Jake leant back into the welcoming cushions on the bed with a long sigh as his eyes slid shut. It had been weeks since he'd had a decent place to sleep. Not that having Sherry wrapped around him every night was a burden, but most nights he was the cushion. Jake placed one arm over his eyes to block out the sun filtering through the thin curtains. He needed sleep, but over the last few months he'd found himself unable to give in to the pull of unconsciousness if Sherry wasn't beside him. Especially when they were in new and unfamiliar territory.
For now Sherry was in the room next door. Jake could just hear her muffled voice being carried through the walls. He couldn't make out what she was saying but the happiness in her voice was clear as day. There had been a much needed surprise for her waiting at the drop point...
"Well look who finally pulled their ass out from behind that desk." Jake had teased.
Claire landed a soft punch on his arm before pulling Sherry into a tight hug, "Good to see you too Jake. You look like crap."
"It's keeping an eye on this one I tell ya, no rest for the wicked." he said with a nod toward Sherry, whose delight at seeing her old friend meant she was too distracted to argue his accusation.
"Oh?" Claire had smirked as she wiggled her eyebrows suggestively at Sherry, grinning. As expected, Sherry blushed.
"Why is everyone picking on me lately?" She muttered unhappily.
Jake handed over the microchip and the three of them sat down to eat. Sherry recounted their latest 'mission' down to the last detail while Jake risked a severe case of indigestion as he filled his plate for the third time. Claire always brought the good stuff. Perhaps that was partly the reason he didn't mind the younger of the Redfield siblings. His mother had always told him good food came from a good heart. That... and Claire didn't seem to hold it against him that Jake had once pointed a gun just inches from Chris' face. He'd overheard Sherry filling Claire in on their exploits in Edonia and China. If Claire had any doubts about him she sure hid them well. But Jake had begun to suspect that she actually liked him.
Not that he cared of course. But Claire was important to Sherry. And what mattered to super girl mattered to Jake. No exceptions.
"Hold on... he fell through the ceiling?"
Jake almost began to choke as both women fixed him with an amused smile, Sherry's eyes twinkled with something mischievous. Ah, she was getting revenge for his teasing before.
Jake offered up a shrug. "Didn't wanna take the stairs."
Claire laughed as Sherry rolled her eyes. "Admit it, you didn't see the trip wire!"
Jake waved his hand dismissively as he shook his head, "No, I was just so eager to get back to you. I knew you'd be lost without me."
This time it was Claire's turn to roll her eyes, "From what I've seen Sherry can take care of herself. Isn't that right, super girl."
Jake felt a slight tug of jealousy whenever Claire used his nickname for Sherry. No one else dared, but Claire seemed to have the ability to get away with whatever she wanted. She was just that type of person, Jake realised. Brave and kind enough to seem nonthreatening, but beneath that flowed something dangerous. Something that emanated a neon warning of 'Do Not Fuck With Me' with a flash of a smile and glint of her eye.
Jake could understand why Sherry looked up to her so much.
"I've picked up a few things." Sherry replied flatly, her attention falling to the empty plate in front of her. Jake knew her humble response to any kind of compliment was rooted in a deep-seated sense of self doubt. For never being 'good enough' for her parents attention. For being labelled a traitor to her country.
"She was a security risk... an abomination..." they'd told her.
Jake fumbled with the drink in his hand, almost spilling it. He remembered Sherry's face when she'd told him what happened after China. Her tears had started to fall and Jake wasn't sure they'd ever stop...
"It was all a lie. They were using me, like they always had been. They were never going to let me be free..."
Neither of the women noticed the dark shadow pass over Jake's face, Claire and Sherry had gone back to talking about happier times. He excused himself, claiming he needed to get some rest as he rose from the table. He placed one hand on Sherry's shoulder and squeezed tightly as she offered up a small smile.
"I'll be there soon." she told him.
"Take all the time you want, thanks for the grub Red." he nodded at the other woman who offered a parting wave.
Jake brought his other arm up over his head, stretching out on the mattress with a low moan as he felt his bruised body begin to ache. What he'd give to be able to walk away without a scratch on him like Sherry...
Except, of course, she would argue the price she paid wasn't worth it.
Jake guessed he must have fallen asleep at some point. The sun was almost gone when he felt a presence enter the room. With his arm still flung over his eyes he couldn't see Sherry walk toward him, but he heard her kick off her boots and pull off her shirt. She tutted and nudged his leg roughly.
