The blood from Carlos' knuckles had begun to clot only an hour ago but every time he clenched his fists, the scabbing would tear open again.

Wrath. Had anyone ever asked him what his deadliest sin was, it would have been Wrath, but there wasn't anyone around him to ask those questions anymore. It was something he maintained every day while he watched people he loved fall and perish for the most selfish reasons. From his brothers to the land he was raised on, he sat in the home he had built himself and just let the blood dry on his skin while he considered the losses.

The redheaded man—Octavio—hadn't provided him with too much new information. Carlos knew most of it already when it came to the Blood Alliance's movement and awareness of the situation in which Marcos Lehder had created. Arturo hadn't been supported fully in his decision to take him out. Many people in the different areas of Bolivia had chosen Carlos to lead when their previous captain fell. With the betrayal on top of everything else, Carlos' only hope now was that it wouldn't reach back to them in the recoil.

What Octavio had provided him with was an outlet to that Wrath and although he wasn't proud of it, Carlos didn't regret it either.

Knowing that Jill was in the hands of the only people who could have possibly helped, Carlos had been free to meter out justice in her place. Only Alonzo had ever known what he was capable of.

When Carlos was done interrogating Octavio, the blood that fell from his knuckles and onto the dirt of the home hadn't been his. The few people who were standing outside waiting for him regarded him with sorrowful looks and their judgement was evident when he stepped out.

Instead of shame in their eyes, they regarded Carlos with looks of acceptance and approval.

Jill Valentine wasn't just his anymore.

Whether it was from her playing with the children or an accumulation of her short time with them here building trust and safety, she had been claimed by the Aymaras people around him. Although she wasn't considered Ayllu to the custom of the Aymaras, the looks Carlos saw in their eyes now were a testament to what she gave.

Jill Valentine was an outsider who had brought home the remaining captive men. Carlos hadn't spoken much about the slaughterhouse, but he knew his men had with their families. With that, Jill's name—the Rhamnusia's name—had burnished on the tongues of his people while they weighed her deeds.

She was a stranger who had protected their children and taken a bullet for one of their own. Her blood lived in their very soil now and as Carlos understood it, it was now also their blood that spilled into the dirt when Octavio had taken that shot.

Octavio had shot one of them and there was a payment for that.

Doctor Otero hadn't let Carlos back into the healer's room and it had taken the ire of Madris with her hands against his chest to fully wake him up from the Wrath that was still surging in his veins.

"She belongs to you!" Madris reminded him with a stern jab in the chest. Right over one of his wounds and he grimaced as he backed out onto the porch.

Carlos had heard the unspoken message.

So, protect her. Let us help her.

And he had. For the second time, Carlos Oliveira had walked away when he knew she was safe and could only wait.

When his door opened in front of him from his seated position on the couch, he lifted his head in preparation to yell but it wasn't Alonzo who looked in on him before shutting the door.

Jill shut the door behind herself quietly and Carlos didn't realize he stood before he was rounding the table, reaching for the serene face of the woman who was as much a part of this village as he was.

"Hi," her voice was soft and the casualty in it stroked that fire of Wrath Carlos couldn't seem to control.

"You foolish, prideful, little thing," he uttered while he backed her into the door like he had only a few days before. "You could have died—" his voice broke when he touched the sides of her face and felt the warmth of skin pressing back against his. "Why did you do that? Why would ever do that?"

"Carlos," Jill tried to interrupt. "I—"

Her back slammed against the door when he pressed in and jerked her face further up toward his. She didn't wince, she didn't cry out, nor did she look scared as his eyes raged above hers now.

No, Jill's eyes lit up and her mouth opened slightly as her heavy breath released between them. She met his rage with quiet certainty that he wouldn't hurt her.

Wrath meeting Pride.

"You don't get to do that for me, Jill. You don't get to sacrifice yourself for me!" Carlos nearly yelled into her upturned face. "You can't do that. You're too important—too important to me."

