New Horizons, I

By: Hotaru

Notes: Hi Christine, The best RE writer EVER!!!!!!

Warnings: Steve bashing, abuse, strong language, RE: Code Veronica spoilers

Stepping into the poorly-lit diner, Leon Kennedy surveyed the patrons. He was supposed to meet Claire and "Steve" there that night. Taking a table in the back, Leon waited and looked around some more.

A young man seemed to be eyeing him while drinking a beer. In fact, the man's eyes never left Leon, when he eyed the waitress who took his order for another beer. Glancing at his watch, Leon sighed deeply. A young woman walked over to the man at the table and turned to see where his finger was pointing.

"Leon?" The woman asked, walking towards the him. "Claire?" Leon asked incredously, standing up from the table. "Oh my god, it is you!" Claire exclaimed, running over to hug her long-lost friend. "It's so great to see you, Claire. You look..great." Leon said, releasing his arms from around Claire when he noticed this "Steve" glaring daggers at him. "Have you been waiting long?" Claire asked.

With a small shake of his head, Leon sat down, as did Claire. "Not at all. You?" He answered. "A little while. I insisted we get here early, Steve protested but I won." Claire replied with a grin. "So uh..you two are.." Leon began, fretting Claire's response. "..are…what? Married? No. Together? Yeah, I guess." The young woman replied carelessly.

"What do you mean "I guess"?" Leon asked, glancing over to see Steve with another beer. "Well…we used to be, but I'm only still with him because of Katie." Claire explained, leaving Leon even more confused. "Don't tell me..you have a daughter?" He asked painfully. With a sigh, Claire nodded. Leon leaned back in his chair and sighed deeply. "But you don't want anything to do with the guy?" He asked.

With a small nod, Claire glanced over her shoulder to see if Steve was watching them as intently as she thought. He was. "Not a thing. But when he's not drinking, he can be a decent guy. He's just young and too careless sometimes. I think his indifference made me want to leave him in the first place. Now that we have Katie, I don't want her growing up with out a dad." She said, turning back to face her friend.

Not wanting to believe that the young, innocent woman he knew a year ago was now a mother, Leon turned the subject back to Steve. "He seems like a pretty heavy drinker. He's ordered three since I've been here. Does he ever…try and hurt you?" Leon asked lowly. "With success a few times, though I'm sad to say. I feel like such a fool to fall for such an abusive drunk." Claire replied, flopping back in her seat.

"Claire…if he abuses you, then you've got to get out of there. I..I know you're doing it for the good of your daughter, but…it's not worth it." Leon said, leaning forward. Steve stood up from his table and walked over to where Claire and Leon were seated. "We're leaving." He ordered. Claire scoffed slightly. "But Steve, we just got here! We haven't even got caught up yet." She said, as Steve pulled her out of her seat.

Leon stood up defensivly. "I said we're leaving." Steve re-itterated. "Hey man, what's the problem?" Leon stepped in. Steve ignored him and pulled Claire out of the diner. Leon followed after them. "Can I give you a call sometime?" He called to Claire.

"Yeah.."

"No!"

Steve glared back at Leon before pushing Claire into the car and walking around. "If you have any sense at all, you won't talk to her again." He said snidly before climbing into the car and flying away. "Jesus.." Leon exclaimed, before walking to his own car.

~^~

Some time later, Leon called Claire in hopes that they could meet again. "Hello?" It must have been Steve who answered, so Leon replied in a gruff voice unlike his own, "Uh, sorry, wrong number." And hung up.

Claire eyed Steve as he stared at the phone. "What's the matter?" She asked. Steve hung up the phone and turned to her. "Nothing. Probably just your old boy-toy." He replied, brushing past her. "Steve..what happened that night?" Claire asked, following him with Katie in her arms. "What do you think?" Steve snapped, pulling off his funky weekend t-shirt.

"Well, I don't know, or else I wouldn't be asking you, would I?" Claire said impatiently. Steve huffed deeply, pulling on a clean shirt. "I don't want you talking to him, I don't want you seeing him, understand?" He ordered.

"Steve, he's my friend! What right do you have to forbid me from seeing my own friends?" Claire asked.

