AN: I AM SO SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG FOR ME TO UPDATE THE STORY. LIFE HAS THROWN A LOT OF CURVEBALLS AT ME SINCE MY LAST CHAPTER UPLOAD. GETTING DENIED SEEING MY FIANCE IN THE UK, TRYING TO FIND A WELL PAYING JOB AND A PLACE TO STAY WHILE AT IT. THANKFULLY I'VE GOT FRIENDS WHO TOOK ME IN FOR AWHILE UNTIL I CAN GET ON MY FEET.

ANYWAYS, ON WITH THE NEXT CHAPTER!

December 23nd, 1997
3:45 pm

It had been about 4 months since Alana had been taken in by Captain Albert Wesker and the Alpha Team had adopted her into their tight knit family. On her 11th birthday, she gained the biggest surprise of her life: Wesker did a good job keeping this secret from her, even from the ever growing psychic; during the months that he had been between his position at Umbrella and the days off from STARS, he had been going through the adoption process and finally a few days after Thanksgiving, is when he dropped the bombshell.

Flashback
December 6th 12:09 pm

Alana would be waiting inside Wesker's office while he was away to grab something from his car. She had no problem with this, though. She had her drawing pad that Jill gave her, so that kept her busy for awhile. And plus, with the amount of times that her caretaker had gone out to retrieve something or do a delivery, she had gotten used to him being really busy and learned not to bother him. As she would finish a detail on a drawing of a small dragon she was doing, she would hear Wesker's voice call from outside his office door. "Alana, can you come out here for a moment?"

Placing down her drawing pad, she hopped off the couch and tottered into the main room, where to her surprise, the Captain and both Alpha and Bravo teams would be waiting for her, all with smiles on their faces. In his hand would be a tan manila envelope as he knelt down to her level.

"I know it's been four months since we first took you off the streets. It's been a lot for you to take in, not having to steal again for food and money. Ever since then, you've been like family to all of us. Especially to me. And I've been thinking of ways to show you how much.. and I think this will convey it very well. I want you to open this and I want you to read the contents carefully." He would hand the confused girl the envelope and watched as Alana opened it up.

As she would read what was inside, tears would build up in her jade eyes but a big grin would spread across her lips when she recognized what was before her; it was adoption papers and at the back was the certificate itself, which read as follows:

ALANA CLAIRE WOLFF
Has been formally adopted
Into the WESKER FAMILY
By CAPTAIN ALBERT WESKER
On this 6th day of DECEMBER

Signed by JUDGE FREDRICK HUDSON
Signed by ALBERT JAMES WESKER

As Alana finally looked up from the papers, Wesker's arms were open to her. "Happy birthday, Alana Wesker."

That was all it took for her to lose it as the psychic would dive into his arms, sobbing happily into his shoulder while clinging to him. Alpha and Bravo teams burst into cheers while wishing the young girl a happy birthday as well. For Chris, it showed that the stone-hearted bastard may have a heart after all.

Flashback end

That's right; Alana Wolff was now Alana Wesker. After dropping the bombshell, of course, Jill had brought a cake in and lit eleven candles. Thankfully, Irons was out during that day because the last thing the two teams wanted was for the special day to be ruined by the fat pig of a chief, in Chris's words. Since then, her step had a bit more of a skip every time she was with her new father.

During the time she was home, Wesker helped her develop her powers and instill control over them so she was not so prone to losing it should her emotions get out of hand like last time. As for the rest of Alpha Team, things had settled down between Jill and Chris since the incident that placed the brunette male in the hospital. Their relationship had grown stronger since then to the point where it seemed as if the two were dating, much to the amusement of Joseph. Other than that, things have been very calm in the office, besides Irons being his usual asshole self to the team. As things picked up around Raccoon with Christmas rapidly coming around the corner, activity had increased on the streets and police were out in force to make sure nothing happened.

This was also the time for families to be together, as members would come into town and also some going out for the holidays. For a specific person, he would get quite the surprise. Coming down the road at a slow pace in order to not run people over with her Harley motorcycle was Claire Redfield, the younger sister of Alpha Team's sharpshooter. The motorcycle would rumble into the parking lot of the RPD and the engine would be shut off. Pulling off her helmet, she shook her auburn hair free before pulling out a hair tie and putting it up into a ponytail. As she went inside into the main lobby, she would shrug off her jacket and drape it across her arm while walking to the reception desk.

"Hi, welcome the Raccoon City Police Department. How can I help you today?" asked the receptionist with a smile.

"Hey there, I'm here to see my older brother, Chris Redfield. My name is Claire Redfield. Is he in today?" Claire asked.