"I'm alright, Carlos," she said gently. "I promise you I'm alright. It would take more than that to kill me."

"It doesn't matter." Carlos leaned his forehead down on hers and let out his own heavy breath. "You've sacrificed enough. Not for me, Jill. I couldn't live with that."

A few beats passed when Jill allowed him to just hold his head to hers while he attempted to slow his breathing. When she spoke next, she pulled her head back slightly and gazed up at him with those haunting violet eyes.

"I would do it every time. The last few days have been crazy, I'll admit that." Her hands found his scabbed, bloody ones, and she paused to touch them gently.

Carlos released a huff at her last words, but he didn't interrupt her this time.

"But it has also been the most grounded I've ever been in my entire life," Her hands settled and squeezed gently over his. "It's from you, it's from this place, and it's more salient in my mind every second why I couldn't stop thinking of you for years."

Carlos could feel it when his body had begun to shake, and he knew it had nothing to do with the medication.

"Is it?" he uttered, needing to understand her words, and needing to understand what she wanted.

"I wasn't strong enough to break my confinement, Carlos and I have to find a way to live with that. However, I was strong enough to hold on to you and it's nothing in comparison to the real thing. Nothing in comparison to you." Her look was piercing him to his very soul and Carlos knew that she held the power in this moment.

"There are things you need to know about me," she continued before her eyes fell from what looked like shame.

He hated that look on her. Hated that someone had ever made her question herself and who she was.

When Jill spoke again, it was to the vaccine he had risked his life to get for her back in '98 when she had been infected.

Carlos wouldn't have forgotten those hours. War had shown him many dissolute settings but running through a hospital in a viral pandemic had been a gruesome sight even outside of war's canvas.

For the sanctuary the country had provided, Carlos still hated America, especially its healthcare system. He'd accept his experiences as his own, and the irony of being 'employed' through something like Umbrella along with it.

The blood and gore of the fallen and infected in Arklay Memorial hadn't covered up how detached American society had become in regard to its medical ideals. Posters for healthcare coverage, side effects, drug advertisements, payment plans, and credit cards had lined the walls. He'd had the thought that the country's citizens had become the walking dead before the tragedy of Umbrella's apathy hit the small, mid-western town.

Still, with boots crunching over broken glass, broken lives, and fallen name badges, he had pressed on, and he had found that vaccine.

Jill's voice broke a few times when she spoke of her body's formed immunity to the T-Virus. She explained the virions in her system and the focus Albert Wesker had on cultivating them in 2006. What the man had also discovered when he was caring for her after the fall over the cliff, was that Jill was quickly healing all on her own. She had become immune to the T-Virus, but the mutant strains Wesker had injected her with began to change her system; much like Umbrella had intended for super soldiers, Jill's body refused to let her die.

"I'm not infected," her voice cut through his inner thoughts. "I'm just…different now."

Jill was looking up at him with what he could only interpret as worry in her eyes.

"You've always been different," he answered that worry and decided to crush it. "Even before that tyrant decided to have the last word, Jill. You were always different."

"Nah, she's not like that. Hell, she's not like anybody," he had said to Tyrell Patrick when they had moved on to the police station, and she had departed on the train.

He had known even then that she was something else. Someone special.

Carlos kissed her forehead when her tears began to gather again. Jill was pliant when he pulled her into his arms and away from the door.

"Wesker made me into an armament," Jill said into his chest. "To serve his purpose."

One of his hands found its way into her hair as he held her against him, and his head shifted when she tilted her head back up to his.

"But now that purpose is mine to decide." Jill continued. "And if you'll let me, Carlos…"

"I will protect you," she whispered in English when her hands laid themselves on his chest.

"I will serve you," she bid in Spanish when those hands roamed up to his bearded face.

"I will fight for you," she promised in English when she lifted her face and kissed his bruised cheek gently.

"I will never betray you," she swore in Spanish while her thumbs stroked his cheeks.

