Madris Mamani was a fearsome woman and from what Jill could tell, a very highly respected healer in their village. From the moment the three of them had walked into the healer's house, Madris had been hustling and bustling around the room as the three men from Carlos' squad lay in their respective beds still sleeping.

When Madris' dark eyes laid themselves on Carlos, her whole face changed, and she began to—Jill was assuming at this point—berate him until he skulked over to his now freshly made bed and took a seat.

Jill watched in high amusement as a man as large and capable as Carlos seemed to bow to the furiously spoken words of the tiny woman before him.

"What language is that?" Jill asked Alonzo softly while Madris seemed to be getting the crux of her point when her meaty fist slammed on top of her other palm.

"Aymara," Alonzo said out of the corner of his mouth. "This is an Aymaras village. Very old roots."

"Are you and Carlos both Aymaras?" Jill asked.

"Yes," he looked over at her with a waggle of his brows. "Exotic, right?"

Jill rolled her eyes and snorted before she said, "Where is the coffee?"

Alonzo bid her a knowing grin before he turned toward the healer and said something to her in their language. Alonzo gestured at Jill, and she suddenly felt rude for interrupting what looked to be a serious discussion between Madris and Carlos.

Madris' whole face changed then. Her long grey hair fell down her back in graceful waves from the wool wimple she had on her head. She was pushing the wimple back with a gnarled looking hand when she turned her full focus on Jill.

"Rhamnusia, come." She beckoned with a wide smile that stretched her tanned skin across her face and revealed her one missing tooth on her bottom row. The woman seemed to speak primarily Aymara, but she knew some Spanish.

The look was so endearing that Jill couldn't help the wide smile that slid over her features. She caught Carlos' eyes and her smile faltered to see the gentle look on his face.

"Can you tell her my name is Jill?" she asked after she had cleared her throat.

Madris was shooting her dark eyes toward Carlos to translate.

Carlos did so and Madris listened before she chuckled and shook a finger at Jill. She waved again for Jill to follow.

Alonzo let out his wheezing laugh behind her.

"What did you tell her?" Jill demanded in a hushed whisper. The three men on her right were still resting but at her words, Alex sleepily opened his eyes.

"I told her to feed you quickly and that you wanted to get back to my side like a good little blonde nurse." Carlos called gently in English.

"You didn't," Jill uttered before Madris stepped forward and took her arm to pull her through the back.

"I don't ever lie to my healer, Rhamnusia." Carlos gave a little finger wave with his bad hand and settled into the bed with a grin.

Madris pulled Jill further into a hall that connected to the home. The smell of coffee and baking bread hit her nose and Jill didn't know if there had been a better smell in her life.

"Oh god," Jill uttered in Spanish.

Madris made a curious noise and looked back toward her before letting her arm go.

Thinking fast, Jill tapped her nose, made a wafting motion before she smiled and kissed her own fingers.

Madris laughed and nodded her head as she gestured forward. Before them was the coffee with a few old-looking cups and a fresh loaf of bread. The tone in the words Madris offered her seemed to say, "Eat, drink!"

The respected healer was still chuckling to herself when she turned with a swish of her blue tunic and back to return the men in the healing room.

Watching her disappear around the corner, Jill stood alone while she sipped the black coffee and took a seat on a well-used wicker chair next to the table. She was cutting a slice when the door across the way opened, and another older woman poked her head out and spotted her.

Jill heard the woman gasp before she pulled the door open further.

"Rhamnusia," the woman breathed. She was speaking Aymara when Jill set the coffee cup down on the table.

"Do you know Spanish?" Jill asked in the corresponding language.

The woman was shaking her head, but she was pointing to something further into the room. She gestured for Jill to come inside.

Wiping her hands on her pants, Jill rose to her feet once more and hesitantly stepped up to the door. Leaning her head in, she stopped the gasp that wanted to rise from her throat at the sight of the little girl she had found in the slaughterhouse.

Renata, as Carlos had named her earlier, sat with her hair combed out now, and her skin clear and clean of the dirt that had caked it further. A tan blanket lay over her thighs, and the leg with the amputation was bandaged up. The smell of herbs that Jill had caught a whiff of on Carlos was filling the room.

"Hello," the breathy whisper of a frightened Renata was drawing Jill's eyes back up toward her face.

"Hello," Jill said softly.