"Oh, so you must be the sister he often talks about! He's in today, just let me page Captain Wesker." Pressing a couple of buttons on the intercom on her desk, she buzzed for Wesker. "Captain Wesker, can you please send Chris Redfield down to the main lobby? There's someone here to see him."

"He'll be down in a moment," Came the stoic reply.

"He'll be right with you in a minute. If you'll take a seat on the bench," the receptionist gestures and Claire nodded before going to sit down at the bench against the wall. Butterflies fluttered in her stomach from excitement; it had been nearly half a year since the last time she saw her brother. He had been her caretaker ever since the death of her parents and she was grateful for all the work he's done. He fought to keep her in college, shipping whatever money he had to her. Now she was on break for Christmas and she was not going to squander this chance to go see her only family.

"Claire!" Chris grinned as he came out the doors beside her. Claire hopped up with a cry of happiness and the two siblings embraced. "I'm glad you made it. I've missed you, sister."

"I missed you too, ya big goof," Claire laughed happily as she was held tight by her big brother. "How've you been?"

"It's been hell here, thanks to Irons constantly reaming our asses 24/7. Especially after that one prank Joseph pulled during Halloween, but I'll tell you more later. C'mon, let's get back up to the office and I'll introduce you to the others and say hi to Barry," Chris says before slinging an arm around her and guiding her through the doors and towards the STARS office. Coming to the Alpha Team's room, Joseph perked up and gave a slightly perverted smile.

"Heeeey, who's the cutie? She your secret girlfriend, Chris? And here I thought you had eyes for Valentine," he chuckled.

Chris scoffed and rolled his eyes. "You wish, Frost. This is my sister, you overinflated sex machine," he would say before giving him a glare. "She's 19 and more inclined to rip your dick off if you even look at her the wrong way. If you try to touch her, I will reach into your pants and tear your knob off. And that's the ONLY time I'll ever touch another man's dick. If you even lay a finger on her, SHE will rip your dick off and feed it to you, ya got that?"

"She's your sister!? Damn she's hot!" Joseph exclaimed, earning a slap to the back of the head from Chris.

"I'll give you one warning: if she calls my name and you are not in this office, you're a dead man, you got that?" he growled more, causing Joseph to throw up his hands in a placating manner.

"Ok, ok! Sheesh, chill out, Chris!" he whined while Barry just shook his head with an amused chuckle before laying his head back down on his desk. Jill just sighed and shook her head before returning to her work.

With that out of the way, Claire was introduced to Jill, Brad, Wesker and young Alana, whom the younger Redfield began to gush over on how cute she was, earning giggles from the little girl and gave her a big hug. "So Miss Claire, are you going to stay awhile for Christmas?" Alana asked.

"Yup, going to be hanging with my big brother. I'm out of school for the holidays. Speaking of which, are you going to school as well?" Claire replied as she knelt to her level.

Alana nodded her head. "But not public school. Daddy's been home schooling me ever since he adopted me. He's been teaching me a lot: Mathematics, Literature, Science and other stuff," she says while digging into her white backpack and pulling out an Algebra book. From this, Claire could deduce this may be middle school level.

"Isn't this a bit advanced for you?" Claire asked with a furrowed brow, glancing up at Wesker for a moment in question.

"Her reading ability is far beyond her age. Plus, she catches onto the fundamentals of the lessons faster than an average child would, so she's able to handle what I am teaching her," Wesker replied with his usual calm tone, perking up an eyebrow over his sunglasses.

"Ah, okay. I can see understand that," Claire nodded, satisfied with his answer before getting to her feet and turning to her brother. "So, are we going to our family manor in the woods again, Chris? It's been a long time since we went there," she asked aloud. This caused the group to perk up at this.

"I haven't given it much thought. I was dealing with a lot of shit coming from Irons," Chris answered with a shake of his head. "So much paperwork, so little time.."

"Wait, whoa whoa whoa! Chris, you got a freaking manor?! You're saying you've been rich all this time and you're working here?! What the heck, yo!?" Joseph exclaimed in shock, shooting up from his seat while his eyes were wide.

"Just because I own a manor doesn't mean I'm rich. My father's wealth is locked in the house and I don't know how to reach it," Chris replied with another shake of his head, causing Frost to deflate and slump back down in his seat. "Besides, why do you care of my fortune? Shouldn't you be fantasizing about my sister?"

"Hey now, your warning was clear. I ain't going there, Chris," Joseph held up his hands again in surrender.

"Hasn't stopped you before," Chris muttered with a roll of his eyes. "Irons has chewed out your ass and yet you still pull pranks. Like that one on Halloween-" Joseph would cut him off.

"Hey he deserved it and you all know it!" He argued.

"He may've deserved it, but that doesn't mean you should've done it. Your so-called prank could've killed him," Barry piped up.

