Author's note: A short, quick drabble arising from a future story I'm planning to write with Rebecca (and Billy!). This drabble can probably stand alone from the story. As of now the story title is pending; currently will be titled Another Heart Calls. Timeline is Post RE5.

Summary: In which someone has a longing for someone other than the one they're with, or someone longs for someone that is already taken.


Where the Lines Overlap

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"Nothing we have planned is ever set in stone; we are after all only servants of God's plan."

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As far back as Rebecca could remember she had always enjoyed helping others. Even as a little girl playing with her dolls she liked to play doctor or when the chance came that one of her parents ended up sick she had gladly jumped up to the opportunity of "playing doctor" to the sick parent. She was the "star" child; never causing any problems, always making good grades. She was like a caged bird; stuck having to live up to people's high expectations of her. Despite it all she was on the top now though, being a doctor now in her late twenties; a success impossible to most.

Some people were destined for success but she liked to believe she instead worked for it. Things like "destiny" were rubbish to her. People could change their future; plan it for the better or so she believed. This was, of course, until he came back into her life. Everything blurred for her now. She had before prided herself in being rational but now even that she doubted.

She was to be engaged now to a lawyer whom she ended up saving his life after he had been in a bad accident. They were in love and when he had proposed to her months later after they started dating it hadn't crossed her mind not to say anything but "yes." She couldn't remember the last time she had felt such strong feelings for a particular man. Throughout her years she hadn't had much time to date and thus had lived a solitary life. Jonathan Ramirez had been the first man in years that she had managed to hold a steady relationship. In more ways than one the two were perfect for each other. She was a well educated doctor, and he was a well respected lawyer from a good family. He was a mother's son-in-law dream.

Rebecca slipped the dog tags into her purse. The cool metal radiated coolness against her warm palm for a split second before disappearing into her big, brown bag. Despite her reasoning she had kept Billy's dog tags, as a "memento" she reasoned to herself. After all those years it was all finally over. Wesker was dead. Umbrella was destroyed along with Tricell. No more biohazards, no more zombies. The irony of it that with all that is with Wesker's death went along so many other deaths; they would never come back…

She sighed, twisting around the golden band of her wedding ring as she waited. She had been so naïve back then when she first had faced an outbreak. How she had even survived had been a surprise even to her.

'It was because he was there,' she mused, her lips faintly twitching upwards.

Whether by luck or coincedence, she had run into Billy Coen, an innocent "convict", whom had been being transported when the biohazard had happened. Upon their first meeting, Rebecca admitted she had been frightened. Billy's whole being emitted the words: dangerous, wild, untamed. Whether it was his cool, composed blue eyes, tall unfaltering stature, and firm, built muscular body or the intricate black tattoo design running on his arm that added onto it she couldn't say. When they had first met, she had only been the young age of eighteen; hardly thinking about men and hardly gotten a chance to get out into the "real world."

Billy Coen was the epitome of the bad boy in man form. He was tall, dark, handsome…you name it. She didn't find herself falling for a man like that. When she was a little girl she saw herself waiting for her prince to come with her lost glass slipper and they would live happily ever after in some kind of childish fairy tail ending. Jonathan in many ways was like the prince of her childish wish. He treated her with the upmost respect, dared never to cross their physical boundaries, followed all the rules, and loved her tenderly; just like a prince in the upmost of the word.

Billy, however… well he wasn't at all prince material. He wasn't a hero either. He didn't go out of his way to help everyone. In the beginning he had pretty much told her that he didn't want to die and the only way they would both survive was through helping each other out. He didn't help her in the beginning because he wanted to. It was because he had to; they both had to. He made his own path; in many ways he resembled water to Rebecca. When cornered or blocked, water can make a new path and put out fire, and even break down earth. He wasn't a bad guy though, or a convict. She knew this much. Despite him never admitting to not killing the innocent villagers Rebecca knew he hadn't. He just wouldn't throw out the innocent card – play the innocent victim. Maybe he thought he deserved to be so cruelly betrayed and judged by his platoon. Instead he suffered in silence; never letting anyone in. He was mysterious – an enigma.