Carlos had the thought that he hadn't cried this much within the span of a week since he had been a younger man, but already he had done so twice and every time it had been because of the small woman before him. She, who surprised him, caused pride to grow in his chest, and brought forth the deep yearning for something permanent and long-lasting.

Her voice and words were an age-less vow, and he felt the Wrath slipping completely away when he held her stare.

These weren't words she said lightly or promises she made without truly meaning them. Not Her. Jill meant every word.

Glancing down at the brown jacket that was across her shoulders, Carlos looked back up to her eyes while his hands pushed aside the lapels of the coat. Finding her shirtless underneath, his fingers brushed her bare navel briefly before they skimmed her ribs. When he wrapped his palms around her slender waist and held on as if she would disappear again if he let go, Jill Valentine shivered in his hands.

She let out another breath with her mouth upturned towards his and Carlos felt the very need to consume her and what she offered.

He didn't regret walking away from her 12 years ago. He hadn't deserved her then and he surely didn't deserve her now, but—

"What do you want in return?" He voiced his thoughts with a much softer voice while he brought his face down closer to hers.

"I…" Her breath hitched while his thumbs skimmed across her skin.

Jill was such a small thing; his encircled hands touched fingertip to fingertip around her waist. To think she had done so much destruction just from her little frame.

"I want you in return," her breath mingled with his while one of her hands touched his wrist.

"You want me, Supercop?" he asked while he pulled her hips flush to his body, his lips remaining hovered over hers, just out of reach to her shorter stature.

The smile he gave while he watched her nod and wet her lips was slow.

"Are you sure?" he leaned down and pressed his lips to her cheek, purposefully not giving her what she wanted yet.

"I'm a man in charge of the safety of this village and a few others," he murmured into her skin while he trailed lips in a soft caress down her jaw. "I have nothing but a name, loyalty, and love to give, Jill."

Jill let out a soft sound from her throat when his beard scraped the skin of her neck, and his lips found the spot just below her ear.

Carlos' hands tightened on her waist at the sound before he whispered in her ear, "I'd protect you too. I've been serving you for 12 years; you're just now catching on though." Teeth pulled at her ear, and he smiled when she arched against him and gasped. "I've fought beside you before and you should know I'd follow you anywhere, Jill."

"Yes," she breathed.

"Yes, what?"

"Yes, I'm sure. I've never wanted anything more. I've never wanted to be anywhere more than here." He'd give her credit; her voice only broke once while he devoured the skin at her neck with his lips.

"Then it's yours, all of it." He spoke.

"All of it?" Jill was pulling her head back and to the side before she looked up at him with the coveting stare.

"All of it," he vowed.

Her hands were careful and kind when she reached up and gently cradled his bruised face once more. With a rise to her tiptoes, she pressed her lips against his and Carlos felt the weight of the years falling away from his shoulders when he pulled her closer.

Jill's kiss was hesitant and exploratory when she pulled at his bottom lip and silently asked him to open his mouth to hers. Carlos couldn't help the smile he gave before he obeyed.

The skin of her back was a pathway of scars when Carlos' hands roamed his fingertips upwards behind her. When her breath caught, he pulled his head back slightly and saw a different look flicker across her features. His hands paused on the scars of her back.

"You are so much more," he said softly while he gripped her solidly "Then what's been done to you."

The vulnerability in her face was a story all on its own. A shame she carried for the loss of agency she'd been prisoner to for so long. Traces of memory that couldn't kill her body but would also never let her forget.

When she didn't answer Carlos gently asked, "Is this ok?"

Jill laid her hands back on his chest and gave a nod. He heard her release another breath and his hands began to move again.

He wasn't a man in a rush. Time was theirs in this moment and he wouldn't leave until she knew exactly how much he meant every word he had ever said to her.

His lips found hers once more while he traced every curve and dip of her torso. Knuckles were gently brushing the tops of her breasts while he dragged his fingers across her collar bone. Her lips were curving into a smile against his when she began to relax once more.

