Disclaimers: I do not own anything out of Resident Evil. All of the contents belonged to Capcom.

A Plan and A Surprise

'Girls love surprises.' - Jake Muller

"I really don't know about this..."

Claire Redfield was riling up, the excitement on her face was only covered with her sweet smile that she had always giving the younger woman before her who was fidgeting uncertainly. Sherry Birkin was chewing onto her bottom lips when she backed her statement, "I mean... wouldn't I be a little too old for that kind of thing? I'm twenty-seven, no- I am turning thirty-eight in the next five days!" She was whispering in a hushed tone so that the rest of the co-workers in the office wouldn't hear her.

Leaning in closer to the blonde's seat, Claire whispered back with a wider grin on her face, "Aww... Come on, Sherry. And that's why you needed one! It will be your last twenty-eight. Leon had most of the things planned out and I had already sent in my day-off AND the invitations to Hunnigan! Pretty please?" The reddish-brunette begged, clasping her palms together and pouted playfully.

Sherry sighed as she shook her head towards her mentor's playful, immature attitude. Even in their age, Claire still treated her like a child, like Sherry was stuck on her twelve, "But... really? A birthday party?" Her lips pulled into a skeptical smile.

"Yes, Sherry Birkin! A birthday party!"

The volume of Claire's exclamation was high enough to draw the attention of several clerks on their desks nearby, who raised a brow onto the standing Claire Redfield. Sherry panicked instantly, fearing that her co-workers might have heard their topic and make it as a joke later, so she hastily pulled the older woman down so that her stacks of paper would be covering them, giving them some sense of privacy.

For God's sake, they were in the middle of the DSO office and Claire just have to baby talk her.

Claire almost laughed at the blush forming on Sherry's cheek when she got scolded, "Keep it down, Claire! They'll hear us!"

She stifled her giggles when she replied, "Right. Sorry bout' that. So?"

"So what?"

And she frowned incredulously, "Now, now. Don't act stupid, Sherry. So, you agree for us to throw a birthday party for you?"

Pinching the bridge of her nose, Sherry groaned in defiance again, "C'mon, Claire, I've told you -" Before Sherry could continue further in retaliation, her mentor had already know what she was about to say so she bend her body straight and cupped her hand around her mouth resembling a megaphone, "Maybe I'll just tell everyone your dirty little secret that you-"

"Alright! Alright!" Sherry giggled playfully when she tugged Claire down to her desk again. Their actions didn't go unnoticed by the staves present when some smiled at their direction and some even chuckled: they were literally goofing around in a formal working space, good thing that the whole office were used to the fact that Claire was like a mother to Sherry.

"Well?" Claire quirked a threatening eyebrow up.

Finally, the younger blonde sighed in defeat, "Do what you want. Just don't ruin our apartment."

A smirk.

"Nice."

Jake Muller wasn't a man of normality. All his life, he was exposed to the dark side of the world, the blood, corruption, smokes, deadly screams of people. He never had a clean attire without traces of blood on his clothes.

But then, here he was, standing in the middle of the cold air of New York City, surrounded by normal things like blaring noises of automobiles, people buzzing back and forth on the busy streets, children tugging onto the coat of their parents as they hopped happily down the snowy pavement. He smiled along the smiling children, back in Edonia where poverty spread like a disease, smiling children was a rare sight.

And he was wearing normal clothing too, and they were covered in the whites of snow, not the redness of blood.

Jake was sitting on a bench when he shoved a hand to his dark grey jacket as the other flipped the phone up to receive the incoming call by a man he had only met once, twice, to be exact. Neither of them were under normal circumstances.

"I'm already at the front of the coffee shop. Where are you?" He could smell the roasting scent of coffee, it was pleasant.

"Wow, so fast, Muller. Can't believe you are a first time New Yorkie with your good sense of direction. I got lost a lot." The male voice on the other line sounded astonished. Jake only smirked at the compliment, "Aye, I'm merc, Sexy Pants. So, where are you?"

"Muller!"

A voice called from a distance and Jake turned to look whoever called his name. Flipping the phone shut, Leon Kennedy was waving his phone to him as he walked towards him; with a partner.

When they got to a comfortable distance, Jake was greeted by a bright and cheerful woman first, "You're the Jake Muller Leon mentioned?" She extended her hand to a handshake which Jake accepted.

"Aye. That's me, Jake is fine, by the way." They released the grip when Jake cocked an eyebrow with a smirk, "Let me guess, Claire?"

She nodded in amazement, he got it right the first time, "Yup, Claire Redfield. Nice to meet you, Jake!"