In a way….he had kinda been her first love. She had never so much in her life wanted to help someone so earnestly until she had meet Billy Coen. Despite it going against the law, against her orders even, she had even filed a false report on his "death" so he could finally earn his well deserved freedom. Not once did she ever regret doing it either. She had expected to never hear from him again after that. He was a loner, like a lone wolf. Unlike her; she flocked to the crowd, a city person. They were total opposites.

During their time together they had never even kissed or had any moment of romantic contact albeit the time he held her briefly after pulling her up from the dark hole she almost fell in and the time she squeezed his hand in reassurance and he in return. Their whole time together had been rushed, always on the brink of death, and she had hardly the time to think of him in a romantic sense. It was only until after everything did she ponder over him; muse over the moment she had flushed when he had jokingly told her he could have kissed her or the feeling of security she had felt by his side, or the feelings of longing and bittersweet-ness the moment they finally departed from each other. It had all meant something; she had merely overlooked it.

But where did the lines overlap? Where did Jonathan's and Billy's character overlap to explain how she had fallen for them both? Did they have similarities? Did she have similarities with them?

She was in ways like Jonathan and he like her. However, she was nothing like Billy; they were total opposites and he obviously was total opposites from Jonathan as well.

Rebecca glanced at her watch then, the metal band gleaming brightly by the sunlight rays coming in from the nearby window she was sitting by. The restaurant was quiet, not overly crowded, and for the most part pleasant. It was a little before lunch time so people weren't crowding in for lunch just yet. As she sat in her chair waiting for her companion to show up, her reason finally caught up with her and told her how wrong this was. She shouldn't be here, nor should she be waiting for him to show up. Her body had refused to listen to her reasoning, however, and it was for that reason she found herself waiting here. As the tock clicked more she realized more and more how stupid this all was. He might not even show up. But then why did he bother asking her to meet up with him?

She sighed, softly, finding it in herself to realize she was stood up and got up from her seat ready to leave. As if on cue, he showed up, stopping to stand near his chair. She looked up at him, taking him in. He was wearing a black cashmere sweater that made her suspicious just as to why he had a designer sweater; maybe a woman had bought it for him perhaps? It was strange to see him in anything but a wife beater as she had seen him in the first and last time. His black hair was slicked back, unchanged by time, with very few gray hairs in the mix hardly taking away from his good looks but instead accented them. His face…well that hadn't changed much either. He still looked as breathtakingly good looking as she remembered and she was sure he was well aware of it too. Age did him well.

"You're late," she chided, lips pursed in disapproval.

"Delay," he simply stated as if that was enough to explain his tardiness in the one simple word. She hated it. The fact that he knew he could get away with being late. He knew women would wait for him but she wasn't like any other woman. She wouldn't fit his one-night stands.

With that Rebecca stepped out from behind the table and attempted to walk right past him with her things in hand. She half expected him to just let her go and the other half expected him to stop her. Sadly, she was both relieved and pleased when he did the latter. His hand reached out swiftly and grabbed her wrist, stopping her in her tracks. Rebecca glared at him, not at all amused, and attempted to release his grip from her wrist.

"Let me go Billy," she hissed angrily.

She was angry at the fact that he was late. She was angry at the fact that he probably saw gazillion women (and maybe slept with them) in their time apart without so much as a thought of her crossing his mind. She was angry at the fact that she even agreed to the meeting and showed up. And mostly she was angry at the fact that she was affected by him so much.

"Easy there doll face. I'm sorry, alright? I won't show up late again now that I know how anxious it makes you." He said smoothly but his blue eyes were surprisingly light showing that he was more or less teasing her especially in the last part of his comment.

Rebecca flushed in response, swiping her wrist away when he finally loosened his grip, and sat back down in her chair with a dramatically added 'hmph.'

"That's assuming I even agree to meet up with you again. I wasn't anxious either for your information, more so annoyed."

Billy grinned, slumping into his seat after her, facing her. It was a grin that mocked her easily, telling her that he knew better. She had been anxious, and she probably would agree to meet him again if he asked. And she hated it.

"Sure, sure princess."

Those cursed nicknames of his. How she hated them too even though deep down a part of her giggled and felt a 'floaty' feeling at him calling her so. Like she was his girl.

