Chapter Text
Jill Valentine, the special operations agent of BSAA, walked down the aisle. But not as a bride but as the best (wo)man of her precious partner. These things partners do, right?
Chris asked her for this favour. One day, on BSAA base when they were filling the reports in their shared office, he raised his head from the papers and told her he was going to get married. Showed her the picture, she knows her from the past but didn’t know that’s that serious. She didn’t know about that relationship at all. That woman was so angelic, so innocent, so brave, the best match for him. Jill wished him the best. Of course.
And now, she reached the altar and stood next to Chris Redfield, the groom. He glanced at her, his eyes were full of joy and tension at the same time. Should she tell him that everything will be fine?
The whole church was filled with excitement and pure happiness. Just Jill Valentine, the partner and the closest person of the groom, couldn’t make herself join the crowd. She found her lower lip trembling.
Something was wrong. She couldn’t lower her gaze down to the watches on her wrist how tense she was. And around her, in the church, there were no watches on the wall. Because faith is timeless or whatever. Why for god's sake Chris decided to seal vows here? He wasn’t even in faith since his parents death! Horrible place.
Suddenly, the door opened again and the bride entered, guests stood up and reached their attention as the bride walked the aisle. The music. The white dress with a veil hid her beautiful face. The bouquet in her shaky hands. A few tears stuck on the fabric. The perfect bride. The perfect groom. His perfect best man - in tears in her eyes, poking finger on the ring box in her pocket of the dress.
Everything seemed so right and wrong at the same time. What time is it? She decided to leave this church, the BSAA and the United States when Chris tie a knot in a few minutes with that amazing woman. Her purpose of life - fighting with syndicates producing bioweapons - was strongly connected to Chris Redfield and she couldn’t let him face all of the dangers. Or his future wife and their potential offspring. The bride reached the groom.
Jill tried to look at the watches again but time was so timeless. Did she forget how to tell the time because of this shit?
Everyone was in the right place . Could the service start? Because Jill was lost in her own thoughts, she didn’t hear them call her name.
“Jill! The rings?”
It was Chris, his gentle smile. And she felt the stare of the bride behind her veil.
Jill desperately tried to fish the ring box in her pocket. Her finger’s movements were so clumsy for someone who was able to unlock every lock around. Suddenly the box fell down, opened and one of the rings disappeared between pews. Jill couldn’t take it anymore. She hid her face in her palms and cried.
“Chris, you can want everything from me, but not this! I would rather throw myself from the window with Wesker again! I will go through this again again and again!” she shouted at them. “Everything I will do for you! Everything! I will die for you because I love you! You know this, Chris! Just don’t make me do this!”
“Jill?” the bride spoke. Jill froze and raised her eyes to the bride in horror. No! It wasn’t possible! She couldn’t breathe. Gasping for the air watched the bride lift her veil.
The face of college student Claire Redfield appeared under the veil.
Valentine started to scream. Everyone was shocked by her reaction.
“Jill?”
“Jill!”
“Jill!!!”
Suddenly she opened her eyes and finally catched her breath properly. Blinked several times. Her shaky hand reached slowly the wrist of the man who held her tight.
“Jill! Are you ok?”
Chris Redfield, the captain of BSAA held her in his embrace and looked worried. Bit his lower lip. Furrowed eyebrows. Sat on the edge of her bed. They were in her bedroom in the house where they lived together for years as roommates and partners. In a century when Claire couldn’t be nineteen years old anymore….
“Chris?” she breathed in disbelief. She realized she woke up in the middle of the night.
“Jill, I couldn’t wake you up! Whatever it was, it was just a dream, ok? We are safe, Jill…. Jill?” She couldn’t stop crying. With his hand which he cupped her face he brushed strands of her hair from forehead.