"You got dirt on the sheets," she grumbled quietly.
Jake half smiled. She still hadn't gotten used to him wearing his boots to bed. "You wait until you get stormed in the middle of the night, no shoes and no pants. S'not fun." came his sleepy reply.
Sherry made a low sound in her throat as she unlaced the offending items and dropped them on the floor. "No pants?" she questioned. Jake didn't need to look at her to know the expression on her face. She was always curious about his past, but some stories were not for sharing with the woman you were about to go to bed with.
"To be fair, I think my naked ass shocked the rebels long enough that that was how I got away."
Sherry chuckled and lay down beside him. She was silent for a few moments and Jake lifted his elbow just enough to see her features in the dimly illuminated room. Her eyes were closed. She looked... peaceful. Jake was thankful that she obviously had drawn her own conclusions about his pant-less shenanigans and wasn't asking anymore questions. Her chest rose and fell slowly as Jake's eyes trailed down the length of her body, over the white crop top and down to where her hands were clutched tightly over her stomach. Her face may have looked at rest but with the way her knuckles were turning white he knew she was anything but.
"You okay?"
Clearly he'd missed something after falling asleep. What had Claire shared with her?
Sherry's blue eyes opened just a little as she looked at nothing in particular and Jake noticed for the first time how red they were. Immediately he pulled himself up on his side, leaning over her with worry etched in his features.
"He's still missing..." Sherry told him.
A tear fell down the curve of her cheek and to the sheet below. Sherry had mastered the art of silent crying long ago. There were no shuddering breaths and wrenching sobs. Just... tears.
Jake pulled her into his arms wordlessly. He'd already said everything he could say since Leon had been declared missing. Sherry was determined to blame herself no matter how much Claire or Jake told her otherwise.
Eventually Sherry fell asleep, still nestled against Jake's chest. His own eyes were heavy, but his mind now raced with memories he'd replayed time and time again on nights like these...
About eighteen months ago...
It had been a long day.
Jake pulled the pocketknife from his jacket and flipped it open, the sun glinting off the steel as he cut the apple in his hand down the middle.
"Here." he handed a piece to the boy curled up at his side. Seeing the questioning look the child gave him as he hesitated to take the food, Jake made an impatient sound in his throat. "When someone offers you food, you take it. Don't know when you're gonna eat next in a place like this."
The boy took the apple and bit into it greedily. Juice dribbled down his chin as he looked up at Jake with a shy smile.
"Don't thank me." Jake had thought sharply just before the words left the boy's mouth. "I'm the reason those things are here..."
He'd had heard rumours of monsters attacking a town in the Middle East. Monsters that resembled those which he'd encountered in China. Enhanced by the C-Virus that had been mixed with his own DNA to create a more robust, lethal creature.
And now this boys mother was dead, his father missing.
"We can get to the refugee camp before it gets dark." Jake had told him bluntly, hating the grateful shine of those wide eyes. If this boy knew who Jake really was, would he hate him?
Hate him like Jake had come to hate his father with every new, horrendous thing he had learned about Albert Wesker?
A few hours later and after only a few minor injuries from the myriad of BOWs, Jake had made good on his promise to get the boy to safety. But there was no sign of his father. A group of other lost and grief-stricken children had been huddled beside a makeshift tent, sharing a loaf of bread and some soup as a woman with a note book wrote down each of their names. Jake had made a habit of counting the orphans he found in his travels. It hadn't taken long to get into triple digits.
It was as he ducked out of the camp's borders, unseen and unrecognised, that he came across someone familiar. Leon had been standing with his back pressed against the wall of a boarded up house, arms folded over his chest as he regarded Jake with a closed expression. It was as if he'd been waiting for him, Jake had thought.
"DSO still keeping tabs on me huh?" He growled, walking straight by Leon without so much as a nod in his direction.
"You've been busy." Leon replied.
So that was a yes, Jake figured. "What the hell do you want? If you're here for more blood you're gonna have to buy me dinner first. I haven't eaten all day-"
"That's not why I'm here."
It was something in Leon's voice that had made Jake stop and turn. He'd only known the man briefly, less than an hour in fact. But Sherry had trusted him. Respected him. So Jake listened when Leon told him they needed to talk. But not there, not then. It was too dangerous. Jake had known from the look in Leon's eyes that it was about Sherry. Call it instinct or intuition, but Jake had felt uneasy about her going back to the USA after everything. After Simmons.
