I do not own Resident Evil. It's something I will never forgive myself.

- VIII -

Brave

Wednesday, 5:50 p.m.

"After you, Claire." The two friends stood under the opening through which they had entered the facilities. Fortune had wanted them to come across an old rope they had somehow managed to throw through the hole in the ceiling, tied to a piece of rail they had taken with them. Once it had anchored on the floor above, they were ready to climb up the rope and save themselves from being blown into thousand pieces.

Claire turned around, her eyes hopefully seeking for Neil to appear in the hallways. She shook her head.

"I can't leave him here Jill." She gave her friend an imploring look. Jill laid a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sure he's found another way. Come on," she said. "We need to get out of here."

"What if he hasn't? I came here because of Neil, Jill. I can't leave without him." Claire turned around and looked at her friend. Jill swallowed. She had never thought it was possible, but the redhead had turned out to be even more stubborn than her brother.

"Claire, listen. He's a grown up man. You were worried about him before and he was fine. What makes you think he's not now?" Jill's squeezed her shoulder tightly.

"He said he'd come after us," the younger one said. "How long can it take him to come if the B.O.W. reached us in less than a minute."

"You already looked for him, Claire. If he's not in the stairway he must have taken another way. I'm sure he's already outside waiting for us to come out." The blonde tried desperately to convince her friend. 'Two minutes to self destruction' Jill frowned. They were running out of time and Claire was still not giving in. "And also Chris is waiting for us."

Claire held her breath. Jill was still down there with her and she wasn't going to leave her alone. Damn stubborn Jill Valentine. She could consider herself dead if anything happened to her brother's partner. Of course she cared about Neil. But risking Jill's life and Chris' happiness because of him was probably not only childish, but immensely insane. Especially now that the blonde had committed herself to finally open up to him. Claire smiled malevolently as a thought popped into her mind. She was getting Jill where she wanted her.

"Okay, I'm coming." Claire turned around. "But you have to promise me something." Jill smiled nervously at the spiteful expression the redhead showed.

"Sure," she whispered. She expected everything from Claire, but getting her out of the mine was first priority.

"You're going to tell Chris how you feel about him." Claire narrowed her eyes.

Jill blinked incredulously at first, but then nodded smiling.

"Okay, you win. I'll tell him that he is the person I most trust and care about in this world, and that he's the best man I know." Jill gave in grinning. "Now, come on."

"And that you love him." Claire stared decided at the blonde, who was completely astonished by her friend's wish. Jill's jaw dropped open and she just shook her head.

"Claire, I... I can't tell him such a thing."

"You can't?" The activist lifted her eyebrows.

Jill shivered.

"I mean... Claire, please don't make me tell him."

"Look at you," Claire said smirking. "You've fought hundreds of BOWs and now you're afraid of telling your partner you love him." She took her friend's hand. "Jill, I wouldn't do this to you if I didn't know it's what you both want."

'One minute to self-destruction.'

That couldn't be happening. Claire was blackmailing her and their lives depended on her courage to tell Chris whatever she felt for him. The sound of the computer voice telling them when they were going to be blown into pieces echoed through her mind. She surely didn't want to find out up to where Claire was able to risk her own life for her brother's love life.

'Thirty seconds to self destruction.'

"Okay, I'll tell him." Jill yelled hastily. "But let's get out of here now." She pulled on Claire's arm and pointed up the rope. "You first!"

Claire smirked and started climbing up to the entrance. Lucky it wasn't more than ten feet high and close enough to the walls so they could reach a tight vertical surface where to find support for their feet. In less than fifteen seconds they had set foot on the rocky soil of the highest level, running right to the wide cave opening.

"We can make it. Run Jill, run."

Although they saw where they were running to, the mine was still wrapped in darkness. Right when time ran out, Claire stumbled upon a stone and fell onto the floor. Stopping the fall with her hands caused deep scratches in her skin.

Jill ran back to help her up as they heard the first explosions inside the mine.

"Don't worry about me. Save yourself, Jill." Claire gasped. She had hurt her foot and couldn't even stand without help. Needless to say that she wasn't able to run.

"You don't really think I'm leaving you behind, right?" Jill forced a laughter. She threw Claire's arm over her shoulder and pulled her limping friend towards the exit.

"Jill, it's coming!" The bursting noises got louder with every second. If they didn't reach the exit soon, the fire would definitely carbonize them.

"Come on Claire, just a little more." Jill continued pulling on Claire, who desperately tried to run. A wave of heat approached them from behind, almost burning their hair tips.