Jill assumed the woman twittering beside her was Renata's mother. She was saying something to Renata and the little girl was nodding mutely without taking her large eyes off of Jill.

"Your name is Renata, right? I'm Velaria," Jill bade softly.

"You are the Rhamnusia," Renata said in response. Her eyes dipped down to her leg.

"Well, only good friends get to call me Velaria." Jill said with a smile.

"You were there," Renata's lips were wobbling, and Jill felt her soul breaking into pieces at the sight. Trauma was a steel fist at any age. "You stopped that man."

"I did," Jill agreed. "And he won't be coming back."

This seemed to ease Renata because she finally gave Jill her full attention when she lifted her eyes again.

"You know," Jill suddenly said before she reached down for her wallet she had transferred to her pants pocket when she had changed last night. "Friends also give each other gifts."

"A gift? It's not my life-day though." The perkiness of a 6-year-old seemed to reveal itself slightly from the grief-stricken child as her eyes watched Jill's hands pry open her wallet.

The S.T.A.R.S. badge she had never returned when Irons suspended her in Raccoon was cool in Jill's hand while she stared down at it. She had kept it in her locker at the BSAA for years and it had sat as a reminder for what she was doing everything for. When she packed up for this trip, she hadn't understood why she had decided to take it then.

Feeling like she didn't need the reminder anymore, Jill lifted her violet gaze and settled it on Renata.

"We give these to those who are very brave where I come from," Jill explained softly. "You have to show great strength to face the things that scare you to get this."

Renata's eyes were staring anxiously at the badge in her hands.

"I think you are very brave, Renata, and I think you should have it as a gift." Jill was leaning forward and letting Renata's fingers close around it.

Renata touched the wings of the eagle at the top and when she lifted her head there were tears in her eyes.

"Do you not like it?" Jill asked, tilting her head.

"No, I do," Renata whimpered. "I just don't feel very brave."

Jill couldn't stop herself when she stood up and asked if she could give the girl a hug. When Renata nodded, Jill was wrapping the young girl in a hug so tight, the girl's mother was making a soft noise behind her.

"You are so very brave, sweetheart." Jill whispered softly.

"What if more of those men come back?" Renata asked into Jill's shoulder.

"Then they can meet the Rhamnusia too," Jill vowed.

When Jill stepped back out into the healing room, all of Carlos' men were awake and the conversation they were having was low toned. Carlos was looking a bit better when Jill gave him a quick inspection. In her hand she held a full coffee mug and a tiny plate with a slice of the still cooling bread.

"He's going to want to come here tonight," Alex was saying as Jill neared the beds.

"That's too fuckin' bad," Carlos said with a shrug. "We're taking another few days to recover and then we can plan for the aftermath."

His dark brown eyes were lifting to hers when Jill walked up and held out the coffee and bread plate to him.

Carlos' eyebrows lifted from what appeared to be in shock. He was soon pulling his features into something warm again before his fingers overlapped on top of hers so he could take the cup.

"This for me, little nurse?" Carlos asked softly in English. His fingers lingered over hers before she pulled her hands away slowly.

"Can any of them speak English?" Jill asked with a jut of her hip.

"No." Carlos' smile widened before he took a sip of the coffee and gingerly set the plate onto his lap.

"You wouldn't lie to your nurse, would you, Carlos?" Jill asked as she tilted her head into his stare.

"Definitely not," he said as his voice pitched low.

The conversation they hadn't finished earlier was popping into Jill's mind.

"That's real good to know," she murmured before she took a seat on the foot of his bed.

Alonzo was sitting in a chair with the front legs kicked up in his leaned back position. His arms were crossed over his head in a lazy lull when he let out a low whistle.

"Where's ours, Rhamnusia?" Alonzo called.

David and Alex both chuckled and Jill shook her head before she said, "Did I get you guys in trouble with Arturo?"

"Get us in trouble with, Arturo?" Pedro asked when he lifted his swollen hand to push chin length straight hair behind his ear. "Well, we're alive for one, so no, and two, the man you get in trouble with is currently simpering over the perfectly normal cup of coffee you just gave him."

Carlos choked on the coffee behind her, and it sprayed over the nice blankets before him.

"Is that true?" Jill asked with a sly look over her shoulder at him.

