Leon's apartment
Leon sighed as the credits to the movie started rolling. As much as he loved the Die Hard movies, he was glad to see the end of the marathon. It had started at six the previous evening, and according to the clock on the wall it was now three in the morning. The movies were only an hour and a half to two hours each, but they had spent over twenty minutes discussing their opinions at the end of each movie. They had a Die Hard marathon almost every other week, but even so there were always new comments to be made.
Leon smiled, remembering how Claire had re-dubbed parts of the second movie, and she did the same thing every time they watched it. It made him laugh, since her version was more entertaining than the original scene.
He looked to the side now, and the smile disappeared from his face. Claire's head was leaning on his arm as she slept, and he knew any slight movement could wake her up. She looked so peaceful, but his arm was asleep and it wasn't very comfortable for him. Of course, he'd forget all about that and let her sleep if it meant she could get a full night's worth of rest, but he also knew that it was late and if she didn't get back home at some point tonight, he'd never hear the end of it. Claire shared an apartment with her brother, Chris, and since she'd started hanging out over here, Leon had become the equivalent of America's number one's Most Wanted.
With a final sigh, Leon used his free hand and gently shook Claire's shoulder. "Hey, wake up..." he said.
Claire stirred and opened one eye, looking up at him. "No," she said.
"You have to go home, Claire," said Leon.
Claire yawned and sat up straight, rubbing her eyes. "Why? What time is it?" she asked.
Leon grinned. "Three AM? The last movie just ended, but I think you missed most of it," he said.
"What? That sucks! What did I miss?" Claire asked, smiling.
"Well, McClane got sick of fighting the hacker punk so he pulled out his gun and shot him," he said. "The directors rushed on the set and gave him shit for it, and the character was replaced by another actor for the last hour of the film."
Claire blinked. "Damn, can't believe I missed that. And hey, your ending changes every time," she said. Her eyes suddenly went wide. "Wait...did you say it's three?" she asked. Leon nodded, and Claire jumped off the couch. "Shit, I really have to go!" she said, grabbing her house keys and heading for the door.
"Wait, let me walk you home," Leon said, grabbing his jacket from the back of the couch.
"No way, you should get some sleep. Besides, it's late and Chris might be in one of those moods where he wants to kill the first Leon he sees," she said.
Leon grinned. "Your brother is definitely John McClane," he said.
"It flatters me that you'd consider me badass enough to be related to Bruce Willis," she said.
"Don't let that go to your head, Claire...I'm walking you home," said Leon.
Claire sighed. "Why is it that you guys constantly patronize me? I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself, Leon, I'm not some damsel in distress you know," she said.
"Oh really?" said Leon, grinning.
"Shut up, I am so not!" said Claire, glaring at him.
Leon put his hands up as though someone had pulled a gun on him. "Alright, fine, you can take care of yourself," he said. "But call me or text me when you get home, okay? Oh, and I'm sorry in advance."
Claire saw him grin, and didn't like it. He was up to something and she could tell. She shrugged and opened the door, smiling. "No problem, mom," she said. She waved goodbye and ran out the door before he could protest. He always used the same arguments, like 'You should take your safety more seriously', or 'hasn't your brother warned you about stranger danger?', and she had quickly learned to get out of there before he could start on her. She yawned once more and ran out of the building, almost cursing at the heavy rain. She nearly slipped on the steps but made it safely to the road and started down the sidewalk.
Back in Leon's Apartment
Leon brought up the zipper to his jacket, sighing. He felt terrible for what he was about to do, but felt like it was necessary. He'd used every argument he could think of, but Claire never seemed to pay much attention. He knew she could definitely handle a tough situation on her own, but it was late, she was half asleep, and it was pouring outside...if she didn't listen to him tonight, it was about time for her to learn a lesson the hard way.
He looked around once more to make sure he had everything he needed, and turned to leave the apartment.
Outside on the Street
Claire yawned again, feeling exhausted. She hadn't slept a full night for nearly a week now, and it was starting to get to her. She looked around at the dark streets, and sighed. Should've taken Leon up on his offer, she thought. She then shook her head. "No way," she said to herself. She knew Leon was just worried, but she wanted to prove that she could take care of herself. Not that there was anything dangerous out at this time. It was only a twenty minute walk, and she usually spent most of that time lost in thoughts, basically going over every self-defence method Chris had taught her.