As it turned out, he was right.
Twelve hours later Jake was on his bike headed west. Leon was under strict surveillance, his role at the refugee camp kept him busy and under the watchful eye of the higher ups who suspected his involvement with the disappearance of his fellow agent.
Sherry had gone AWOL. Months ago, so Leon had informed him. Which explained the silence Jake had been met with after the one and only text he'd sent. He'd pushed the guilt away at the time. The guilt he felt for assuming Sherry had simply ghosted him and when she was, in fact, on the run and fighting for her life.
Unable to risk contacting her or Claire, Leon had decided to think outside the box. The DSO believed Jake to be several thousand miles from where he actually was thanks to a certain BSAA soldier. A report had been filed claiming that contact had been made with Muller during a revolt in some region of Russia Jake had never even heard of. Claire's contacts at TerraSave knew different, as somehow they always did. It was a happy coincidence that Leon had been assigned the same location that Jake found himself in. He'd been unofficially demoted to the 'simpler' jobs, Leon had told him bitterly, as a means of keeping the seasoned agent under control. But things could have been worse and at least it gave him the chance to help Sherry. Even if he couldn't do it directly himself.
Leon handed over the means for Jake to get in touch with Claire, ignoring Jake's dubious expression at the mention of the name Redfield, and disappeared off into the night. But not before placing his hand firmly on Jake's shoulder and telling him, or perhaps warning him, Jake wasn't quite sure, to do what he had failed to do: keep Sherry safe.
One week later and Jake was at Sherry's door.
Three weeks later... a report came through to Claire that Leon was officially a missing person.
His last known location... the refugee camp.
Present...
The next morning Sherry was unusually withdrawn. Jake was sure if it wasn't for the fact that the virus within her body kept it at optimal health at all times then she would have looked like shit. Sherry often lamented the fact that she never tanned, couldn't get a tattoo or colour her hair as her body immediately repaired or expelled any foreign entity that mixed with her being. She couldn't even stay drunk unless she drank her body weight in alcohol, which had been an interesting learning experience for them both during their earlier days spent together.
It also meant Sherry could not have children. A subject that came up randomly one day when Jake had been glaring at a rabble of nearby kids outside the coffee shop they'd taken refuge in. It was cold and raining and Jake was complaining that the group were giving him a a headache by skating back and forth in the waterlogged streets.
"They'll catch their death." Sherry had said with concern.
"With any luck." Jake agreed, earning a disgruntled look from his not-yet lover.
"Someone feeling a little hungover?" she'd teased as he sipped at the warm black coffee in his hands. Jake wrinkled his nose and shook his head in denial until Sherry laughed at the green hue creeping over his face. The motion made his stomach lurch uncomfortably and the greasy meal that Sherry was tucking into in front of him did not help one bit.
"Told you I could drink you under the table." she said smugly.
"Technically I think you cheated. Could have warned me about the your freakish metabolism super girl."
Jake instantly regretted his words when Sherry's eyes dropped. He kicked himself for his choice of words. "I didn't mean-"
"I know." Sherry dismissed his apology before he could finish, shovelling another mouthful of egg and beans into her mouth. One of the few perks of her mutation was the ability to eat like a horse and still maintain a perfect physique. Forget super soldiers, Jake thought darkly. The modelling industry would bankrupt themselves to pay for that particular secret.
They sat in silence until the bell above the door jingled loudly, making Jake wince, much to Sherry's sadistic pleasure. A woman had entered, unwrapping a small bundle of layers at her side to reveal a young girl with blonde pigtails and wide eyes. Jake didn't look away quick enough to avoid the child's friendly wave. He glowered. Sherry's smile was a little pained, but she waved back regardless.
He watched the expression on Sherry's face grow sadder as the mother picked up the little girl and pointed out the selection of sugar-coated pastries. He wondered, was she thinking about her own mother? Had Annette Birkin ever taken Sherry out for chocolate cake in the rain? Jake had lived a crazy life, and his childhood was far from perfect, but at least he'd had one parent who'd loved him unconditionally. Unlike Sherry who'd almost been left to die alone by her mother after being infected by the G-Virus.