"I mean, yeah, I guess. I am in charge of the Bolivian resistance." Carlos modestly said after he cleared his throat.

"No, I mean, are you simpering?" Jill let the cunning of her smile show.

The other men let out their unique types of laughs in response.

"It's a really good cup of coffee." Carlos answered, holding her eyes.

"To answer your question," Alonzo said, breaking Jill from her staring contest with the flirtatious resistance captain. "He no longer holds any power now that Carlos is back. He would have if they didn't make it out."

"If you're going to see him, I can fill him in on what I did to make sure the evidence was destroyed." Jill responded before she took out the silver zippo lighter and tossed it toward Alonzo.

The chair legs clattered to the floor when Alonzo set the front of the chair back on the ground and caught the lighter. Jill watched his eyes scan the engraving on the side before he uttered, "Nice."

"Anything more I can do to help?" Jill asked then.

"Are you staying?" Alonzo asked while he twirled the lighter in his hands now.

All eyes in the room were on Jill again, but none felt more searing than the one beside her on the bed.

"If I'm welcome that is," Jill finally said.

Eyes were transferring over to Carlos and Jill followed the looks toward the man who assessed her now.

"If he kicks you out," Alonzo offered. "You can stay with me. I have a bed and all of my fingers."

Carlos' next Aymara delivered words were said with such viciousness that Jill couldn't hold back her laughter when Alonzo gave a horrified look in response.

Madris pushed through the front door and gave a wide smile to see them all laughing. Her eyes landed on Jill and when she spotted Carlos sipping from a coffee cup and the plate of bread in his lap, her gaze slid to Jill once more. Madris said something to Carlos in the older language.

"See?" Carlos suddenly said, lifting his coffee cup in a mock toast. "Madris agrees with me."

"This is going to get annoying fast," Jill muttered, feeling left out. "Do you guys have a book on the language that I could study?"

"I'll teach it to you," Carlos answered in a promising tone. "And of course you're welcome to stay. However long you like, Supercop."

Jill gave him a genuine smile with her teeth, and it seemed to freeze Carlos' in mid-bite to his bread piece.

"How many languages do you know, Rhamnusia?" Alex asked, drawing her attention.

"Four," she turned her head toward the man. "English, Japanese, French, and Spanish."

"Why Japanese?" David asked with a nervous look.

David had been the quietest out of the bunch and certainly looked the youngest. His hair had recently been shaved entirely off and there were several wounds on top of his head that looked like cigarette burns.

"My mother is Japanese. My father is French, and somehow I had this nagging sense that I would need to know Spanish one day, so I decided to expand my horizon." Jill could still feel Carlos' eyes beside her.

Madris had walked over to Alex and was beginning to prepare for more bandage changing. Jill lifted to her feet and made for the door when Carlos called out to her.

"Where are you going?"

"Thought I'd go clean up," she answered honestly before she nodded to Alex's bed. "Plus, it'll give you guys some privacy."

"The bathing house is on the far end behind my house. We're working on more plumbing here, but it's been a transition." Carlos explained.

"A transition?" Jill asked with her brows furrowing.

"We've only lived here for a few years. We were run out from our home by the gangs," Carlos elaborated.

"Where did you used to live?" She continued to try and understand.

"Closer to Lake Titicaca. Our families spanned generations." Carlos' eyes were a little more somber at that.

Jill was silent at that response, but she thought he might have understood her determined look when she nodded and gave him a small wave before she continued on.

"Remember," Alonzo simply said, wiggling his fingers at her. As if to remind her again that he had the bed and all of his fingers.

Carlos let out a laugh behind her when Jill playfully cuffed the younger brother on the head and left.

The last thing that Carlos wanted to do was rest in bed. Madris had taken her time cleaning and managing all of their wounds after she had demanded all of the men be washed. Carlos wasn't one for modesty, but he could have done without Alonzo's snickering comments about Jill's apparent lack of modesty too.

Alonzo had watched his face and despite how devoid had kept his reactions, his younger brother wasn't stupid; he knew what he was doing.

Carlos had spoken of Jill Valentine plenty of times. Part of the absolute honesty had been from his belief he may never see her again. Even before her announcement of death by the American BSAA, Carlos had thought to her ever-certain presence, and he hadn't been able to picture her being interested in a man like him.

