She goes to work in spite of herself that Thursday, mostly because of Allen's advice to stay sharp and act natural. He's a bastard, but he's a bastard who knows what he's talking about. Part of her still feels like vomiting and the other part of her can't stand the idea of being that helpless right now.

Wesker is out of his office when she arrives. Her heart beat gets faster knowing that she'll likely have to face him today. He's probably planned it like this too, fully intending to lull her into a false sense of complacency before smacking her with reality.

She sits at her desk, wondering if she should just fucking force herself to puke so that she can go home. Instead, she does her work, skipping lunch in favor of burying her fear as deeply as she can manage.

Then Wesker appears and who he has with him almost kills Jill.

"Everyone, your attention. I'd like you to meet our new intern, Rebecca Chambers. She'll be with us over the summer to see if she's a good fit for STARS."

The young girl waves eagerly at the team and Jill catches Wesker's smirk. The way he practically says, 'if I can do that to you, imagine what I can do to her.'

Jill paints a smile on her face as she greets her along with the other STARS members.

"Welcome to the team."

She shakes the young girl's hand.

"You must be Jill! Captain Wesker told me a lot about you!" She says brightly.

Jill tries to bite back her emotions.

"Well, you've got your work cut out for you. Keeping these boys in check can be quite the challenge."

"She's been assigned to Bravo team, but I assume you'll be taking her under your wing, Jill." Wesker says.

if he were capable of inflection, she'd imagine this sentence was meant to be coy.

"Of course," Jill agrees, "Out of curiosity, how old are you, Rebecca?"

"Oh, I just turned eighteen." She says nervously. "But I'm thrilled to be here, even as an intern."

Eighteen… Eight-fucking-teen! Jill looks at Wesker for a second before replying.

"Don't worry, I joined the military at seventeen. If you know what you want, there's no reason to wait."

"Wow."

Rebecca looks embarrassed that she let that proclamation slide, but Jill puts a hand on her shoulder in response.

"We're thrilled to have you." Jill says softly before turning back to her desk.

Wesker's just achieved a whole new level of fucking awful if he's really trying to hire some barely legal kid to fulfill a sex fantasy.

Her face is hot as the young girl leaves. The other guys meander around the office, joking and jesting all the while. Enrico approaches her desk with reports but stops when he sees her face.

"You alright, Jill?" He asks, handing her the files. "You look pale."

"Yeah, I'm fine." She says, voice weaker than she wants it to be. "I, uh…I was sick yesterday after work, but I'm fine."

"You don't look fine. You look like you're running a fever."

Can fear do that to a person? Or is it the guilt of the situation?

"I'm alright, Enrico. Thanks for worrying about me, but I'm fine." She shrugs him off.

"You didn't eat today either. You sure you're alright?" Barry comments from his desk.

"Yes." She sighs.

"Uhuh." Barry muses.

"Look, the day's almost over. I'll survive another hour."

"Fine, but don't come in tomorrow." Enrico says.

"I'm sorry?"

"You shouldn't come into the office while you're sick. Take tomorrow off. You haven't used any of your hours anyway."

"I'm okay, really."

"Take the hours, Valentine. Some of us would kill for them." Edward calls from his desk.

"Nobody cares about your honeymoon, Dewey."

Brad flings a wad of paper at him.

"Take tomorrow off." Enrico reiterates, leaving her the documents. While this turn of events works for her, she's annoyed about it.

As the work day draws to a close, she hears Richard mention Rebecca's graduation…from high school… high school. Wesker's lust really doesn't have any boundaries.

Jill hurries to her car, Barry following after her with instructions to feel better. She isn't sure she'll ever feel better knowing that the fate of a high schooler is in her hands. God help her.

When she gets home, her instincts say 'calm the fuck down,' but she's dialing Chris before she can stop herself. He doesn't answer because he's probably out with Claire, but, Jesus, she needs him to pick up.

