Author's Note: I just want to say thank you to the person who goes by Yototsuko Kesaru for making us all once again fear the thought of being "scorned by flocks of ravenous snow owls". And also I decided to be mean to Carlos. I I don't like him very much.
Claire paced back and forth outside the team's med lab waiting for Steve to wake up. Jill had run a blood check to make sure he wasn't still carrying the virus. It had come back clean. Except for the sedative that Wesker had given him to keep him from "trying anything" was all they had gotten from him before he fell asleep again. It just didn't all add up to her. 'Why would Wesker have to worry about Steve trying anything if Steve knew we were coming to get him? Maybe he was truly just taking precautions, but still....I just have a bad feeling about it all.'
"Hey Claire, sleeping beauty awake yet?" Jill asked coming down the hall.
"No, not yet. Has my brother called yet?" Claire asked remembering what Chris had told her and Carlos.
"No, but it really hasn't been long. I'm sure he's fine. Probably still taking precautions to make sure no one's following him. You know your brother." Jill said trying to set Claire's mind at ease.
"Ya, I guess you're right." Claire said still thinking it over.
"All right someone's gotta pay!" Carlos said as he came stomping swiftly down the hall towards both girls holding up his coat which had soup soaking through every pocket.
Jill covered her mouth trying to conceal her laughter in vain.
"Oh so it was you!" he said pointing at Jill with his free hand. "Hey if this is about me eating your Nutra-Grain bar..."
"You ate my Nutra-Grain bar!?" Jill asked looking horrified.
"Ya, well I was really hungry and..."
"You shouldn't have done that!" Jill said still looking shocked.
"Ya, well now I'm glad after this." Carlos said holding his jacket up closer to Jill's face as if to remind her of what she did.
"No, seriously you shouldn't have done that. That Nutra-Grain bar expired a year ago." Jill said pushing Carlos's jacket out of her face so she could look at him.
"Oh man. I knew I didn't feel good." Carlos said putting his hand up to his head.
"Come on you should go lay down." Jill said taking him by the arm with one hand and placing another on his back as if to guide him. "Let me know when Steve wakes up. Okay Claire?"
"Sure." Claire yelled back to Jill who was already at the end of the hall. Claire slipped into the med room to wait for Steve to wake up. Sherry was there too curled up sleeping on another bed. At first she wouldn't let Claire leave her side, but it hadn't taken long for her to fall asleep leaving Claire free to switch back and forth between her and Steve. She looked up when she saw Steve's head turn in her direction. 'Finally he's awake.' she thought as she began to walk over to him. "Hey"
"Hey" he said sitting up "How's your brother?"
"Don't know we haven't heard from him yet."
"Oh" Steve said getting quiet " I hope he's alright."
"I'm sure he's fine. He's been through too much to have anything happen now."
"Ya, I guess you're right....."
"So how are you feeling?"
"Not too bad. How'd the test come back?"
"You're clean." Claire said smiling.
"That's good."
"Sherry's fine too." Claire motioned to the bed near the wall where the little girl still slept.
"I'm kinda thirsty. You got anything around here to drink?" Steve asked looking hopeful.
"All we really have in here is water and to be completely honest with you I wouldn't drink it." Claire said teasing. "We could take a walk down to the kitchen to get you and Sherry both something. I'm sure she's probably hungry by now."
"Oh yes." Sherry said sitting up automatically at the mention of food.
"You weren't really sleeping at all, now were you?" Claire asked eyeing the little girl up suspiciously.
"Well, I just woke up a minute or so ago and I didn't want to interrupt you two." Sherry said in her sweetest voice trying to play her childish innocence.
"Let's go." Claire said helping Steve up and supporting him to walk. It was obvious he hadn't walked on his own in a while. Probably since the last time she saw him. She tried not to think about it too much. Each time she did she just got more and more infuriated. "They'll get theirs." she mentally threatened. For now she was just worried about having her brother come home safely, finding Leon, and helping Steve with his recovery.
