:Chapter 2: First Day:
"Yeah right!" said Claire with a fake laugh, clearly unamused with her brother as she put away their dirty dishes in the sink.
"Claire, I've got the sign up sheet in my bag! Straight from Wesker! you have this job, all you gotta do is sign your name and you're in! I swear!" Chris told her as he grabbed a clean towel from the drawer. Their dish washer had broken after Christmas according to Chris so they were reduced to washing the dishes by hand, not that either mattered.
"What the hell did you even say to Wesker to get me in?" she groaned, badly hoping that he hadn't gotten down on his knees and begged for a job for his little sister. That wouldn't of made a great impression. She dipped a plate in the warm water and scrubbed it down with a sponge.
"Nothing, i swear!" He said as he took the plate off his sister and wiped it down, placing it on the drying rack beside the sink. "Wesker just handed me that form and literally told me you had the job and you and that you- wait, shit!" he shouted, throwing down his towel as he ran for the hall.
Claire quirked an eyebrow. "Need i ask?"
"Thank god, its only 7:46!" he announced as he looked up at the homes only clock above the front door. "Claire, call Wesker and tell him you're in!"
Claire paled at the idea. "Call him?" sure, the man was quite handsome and charming in a way, but that was pretty heavily overshadowed by the fact that he was rude, obnoxious, and most of all, scary as hell.
"Yeah, i have his number, here!" Chris grabbed the house phone and dialed out Wesker's number, and before she even had a chance to protest, Chris had shoved the phone in her hands. "Wait i-" she panicked as she phone rang out in her hand.
She yelped as she heard his emotionless voice. "Yes?"
"I.. Wesker! I mean Captain Wesker!" good job! you don't sound like an idiot at all. "I'm sorry.. this is Claire Redfield?" she calmed her shaking breath down ever so slightly but was still pretty panicked, not to mention embarrassed. Chris shook his head in amusement and shuffled into their sitting room.
"Ah, my dearheart, how can i help you this evening?" he practically purred. Claire felt a faint blush cross her cheeks as she heard him but quickly brushed it off.
"I'm calling to accept your job offer?" she said, nibbling on the phone's coiled wire nervously as she awaited his response. She suddenly bit down pretty hard on the cord as she replayed what he said. What the hell is dearheart? sounds like he couldn't decide between calling me dear or sweet heart so he mixed them together.
"Of course, i'll be needing the form i gave to Christopher earlier signed out in full and on my desk by 9 AM tomorrow, then Jill will show you what you'll be doing."
She sighed, feeling as if a weight was lifted off her shoulders. So what if i'm not getting the exact job i wanted, i'm gonna get to work with my brother and his friends, this'll be great! "Yes sir, thank you so much for the opportunity." she said, trying to sound 100% sincere as she spoke timidly.
"Anything for you dearheart, good evening." he said before hanging up.
Claire hung up the phone and allowed herself a tiny squeal of excitement. She was no longer unemployed, and it felt great!
"So?" Chris asked, re emerging from the sitting room where he'd hid during their brief talk.
"I got the job!" she happily chimed. Chris wasted no time running over to her and giving her a hug, quickly ridding her of all the oxygen in her body as she giggled against him.
"Alright alright! i gotta go fill out that.. sheet thing or whatever and pick out my clothes for tomorrow!" she happily squealed as she ransacked Chris' STARS bag without waiting for his permission, taking the sheet and running upstairs. "Night Chris!" she shouted down before closing her door.
Chris chuckled and shook his head. "Night, dope."
"Well that's my entertainment at the station sorted." Wesker stated as he set the phone back on the hook and sat back down at his place in the lab.
William cleared his throat in a dramatic fashion. "As i was saying?" he quickly cut in.
Oh if it were anyone else, Wesker would of killed them by now, but over the years, Wesker had developed a fondness for William Birkin, if you could even call it that. They had been partners for years and were probably the two most unlikely men to ever befriend each other. William was rather eccentric and fun loving while Wesker was quite the exact opposite. Opposites attract, Wesker supposed.