Tonight, however, her mind was blank. She thought about Leon's worry and Chris' reaction when he'd find out she was at Leon's until three in the morning, but apart from that she was basically a mindless zombie.
Claire checked her watch and sighed. She'd been walking for fifteen minutes, which meant she was nearly home and Chris wouldn't have to worry anymore, if he was even awake. He knew she was at Leon's, but sometimes he still stayed up to wait. Claire had tried telling him he didn't need to worry, but he was over-protective and once he had his mind set, there was no changing it.
A noise behind her made her jump, and she turned around instantly. She expected to see a cat, or maybe a mouse or something, but there was nothing; just a dark empty alley. Claire shook her head and kept walking. So paranoid, she thought.
She heard another noise and turned around again, this time feeling her heart beat accelerating. She still couldn't see anything, but somehow felt another presence. "Who's there?" she called out. Of course, there was no answer. Claire smiled nervously, thinking her imagination was playing tricks on her. Better get home soon, she thought.
She heard the noise and stopped, and was about to turn and check when a hand grabbed her arm and pulled her into the alley. She took in a deep breath and opened her mouth to release a powerful scream, but a hand blocked her mouth before any noise came out. Her next reaction was to send a kick behind her, but the attacker was quick and kicked her leg out from beneath her. In what seemed like a second, Claire was down on the pavement, arms locked behind her back, and a hand covering her mouth. She squirmed but it was all for nothing.
She heard a familiar laugh, and would've turned to see who the attacker but she was pinned. Even though she couldn't see, she could tell that for some reason, the attacker was sitting on her back, holding her arms there. His weight was crushing her to the pavement.
"Now, don't you regret walking home alone?" asked the man, whose voice was muffled by either a scarf or a stereotypical nylon stocking.
Claire squirmed again, but the attacker's weight caused slight pains in her ribs whenever she moved. She could feel the man laughing, and started to get irritated.
"Squirm all you want, you know I'm stronger than you," he said.
Claire tried rolling to the side, but was barely able to move at all. She turned her head as far as she could to see the man, but he used his free hand to push her head back.
"If you promise not to scream, I'll take my hand away," he said.
Claire shut her eyes and thought for a bit, then managed to nod. As promised, the attacker pulled his hand away from her mouth. "What do you want?" she asked.
The man laughed again. "I want you to regret walking alone at this time," he said, his voice still muffled.
Claire did the stupid mistake of trying to squirm again. He wasn't sounding too threatening, but this guy had pinned her down in less than five seconds, so she had no way of guessing what his intentions were. "Listen, I live really close by, and I'm really late so my brother's probably out looking for me by now," she said.
"And?" asked the man. "Why should I care?"
Claire was definitely getting irritated now. "He'll kick your ass," she said.
The man laughed. "It's late, I'm sure he's sleeping right now. Try again," he said.
What the hell is this, a game show? Claire thought. "Look, if you're gonna rob me, just do it already," she said. She jumped back into panic mode when the attacker shifted and she heard his breathing right next to her ear.
"Who says I'm planning on robbing you?" he asked. His head was right next to hers, and Claire realized how great of an opportunity that was. "Just admit you're scared," said the man.
Claire leaned her head to one side then quickly swung it in the other direction. It smashed right into the attacker's head, and they both yelled out in pain. She ignored it and did the action again, harder this time.
After hitting her head against the attacker's a third time, he rolled to his back on the pavement holding his head in pain. Claire was proud that her quick-thinking had set her free, but when she tried to get up to her knees she dropped back down, suddenly very dizzy.
"Hey, are you okay?" asked the man.
Claire had her hand pressed against her head. "Why the hell do you care?" she asked. She was in pain, she was annoyed, and this guy would be smart to run before she managed to stand.
"That was so stupid! Who head-butts their attacker like that?" asked the man. Judging by the sound of his voice, Claire could tell he was standing. Guess I didn't hit him in the right spot, she thought.
