trans_9 | Bursting Through [Closed]

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Bursting Through [Closed]

A couple of days had passed since Sherry had been forcibly dragged to the medbay by Roxie and been proven wrong about her state of self. She briefly remembered petting a big, golden dog, but not before she had sat down outside her father's room and fallen asleep. It hadn't been her intention, exactly; she had thought of an excellent plan to get him to lie down and nap as per her mother's wishes. But, her eyelids had won out against her, and she'd woken up in her room.

That was embarrassing. She really needed to stop falling asleep in weird places. The windows outside her room were dark, which meant she needed to stop closing her eyes every time they opened for more sleep. Who knew how badly she'd thrown off her up-at-seven-in-bed-by-nine schedule? Sherry looked up at ceiling and patted the approximate place the thing in her was. Lots of questions swam around in her mind, the foremost being, "How did this happen?" followed closely by, "What is it?"

Hoping that her parents would be awake, and that it wasn't nearly as late as she thought it was, Sherry rolled off her couch and stood up. She finger-combed her hair straight and put her ever-present headband on. Now, she just had to get the courage to go outside and track down her parents. After a few more long minutes of staring at the door, Sherry opened it and peeked down the hallway, closing it behind her quietly and stood there for a few moments. A quick decision had her skulking down the hall towards her father's office.

It wasn't her intention to skulk either, but Sherry supposed the sneaking was reflexive now when she was alone and quietly wandering around by herself. Thanks, monsters, she thought with a huffy little breath. She hurried to Leon's office and paused just before the door. Sherry poked head around the corner and checked to see if he was busy, or there at all.

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Good thinking there, Leon. Claire made her own way into the room, but she was quick to sit down next to Leon, trying not to look too relieved for the rest. Her eyes found Sherry a moment later and she smiled.

"We're all ears, sweetie."

"Hm," Sherry answered and closed the door. She didn't sit, and instead chose to stand before both of them and closer to the door. She had it all planned out. If they started freaking out, she would run away until they cooled off. It wasn't hard to be faster than Claire at the moment, and Sherry was certain she could outrun Leon.

It wasn't as if she hadn't done that before, after all. Sherry took a breath and began without preamble, "So... a few days ago? After I visited you, Mom? I went to the Media Library and ran into Roxie." Well, not exactly, but she was going to give them the cliffnotes version before she lost her nerve and just said Nevermind, goodnight! "Roxie said there was something wrong with me, and after chasing me around half of the fifth level, she finally made me go to medbay. And they... the doctor there, she found something..." Sherry touched the approximate place on her abdomen, and looked stuck between panicked and concerned.

"So that's what I wanted to say: There's something in me and I don't know what it is and I wanted to know if you knew anything. Maybe."

"Oh god..." Leon had no idea what to expect, but that hadn't been it. The surprise showed on his face, and he hoped that what they found wasn't what he thought it might be.

He looked over at Claire for a moment, and took a deep breath before looking back at Sherry.

"We might know something..."

The color drained from Claire's face the second what it might be occurred to her, and she returned Leon's look, her own slightly panicked, although she tried to keep it limited to her eyes so as not to freak out Sherry. The thought had occurred to her fleetingly when Sherry and Steve had first appeared, but falling into the role of mother and protector had overrode any minute concerns she had that the vaccine she'd issued might not have completely done its job.

Now, though, when she looked back at Sherry and struggled to keep her face calm, all that came bubbling back. She glanced quickly at Leon again, hoping he'd field most of this conversation, because while she'd been the one to synthesize the vaccine and administer it, she wasn't really feeling prepared to tell Sherry what might be inside her.

Well, that was better then the both of them jumping up to run her over. But only slightly, and did little to soothe Sherry's hope that they hadn't known anything. The little girl wrung her hands together like a woman many times her age.

"So.. you do know something?" she asked in a small voice.

"Yeah..." Leon admitted. Now he just had to figure out a way to explain it all to her.

"Um... C'mere," he waved her over, wanting her to come closer. "Remember in Raccoon City, when you got sick?"

Sherry gave Leon a distinctly suspicious look, which would have been funny if it had been another circumstance, and came a little closer. She calculated her chances of escape, and found that they dropped by fifteen every foot closer she got to him.

Still, she knew he'd probably get annoyed if she didn't get closer to him. Sherry stopped before the two of them and continued to wring her hands. "I don't think I could forget that if I tried," she responded honestly. "Why?"

He took another breath.

"What happened to you was... one of the monsters got to you. And it implanted something in you. Your mother-- Annette," he felt the need to specify that. His brain now defined Claire as 'her mother', "--she told Claire where to find the medicine, a vaccine, that would save you.

"We got it to you in time, thank god, and once you woke up and were all better, we had figured it was all over.

"...apparently we were wrong."

Sherry stopped listening after the word 'implanted' as her brain attempted to bring up proof of Leon's words. Yes, she'd been ill, she remembered she'd been sick a lot of that night right after....

All the color in her face drained as she remembered exactly when she'd started feeling ill. It had been right after Claire had found her, after she'd fallen through something in the sewers. Her memory was fairly spotty after that, but that was the starting point. "Oh," she mouthed, unable to find a suitable reaction otherwise.

"Oh."

He reached his hand out and pulled her a little closer.

"You're going to be fine." That wasn't a question or a guess, it was a promise. "Whatever is left in there, the vaccine will keep it from growing, or changing you. So nothing is going to explode out of you, you're not going to suddenly sprout an eyeball on your shoulder. You're still going to be our little girl." And he wasn't going to let anything happen to her.