"Jill, jump!" With her very last strength, Claire jumped with only one foot, still holding on to Jill. Both women got impulsed by the heat right to the outside.

As they fell onto the floor, Jill covered Claire's body with her own, protecting her from the huge flames which came flying out of the mine.

When the heat deceased, Jill looked up, extinguishing the last sparks on her clothes and her hair. She'd need to get a new haircut after that. She smiled at Claire, who had rolled onto her back and was laughing heavily.

"That was fun," she said. "Can we do that again?" She winked at her friend.

"Maybe tomorrow," Jill answered lifting her eyebrows before bursting into laughter. When they caught their breath again, Claire looked at Jill seriously.

"Thank you, my friend. I owe you my life."

Jill smiled.

"I owe you much more." The time she had spent with Claire and Neil in that mine had made her remember very important things from her life before the Spencer Estate. She got onto her feet and helped Claire started removing the dust from their clothes as they suddenly heard footsteps approaching them.

"Oh my God, are you two okay?"

"Neil!" Claire yelped as she looked up and threw her arms around him. "I feared the worst."

Neil got surprised by his colleague's emotional reaction. He smiled tenderly and caressed Claire's red hair.

"I got knocked out by that thing in there. When I woke I tried to find you. I got surprised by the self-destruct system and assumed you were looking for a way out, too".

Jill watched the scene with deep scepticism. She turned around as she heard the approaching sound of wheels and cars.

"The team's here, Claire," she said. Her eyes opened widely as she saw a BSAA van was following the two TerraSave pickups. Claire put a hand on her shoulder.

"What a coincidence, Jill. Look, there's Chris." She smiled maliciously at the almost frightened facial expression of her friend. "Didn't you want to ask him something?"

Jill frowned. It was actually Chris who jumped off the BSAA van, followed by several other BSAA employees, a man in his mid-forties in a black leather jacket among them. She swallowed and cursed herself for having been so talkative earlier.

"Claire, I…"

The redhead patted her shoulder and winked, smiling.

"I know it's hard. But you'll have to be brave now."

Definitely, Claire wouldn't give up until seeing her asking Chris out. She sighed.

"I'll be right back."

"What the damn hell happened here, Redfield?"

"I already told you everything I know, Johnson." Chris answered. "We just got that call from that TerraSave girl saying Claire might need help here."

"So we're actually here because of your sister? Let it be the last time that your personal interests interfere in your work Redfield." Johnson pulled a small notebook and a pen out of his pocket and started writing down everything remarkable he saw, actions for which he was tagged as Old School by everyone in the BSAA.

"Yeah, sure," Chris mumbled clenching his teeth. No matter what that jerk said, he was always coming if his baby sister needed help.

"Is that Jill Valentine?" Johnson turned around and looked at Chris. "Didn't you say she wasn't coming back until Friday?"

Chris didn't know what to say. He had told everyone Jill's rehab finished the following day. Now Johnson was about to find out he had lied. Jill walked towards them and was already close enough to hear the last sentence of their superior.

"You're right, but I felt that good that I decided to come back a little earlier," she said smiling. "You must be director Johnson, right?" She shook the man's hand and looked at Chris. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about my decision, Captain Redfield. I was about to come to the headquarters to report to all of you, when I somehow ran into your sister and we got involved accidentally into this," she said pointing her thumb at the mine. "We've found an undergroud lab and ran into B.O.W.s, but it has been blown up by the safety system. Miss Redfield, Mister Fisher and myself could escape luckily." Chris smiled at her. Her little lie had saved him from having to confess his own. And Johnson wasn't bright enough to notice that her story didn't make any sense.

The director nodded in approval.

"I see," he said. "However, I'll be awaiting your report on this, agent Valentine." He started walking back to the van. "Oh, and make sure that mess gets cleaned up." He said pointing at the mine entrance before getting into the vehicle.

"Yes, sir!" Both Chris and Jill answered.

"There's something I don't understand, Chris," Jill said after making sure Johnson was out of reach. "Why is that guy treating us like that? I mean, we are the founders of the BSAA."

"He is just taking his new position very seriously. But he's definitely the worst director the BSAA ever had. And I miss O'Brian too." He smiled at her. "Are you okay? Did you get hurt?"

The blonde shook her head.

"No, I'm fine."

Claire came humping over to them and hugged her brother tight.

"I can't believe you're here."