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They reached the kitchen and Claire tried to get them both oriented as to where the food was placed for future reference. She made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for Sherry. Steve claimed to not be hungry which didn't stop Claire from trying to force feed him some soup. He ate a little to shut her up, but mostly just drank milk. As Sherry finished up her sandwich Steve practiced walking by holding on to the counter top for support.
"Done." Sherry announced placing some uneaten crust on her plate. Claire dumped the contents and stood watching Steve get use to his feet again.
"Well, I'm a little better." Steve said looking at Claire for her opinion. Claire just nodded.
"You want to go check out the rest of the building?" Claire asked motioning to the door.
"Sure if you don't mind helping me around."
"Of course I don't." Claire said not hesitating to be by his side.
"Alright let's go then." Steve said looking at Sherry who smiled at them then ran out into the hallway to take the lead.
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"And this would be the last stop." Claire announced in her best tour guide voice. They were stopped outside the office. Their first stop had been the lounge where Carlos was laying on the couch moaning like a man on his death bed with a very unsympathetic Jill beside him. "Oh you're fine knock it off already." she said elbowing him in the side.
"Alright lady, but if I die I'm blaming it on you." Carlos said pointing an accusing finger.
"Fine go ahead. So you're giving them the grand tour are you?" Jill asked redirecting her attention to Claire.
"Yes, and I figured I would stop here first to tell you their both awake and with me. Any word from my brother yet?"
"No none yet, but then you know your brother."
"Ya, your right."
They had entered the office and Claire was showing off everyone's desk starting with her brother's. Sherry was having fun spinning round and round in the office swivel chairs, while Steve looked over the pictures on the S.T.A.R.S. member's desks. He reached the last desk, Leon's desk, and stopped dead in his tracks. Not moving, not breathing, he just stared at the picture. The picture had been taken on Claire's last birthday. Her and Leon had gone to see an opera and Carlos couldn't help, but tease them which requires using an entire roll of film. Somehow though, by the look on Steve's face it wasn't jealous boyfriend syndrome.
"What's wrong Steve? Do you know him? Have you seen him? Do they have him there too?" Claire hurriedly asked every question her mind threw at her. "Did you see him?"
"Yes" Steve said finally taking a short breath "he works for them."
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"Are you sure it was him?" Jill asked looking as confused as Claire felt "I mean maybe it was someone who just looks like him."
"No, I'm sure it was him." Steve said without the slightest hint of doubt in his voice. "He's one of their special agents. I saw him a couple times talking to Wesker."
"I knew it. I knew from the start that kid couldn't be trusted." Carlos snorted.
"Shut up Carlos. You know Leon would never willingly work for them. He won't so much as jay-walk. Believe me I've had to sit through his famous "Dangers of Jay-Walking" lecture a thousand times. They have to have him under some sort of mind control that's the only thing that makes any sense."
All in the room turned to Steve for him to agree with or dismiss their theories. "I guess it's possible that he's under their control if he's as much of a wet noodle as you describe him."
"How about you Sherry? Did you see Leon there?" Claire asked the little girl who up until that point had sat forgotten in the corner of the office.
"Huh uh, the only people I ever saw were scientist and the mean man with the sunglasses."
The door to the office opened and everyone held their breath waiting and hoping that Chris would walk in. Instead Barry came through the door and stopped when he noticed everyone staring at him. "What? Do we have any new information on Chris?"
"No" Jill said turning her eyes to the floor shamefully.
"That's it I can't wait any longer! Barry could you go down and get the chopper ready? I want to go to the drop off point to look for him." Claire said trying to suppress the hot tears she felt coming to her eyes.
"I'll go too." Jill said standing up from her desk chair in which she had been sitting.
"No, you stay behind and look after Sherry." Claire said looking to the back of the room where Sherry sat. The little girl was rummaging through Leon's desk as if she were looking for something. "Sherry sweetie what are you doing?"
"Looking for clues." the little girl said flatly not bothering to look up. "Maybe Leon left something telling where he's at."
Claire smiled at Sherry's attempt to act like one of the team. Heck maybe one day she would be a member of S.T.A.R.S. "We already looked through there sweetie. There's nothing of any use." Claire hoped it wouldn't hurt the little girl's feelings too badly.