Getting impatient, Leon scoffed at them when he tapped Claire on the shoulder to interrupt them, "Can we take this inside? I don't like the idea having to freeze my ass off in the snow." He pointed to the Starbucks right in front of them.

Uttering an apology and something about Leon's ass, Jake followed the two as they entered the shop, reveling in the strong lingering scent of coffee. They picked a spot at a corner corner where there were few people surfing the net with their laptops and some browsing through magazines. Leon offered to buy the drinks so he left the two talk.

"So, you're jarhead's- I mean, Chris' sister." He coughed when he called Chris by his nickname again, Claire only laughed sweetly, "That's a nice one - jarhead. He always so into his BSAA so, jarhead suits him. And yeah, Chris's my brother."

"Heard you from Sherry, she said you and Kennedy rescued her from Raccoon City." He crossed his long legs to make himself comfortable. He remember the time in the cabin when Sherry mentioned about her experience in Raccoon mournfully, until the name Claire and Leon brought the hope back in her voice.

The smile on Claire's face never ceased, "And I've heard about you too, Jake. About your foul-mouth, your wittiness jokes and basically all about you," she paused with a short series giggles, "More from Sherry than Leon, trust me in that, the ratio goes with ten to one; ten is for Sherry. She never stopped talking about you in the office."

Flattering, Jake thought. His smirk grew wider on the mention of her name.

Just then, Leon returned with the beverages as he took a seat next to Claire. They picked up their cups respectively and when they settled them down to the table again, Leon and Claire looked to Jake with a sly grin. Almost childishly, anxious. This only make Jake felt more curious about their 'plan' - they asked him to come to the States for a plan, concerning Sherry Birkin.

"So, here's the deal," Leon started, trying to act serious but failed miserably, "In the next four days from now, it's Sherry's birthday."

Jake's eyes widen like a saucer, "Her birthday?"

The two older couple were satisfied with his reaction to the news. So, Leon continues, "Uh-huh... Sherry's been in a lot of stress lately and we think it's the perfect time for her to blow off some steam. So, me and Claire, we're organizing a birthday celebration for her. And you, Muller, are cordially invited to the 'plan' we are... planning." His grin grew as he went further, to the point that he was looking like a child who had just make a prank to his parents.

"In fact, you're the main component of this 'plan' we're making." The grin was so contagious that Claire too was looking as stupid as Leon. Heck, the table was now like a grouping of a bunch of idiots now that Jake was grinning along them.

Folding his arms together, all Jake could say was, "Girls love surprises."

He had a pretty clear image of what their 'plans' were.

He might have regretted coming over to the States, now, not anymore.

"Happy birthday, Sherry!"

The wishes echoed through Sherry's and Claire's joint apartment when Sherry opened the front door for them. Letting Claire to manage the invitation was a good call, because she had only invited a few close friends of Sherry's, Chris Redfield and his wife Jill Redfield, then there's Doctor Rebecca Chambers who happened to be Sherry's partner in one mission, Ingrid Hunnigan (of course), and Helena Harper. They dressed formally, just like how Sherry was told by Claire to wear a strapless blue dress.

Leon had wanted to invited Ada along but decided against it. He had never met her under normal circumstances, usually involving a lot of firepower, LOTS of firepower, or maybe zombies and BOWs or some psychopaths who wanted to control the world. (He wouldn't either way, not with Chris on the apartment and... Ada is a professional internationally wanted spy.)

Claire and Sherry stepped aside from the door when each guest took turns to congratulate the birthday girl and to kiss her cheek. Then, they left their presents on the table that Claire had set up.

Sherry was glad that it was a very simple, mature kind of party that she (or Claire) will be hosting; it's like a simple cocktail party - because she had somewhat expected that having Claire in charge of the event would involve colorful balloon, fancy party hats and a giant cartoon cake. Fortunately, Claire had acknowledged the fact that Sherry and the rest of the guess was far from their puberty. So it's just a simple black forest cake, coffee, some beers and the bottle of champagne.

"Happy birthday, Sherry," Chris told her as he bend his head a little for his lips to reach her cheek, "Been a while since China." He smiled.

"I'm sorry about Nivans." She kissed his cheek back, "He was a great soldier. He saved both me and Jake, we should have stayed."

Chris chuckled as he shook his head, "Nah, wasn't your fault. It was a right thing to do. Besides, today is your happy day so smile and say something happy." His gruff voice rumbled through his throat when Sherry did as he told. He nodded down the younger woman approvingly and handed her the box of present, "Anyways, happy birthday again, Sherry. And Jill picked this for you, by the way."