"We got a call from Lindsay Adams saying you were looking for Fisher in the mine," he explained. "I couldn't let you do this alone, though I don't quite understand why you put yourself in danger because of that guy." He looked over to Neil, who was answering the questions of two BSAA agents.

"Well, saving people is my job," she said smiling. "We've all got away with scratches."

Chris gave her a disapproving smirk.

"Whatever. Jill has already been charged with the report about this case." He looked at his former partner, then back at his sister. "So, I'm not going to listen to your distorted version of objective facts young lady. We'll talk later. I'll get someone to see what's left inside the mine." He turned around to follow Johnson into the van.

Claire poked Jill.

"Now!" She walked away, leaving her friend standing alone.

Jill swallowed and took a deep breath. Sweat lingered on the palms of her hands.

"Chris" she called.

He turned around and looked at her.

"Yes?"

Claire watched the scene from a safe distance.

"Hey, Claire." Neil took her arm and made her look at him.

"Are you okay? Have you told them everything they needed to know?" she asked.

The man nodded.

"Yes." He rubbed the back of his head. "Listen Claire, I know you already gave me a try and I messed up." He hesitated. "But maybe we can start all over again, if you could give me another chance."

Claire smiled and bit her lip. She looked away shyly.

"Neil, I don't know."

He waved his hands in a defensive way in front of her, making her understand that he wasn't going to press her.

"I promise I won't rush things this time." He smiled at her with huge, sad puppy eyes. "What do you say? Can I invite you out for dinner tonight?"

Claire smirked and looked over to Jill and her brother.

"Okay, I'll have dinner with you." She glanced back at Neil. "But not tonight. I still have to help a friend. How about Saturday?"

The man smirked.

She hesitated. Chris was expecting her to say something and it turned out to be harder than she had thought.

"I was wondering," she said as her almost frightened look met his, "if you had any plans for dinner. I mean, after finishing work of course."

He smiled.

"Well, I like having dinner. It's a strange habit of mine." He laughed, giving her an expectant look.

"Good," she said smirking. "Would you, maybe, like to have dinner with me?"

"You mean alone?"

"Just the two of us, yes." She desperately tried to hide her shiver. He kept smiling.

"Yeah, that sounds good. I just hope Claire doesn't mind."

The shy smile on her lips turned into a wide grin.

"Oh, I think she'll be fine." She laughed. "Well, as you may know, I have been out of town for some time. So I'd suggest you choose the place."

Chris nodded.

"Okay, "he said. "How about Thai Food?"

"Oh, I love Thai Food." The blonde answered nodding.

"I know." He smirked. "I'll pick you up at," he had a look at his watch. "Eight?"

Jill nodded shyly.

"Yes. Fine."

"Good," Chris said before finally getting into the van.

Jill stayed behind, smiling like an idiot. She suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder.

"So?" Claire looked at her expectantly. "Have you told him?"

Jill looked at her and shook her head. "No."

"Jill, you made a promise?" Claire yelled. "What the hell are you waiting for?"

"For dinner. We're going out tonight." The blonde smiled shyly.

"I see." Claire frowned slightly. But not everything was lost. "Where are you having dinner?"

"He said something about Thai Food."

Claire thought a second.

"I think I know where he's taking you. Come on. We need to get you dressed for your big night." She pulled her to her car and drove off.

Wednesday, 7:30 p.m.

It was already completely dark outside when he arrived at the headquarters. The lights were still on, so he wasn't surprised as he saw Lindsay still sitting at the front desk.

"Miss Adams? What are you still doing here?" He smiled at the blonde. "Go home, it's already late."

"Mister Fisher," the young girl answered. "We were all worried about you. When I got the call from Miss Redfield I decided to wait for you to come back and check if you needed anything." Her shy laughter filled the room.

"That's very nice," Neil said. "But I'm okay. I've heard you informed the BSAA about the mine. Thank you for your help."

"It was just some intuition I had." Lindsay stood up and grabbed her handbag and jacket. "I didn't want to take any risk."

"Well done." Neil nodded smiling at her as he took several papers from the reception desk and headed to his office. "Good night Miss Adams."

"Good night Mister Fisher. See you tomorrow."

He dropped into chair when he finally reached his office. What a long, hard day it had been. His gaze fell onto the envelope on the surface. He opened it and had a look at Moira Burton's outstanding test results.

"Remarkable. Burton must have trained his girl well."

Suddenly his phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Good evening Mister Fisher." The female voice on the line sounded slightly seductive.

"Who is it?" He frowned and turned around to have a quick look out of the window before closing the blinds one by one.