Wesker curtly nodded in his direction. William nodded back and continued. "So she told me i'm suppose to pick Sherry up today after her piano lesson, after all that lost sample business last night, which was her fault to begin with, but you know how Annette can be, stubborn as a goat." he chuckled slightly as he wrote his report on a chemical reaction to the b-virus strain. The virus wasn't exactly stable yet but he was hoping to see some results soon.
"I see." Wesker said, not entirely interested in the entire subject, but if Wesker was anything, he was a rather good listener. "And did you pick her up?"
"Pick who up?" he asked as he sprayed some disinfectant on his work surface and cleared it away with some kitchen paper.
Wesker raised a brow. "Sherry? its 8:05 PM"
Williams eyes shot up to meet Wesker's. "No its not! its only 7:05!" he said in a slightly hysterical tone. Wesker slowly shook his head and motioned towards the clock over their lab door, which clearly read 7:05 PM.
"Are you serious?!" he practically shouted as he quickly gathered up files and shoved away beakers and wrapped up his sample. "Aw, Annette's gonna kill me!" he said as he quickly put the sample in the fridge to incubate.
"That would make the 6th time in 2 weeks i believe." he stated rather matter-of-factly before he finished off his report on the b-virus' progress for the day.
"Al, i have to go! could you-"
Wesker gave a flick of his wrist as he dismissed the scientist. "Go, i will submit our reports to Marcus, fear not."
William noticed Wesker's sudden happy mode, probably from who ever the hell that dearheart person was on the phone. Shaking his head, he quickly nodded and teared off down the hall of the Umbrella labs.
Wesker sighed and sipped his coffee. The lab always was a little more pleasant when their was peace and quiet, but he did appreciate William's banter and how it seemed to make time go by faster every now and then. Finishing off his coffee, he decided he would drop the files off and call it a night. He never was too productive on Monday's, what with it being the STARS training day and the fact that he had paper work coming out of his ears that needed sorting on Monday's.
Shuffling his and Williams files until all the papers within were perfectly aligned, he turned the machinery around the lab off and finally the lights, locking the lab behind him and then striding down the hall.
He deposited the papers in Marcus' in box just outside of his office before taking the surface elevator which brought him up to a back alley behind some bar. Thankfully the bar was usually empty on Monday's so he was spared his usual migrain he received upon coming up to the surface, but their was nothing he could do. Umbrella were paying off the bar to keep their mouths shut about all the scientists coming and going from the alley, so he had to deal with the inconvenience.
Starting up his car, he smirked as he caught his reflection. "Dear Claire as my receptionist.." he chuckled softly at the idea before pulling off from the curb and driving towards home. "The play almost writes itself."
And what i play it would be.
"And that button patches the call through to Chief Irons, try not to get it mixed up with the STARS hotline and the RPD's hotline." Jill explained as she leaned over the counter and pointed at the reception's main phone, clearly indicating the two mentioned buttons to Claire as she quickly jotted down notes in shorthand. "And any messages that you get need to be reported after either our 10 minute break at 11 PM or our 30 minute break at 1:15 to either the captain or the chief, not before or after." Claire curtly nodded, writing down the times and circling them each 3 times with multiple exclamation marks.
She was so nervous this morning that she had gotten up an hour earlier to wash and straighten her hair, but quickly decided that leaving her hair down didn't suit her, so it was tied up in a neat pony tail instead. She wore a white blouse and a dark pair of jeans with black flats, more smart casual than anything, but Claire decided that it wasn't exactly an office job, so why go all out? Besides, most of the people coming into reception would be criminals and officers, hardly anyone to get dressed in a pencil skirt and button up shirt for.