"But it didn't, yet it did give him severe diaper rash," Joseph sniggered.

"This is why if any of us die on the job, you'll be the first to go," Chris said under his breath as he sat down at his desk with his sister grabbing a chair and parking it beside him.

"So... about this prank.." Claire spoke up, raising an eyebrow at her elder sibling, clearly wanting to know what happened on that day.

"What about it?" Chris asked with a shrug.

"What was so bad about it that Irons chewed him out for it?" Claire asked, fighting back the urge to grin.

"Try unloading an entire bottle of liquid laxative into his coffee and listening to him shit his pants in the bathroom. Not to mention the smell that came after.. god, it was horrid.." Chris grumbled and Joseph fought the urge to bust out laughing. In his mind, it was the perfect revenge prank for the asshole Chief for all the shit he'd been giving them.

Flashback
October 31st
11:34 am

It was a typical day in the Alpha office with some of the squad out on patrol since tonight, the streets would be filled with kids and parents out getting candy. Brad was away, fixing the helicopter at the time, while the rest of the team would be at their desks, working as usual.. except for Joseph, who would be constantly watching Irons's office for some reason. He had something hidden in his lap and was fighting back a stupid grin. This would catch Barry's attention and the gun expert raised an eyebrow.

"Frost, what's with the big grin on your face?" he would ask, clearly suspicious of the omni-man's attitude.

"Oh nothing.." Joseph replied, but obviously, he was bullshitting. As the door to Irons's office opened, he quickly turned around and pretended to be working. When he was gone, he would pull out what looked like a white medicine bottle. "Just the perfect revenge against the fatass."

"Joseph, is that what I think it is?" Jill asked after reading the bottle's contents and her eyes slowly going wide. "You're not..!"

"Hehe, yup! But I'm going to enlist some help," Joseph snickered before locking eyes with the kid. "Hey, psst! 'Lana, c'mere!" he called over in a whisper.

Curious as to what Frost wanted, she placed down her drawing pad and wandering over to the grinning male. Wesker was working, but slowed down in his writing pace to look up behind his sunglasses. 'What is he up to now?' he thought to himself with a mental sigh. As Joseph held up the bottle, the Captain got a good look at it and taking off his sunglasses, he pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance. 'Oh goddesses.. really Frost?'

"Hey kid, I want you do something for me. Do you think you can use your powers to pour this into his coffee? You do this for me.." Then he whispered into her ear. "I got a bag of white chocolate bark in my desk with your name on it." Her eyes seem to light up a bit at the mention of chocolate and nodded to him. Besides, she wanted to see Irons suffer for all the heck that he puts her friends through.

"Deal," Alana whispered back with a grin and a nod. Taking the bottle, she snuck over to the open door. Making sure no one else was watching, she levitated the bottle after popping it open over to the cup and poured it into the still hot liquid. Once she deemed that was enough, she capped it and Joseph gestured at her to toss it out to the dumpster, which was near the window. With the deed done, the small chocolate bag was snuck to her as she went back to Wesker's office.

Wesker shifted his suspicious gaze between Joseph and Alana before shaking his head and going back to his work. A bit later, Irons returned to his office and it took everything for Joseph not to suddenly bust out laughing as the rotund Chief took a drink from the laced coffee. Jill's and Chris's faces fell as they watched from their peripheral vision, not believing that it was actually done. Snapping her eyes towards the omni-man, she mouthed 'Irons is going to kill you when he finds out!' But Joseph held up his hands, as if saying 'My hands are clean' with a smug grin on his face.

End Flashback

"Let's just say after he drank, about half an hour later, Irons was shitting out his insides and the smell was so bad that the entire office had to be evacuated and the fumigation squad had to come in and clear out the stink. But it was going to take awhile so we were given a long break," Chris says before looking towards Joseph. "And this dumbass got his ass chewed out, as expected, after the two weeks we were out."

Joseph grimaced at the thought as he reached towards his behind and rubbed it. He never forgot about the reaming the Chief gave him afterword.

Flashback

"FRRRRRROOOOOOOOSSSST!"

The office seemed to shake as Irons came thundering into the room, scaring the absolute shit out of poor Brad. Joseph also nearly jumped out of his seat as the chief stormed over to him, the bandana wearing male looking like a deer caught in headlights. "Y-Y-Yes, Chief?"

"My office. NOW!" Irons snarled through gritted teeth as he pointed towards the door.

Slowly standing on shaking legs, Joseph went towards Irons's room with Chris muttering "Nice knowing you, Joseph.." as he passed by. As soon as the two men disappeared into the office, the door was slammed shut hard, causing a couple of things on the wall to fall to the floor.