"I thought I should speak to you personally, since you have made me lose my dear Johann today. He was my most loyal man and a brilliant servant."

Neil leaned back in his chair.

"Unfortunately, I didn't get the chance to speak to him," he answered.

"But you did have the chance to activate the self-destruction system. Thanks for that."

"Well, I have certain interests in not letting anyone find those facilities." He smirked. "I couldn't risk being discovered by those BSAA dogs."

"Of course not. Way too much depends on our little secret." The female on the line let out a short laughter. "It's important you don't make any suspicious move now."

"You must think I'm completely stupid."

"Well," she said. "As far as I can see, you have been stupid enough to let those women follow you."

A smirk covered his lips and he decided to ignore the woman's challenging comment.

"I've seen what your T-Phobos does," he said. "It's quite impressive."

"Thank you. But what you saw is actually a failed experiment. In the right host the T-Phobos is as valuable as eternal life." She laughed shamelessly. "I have been working very hard to achieve this. And you will also get your reward when we're done. How is the list going on Mister Fisher?"

"Very well, Miss…"

"You can call me Alex."

"Miss Alex." He took the envelope from his desk. "I've just found one last candidate for your experiment. A young girl who did a very impressive psychological test. She's the daughter of an ex S.T.A.R.S. officer and is just about to join TerraSave."

"I'd like to see your red haired friend's name on that list, too."

"Excuse me?"

"Claire Redfield."

Neil swallowed. That crazy woman wanted Claire?

"Redfield?" He giggled nervously. "You should reconsider that. She's a completely overrated team member who only stands out because of her older brother's reputation. Actually, the only reason she's part of TerraSave is that she is a survivor of Raccoon City."

"I think that makes her a perfect candidate."

Neil hesitated. He really cared about Claire and wanted her as far as possible from any trouble.

"Well, I can see if she fits."

"Oh, I'm sure she does," Alex said. "Mister Fisher, I don't know if I have been clear enough. I want Claire Redfield for my experiment."

Neil sighed deeply. Several feelings seemed to squeeze his heart. Everything he had worked for depended on that bitch's crazy experiment. But was the FBC really more important to him than Claire? He took a deep breath.

"Okay," he finally said, "you'll get her."

Hello my dear readers,

I updated earlier, yes! It's a special gift to myself because a very long and hard week is awaiting me. The next chapter is coming next Sunday, to reward myself when everything is over xD This is, personally, my favourite chapter until now (but I'm still writing the last ones so that may change.) Because it explains so much. And I've been working for so long on the dialogue Chris-Jill. I would like to know what YOU think about it. Thanks for sharing your opinion with me. EVEN IF YOU THINK IT SUCKS, please let me know! Really :D

For those who guessed Alex was behind all this: Dingdingdingdingding - You were right.

Well, I guess after the T-Phobos was mentioned it was kinda obvious, wasn't it? The reason for the action part in the story is that I just couldn't believe Neil's role in Rev2. His gestures really show concern about Claire. He tries to softly caress her cheek and pushes her away to save her from his mutating self. So I somehow had to make up a reason why he brought her to that island in first place. And... here it is!

You can't imagine how much I appreciate your support. Thank you all for reading, following, liking and reviewing. This story has become an important part of my life these past months and I can't wait to upload new chapters (I know perfectly why I changed the upload day to Mondays. Now my weeks begin with a new chapter for you.)

My very special thanks to:

Thebigticket21. You already know how you always cheer me up with your own stories and your great reviews. Thank you so much for always being there, and for reading my stuff, my friend. Yes, Jill has finally done it! We'll see if this works out :)

Sofistinha. Oooh! Claire is giving Neil a second chance. This may totally introduce a hot'n'dirty one-shot. I'll work on that, I promise. Thank you so much for your review and for feeding my sickest fantasies with your own fics.

Yes, Jill and Chris are going to have dinner together. But of course this won't be the first time they share a meal, right? Has Chris understood what this is about?

Answer: no, he hasn't xD (I wasn't going to make it that easy.) There are still some important discoveries to be made. You will soon find out.

Thank you all for reading. I think I have decided to split the last chapter in two. Why? Mainly because I'd like to finish this with a huge - X - (No, I'm not talking about dirty sex scenes but about the chapter number ¬¬U Your minds are almost as sick as mine xD)

Also, because it's getting really long. And I wouldn't like to break the nice series of 2000-4000 word chapters because of a 6000 word long one.

And, last but not least, because I really don't want it to end T_T

Thanks again. Have a great week.

X