The brightness distorted her vision as her eyes fluttered open. The first thing she noticed when she came to her senses was, oddly, music. She heard a haunting melody coming from the room with a piano. It sounded familiar but she couldn't put her finger on it. She limped to the room as quietly as she could and she could begin to see the piano. Playing the piano was Wesker. To some surprise, his glasses were off and his fingers skillfully moved back and forth on the ivory keys. She couldn't help but feel relaxed at the sight. He looked peaceful and the music calmed her. Sensing her presence, he turned to look at her without stopping the music. Several seconds passed before his attention was turned back to the keys. She was left standing there clueless. Before she knew what she was doing, she was striding over to the piano bench. She hesitantly sat down and watched as Wesker slowly finished the sonata. She sat staring at the room around her and took in the detail. There was a painting of a mansion hanging on the wall opposite to the piano and a different painting of an old brittle looking man. The light from the she had woken up in shone angelically against the dark room. She looked up at Wesker, the lights casting shadows on his chiseled features.

Without looking at her he spoke, "Is there something you wanted to ask me, dear?"

Startled, she found the courage to reply, "What is happening to me?" He lifted himself off the bench and took Claire's hand as he led her into the examination room. She couldn't help but notice how soft his hands were. This time he took her through a door Claire completely ignored the first time she was in here. Inside was dark, with the only light source being from a few computer monitors. The lights turned on automatically a few seconds after. Wesker pointed at a screen that showed an image of some type of virus changing the structure of what she assumed was her DNA.

"The virus you were infected with was a new viral strain that had components of the T-Veronica virus and the Prototype Virus. It caused your genes to mutate and change drastically. The rapid changes are what caused for you to have to have those…unpleasant episodes." The way he spoke mesmerized Claire in way that made her uneasy. He continued talking,

"The changes appear to be staying mostly genetic, though I haven't seen any rather noticeable physical changes." He looked up and down at her and she stood there awkwardly pondering what his next plan would be.

"Do you feel any different, Miss Redfield? Or noticed any differences in your body?"

She shook her head. Honestly she couldn't even think straight.

"Call me Claire. Miss Redfield just sounds odd."

"Claire, it is then." His voice sounded soft. "Also, I'll be needing a sample of your blood." He pulled a chair out and motioned for her to sit down. While he was preparing a needle, a thought surfaced.

"Why didn't I mutate like Steve back on Rockfort?" She whispered as she recalled the distant memory, bringing a pain to her chest.

"He, my dear, wasn't injected with the Prototype virus like you. It calmed the Veronica Virus before it could kill you or mutate you. If I hadn't injected you with an extra dose on the Prototype, you may have died then mutated."

Her head snapped upward toward him as he dabbed the cool peroxide on her forearm.

"An extra dose!? What the hell are you talking about!?"

Wesker stuck the needle in correctly the first time, and then turned his attention to her.

"I had another sample of the Prototype and I injected it into you while you were sleeping, as your body was fighting it off rather pretty well."

"So you're saying I could've fought this thing off?" Her mind was screaming.

"Correct" She stood up rapidly, knocking her chair back, and slapped Albert Wesker. The action caught him by surprise. The needle had slipped out of her arm was the tiny hole it had made, was bleeding in a dark purple.

"See this! I'm a monster because of you! I..I'm not even human anymore am I!?" She clutched her arm, as the bleeding was becoming worse; tears were now streaming down her face. Wesker ignored that fact that she assaulted him and picked up an adhesive band aid and began wrapping it around her forearm. He picked up the chair and pushed her down to sit. She had that stare again. The blank, emotionless stare. Tears trailed her cheeks and Wesker brushed them away. He crouched down and met her stare.

"I needed extra samples of the virus for some research I was working on and you were the only option. I couldn't risk losing track of my research now." His voice relaxed her for a second before she burst into tears. She remembered the time Leon had held her while she wept over the thought of everything they two had been through in Raccoon city. She felt leather against her face and noticed she had thrown her arms around Wesker neck was embracing him wholeheartedly. She quickly pulled away at the stiffness of his body. She wiped away her hair that was stuck to her face with her tears and she sniffled as she awkwardly apologized, "Umm…I'm umm...sorry…" She stood up and walked into the piano room. His hand wrapped around her wrist as soon as her booted feet crossed the threshold.

"Miss Redf-…Claire, it will take time for you to accept what has happened. I believe that you will find a way to use the infection to your advantage."

"Why? Because you have? I'm not you. I'm some kind of power driven freak who seeks to destroy everything and everyone!" She broke from his grasp and was retaliated by being slammed into the wall, hard. Hard enough to knock off one of the paintings off the wall. Her breath was knocked out of her and the hand around her throat made it difficult to breath. He lowered his mouth to her ear and spoke softly, making Claire's skin arise with tiny goosebumps.

