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When someone chloroformed him in the underground parking lot and he woke up strapped to a hospital bed with the beeping of the monitor and a butterfly needle in his arm, he wasn't expecting that it would be Wesker. He clenched his fists, which were next to his hips, and tried to break free, but it didn't work. He tried to pull his legs, but his ankles hurt from the straps. William blinked, still disoriented, watching him dressed in black as Wesker observed him through his sunglasses while standing in front of the white wall.
"I'm not in a hospital... right?" he whispered.
"Right."
His tone was colder than the atmosphere.
"Albert..." he gulped. "What do you want?"
"Not much," he paused and approached him.
Wesker took a seat on the chair next to the bed.
"Just two passwords," he said while his gloved hand touched his. "Then my company will be able to access your research and you will be free to go," he smirked slightly.
"You know that there is no way I will surrender my research," William exhaled.
"Are you sure?" he asked with seriousness.
"Albert, please... We used to be friends, remember?" he whispered as he stared into his eyes, trying to find any humanity that maybe was left behind his sunglasses.
"I remember, which is why I am handling this instead of one of my men. I will try to make it as... gentle as possible."
"I will never give you the passwords," he managed to say after hesitating a little.
Wesker stood up and touched his combat knife's blade to Birkin's throat. His heart skipped a beat in panic.
"Give me the passwords."
"No."
"As you like," Wesker said calmly.
He put his knife back in its case and turned on the blood transfer device. As it sucked William's blood and he saw it traveling through the plastic tube, he remembered when they first met and couldn't believe where they had ended up.
Birkin was feeling cold, weak, and thirsty. He thought about his wife and tried not to cry. Then he remembered Sherry and his eyes became watery.
"Al?"
"Are you ready?"
Wesker returned to his seat and rested his hand on the bed as he listened carefully.
"Can you let Sherry know that I loved her and that I'm sorry that I wasn't a good father? Do it for her at least, if you don't do it for me," he almost whispered with a tear rolling down his cheek.
Then Birkin managed to reach Wesker's fingertip and hold it between his own.
"And... can you stay next to me? I don't want to die alone," he exhaled with a whisper.
"Oh, I'm not going to let you die, William. I will do my best to keep you alive," he said with a voice as gentle as the surface of ice.
Birkin started to feel dizzy and closed his eyes while he thought about his research. He wouldn't let anyone take it from him.
"How do you feel?" Wesker asked. "Are you still with me?"
He was very weak, but he managed to nod. Then Wesker called some doctors into the room and everything happened too fast, or he was too disoriented to remember exactly what happened.
"Welcome back," Wesker greeted him as he was standing next to him.
He pulled Birkin's hair away from his face.
"Would you like some water?"
He glanced at the bottle on the bedside table and Wesker opened it before he gave him some to drink.
"Thanks."
Wesker put it back and then he used a damp towel to clean the sweat from Birkin's face. Meanwhile, William was worrying about what was going to happen to him next.
"Do you want to tell me anything?"
"No," William replied.
Wesker left the towel on the bedside table and sat on the chair. He took off his sunglasses and one of his gloves and touched Birkin's hand. William thought that the look in his eyes was warm, just like his hand.
"I know you... I know you won't give me the passwords... But I don't want to keep doing this forever... or to end up killing you," he whispered. "You won't like this proposal but... Send your family abroad. Abandon Umbrella and come and work for me. With me, again. Then I will have your bio-organic weapons, but the research will be yours like it always was," he continued.
William was very thoughtful.
"You are trying to trick me, right?!" he exhaled. "After giving you the passwords, you will steal my research and kill me!" Birkin raised his voice.
"We used to be friends, remember, Will?" he asked and held his hand tighter.
William thought about his family. If they were going abroad to be safe from Umbrella, then he would be losing them. But at least he wouldn't be losing his research.