The RPD is ominous as hell at night despite being filled with officers taking double shifts to keep up with the murders and missing persons reports. She hardly pays them any mind as she and Chris go their separate ways to suit up, a smile stretching across her face as she locks eyes with none other than Billy Coen.

"Look what the cat dragged in." She teases.

"Funny." He smirks.

"Nice haircut." She says, ruffling said hair as he approaches with a hug. At least he doesn't look like a prisoner anymore. "Don't tell me you're the one with my gear."

"Nah, that's Alice. Just stopped by to say hello."

"Well, I'm flattered, but I have some zombies to kill."

"Just so you know, Antarctica is totally not worth it." He laughs. "The penguins are also going to be supremely pissed off because I blew up some ice."

"Perfect." She rolls her eyes. "Guess I'll see you later then?"

"Good luck, you'll be fine."

"Thanks, I know." She winks before walking past him and into the locker room. Sure enough, she's set up for her mission, only this time bearing STARS symbols and a confidence that is deadly.

Billy is still outside the locker room, explaining that she just needs to destroy the structure. Allen and his team only need a very little bit of intel from the Spencer Mansion. It's really a golden in-and-out situation, but, somehow, she doubts it will go that smoothly.

The helicopter outside already holds the rest of Alpha team and she's grateful to have Chris's presence this time. What a relationship tester this will be, surviving a murderous menagerie together; take that, Beauty and the Beast.

The team descends into the forest, tense and ready for a fight. Jill had almost been able to forget that those dogs, Cerberus, could actually kill people. She and Billy had avoided them so easily that the fear of them was nearly gone from her system, but when she sees them kill Joseph, everything changes.

Shooting blindly until she's out of bullets, Jill grimaces when the pack turns on her. Stumbling back until she's on her ass in shock, a bullet flies just overhead, shooting the closest dog. Chris's arm is around her waist, hauling her to her feet and hurrying her away from the scene.

He pushes her forward as they run blindly back towards their group and the buzzing of the helicopter grows fainter.

"Where the fuck is Brad going!?" Chris shouts as they hurry away. Jill glances behind her in just enough time to see Chris nearly succumb to the beasts as well. Another bullet zips through the air, this one from Wesker.

"Chris, this way." Their leader says, cool and collected despite the fact that Joseph is fucking dead.

She hears gunfire and shouting, but can't distinguish what's happening as she bolts for the mansion. She's supposed to be better prepared for this, so why isn't she? She's seen and fought all of this and more last week, yet she can't stomach her fear.

"Jill, we just got something that you might be interested in." Allen says, interrupting her near panic attack. "I guess Wesker is threatening Barry. We've sent a few people to his house to ensure his family's safety. Let him know they're fine."

Jill hardly registers this as she and the remaining STARS members flood into the mansion.

"Jesus H. Christ. What was that?" Barry asks between breaths.

"Where's Chris?" Jill asks, suddenly realizing the lack of his presence. "He's still out there?"

She starts walking towards the door in a panic.

"You don't want to go out there." Wesker advises.

From the other room, there's a loud knocking sound that catches their attention.

"Maybe we should check that out?" Barry offers weakly.

"Barry, Jill, stay together. I'll go look for Chris." Wesker gives the command without hesitation and Jill has to wonder if this was all a part of his plan.

"Good idea," Barry agrees, "Let's go check out that sound."

The second they're out of earshot from Wesker, Jill grabs Barry's hand and urges, "You need to listen to me."

"Jill? What's going on?"

"Your family is safe. Wesker is bluffing."

"How-… how do you know about that?" Barry asks, baffled.

"I know about a lot more, okay? I just need you to trust me and I'll get us out of this. Hopefully we find Chris before it's too late." She shakes her head. "God… God."

"I don't think we'll be getting any help from him by the looks of this place." Barry groans as they move into the next room.

"Oh, just a heads up… there are zombies in here."

"Excuse me, what?" Barry asks, though the moment he does, they enter a room with a drooling half dead creature whose eyes practically light up at the sight of them.

Jill kills it in one shot, turning to look at Barry, who stands helpless and shell-shocked. "Zombies."

"What the fuck?" Barry breathes out in awe.

"Don't worry. If you burn them, they die for good." She smirks. "And it's, uh… well, you get used to it."

"I'm going to need an explanation as to how you know this." Barry says firmly.

"Uh… well, that's a long story that we don't exactly have time for right now. So, uh… rain check until we get out of here alive?"

"You're not working with Umbrella, are you?" Barry narrows his gaze at her.

"Oh, good god, no." She chuckles. "Try FBI, and we're bringing Umbrella down."

He nods, skeptical but content with her answer for now. "I don't want Wesker getting suspicious."