"Seriously, what the hell do you want from me?" she asked, trying to get up again but failing. She felt herself rolling and was seemingly facing the sky now. The same weight that had pressed down on her back was now pressing down on her stomach, and a blurry figure appeared in front of her.
"Can you see straight?" asked the man. "How many fingers am I holding up?"
Claire shook her head, trying to focus on his face. "Are you...sitting on me?" she asked.
"How many fingers?" he asked again.
"Oh god, get off me!" she said, sending her arms up uselessly trying to push him.
The man grabbed her wrists tightly and pushed them down on the pavement. "Claire, stop fighting and answer my damn question! Is your vision blurry?" he asked.
Claire stopped squirming and blinked, trying once again to focus on the face. She replayed his voice in her head and shook her head. "...Leon?" she asked.
"Who'd you think it was?" he asked.
"...Leon, what the fuck!" she asked.
"Yeah Leon, what the FUCK!" said a man's voice.
Leon filled with fear and looked up to see Claire's older brother, Chris, standing just outside the alley. He had a mixture of anger, confusion, and fear on his face. "Um, hey...Chris..." he said.
"Chris?" Claire asked.
Chris started towards them, and within a millisecond Leon was up and backing away. "Hey, I can explain," he said.
"You'd better hope to god you can explain," said Chris as he walked straight towards Leon.
Leon held his arms up in surrender. "I wasn't planning on doing anything, I was just...kind of teaching her a lesson, about walking home alone and all," he said.
"Teaching her a lesson?" Chris asked, almost yelling.
"Just to scare her, honest!" protested Leon.
"Mission accomplished," Claire said, sitting up.
Chris shook his head. Hitting Leon was the only thing he really wanted to do now, but his priorities were set. He walked over to Claire and crouched down next to her. "I was sitting at home with the feeling that something bad had happened...I went out to either find you on the way or give you shit for still being at Leon's...but no, I hear yelling from a freaking alley and run in to find you," he looked up to Leon, "sitting on my sister! You'll need a way better excuse than that!" he said.
"I'm sorry but I hated seeing her walk off late at night without caring about fear and being alone," said Leon. He looked at Claire and sighed. "And the last thing I expected you to do was bash your head into mine like that..."
"I think I'm gonna be sick," Claire said randomly.
Chris looked down to his sister. "Why would you bash your head into his?" he asked.
Claire blinked and looked up. "I didn't know it was him! I thought some random crazy freak was sitting on my back and I couldn't move without hurting my stomach, so I did the only thing I could think of," she said.
"The only thing you could think was giving yourself a concussion?" asked Chris.
"I don't have a concussion," she said.
"Apparently not, but I was only trying to make sure of that. You started fighting, so I had to hold you down," said Leon.
Chris looked up at Leon, thought a bit, and looked back down to Claire. "So you were leaving Leon's place at three in the morning, by yourself, without even thinking about what could've happened?" he asked.
Claire looked at him and sighed. "Yeah," she said. "I was confident that I could take care of myself, I'm not a kid."
Chris looked back up to Leon. "And you're saying you staged an attack to scare her?" he asked.
Leon nodded. "I wanted to prove that even if you think you can deal with anything, doesn't mean you can," he said. "I could've been a crazy guy on crack."
Chris nodded and once again looked back down to his sister. "So, when he attacked you, what was your first thought?" he asked.
"Am I being interrogated?" asked Claire.
"Just answer the damn question," he said.
Claire blinked. "Well, I kind of thought that he was either drunk or on drugs, and thought strongly about getting back up and beating the shit out of him," she said.
"Claire, seriously...it's late," said Chris.
Claire sighed. "Fine, I was terrified. Happy now? I couldn't move without hurting myself, I couldn't yell or speak or even look back to see you," she looked at Leon, "and as pissed off as I am that you did this to me...I'm glad it was you," she said.
"So it worked?" Leon asked.
Claire nodded, and Chris sighed. "You know, Kennedy, there are other ways of being an idiot," he said.
"Speaking of, how's your head Claire?" asked Leon, grinning.
Claire held up her middle finger. "How many fingers, Leon?" she asked.
Chris burst out laughing and helped her to her feet. They said goodbye and he helped her home. "Apparently, I've got a few more things to teach you," he said.