"Claire, I've tried to be…patient, but you are making it very difficult to keep a settled mood. If you wish to remain alive I suggest you keep that fiery attitude of yours to a low. You should be grateful that my hatred for Chris has kept you alive so far."

"Chr- Chris? Your hatred for him?" she managed to squeeze the words out of her throat, "To see his little sister be the same monster as his enemy? That's…pathetic…even for you." She clawed at his hands but the grip remained strong. "Here…I was...thinking...maybe...maybe there was a shred of humanity left in you."

"Claire, I believe you'll come to understand me at one point, just not now." His grip loosened but it remained at her base of her neck. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have more important things to spend my time on."

With that, he slid his hand off her neck and walked back into the examination room. She couldn't help but feel betrayed by Wesker. She thought his sole purpose was to further his research, not hurt someone truly important to her. Like she stand either or. She walked away from the piano room and drifted toward the kitchen. She stood there dumbfounded and found herself crying silently. She had to distract herself and decided to look around the place further. She came across a library with a fireplace in it and sat down on one of the brown leather chairs facing the fire. The fire radiated heat and gave Claire some comfort. It brought back memories of her and Chris. She remembered an ugly Christmas sweater party she and her friends had. She remembered drinking hot chocolate with Leon, watching snow fall lightly on her hair as they stood on his apartment balcony, even Chris leaning to give Jill a kiss under the mistletoe. She felt a rush of tears coming from her eyes, blurring her vision of the fire, threatening to spill over. She reached to wipe them when a hand landed on her shoulder. Wesker stood there, his shaded eyes seemed to be staring at the fire. She looked up at him and wondered what had brought him back so soon.

"Did you need something?" She voice shook as she remained still, trying to not to squirm under his touch.

"Not at all. I just came to see what you were doing. Needed to make sure you weren't doing anything foolish." His hand left her shoulder and he sat down in the chair to the left of her. He reached down and pulled out a laptop and began typing.

Are you freaking kidding me? I wanted to get away from him. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat and found herself suddenly self-conscious. Okay…what the hell is wrong with you? She spoke to herself very questioningly, what is up with you? Get your emotions in check. Wesker made a feel of uncertainty linger around with his presence. When you were with him, you weren't sure of anything, not of what you felt or what you were doing exactly. Claire noted this and decided this was what was driving her a bit crazy. Aside from being infected with something that makes you inhuman, idiot. She reminded herself. Her stare remained in the fire and she suddenly got up and walked to the kitchen, leaving Wesker staring after her. She opened a few cabinets in the kitchen and looked for a few key items. Hell, if I'm going to be stuck here with Wesker, better at least make it as comfortable as possible. Two can play this game, Wesker. Bingo, in the cabinet she found a familiar hot chocolate mix. Why Wesker would have such a happiness filled thing, she didn't know nor did she care. She was in the mood for trouble.

"God, Chris I swear if you don't close that window I'll withhold something very precious to you for a month!" Jill's voice broke through the sound of wind as it rushed a snowy gust burst into the Leon's Jeep. Chris was at the wheel and to Jill's dismay; his window was rolled down to the very bottom. That is until he heard her comment. Leon was in the back with his laptop out, searching for the place Ada had mentioned. Seeing her had summoned up the old feelings that he once had. He then took in realization that she would never settle with him or stop her actions for him. It just wasn't bound to happen. When he saw her, not matter how hard he tried, he saw something else entirely. He saw the world in gray. Not black and white, like he should. He took into realization that there were others, other who care about him, instead of someone who took advantage of him. His mind began to wonder and he found himself daydreaming about a certain redhead who made his heart beat fast. He snapped back into reality when Chris submitted to Jill's threat. They had passed the lab from where they first sought out Claire and continued down the road.

He raised his voice as the couple in the front seat started to bicker lovingly, "There seem to be cabins up ahead in about two miles. They belonged to Umbrella several years ago and tend to be rented out to employees and their families. Only two seem to be in use this season. You think Claire's in one of them?"

A shadow passed over Chris' face and he dimly replied, "She better be. I can't bare the thought of her being with Wesker again."

Jill spoke up, "I just hope Claire is alright and still…" her voice trailed off.

"Still what, Jill?" Chris' attention was on her and she saw tears in his eyes. She knew Claire was his only family left, and couldn't even imagine what her loss would to the man.

"You remember how Wesker was back before the incident; he was manipulative and his presence was enough to get us to question ourselves. You're lucky you never met him, Leon." His eyes caught her stare through the rearview mirror. She could tell what he was thinking.

"When we get there, proceed with caution. I'm sure he'd have the placed monitored." Was all Leon said.