"Well maybe you missed something." It was not quite the answer Claire expected and took her a bit by surprise.
"Nuh uh, honey. Yours truly went through that desk 3 times and there ain't nothing in there of any use." Carlos said motioning to himself rather proudly.
"Ya, then all the rest of us went through it again to make sure Mr. Macho Man didn't screw up." Jill said crossing her arms over her chest.
"Oh wow that's harsh." Carlos said lowering his head to stare at his shoes.
Sherry sighed as she came to the last of the contents of the desk a paperclip, a bubblegum wrapper, and a palm pilot. "I guess your right I couldn't find anything either." she said examining the mini-computer she held in her hand.
"Oh please be careful with that sweetie." Claire said all too late as she watched in horror as the palm pilot fell to the floor out of the little girl's grasp. The backing of the battery compartment broke off and went flying out of site somewhere in the office. Sherry fell to the floor right away picking up the now broken computer in an absolute panic. "I'm so sorry Claire, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to break it!!! I really didn't. It slipped and I couldn't catch it in time. I'm so sorry Claire."
Claire headed to the back of the room to console the little child. "It's alright sweetheart. I know you didn't do it on purpose. It was an accident that's all." she said holding the trembling little girl in her arms. After a moment when Sherry had calmed down Claire sat back on her heels to assess the damage to the small electronic equipment. The front had cracked slightly, the back was a little loose, and the backing to the battery compartment was playing hide and seek somewhere in the office. "It's alright. It's nothing that can't be fixed." Claire said in a reassuring voice.
"Really?" asked Sherry wiping the tears away from her eyes.
"Sure." Claire said looking once more to the backless battery compartment. "Hey what's this?" she asked everybody and nobody in the room. Underneath the battery she could see a little piece of white paper protruding out. She removed the battery that held the small piece of paper in place and examined it.
"Well, what is it?" Carlos asked leaning in over Claire's shoulder trying to sneak a peek at the finding.
"Sherry sweetheart you did it!!!" Claire squealed in delight as she grabbed the little girl and showered her in hugs and kisses.
"Really?! I did? It tells where Leon is?"
"I sure hope so. These are definitely coordinates to somewhere. We'll go get my brother and then go to find Leon." Claire grabbed a notebook to transfer the numbers to and then got up and went to a computer to see where they would take them. "Good news I think this could be it. It's not far from where we dropped Chris off." She stood from her desk and walked over to hand the coordinates to Barry who hadn't left the room.
"Damn, you mean to tell me that all of us went through that desk, all highly trained elite forces who have dealt with thousands of investigations and the evidence was found by a little girl?!" Carlos punched his fist into his thigh trying to come to terms with being out done by an elementary school girl.
"Seems that way." Jill said looking a bit embarrassed herself "We need to practice more. I think we're getting rusty."
"Damn right we are!" Carlos said still visibly upset.
"I didn't really find it." Sherry said trying to cheer up Carlos "Claire did. All I did was break the computer accidentally. I would have never thought to look there."
"Hey ya that's right!!! The only way that anything was found was by accident." Carlos said getting a smug look and instantly feeling better.
Claire broke the moment of silence to get everyone moving. "Alright Barry go ready the chopper please. Carlos come on let's go get suited up."
Barry nodded and left the room.
"What why me? Why do I have to go?" Carlos asked frantically.
"Cause I want Jill to stay behind and watch after Sherry."
"I can watch the kid and besides I'm still recovering from that bad breakfast bar. I really don't think I should go out."
"Carlos remember last Christmas we got you a gold fish?"
"Ya, and I named him Mr. Squiggles. Hey now that you mention it where did Mr. Squiggles ever go to anyway?"
"Jill found him in his fish bowl in the refrigerator."
"Oh ya that's right!!! It was a really hot day and I didn't want him to like be boiled to death in his own bowl."
"If you can't even take care of a fish there's no way I'm letting you take care of Sherry. Now let's go!" Claire walked out before Carlos could further protest.
Carlos slumped his shoulders over in defeat and turned to Jill. "So where is Mr. Squiggle's now?"
"Down the toilet."
"Hey now, I don't think that's a very safe place for him!!!"
