beyond.

"I'm sorry." She cracks through the thickness of her turmoil.

"Don't apologize for that waste of space." He assures her, lifting her hands and kissing the sore skin.

"I just… I don't know what to do." She thinks of the feeling of Wesker's hand on her thigh and internalizes the anger. "He could hurt us, he could do it."

"I don't exactly give a fuck, Jill." Chris says, "Come what may, I'm going to be here for you, he can try whatever the hell he wants-"

"He could kill us just as easily as we could kill him." She says back, "Probably with less hesitation too."

"I'm not going to watch him do this to you."

Shaking her head, Jill sits up kissing him for just a moment to breathe, to revel in silence and clear her damn mind. Kissing Chris is like a reset button, gives her time and clarity. He's at the center of her damn universe and right now is no different.

His hand cups her jaw, thumb absentmindedly stroking her cheek. "I love you."

"I love you so much." She returns, earnest as ever. "I uh… I have to shower, I feel dirty."

He pulls her in tighter, kissing her with vigor and a gentle sweeping motion of his hand across the back of her neck. She wonders if she should feel traumatized, if she should feel the ghosts of Wesker's hand instead of Chris's. Even thinking this, the man before her takes up every thought in her head, Chris Redfield is the love of her life, no ifs ands or buts about it.

He allows her to shower alone, water so hot it could catch fire against her skin as she scrubs away the day. Her thoughts run away from her, lingering on the question of where the hell Wesker went afterwards. The detective in her tries to reason that she should return and follow the track, the more rational side of her think that's a garbage idea. But what if…

She walks into the kitchen to see Chris heating up leftovers for them, he's changed into some clothes he'd left once before and she'd washed for him. He isn't totally moved in, but he probably should be in all honesty, he practically lives with her. He needs to keep his apartment for Claire, extra bedroom and all. They've already discussed getting a two bedroom when their leases are up, but Jill wishes his presence were permanent now.

"Feel any better?" He asks, sympathy and sadness dancing together in his voice.

"Yeah." She gives a small smile, walking up to him leaving a whisper of a kiss on his jaw. "I love you."

He puts his hand around her waist, kissing the tip of her nose, "I love you too."

"You're hungry?" She asks, knowing he almost always is but she wants to keep talking.

Maybe conversation, normal and domestic, will force her mind away from everything else.

"I think we both need to eat." He says.

"Maybe you're right."

The idea of eating turns her stomach, but she busies herself with grabbing plates and silverware. Despite herself, she asks, "Was Barry okay?"

"He was understandably upset, he almost spilled the beans when we got back… Forest made some comment about Barry and I having a sordid affair… Barry nearly punched his lights out."

"Would have been impressive, Barry hasn't ever lost his cool." Jill hands him a plate to dish leftovers.

"He didn't try anything after we left… right?"

Jill stalls at the thought, her thigh feeling dirty all over again.

Chris gives her a pointed look, "That mother fucker-"

"Let's just eat." She interrupts him setting her hardly occupied plate down at the table.

"What did he do?" He sits beside her despite the demanding in his tone.

"Please don't make me say it." She shakes her head.

What little appetite she'd had flees from her.

"Jill." His tone is a strange conglomeration of ire and incredulousness. Jill reaches out her hand, mimicking the movement Wesker had preformed on her hours before. Chris raises a fist to his mouth standing from the table and pacing around the kitchen. Jill pulls her knees to her chest, table manners be damned, she wants to disappear.

"He's dead. He is a dead man." Chris crouches beside her, frantic energy desperate for her approval, "You can't tell me this fuck deserves to live."

She puts her hands on either side of his face, "Only one of us is allowed to have a body count in this relationship and it's me."

"Jill for the love of god." He stands up from her.

"Chris, I'm not saying I wouldn't gladly put him six feet under, it's just that we can't." She stands up wrapping her arms around him, face pressed firmly into his back.

"Barry would help me, hell the entirety of STARS would probably help me take his ass down." Chris says, hands gripping the countertop.

"It's scary how right you are, so stop it before this becomes a plan." Jill says, feeling him shift around.

"I'm canceling my trip to see Claire."

"No, you're not." Jill shakes her head.

"I'm not leaving you with that monster, Jill."

"I have Barry."

"I can't do that, I have to do something even if it's just being present."

"Claire misses you like crazy, I couldn't stand it if you stayed on my behalf." Jill shakes her head, guilt creeping up behind her like a shadow.

"You're the woman I'm going to marry, Claire will understand." They both take those words in for a minute eyes locked with one another, broken smiles and tired gazes shared as they tie their fingers together.

"You already have the time off, you need to go."

"No."

"Chris, you're going."

"I'm staying with you if it kills me."

"I will load that plane up with your ass myself if I have to, Chris Redfield, don't try me."

"I'm not going to fight you on this."

"Neither am I."

They have a second of a stalemate before Chris relents shaking his head, vexed by her stubbornness but unwilling to strain her emotions anymore for the night.

"You should eat."

She turns back towards their abandoned dinner at the mention. The idea of eating makes her want to vomit, but she's fought with him enough today.

They take up their seats, eat quietly for a few minutes and then they curl up in bed. Easy breath and chillingly light touches, she listens to the beat of his heart while his fingers stroke the back of her neck. For a few blissful moments she finds herself at peace, mind quiet and humbled by the thrumming beneath her ear.

"Please tell me this is the first time this has happened." He says suddenly.

"Elaborate." She says thoughtfully, tracing patterns on his chest with her fingertips.

"You mentioned that something happened to you in the military."

"Oh… that."

"God, Jill." He sighs pulling her a fraction of an inch closer, his chin just on top of her head.

"It wasn't so bad… My drills sergeant decided to shove his hand down my shirt in broad daylight." She chuckles heavily, "That how I ended up getting reassigned to the squad that took me to Somalia actually. On the bright side I got reassigned really quick, almost no hassle…"

He kisses her forehead, "I want to protect you so badly…"

"I wish you could." She tells him.

"Then let me."

She sits up and kisses him so intensely she feels the weight of it in her toes. "I'm trying to… but it's hard."

"I know." He rasps against her lips.

"It's always been just me against the world." He nods biting her lip to pull her back into him. "There's no one else I'd rather face this with."

"Partners, till the end?"

"Till the end of the world." She agrees practically collapsing on him with kisses and touch, how hungry she is for the loving kind of touch that only he can give her. That sustainable lingering touch that she feels for weeks afterwards, sometimes she's convinced something ties them together like fate or god or something unfathomable connected them. She couldn't fight this love even if she wanted to.

That next morning as they walk into the RPD together, she halts suddenly.

"Jill, it's okay-"

"I'm uh… I'll meet you in the office, okay?"

"I'm here for you."

"I know, I have to do something real quick, just give me a few minutes. Love you, see you in a second." She gives his hand a squeeze and walks up the stairs towards HR. There's a confidence in her step that she loses the second she walks into Randal's office.

"Jill Valentine, how can I help you today?" He smiles so easily at her she practically chokes on her words as they come out of her mouth. God she hopes this doesn't back fire on her.