Chapter: 8

Nothing Like Before

While Claire sat on the examination table, Wesker worked away on her injury.

"We'll Ms. Redfield, seems you've done quite a toll on your hand." Wesker commented, continuing the repair work.

"You've done a partial rupture to your ligament."

Groaning Claire looked at Wesker in despair.

"Am I going to need surgery?"

"No it's not anything major, what I will require you to do, is to wear a brace." Wesker stood up from his chair, getting a brace from a near drawer.

Waiting on him, Claire glanced at a logo on a box that caught her eye, an umbrella.

So this is a umbrella facility.

"I hope you're not snooping around Dear Heart, it's very rude." Wesker smirked as he took his seat next to Claire, grasping her dead hand yet again.

Claire stole a few glances at Wesker while he worked on her hand. His sculpted face, his features were almost to perfect, his blonde hair seemed to have that same title. He seemed to be a demon trapped in an Angel's body. His thin lips hid many sercrets that's would stay with him until his last breath. She saw his head shift up and quickly snapped back to reality.

Was I really checking Wesker out?! Oh god.

Claire thought, shaking her head in shame.

It was really nothing compared to how she would blush just for him glancing her direction back at S.T.A.R.S. all those feelings went away when Chris told Claire what had happened, how they struggled for survival, all caused by someone who Chris looked up to. Claire had nothing against Wesker personally, it was what happened to Chris that made Claire try to avoid Wesker by any possible means, for Chris's sake. Going back to the current situation, Claire looked down, annoyed with her new friend that rested on her hand.

"Just be satisfied you didn't need surgery." Wesker said, not making any effort at all to move out of the room.

"This is just as bad though!"

"Ms. Redfield, you should be happy that you didn't get your arm cut off, others would have suffered if they tried the same thing with me." Wesker stood to get disinfectants and started to clean the mess created by Claire.

"Do you know how long it'll be until it heals?"

"Three weeks at the most, if you decide not to go hostile again."

"I'll try my best." Claire sarcastically commented still on the examination table. Silence fell upon them, complete, utter silence.

"How did you find me?" Claire asked out of the blue, kicking her feet up and down for entertainment. Wesker paused for a moment, considering telling her or just leaving her in wonder.

"I have my ways Dear Heart, just as you do." Wesker settled telling her that, then continue to wipe down the surface.

"Well, can you at least tell me what you injected me with back there?" Claire asked, stopping the kicking, looking directly at Wesker's obscure sunglasses, a smirk slowly showed on Wesker's lips, but not a word was said.

"Well..." Claire pressed, annoyed with how he wore those stupid glasses everywhere, if he were to be parachuting, he would still have those glasses placed perfectly on his face once he hit the ground.

"Well if you must know, it was a sedative, nothing to weary about dear heart." He concluded, setting the disinfectants back to their areas, he walked towards the door but stopped short. Claire looked curiously at his halt and saw him look back at her, only partially seeing his eyes.

"Ms. Redfield, it is in your best interest to follow."

"Why would I need to follow you?"

"Have you not ever heard of the phrase, 'keep your friends close and your enemies closer?'" He said walking into the hallway now, his back toward Claire, but he could hear her shuffling feet, trying to catch up to him.

"Also because I wouldn't want you trying to escape again now would I? That would mean for me to stop what I'm doing just to go get you, again, and I can't afford delays."

Entering what seemed to be a study, Wesker sat at a desk, having a laptop in front of him, already starting on his so called 'important business.'

A fire place was to the side, followed by a bookcase; a coffee table was in the middle, seperating two arm chairs, a love seat facing the coffee table and fire place, it seemed like a relaxed environment, if it weren't for the killer sitting in front of her, ignoring her presence.

Going to the bookcase, Claire's finger glided on the spines of the books, looking at each title, all foreign to her, everything organized by alphabet it seemed. She spotted one that had no title at all, it was just a hard cover red book. Claire glanced back to see Wesker typing away, no effort to stop her. Claire carefully pulled the book out, opening the cover to see the title, The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Writings. Looking below Claire saw it was by Edgar Allen Poe.

Well at least I've seen the name.

Opening the first page, she saw an illustration, a man's hand leaning to get what seemed to be a dead mans face, below it read published 1843.

It gave a short biography of Poe, how he was known for his macabre and mystery, he died at the age of 40, even his death was a mystery. Interested, Claire went to the next page to find the title of the short story printed, The Tell-Tale Heart.

'TRUE! – nervous – very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses – not destroyed – not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily – how calmly I can tell you the whole story.'

Claire chuckled after reading the first paragraph, already enjoying the story, it had some similarity to Wesker, how the man's disease sharpened his senses. Claire went to sit by the unlit fire place, sprawling on the love seat, enjoy each and every word.

"This is Terra-Save headquarters, is there a Chris Redfield at the residence?" A man asked a confused Chris.

"This is him, what's the call for? Is Claire okay?" Chris asked, worry was clearly heard in his voice.

"We called to adivse you of a Claire Redfield, her whereabouts are unknown at the moment and were hoping she was with you." the man spoke to a shocked Chris.

"What do you mean her 'whereabouts are unknown?!'" Chris asked angrily, but also worried.

"We require you to meet us at our headquarters to discuss this any further."

"Okay just give me the directions." Chris replied, fearful for what happened to Claire. After dotting down the address Chris rushed to go get his car keys, passing a confused Jill on the way.