The three left in the room groaned and shook there head while Jill pushed Carlos out into the hall to get going already.
Claire paced back and forth outside the team's med lab waiting for Steve to wake up. Jill had run a blood check to make sure he wasn't still carrying the virus. It had come back clean. Except for the sedative that Wesker had given him to keep him from "trying anything" was all they had gotten from him before he fell asleep again. It just didn't all add up to her. 'Why would Wesker have to worry about Steve trying anything if Steve knew we were coming to get him? Maybe he was truly just taking precautions, but still....I just have a bad feeling about it all.'
"Hey Claire, sleeping beauty awake yet?" Jill asked coming down the hall.
"No, not yet. Has my brother called yet?" Claire asked remembering what Chris had told her and Carlos.
"No, but it really hasn't been long. I'm sure he's fine. Probably still taking precautions to make sure no one's following him. You know your brother." Jill said trying to set Claire's mind at ease.
"Ya, I guess you're right." Claire said still thinking it over.
"All right someone's gotta pay!" Carlos said as he came stomping swiftly down the hall towards both girls holding up his coat which had soup soaking through every pocket.
Jill covered her mouth trying to conceal her laughter in vain.
"Oh so it was you!" he said pointing at Jill with his free hand. "Hey if this is about me eating your Nutra-Grain bar..."
"You ate my Nutra-Grain bar!?" Jill asked looking horrified.
"Ya, well I was really hungry and..."
"You shouldn't have done that!" Jill said still looking shocked.
"Ya, well now I'm glad after this." Carlos said holding his jacket up closer to Jill's face as if to remind her of what she did.
"No, seriously you shouldn't have done that. That Nutra-Grain bar expired a year ago." Jill said pushing Carlos's jacket out of her face so she could look at him.
"Oh man. I knew I didn't feel good." Carlos said putting his hand up to his head.
"Come on you should go lay down." Jill said taking him by the arm with one hand and placing another on his back as if to guide him. "Let me know when Steve wakes up. Okay Claire?"
"Sure." Claire yelled back to Jill who was already at the end of the hall. Claire slipped into the med room to wait for Steve to wake up. Sherry was there too curled up sleeping on another bed. At first she wouldn't let Claire leave her side, but it hadn't taken long for her to fall asleep leaving Claire free to switch back and forth between her and Steve. She looked up when she saw Steve's head turn in her direction. 'Finally he's awake.' she thought as she began to walk over to him. "Hey"
"Hey" he said sitting up "How's your brother?"
"Don't know we haven't heard from him yet."
"Oh" Steve said getting quiet " I hope he's alright."
"I'm sure he's fine. He's been through too much to have anything happen now."
"Ya, I guess you're right....."
"So how are you feeling?"
"Not too bad. How'd the test come back?"
"You're clean." Claire said smiling.
"That's good."
"Sherry's fine too." Claire motioned to the bed near the wall where the little girl still slept.
"I'm kinda thirsty. You got anything around here to drink?" Steve asked looking hopeful.
"All we really have in here is water and to be completely honest with you I wouldn't drink it." Claire said teasing. "We could take a walk down to the kitchen to get you and Sherry both something. I'm sure she's probably hungry by now."
"Oh yes." Sherry said sitting up automatically at the mention of food.
"You weren't really sleeping at all, now were you?" Claire asked eyeing the little girl up suspiciously.
"Well, I just woke up a minute or so ago and I didn't want to interrupt you two." Sherry said in her sweetest voice trying to play her childish innocence.
"Let's go." Claire said helping Steve up and supporting him to walk. It was obvious he hadn't walked on his own in a while. Probably since the last time she saw him. She tried not to think about it too much. Each time she did she just got more and more infuriated. "They'll get theirs." she mentally threatened. For now she was just worried about having her brother come home safely, finding Leon, and helping Steve with his recovery.
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They reached the kitchen and Claire tried to get them both oriented as to where the food was placed for future reference. She made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for Sherry. Steve claimed to not be hungry which didn't stop Claire from trying to force feed him some soup. He ate a little to shut her up, but mostly just drank milk. As Sherry finished up her sandwich Steve practiced walking by holding on to the counter top for support.
