A/n: I was pleasantly surprised at the interest this story generated. Unfortunately, this story will not be finished by Christmas. I will be out east for Christmas, most likely without access to a computer. However, I promise to post a new chapter soon after I get back. In the mean time, please enjoy this chapter. Merry Christmas!

The Twelve Days of Christmas

Ch. 1: The First Day of Christmas

'On the first day of Christmas my true love sent to me: A partridge in a pear tree.'

Rebecca walked slowly up the stairs to her and Jill's apartment. It had been a long and frustrating day at the office where she worked, and she wanted nothing more than to collapse on the sofa and sleep for a couple of hours. She hated working there, but it was a safe job that helped keep her and Jill hidden.

As Rebecca reached the door to the apartment, she heard voices from within. She stiffened for a second before recognizing the voices. She opened the door and smiled happily at the two people in the room. Jill had obviously been home for a while, but the second person had apparently arrived shortly before Rebecca. It was their "father", Barry Burton. He stood up and scooped Rebecca into a huge hug as the eighteen year-old ran to him. Jill grinned cheerfully at the pair, but Rebecca could see that something was bothering her. As soon as Barry put her down, she turned to Jill. "Okay, Jill, you can't hide it from me. What's wrong?"

Jill looked at Barry, who shrugged and sat back down on the couch. Jill turned back to Rebecca. "Barry stopped by our post office today. There were two packages with our real names on them. There was no note or anything to tell us who sent them, so I haven't opened mine. I wanted to wait until you got home first. But now that you're home, and since Barry's here, I guess we can open them. Hopefully it's nothing dangerous." Barry stood up, brought the packages over from beside his suitcase, and handed them to their respective receivers. Rebecca's face bore a look of mild apprehension, which faded slightly at Barry's encouraging smile. The two women looked at each other, and then began ripping off the tape from the boxes.

Jill's box contained the parts for a small Christmas tree. Rebecca's box contained a batch of small ornaments for the tree. Both looked at Barry, who shrugged. "I have no idea who these are from," he said. "But I think you ladies do need a tree, although I do prefer a real one myself."

"Well," said Rebecca cheerfully, "whoever sent this saved us the trouble of looking for one ourselves." Both Jill and Barry nodded their agreement, and the three of them proceeded to put together the tree and hang the ornaments. Later, as they sat back and looked at the pretty little tree, Barry chuckled to himself. Jill and Rebecca looked at him, and he smiled but said nothing.

"How long will you be staying this time, 'Dad'? Rebecca asked teasingly. Barry leaned over and rumpled her hair, causing her to squeal good-naturedly.

"I'm not sure, my dear. I don't like being away from my wife and kids for too long, especially with Wesker still on the loose. But I was thinking about bringing them to New York City for Christmas. The city looks amazing during the Christmas season."

"Sounds like fun," said Jill. "Be sure to let us come along, we'll show your wife all the best stores and shopping places!" The two women laughed at the dismayed look on Barry's face. Barry muttered something about women being crazy, which the two women tactfully ignored.

Several hours later, after Barry had retired to the guest room, Rebecca walked into Jill's room to chat. She had a slightly worried look on her face, which made Jill look at her with concern. "Are you ok," she asked worriedly, "you look like you've seen a ghost."

Rebecca decided to go straight to the point. "Do you think Barry's hiding something from us? About the gifts, I mean?"

"No." Jill's voice was firm. "When those packages arrived, he started worrying. I'm worried too, for that matter. We've told no one except Barry our new address, and I know for a fact that he wouldn't tell anyone about where we were. So either we haven't been careful enough…"

"Or there's someone out there who's extremely good at finding people," said Rebecca thoughtfully. Both sat silently, thinking carefully. Eventually, Rebecca spoke again. "I suppose…we should be prepared to get out of here, just in case."

"Aren't we always ready to leave at a moment's notice?" Jill's voice bore a trace of bitterness. Rebecca gave her a surprised look. Jill smiled reassuringly. "Sorry, I'm just tired. Like you, I had a bad day at work. And now this mystery about the gifts is going to add to our problems."

Rebecca nodded understandingly. "I know what you mean. Oh well. We'll get through this. Hopefully nothing will come of this. Besides, now we've got the visit from Barry's family to look forward to." Rebecca yawned, and then grinned sleepily. "Good night Jill."

"Good night, Rebecca." Jill watched the younger woman leave the room. To herself she thought, 'I hope she's right, and that nothing will come of this. Heck, maybe the gifts are from our bosses. They're the only other people who could know our addresses.'

Deep down though, she was still a little uneasy. But she was willing to push that aside for now, and decided to let the excitement of Christmas take over. The one thing she couldn't know was that the holiday season was about to get interesting for all of them.