They had started as near-enemies. Although he had saved her from that hulking figure in the street with a rocket, he had worked for the corporation responsible for killing her team and eventually her hometown. He hadn't known at the time, but what did that matter under so much trauma? And still she had trusted him in the end.

In 1998, Carlos had watched Jill display resiliency, cunning, and a fierce determination that had been a reckoning to a man like him. She fought for those who couldn't defend themselves against the odds and she would do anything to bring justice to those who would hurt the ones she protected.

To learn what had become of her—to hear her tell him what had been done to her in the end... Jill Valentine didn't need his ire; she was perfectly capable of protecting herself, but he couldn't help his desire to destroy anyone who had ever made her doubt herself so heavily.

Before he knew it had been her, she had made her way to a foreign country, sought his village out and found his brother. She had confronted his resistance fighters and when they turned her away, she had worked alongside Alonzo and figured out a way to infiltrate and annihilate the men who held him, his men, and little Renata hostage.

Viewing her in his mind now, Carlos could see the stark difference. Jill in 1998 had been fierce, but Jill fighting today was terrifying.

The Rhamnusia—The Nemesis.

Jill had earned that blackened name. The way she moved and fought now was something he would talk about until the day he died.

And if he noticed it, he knew she was more than aware of her changes. Jill had been rebuilt into a killing machine.

The way she spoke of herself though…the pain he saw in her eyes at what she had been made to do. Carlos was certain he had never had his heart broken before that moment. Despite what she had been transformed to, she was still Jill. Still noble to a fault, still prideful, still serving those who she protected, and still the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

She had come here for him, she had saved him, earned his brother's loyalty, and he was more than sure Jill was out in his village at this very moment winning the hearts of his people. Even Madris understood how important she was.

Jill had served him coffee and breakfast. An old tradition she didn't quite understand, but Madris had. Carlos wouldn't hold her to such archaic standards, but his heart had squeezed behind his bruised chest when she had.

When she had given him a smile full of teeth and happiness, Carlos would have described her as starlight.

Jill Valentine was pure starlight.

Carlos Oliveira absolutely wanted her to stay. The more he viewed her in his home, the more he couldn't imagine it being one without her in it. But he'd never ask that of her; he couldn't.

When she had asked if she was welcome to stay, he had almost lost his composure.

"How are we feeling?" a newer voice bid from the doorway, pulling Carlos from his thoughts.

Madris, who had been grabbing up the old and bloody clothes of his men, let out a groan at the sight of the doctor now in her healing house.

Madris came from a long line of healer women who had served their people for generations. She used a mixture of old herbal practices that worked but the older woman knew there were injuries and illnesses that she couldn't help. Madris had been one of the first to accept more modern medicine into their village, and their people had only thrived from her lack of hubris.

"Bioweapons never went for my face on purpose," Carlos said, gesturing to his money maker. "Men are truly despicable creatures."

Doctor Otero gave one of his rare smiles and stepped forward when Madris didn't appear like she'd chase him out.

"You were always hardheaded, Oliveira," the doctor said with a simple shrug. "A little modesty probably wouldn't be your worst way to die. May I?"

The doctor was looking at the bandages on his hand while he set a bag on the bed.

Alex, David, and Pedro were talking quietly amongst themselves while Madris was pushing into the back rooms to leave the men to sort with the doctor.

"Knock yourself out," Carlos said leaning back in the bed. "How have you been, doc?"

Doctor Otero was a quiet man and severe in stature. He had what his mother would have described as a hunter's frame. Sleek, precise, and no indications of any weakness. Carlos had met the man previously in his days fighting in the resistance. Many doctors had stepped behind the movements and despite the obvious war crimes against hurting medical workers, the gangs hadn't much cared for rules when they beheaded many doctors.

Doctor Otero had seen his share of blood; through patients and through defending himself on the frontlines. War had changed him as it did many men, but it seemed to serve him more than it ever hindered him.

"Heard a few things while in the city," Doctor Otero answered instead. "Marcos Lehder has been confirmed dead as of this morning."

"Can they confirm ashes?" Carlos asked with an edge to his voice.

Doctor Otero's eyes cut to his sharply. His strong jaw tightened, and Carlos watched the muscle flex up to his temple where gray hair was appearing in his normally black strands.

"Was that you?" The man asked.

"No," Carlos replied honestly. "It was the Rhamnusia."

"Another name I heard this morning."