"Done." Sherry announced placing some uneaten crust on her plate. Claire dumped the contents and stood watching Steve get use to his feet again.
"Well, I'm a little better." Steve said looking at Claire for her opinion. Claire just nodded.
"You want to go check out the rest of the building?" Claire asked motioning to the door.
"Sure if you don't mind helping me around."
"Of course I don't." Claire said not hesitating to be by his side.
"Alright let's go then." Steve said looking at Sherry who smiled at them then ran out into the hallway to take the lead.
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"And this would be the last stop." Claire announced in her best tour guide voice. They were stopped outside the office. Their first stop had been the lounge where Carlos was laying on the couch moaning like a man on his death bed with a very unsympathetic Jill beside him. "Oh you're fine knock it off already." she said elbowing him in the side.
"Alright lady, but if I die I'm blaming it on you." Carlos said pointing an accusing finger.
"Fine go ahead. So you're giving them the grand tour are you?" Jill asked redirecting her attention to Claire.
"Yes, and I figured I would stop here first to tell you their both awake and with me. Any word from my brother yet?"
"No none yet, but then you know your brother."
"Ya, your right."
They had entered the office and Claire was showing off everyone's desk starting with her brother's. Sherry was having fun spinning round and round in the office swivel chairs, while Steve looked over the pictures on the S.T.A.R.S. member's desks. He reached the last desk, Leon's desk, and stopped dead in his tracks. Not moving, not breathing, he just stared at the picture. The picture had been taken on Claire's last birthday. Her and Leon had gone to see an opera and Carlos couldn't help, but tease them which requires using an entire roll of film. Somehow though, by the look on Steve's face it wasn't jealous boyfriend syndrome.
"What's wrong Steve? Do you know him? Have you seen him? Do they have him there too?" Claire hurriedly asked every question her mind threw at her. "Did you see him?"
"Yes" Steve said finally taking a short breath "he works for them."
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"Are you sure it was him?" Jill asked looking as confused as Claire felt "I mean maybe it was someone who just looks like him."
"No, I'm sure it was him." Steve said without the slightest hint of doubt in his voice. "He's one of their special agents. I saw him a couple times talking to Wesker."
"I knew it. I knew from the start that kid couldn't be trusted." Carlos snorted.
"Shut up Carlos. You know Leon would never willingly work for them. He won't so much as jay-walk. Believe me I've had to sit through his famous "Dangers of Jay-Walking" lecture a thousand times. They have to have him under some sort of mind control that's the only thing that makes any sense."
All in the room turned to Steve for him to agree with or dismiss their theories. "I guess it's possible that he's under their control if he's as much of a wet noodle as you describe him."
"How about you Sherry? Did you see Leon there?" Claire asked the little girl who up until that point had sat forgotten in the corner of the office.
"Huh uh, the only people I ever saw were scientist and the mean man with the sunglasses."
The door to the office opened and everyone held their breath waiting and hoping that Chris would walk in. Instead Barry came through the door and stopped when he noticed everyone staring at him. "What? Do we have any new information on Chris?"
"No" Jill said turning her eyes to the floor shamefully.
"That's it I can't wait any longer! Barry could you go down and get the chopper ready? I want to go to the drop off point to look for him." Claire said trying to suppress the hot tears she felt coming to her eyes.
"I'll go too." Jill said standing up from her desk chair in which she had been sitting.
"No, you stay behind and look after Sherry." Claire said looking to the back of the room where Sherry sat. The little girl was rummaging through Leon's desk as if she were looking for something. "Sherry sweetie what are you doing?"
"Looking for clues." the little girl said flatly not bothering to look up. "Maybe Leon left something telling where he's at."
Claire smiled at Sherry's attempt to act like one of the team. Heck maybe one day she would be a member of S.T.A.R.S. "We already looked through there sweetie. There's nothing of any use." Claire hoped it wouldn't hurt the little girl's feelings too badly.
"Well maybe you missed something." It was not quite the answer Claire expected and took her a bit by surprise.
