Disclaimer: Don't own the fandom/pairing, and I don't own the music. These are owned by capcom and Lifehouse.
Description: Leon and Claire put together with the song All In by Lifehouse, the song line is "Too strong, we've had each other's back for too long"
A/N: It kept hitting me whenever I was in the car that this line from the song fit them so well, it also fits Chris and Jill, but I have a massive girl crush on Claire Redfield. So, the story is for them!
Claire sat on her bike at the red light and it was near midnight. She had recently come back home to New York City after the Harvardville incident. All the shadows made her jump. She didn't want to admit that it scared her more then it should to be out at night. But these things happened at night it seemed. Fucking Zombies.
She stared out in front of her at the cars facing her and frowned. It was too late for all these people to be up, but it was New York City and no one slept. She didn't even sleep much anymore again. Chris was going to find out again, but if she was lucky he wouldn't for a while do she could fix it.
The light turned green and she rived her bike and took off making her way back to her apartment.
Once back to her apartment, Claire locked the door behind her when she entered and did her routine sweep of the place to make sure everything was there and locked up. Was that was done, she went into the kitchen and played her messages.
"Hey Claire, it's Chris. Call me, Jill and I want to plan a trip up to see you soon, now that Jill is back and doing good."
"Claire, it's Jill, call me when you can. I need to tell you something, Chris and I need to tell you something."
Claire turned off the machine and turned to her fridge. She didn't call them back, she didn't even text them either, she just got a beer and headed into the living room and sat in the chair in the corner so that while she had the T.V. on no one could be behind her.
When she woke, it was because her phone was ringing. Claire looked at her watch and saw that it was six in the morning, "Hello? Chris, why are you calling so early?"
"Because we need to talk about Jill and I wanting to come up next week."
"You know that you and Jill are always welcome. But you do know that it is early?"
"I know, sorry, but I am about to be with out communication for a few days and Jill is… busy…"
"Just be safe big brother. I will see you in a week, okay?"
"Talk to you later. And Claire, go back to sleep or I won't bring you a gift for your birthday."
Chris hung up leaving Claire in shock. She forgot that it was going to be her birthday in a week.
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In D.C., Leon sat in the meeting room near the office of Ingrid Hunnigan, waiting to get his next mission. At least that is what he thought he was waiting for until Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine walked into the room, each holding boxes.
"Hey, Rookie, help the missus."
Leon stood up and grabbed the book from Jill and gave her a questioning look.
"We aren't married… yet."
"You know Rookie…"
"I am waiting for Hunnigan, I am supposed to have a mission this week."
"About that," Chris said sitting down and opening his box and started pulling out paperwork and folders. "I have already talked to Hunnigan, and you, my boy, have the next two weeks off and are coming to New York City with us."
"What?"
"Claire counts you as family, so you are coming up for her birthday. Plus we need you as a witness for the marriage."
"Marriage?" Leon asked, still not understanding how Chris had gotten Hunnigan to give him two weeks off.
"Chris and I am getting married in New York, Claire is my witness, you are Chris'. Now, we have to get this all finished up… well you do, but I volunteered Chris to help you. I am supervising."
"Married? Does Claire know?"
"She isn't calling anyone back," Chris said leaning forward, looking much more serious. "My sources tell me that she is alive and fine, but with how close we are, I think something is wrong. So instead of dragging her around, we are going to go see her for her birthday and then get married after that up near her."
Leon looked between Jill and Chris over his paperwork. "Her birthday? When?"
"Next Friday," Chris said. "Wait? You didn't know that?"
"Chris," Leon said with a frown, "Claire and I have only really run into each other when the world was in danger, and through email, but barely. Birthdays haven't really come up."
"She knows yours Leon," Jill said as she sifted through a pile of papers, looking like she was searching for a certain one.
"She does?" Leon asked lowering the papers in his hands.
"Yeah," Chris said as he put a pile of full folders back into a box.
Leon sat for the next few minutes trying to figure out when he told her.
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Home from work, Claire laid in bed waiting for her brother to call to say that they were in town. But she didn't really care or want them to come. She wasn't feeling better, and if Chris saw her, he was going to know that she wasn't feeling well, and then he would start to mother her.
She stared up through the darkness at the fan spinning slowly across her ceiling in the dark. Rani had been in town with her Aunt a few weeks ago and had put glow in the dark stars on her ceiling. It was nice but they were just making her feel worse for some reason.
Finally getting sick of laying in bed, she threw her legs over the side and sat up.