Carlos jerked his hand back and it caused the doctor to pause.

"How?" Carlos demanded.

"Arturo," The doctor said simply before grabbing his hand to inspect again.

"This is bigger than Marcos," Carlos seethed while his thoughts trailed his next moves.

"It always was." The doctor didn't seem phased as he began to clean and cut away the infected skin around the wound of his missing fingers.

Carlos hissed but remained still while his thoughts trailed to Jill once more.

"But," Doctor Otero continued once he was done applying a cream to his hand. "That's not the concerning part."

Carlos said nothing while he waited for him to finish.

"The concerning part is the ripples of curiosity I've heard about this Rhamnusia. Who is he?" The man paused to look up at Carlos again.

"No one that I'm going to let anyone touch." Carlos' normally calm façade fell while something more vicious peered out.

"Ah." Doctor Otero seemed like he understood something clearly when he returned to the work on Carlos' hand. "The woman I saw outside then."

"If you—" Carlos began.

"I would never," Doctor Otero cut him off with a vicious tone of his own. "And you know better than that."

"Right," Carlos breathed. "Sorry, doc."

"I'm going to write you a new dosage to take off the meds." The doctor disregarded their previous conversation as he nodded toward the withdrawal medications on the table beside them. "You'll lessen them as the days go on. How long had they been shooting you with heroin?"

"Only a few days but it was constant." Carlos was glancing at the meds.

"You'll be fine," The doctor scoffed lightly. "A lesser man wouldn't be, but you don't have that choice, captain."

Carlos' dark eyes were meeting the grey blue of Doctor Otero's and the understanding between them only grew.

The doctor had many reasons to find support for the resistance. It was his city and his people being attacked too. However, the previous captain that Carlos had taken over for had been the doctor's very own brother.

Doctor Otero's hand lifted, and Carlos lifted his good one to clasp the hand in a firm grip.

"'You will be what you must be'," Doctor Otero quoted the famous José de San Martín. A liberator of South America and proud figure among many in the resistance.

"'Or else you will be nothing'," Carlos finished.

Doctor Otero's eyes were keen when he finished with Carlos and began to move toward his men.

Later in the evening, Jill's combat boots were crunching over the dirt that led up the path to the healer's house. After a simple bath, she had found herself being invited into people's homes where she was thanked over and over again for the help she had provided.

Their small village, which was referred to as an ayllu, consisted of a community united by common kinship ties and by farming land. They had all been part of a much larger community, which was called a markas, but had to flee when the gangs had raided and plundered their land for the coca farm that was a very specific part of the cultural identity. As such, they were a people a world away from home in their own backyards.

The young woman, Rosha, had described this quietly to Jill in Spanish earlier in the evening. Rosha's parents sat on their porch chairs, holding hands together while they stared hopefully up at Jill to understand.

"What you did by bringing our brothers and sons home," Rosha translated for her mother. "It will never be forgotten. Everyone will want to feed you, so I hope you're hungry."

Rosha had been the young woman in red who had turned away from Jill when she had arrived at the village. Although she wasn't wearing the same red dress, it was her eyes that Jill would never be able to forget. Rosha looked to be no more than 15 years old, but something in her gaze described the story of a youth that had seen too much to be able to embrace innocence anymore.

And so, from house-to-house Jill went, with Rosha in tow, receiving the thanks and meeting the people who were the very backbone of the small community. Weathered faces stared up at her and they all told their own story. This is what Carlos, and his men were working to protect. What many of the resistance leaders were trying to protect. The fragile and invaluable portions of a home: The people.

Although the people before Jill wouldn't be taking up arms beside the resistance, they still got up every morning, tended to the crops, fed, and watered the animals, and kept home alive by the hope they put into the very foundation of their society.

A crossing thought found Jill and she realized that people couldn't fight a war without a home to come back to. Even the most merciless soldiers needed a reason to fight outside of vengeance.

It was something she had been doing for far too long; fighting without a home. Jill found herself losing her breath while standing in a new doorway.

As the hours passed, Jill was soon becoming overwhelmed with so much attention. She knew she was falling short in her responses, so when one of them asked her to join them around the fire for dinner and listen in to the stories, she had been relieved to be relinquished into a listening capacity.

Alonzo had been sitting near the fire eating when she walked up with the others. His brightly colored eyes lit up to see her and he made a great show of scooching over in the dirt before he patted the ground.

