MILA MULLER

"Thank you for the tissue sample, my dear." Wesker tilted his head sharply, observing his patient. "You were brave during the procedure."

"It hurts like a bitch." Mila muttered, her eyes more than a little red. "I really didn't expect it to be like…that."

"It is taking a tissue sample." Wesker smirked a bit. "What did you expect it to be like? A kiss on the cheek?"

"Ha ha, very funny." Mila rolled her eyes. She watched as Wesker wrote up a report, her muscular tissue sample in containment next to him on the laboratory desk, soon to be analyzed. The biopsy needle had been incredibly painful, almost so much so that she nearly passed out. Somehow, she managed to stay awake and to grit her teeth through it, but not without a few tears.

Even so, Wesker made something as awful as a tissue biopsy…manageable. He had a gentle and precise touch, as if his hands were sure of exactly what was needed to be done. He had taken the sample from one of her legs, where her muscles were most affected, and the pain there was a dull throbbing ache.

"Here, this should help." Wesker held out a hand with two small green tablets in it. "They're made from pain reliever and green herb. They should help you feel a good bit better."

"Thank you." Mila took them and a bottle of water from him, swallowing them eagerly. Pain relief wouldn't come for a little while longer, and so she slumped against the chair as Wesker began his pathology report.

It had been a few weeks since the first round of testing he had done with her blood, and still no results had come through. There were simply false flags and dead ends galore–but it only seemed to make Wesker all the more determined to discover more about her chronic illness.

All the while, Mila slumped into what had become her chair in Wesker's laboratory, noting she was spending more time there than at her desk while still being paid. She hardly saw Jenkins any more, a great relief to her–Wesker in fact happily told him and his other colleagues that Mila was contributing to medical science with her contributions and endurance of multiple rounds of testing, and therefore deserved their respect. Wesker seemed to command authority to all those around him, and Mila noticed that they didn't seem to question him.

She knew others looked at her as little more than a lab rat–another project taken under Wesker's wing. But she saw how Wesker looked at her, his determination to discover what was happening to her. She saw underneath the cold command was something soft. Something determined to make humanity and earth a better place. To make her life better.

It meant a lot to her.

The pain medications were kicking in, and Mila felt her eyes flutter. The biopsy had been an ordeal, and she was exhausted by it. She felt completely at home in the laboratory by now, and could easily fall asleep, which she did, leaned over the side of the chair.

Wesker looked up from the beginning of his pathology report and smiled at her. Soundless, he grabbed a towel from one of the counters and placed it over her as a makeshift blanket. The laboratory got cold, after all. It was only fair.

XXX

"So what has your move to America been like?" Wesker inquired. "You speak a lot of your home country, but not much of your life here."

"Well lately it's just been a lot of testing," Mila joked. "No, but… It's been difficult. It took me years to get a visa in Edonia, especially with the economic collapse. I had to fight for it and save all of my money." She confessed. "It was a work visa specifically. I was able to be paired up with Umbrella, and took the opportunity as soon as I could. I got paired up with housing assistance when I got here and was paired with a roommate in an apartment. It's about fifteen minutes from the facility, so I walk here."

"What of your high pain days?" Wesker asked her. "Or low mobility days?" He seemed genuinely concerned, though his face was stone.

"I…make myself. If I force it too much I sometimes have to spend days in bed. My roommate, Ella, takes care of me then. She is kind, an immigrant from Mexico. She's helped save me on my worst days. She saved up to buy some seeds and has been trying to grow some herbs for me to help too. She told me instead of tablets, they grind them and put them in tea where she's from."

"Intriguing. I can't imagine it tastes all that good."

"Oh, it's not so bad when you smother it with honey." Mila chuckled. "But it has been a struggle. I feel like even if I wasn't sick it would be difficult. But I had my father's money after he passed and that's one of the things that helped me get here. And now…maybe I'll really get some help."

She smiled at Wesker, a genuine and gentle smile that he couldn't help but smile back at. "That is what I intend to do, Mila. And until then, I will make sure you have pain relievers and herbs free of charge." He put a finger to his chin, faking thoughtfulness. "Well, so long as you keep enduring my tests and wretched company."

"Wretched? Well, you do talk a little proper for my tastes, but you're fine to me." Mila's eyes twinkled. "Company could be worse."

"Hmm yes, you could have impressed Birkin with your recklessness instead of me." He actually genuinely chuckled then, a suddenly bright sound. There was silence for a moment as they just looked at each other, and then both of them began to laugh.

Lunch at work had become something that Mila always looked forward to now. Instead of the break room or cafeteria, she now had it in a corner of Wesker's laboratory, one which he meticulously cleaned after their meal, a quiet and dim place where it could be just them. The dim lights and quiet helped ease Mila's mind and the comfortable chairs her body, and Wesker always made sure she had green and red herbs to help her pain.

They had been getting closer for a few weeks now, and Mila was content. She didn't have much in America, and yet she felt as if she was at the top of the world. She was finally receiving competent treatment, had a new witty friend, a home of her own, and a roommate she wouldn't trade for the world.

It was bliss.

XXX

ALBERT WESKER

Wesker stared at his screen, attempting to understand what he was seeing. It was absolutely palpable that Mila's life was impeded by this disease, and that she was in pain. Her cells were irregular, but looked like nothing he had ever seen before. He wasn't quite sure what to make of them, or of her condition. He had been working on her for almost two months at this point and there were no leads whatsoever.

It was exciting–finally, a true challenge!

Wesker had grown used to everything being easy. Problems and equations and virology and pathology all blended together into easily obtainable goals for him, and had since he was young. This unknown chronic illness on the other hand seemed unexplainable–and by the way Mila had described it, also degenerative. It was fascinating, and a challenge he was prepared to overcome.

What came easy, on the other hand, was…getting along with Mila. Wesker wasn't exactly what you would call a people person. He was a self absorbed and intentionally isolated narcissist who barely tolerated the company of his colleagues and superiors. He despised authority with a burning passion and was known to bite the hand that feeds him on more than one occasion. But with Mila… There was genuinely something about her beyond the challenge of treating her disease.

Wesker was loathe to believe in such trivial things such as love at first sight, but the second he laid eyes on Mila Muller he was enamored. The more time they spent together the more at ease he felt around her. He felt weight fall off his shoulders, and a certain mollification to his standing. He could simply talk to her, and he found himself enjoying that fact.

He had had a few affairs in his lifetime, little flings that meant nothing but fleeting pleasure or prestige. Mila felt like more than that. Not enough to settle down with, but enough to become closer to. He enjoyed how she weaved colorful worlds with her words, how she saw the best in everything. For someone with such dull opinions on humanity as Wesker, it was almost refreshing to see someone so bright. It was a shame she was just an office worker–she had the potential to be so much more if not for her immigrant status and illness.

Wesker focused, cracking his knuckles as he set back to work on decoding the illness. No matter. He would have his fun in every facet, as long as he needed to.