The tiny woman before him let out the most delightful sound into his mouth when he skimmed the sides of her clothed chest and wrapped his hands around her bare shoulders beneath the coat.

"Please," Jill whispered suddenly before she pulled her head back, opened her eyes, and looked up into his.

"Oh," he leaned forward and stole a kiss while he watched the desire transform her face into something much lovelier. "You really gonna rush me from exploring you, Valentine? You're mine now."

Before she could protest further, Carlos pushed the jacket from her shoulders and looked down as more of her skin was revealed to him. Her fingers were fisting into his shirt when Carlos leaned down and dragged his mouth from her collarbones and toward her chest. He found himself humming when the clasp of her bra behind her came apart in his wandering hands and he was much faster about pulling that article of clothing away and to the floor.

He purposely skimmed his fingertips along the sides of her breasts and gave a smile into her skin when he felt her shudder further. When his mouth closed around one of her nipples, her intake of air was harsh while she leaned back into the door and allowed him to cup her, navigating his way then to her other breast.

Jill was finding her confidence when she let out a breathy chuckle from his flinch at her hands tugging him forward by the belt.

"Impatient," he teased when he stumbled into her.

"You would be the only man to describe 12 years as impatient," Jill countered when she pressed her bare chest against his and leaned up for his mouth once more.

"Alright then," he acquiesced when she brushed her stomach into the growing need between his own thighs. "We'll do it your way."

"Couch," she breathed into his mouth while she kissed him. "Clothes off."

Carlos was a simple man, and he did as he was told.

Their mingled laughs were soft as Jill helped him to step out of his clothing while also being aware of his current healing injuries. The way she beheld him was a promise of more days to come when they could be more forceful and careless with their activities.

For now, he was just as pleased when he sat back on the couch carefully and watched as the woman he had met in Raccoon City all those years ago held his eyes and slowly dragged her leggings down her willowed frame. When she stepped out of them, she crawled across his legs carefully until she sat atop his bare thighs and leaned forward to lay her palms across his broad chest.

Jill had decided to leave the cotton panties on her hips. When Carlos let out his own frustrated moan and curled his fingers in her waistband to pull her forward, he heard her laugh wickedly into the skin of his neck. As her clothed center brushed the base of his erection he knew he'd be a man forever lost. With careful precision, she was rocking herself against the base of him while his cock rested against his stomach.

"Jill," he rumbled in warning.

"I'm trying to be gentle with you, captain." she whispered into his ear before she reached down and wrapped a hand around his length.

"Fuck," his head dropped back when the smooth skin of her palm gripped him firmly.

Carlos could feel it when Jill put her balance into her knees that she had on either side of his hips before she reached her other hand for one of his at her hip. With his uninjured hand in hers, she slid his fingers to the damp portion of her panties.

Her teeth scraped the sensitive skin at his neck when he found his fingers pulling from hers and pushing the panties aside to run a feather light touch at her now exposed heat.

Carlos lifted his head to look into her eyes while he began to stroke his hand back and forth across her engorged flesh.

"Already wet for me," he murmured before he sat up slightly and wrapped the free hand around hers on him. He placed that hand on his shoulder and grinned at her confused expression. "I'll take over from here, Jill."

Carlos tilted his head and watched her as she held herself above him and let his fingers explore the very intimate places between her thighs. He didn't let his fingers stay in one place for long. Whether they were pumping slowly inside of her, or a thumb at her clit; he watched Jill Valentine pant and plead in madness for him.

His other hand would wander from her hip, and the soft shudders and burning looks she sent him was the life of a woman who had also been deprived of touch for too long. The more he held her eyes and touched her skin, the more she seemed to radiate above him.

Her nails were nearly drawing blood at his shoulder while she held herself up in his lap and arched her spine; she made sounds he had only dreamed of while he kissed and sucked at the sensitive areas on her chest.

"Look at me while you come." His other arm had wrapped around her lower back before his eyes dropped momentarily to take in her beautiful, pale body shaking atop his.