"C'mon, Rhamy," he beckoned with the piece of food he had in the other. "You can sit right next to me."

Jill felt the lopsided smile crest her features and did as he invited. Eyes were on her when she settled into a cross-legged position with her knee wedged against his. When Alonzo let out a pleased sound, she knocked her knee against his own, jostling the food he had been putting into his mouth without much grace.

"Rhamy? Really?" she asked with a straight face and a pointed look.

Alonzo couldn't make the wheezing noise when he laughed because his mouth was full of food. The result still looked goofy, and Jill found herself snickering at the choked looking expression he suddenly got. She quickly thumped him on the back a few times.

"Now I can say I saved both of the Oliveira brothers." Jill quipped when he spat up the food into his hand.

"You want a kiss or something?" He asked in the kind of scratchy voice one usually got when they nearly asphyxiated their food.

"Is that the only way you can deliver your gratitude? Careful, you might choke on that too." Jill quipped while she blew him a kiss.

Alonzo made to toss the chewed food into the fire pit but at her snarky words, the toss went wide and ended up hitting one of the children who let out a squawk of protest.

Alonzo was giving her a startled look and Jill forfeited a laugh behind her hand.

"So, you got fuckin' jokes now, huh?" The Oliveira grin was sliding across his features.

Jill gave his shoulder a push before she dug into the food.

Rosha sat on the other side of Alonzo, and she was waving to him subtly. When the young girl caught his attention and asked a softly spoken question with a finger pointed at him and then over to Jill, a devious smile was playing across his features. He gave Jill a side eye before he answered the girl in Aymara and leaned back toward his natural position with the devious smile not disappearing from his lightly bearded face.

Rosha was laughing quietly and waving to Jill when she noticed her attention.

Jill narrowed her eyes at Alonzo and waited.

"She wanted to know if you and I were a thing," Alonzo explained as he gave Jill once over with a coy looking smile. "I told her no, and that sadly I think you preferred men with some of their fingers missing."

"How old are you?" Jill squinted at his young face in the firelight.

"Old enough. Definitely old enough." he gave his true laugh when she bit into her food and shook her head.

An older man, the same one Jill had initially seen leading the children away the day she arrived, was named Amaru and he interrupted the hushed dinner talk with a clap of his old hands. At the mention of the story held specially for dinner, the children were announcing their glee loudly around them. Even Rosha's older eyes seemed to soften at one of the oldest types of community activities.

Amaru settled into the dirt with the assistance of two younger boys and once he had thanked them, he began to lift his voice to tell the tale of the Hummingbird and the Condor.

"One day, as he flew down from the peaks where he lived, Condor saw a young woman tending her llamas in the field. She was so pretty that Condor wanted her for his wife. So, he decided to talk to her." Amaru began with an ageless voice he seemed to have cultivated over his many years of telling stories.

Leaning back on her hands in the dirt, Jill listened quietly to the story Amaru painted before her eyes. With the firelight dancing over her features, Jill followed the sound of his voice and began to watch the condor in her mind.

The condor, the outsider, who had disguised himself as a man and took the chief's daughter for a bride. Beguiled by the strangeness of the man, and the opportunity he hid behind the teeth of a predator, a hummingbird helped rescue the daughter in exchange for the right to feed in the chief's cropland. The hummingbird represented the common man and the power one could have over their fate should they step forward and challenge circumstance.

"'First I carry you, then you carry me,' the condor said to the girl. He was cunning as he tricked her into thinking he was just a normal man." Amaru paused as he looked on at the children.

That line seemed to stick with Jill the most when the story came to an end. Alonzo's hand on her shoulder caused Jill to open her eyes once more, and she gave a vulnerable smile to the concerned look he had on his face. With a touch to his hand, she held it when Amaru began his next story. The friend beside her seemed to understand and didn't pull away from the connection she silently asked for.

The rain had returned that night and it broke up the campsite shortly after the second story had concluded. Alonzo had offered to walk her to the guest home she had been provided with and aside from being struck by the word home, Jill found that she didn't want to enter the new empty house yet. Alonzo gave her a knowing smile and promised to visit her in the morning.

