But next week came a year later.

Things adjusted well for Ashley and Nai. Neighbors stopped being noisy and her parents just came by to help out and teach the new mother instead of asking too many questions about the child. Ashley finally got a edge on Nai's little problems and were able to not only anticipate them, but counter those issues with little fuss and without wasting too much time. Still, she remained at home, earning her wages by filing out paperwork all day. Boring as all hell, but a easy task that earned her good money for the two of them.

Ada barely contacted the two. Barely. Like, once a week, even then? When she did, Ada sounded all tired, short on breath; like she ran all the way to the phone. She seemed to be less interested in what happened to Nai that certain day and more interested in continuing her private little war with Neo Umbrella. At least she sounded lively. She confirmed that whenever she got injured, she got immediate medical attention instead of just simply wrapping the wound up and running off to the next battle, so she actually listened to Ashley. But whenever Ada called, it just reminded Ashley of how really alone she was right now.

Ada did allow for Nai to go outside…on certain dates, during certain times. Her constant need for security insured that every little activity would require a notification at least a week ahead of time, a specific route that would allow Lester to keep a eye on Ashley and Nai the entire time thanks to him hacking into various CTV cameras, Ashley would have to drape Nai's stroller with a certain material that would prevent satellites from tracking them…gah!

Ashley stabbed her pen into the desk with enough force to embed it into the cheap wood. Nai was sleepy soundly in another room, so Ashley's little outburst wouldn't cause the baby to wake up and cry. Ashley let out a noticeable and loud groan as she found herself loosing all control.

She had been holding back her anger for far too long. She had been patient with following Ada's wishes, but now the pressure had taken the toll and she wasn't getting any enjoyment out of this. Ada had started to make things worse. Didn't she say she would try to make things easier for her? Not really! Few phone calls (All of which were heavily uniformed to the point where they might as well be recordings.) scare care packages (Barely contained anything worth nothing!) and the constant and paranoid need for security only made Ashley's life more troublesome than necessary.

But the worst had to be all of the false promises Ada made. Be over in week, see you soon, I'll get over as soon as possible, I'll arrange things with Lester…

This. Keeps. Happening.

For over a year since the first meeting, Ada had endlessly being making these promises to finally come for the second meeting. But they came through. Despite all the flustering about how she will arrange things with Lester to go off the radar for a while so she can see her baby daughter, she never made good on it. Every call now became a ordeal rather than a way of reviving stress. Ashley needed a break, she needed some time alone away from the baby, she wanted something resembling a normal life!

Coming from the girl who previously had been kidnapped by a cult so she partake in a deadly experiment to make the next world destroying virus.

Ashley gazed at the clock on the wall. Within the next five minutes, Ada would make her usual call. Ashley ran off a mental checklist. Ada would update on her progress against Neo Umbrella, ask to hear Nai's voice, make a another empty promise, shoot a few zombies or Neo Umbrella soldiers during the whole thing, promise to send another care package as well information about the next call, update Lester…same old, same old.

She felt trapped in her own home. This jail cell that she did a month's research into, talked with various people about, and bought with her own hard-earned money! Going to the roof twice a day and the strolls every other day didn't satisfy her needs to move up and around! She needed to go jogging! Hit a gym! Go on a scenic walk tour for the hell of it! Get a few friends together and go on a stamp collection quest on the nightclubs of the city! Something! Do something that would at least make her heart-rate raise up by at least thirty points!

One minute to go and Ashley started to make out a list of demands. Sorry for sounding selfish Ada, but you forced me to practically give up my career, had me to lie to friends and family, chained me into my own home out of paranoid fear, threw a child on me to take care ALONE…Ashley grabbed her phone and juggled the receiver in hand. When it came time to talk, boy would she talk! Ashley did consider that this call might be important and Ada could be trouble…

The phone started to ring. Time to hear the same old thing. Ashley would hold off her complaints until Ada had time to talk.

"Ashley, are you there?" Ada sounded fine and healthy, like always. Didn't sound like she was in any trouble at all, in fact, Ashley could hear the sounds of a beach; with the rushing waves, people laughing and cheering, and with the occasional burst of seagulls mating calls. "Ashley, can you hear me?"

"Yes." Ashley grunted out between gritted teeth. "I can hear you just fine."

"Good, I don't have time to talk all that much…" Predicted she would say that. "…Neo Umbrella is stalking me again through Florida…" Predicted the stalking part, and a good excuse as to why she's at a beach. "…I've uncovered more files about their operations…" Yep, yep, yep. Anything new you want to discuss? "…new strand of virus…" Big surprise there. The evil reincarnation of a already evil pharmaceutical company developed a new virus? "…might be a little while before we can talk again…" Haven't used that gem in a while. That might actually be a good thing though; it would allow Ashley some breathing room.

"Ashley, you're quiet." Ada commented. "And the last thing you said…it sounded like you are either angry…or in pain."

"Angry." Ashley filled in.

"You have every right to be infuriated at me." Ada sighed. "I have done nothing to support you and have done everything to ruin your life."

"Thank you for stating the obvious!" Ashley groaned out loud, jumping up to her feet. "Ada, I don't want to be the selfish ass here! We're talking about the future of a child; she's as much as a victim as you! But you have been more interested in fighting this so-called war than you have been raising your beloved child! When I first got this call…" Ashley let out this unusual laugh. "…I thought you were enjoying a little vacation on the beach! It sounds like you're calling from the inside of a beachside bar!"