“Jill, there is no Nemesis, no viruses, no zombies or any other motherfuckers…”He listed all those things that weren't in the room with them with the intention to calm her down. “No one will even touch you. I promise.” he added. “Jill…Shhh….” But it wasn’t possible to calm her down. Chris fell silent for that moment and just traced the shape of her face with his finger. Did he cross the line? After a few moments, Jill was able to murmur some words.
“I…stood there…couldn’t stop you… you… me… I just couldn’t…”
He grabbed her hand and laced his fingers with hers. Gave her courage. Obviously, she was processing some sort of shock. New tears appeared in her eyes.
“I … I couldn’t stop you from marrying her. I couldn’t. Claire…”
He still couldn't put two and two together, but dreams are like that sometimes. Without any sense.
“My sister?” he smiled faintly. “What about my sister?”
Jill finally came back to her senses. She breathed loudly in and out. Trying to put herself together.
“You wanted to marry your sister. I tried to stop you. I was your best man with rings. ”
He blinked several times in disbelief, and didn't know what to say. That nonsense was cringy, disgusting and maybe twistingly funny but for Jill Valentine it was a more terrifying idea than some Nemesis who chased her in her dreams since 1998. Yes, the nightmares full of her memories of bioterrorist attacks followed her for years, waking her up from her sleep from time to time. Sometimes she screamed but always when he rushed to her bedroom, he found her grumpy, yawning and ready to go back to sleep or to walk for a sip of water to the kitchen with him. She never had a panic attack until this night.
“That will never happen, Jill… at least… it’s illegal.” he swallowed all of his liquids from his stomach. The image of marrying his own sibling was unsettled and disgusting enough for his guts. “Any federal state won’t allow it and I suppose there are many many faiths and countries in the world against it either.” he gently brushed her tears from her face with his thumb. She was so sweet.
“Ok.” she sighed and with a faint smile. She ran a thumb over his wrist she still held since her awakening. They cuddled in this way for a while.
“So, you are not married to your sister, Chris?” she wanted to make sure but at the same time she teased him a little. She was almost back to her senses.
“No, I am not and I won’t.” He recognized her condition and immediately assured her and helped her to sit.
Suddenly, Jill felt embarrassed. It didn’t make any sense to freak out from a dream like that. There was no death, no blood, no monsters… His pitying look felt on her with the heaviness of the weighted blanket. Jill felt ashamed, couldn’t stand his pity anymore and took action.
“You bet I won’t let you marry your sister!” she raised her face towards his and pressed her lips onto his without warning. Then freed from his embrace and disappeared in the bathroom. Let him be absolutely confused.
○○○
Washed her face, looked at herself in the mirror. Finally she made it into her regular state and suddenly realized what she did before entering the bathroom. But there was no way to take it back. She shook her head. Probably Chris left her bedroom and she will apologize for her actions and words (she technically accused him of the intention of inbreeding) in the morning.
Valentine opened the door of the bathroom and bumped into Redfield's chest. He stood there, in the dark corridor without a need of turning lights on. His eyes without expression betrayed nothing.
“Chris?” she raised her gaze towards his face.
“Are you serious?” he furrowed his eyebrows.
“I am sorry!” She apologized. “I didn’t mean to accuse you of an inappropriate relationship with your sibling…”
“For god sake, Jill!” Chris with a little smile rolled his eyes and in no time returned her the kiss. He grabbed her waist and forced her to make a few steps back into the light of the bathroom. He closed the door with his feet. Leaned his back towards the door and pulled Jill into his embrace.
“Don’t talk about my sister when I am kissing you.”
She melted from his order, it was new. She never received any regular order from him. He cupped her face and didn’t let her breathe for a while. She grabbed Chris by the collar of his flannel pajama to get closer. Jill didn’t want to let him be in charge…
○○○
The walls of the house weren’t thick enough, so a scream and followed voices of residents of this property woke her up. She assessed there is no danger in the area because she didn’t hear any sounds of a shotgun (and in this house were hidden countless amounts of weapons) and probably Jill had some nightmare and Chris comforted her. But because Claire was already awake, she decided to take a little walk around the house to clear her head, grabbed some water in the kitchen and used the bathroom. She left the guest room and was a little confused because she didn’t visit her brother so often and didn’t know his place well. Just today it was, after several years that she saw his brother, because she passed the area where he lived together with Jill Valentine.