While she walked, her eyes were taking in the rows of closely built homes around her. She hadn't been paying as much attention when she had passed through the last few times. Too concerned with finding Carlos, seeing him after his arrival back, or running from him in her earlier fear, she failed to notice the small portions of identities that lived in the very wood of each building.

Whoever had helped craft and shape the wood for the homes had also taken the time to carve designs near the right side of each door, or someone else had come in to make each one unique on the homes.

Most of the symbols were similar to the geometrical shapes of Inca art Jill had seen previously, and it had been done in a fine hand. Other symbols included Llamas, and a few other whorls she wasn't familiar with.

Over the porch railings and on some of the porches themselves were handmade blankets that looked to have been colored recently. Hand shaped pottery of varying different sizes held different looking spices and vegetables that swayed in the gentle breeze. In the dark, Jill could almost make out the designs on the pottery.

The tinkling sounds of windchimes hanging from the sides of some of the smaller homes were following Jill while she continued to walk in a destination only her feet seemed to know.

First I carry you, then you carry me. Dark eyes and the warm smile she had seen that morning were beginning to become a natural complement in her mind when she realized where she was heading.

The story, the Hummingbird and the Condor, had been shared by a few generations and truly spoke to being cautious of what came knocking with a pretty face. A wariness to outsiders.

Jill was certain that it hadn't been an intended message for her, but as she found herself drawn to the now dark healing house, she couldn't help but feel like the condor when she pushed the door open and peered inside.

Kicking off her boots outside the door, Jill made her entry all the quieter when she slipped inside. The rain above was tinging on the overhead roof and it appeared to be a lullaby for the resting men within.

A single candle lit the otherwise dark room. Madris wasn't to be found moving among the beds and when Jill squinted toward the door that led down the hall, she found it left ajar.

Feeling like the fox in the henhouse, Jill pushed a wet strand of her hair from her face, crossed her arms over her chest from the chill, and peered over at Pedro, Alex, and David's beds on the right side of the room.

David was sleeping with his mouth open; his youthful face appeared even younger with the muscles in his face relaxed. Alex was turned on his side and away from Jill. Pedro, who was closest to the front door, lay half over the side of the bed with his arm drooping toward the floor.

A turning glance found Jill studying Carlos on the left side for a few beats. The flickering candlelight showed that his eyes were closed as he lay on his back with an arm thrown across his forehead.

Jill moved first to Pedro and gently laid her hand on his shoulder when she pushed him back upright in bed. The younger man opened his eyes slightly and stretched his chapped lips over his teeth when he saw her.

"Rhamnusia," he murmured thickly.

"Shhh," she whispered while gently tucking his arm back into the bed and bringing the covers up to his chest. "You're dreaming."

"Ah-kay," Came his garbled response before he shut his eyes and was back out in seconds.

With an amused huff, Jill rubbed her arms and began a slow walk toward Carlos' bed while her mind seemed to wander. She wasn't sure what she was doing here, but when she had walked into the offered guest home Amaru had shown her earlier in the day, a pit had opened up in her stomach while she viewed the barren space that was meant for her.

Sitting now at the foot of Carlos' bed, a slow breath escaped her while she stared out at the room. The village had offered her a place to stay. They had let her eat among their children and even through her hesitance and nervousness, they had shown with their actions and words that she was welcome among them and appreciated what she brought back.

Her eyes glanced at Pedro who had smiled at her from his dreamlike state. He had smiled upon seeing her face from the dredges of sleep.

When was the last time she had felt so welcome anywhere, regardless of how it started?

Chris Redfield's worried eyes flashed in her mind and Jill made a distinct promise to herself to find him when she knew that everything was settled down in South America. Chris hadn't made her feel unwelcome, but she hadn't been ready to face everything else that came with it.

However, even when returning to the BSAA, there had been smiles and hugs, but it had been right back to business not a day later. The goal had been to get her back out to the field, back to what she was supposed to be good at, and back to what had been her life for far too long.

Back to the home that was never unpacked and left in boxes.

Jill was absently rubbing at one of the calluses on her palm when she realized she wanted to stay. She wanted what warmth she got from being around people who smiled when they saw her, shared their food, gave their trust, and even had little brothers who teased her. Most of all, she wanted…

When she lifted her eyes to look over at Carlos, she found him staring up at her silently from beneath his arm.

"Hi," she uttered in a small breath before she stood and walked closer to him. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."

