He expected the pain.

Jake knew he'd been hit. He'd felt that kind of agony before. It seared as the bullet embedded into his shoulder from behind. He gasped as his arm dropped, his gun falling from his hand. Bullets whizzed over his head, buzzing dangerously close to his ear at one point. He dropped to his knees, grabbing the gun with his other hand and rolled in front of an oversized trash bin for cover.

How did I get stuck in this alley? The buildings loomed overhead, casting long shadows interspersed with the neon lights of the city.

His memory was foggy from the pain. The searing pain rocked through his shoulder and he noted with consternation that it wasn't abating like he'd expected. For a moment elation rippled through him, he was truly human again. Maybe... And then dread set in, he might actually die here without seeing... Where the hell was Leon? And Sherry for that matter?

Sherry shouldn't be here at all. But she was, he'd seen her. He couldn't remember why she was here too. Something about the mission. What was the mission?

He put a hand on his head shaking it in an attempt to clear it. Must have lost more blood than I thought.

A man with 6 eyes irregularly placed on his face emerged in his line of sight. Jake picked up his 9 millimeter and fired at the J'avo, hitting him straight in the face. The J'avo dropped instantly, twitching before disintegrating into the street. That one wasn't coming back at least.

Mutated J'avo had chased him here, he remembered. He'd been separated and gone off to the right to draw them away from Sherry and Leon. He was faster than both of them. The long cricket leg variety had chased him down, he had no idea what to call them, just knowing their legs could slice a man's head off, and they were still managing to carry their AKs. They looked like a mutated centaur, a project gone horribly wrong. He'd fired a few shots in their direction to get their attention and run, picking off a few here and there that got too close. The odds weren't exactly in his favor right now. He'd had worse before. 

"Jake!" It was Sherry's voice and then she was there at the other end of the alley, Leon next to her. Bother were armed and fired over his head at the creatures behind him. Sherry darted forward but Leon grabbed her from behind and pulled her back, her blonde hair flying forward as she rocked back towards Leon. Leon's own face registered surprise as he took a step back staring hard at Jake. 

"I thought he was immune?" Leon shouted over the noise, firing bullets toward the advancing J'avo behind Jake.

Something was wrong. 

Jake felt the searing pain burst through his shoulder registering from a ten to a sudden twenty on a pain scale and his vision blackened for a moment. He gasped and dropped to both knees, coughing and gasping for air. He glanced back up at Sherry again, her jaw was hanging open, his hand reached forward. Why aren't you helping me?

"What's wrong?" Jake's voice came out raspy from vocal cords that were wrenched slightly out of place, not quite right. Like the J'avo in China when they had spoken to him in Mandarin before he'd killed them. 

He knew what the problem was.

He turned to his throbbing shoulder and stared at the place where his arm was, only to see skin shred itself open as new red flesh burst out of his body and damaged arm. The new appendage, shot out, covered with pink sinewy muscles, a large deformed claw at the end, much larger than his body should have been able to carry. 

It made no sense. He dropped his gun and his fingers felt across his face. He found an extra eye here and there, his fingers came back bloody. 

Oh fuck!

"Nooooo!" The wail tore from his throat as he struggled to comprehend what had just happened to him. He stared at his mutated arm and went to tear it off with his still human hand. The attempts were in vain, there was nothing he could do to rip it off. He was supposed to be immune to the C-virus. I'm not my father, he thought to himself. Isn't that why they chased him around the world for his blood? What the fuck was this?

"Jake!" He could hear Sherry calling his name. 

He backpedaled away from her on his back, hitting the garbage bin again. "Don't touch me!" He tried getting out, his voice had gone completely raspy. He clasped his eyes shut wanting to deny the reality in front of him. 

Wanting to die. 

Wanting to wake up...

His eyes snapped open. He was drenched in sweat, lying in his own bed. The blankets he'd kicked off himself were tangled around Sherry, sleeping next to him. His breathing was heavy, coming in gasps.

"Shit," he gasped as he glanced at his arm. His normal human arm. 

"Son of a bitch," He whispered as relief flooded his body. He flexed his fingers, never so happy in his life to see his own hand. He lifted his hand to his face, nothing extra there. Just the missing scar that only bothered him when he forgot about it.

"Jake!" 

Next to him, whimpering, Sherry Muller tossed and turned, her own nightmares plagued her. 

What a pair they made.

She gave a low moan and Jake knew immediately that this was not restlessness from the baby. Her arms flew up to protect herself from whatever she was seeing in her dreams. Jake reached over and grabbed her shoulder gently turning her over as he whispered into her ear. "Supergirl, I'm here."

She quieted and curled into his chest, all without waking up. She was so tiny compared to him, her head barely reaching his chin. He put his arm around her now and ran his fingers through her hair until they were both breathing easily again.