Claire Redfield was the last person in the world who would voluntarily dig into her brother’s love life but she couldn’t figure out what the term partners meant (and she wasn’t the only one who couldn’t). It sounded so vague. But at the same time, from the first moment it was so serious. Before Jill Valentine entered the S.T.A.R.S., the workplace where they met, Chris didn’t take things seriously and weekend by weekend he showed up with a new company, week by week he dated with someone else. It was like changing bedsheets. For teenage Claire it was obviously so yuck but she didn’t care, she was kinda similar in dating those days.
But then, Jill Valentine, who needed a break from the army, joined the forces in RC. And suddenly the sibling’s talks were filled by Jill this or Jill that. Jill and Chris sticked together from day one and were inseparable.
She was quite the opposite of Chris’s usual taste in girls he had those days. Actually, before Jill entré, Claire had doubts about her brother’s nature. All of the spoiled sweets with the same long tanned legs and the matching outfits with their lipsticks looked like some sort of cover up for something deeper. They used to be too much feminine. All of them. On top of that, there was no deeper connection with them. Claire was amused how he could change them so fast, probably he knew just their names (but who knows...). How did he get them? It looked more like See? I am dating many girls. Look at them, they are so pretty and feminine and wear pink skirts and tops and use lipstick and mascara, there is no reason to question the direction of my heart. It’s so obvious….
And then, Jill in coveralls who was able to to repair parts of her motorcycle which Claire couldn't, appeared. The girl with delta force training who couldn’t actually join the delta force because her chromosomes stayed in a defaulted mode. And it was clear like a bright day. She unlocked Chris’s heart. With a pick. There was no other way.
Claire opened the bathroom and suddenly it stopped all of her thoughts. Before entering she didn’t notice the lights from the gap under the door, the first hint that the space is already occupied.
First thing what she spotted was a woman's ankle at eye level. It was weird. Suddenly, Claire realized that she stared at Jill Valentine positioned on the washing machine. Between her legs, Claire’s brother was standing, pressing their bodies at each other. Hugging. Kissing. The man was holding one of her thighs to make them comfortable. Thank god, they were fully clothed. But the term partners was finally explained. After decades.
There was a mess from things which fell down as they moved around the bathroom and bumping into the things. The rest of the things from the washing machine fell down, joined the parade of other items on the floor.
Jill, thanks to her position, noticed her first and gasped in shock. But before Chris could turn around, Claire snapped instantly. She didn’t want to see the expression of the person who raised her at that moment.
“Carry on, I just wanted to use the bathroom but garden is also an option…Excuse me, I have to vomit” she slammed the door and her quick steps echoing the corridor.
“Throw it in the trash outside!” Chris shouted towards the slammed door. Then he turned back to Jill with her playful smile on her face. The hunger for each other was already gone, thanks to Claire. But the feelings stayed, honestly, they never disappeared.
He snaked his arm around her waist and helped her from the washing machine back to her feet. They didn’t mind all of the things laying around. He entwined fingers with hers and led her by hand into the closest bedroom. Probably his, because her bed was too small.
○○○
Notes:
Well, my first valenfield fic sees the light of the day.
Short playlist for short series. Because I have to have playlist for everything.
The second and final chapter is already done (technically, was written before the first chapter, my sense of chronological order is generally terrible). I want to publish it next week.
In this chapter I hid some hints about what to do when you are not sure where exactly you are. I bet, that Valentine with her military background knows some sleep methods, probably will know the methods how to wake up when things in her sleep are not comfortable.
I hope you enjoyed the reading. And also hope that the Claire's part wasn't too disturbing...