"Okay. Let's get my sister back." The Jeep sped down the road and eventually found a cabin. They got off and proceeded to scout the area. After searching for any type of security, they got closer to the cabin. It wasn't necessarily big, but it was good size. With one kick, Chris bust the door in and they went inside. Each one scanned a room of the one story cabin and noted that it was empty. The rooms were nicely decorated with a vintage style. A bookcase was in the corner of the room Chris and Leon decided to discuss their next plan.

"How far off is the next one?" Chris asked with a rather disappointed voice.

"Half a mile down a path in the back yard." Leon responded equally disappointed at their discovery.

"Let's go on foot. If they're there we'll be harder to detect." His voice was strong, but Jill could hear the desperation in it.

"Ok. Let's go." They were out the door into the back yard in such a hurry, nobody took the liberty to notice a certain blink of a red light coming from a camera in the corner of a bookcase in the sitting room.

Claire had just poured the chocolate mix into her mug when she decided to put in another mug into the microwave. It just felt wrong not to. It was against her nature. Damn you and your stupid feelings. She couldn't help it. She felt as if she were obligated to. Why? The world may never know, but she did. She always brought an extra for either Chris or Leon. But you're not with them right now… Screw it. She prepared the second mug and walked back to the fire place. Might as well screw with him for fun. She walked slowly as the chocolate threatened to spill over the rim any second. When she reached the room, she managed to catch a glimpse of a security screen on Wesker's laptop as she approached from behind. She didn't catch much; she assumed it was a lab somewhere. She set one mug on the end table closest to him and walked back to her seat. When she sat down, she saw the corner of his eye linger on the mug beside him, questioningly. Yeahhhh….who feels confused now.

"That Wesker, is hot chocolate. A delicious beverage that one makes on especially cold evenings, such as this one." She said in her most sarcastically professional voice she could conjure up.

"Are you trying to poison me, Claire?" He lifted the mug delicately to his nose and sniffed. She took a sip from her mug and stared blankly at him.

"Drink it. I dare you. I double dare you." A smirk arose to her lips as a memory of Leon questioning her actions at party came up.

"That's rather foolish of you to suggest," Wesker was unamused by her sarcastic comments but his mood lightened a little when a smirk appeared on her soft face.

"but no." He proceeded to get up when she rushed over and grabbed his mug. She lifted it up to his face and pressed it against his lips.

"Drink it, you hard ass." She persisted.

Annoyance rose up in him but decided the setting of the moment was rather…humorous. She, forcing him to drink hot chocolate?

He reached to take the mug from her grasp but she tilted it, forcing him to drink some, as to not spill any. Most made it into his mouth, when some proceeded to spill all over her tank top and some on his pants.

"Fuck! See what you did for not drinking it?" Claire began to blame him.

"You wish to blame me when you were the one pushing the mug into my face?"

"That's correct." Her smile widened at his annoyance and she walked out the room with both mugs at hand. She placed the mugs in the sink and walked upstairs to change shirts. When she got to the room, she opened a drawer and found a white, long-sleeved shirt. She yanked off the tank top and proceeded to put on her fresh shirt. The door opened when Claire had just taken off her tank top and Wesker casually walked in. She stood there frozen with only her black laced bra on and the shirt at hand.

"Ever heard of knocking?" She said bitterly as she quickly pulled her shirt on over her torso. It was a tight fit, but it would do considering the state of her current situation.

"This is my room, Claire." Wesker grabbed a pair of pants out of a drawer and tossed off his dirty ones.

"Oh, yeah of course. That's why I slept here for days and had some clothes for my size in the drawer." She couldn't help but stare in the reflection as his toned legs slipped into the legs of the pants.

"Enjoying the view, Claire?", he chuckled. He had caught her staring and made note of it to embarrass her. She walked out of the room, wanting to escape that situation as fast as possible. She continued to walk down the stairs with fiery cheeks when a beeping noise caught her attention. She continued to walk toward the kitchen where she found the source of the noise. Wesker's laptop was left wide open, leaving a view of security camera recording a forest, the looks of it. Taking a closer look, Claire saw movement amongst the trees. People were walking through the forest at a rather quick pace. It took her a second but she recognized the larger frame as her brother. His stern face navigating the forest with two others behind him. Jill and Leon came clearer to Claire as they stepped further in the screen. Excitement filled her veins as she realized they had come for her. She was going home. She knew this would be her only chance. That excitement was cut short when a voice rose from behind her.

"I see your brother and his friends have finally joined us."

"Yeah well, being taken hostage to a cabin in the woods in the middle of winter tends to take quite a while to find."

An evil grin spread across his face as he spoke the next words, "Well, now that they've found you…let's have some fun."