Carlos lifted his eyes back to hers, and he fed on the very way she was consuming him too.

When she came apart in his hands, she kept her eyes on his and he couldn't stop the panting breaths coming from his own mouth.

Jill was already leaning forward to ravage his mouth when his hands found her hips and jerked her forward. Her undergarments tore easily in both of his hands, and he laughed when she made a displeased sound in her throat.

Had it been up to him, she'd never wear them again.

When he lifted her weight with ease, she bid a ravenous moan against his lips and wound her hand down to guide him to her entrance. He wasn't gentle when he slammed her home around him.

He wanted to tell her that he loved her then, but he didn't. He didn't want to rush her while she discovered herself in his homeland.

He had loved her for years. Without knowing who she truly was in the torn city she tried to protect, he had loved the woman who had challenged him, led him, and gave him her honesty.

As she rose and fell on top of him with her mouth tearing at his, he thought she might already know regardless.

Still, he'd thought he might have to find a better word to encompass exactly what he felt for her.

"Yours," Madris had said simply about her.

Carlos wouldn't be able to decide that, but he knew, without a doubt, he was hers and he would always be hers.

Jill was nearly weightless in his hands when he scooped beneath her thighs and lifted her slowly before bringing her full weight back down. Her back bowed and Carlos greedily took in the miles of delicate bare skin in front of him. When she pleaded at his slow pace, he released a deep chuckle and leaned forward before giving her exactly what she wanted.

"Carlos," Jill gasped above him with her hands digging into the hair at his nape.

The hum he rumbled into her neck before he pulled back and watched her prepare to come apart for a second time was a testament to how much he also loved watching her submit to him. He was looking into her eyes when she eventually came again.

"Good girl," he groaned and soon followed right behind her while his hands branded into the skin of her hips.

He pushed and pulled her hips against his one last time as his own release surged through him before she collapsed on top of him.

Carlos fell back fully into the seat of the couch while he held her to his chest, whispering in her ear as she panted against him.

Jill's blonde hair was a mess at her shoulders and down her back. Sweat lightly covered both of their bodies while he remained inside of her.

Carlos couldn't stop the slight grin pulling at his sleepy features while he ran his hands up her back and into her hair.

When she tilted her face up to his, she matched that grin.

Starlight. Pure starlight.

"Starlight?" she whispered curiously.

"Did I say that out loud?" he murmured.

"Mhm," she hummed, watching him.

"That's what you are when you smile, Supercop," he explained before he laid his lips to her forehead. "Starlight."

When he pulled back, the smile her lips pulled into was one of the most blinding things he had seen from her yet.

At base, Jill Valentine was radiant.

In his arms, she transcended the very stars.

For the next few hours, Jill lost track of who would wake up first and would begin the first few soft touches that would lead into further exploration of their bodies. Carlos' injuries and the couch left them with limited options on their positions, but Jill hadn't let that stop her.

Or him.

"We," Jill panted as she laid across him on the floor of his small home. Carlos had laid one of the blankets down, but it was currently twisted beneath their sweating forms. "Need a bed, Carlos."

"I do not," Carlos responded with a chuckle interrupting his own words. "Negotiate with terrorists, Jill."

Jill lifted her head to his and let out a snort, "No, your tactic seems to base itself around flirting with them until they surrender."

"You think I'm the flirt?" His hands were roaming her skin again as they both attempted to catch their breath.

"Chronic," Jill deadpanned. "Possibly fatal. I don't think you could stop if you tried."

"How do you know it wasn't only you I ever felt comfortable flirting with?" His responding grin was becoming absolutely feral.

"Yeah, ok," Jill felt herself beaming back at him. "I'm pretty sure the charm just runs in the family."

"Wait," Carlos punctuated his next inquiry with a stolen kiss before he pulled his head back. "Are you under the impression you weren't flirting back with me even in Raccoon?"