"Don't call me that." Rebecca glowered, feeling as if she was eighteen all over again. Why was it that he was the only one that could make her feel like a teenager again?

"Alright doll face, whatever you say."

She groaned, almost wanting to smack a hand to her forehead in frustration. Maybe she should be flattered after all. Not every woman was called 'doll face.' And despite the fact that Rebecca was older she still kept her youthful and innocent appearance throughout her years of aging. It was more or less what made her, well, her.

"Did you want to meet up just to provoke me?" She questioned quirking a brow.

"No, but that comes along with it." His eyes trailed then and she noticed him taking in her nice fitting purple dress with ruffled long sleeves, brown tights, and brown heeled suede boots that were almost knee high. Her heart did a couple of flip-flops in her chest and she felt herself get slightly self-conscious at his appreciative stare down.

"Billy," she exclaimed, eyes narrowing despite the fact that she felt flattered at him checking her out, "stop checking me out!"

He smirked, one that spoke of confidence, and drew his eyes back to meet her jade ones. "Sorry, can't help myself," he stated, shrugging one of his oh-so broad shoulders. He didn't sound sorry at all.

Rebecca glanced down at her placed menu, cheeks coloring once again despite her internal protests for them to not. It was flattering that such a good looking guy like him appeared to be attracted to her. And she'd be lying if she said she wasn't attracted to him herself. Despite her reasoning telling her it was a bad idea, she found herself teasing him back – just a little.

"I get to check you out too then; it's only fair." She mused, lips spreading in a radiant smile.

One of Billy's eyebrows rose in surprise at her forwardness but he merely leaned back in his chair, shoulders straightened and elbows resting on the table. "Be my guest."

She should have expected his response. This was Billy Coen she was talking about. It still took her off guard and after fighting down another blush she forced her eyes to work.

'God, you're acting like a school girl Chambers.' She internally chided herself.

She started looking at his clothed chest to start off, since it was easier and in view sight. The black sweater was sliming and she could still make out hints of his firm, and built muscles underneath the warm material. He was very fit. Even after all those years he hadn't lost his fit body it appeared. Her eyes trailed up slowly up from his chest stopping at his lips, just for a few seconds before continuing upwards. His face was still strong, fierce, and handsomely sculptured. His blue eyes were watching her closely, taking in every expression or pause she made in her exploration, instantly Rebecca looked down bashfully; all of her bravely and forwardness dissipating just by one look into his eyes.

"Done," she mumbled softly, cursing herself internally at how she sounded. Where had all her courage gone?

Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw Billy smile, just a bit, before he turned his attention to his menu. She decided on an item half-heartedly, either because she didn't care so much what she got or rather she didn't want to waste their precious time together by the wait. She looked up, glancing at him as he read through his menu. For a split second their eyes met again and she found herself freezing in place, unable to look away. The moment was broken as soon as the waitress finally appeared asking them what they would like to drink. After placing their drinks, the two decided they were ready and made their orders as well. It seemed that just like Rebecca, Billy ordered the first thing he spotted, rather apathetic about what he got.

When the waitress finally left, Billy turned his attention to Rebecca. "So, what's a normal day for Dr. Chambers?" He asked in a light voice.

"It's soon to be Dr. Ramirez," she corrected, fiddling with the golden band on her wedding finger.

She saw Billy's jaw set almost strained and his eyes were suddenly very cool. "Right," he murmured, voice deadpanned.

Rebecca licked her lips as an awkward silence took place. Unwittingly she spoke the first thing that came to her head, a for the most part innocent request despite its connotations.

"Later you should stop by my condo and see the place. It has a very nice view at night." She paused before adding, "and I have some nice, old dated wine we can enjoy."

Her fiancée was away on a business trip. She knew this and yet...why had she just invited him over? Had she lost her mind? Mentally Rebecca chided herself over and over again; just what are you doing Rebecca! Suddenly out of the corner of her eye she spotted Billy's gaze upon her. She glanced up at him, breaking from her thoughts. His eyes searched hers again and she felt a fluttery feeling in her chest.

"Sounds good." He agreed leaning himself in then and she felt the urge to do the same herself.

She was so screwed…


A/N: Reviews/comments/feedback are as always appreciated and welcomed!