First Meeting

Summary: Prequel to 'Fan Fiction'. Claire Redfield shows up for her first day of shooting for Resident Evil 2.

Claire Redfield bit her lip nervously as she walked to the make up trailer. She knocked on the door, there was a pause for a minute then a slender young blonde woman opened the door.

"Yes?"

"Uh...Hi! I'm Claire. Claire Redfield. They told me to go to this trailer and see"

The blonde woman opened the door for Claire. "Me." She finished. "I'm Elza. I'll be doing your hair and makeup." Claire nervously entered the trailer. "First time?" Claire nodded. Elza chuckled lightly. "Relax. Everyone is nervous. They're all hoping it goes well." Elza gestured to a chair infront of a mirror. "Sit here please."

Claire sat down in the chair. "I'm just hoping that I make a good impression."

Elza smiled warmly. "You will." She rested her hands on Claire's shoulders. She bit her lip as she looked at Claire from several angles. "Okay." She mumbled quietly. She ran her fingers through Claire's hair. "Mmm. Soft. What kind of product do you use?"

"Umm, Head and Shoulders I think."

"Good stuff." Elza pulled Claire's hair into a ponytail but not too tightly. Elza slipped a red scrunchie off of her left wrist, she flexed it alittle then slipped Claire's ponytail through it. "There we are." She picked up a can of hairspray. "Now, just to hold it in place." She sprayed a liberal amount. Elza fixed Claire's bangs so they would cup the sides of her head. "There." Elza gently turned the chair around. "You know, I was originally up for the role you're doing."

Claire blinked. "Really? What happened?"

Elza shrugged. "Not sure. The director and producers didn't like where the game was going and just stopped shooting. Three quarters of the game done." Elza shook her head. "Gone forever now."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

Elza smiled. "That's alright. I think I found my calling anyway. When I'm not fixing hair and makeup, I'm also helping out with costumes as well. I designed some really great stuff for you by the way. That reminds me, I'm gonna go get your outfit. I'll be right back."

Elza left the makeup trailer and jogged down to the costume trailer.

Claire was checking her bangs in the mirror when the door opened. "Oh, hello." She said as she looked at the person through the mirror.

A young woman who looked a few years older than Claire sat down next to her. She ran a hand through her hair and checked her lipstick.

"I'm Claire. Claire Redfield."

The young woman didn't look at her but acknowledged her. "Yes, I know."

Claire fidgited nervously in her seat. "What's you name?"

The young woman stopped checking her makeup to look over at Claire. "Ada. Ada Wong."

Claire wasn't sure if blood was coming out of her mouth from biting the inside of her cheek so hard. "Ada...Wong?" She managed to get out. "That's...nice." Claire picked at some strands of cloth on her jeans. "So...uh"

"I already know what you are going to say." Ada said before Claire could get another word out.

Claire blinked at her in confusion. "You do?"

Ada spoke through clenched teeth. "Yes! And I've been hearing the same damn questions all day! 'How much?' and 'How long do you stand on a street corner?'"

A male voice from outside the trailer spoke up. "And it gets funnier every time we ask!"

Ada's eye began to twitch. She stood up from the chair angrily and left the trailer, slamming the door shut behind her.

Five minutes later, Elza came back with a small bundle of clothes. "Here we go."

Claire accepted the bundle from Elza and walked behind a privacy screen. "So, whose this Ada Wong woman?"

Elza chuckled. "Ah, the Dragon lady. If she was harsh with you, don't worry about it. I've peeked at the script and you two get no screen time together."

"Oh. Okay." Claire wasn't sure what to make of it but she felt better for some reason. She decided to change the subject. "So, Elza, you worked on this project before me, is it the same people or new cast?"

Elza smiled. "I was wondering if you were going to ask me that. I was one of two people cut from the game. The other guy was a bit player, Roy or something. 90 percent of the cast is from the original, I guess you could call it that now, you'll be working with Sherry and Leon."

"What are they like?" Claire asked as she slipped on a black T shirt.

"Sherry's a good kid. She'll stick with you for the whole game. Word of advice: let her stick close to you otherwise she'll fall behind."

"Got it." Claire replied as she slipped on her pink motorcycle vest. "And Leon?"

Elza grinned like a shark. "He's cute. You'll like him. He's playing a rookie cop. You meet him in the intro. I'm not gonna give you details but it's good." Elza glanced over her shoulder as the makeup trailer door opened and a little girl walked in. "Oh, Sherry. Hi."

Sherry smiled and gave Elza a small wave. "Hey, Elza."

Elzaq waved Sherry over to a chair. "Sherry, you're just in time. Claire's just putting on her costume."

Sherry brightened up. "She's here?"

Elza nodded. "Behind the screen."

Claire stepped out from behind the screen. "How do I look?"

"Stunning." Elza's reply.

"Fantastic!" Was Sherry's reply.

There was a knock on the door followed by a muffled voice asking permission to come in. Elza quickly went to the door and peeked out. Claire couldn't hear what they were saying but in the end the mysterious voice entered. Claire looked up and paused. A young man in his early twenties walked into the trailer and stopped at the sight of Claire.

"Hi."

"Hi."

The young man stepped forward. "I'm Leon."

Claire smiled. "I'm Claire."