"I am calling from the inside of a beachside bar." Ada bluntly admitted, all though sounding a bit embarrassed. "It's not that crowded right now, but just enough for me to hide out in the crowd without raising my voice." She cleared her throat. "And, yes, I had to pay off the bartender so I could use the phone without interruptions and with a longer time limit for calls."

"Why can't you get Lester to make you some sort of super satellite phone that allows you to contact anyone, anywhere, and is completely untraceable?" Ashley asked. "I mean, machines that turn anyone's DNA into usable sperm exist, so why not…"

"Because there's no such as truly untraceable." Ada started her little lesson. "Being untraceable means buying disposable cell phones, using them once and then throwing them away, but someone could just look up the buying list and track you that way. Plus, Neo-Umbrella made that DNA machine, remember? They developed methods of finding people all around the globe, so even if Lester had the skill and the tools to make such a phone, Neo Umbrella would find a way to track within a week."

"Oh." Ashley grunted, letting go some of her anger but not all of it. She wanted to wait for the right. "Okay. So Lester can only hide calls like these for a short period I guess?"

"Which is why I never use the same phone twice." Ada filled in. "Is there more you want to vent about?"

"Yeah!" Ashley shouted, letting the dam inside of her burst open. "You keep saying, 'I'll come over!' You keep making those promises that you can't ever keep! Nai still doesn't understand a lot of things, but she needs her actual mother! Some times, I can't even tell if you actually care about Nai!" Ashley waited for Ada to say something. She didn't, so Ashley went on. "Ada! I…love Nai! Honestly…if this year of having her has made me realize something, it's that I love our child! And…" Ashley took a deep gulp before admitting: "…I want us to be a family, together."

"Your parents?" Ada finally spoke up.

"Their feelings don't matter if Nai and you are together again." Ashley came out, on the verge of tears now. "I…need you! I need you to help me! We both want Nai to have a normal life, free of the zombies, free of insane people, free of evil corporations…Ada, I want to see Nai grow up! I want her to learn about the fall of Umbrella and the complete end to the zombie plague! Please! I NEED YOU!" Ashley screamed out loud on the last part. If a neighbor came and complained, she would tell them to fuck off. If it awoke Nai, then Ashley would go and help her. But now that Ada had heard Ashley's plight, what would the spy say?

"Please. Go on. I want to hear everything."

As a teenager, Ashley spent a lot of time on the phone, much to her parent's annoyance. Must had run up quite a bill, Ashley would forever remember the time where she caught her mother in a lie that Ashley somehow tripled their cellular bill. Following her little adventure, Ashley became a bit more reserved and the longest calls she had lasted only a little over ten minutes, and those were for getting her way into college and getting that job at the firm.

But for two hours, she and Ada talked. Just the two of them; Ashley sitting down on a baby-stained couch while Ada talked in the back of a bar on a old stool. To hell with the bill, the two of them thought. Ashley had a lot to get off her chest and Ada needed to get back into the lives of her daughter and her 'lover'. Ada listened in without offering anything about herself. She just let Ashley spill everything about herself. Hearing such happy sobs from her meant that they were on the road to rebuilding.

Ada knew she was to blame. The war with Neo Umbrella had been both well and badly. Well in the fact she managed to do some significant damage to them, badly that the progress she intended was long out of reach. Ada didn't want to bring it up to Ashley, but Ada had predicted that this little war would take at least two more years to defeat Neo Umbrella. And that might be stretching things…by defeat, Ada meant disabling the company's finances and destroying their current operations. If she truly wanted Nai to have a normal life, Ada would need to remove every member of Neo Umbrella for good. Ensure that no one will come looking for revenge and end this stupid threat once and for all. As spread out as they were and how all the members knew about Ada, tracking them all done would take twice as long. They were smart enough to not keep information on important people's whereabouts.

So a good idea would to be killing them first, right? True, killing off the head honchoes would deal a severe blow and Ada could stage the scene to get the actual law enforcement on the trail of Neo Umbrella. But if she did that while Neo Umbrella still operated, they would elevate the playing field with a few extra zombie plagues in Ada's path. Killing even a low level employee would result in a entire city given the Raccoon City treatment.

A big lightbulb went off in Ada's head. That entire city could be Ashley and Nai's town.

There just wasn't a easy path for this. In war, there never such a thing. Ada wanted to find just that. As she started to trail off in their conservation, doubt once more started to build up. All this thinking about plans for war…would she be able to live a normal life? For the past decade, she hadn't. Her vacations were quiet weekends inside of secret bases with a good book. Hell, she only came to this beach-bar due to the owner being a former CIA agent who could keep secrets. Her idea of a swimming suit was a full-body diving suit with a oxygen tank and mask! Wasn't the reason why girls went shopping was to find clothes that made them look good and sexy? She had that red dress once, but she stole that…for a reason that currently escaped her…and that got all ruined by the end of that adventure!

…would Ashley like to see that red dress again, or will it give her nightmares?

"Ada?" Ashley asked. "You still there?"

"Yeah!" Ada shot up, getting out of her head. "Yeah. Ashley? You mind if I ask a question?"

"Yes?"

"…do you think I would be a good mother to Nai? She's still too young to remember me properly…but when this is all over, I don't…think I…I'll will be a good mother to her. I have little experience…"

"And I'll teach you!" Ashley proclaimed. "You can't run away now! Please don't! Ada, please." Ashley finally decided to make a plan of her own. "Saturday. This Saturday. You're coming over. That gives you four days to make it from Florida to DC. I'll go and make arrangements with Lester. You need to come over. Need!" Ada wanted to say something, but Ashely filled in with: "You need this. Please do it."

Ada looked over to the owner of the bar. He looked very cross. Without any time left Ada had no choice but to say: "Sure."