"Do what you have to and I'll do what I have to. Just stay sharp and don't do anything stupid."

"Roger that."

The two part ways and Jill reasserts her self-esteem, gradually regaining the confidence of the BOW slaying badass she is. There's too much at stake now. She has to find Chris, get the intel, and make sure Barry doesn't kill anyone (who's still alive) in the process.

It's startling when she realizes how easy it all becomes the moment that she remembers herself. Joseph's death is still playing in the back of her mind, but it only makes her more determined. Wesker's little project isn't going to kill anyone else; not tonight or ever again.

She makes it down into the lab so easily and quickly that even Allen is impressed.

"Didn't think you could surprise me anymore, Valentine. Guess I was wrong."

"I told you not to place any bets." She chuckles. "Unless it has to do with me being amazing."

"Humble as ever."

"What the FUCK are you doing!?"

Jill stalls as the voice echoes down the hall, muttering despite herself, "Chris."

She runs towards the sound and sees him in handcuffs, arm bleeding and Wesker pressing him up against the wall.

"You are ruining my plans as fucking usual." Wesker says, still calm despite the amount of force he must be using to keep Chris still and groaning in pain.

"What is your problem!?" Chris strains to ask.

"I need you dead. You know too much and our sweet Jill has too much of a fondness for you."

"Leave her out of this!"

"I can't. Whether she likes it or not, she is going to be by my side when this world is mine."

"You're insane!" Chris writhes in his grasp and lets out a strangled cry when Wesker smashes him back against the wall.

"And you're a dead man. What a pair that makes us. I do wish you could have been spared, like Barry, but you're too much of a loose cannon for me to gamble on."

Barely able to register that she's raising her gun to begin with, Jill only sees the shoulder she's aiming at before she fires. Once. Twice. Four bullets because she just can't stop herself until Wesker is lying on the ground.

Chris turns around and gives Wesker a swift kick to the head while he's down and Jill is finally able to regain enough composure to approach him.

"Chris! Are you alright?" She asks.

"I'm fine, thanks for the help." He gestures to Wesker with his head.

"What happened?" She asks, observing his still bleeding arm.

"It's nothing. This fuck thought it'd be funny to throw me down the stairs."

"Hold on a sec." She pulls out her lockpicking tools, to which Chris raises a brow.

"You know he's got the key on him, right?"

"You really think I want to touch that?" She asks.

"Noted." He agrees.

She notices how ruffled his hair is and that he looks like he's taken a school yard beating. Her heart aches at the sight.

The second his arms are free, he holds onto her as tightly as he can manage as he whispers, "Thank god you're safe."

"You too… When you weren't in the mansion… I… I thought you might-"

"I thought the same thing about you when I realized you weren't with me, but we're here now, together. That's all that matters." He leans forward and kisses her briefly.

"Let me patch up that arm." She says while breaking apart from him.

"It's fine." He claims.

"It's still bleeding. Just let me do it." She already has her med kit out.

"Yes ma'am." He grumbles, holding out the wound to her. It is slight, but she's still upset that he's hurt at all. Once they've determined he's sufficiently cleaned up, they turn towards their asshole of a boss.

"Still breathing, unfortunately." Chris scoffs. "What do we do?"

"Valentine, there's a cell just beneath you guys. He was planning to put Chris in it. Hold him up in there."

"Roger." She says without thinking.

"I didn't suggest anything." Chris looks up at her suspiciously.

"Honey, I have a lot of explaining to do and I recognize that-"

"Did you just call me honey?" If there's one thing that Jill and Chris don't do, it's call each other pet names. It just isn't like them.

"Sorry, Freudian slip." She claims, taking his hands. "I could give you the brief version that will confuse you more, or you can wait until we're out of here to get the full story."

"How about both?" Chris asks as if that's the obvious answer.

"Fine. I'm working with the FBI to take Umbrella and Wesker down. I've been communicating with them all night and, if we want to get out of this alive, you'll do what I say."

He looks at her like he doesn't believe her, but nods anyway, "Alright, guess it's your call."

"Great, help me with him."

They carry Wesker down to the basement and into the room he'd been planning to lock Chris in. Jill notices at some point that his ever-present sunglasses fell off, and for one second, he looks so human that she can't stomach what she knows she's about to do.

"We have to go find Barry." Chris says.

"Barry is fine." She says, distracted by the sight of Wesker. She can see her four distinct bullet holes marking his shirt. His blood is a deep red and she isn't sure why she's surprised.

"Jill?"

"Why do I feel so guilty?" She asks him.

"Because you're a good person." He tells her, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "Much better than he'll ever be."

