(You are) The Reason

Epilogue

"Jakeee!" Jake spun around upon hearing Sherry's scream, seeing her get grabbed by a J'avo and he is distracted by his concern to try to get to her, punching a J'avo in the stomach and headbutting the other J'avo. In his haste to try to rescue her, he is overcome by the J'avo's as they pull the both of them in separate directions. "Sherryyy!" He yells watching the other J'avo's carry her away, and then everything went pitch dark.

It was happening again, he couldn't keep Sherry safe.
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"Gah!" Jake shoots up in his bed in a cold sweat, his eyes dart around his room as he tries to understand what the heck just happened. Once he sees that he is indeed in the confines of his room, he lets out a breath of relief. "It was just a nightmare..." He tells himself looking over at the time on his clock; It's 3 am. Jake sighs softly rubbing his face as he looks around his room once more, it's weird that these dreams are happening now.

It's been eight years since the incident with the J'avo's and Ustanak and trying to escape China unscathed.

He lays back down as his eyes fluttered shut, it was just a bad dream. That's all it was, Just a dream. He assures himself letting the sleep pull him under again.

Sherry~

7 am; Division of Security Operations.

"Hey, Birkin. I'm gonna need these documents printed and I need you let the others know that I will be heading out for the day." Sherry's new boss Carlos Oliviera asks to which she doesn't even hear him at first, lost in her thoughts without realizing. "Birkin." He says again upon realizing she was zoned out, not normal of her.

Sherry snaps out of her daze from his firm tone and nods her head with a smile. "Hmm? Yes, of course. I'll get right on that, Sir." She responds taking the documents from him getting up to go to the printing room, grabbing her phone to contact the other workers, her boss watches her before he tilts his head. Not that he's supposed to care being that he's her boss but even he noticed that Sherry was off her normal positive strive lately, spilling the coffee on herself, dropping the files all over the floor, she's been coming in looking almost sleep deprived the past couple of days and he knew he should say something.

See if he can get her to open up about what's been bothering her and physically messing her up. "Hey, Sherry?" He calls seeing her turn around to face him wondering what he wanted this time, bracing a timid smile. "Yes, sir?" She raised an eyebrow as she held the documents he'd just given to her, he looks over at her desk seeing a few picture frames and he recognizes Leon and Claire before he looks back at her. "Sherry, you doing okay?" He asked to which her eyebrows furrow momentarily, she clearly wasn't expecting that question.

Why would he need to ask that question so suddenly?

"Why do you ask?" She asks without a beat and he notes that she completely ignored that question so he places a hand on her shoulder, which startled her. "Sherry, you can talk to me if you've got things on your mind that are bothering you. You know that, right?" He asked to which she wonders why he's saying these things all of a sudden. "I appreciate your concern, Sir. I promise I'm fine." She says again and he couldn't help but frown,clearly she wasn't being honest about her feelings. "I need to go print these documents out sir, so if you'll excuse me." She steps away from him heading into the printing office but as she was about to walk out of hearing range he tries again, he needs to figure out why the laid back, determined Sherry is so tense and clumsy lately.

He can't explain it but he knows something is wrong with her if it's gotten so bad that she's no longer sleeping.  "I know you miss Leon and Claire, Chris even. I know how close Leon and Claire were with you specifically." He says and he sees her stop moving completely and he takes this as his way in, approaching her slowly. She turned around hesitantly to look at him once he'd mentioned Leon and Claire, Chris she knew of vaguely because he and Claire were so close and he helped save her life back in China. However, it's Leon and Claire that pulled at something in her. "You... You knew them?" She asked looking at him waiting for his answer, Carlos approached her again closing the wide gap between them a little bit.