Wesker hadn't come in yet so it was just her, Jill, Chris, Barry and Enrico in the offices upstairs, and a few RPD policemen. Thank god. Claire wanted to get down all the important information before everyone arrived, especially Wesker. Despite not really getting a good vibe off of him, she had a desire to work hard, maybe even impress her new boss with her work. She wanted to show him that she was greatful for this job and she was going to try her damn hardest.
"Got it." Claire answered without lifting her head from her notebook as she did a small diagram of the phones machine and all its buttons, with names labelled on each.
"Oh, and Wesker takes a black coffee everyday when he comes in, so the minute he comes through those doors, get up and start making it upstairs beside my desk, alright?" Jill said with a smile, only happy to show her fellow STARS' sister the ropes. After all, she remembered having to be a temp receptionist when they were looking for their previous receptionist, and if she had only known what she did now, she would of avoided a lot of speeches.
"Perfect!" Claire said as she quickly flicked back through her notes. "Thanks so much Jill, i really appreciate it, i was beyond nervous this morning." she admitted with a relieved sigh, now happy that she could be a damn good receptionist with all of her cheat notes.
"Aw, theirs no need to be, the job can be a little scary at first, but you fall into a routine, it gets easier." she replied as she pushed off from the desk and stretched, yawning as she watched Claire stick the phone buttons cheat sheet beside it with tape. "Oh man, i have so much paperwork.. i better get back to it." she groaned in clear annoyance. "Anything else?"
"Yeah. Does Chris really call you Jilly bean?" Claire asked in an amused voice. Jill paled rather quickly. "W-what?"
"Oh please, i heard him on the phone to you last night." She snickered at Jill's reaction. Oh how she loved to tease her.
".. How much did you hear?" she asked, leaning in closer to Claire and keeping her voice low. Claire giggled.
"Enough." she practically hummed as she shuffled a stack of papers off to the side with a wide grin on her face. "I think its adorable when you giggle too Jill!" Claire mocked her in a gruff voice, attempting to mimic Chris' voice from the previous night. She had to hold her pillow up to her face to keep from laughing out loud. Her pillow was soaked with tears of laughter by the time he had hung up and Claire even had to flip it to sleep on.
Jill gasped softly and blushed a bright red. It was really cute on her actually, getting all embarrassed over her late night calls with her brother. "Shhh!" she frantically hissed. "Not another word or i'll get you fired faster than you can say Jilly bean!" she threatened as she walked away from her desk. She was standing on the first step when she turned and grinned. "And i think the names cute!" she finished before she ran up to their offices.
Up to Chris. Claire mused, giggled ever so slightly to herself. In all honestly, Claire loved Jill. She was the perfect match for Chris in every way. Before STARS, Chris would often bring home the worst women Claire ever had the displeasure of meeting, often cheap girls wearing slutty outfits. It didn't take Claire long to figure out their appeal to Chris. But Jill was completely different: She was smart, strong, cute and funny, all a winning formula for her and even better for her brother. Though, Chris and Jill hadn't technically gone 'public' with their relationship, it was as obvious as the sun in the sky. Plus, they were quite cute, considering Chris called her every night to ask how her day went.
Claire sighed as she began writing the weeks sign in sheet for the officers downstairs. Someone to call her every night and ask how her day was, besides Chris, that sounded heavenly. Being 19, almost 20, she had only ever had the one boyfriend, and that ended rather quickly last summer, and he was definitely not the type to ask how her day was. I really put my mind to getting a job this summer and i did, so why not put my mind to getting a cute boyfriend? she thought with a smile. Now that would certainly make up a good summer!
She was abruptly pulled from her thoughts when the main door opened with a swoosh and the infamous Captain Wesker strode in. His hair was combed out of his face perfectly, his sunglasses ever present. She wrinkled her nose ever so slightly at the sight of sunglasses at 8:40 AM on a Tuesday morning, but her eyes were quickly drawn to his navy t-shirt that wrapped tightly around his perfectly chiseled abs and highlighted his strong physique. Wow.. i bet his chest looks amazing with no shirt to cover it up.. wait what!
