I know, I know. I'm extraordinarily late in my update (haha, rhyme) but here it is, so read and review and I will give my apathy an extremely serious talking to.

Enjoy.

Chris was pacing when they reached the control room. He reminded Alice of the younger Redfield sibling so much that she almost laughed.

'Where have you been? K-mart said you were coming like ten minutes ago.' He didn't look that angry though so Claire didn't bother with an explanation.

'What's got you so worked up you need to drag me out of bed after a very inadequate sleep?' she demanded.

'The man that had a go at you yesterday; he says he's got friends.' Chris stopped pacing, 'This doesn't mean I believe him, he's fucking crazy after all, but still.'

'Chris, you know that if he doesn't tell us anything there isn't really anything we can do.' Claire rubbed her face tiredly. She had hoped the whole ordeal would be over now; she wasn't in the mood for having to be constantly watching her back.

'I can make him talk.' Claire didn't realise the implications straight away, but when she did she looked at him in shock; his face was completely calm.

'No Chris, I won't tolerate that. Don't you know how precious a human life is? What you're suggesting would completely destroy whatever integrity we're trying to uphold here.' Her words didn't seem to be making a difference; his face was still calm.

'You know how much I value life Claire; why else do you think I would be considering this. I'm trying to protect you.' Claire looked to Alice for support but she was no longer beside her. She spun quickly; she wasn't in the room, 'Why didn't you tell me she was gone?' Claire rounded on him. Her anger was showing now; she hadn't meant to snap.

'She can do what needs to be done.' Now Claire definitely meant to snap. How could her own brother and Alice, the women she loved, make their own plans right in front of her. But she knew she couldn't waste time screaming at and, maybe, possibly killing her brother; she had to stop Alice.

She sprinted from the room and didn't stop running until she had reached the storage level. She dismissed the bruises she could feel from running into tight corners and, completely ignoring Brian, she stopped at the open door. What she saw confused her at first. Alice was sitting calmly on the narrow bunk that had been drilled into the floor, the man was curled up in one corner looking pale but completely fine; excepting the broken wrist. She strode up to him anyway and roughly brushed him down; looking for injuries. When she found none, she finally turned to the silent women.

'What did you do?' She was still wary, even though he seemed unhurt.

'I got information.' Alice answered deliberately.

'How?' Claire asked bluntly.

'I asked him.' She still didn't move, just sat there; yet she still made Claire feel slightly inadequate.

'And he just gave you the answers?' the sarcasm was plain in her tone.

'Yes.' Alice was showing the side that had provided her with sanity during her years alone; a solid wall of steel that showed nothing beneath. She could hide behind this façade for however long she needed. And she would do it to protect Claire. But Claire was looking at her in complete exasperation so she decided to give her a break, 'We have an understanding.' Alice shrugged, 'Let's leave it at that.' She stood up and made her way out of the container, nodding to Brian as she left. Claire saw the movement and lashed out again.

'You, Brian. Why did you let her in here?'

'Well ma'am. As you may know, one is powerless to stop Alice when she's set her mind on an idea.' His face was bland so she couldn't tell if he was making fun of her or not. She stared at him for a moment longer, decided it was a lost cause, and so left without another word.

She caught up to Alice and fell into step beside her.

'I didn't hurt him; at least not permanently. He'll be back to his old crazy self in a matter of hours, or maybe days.' Claire still didn't speak. Alice didn't push her; that wasn't her way. If someone didn't want to talk then that was fine.

They had just reached the control room when Claire tugged Alice to a stop.

'I'm not angry Alice, if you say you didn't hurt him, then I believe you, but you can't go around all gung ho like that. I can protect myself, you know that. So if someone wants to kill me, that's my problem to deal with.' She turned as if the conversation was over, but Alice wasn't going to let that stand.

'Claire, I don't have a lot of responsibilities on this ship, but the main one is protecting you. I won't force you to stay cooped up inside, but I will protect you when someone makes a threat on your life. And that's fact Claire; there's no way around it.' Alice was looking at her with deadly seriousness, 'That came as part of the package when you agreed to be with me.' Claire looked glum.