"This is bogus. I shouldn't feel like this," She mumbled to herself. "The last time I felt this way… I couldn't save Steve…"
Claire stood up and walked over to her dresser. She looked at her reflection in the mirror above her dresser and saw how tired she really looked. She brought her hands up and rubbed her eyes.
"Shower."
Claire grabbed her robe from her closet and laid it on her bed before reaching down and grabbing the bottom of her shirt and pulling it over her head. Next she unhooked her bra and threw that onto the bed on top of her shirt. Next came her pants, underwear and socks at the same time. She put her robe on and walked into the hallway to go to the bathroom.
Once she was done with her shower, and was walking back to her room to put her pajamas on when there came a knock at her door.
She froze before reaching into the hallway cabinet and pulling out a gun. She started towards the door when a voiced called in, "Claire, will you answer the door."
"Damn it Chris," she said as she put the gun on the counter in the kitchen and rushed the remaining steps to the front door.
Claire unlocked the door and opened it to see Jill and Chris and…
"Leon, you're here two?"
"Your brother and his girlfriend kidnapped me. Is it a problem?"
"No," Claire said backing up for everyone to come in.
She hugged Jill first who made her way in first and then her brother who was carrying the bags. She smiled at Leon as he entered, but before she went to hug him Chris started to talk.
"I like the fluffy robe Claire, and the towel on your hair."
"You're early Chris and I was just in the shower," Claire snapped before excusing herself to go change. When she came back out everyone was sitting around her small living room drinking her beer. Leon held up an unopened one for her.
"So, Chris and Jill," Claire started as she sat down next to Leon taking her beer and opening it. "You two are going to be in my room, Leon you get the spare, and I'll take the pull out."
"Claire, we can take…"
"No Chris. Guest," she said pointing and the three of them. "I am the Hostess. Now big brother, I would do as I say, or you wont get the best pancakes in the world for breakfast."
"You can't cook Claire…"
Claire threw a pillow across the room and hit her brother in the head, "maybe not, but I can aim! Plus, I didn't say I was cooking. There is this little restaurant down the street that has the best pancakes, and I was going to treat everyone. Now I guess it is just going to be Jill and Leon I treat… you can fend for yourself."
Everyone laughed and for the next half an hour the four finished their drinks and headed off to bed. Finally Claire was alone in the living room. The lights were off and she had pillows and blankets for herself on the couch, but just like when she slept in her room, she wasn't going to even use them. Claire walked over to the her chair in the corner and sat down, her hand going in between the seat cushion and the arm, and she grabbed the gun she had stashed there. But instead of sleeping, Claire watched the ceiling listening to the noises of her brothers muffled snoring and the branches outside the window tapping the glass.
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Claire woke up before everyone else. She looked at the clock on the wall across the room and read that it was 4 in the morning. She had slept for four hours. Better then last night. She only got two then.
Claire stood and stretched before heading over to the counter of the kitchen and flipping in a light switch. It was too early to make coffee or food in fear of waking up every one, so instead she grabbed an apple and a bottle of water and sat on the counter looking out her window at the sky.
Then Claire was surprised when her guest room door opened and Leon came walking out in a pair of sweat pants and a black beater. Claire paused as she saw the scar on his shoulder.
"Morning," Leon said as he leaned on the counter next to her.
"Morning Leon, you're up early."
"Not really. I have to be in to the office early… and I don't sleep much on missions either."
"Right. Sleep well?"
"Yeah, the bed is nice…" Leon paused as he saw the couch and that the blankets and pillows hadn't moved from last night. "I take it you didn't. You can have the bed Claire…"
Claire tried to cover casually, "I slept fine, just folded everything up, it is the living room."
"Oh… Claire." Leon said. "Are you…"
"I am going to go grab clothes to wear for a run and changing in the bath room," Claire said hoping down off the counter.
"How are you planning on getting clothes from your room when your brother and his girl friend are in there?"
"Correction Leon, Fiancé, I saw the ring. And I have spare clothing everywhere."
"Claire…"
"Drop it Leon," Claire said as she moved in and out of the spare room, now holding clothing. "I slept fine, and now I am going to change to go for a run."
Leon looked down at the floor not sure what he was going to tell Chris. Cause he knew something was wrong.
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Claire was out running.
Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out.
Claire stopped at a park about two miles from her home. She watched the leaves blowing in the wind and tried to keep her mind from imagining noises. She turned on the spot and raced home, going fast then she had on the way there.