Instead, she calls Allen and tells him about the change in her schedule. He seems uncharacteristically excited about it, and changes her flight with something like glee in his tone. She's learned a lot of things in her career and one of those is 'never mess with a madman's plans,' so she leaves him to it.

Chris calls her back about half an hour later, his voice even and unbothered. "Hey, the front desk said you called."

"Yeah, I did." She sighs, "Wesker hired a fucking high schooler."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"I'm hoping he did it to intimidate me and not because he plans on fucking her, but oh my god, Chris."

"Jill, slow down. What are you talking about?"

"Wesker. Hired. An. Eighteen. Year. Old. Girl." Jill says, explicit and punctuated.

"Why?"

"Hell if I know! He says she's an intern, but I think he's trying to play some fucked up game? I don't know."

"That's a whole other level of fucked." Chris says.

"I'm starting to think killing him was a better choice."

"I'm glad you can admit that." He chuckles, "When does she start?"

"Next week... She hasn't even graduated."

"Oh my god."

"I know."

"If he tries anything, we will be killing him this time." He says resolutely.

"I agree." Jill relents, "Poor thing. She's so sweet, innocent even. God only knows why she's joining STARS."

"How are you? You feel any better today?"

"Apparently not." She scoffs before explaining, "Enrico's forcing me to take tomorrow off. I guess I look like hell."

"You're beautiful." He says sweetly.

"Uhuh, I got reamed for looking like death." She regrets saying it and Chris sighs on the other side of the line.

"I'm sorry you're not feeling well and have to deal with Wesker's bullshit on top of it."

"It's just stress, Chris. I'd know by now if it was a bug."

"I should have stayed with you." He says regretfully.

"No, I'm glad you went so you don't have to be here for this." She says, "You're having a good time with Claire, right?"

"Yes, but that's not the point."

"It's far more worth it to me that you're enjoying your time with Claire than you being here with me, sick and pissed off."

There's a second of silence before he speaks, "You're amazing, you know that?"

"You're the one being sweet and caring right now." She corrects him, "Just try not to worry about me. I want you to enjoy your weekend."

"That's what I mean, you're miserable but you still want me to enjoy myself. Christ, Jill, it's taking all of my willpower not to hop on a plane and be with you."

"Well, keep that up. I don't want to see you until Sunday night." She chuckles, "What did you guys do today?"

"Oh… just some stuff. Meals, a museum, nothing big to report on."

"Really?" She asks, noticing the twinge in his tone.

"Yeah. You're sure you don't want me to cut this short?"

"I want you to spend time with your sister, even if it kills you." She laughs. "Give her my best."

"I will… did you just get home?"

"Not exactly, why?"

"You should probably get some rest if Enrico is forcing you to stay home."

"You're probably right." She agrees. "I love you."

"Talk to you tomorrow?"

"Of course."

"Love you. Get some sleep, okay?"

"I will." She agrees before he hangs up.

There's nothing she wants more than to tell him that she's not going to sleep and that she's getting on a nearly two-hour flight to DC so that she can fucking take Wesker down. But, when dealing with the FBI, you can't just go around saying shit.

There isn't much to do for the hour lapse it takes for her car to arrive, even less once she's on the plane. All she can do is think about why she's even doing this in the first place. It's to protect Chris, herself, Rebecca, and countless other people Wesker could hurt. So why is the guilt still sitting inside of her?

Allen's waiting for her at the airport, smirk cocky as ever as he greets her fresh off the plane.

"It's been awhile."

"You know it's for the best that we stay away from each other. Shit goes down when we breathe in the same room." She hugs him with a laugh.

"I'm glad you got into contact with me. Otherwise, I was going to have to do it and we both know how great of a communicator I am." He teases.

They climb into the car and she feels out of place despite it only being the two of them and the driver.

"So, what makes you think Albert Wesker is in with Umbrella?" He asks bluntly.

"How many developers do you know that build mansions in the middle of nowhere? I know you've looked at the coordinates. It's off the grid, but I'm telling you... it's real."