'I didn't know an overprotective crazy chick came with the package.' She mumbled.

'Well it does, and if you have a problem with that, I can't do anything about it.' Alice sighed.

'No, I can deal with it, I overreacted. If someone was trying to kill you, I'd probably be the same.' She bit her lip for a second then added, 'Alice I need you, more than I think you realise.' Alice finally smiled.

'No, I think I do realise. If you need me half as much as I need you then that'd be a lot.' Now they were both smiling. Claire moved closer until she was only centimetres from the brunette.

'I don't know,' she whispered, 'I need you pretty bad right now.' She leaned forward and pressed her lips to Alice's. They didn't let it get too heated though. When Alice pulled away she kept the proximity.

'No matter how much I would love to continue this, I have to go save your life, remember.' Claire sighed.

'If you really must.'

When they entered Alice gave Chris one name.

'Zac Ovens.' He was already holding the passenger log and he typed the name in. One picture came up and they all gathered around to see it. The photo wasn't anything special; just an average man with light brown hair and dark blue eyes, but Alice burned it into her memory. Chris straightened.

'I'll call up Luther then we go and ask people if they've seen this man; discreetly of course, we don't want to spook him.' He turned and reached for the radio he'd left on the console. After the attack on Claire they'd all tightened personal security. They all carried a radio and at least one gun; in most case more than one gun.

Claire felt Alice shift beside her; she didn't seem to be able to stand still.

'Hey, calm down, we'll get him.' Claire placed her hand on Alice's arm and was surprised to find it shaking.

'I'm sick of this Claire, I want off this ship.' She pushed her hand through her hair, making it stand up in messy peaks.

'We're only here for one more day. We're going to start heading in tomorrow morning.' She slid her hand down Alice's arm until she was gripping her hand, 'Just think of wide open spaces with a bit of forest and a clean running stream. Our own home, with K-mart probably, if that's okay, and an actual bed, a big one.' She got a small grin from Alice.

'I like the sound of that.' Chris turned back to them then.

'Luther's on his way, why don't you guys go now and start asking around. It would probably be faster if you split up.' He added glancing down at their joined hands. Alice pulled her hand free gently.

'Claire's in the most danger out of all of us. There must be a reason why he went after her first; I don't want her out there alone.'

'I know Alice, but this is gonna be a mammoth task with just the four of us. We need to find him, and fast.' Alice was nodding, conceding the point.

'But is it worth it to get the job done faster by jeopardising her safety.'

'Um, I'm right here guys.' Claire added. Chris shushed her absently.

'I don't like it any more than you do Alice, but the faster we find this guy, the safer she'll be.' Alice was already talking before he'd barely finished.

'What happens if he finds her before we find him? Do you really want to leave her unprotected whilst he may be stalking her?'

'I have a gun.' Claire spoke up. This time they both glared at her, so she decided to stay quiet and see who would win. It looked like Alice might have the upper hand because Chris seemed to be thinking it over.

'Fine,' he said, 'go together, but Alice,' he called as they both turned to leave, 'if anything happens to her . . .' Alice nodded.

'I understand.' Then she hustled Claire out and shut the door behind them.

'What was that, like bro talk or something?' Alice smiled grimly at her query.

'It means that, if I let you get hurt, he has permission to beat the shit out of me.' Claire let that sink in, then,

'Why do you two always make me feel like I'm a glass figurine that needs to be handled with care?' she asked in exasperation.

'Because we both love you, and with that love we both know we have responsibilities.' She smiled at her, truly this time, 'It's more a fail safe; if you get hurt we can blame each other, no matter whose fault it was.' Claire shook her head in disbelief.

'You guys are messed up.' Alice chuckled.

'I'm not going to argue that.' They then came out onto the deck and the questioning began.

Hope you liked it and, as always, sorry for any mistakes :) Peace Out.

-B