She walks into the office uncharacteristically late with both Chris and Barry's attention landing on her in seconds.
"Morning." She greets them, sitting down at her desk, nerves finally flooding out of her.
"Morning. How are you?" Barry asks.
"I'm good, you?" She retorts, picking up where she left off on files. Barry merely nods his response before taking a seat, Chris still passing glances her way until Randal walks into the office files in hand.
"Chris Redfield, could I have a moment of your time?" He asks.
Chris's gaze immediately flicks up to Jill she gives him the slightest bit of a nod before he heads out of the office.
"Ooo somebody's in trouble." Richard teases once the door is closed.
"I always knew it would end like this. He will be missed." Brad wipes away a tear.
"You're too much." Jill snorts.
"Didn't think we'd have to plan a going away party like this. Really thought we'd make it to Edward's wedding before someone just up and got fired." Joseph chuckles.
"I'm sure it will be a very nice party." Jill says with a smirk.
"Oh all the works." Forest snorts, "This is Chris we're talking about. We can't schlep our way through this."
Chris is back a few minutes later, looking baffled and awestruck as he takes up his seat.
"Everything okay?" Kenneth asks over his work.
"Yeah, just some time-off stuff I had to sort out." He waves them off.
"And here we were planning a beautiful going away party for you." Forest rolls his eyes, "Ungrateful bastard."
"I'm touched." Chris quips back.
"I'm going on a coffee run, you in?" Jill asks, standing up from her desk.
"Yeah totally."
He eagerly joins her by the door. They're silent for the walk out of the building, all the way to the traffic light where they wait to cross.
"You told HR about our relationship."
She nods, "Yup."
"Why?"
"Would you believe that I panicked?" She asks, stepping onto the street as the light flashes for them to cross.
"But… Why?" He asks again completely at a loss for words.
"We were going to have to report it at some point." She says nervously, "I wanted to tell him about yesterday, I just couldn't. I was already in the office, so I just ran my mouth… you're not mad, are you?"
"Of course, I'm not mad at you, I'm surprised." He shakes his head as they walk into the coffee shop, Jill hands the barista her note card of orders. "Are we telling the office then?"
"I hadn't thought about that… I'm still afraid of what he'll say. Or do." She hands off a card to pay for the drinks.
"We can wait until I'm back from visiting Claire." He says, reaching for her hand and giving it a gentle squeeze.
Jill gives him a grateful smile as they wait for their order. There's a hint of a blush just beneath her skin that allows her to feel placated. Even in the face of all this embarrassment and hardship, Chris will still be with her, it's a kind of loyalty she isn't used to.
Wesker says nothing to her that day or the next few days. Though, Jill keeps asking herself why he's chosen to keep his distance now, she appreciates it. Her thoughts keep floating back to that damn trail. Where the hell did he go after attacking her like that? You'd think he'd have dragged her off there… Right? What the hell is out in the Arklays?
Chris leaves for his visit with Claire, still reluctant that Wednesday morning as Jill is helping him load up into the taxi.
"Tell me to say and I will."
"Go, tell Claire I miss her." She says softly, "I'll be here, don't worry too much."
"You're sure?"
"Positive." She kisses him quickly, "Call me when you get there, okay?"
"Of course." He sighs, "Don't hesitate to call me if something happens."
"Got it." She promises sending him off towards the airport.
Part of her does wish he'd stayed, the other part of her knows it's for the best. She can't allow herself to rely on him for safety.
Work is dull to say the least, just piles upon piles of paperwork; and Wesker seems to have ceased existing, much to her relief.
"You ready to go?" Barry asks her at the end of the day.
"Huh?" She asks, "I'm going to finish this, why?"
"Um…" Barry glances at the other guys who are sufficiently distracted or already leaving the office. "Chris asked me to make sure you got home okay."
"I'll be fine, thanks." She says, deciding perhaps it is for the best that she leave with the rest of them. "How's Kathy?"
"Good, she's good." Barry says lightly, "She sends her best."
"Barry." Jill sighs.
"I couldn't not tell her, Jill, I'm sorry." He says nervously, "Jesus Christ, she thinks Wesker's a freak and she's never even met him. She wanted to let you know she's got a lawyer friend if you need help."
"I'm okay Barry… but tell her thank you for me."
"I will, sorry again." He says leaving her at her car.
Jill takes a deep breath looking at the car clock as soon as it pops on. There's three-ish hours until sunset… Could she possibly go back there?
"Fuck it." She says to the air and drives off towards the forest, finding the spot she and Wesker had been investigating with ease.
Taking a second to thank god for daylight savings, she hops out of the car, gun in hand she walks purposefully. It startles her how familiar these woods are to her, how simple it is for her to find the patch of forest where her assault took place.
"Alright, Jill, you've got this." She mutters to herself pressing forward in the direction that's been haunting her for days now.
Gun raised just in case she encounters a murderer, or Wesker – god what she wouldn't give to pop a cap in his ass. Sure, she had been the one convincing Chris not to do anything drastic, that didn't mean she didn't also have the deep seeded desire to do it herself.
It's a sudden shift. The trees start to thin and the grass feels dead beneath her feet. She's starting to feel the fear in her throat, thinks that maybe she should turn back. She doesn't; instead she presses forward until she looks up at the looming figure of a fucking mansion staring back at her.