Elza looked at the two and stepped forward. "Claire, this Leon. He's the one I told you about." She turned to Leon. "Leon, this is Claire Redfield. My replacement."

"Wow." Leon breathed. "You look like sisters." It was true. Apart from Elza's hair which was blonde, Claire and Elza looked very similiar.

"Thanks for the compliment, Leon. So, Claire, ready to start your new life?"

Claire wrung her hands nervously. "I don't know. I'm alittle nervous."

Leon chuckled. "Don't worry about it. We all felt the same way on our first day."

Claire felt better at Leon's words, she found comfort in them. As if only he could make her fears go away. Where did that come from? Claire thought. Claire turned her attention back to Leon, Elza and Sherry who were all in an excited discussion. She watched how they acted, like a family. That only made her feel like an outsider more.

Leon stopped talking and glanced at Claire. "Claire? You wanna join in on the conversation?"

"Oh! No, I uh..."

"Come on, Claire."

"Yeah, come on, Claire!" Sherry piped up from the makeup chair.

Claire smiled softly. "Okay. What're we talking about?"

Leon chuckled. "Well, Elza just got signed on to do the clothing for RE3, which by the way they're filming back to back with us, and we're making bets on what Valentine's costume is gonna look like. Myself, I think it's gonna be a cop uniform yet slightly slutty."

Elza giggled. "I'm betting it's going to be slightly conservative. Sherry?"

"Slutty."

This provoked laughter from the three adults. Leon turned to Claire. "Claire?"

Claire bit her lip and smiled. "I say, conservative yet slutty."

"You willing to bet money on that?" Leon said with a grin.

Claire matched his grin. "I will if you will."

"Ooooh." Elza and Sherry giggled.

Leon fished out his wallet. "20 bucks."

Claire slapped down a twenty of her own. "Deal."

Claire groaned as she collapsed into a lawn chair that was set up off camera. They had just wrapped shooting and Claire was beat. In more ways than one. They had just finished shooting the train scene and Claire's stunt double had gotten sick so Claire had to do most of her own stunts. Plus, on top of that, they had to do seven takes. The first three were mechanical and involved the Birkin Blob as everyone on set called it getting several of the gears frozen. On the third take, several wires caught on fire but thankfully they managed to put out the fire. During the fourth take when Claire crawled across the roof of the train, Sherry hit the emergency stop button like she was supposed to but Claire couldn't hold on and was flung through the opening in the roof. Thankfully she walked away with some minor cuts and bruises. The fifth take, Sherry sprained her ankle during the run out of the tunnel. The sixth take, Claire got her foot caught in the tracks and bruised her knee when she fell. Leon declared after that one that they were cursed. The seventh take ended flawlessly.

She heard a groan next to her and glanced over to see Leon sit in a chair next to her. He had stripped off the upper half of his uniform, revealing a black T-shirt. He leaned back into the chair and sighed, closing his eyes as he did. "How are you doing?" He asked without even looking at her.

Claire chuckled ruefully. "Ask me again in about a week."

Leon chuckled himself, eyes still closed. "You might need longer than that."

Claire's brow furrowed in confusion. "Why?"

"The director just got off the phone with the producers. Apparently, things are going so well that they've annouced another game. No title yet but it's starring you. And your brother."

Claire's expression changed to one of sheer joy. "You mean it? That's great! If I wasn't feeling like crap, I'd dance."

"Well, bask in it. You deserve it."

Claire expression softened. "Are you coming too? To the new set?"

Leon opened his eyes and glanced at her, he sighed heavily. "No. I'm not in the new one. I'll get a mention but that's it. I've got another project they want me to do."

Claire could feel her heart sink. He's not coming. "So, what's it about?"

Leon shrugged. "Don't know. All I know is I'm the lead and the title's called 'Devil May Cry'. Whatever that means."

Claire sighed. "So, I guess I won't see you again." Claire had begun to have feelings for Leon, a sense of camaraderie. She felt that they had clicked on set, that they operated on the same wavelength. "I understand."

Leon glanced over at her. "What? You think you're rid of me that easily? This new game we're shooting is gonna be shot in Europe. Along with yours. I mean, we won't be next door to each other." Leon got up from his chair. "They're gonna start tearing down the set now. I was wondering if you wanted to grab a bite to eat then I'll give you a ride to the airport?"

Claire looked up at him, still in a daze about what he had just said. He's coming with me and he wants to give me a ride! She thought. Loen could've called her a cab or let her take her own car but no, he was driving her personally to the airport and together they'd go to Europe.

"Hey! You coming?" Leon called from his car, a dark blue '96 Ford F-150.

Claire got up from her chair, grabbed her bag that she packed the night before and smiled. Hell yes! "Sure. I'm coming." Leon, this is the start of a beautiful friendship. Claire thought with a grin as she slid into the seat next to him.

FIN

A/N: The Devil May Cry jab was a reference to the original RE4. For those of you that don't know or can't remember that far back, when the original RE4 was being made (you know, the one with the shadowy figures and the hook man) they scrapped the whole thing and used Leon's character model as the basis for Dante for Devil May Cry. I wanted to feature that joke in the previous story but I forgot. The next chapter will be a complete crack fic. Forget about breaking the fourth wall, I'm knocking them all down.