"Thanks, Chris. Go enjoy yourself, I'll join you guys later." She said with a small smile and received the wrapped box from him.

The people occupied the living room, each finding a seat on the couch when Chris and Leon both unsoundly agreed that they will simply be seated on the carpet beneath the coffee table. "We're just being gentlemanly." As Leon had stated.

They chatted, laughed and doing the things that a party should have done. Played some pokers (which was funny because all of them put up the best poker faces, especially Hunnigan), then they cut the cake. When it was time to open the presents, Leon excused himself to the bathroom when he simply walked over to the hallway where he could still see Sherry.

"The hell are you? She's opening the presents!" He whispered urgently.

Sherry was down to the last present by Claire which happened to be a Zalora watch when Leon emerged from the 'bathroom', there was a wide grin plastered on his face when Leon called her, "Sherry,"

She turned to him.

"Apparently, my present was a little... too big for me to carry. But it's about time now." He smirked when he returned to his previous seat on the carpet. Sherry raised a brow in curiosity, "You know you didn't need to work yourself for a present for me, Leon. I had already appreciate that you and Claire got me this party."

Leon huffed without letting his smirk disappear, "Trust me, my gift is the BEST."

Ding Dong!

As if on cue, the doorbell of the apartment rang and everyone eyed onto the mahogany door curiously. Without tearing his gaze away from her like everyone did, Leon tilted his head to the door and ushered her to open her 'gift'.

Well, she did, taking a few long stride to the doorway. She took a deep breath as her hand touched the doorknob without bothering to look at the peephole.

Twisting it open, there stood the best gift that anyone could give to her.

Donning in a very formal looking white button up shirt and dress slacks and a black dress shoes unlike his trademark combat wear and his old combat boots, he smirked down at her when a few words left his hard lips.

"Happy Birthday, Supergirl."

Jake Muller.

He looked rather amused with his Supergirl's reaction - wide eyes, gaped mouth and her hands were shaking. As if he could sense what she had wanted , Jake threw his arms around her and she gladly returned the gesture. While she literally trying to crush him with her bear hug, he just held her there gently like she was made of glass; Jake didn't want to crush her with his C-Virus enhancement.

"Oh, god, Jake!" She squealed in glee when she pressed her head into his chest. Then she suddenly remembered that she had guests in her house so she pulled away reluctantly, but she still refused to wipe that smile off her face that made her look like a teenager staring at her crush. "Why you- How did you-" Her mouth blabbered incoherently. There's a lot of question that she wanted to ask him but Jake shushed her, "Relax, Sherry... Now's not the time for answers. All you should know is that I'm crashing this party of yours."

Of course, everyone felt surprised by the sudden appearance by the world-travelling nomad Jake Muller, except Leon and Claire, that is. They were smiling down to each other and winked in 'Success!'. When Sherry invited Jake into her apartment, that's when the two realized that they had made a fatal mistake and Sherry smile faded almost instantly.

Chris Redfield was present too.

But the bulky BSAA showed no fear on the situation, he rose from the carpet and he marched to Jake's direction who was now scowling back at him.

"Umm... Jake-" Sherry tried to dissuade him but it was Chris who spoke louder than her.

"Jake, I know how much you hated me, but if a punch will make you feel better, go ahead. I won't stop you." Chris even extended his arms to his side to emphasize his point.

There was a strong ambiance between the two strong man and Leon was ready to diffuse the heat whenever the situation called for him. But Jake simply shook his head when his scowl slowly died, "I won't for now."

Chris remained muted, but at least he could feel Jake's fury dying out in his dark glare.

"It's Sherry's big day today, and I don't plan on raising hell that will risk getting my ass kicked by her. So, you, me" He pointed each other respectively, "one meter away all the time. Capische?"

"The feeling is mutual."

Everyone cheered and hooted when Jake and Chris shook hands once as they got themselves into a mutual agreement.

But the 'one meter away' rules was easily forgotten during poker when Jake playfully smacked Chris's arm because he had lost to Chris by a Straight whereas Jake thought he had a good chance with his Three of A Kind.

Then the men arm wrestled. But it had to stop midway because Claire didn't want the coffee table to be smashed into pieces.

Sherry couldn't keep the goofy smile off her face throughout the night mainly because the presence of Jake Muller at her home.

When midnight fell, Sherry found herself hanging out by her balcony when the rest of her friends were either too drunk to stay awake or too tired that they fell asleep. It was a good idea for her to avoid alcohol throughout the night because the party just went... wild. From a quiet one, then the moment when she cracked open the champagne, everyone seemed to forget that they were all in fact, matured soldiers and agents.