A murder castle, fucking perfect. Jill silently ticks off one point to her as she pulls out her map of the area. She's got a lot of crazy ideas floating around in her head; this one, however, might take the cake for asylum-worthy. Afterall, there's a lot of mental gymnastics that get her to the conclusion she's settled on. She's asked herself a lot of 'what if' questions during the drive over.
Coordinates noted on her map, she shoves it back in her pocket, and looks up just in time to catch the gaze of… god only knows what the fuck that thing is… a dog? With its… skin melting off?
She doesn't exactly get the full picture, she's too busy scrambling away, thinking all the while, what the ever-living fuck?
She hears the barking behind her. Heart lodged in her throat she takes off back towards the thickest part of the forest. Instinct taking over, she fires one then two, three shots into its head. Perfect hits, but the damn thing falls over for only a few moments each time.
"What the hell?" She asks to no one in particular.
Running, shooting, and running again Jill manages to finally kill the damn thing or at least she hopes so. She doesn't stop sprinting back to her car to check. Once she's in the front seat she peels out of the lot in seconds, only buckling herself in after she's been on the road for a minute.
Swallowing what she's just witnessed she finally manages to vocalize her suspicions.
"Was that a zombie? Dog? Thing?" She asks herself, "I'm fucking off my rocker but…"
Jesus Christ, she couldn't even fathom what she'd just witnessed, was that for real? Did Wesker's goddamn murder castle have its own personal guard of zombie dogs? What kind of fucked up bullshit…
She pulls into the parking lot of her apartment complex and is struck with the sudden demanding urge to vomit. Rushing up to her apartment she barely manages to keel over the toilet in time. Her whole body seems to be rejecting what just happened. Breath heavy in her chest, she pulls out that map again, staring it down as if she can't even remember going there.
But she was there, and she saw that… thing.
Just as she's gathering herself, she hears the phone ring. Picking herself off the bathroom floor, she answers.
"Hello?" She asks, covering her mouth when the rasping burn in the back of her throat resurfaces.
"Hey, I made it." Chris answers, she can almost hear him smiling.
"That's great, how's Claire?" She asks splaying out the map on her counter top.
"She's good, super happy to have me. Right, Claire?" Jill hears nothing until he comes back on. "I promise she said she loves me."
"I believe you." Jill chuckles, breath catching in her chest. "How was your flight?"
"Fine, no surprises."
"That's good."
"Are you alright?" He asks.
"Uh… Yeah." She says nervously, swallowing harshly.
"Jill." He warns.
"I don't want you to worry about me."
"Jill."
"I threw up, but I'm fine." She claims quickly, reasoning in her own head that it isn't a lie.
"Oh, are you okay? Did something happen?"
"You mean with Wesker?"
"Let's not say that name, but yeah."
"No, I think I just ate something…" She tries to ignore the spinning room as she takes a seat.
"You don't think you're sick?"
"No, like I said, I'm okay."
"You're sure? You don't have a fever?"
She's pretty sure she does but she doesn't say that. "I'm fine, Chris."
"Are you going to call out from work tomorrow?"
"I don't know yet, I'll keep you posted." She promises lamely.
"Okay…" He sounds so sad and far away. For the first time, Jill feels the distance between them.
"Sorry, I didn't want to make you feel bad. I know it means a lot to Claire for you to visit and-"
"I feel guilty that I'm here and you're not well. I wish I were there to take care of you."
"There's plenty of time for that some other time." She chuckles biting back the bile stuck in the back of her throat. "Can I have a second?"
"Sure."
She hurries back to the bathroom to expel and residual crap in her throat. Part of her wants to curl up on the floor and pass out there, but she spurs herself back to the phone and curls up on the couch instead.
"Sorry about that." She coughs in hopes of helping the burning stop, it doesn't work.
"You okay?"
"Yeah."
"Did you throw up again?"
"… Maybe." She feels like she's being scolded in another time zone and she's annoyed about it.
"Aw, Jill-"
"So what are you and Claire doing?" She asks, desperate for a change of topic.
"Not much, she showed me campus, I met her roommate, we went to dinner. We're back at my hotel for the night."
"Sounds like a lot to me."
"Yeah, I guess it was now that you mention it."
"That sounds nice though." She says imagining she were the one far away instead of stuck in Raccoon City with fucking zombie dogs and Wesker.
"Yeah, it's good to hang out with her again." He sighs on the other side of the phone, "You're sure you don't have a fever?"
"Chris, what are you going to do about it if I do? You're in another state, enjoy yourself."
"I'm just… I miss you and now you're sick and I feel like I left you to the wolves."
Don't say wolves.
"I'll give you hell for it when you get back, don't worry about it. Have fun with Claire or I'll be upset with you."
"Yes ma'am." He chuckles.
"I don't want to cut this short, but I'm going to take something and get to bed here."
"That's a good idea, take care of yourself okay?"
"I will, talk to you tomorrow?"
"Absolutely, I love you."
"I love you too." She smiles softly to herself as she hangs up the phone.
Gathering all the courage inside of her she stands back up to observe the map, what the hell else could be in there?
She's dialing the number before she even realizes it.
"Hello?"
"Hey Allen, it's Jill Valentine."
"Well, fuck me, how've you been?" He laughs from the other side of the phone.
"I've been better." She sighs, "You remember that super-secret mission you weren't supposed to tell me about?"
"… No." He says covering his ass as always.
"I've got a lead."
There's a beat of silence, "Tell me about it."