"Chris who was that?" Jill questioned, following the rushed Redfield throughout the kitchen. Ignoring her, Chris got his car keys heading for his garage already, only to be stopped by Jill stepping in front of the door.

"Jill move, I don't have time!" Chris stressed, trying to walk around her, Jill putting her hand out to block his way.

"Not until you tell me who that was."

A stressed Chris sighed heavily out, knowing Jill wasn't going to move any time soon if he didn't give her an explanation.

"Claire's missing. They asked me to go and talk more about it at their headquarters." Chris stood, staring at the floor in shame, gripping the keys in his rough hands now. He felt Jill hug him in comfort, knowing that Chris was breaking inside.

"I'm sorry Chris." They stood there for a second, trying to keep calm.

"Can you let me go now? Please?" Chris said once Jill released him.

"Yes, but I'm going with you." She concluded, opening the door for him, Snatching the keys out of his hand in the process.

"And I'm driving."

Claire read to see that the narrator killed the old man; all because of the pale fake blue eye the old man had.

"Villains!" I shrieked, "dissemble no more! I admit the deed! –tear up the planks! –here, here! –it is the beating of his hideous heart!"

Claire loved every piece of the story, it seemed to be a work of art, truly, understanding exactly why in his biography he was famous for his writings, with only reading one of his stories. Claire decided to re read the story, trying to pass time; both her and Wesker were on their own activities.

Claire was startled when she heard the start of a fire, looking to see that Wesker turned it on.

"Hypothermia isn't good thing Dear Heart," He said walking back toward his laptop, continuing to work.

"Especially if you have a broken limb."

"We'll I'm not cold, so you didn't have to turn the fire place on."

"I could see goose bumps on your arms already Dear Heart, there's no need to hide your flaws." He smirked, begining to type away again. His glasses placed on the bridge of his nose nicely.

'God why does he always have those on, he probably doesn't even take them off in the shower.'

Claire smiled at her own joke as she continued to look at Wesker, even though he completely ignored her.

Sighig, Claire put her attention back to her borrowed book, the heat radiating from the fire place, making Claire grow quite drowsy, comfortable enough to sleep for days.

Have to stay awake.

Claire kept saying to herself.

Claire felt her eyes drifting closed.

He wants me to fall asleep.

She thought, opening her eyes wide, fighting against sleep, but quickly drifting back closed, knowing very well it would just result in a stressful sleep.

a five minuet nap never hurt anyone.

Claire thought as she closed her eyes, quickly entering the dream world.

Wesker continued to work on his laptop, pausing when he heard the steady heart beat of Claire, the soft breaths escaping her lips, he looked up to only see a bundle of her hair, pieces of her traditional ponytail sticking out, her face turned to the side, eyes closed.

Wesker stood from his research and walked toward a lethargic Claire, carrying her to his bedroom, it wasn't like he was going to use it any time soon, not needing sleep for long periods of time. He opened the covers on the bed, setting Claire carefully down to not wake her, knowing she would most likely just throw a tantrum on how he shouldn't touch her. Once on the bed, Claire fussed in her dream, clearly irritated by the way her brow creased but quickly went back to it's regular form and turned her back towards Wesker.

Wesker walked back towards his laptop to finish his daily work. Closing his laptop, Wesker walked to turn the fireplace off, not needing any heat either, he hasn't felt any sort of temperature change in quite a while, which never bothered him in any way.

He turned to see a book placed on the love seat, flipping the book he saw it was a classic horror short shorties, all by Edgar Allen Poe. It was on the first story, The Tell-Tale Heart.

'It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but once conceived, it haunted me day and night. Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye! yes, it was this! He had the eye of a vulture –a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degrees – very gradually –I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever.'

Wesker smirked, it brought similarities to him and Spencer, except he never loved the man. He never desired anything from Spencer either, just power; and more power. His gloved hands closed the book, setting it back in it's place, everything organized to his liking. Wesker went toward a specific green book, pulling it, the book case flipping, leading towards a door that required a passcode, typing in the passcode, Wesker next placed his hand on the wall, scanning his hand, the door opened quickly, revealing a command room, this was of course, a temporary base, he would soon need to move to his headquarters in order to do major work, but there were ties here that he had to finish and then he would move out.

He settled in his chair, the room illuminated by the holographic screens. He looked up to see tha. Chris was with Jill in what seemed to be Terra-Save headquarters.

So they've recieved the news already.

Wesker smirked, the screen next shifted toward Claire, she was just as how he left her.

"Keep this up." He commanded.

"As you wish." The red queen responded.

Can't take chances now, can we?

A/N: longest chapter I've done so far, 2K+ :3 gotta say, it was a fun chapter, I did this all in one day, took 2-3 hours, but, I did it! :3 please R&R, even if its a remind me to update it encourages me to make the chapters longer and update faster, knowing you guys like it :).

happyreader: that MAY happen, but I don't want to do it in this story, I've been thinking about doing a sequel, but only if you guys think I should, I don't want to infect her right away, because I feel like it would ruin the story doing it to early and I would run out of ideas. Lmfao... Then I read that in O.N I bursted out in laughter, best line ever. hope this was a long chapter for you! :)

Wolfgirl77769: he didnt find out, but he knows she's missing! Maybe next chapter he'll find out!

Admiralsarah: awe, thanks, that really encourages me. Wesker is probably the hardest character to write, may seem easy, but it's hard, trust me. Reading your review made my day :). Thanks!