She glanced back to the living room, a smile crept to her face when she saw how the men sprawled across her living room snoring away, Leon and Chris ended on the couch and the ladies were actually sober enough to reach the bedroom.

And Jake, he was asleep on the single couch with his legs dangled up the arm of the couch while his arms were folded across his chest.

She had the least alcohol but it was enough. Sherry let the cool wind to breeze through her face just so she could flush the alcohol off her systems.

"Still awake?"

Sherry jumped a bit, startled. Hopefully whoever calling her didn't noticed that. She turned around to see a groggy Jake Muller rubbing his temple when he leaned onto the balcony next to her.

Shrugging, "Yeah. I didn't go all out on the beers like you guys did. How about you?" She saw him still rubbing his temple to chase away the drowsiness. it took him a few seconds but he told her, "Aye. I'm good now."

They stood there in silence at first, until the female decided to change that, "So, you gonna tell everything about showing up here? How did you get here? Since when?" Her curiosity showed no limits. She remembered the time when Jake said that he still had a job around the globe that might take him a while before he decided to visit her.

But then he showed up at her birthday.

He grinned, "Heh," Then shoving his hands to his pockets, "Well, I flew here of course. Been here about a week ago, Kennedy offered to let me stay in his place so that I can hide from you. Then Claire and Kennedy planned up my appearance for you."

"But, was it fair for you? I mean, you showed up much later at the party. You missed out the first part of it."

"It was my suggestion. Never was a party person myself."

Raising an eyebrow, Sherry asked, "But why hide from me?"

"Girls love surprises, do they? Do you?"

True enough, she was still surprised and it still felt so surreal that Jake Muller was standing next to her in her apartment. And she was insanely happy when it was not a dream.

She loved surprises.

A wicked smile colored his face when he turned to her, "Unless... you're not a-"

"Excuse me, Jake Muller, I AM a girl!" She crossed her arms and pretended to be offended in a playful manner. And they both laughed at their own silly actions.

"Well," he suddenly feigned a clear throat awkwardly when the laughter subsided, "I do have one more surprise for you."

"Oh? I am curious now, Muller. What do you have for another surprise?" Her irky, vexing side was starting to get over her. The previous conversation had taken its toll to her. But her smile faded into a gasp when Jake finally dug out a small black satin box out from his pocket and shyly handed it to her.

She restrained herself from crying out loud although she desperately wanted to scream thrillingly that she would wake the tenants of the whole building. Instead, she just muttered shakily when her heart raced faster inside her rib cage.

Both her hands were too busy to cover her mouth so Jake had to open the box himself. He did it dramatically (not by purpose), revealing the piece of jewellery sitting inside the black box. She saw the ruby encrusted in the middle of the silver white pendant, then Jake pulled the necklace out with his forefinger and thumb.

"Happy birthday." He whispered softly and solemnly.

"You-" Her teeth were chattering, "You really shouldn't-"

"Okay, Claire suggested this for me. I never woo anyone before so..." Jake admitted sheepishly, trailing his sentence off and his eye darted down to the innocent box as if he wanted to avert his attention to anything but her blue eyes.

And Sherry was so happy that words just weren't simply possible for the moment. She didn't know whether to laugh or cry at his last statement. 'He wanted to... woo me?' Without second guessing herself, Sherry's head leaned onto his chest and she let the flare of her face to burn viciously. Jake let out a heavy but relieved sigh.

She liked it.

"So, does that mean I 'wooed' you?" Although he tried to mean it as a joke, but deep down inside, he didn't.

Eventually, Sherry pulled away and her smile was brimming, "Yes." She was nodding ever so slightly.

"Awesome." He chuckled boyishly, "And there's one last surprise for you."

Wait, there's more?

Leaning in closer, Jake placed a simple kiss to her cheek which he hadn't done it earlier when everyone was around. Then he watched her in amusement as she flared up again.

She was cute when she became like this; so indecisive when it comes to choosing a correct response.

"Happy birthday, Supergirl."

And that sealed the deal. Sherry Birkin finally decided that she will not let Claire Redfield or Leon Kennedy to plan another birthday party for her next year and the followings.

She'll just let Jake Muller do it.

He's just so full of surprises.

A.N: Just a quick one-shot I have thought off when I thought about the word, 'Surprise'. It's true, right? Girls love surprises!

Sorry to say that I will not be able to update for a next while due to... problems occurring in real life. It's always something with women (who happens to be, my boss). Let's hope that this one-shot can keep you entertained for the short moment that I'm gone.

Aye. I'll see you guys later! :)