Once she was home it was about 7 and Chris and Jill were up.
"Morning sis how was your run?"
"Fine… I'm going to shower fast and then we can go out to eat, okay?"
"Sure," Chris called after Claire as she disappeared into the bathroom. As soon as they heard the water turn on they started talking again.
"So, she isn't sleeping, and is running like she thinks zombies are after her, are we sure that after the event in Harvardville that she is really okay?" Jill asked looking at the two men in the room.
"She is hiding guns all over the place, possibly other weapons too," Leon added looking at Chris. "Remember the one on the counter last night. I found four in the guest room, and one in the chair the corner too… where I think that she slept… if she really did sleep."
"I don't know what to do, she hasn't been this way since after Antarctica. That Steve Burnside did do a number on her mind before he died. It took her forever to get over that." Chris stood and paced back and forth for a minute or two before stopping and looking at the other two in the room. "How are we going to talk to her?"
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They didn't get a chance that morning though because Claire was called into the office during her shower, so she had to race to get changed and go to work. So the two men and women had to fend for themselves in New York, which really wasn't that bad for Jill, she had looked up stores that she wanted to go look at for wedding ideas. Chris was dragged along because he was going to be the groom, and Chris dragged Leon along under the threat of doing something that would make his life uncomfortable. Again, Leon had no idea what the real threat was, but after dealing with Claire, he didn't doubt Chris.
"Jill," Chris said slowly, as if he was trying to not annoy Jill, "Do you really need us for any of this?"
"Nope, well at least not Leon. So Leon, ignore Chris and go out by yourself. I promise I wont let him do anything to you."
"Thanks Jill," Leon said as he turned and walked away with out looking at Chris. "Have fun you two!"
"LEON!" Chris called after him, but Leon was already headed to a certain spot.
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Claire sat in her office at her desk. She was staring at the papers in front of her, but wasn't seeing what they said. It was then her phone started to buzz in her pocket.
"Hello? Oh hi Leon… yes in about 20 minutes I am going to be leaving… I had a meeting and I am just finishing reading the case I was given… I think I could meet you there in 30 minutes… yeah, all right, see you then. Bye."
Claire hung up her phone and looked back at the report. She didn't have the patience to do this today. She was supposed to work next week, help plan for the convention in two months. She stood and made her way into her boss' office.
"Ah, Claire, I was just about to come talk to you about next week."
"Oh…" Claire said sitting down, "Really? What about it?"
"There is a urgent meeting in Russia that the Heads of the Board and myself will have to go to… with our assistants, so no one is going to be here to help with the plans for the convention. We are not going to start working on the next part until the following week."
"Really? That is news?"
"Sorry about this…"
"No it is actually why I came to see you," Claire said leaning forward and giving Mr. Mitchell a small smile, "I was coming to tell you that I wanted to use my vacation time for next week. I know that it is short notice, but I have had something come up with my brother being in town and I want to spend time with him."
"Not a problem. No one will be here that you need to be working with, so yes, take the week off and enjoy time with your brother."
"Thank you sir. Enjoy your trip then," Claire stood and nodded at her boss.
"Your welcome Claire. Also," her boss said making her turn to look at him, "enjoy your birthday next week."
"Thank you sir…" Claire said with a small smile before going back to her office and grabbing her things to leave to go meet Leon.
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Claire sat in the café waiting for Leon when she started to listen to the radio. She didn't listen to one at home much, she barely listened to Queen at the time because she couldn't handle noise loud enough to block out what she could hear.
"All night staring at the ceiling
Counting for minutes I've been feeling this way
So far away and so alone"
She wanted to listen to more, but she snapped back to reality when she heard her name being called out.
"Oh, Leon, hello."
"Hey. Your brother is so screwed. But Jill was nice enough to let me leave."
"She likes to torture Chris. It is fun."
"That it is," Leon said agreeing, but he stared at Claire and realized that she wasn't really meaning what she was saying at the moment. "You know Claire, it is okay to be frightened."
"How?" Claire asked staring out the window, not even pretending to try and say she didn't under stand him. "How, I survived all three times. I know how to save myself if it ever happens again. How is it okay to be scared?"
"Because you're human… just like the rest of us. And you know, we all get scared. I get scared too. Being surrounded by those things, the ones that used to be your friends. It is hard."
"I can't sleep anymore again. I got over it with Steve… but… remembering Rani, her being so scared. I … I… I don't know anymore. I was wrong…"
"You just didn't have the facts. And Rani is safe now. Because of you."