Her nightmares had returned, and he had his own fears. Memories from the experiments that they both endured in China. He lay awake for a long time thinking about how their lives had ended up. He hated Neo-Umbrella or whatever the fuck, shell company they were using now. He hated his father, Albert Wesker, hell he even hated Sherry's father for helping Wesker. Both men were dead now. There was only their mess left to clean up. It was ironic now that they were together helping to destroy what their parents had created.

He wrapped his hand around Sherry's swollen abdomen, planting a kiss on the back of her neck as he pulled her close, inhaling her scent. He needed Sherry, probably too much. She was his reminder that he was, in fact, the good guy. That he was still human, he could still feel. He needed the way she saw him, one of the few who looked at him without seeing the monster his father had been. 

He was shaken from the nightmare. He should probably talk to her about it. She would understand his fears; that he was exactly like those J'avo they'd fought. One day he'd be hit and sprout a mutated limb, or grow 4 more eyes. He lay there trembling in the darkness his arms locked around her. 

They'd been through so much together in their short time, it felt like years.

They were two sides of the same coin. Life could have turned out differently for either of them. It should have anyway. Sherry's parents, scientists

Sherry as a child loved her parents and had never understood what exactly it was they were creating. But Sherry as an adult understood all too well and had suffered the ramifications of their decisions.

Jake had never had to go through having parents who loved him and yet created monsters and used unwilling humans to do it. His father never knew he existed. His mother sacrificed her health for him and died when he was still young. But she had loved him. Jake reasoned this was the best possible outcome for him. Being a megalomaniacal freak show had not kept Wesker alive at any rate. And Wesker never knew that he was alive? That had kept Jake hidden, unaware of his father's legacy, keeping him from possibly inheriting it.

Realizing he was not going to get any more sleep that night, Jake slid carefully out of bed, being careful not to disturb Sherry. They had been married for the past two months and he loved every second of it. His new job with the Department of Security was helping him use his own particular skill set effectively against B.O.W.s wherever they happened to turn up. It was becoming a disturbingly normal occurrence.

His relationship with the deceased Wesker was still top secret.

Sherry had been on desk duty for the past two months. She was removed as being just an asset and fully signed on as an agent in her own right. No longer reporting to Simmons or his successor, Sherry had more flexibility in her decisions than she knew what to do with. Except for the desk duty. He would never admit it to her or anyone else out loud but he was relieved that she was out of the field for a little while. Her connections too were top secret. As long as they both worked for the DSO, they would stay that way.

Jake had been partnered with Leon as a joke.

He remembered that day, even Leon had been surprised but grumbled out. "He'll do." This had shocked his bosses more than anything. They'd expected more of a fight out of Leon, who'd always worked alone.

Hunnigan had insisted it was time he trained someone for the job and it might cool his lone wolf tendencies just a bit. Fat chance. After a few missions and discovering that Jake was just as reckless if not more so than he was, Leon had no issue taking him out into the field. Leon figured if he could curb Jake's loose cannon tendencies he'd be perfect for the same kind of thing Leon did.

Jake looked at the digital clock on the nightstand close to the bed; 4 a.m. 

He let out a deep sigh and slid back into bed next to Sherry. He would rather be here than anywhere else. His biggest worry right now was wondering what that clone had been doing this whole time. He doubted that the clone would remain in hiding for long, but the absence of activity bothered Jake. J'avo appeared here and there but the clone remained hidden. Judging from their last encounter that did not bode well for him or Sherry. 

Jake was so deep in thought he suddenly realized his phone was beeping on the side table. He snatched it up glad for the interruption to his thoughts.

"Yeah?" He grunted into the phone.

It was Leon. "Wake you?"

"Not exactly."

Leon hesitated. "Nightmares?"

Jake didn't respond for a moment. Leon had been doing this for a long time. It was still uncanny how much he knew without being told. "Maybe."

"We're being called up again. More activity."

Jake tensed for a moment. It was close. Too close to Sherry's due date. Jake had leave coming, when Sherry went into labor he wasn't leaving her side.

"Come again?"

"Pack a bag, I'm on my way..."

"Claire?"

"I've already called her, she's on her way too. She stayed in the area as she promised. Don't worry, you still have a few weeks left." Leon ended the connection and Jake moved to grab a bag he kept just for the occasion. He threw on a loose shirt and dug through a basket looking for a pair of jeans. Jake groaned inwardly. He and Claire were not best friends. He did not get along with either of the Redfields for different reasons. He doubted he and Chris Redfield would ever truly be friends but they each had a healthy respect for the other. Chris had seemed genuinely disappointed that Jake did not join the BSAA. He'd been offered a spot there too.

Claire, on the other hand, seemed to be waiting for him to just drop the ball and start some world-domination project like his biological father.

God, he loved disappointing her. He could spend the rest of his life disappointing her in that regard.