"If you remember, Carlos." Jill leaned back as she sat now on his thighs. "I didn't even like you very much in the beginning."

Carlos sat up along with her and rested back on his elbows as he tilted his head and considered her.

"Oh, you don't have to like someone to find them attractive, Supercop," he let his eyes roam the body she still had wrapped around him.

"In fact, I almost preferred it. You were always cute when you were irritated with me, so how could I resist? 'I know what a radio is.'" Carlos ended his statement with a mimicked impression of her all those years ago.

Jill couldn't help the startled laugh that escaped her when he made a pleased sound in the back of his throat afterwards.

She leaned down toward his face and she enjoyed the male pride that was creeping onto his features while he watched her come closer.

"Not only do you like blondes, Oliveira," she took his bottom lip lightly in her teeth before she kissed him slowly. "You absolutely prefer mean women."

"Just one blonde," he slid his hands up her thighs before he punctuated his next statement with a harsh squeeze. "Only one mean, blonde woman."

Jill sighed into his hold when he sat up further and pressed his chest into hers. She felt the words she wanted to tell him earlier creeping up her throat when she said, "Carlos, I—"

A familiar knock sounded at the door when a fist rapped three times.

One of Carlos' arms was winding around her back when he leaned forward to yank the blanket up behind her and wrap it around her from the waist down. The result left Jill's back as the only thing exposed should the visitor peer into the window.

Jill smiled softly at his concern for her modesty, but when she gazed up at him next, she saw a little more than modesty as something possessive lingered in his eyes. Jill decided she would explore that later when she climbed off him and kept the blanket around her when he rose to his feet.

It had become late in the afternoon and the sun was once again shining sharply through the window as it creeped toward the west.

Carlos was muttering quietly to himself as he slid his pants back on and waited for her to slip into the bathroom to clean up before he opened the door.

Jill was cleaning the evidence of their lovemaking when she heard the familiar notes of the younger Oliveira brother in the main room.

"How is she?" Alonzo asked as a way of greeting. Jill was touched at the concern in his voice.

"She's fine," Carlos answered and there was a small pause before Alonzo responded next.

"Look at that smile," she could see the man's grin in her mind's eye. "You got laid."

The thwap of Carlos' smack was loud even through the wood of the walls.

"Ow, fuck!" Came after. "You should not be able to hit that hard with only three remaining fingers on that hand."

"Eat it, little brother. What's up with our meeting in two days? Is it still set for two?" Carlos' stern voice replied.

"Two indeed. DeAndros will be coming down for this one. A lot of movement in the capital right now," Alonzo supplied.

"Haven't heard that name in a while," Carlos said thoughtfully. Jill could hear as his feet shifted on the wood.

"Try not to smile so much at the meeting. It's bad for business, captain." Jill couldn't help the smile that hit her own face while Alonzo spoke.

"I'd really disagree." Jill finally let her laugh go at the sound of true pride in Carlos' voice.

"Ugh," Alonzo uttered, having heard her now. "You both are going to be impossible now. Come on, the healers want to see you both and dinner is being prepped; people want to see their Rhamnusia."

Jill paused as a pang in her chest resonated out, but this time it wasn't from sorrow, it was something much warmer.

In such a short amount of time, she found herself settling into this village, with these people, and the answering call in her heart beat out a truth she almost didn't understand.

Did she deserve to feel this happiness when Carlos looked at her the way he did? Touched her the way she had wanted for years?

There were things he still didn't know about her. Things that lived beneath her familiar face and entirely new words that she didn't know if she was allowed to utter.

Jill finished pulling on her clothes and stepped out right as Carlos said, "Better not let Madris know you called him one of our healers."

"I personally find that she's coming around to him," Alonzo gave Jill a once over when she stepped out. The youngest brother bid her a look of true joy to see her before he added. "Take care of my brother, Jill. He's getting old and needs extra pampering; love looks good on him though."

Alonzo was giving them both a snarky two fingered salute before he sauntered out.