Did Claire really just make a pass at her brothers boss? Okay, maybe she needed a boyfriend a lot more than she thought. Or a new hobby. Something that left her with very little time to imagine how most likely hard and warm his chest would be to the touch and how i tight embrace would feel against him. Amazing. She ventured. Somewhere in the back of her mind she was scolding herself. She ignored that voice. There was no rule against enjoying the view. What the hell is wrong with me.
"Ah, my lovely dearheart." Wesker greeted with a smirk.
Claire smiled a genuine smile at the Captain and nodded. "Good morning Captain Wesker, no messages to deliver and i have my sign up sheet on your desk." she said with glee, feeling pretty happy so had remembered to even do that. The obligatory greeting should of been longer to include reports of the days sign in's and such but Jill assured her that there would be no need for that on her first day. She definitely needed to get off on the right foot with him, and she was sure that would be no problem. Especially since he can't read my mind.
"Good, and Jill has explained everything to you?" he asked, carefully scrutinizing her as she stood before him, wearing a bright smile and a pencil behind her ear. Oh, this will be too easy.
"Yes Captain." she answered as she caught him looking her up and down. She blushed every so slightly as she watched him, but he must of noticed her shift in posture as he instantly looked her dead in the eye.
"I am needed elsewhere at 12:45 AM and i am unsure of how long i will be gone, please take any messages for me and have them on my desk as well as the sign in sheets from today if i do not return." he said, and with a flick of his wrist in a quick wave, he was walking up the stairs to the STARS office.
Claire swallowed a lump in her throat and slumped back down in her chair. She had spent about 10 minutes writing up sign in sheets when she practically jumped out of her seat from the fright of the buzzing of the intercom on her desk. Her eyes widened as she noticed it wasn't any of the STARS beeping her, or Chief Irons, but Wesker. Shakily, she pushed down the button and timidly spoke up. "Yes sir?"
"A moment in my office Dearheart." he said before he ended the connection.
Slowly, she stood from her desk and saw that her hands were visibly shaking. She was quite intimidated by the man, but that wasn't making her shake. She had to make a good impression today or she'd surely be shown the door in no time! Please let me keep this job!
She gave a small wave to the STARS as she passed the Alpha team. Chris shot her a friendly wink as she passed, which honestly made her feel a lot better. As she knocked, she heard a curt "Come in." and strode on it, closing the door behind her.
"Is their a problem, Captain Wesker?" Claire asked, trying to keep the worry out of her voice, but she wasn't sure if it was working or not when Wesker's eyes were always blocked by those insufferable sunglasses that she was beginning to hate.
His head tilted upward to look at her, and suddenly she felt another lump form in her throat. "You said on the back of the sheet that you suffer from migrains, is this a serious issue?"
Claire sighed in relief. "No sir, not at all." she answered. She and Chris had suffered from mild depression a few years back, when their parents deaths were pretty fresh, and one of the side affects from the medication was often headaches that had eventually progressed to migrains. She no longer needed nor took the medication, but when she was feeling awfully stressed out or upset, they would come rushing back to her. Though the migrains were definitely more manageable now that she knew how to deal with her grief and didn't particularly feel it as badly now.
He sat back in his seat, almost as if he was thinking about her answer and weither it was satisfactory or not, but after a moment he seemed to return to hunch over his desk and continue singing papers. "Do you take medication for them?"
"No Captain, they're not that bad."
Wesker nodded and wrote that information down on the sheet, then taking off his sunglasses to watch Claire as she fidgeted in the chair in front of his desk. He could of smirked at the very thought of a Redfield actually being intimidated by him.
"Something wrong Dearheart?" he practically hummed, barely able to control how much this amused him.
Claire's heart suddenly thumped against her rib cage. He knows hes scaring me! and hes really going to try to play me like a fiddle? Please! I am sooo not that fragile!