"But, obviously, its not safe for you to carry around something like that. We'll all talk to the doctors, and see if there's a way we can safely get it out of you. Okay?"

Claire remained silent while Leon explained things, nodding occasionally to show what he was saying was the truth as far as she knew it to be. When Leon pulled Sherry closer Claire shifted too. She leaned her arm against Leon's shoulder so she could reach out for Sherry's hand without overbalancing herself or stretching too much.

"We won't let anything happen to you," she affirmed, having remained silent long enough. She didn't have much to say that Leon hadn't already said, but she wanted Sherry to know they were both looking out for her.

She wanted to answer clearly and concisely, like an adult, but a high pitched whine in the back of her mind kept dashing all the words she wanted to say to pieces. He promised that she was going to be fine, but could they really be sure? To what degree could he say that she would be absolutely fine, that this thing hadn't messed her up in some way that would make it hard for them to remove it?

Sherry was frightened, and for once the fright was justified. She tried to quiet the noise in her mind so she could speak, and when she could, Sherry murmured, "I wish she hadn't told me at all." Regardless of how dangerous it was to have that thing inside her, it hadn't done anything yet.

And she really didn't want to know how they would be getting it out of her. Sherry leaned her head against Leon's and pursed her lips. "So what happens if it can't be removed?"

"Slowdown, sweetheart." He really didn't want her to get ahead of herself here.

"We'll talk to the doctors first, and find out what our options actually are. Then we can talk about what to do."

It was an uncomfortable thought to think they might have to leave whatever it is in Sherry, even if it were something with the G-Virus contained. But she knew there was no sense in getting worked up on it right now so she just nodded along with what Leon said.

"Okay." Sherry's voice sounded somewhat hollow as she tried to (unsuccessfully) work her head around it. It was too much to think about. "Doctor Lam has some of my blood. She said she was going to look at it." Sherry wasn't sure what went on with blood work, exactly, her pediatricians hadn't explained things to her when she was little. And if they had, Sherry probably would have still been more interested in the picture books, or the treasure chest with the prizes inside for good behavior.

Sherry wondered what they would find in her blood absently. "So, now what? I don't think I'll be able to sleep comfortably after this." Besides, she felt like she'd slept too much. "But you should sleep. Both of you."

"Now you just relax and be patient. Give Dr. Lam time to do her thing."

Leon didn't mention anything about rest, as none of them would be sleeping comfortably after that, most likely.

"Honey, I think sleep is just about last on our minds right now," Not that there was much they could do about it at the moment, but Claire wasn't in the practice of sleeping comfortably when there was something like this hanging in the air. And the possibility of Sherry's health at risk was an extremely large concern for her.

"And you know, if you aren't feeling all right, we're not going to leave you awake all by yourself."

"But, I feel just fine. Despite... that thing. I didn't feel sick at all the entire time I've been here, and if Roxie hadn't said anything, I would still feel fine.

"So, I guess that I'm saying is unless it wakes up and starts tap dancing on my liver," Sherry wrinkled her nose at the imagery, though it kind of amused her in a dark way. "I'll be okay." Now, she'd just have to hope it wouldn't do exactly that. (Though, a little part reminded her that 'tap dance' would probably be more like 'chew it's way through'.) "And I don't think you should stay awake over me."

That's what she was used to, after all, and Leon and Claire had to thank Annette and William for that.

Leon didn't say anything at first. He simply pulled Sherry closer and kissed her on her forehead.

"We'll worry anyway, sweetheart. That's what parents do. Besides," he smirked, "if we let you out of our sights, you'll probably try to sneak off and hide in a vent again."

So, no, Daddy hadn't forgotten about that.

"I wouldn't!" Well, maybe she would. It really depended on how quickly they started trying to strap her to tables and flinging around scalpels. "Maybe." Sherry amended quickly.

The vents are a safe place, Daddy. Really.

Claire smirked at the exchange between Leon and Sherry. She still only had the bare bones on that particular story, but she at least got the context.

"How about this. Let's you and me stay in here for the night," she spoke up, addressing Sherry, although she did glance at Leon out of the corner of her eye for reaction purposes. "We can have a family sleepover. That way we'll only have each other to blame if no one gets any sleep." The hope Claire had was the presence of both parents and things to take her mind off whatever was growing in her stomach would put Sherry at ease to a point where she might fall asleep, but she wasn't going to set any goals at this point.

Leon gave Claire an amused grin at her suggestion and shrugged a little.

"Sounds like a good idea." If it'd make Sherry feel better, he was ok with it. And its not like he minded them being around anyway.

Sherry eyed they both curiously. Well, she wouldn't mind, but that almost meant she was certain not to sleep. All the affection and attention was still a little strange sometimes, though Sherry had a sinking feeling that if it were her biological parents, there would be more of a "Really? Let's pull it out of you then and study it" sort of reaction.

Which was why she was happier with her current parents. "I don't think I've done that before," she said finally. At least, she couldn't remember staying up with her parents just for the heck of it.

Leon just grinned a little at Sherry's curious look. It was almost as if she was wondering why they cared.

He didn't bother saying anything, though. He just messed up her hair.

It's a sign of affection. Really.

Sherry flailed a little at his hands, "Waaaugh! Stop! Daaaad!" The little flyaways of hair stood at all angles, and she gave Leon a look that could have melted lead.

But, turnabout was fair play, and Sherry returned the hair ruffle. Hey, look at that, it does move!

Bursting Through [Closed]

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