"I believe you, Jill. You know I trust you with my life." He puts his bad hand over his chest as if to reiterate the point, "I only have to convince my superiors to follow the lead. I know it's good."

"Does it help that the guy isn't in any systems?" She asks, "I ran his name through the databases in my offices, but there's nothing. By all intents and purposes, Albert Wesker doesn't exist."

"You think he's a spy."

"I think he's not human, but that's another story." She huffs.

"You keep your mouth shut when we get in there, alright? Just follow my lead and we'll get you inside."

"Look, I don't need a team," She says, "I need a partner."

"I'm listening." He leans back, arms folded.

"I'm not sure what's in there, so I'm not going in alone, but I'm not about to let an entire squad loose in that freaking murder mansion. I just need one other person to have my back."

"You have someone in mind?"

Chris.

"No."

"Hmm… I do, if you can get over him being an ex-marine."

Jill instinctively wrinkles her nose at the thought of a marine. "Ex?"

"They're accusing him of some garbage that can't be true. His record is completely clean otherwise. I want to give the guy a chance to redeem himself."

"Do I know him?"

Allen shakes his head, "Not unless you know a Billy Coen."

"Never heard of him." She sits back, partially relieved to leave Chris out of this mess… for now.

"Getting you a partner will be easy. I don't know how much back up I can provide, but I'll do my best."

"I trust you, Allen. For some reason, people just can't say no to you." Jill smirks knowingly.

"Remind me why I'm helping you again?"

"Because I'm doing your dirty work, as usual."

He chuckles, "Just like old times."

She's not allowed in the briefing room while Allen is busy convincing his bosses to let her do this mission. While not entirely in disbelief, she's startled by the ease she feels. Being in the FBI headquarters should be intimidating. Knowing that she may very well be preparing to go into a fucking warzone should be scary.

But all she feels is calm indifference. Maybe she has the heart of a soldier after all, or maybe it's knowing that Wesker's murder castle is about to be outed. Either option makes her feel powerful, like she's finally back in control of the situation, thank god for that.

The meeting ends, or at least she hopes so with the way people are flooding out of the conference room. Allen brings up the back end of the group and approaches her with a file.

"Come with me."

"Am I in trouble?"

"Yes, but that's only because we're sending you in." He says, "Time for you to meet Coen."

"This guy killed twenty-three people?" She asks while going through the file.

"To be frank, no, I don't believe he did, but that's between him and God."

Allen presses the elevator call button.

"Now, once you've convinced him you'll suit up, who knows what kind of cameras and shit are in there. Your integrity comes first, under no circumstances do you give yourself away. Got that?"

They get in the elevator together.

"Yes, sir."

"I mean it, none of that do-good-er shit."

"Alright, fine."

She rolls her eyes as they reach their stop.

"Now go convince him to work with you." He says, pointing her towards one of the rooms.

"Just like that?"

"You're too smart for your own good, you'll figure out." He says, "Now go before you waste my time."

"Well, I guess it's time to go, Free Billy." She teases lamely.

"I hate you so much." Allen shakes his head.

She rolls her eyes as she approaches the room and two armed guards allow her access. The guy looks rough, like he's been in prison for weeks and no one let him cut his hair or wash it for that matter.

He's sulking in his seat and doesn't look up at her entrance.

"Billy Coen?" She asks.

"You some kind of lawyer? If so, you're too late, I'm already dead." He says harshly.

"I'm not a lawyer, but I do have an opportunity for you." She sits across from him, "How do you feel about staying alive and finding evidence to convict a massive cooperation?"

He narrows his gaze at her, "You can't be serious."

"I am, all I need you to do is be my partner on this mission and we'll get on this road to hell." She passes him the notes she has on the investigation they're planning, including his own file with a redacted sentence.

After thumbing through the pages, he looks up at her. "You're really going to do this?"

"I am, are you in?"

He smirks, "Sign me up."

You can thank irithyll for that shitty Free Billy joke making the final cut.