Carlos finished shaking his head before he glanced over at her.

Jill quirked her lips and leaned against the wall that connected to the bathroom.

Was it love that was staring back at her now? She felt like she knew the answer; it had been clawing at her for days now while she considered her future alongside the man.

Despite her lingering fears for absolution, her previous vows to him earlier hadn't been from the position of a soldier. No, Jill was absolutely falling in love with Carlos Oliveira and if he let her, she'd make sure he never forgot it.

"How old are you, again?" she inquired with a slightly raised brow.

"34, Supercop. You gonna share your applesauce with me too?" Carlos' eyes marked her now covered figure.

"Landed me a younger man," Jill shrugged and let him stare. "There should be no excuses for you then."

"Mmm," Carlos hummed, and he advanced slowly toward her. Jill let her eyes drift lower around his larger frame. "Speaking of which, where do you think you're going?"

"The walls are thin," she claimed while she bit the inside of her cheek to keep her delight from showing. "Aren't we leaving?"

"In time," Carlos replied, stopping in front of her now. His tall height was dwarfing hers. "But you know what the best thing is about being a captain?"

"What's that?" She didn't know if she'd ever get used to the way he watched her.

"You get to be late when you want," he bid before he leaned down to scoop her up from beneath the back of her legs.

"Carlos!" She was breathless when he set her over his shoulder with ease.

Jill could feel the rumble of his dark laughter when he turned toward the couch and dropped her back down onto it. She observed that hungry look in eyes when he undressed her slowly again, and she matched it when he was finally back inside her.

The walk back through the village in the twilight felt different to Jill as Carlos took her hand and led them past the houses toward the healer's house. People making their way to and from the houses would glance down at their hands and would beam widely when they passed. Among them, Rosha waved and her usually somber eyes were creasing in the corners.

Those who spoke Spanish as their secondary language bid her well wishes on her recovery and thanked her for what she did in saving Carlos.

The words were kind but as they were said, the larger hand around hers would squeeze a little tighter and Jill knew Carlos still didn't quite agree with the decision, but she thought he struggled with the gratitude the most.

Entering into Madris' domain, Jill hid a laugh behind Carlos when she viewed the doctor and the respected healing woman arguing over the spilled deck of cards in front of them. They both looked up with scowls on their faces when she and Carlos entered.

Madris' face changed when she stood to her feet and took in Jill's strong stature next to Carlos.

Doctor Otero remained seated while he watched the older woman walk toward Jill.

Jill felt a strong emotion of contentedness overtake her as Madris stepped up toward her and took both of her cheeks in her hands. The woman was speaking to her in a voice that shook before she glanced over at Carlos.

"She's thanking you for what you did," Carlos said quietly. "For me."

Madris continued to speak in their language and at the core of her heart, Jill understood and responded before Carlos could supply her with the next translation.

"I will protect all of you, for as long as I draw breath," Jill vowed.

Carlos looked down at her in shock for a moment before Madris waved her hand at him to translate. He did so without looking away from Jill.

Madris' face broke out into a large smile before she lifted her hand and touched Jill's shoulder then. With a slight pull, Jill understood Madris wanted to see her injury. Jill turned slowly and pulled her shirt up slightly to reveal the now absent hole in her back.

The crisscrossing lines on her back were a story of their own. Albert Wesker had tested her healing abilities over and over again back in 2007. The freshest of the lot was a now pink, circular scar where the bullet from the rifle had pierced her back when she had turned into Carlos' chest and took the shot.

It had only taken a few hours to heal after Doctor Otero had pulled the bullet out. As it always did.

Madris' fingers ran softly over the scar tissue, and she murmured something else quietly to Carlos.

"Pachamama," Carlos translated. "Of life who can be scarred but never killed."

Jill's eyes filled with tears when Madris pulled her back around. The older woman was bringing Jill into her arms, and she didn't need Carlos to translate the words she bid into her hair then.

You could hear love in any language.