"What right? What right!? Don't talk back to me, bitch!" Steve yelled, throwing the nearest object in Claire's direction.

Ducking, and holding Katie tightly, Claire backed towards the door. "Steve, stop it. I had a life before you and I'm not going to abandon anyone because you tell me to." She said slowly. Steve started towards her, so she ran into the kitchen and grabbed her keys before running out of the house. "Claire, get back here!" She heard Steve hollar, following her outside.

Claire jumped into her car and locked all the doors before quickly putting Katie in her car-seat. Steve banged on the driver door and yelled, "Get out of the car Claire, you're making a scene." Claire ignored him and turned on the engine. "Get out of the car before you regret it!" Steve hissed, banging on the window. Turning the wheel sharply, Claire backed out of their drive-way and sped away before Steve had a chance to follow.

At this point, Katie had started crying. "Dammit.." Claire spat, unsure of where to go. She reached back and held her daughter's hand and tried to calm her down. "It's okay baby, please stop crying.." She cooed, heading to a park Steve didn't know about. When she got there, she grabbed her purse and took Katie to the swings. "Please stop crying Katie." She said, pushing the swing softly. Eventually, Katie stopped crying and Claire could skim through her address/phone book to find anyone she could talk with.

"On vacation…at work..haven't seen them for years…Chris, god knows where he is…Leon? I have his number? Thank god." Claire said, pulling out her cell phone.

The phone rang for awhile until an answering machine began. "You have reached the home of officer Leon S. Kennedy. I'm currently occupied, but leave your name and number and I'll be sure to get back to ya." *beep*

"Ah, Leon, it's Claire. Steve and I got into a little fight and I just need someone to stay with for awhile until he calms down. Don't call me at home, call my cell, it's on the card I gave you. Please…I…" With a sigh, Claire hung up and pushed her daughter on the swing again.

Leon ran to the phone and picked it up in time to hear the click of Claire hanging up. "Dammit." He exclaimed, playing the message again. "Card…the card, where the hell did I put the card?" Leon asked himself, holding the towel against his waist. He searched the phone-table, the pockets of his pants and finally found it in his wallet.

"Hello?" Claire said into her phone.

"Claire? Thank god, it's me, Leon."

"Oh…hey, I was just heading home."

"Home? But I thought you needed somewhere to stay.."

"Yeah..I changed my mind. Thanks anyway. I gotta go, bye."

Leon stared into the phone and wondered why on Earth Claire would change her mind. Hanging up the phone, Leon dressed quickly and headed over to try and find Claire's house. He wasn't about to let her get hurt.

~^~

Claire walked into her house quietly and cautiously. It was pretty dark, only a lamp in the hallway was lit. She noticed Steve sleeping on the couch, and a few bottles of beer on the table. Claire brought Katie to her room and put her in her crib before heading into the living room. She leaned towards Steve to try and see how deep his sleep was.

It apparantly wasn't very deep, for his hand swung up to grab her neck. "Where did you go? Did you see him, you slut?!" Steve exclaimed, pushing Claire against the wall. "N-no! I took Katie to the park, that's all." She choked out, trying to remove his hand from her neck. "Lying won't help you. I know you saw him!" Steve retorted, throwing Claire onto the couch.

He ripped the buttons off Claire's shirt and opened her jeans. "Get the hell off me!" Claire screamed, trying to push the man off of her. "Fuck you!" Steve spat, slapping her across the face. Groaning slightly, Steve pulled Claire's pants to her ankles and started un-buckling his own pants. "Let's see how you bitch your way out of this." He sneered drunkinly. Claire tried to shove Steve off of her again, but he punched her to get her to stop struggling. "Please…"

With her vision blurred, and body weak, Claire stopped struggling and squeezed her eyes shut. At about the time Steve became a rapist, the front door burst open and someone pulled Steve to the ground. Claire removed her arms from her eyes and sat up to see her savior. Noticing that it was Leon, she tried to find a pillow to cover herself up. Unfortunatly, there was none, so she stood there, with a ripped open shirt, pulling her pants and underwear back up. Staring at the bruises covering most of Claire's body only momentarily, Leon got down to business.

"You have the right to remain silent you son of a bitch. Anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law…"

TBC