Claire smiled up at him and instantly, her whole composure calmed, and just like that, she felt in control once again. "Not at all Captain, I was just afraid of missing calls while i was up here."
"Oh i apologize Claire, i wasn't aware that me questioning you about your employee files was a waste of your time, and on your first day no less." he replied rather swiftly, the smirk wiped from his face. Oh but he was grinning on the inside.
Claire opened her mouth to speak but absolutely nothing came out. Shit! Okay, maybe i shouldn't of been that cocky.. apologize! say you didn't mean it! you really didn't, you just.. !
"That will be all miss Redfield." he said, dismissing her as he shifted focus to his precious paperwork. She flinched as he spoke her last name. Dearheart was a pet name, rather affectionate even, Claire was quite neutral, but Miss Redfield was like something reserved for a scolding. First day and your new boss hates you, and its not even 11:00 AM! good going.
Grumbling internally to herself, she stood from her seat and dipped her head slightly in a show of both apology and leave and she scampered out the door. Oh, he had won the battle, but he had not won the war! Now that she had a chance to speak with him privately, she realized a few more things about the man. One, those damn sunglasses were like an emotional shield, heavily guarding his eyes so she could never tell his expression. Two, he clearly got off on power, as he so well hid in their little meeting, and three, she had never met a more intimidating man in her life.
"Claire, Coffee." He called from his office before she shut the door. Well, i got a neutral nickname, that's something? Wait, why did she care what he thought of her now? he had effectively ruined her whole "Employee of the millennium" attitude she had adopted for the day, and now she simply wanted to get work over and done with, so why did she still value his opinion of her? Shrugging, she decided she could figure it out later when she didn't have to fetch coffee for her boss or fill out sign in sheets.
She swiftly made him his black coffee, though she quickly spooned in another teaspoon of coffee grains to add to the already black mixture. She snickered as she reasoned that the coffee needed to be as bitter and black as the man himself. If he had any complaints, he could always do it himself.
She walked into his office and gently set the mug down, turning to handle to face him. He didn't acknowledge her in the slightest. Didn't even flinch when the mug was set down. Really?! This is where we're at?!
"Thank you Deartheart." he murmured as he read a file. Claire allowed herself a small sigh of relief upon realizing the man wasn't completely devoid of manners. She smiled and left the office, though the smile hardly reached her eyes. Redfield's were quite good at holding grudges, and this one would be no different.
As Wesker sipped his particularly bitter cup of coffee, he allowed himself a short chuckle at the Redfield. From his research so far, he found that she was rather easy to make mad, and that she perhaps had a crush on him, considering all her blushing and smiling she had been doing all day. Perhaps crush was too strong a word, maybe teen hormones would be better? Still though, he had deduced that she at least found him tolerable, and that would be enough to carry out his plan of action, after all, he wasn't offering her this position out of the goodness of his heart. No no, he had much bigger things in store for his fiery redhead. Much bigger things.
Glancing over at the clock, he noticed it was the STARS break at 11 AM, so that meant it was time for him to take his leave. William had called earlier to say he had some important news and that Wesker needed to get their before Marcus came back at 12 AM from his own break. Sighing, he gathered himself and walked out of his office, locking the door, and paying no mind to the STARS who had gathered around Barry's desk as he had started yet another arm wrestling match, but with Brad this time.
That would be over rather fast.
As he sat into his car, he glanced at his reflection in the car door mirror and wasn't surprised to see not a hair out of place. Nodding to himself, he started up the car and sped off for the underground entrance to Umbrella, and although Claire's attitude had put him in a rather whimsical mood, he prayed it wouldn't be dampened by yet another failure, mix up or decay of another sample.
If that happened, he may just have to take out his frustrations on his team, and his only willing assistant Claire.
School is awful, yada yada yada!
I wanted to include a section that was going to be after this in this chapter but ill be saving that for next time, teehee 3
Thanks for all the awesome reviews so far, i hope you're enjoying it just as much as i'm enjoying reading it!