"Cap, I think you'll need to prepare a death certificate for Joseph. I think after Irons is done with him, he won't have anything left of him at all," Jill says with Chris nodding in agreement.

After half an hour of the Chief screaming non-stop at Joseph, the door was finally flung open and Joseph semi-scurried out with Irons yelling behind him "Do something like this again.. AND YOU'RE FIRED!" And then the door was slammed again.

"Again, you had it coming, Frost," Barry spoke up, breaking the awkward silence with a shake of his head.

"Shut up, Barry.." Joseph would slightly whine before sitting back down at his desk.

End Flashback

Claire at this point would be in a fit of giggles as Chris just shook his head, remembering that moment. Joseph couldn't sit right in his seat for a few days. And any time Irons came around, Joseph would hastily look like he's been working. After she calmed down, she turned to the others. "So, if you guys don't have any Christmas plans, why not come to the manor and spend Christmas there with us? Chris told me you guys have been like family to each other, so I don't see the harm. Plus, we'll have a lot of space at our place," she suggested.

"Typically, I spend time with my family, so that'll be a no for me. It's a nice offer, though. Maybe another time," Barry says.

"I'll be all for it. I would love to see what this place looks like," Jill replies, kind of eager to see what this place looked like. She didn't even know that the Redfields had a manor here in Raccoon.

"Oh, I want to go, too! Can we, Daddy?! Please!?" Alana pleaded, hopping a bit in her seat, shooting her adoptive father a puppy eyed look.

Wesker sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose; she had a habit of doing so whenever she wanted to do something that really peaked her interest. And he knew over the months he had her that she wasn't going to stop until he said 'Yes'. "Oh alright, I suppose we can go for awhile. To be honest, I am.. a little bit intrigued by this revelation." As Alana celebrated, he turned to Chris. "How is it that you never told us?"

"You never asked," Chris just replied simply with a shrug. "And also if Irons found out, he would think I was rich and cut down my pay severely, assuming I won't need as much. That's why I kept it quiet."

"So, when do we head for that awesome mansion of yours?" Joseph grinned, now sitting with the chair backwards and resting his arms on the top of the backrest.

"We can go tomorrow after your shifts, if that's alright," Claire replied with a smile, happy to get most of her brother's friends to come with them. They especially were going to like the top floor of the manor...

The next day...

"Here we are guys!" Claire would say as Chris's truck pulled up to the dirt path. In the bed of the truck would be Jill, Joseph, and the father-daughter duo of Alana and Wesker. The sun was just going down when they had left for the manor hidden in Raccoon Woods. Funny enough, it was a half mile walk from the lake they swam in during the summer. Snow had already semi-coated the ground with winter setting in and a light fall had started up.

"Duuuuude..." Joseph breathed out in awe as the group jumped down from the bed, Wesker helping Alana down. "This place is HUGE!"

It was at least a three stories high wooden mansion with a sun deck at the top. It would be next to a waterfall, the large pond connected by a rope bridge. It was as if this place was touched by Lady Gaia herself with the amount of flora growing around the area, along with the crispness in the air. Claire took a deep breath of the mountain air, exhaling slowly with a small smile. Coming back to this place after so long felt so good, especially when the nostalgia hit her. Days were spent here in the summer with their parents, playing near the waterfall and going down to the lake, campfires and meals outside under the stars...

As she gazed upon the summer manor, tears began to bead at the corners of her eyes. Spotting his younger sibling looking ready to cry, Chris strode over and pulled her into his arms. "I miss them, too, Claire-bear.." he whispered, knowing what she was thinking about.

She could only nod, her throat feeling closed up with tears, before wrapping her arms around his neck and silently cried into his chest. The four wisely kept silent, letting the siblings have a moment to remember. Jill came over after a minute and placed a hand on both their backs in an attempt to console them but said nothing, only giving them a comforting smile. Chris shot one back at Jill and nodded in thanks before placing a kiss on top of Claire's head. Alana brushed at her own eyes, feeling tears coming up as well. "Makes me miss my parents, too.." she whispered to Wesker, who gently rubbed her head in response.

Wesker couldn't relate however; he never knew his parents. He had been taken at a young age by Umbrella so he really had little to no memory of them. Not that he cared. However.. there was one person in his life whom he had come to call the closest thing to a mother. She had been there for him ever since he was a small boy and was there to wash away the nightmares he had during his hellish days. Now growing up and becoming the man he is now, he had to thank her.

Once the siblings had calmed down, Claire wiped away her tears and smiled up at her brother. "Okay, let's go in. I'm sure they don't want to stand out here in the cold much longer," she says, giving a somewhat still teary laugh.

"You're right." Turning to his comrades, he nodded to them. "Come on in, guys. Welcome to Redfield Manor."