"You don't need to lie to me, Supercop," he murmured before he dropped his arm down onto the bed.

The rain hitting the roof above them made the words a little harder to hear and when Jill leaned in to catch what he said, a slow smile creased his features.

"I would never wake a sleeping patient on purpose," she retorted while watching his mouth for a moment. "Didn't think I'd ever hear you call me that nickname again."

"You have many nicknames now. I enjoy calling you all of them, but your name never gets old either," Carlos said softly with a knowing look up at her.

"I appreciate that," she breathed, not knowing what to do with her hands or how to explain her appearance in the healing house. "I just wanted to check on you."

"Uh huh," Carlos bade in a tone that let her know that he was aware of her hesitance. "If you want to cuddle again, you can just ask."

Something must have shown itself on her face. Despite her attempts to keep her features neutral, his answering chuckle was deep when he lifted his blankets and said, "Come here,"

Jill struggled for a moment before she looked down at her weather sprinkled clothes.

"I'm all wet, Carlos."

"You're really not discouraging me at all right now." Fingers closed around hers and he gave her a simple tug like he had last night.

Jill sighed and hid a smile before she lifted a leg and curled herself into the bed next to him. Not wanting to hurt him, she lay on her side and left space for him to have room to move.

Scooping up her damp hair to toss over her shoulder, she then turned her chin up to his. Jill let out a sound as his arm wrapped around her back and pulled her flush into his side. Their faces were now only inches apart.

"Couldn't sleep without me tonight?" His warm hand ran down the length of her spine while he settled back in. "Good."

"Hmm, did you know they gave me a place to sleep in the house just down from yours?" Jill asked before she placed a hand gently on his chest and held his eyes.

"Those traitors," Carlos muttered while he seemed to soak in the features of her face slowly.

"You asking me to bunk with you then, Oliveira?" Jill prodded with the promising smile she gave him earlier back on her face.

"Absolutely," he admitted. "You're my mean little cuddle buddy now, Supercop. You really gonna deny me when I'm sick and wounded?"

"Fearsome resistance captain," Jill watched his eyes fall down to her mouth while she spoke. The attention had her shifting her top leg to get comfortable while she lay on her side. "Ex-bioweapons killer, and a sweet talker. Do you have any other talents I should know about?"

"Sweet talker?" His tone was pleased when he reached down with his free hand and wrapped her leg over his own, effectively turning her body to straddle his. "Are you complimenting me, Jill?"

"Are you in dire need of compliments?" She was enjoying this—whatever this was. Her heart was thumping in her chest and her voice was starting to become too breathy for how quiet the rain was becoming overhead. The hand that held her leg stayed in place behind her knee.

"Need?" Fingers ran back up her spine and when he reached her neck, his hand was tangling in her roots. "Not at all, but if it's coming from you, I'd gladly take them."

Jill was trying to control her breath when the warmth began to become a living thing in her body. She lifted a hand and ran it across his cheek that wasn't as bruised. The way he was looking at her now left little room for interpretation and it made that sleeping creature in Jill's chest open a maw in yearning.

When his hand closed in a fist with her hair in it, she let out a soft sound that betrayed her previously cool demeanor.

She heard Carlos' intake of air at the sound of her whimper, and she found herself leaning toward his mouth—

The door to the healer's room squeaked open and suddenly Madris was walking into the room. Jill lifted her head and froze. The last thing she wanted to do was get Carlos in trouble…or wake his men with the sounds he seemed to be easily able to draw from her.

Madris looked over at Carlos, looked away, and then immediately darted her gaze back when she spotted the pair of them. Her knowing smile was visible even in the dim light. With a hobbling step, she blew out the candle before she turned back for the door.

The door closed quietly, and Jill blinked a few times to allow her eyes to adjust to the darkness.

"Good night, Jill," Lips were whispering in her ear. "We'll continue this conversation tomorrow. When we're alone."

Not trusting her own voice, all Jill could do was nod before she laid her head down on his chest. With one of his arms across her back, his other hand settled around her thigh that was draped over his leg. It was a while before she could fall asleep but when she woke up to shift during the night, she caught Carlos shifting with her and his arms never let her go once.

Jill Valentine wanted to stay. For the people, for the friend she had found in a little brother, for the peace she was finding inside herself, and for the man beside her now who seemed to hold her like she was the most precious thing in the world.