"Nuh uh, honey. Yours truly went through that desk 3 times and there ain't nothing in there of any use." Carlos said motioning to himself rather proudly.
"Ya, then all the rest of us went through it again to make sure Mr. Macho Man didn't screw up." Jill said crossing her arms over her chest.
"Oh wow that's harsh." Carlos said lowering his head to stare at his shoes.
Sherry sighed as she came to the last of the contents of the desk a paperclip, a bubblegum wrapper, and a palm pilot. "I guess your right I couldn't find anything either." she said examining the mini-computer she held in her hand.
"Oh please be careful with that sweetie." Claire said all too late as she watched in horror as the palm pilot fell to the floor out of the little girl's grasp. The backing of the battery compartment broke off and went flying out of site somewhere in the office. Sherry fell to the floor right away picking up the now broken computer in an absolute panic. "I'm so sorry Claire, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to break it!!! I really didn't. It slipped and I couldn't catch it in time. I'm so sorry Claire."
Claire headed to the back of the room to console the little child. "It's alright sweetheart. I know you didn't do it on purpose. It was an accident that's all." she said holding the trembling little girl in her arms. After a moment when Sherry had calmed down Claire sat back on her heels to assess the damage to the small electronic equipment. The front had cracked slightly, the back was a little loose, and the backing to the battery compartment was playing hide and seek somewhere in the office. "It's alright. It's nothing that can't be fixed." Claire said in a reassuring voice.
"Really?" asked Sherry wiping the tears away from her eyes.
"Sure." Claire said looking once more to the backless battery compartment. "Hey what's this?" she asked everybody and nobody in the room. Underneath the battery she could see a little piece of white paper protruding out. She removed the battery that held the small piece of paper in place and examined it.
"Well, what is it?" Carlos asked leaning in over Claire's shoulder trying to sneak a peek at the finding.
"Sherry sweetheart you did it!!!" Claire squealed in delight as she grabbed the little girl and showered her in hugs and kisses.
"Really?! I did? It tells where Leon is?"
"I sure hope so. These are definitely coordinates to somewhere. We'll go get my brother and then go to find Leon." Claire grabbed a notebook to transfer the numbers to and then got up and went to a computer to see where they would take them. "Good news I think this could be it. It's not far from where we dropped Chris off." She stood from her desk and walked over to hand the coordinates to Barry who hadn't left the room.
"Damn, you mean to tell me that all of us went through that desk, all highly trained elite forces who have dealt with thousands of investigations and the evidence was found by a little girl?!" Carlos punched his fist into his thigh trying to come to terms with being out done by an elementary school girl.
"Seems that way." Jill said looking a bit embarrassed herself "We need to practice more. I think we're getting rusty."
"Damn right we are!" Carlos said still visibly upset.
"I didn't really find it." Sherry said trying to cheer up Carlos "Claire did. All I did was break the computer accidentally. I would have never thought to look there."
"Hey ya that's right!!! The only way that anything was found was by accident." Carlos said getting a smug look and instantly feeling better.
Claire broke the moment of silence to get everyone moving. "Alright Barry go ready the chopper please. Carlos come on let's go get suited up."
Barry nodded and left the room.
"What why me? Why do I have to go?" Carlos asked frantically.
"Cause I want Jill to stay behind and watch after Sherry."
"I can watch the kid and besides I'm still recovering from that bad breakfast bar. I really don't think I should go out."
"Carlos remember last Christmas we got you a gold fish?"
"Ya, and I named him Mr. Squiggles. Hey now that you mention it where did Mr. Squiggles ever go to anyway?"
"Jill found him in his fish bowl in the refrigerator."
"Oh ya that's right!!! It was a really hot day and I didn't want him to like be boiled to death in his own bowl."
"If you can't even take care of a fish there's no way I'm letting you take care of Sherry. Now let's go!" Claire walked out before Carlos could further protest.
Carlos slumped his shoulders over in defeat and turned to Jill. "So where is Mr. Squiggle's now?"
"Down the toilet."
"Hey now, I don't think that's a very safe place for him!!!"
The three left in the room groaned and shook there head while Jill pushed Carlos out into the hall to get going already.