Claire and Leon sat in silence for a while and Claire started listening to the music again.
"There's no taking back what we've got
Too strong, we've had each other's back for too long
There's no breaking up this time
And you know it's okay, I came to my senses
Letting go of my defenses
There's no way I'm giving up this time
And I'm all in, nothing left to hide
I'm falling harder than a landslide
I spend a week away from you last night
And now I'm calling, calling out your name
Even if I lose the game, I'm all in
I'm all in tonight, yeah I'm all in, I'm all in for life"
"Leon, we should go back to my place. Chris and Jill will be back soon, and I wanted to talk to them about when and where they plan on getting married."
"You know," Leon said standing up and grabbing Claire's hand. "They still don't realize that you know they are engaged."
Claire forward as they walked, giving Leon's hand a squeeze but not letting go, "He thinks that I am not observant. Jill probably knows that I know. She is smarter then him."
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That night Jill sat down next to Claire on the kitchen counter while the boys were watching the football game that was on.
"So, I know that you know that we are engaged. I haven't told Chris yet though. I think he would think that I told you."
"He would," Claire said with a small laugh. "When are you two planning the ceremony?"
"We were thinking while we were here," Jill said smiling at Claire. "We both know that you don't get much time off, just like us, and you are his only family. So I think I can put aside what I wanted."
"Jill…"
"Claire, all I need is Chris. Chris needs you too be there."
"And Leon?"
"He is an extra," Jill said laughing. She picked up her beer that was on the table next to her and took a swig. "Plus, you need a date to the court house, and he works well."
"Jill, will you please stop trying too..."
"To what?" Chris asked as he and Leon walked into the kitchen, Leon heading to the fridge and throwing Chris a beer and taking one for him too.
"Good thing someone stocked up on beers," Claire said shaking her head as Leon was about to hand her one. "No thanks. But Chris listen, we need to talk…"
"I know. First is first. Jill and I are engaged… and you're not freaking out because?"
"I'm not blind and I saw her finger. Her ring finger has an indent and she has a slight ring tan. Then she is also wearing two ball necklaces. One I assume is for dog tags, and the other I am guessing has the ring."
Chris frowned. "You never let me have a surprise…"
"Sorry," Claire said shrugging her shoulders and hoping off the counter. "But I am very happy for you and Jill."
Claire moved into her brothers' arms and gave him a hug, squeezing hard, but not having much affect on him.
"Thanks Claire," Chris whispered into her hair.
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A few days later, Claire was still tired because her sleeping pattern wasn't getting any better, Jill and Chris were standing in the New York Court House getting married. Neither had wanted a big wedding. Chris had only needed Claire there, and Jill thought that Leon would be a good choice to have because he was close to Chris and Claire in a way. He was the only other one that really understood their life styles that they had to lead.
"By the power vested in me by the state of New York, I pronounce you Husband and Wife."
Leon and Claire clapped and Chris kissed Jill.
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A few nights later Claire and Chris sat in her room talking for a while, both crying for a while as Claire let out her fears and took in Chris' fears. They laid back onto the bed next to each other and stared up into the silence that was around them. It wasn't the same as it had been before Chris joined the academy. But it was getting there. And Claire knew that tonight she would finally sleep.
Chris and Jill were leaving tomorrow and Claire wasn't the happiest camper about it.
"And you can't be transferred here because?"
"Because," Chris said rolling to his side to look down at his baby sister, "my job is in D.C. So is Jill's too. Listen, we have an extra bedroom, so you can come visit. I know you don't like polotions, but D.C. is a nice place. But if you do come, I will have to talk Jill out of setting you up with anyone."
Claire laughed as she stood up.
"I'll send your wife in, and please do tell her not too, I already have a complicated relationship with a guy."
"What?" Chris called after her, but Claire waved Jill in and walked past her spare room nodding at Leon who smiled and closed his door for the night.
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Claire sat on the couch in her living room area holding a bottle of water while Leon sat next to her holding a bottle of beer. They were watching The Wizard of Oz at the moment and Claire leaned her head onto Leon's shoulder. It had been three days since Chris and Jill had gone and Claire had finally been sleeping. The fact that Leon had been sleeping next to her was helping too.
"Thanks Leon," Claire said though a yawn. "Thanks for having my back."
"No problem Red," Leon said as he brushed a strand of her hair behind her ear. He whispered to her as she fell asleep, "It's what partners do."
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