"I'll never have that..." Sherry had said quietly, thinking out loud. Her face turned pink when Jake cleared his throat gruffly. They'd learned a lot about each other at this point, but Jake was still just a twenty-one year old guy. And Sherry was a woman. His skills at navigating certain emotional outbursts were in need of some refining.
"Your mom, right?" he'd said flatly. Yeah, it sure would suck to have to watch such a maternal display of affection right in front of you when your own-
"I'll never have a family." Sherry had corrected him. "I can't have children."
Jake had frozen with his cup half way to his lips as Sherry dropped her fork, surprised by her own sudden revelation. "Sorry, not exactly breakfast conversation." she'd added hastily. "Ignore me."
Jake carefully placed his cup back on the table, trying to figure out the best way to deal with this sudden, uncomfortable piece of information.
"Do you wanna... talk about it?"
Sherry had shaken her head slowly, the fork she'd retrieved now pushing the food around her plate aimlessly. They didn't broach the subject again for a long time. Not until after the morning spent in the shower together...
"Did they do it to you?" Jake had asked hesitantly. He knew she'd been through hell at the hands of her 'guardians'. Jake had exploded in a fit of anger once when Sherry, for what felt like the hundredth time, sang Leon and Claire's praises for rescuing her.
"They gave you over to them! How can you think they saved you after everything that was done to you!" he had ranted. To Sherry's credit she had remained calm and simply pointed out that life never had easy choices. The consequences for them all could have been so much worse...
As Jake had wrapped a towel around Sherry's shoulders and began gently rubbing his hands over the material to dry the moisture from her skin, he knew she understood his question.
It was hardly the sort of talk one would expect after making love for the first time. But Jake and Sherry rarely made small talk anymore. They'd reached a certain level of comfort and intimacy where almost any discussion, any topic, was on the table.
Sherry had shaken her head, her hands reaching out to grasp Jake's hips and hold herself steady as he worked his way around her body. He'd just spent a generous amount of time exploring every part of it, and yet he still found the softness of her skin fascinating. Addictive even.
"No. I'm not sterile or anything. It's just... whatever's left of the G-Virus in my body attacks any foreign cells and destroys them. So even an embryo would be..."
She'd trailed off, lost for a moment in her memories. Jake's blood ran cold as he wondered exactly how this knowledge had been discovered. But he didn't ask. There were certain lines even he knew not to cross. Sherry would tell him when she was ready.
This particular morning was far less enjoyable. Jake had fallen asleep again eventually, his mind preoccupied by the news that there was still no news when it came to Leon. He wondered if Sherry blamed him. He had often tried to work up to courage to ask but never did. To their knowledge Jake had been the last person to see Leon alive... and even just having that thought, he knew what they were all too afraid to say.
Leon had put himself at risk again to send Jake to Sherry. To protect her in the only way he could. To in-turn betray his government, his country...
It had probably cost him his life.
"Is Claire still here?" Jake asked as Sherry headed toward the bathroom.
Sherry paused and leaned against the door-frame, turning to look at him quizzically. He realised what she must have thought he was implying and raised his hands innocently. "I'm just asking. Didn't hear her leave last night is all."
After a few quiet moments Sherry tilted her head to one side and began to smile. "She left. It's just us."
"And..." Jake said slowly, drawing out the word questioningly, "no more work? We got no place to be?"
"I guess," Sherry replied, her hand coming down to unbutton her jeans, "she thinks we've earned a break."
"Amen to that." Jake breathed, his eyes watching closely as Sherry shimmied her way out of said jeans and disappeared into the bathroom. Jake waited. Only a few hours ago she'd been crying into his chest, inconsolable. It would be completely inappropriate to even think she might want-
"Are you coming?" Her voice called.
Jake jumped from the bed, already peeling off his shirt and unzipping his pants. Grief was complicated. He knew that. Who was he to deny the woman who had just thrown her underwear across the room where it hit him square in the chest and dropped into his hand?
With a grin he tossed it over his shoulder, kicking the door shut behind him as his eyes trailed appreciatively over the unclothed body before him.
"This is a much nicer shower than last time." Sherry said, her eyes batting up at him innocently.
"I didn't notice." Jake practically growled.
There wasn't a lot the pair would have noticed over the next hour or so, which was the exact reason Sherry had called him into the bathroom for. She was so tired of all the death, the fear... the not knowing. But when Jake had his arms around her, his lips and teeth gliding over her throat as hands wandered unashamedly... she could forget all that.
Just for a while.