Sherry woke up with a start. She dreamed about Jake but instead of him disappearing in her nightmare, per usual, he'd called back to her saying "I'm right here." She smiled, for the first time in a while she felt rested upon awakening.

She was suddenly aware that someone was next to her in the bed. An arm was draped over waist!

"What the?" She jerked away and realized it was Jake sleeping next to her with an arm thrown protectively around her. She had been curled up into his chest with her back to him.

He startled awake when she jerked and rolled off the bed landing on his back with a thud. "Jesus Sherry!" He rubbed his head and winced.

"Jake?" she said pulling the blanket around herself. She was in her pajamas but she still felt exposed.

"Look I'm sorry," he said. "But you were yelling and all that, and calling me and I told you it was ok, and you stopped." He yawned and sat up rubbing the back of his head. "Next time I'm listening to Claire."

"You saw that?" Sherry asked suddenly..."I mean, I have nightmares..."

"Yeah you did," said Jake. "Except till now, my head is fucking killing me."

"Sorry," said Sherry awkwardly.

He stood up and looked down and realized his shirt was off.

There was an awkward silence between them until Claire chose that moment to enter the room. "Oh I see you're both awake." She looked at them both. "I was going to wake you. Leon, Chris, and Devon are all downstairs in the lobby."

"Give us a minute," said Sherry. "We'll be right down." Her face was bright red and she kept her eyes averted towards the floor.

Claire after making sure Sherry was ok, with a quick glance turned and left the room. The awkward silence continued.

"Jake," she started, she wanted to explain but wasn't sure how.

"I'm sorry," he moved towards the adjoining door. "But it was all I could think of."

"Thank you."

"Thank you?" He wasn't sure he heard her right.

"Yes."

"Well.... you're welcome." He grunted and looked down. "Let's uh get ready and meet the others downstairs..." He turned towards the door. "What was that anyway?"

"Memories..." she whispered, half to herself. Staring at nothing. It was a haunted look, and Jake hated seeing it on her face.

Jake decided not to press her about them right now. As much as he wanted to, it was not the time or place for it.

He moved into his own room and threw on a black shirt and jeans they'd gotten him when he arrived. He ripped the price tags off. America, he thought. He'd been amazed at the fact that they'd simply bought him a new wardrobe at the Air Port. He was careful not to let that amazement show to anyone. He had traveled to South America as a mercenary after all. He'd insisted on keeping his black boots though. No use working in a new pair of boots if you are being chased by someone and his weren't going to fall apart anytime soon.

Grabbing his black boots, he drew on his socks and laced up the boots and practically ran down the stairwell almost running down Mac Devon standing in the doorway.

Devon who'd been wearing a smile glowered when he saw it was Jake coming down the stairs first.

Jake gave him a hard stare, decided he must rub all BSAA agents the wrong way. He shrugged off the look and sauntered past Devon into the kitchen. To do so though he'd had to bump past the shorter man as Devon didn't exactly get out of his way. What the hell is his problem?

He stopped and glanced back. Sherry. He was waiting for Sherry. He suddenly felt even more possessive of Sherry than when they'd been in China. He stared at the young agent for a moment who had his back to him staring up the stairs. Was Sherry in a relationship with him? That was potentially a problem when he....well it was a problem, Jake decided.

He turned and headed towards the front lobby. He noted every detail on the way down, knowing every exit would help if they suddenly had to run for it. There were agents in plain clothes everywhere. He could tell who they were by the way they carried themselves. They need to work on that, he decided. Even paying attention to the details didn't quite banish the young man waiting for Sherry from his mind.

"Where's Sherry?" asked Leon from the table. The dining area was filled with other guests leaving the hotel. Jake suddenly felt exposed again. He'd left his gun upstairs too on Sherry's night stand. Damnit. I'm not usually this careless.

Leon grinned and Jake realized that Claire had probably told him what had happened. The way the Devon guy had glowered at him made him suddenly realize that everyone knew what had happened. He sat down at the table and crossed his arms. Great.

Jake suddenly sat up taller. There was no way Devon and Sherry were together in that case. That kid would have confronted him openly; Jake knew the type. Possessive, protective...didn't matter. Hell, he was that type.

Sherry finally made an appearance and sat down next to him in the only other open seat. They looked everywhere but at each other. She put his gun into his lap without looking at him and pulled her arm back quickly.

He snatched it up with a scowl and slipped it into the waist band of his jeans. "Now that we're all done looking at each other, is the hero here," he shot a dark look at Leon, "going to tell us the plan?"

"We're going to take you both to a safe house." Said Leon. "You'll be on guard duty, carrying gear similar to what Chris and Devon are carrying." He patted a duffel bag on the floor. "This is for you."

Jake raised an eyebrow and said nothing. "So I'm going to be a body guard?" He pulled the bag close and unzipped, his eyebrows shooting up before he closed the bag again.

"You'll be each other's body guard," Leon replied lifting an eyebrow. "It worked well before."

Jake nodded, it had certainly worked well before. He wasn't going to argue the point. He mostly couldn't wait to be alone with Sherry. There was a lot he wanted to ask her about. He'd just have to be patient, and patience wasn't his strong suit. He could work on that.

"How long will we be there?" Sherry asked, not looking at Jake. She glanced over at Devon only to find him scowling. She finally just stared down at the table.

"Don't know," said Leon. "Claire and I were going to scope out some leads."

"We're perfectly capable of scoping out leads." Sherry replied finally glancing at Jake. He snorted but didn't say anything.

"I know that," Leon spread his hands attempting to placate her. "But we're not risking you until we know more. No arguments."

"Fine," Sherry said. It was her turn to glower. The protectiveness was starting to feel like a cage and Sherry had spent enough time in a cage for her own protection.

"You'll be safe." Devon said from the corner smiling at her. He never wanted anything more right now than to have Jake's job. The only difference between him and Jake though was that Jake saw her as an equal, and while he would protect her, he expected her to have his back as well.

Devon didn't see her like that. He believed he needed to keep watch over her just so she would be safe. The idea of Sherry rushing off into danger was the last thing Devon wanted for her.

"I don't want to be safe." Snapped Sherry. "This is my life. I don't want to run and hide, I want to take them down."

Devon was taken back at the sharpness of her voice and did not make a reply.

Jake smiled. That's my super girl, he thought to himself. He'd been wondering when the "Sherry" that had come and rescued him in Edonia was going to make an appearance. Sure she'd been nice to him, but that didn't stop her from telling him off when he needed it. Her tone now said back off. He glanced over at the BSAA agent. Don't think you can handle that little boy, he thought.

Across the table Claire studied them both. It was ironic really, Jake obviously liked Sherry and she liked him. They couldn't even look at each other. Their parents almost destroyed the world. Neither one had grown up to be a scientist like either parent. Each had learned to deal death but nothing on the massive scale of their parents.

And here they were acting like two school kids with a crush. Claire kept her face smoothed over. It was clear that Jake cared about Sherry a lot. It was also ironic, like a full circle coming to a close. At least she didn't think Sherry was capable of destroying the world. But Jake...who knew? Claire was still uneasy around the big man. Wesker was a cold hearted bastard, what kind of woman would have tempted Wesker in the first place? Who had his mother been?