"But-"

"We can talk about this later. What are we supposed to be doing right now?" He takes her shoulders and refocuses her.

"Allen, can you get Brad to the rendezvous point?" She asks.

"Way ahead of you. Go get that information so we can set this place on fire."

Jill turns towards Chris, "Let's blast this fucking place to hell."

"That's my girl." He smiles, offering for her to lead the way.

Locking the cell and the basement as a whole before they go, Chris and Jill meet up with Barry in the main control room.

"Chris! You're alive!" Barry reaches out and hugs him.

"Yeah, thanks to Jill." He says.

"Someone's playing their hero role very well."

"I'm not playing at anything." She says, connecting her device to the computer for Allen's team to infiltrate through.

In seconds, the files are sent off to the FBI and are destroyed from Umbrella's databases. Then the count-down begins and they run like hell to the roof of the mansion where Brad is thankfully waiting to pick them up.

And just like that, it's all over. The mansion is in flames and Wesker lies with it. What a night…

She nearly collapses with exhaustion in the helicopter, head falling to Chris's shoulder as they fly off towards the city. He pulls her in, kisses the top of her head, and that's when she spots the bandage on his arm.

She convinces him and Barry to get checked out at the hospital while she and Brad go back to the RPD. It's just after one a.m. and even more empty than before, but Billy is there with Alice, both of whom look proud as hell.

"Good job, Jill, you kicked ass." Billy smirks.

"Don't tell me you two were sat here playing solitaire for the past five hours." She glances at the card game.

"Excuse you, it was go-fish. Much more sophisticated." He claims.

"Uhuh." She nods, gesturing for Alice to help her out of her gear. Jill's never showered at the RPD before, but she has to. There's no way she can manage to wait until she gets home.

She doesn't even go home. She takes her car and waits at the hospital for Barry and Chris to be released. She and Chris weren't exactly thinking straight when they'd decided to drive to the RPD together, but she's grateful for it now.

Her slightly concussed, but generally okay teammates are released at a semi reasonable time, if ten 'til three can be considered reasonable. Chris holds her hand as she drives them back to her apartment, silent and thankful that at least they made it out alive. Jill feels regret in her stomach as she thinks about Joseph… if she'd just been able to warn him…

She takes Chris into her apartment, heavily trudging to her bedroom and collapsing on the bed. He's next to her in moments, silent, waiting for an explanation.

And she's so sorry as she tells him about the past week of her life. Nearly every other sentence out of her mouth is some sort of apology. He takes it well, all things considered, doesn't ask questions or interrupt even once.

When all is said and done, he uses one hand to guide her gaze to his. "Don't ever lie to me again."

"All my cards are on the table." She says.

"You know what I mean. What if you had died?"

"I know."

"I was losing my mind thinking you were so sick you couldn't answer the phone, but you were actually in trouble."

She shakes her head. "I did fine on my own."

"But you could have died," he reiterates firmly, "And I wouldn't have known why."

"I wanted to tell you. You have to know that I wanted you as my partner-"

"Then why wasn't I?" He demands harshly.

"I couldn't drag you into it-"

"Yes, you could have."

She shakes her head, devastated by the betrayal in his eyes. "I know I could have."

"I will always be here for you, okay? No matter how many zombies I have to kill or undercover operations I have to get through… Did you doubt me?" His voice cracks.

"It had nothing to do with that. I wanted to protect you." She says earnestly.

"I don't need you to keep me safe, Jill."

"But I just couldn't help myself." She says, placing her hand on his cheek, "I know you don't need saving, but I want to."

"Well, I guess today I needed saving." He admits sheepishly.

"See." She chuckles heavily before shaking her head. "I don't expect you to forgive me, but you have to know that I wanted to tell you more than anything."

He nods slowly, leaning forward to kiss the tip of her nose. "I never want to feel the way I did tonight… I can't lose you. You're the only person who makes all this worthwhile."

She revels in his grasp, curling up right into the warmth of his chest and playing with the fabric of his shirt. Fingers dancing patterns across the expanse of his chest and down to his stomach, she speaks without thinking about the words coming out of her mouth.

"Coming to Raccoon was a mistake, but I'd make it over and over again just to have the chance to meet you."

He pulls her just a fraction of an inch closer, "You think it was a mistake? I think it was a miracle."

She snorts bitterly, "You think that nightmare was a miracle?"

"No, I think coming here was. It led me to you."

"Am I the love of your life yet?"

He chuckles, "You always were."

She looks up at him, basking in the look of pure adoration he gives her before reaching up to kiss him. If there's anything that is right in the kind of world where zombies and evil corporations creating them can exist, it's knowing that the love of her life is safe in her arms.

It's enough to keep her alive, no matter what comes next.