So here's the second chapter. I could offer an excuse about why it's taken so long, but I really, really don't have one other than the fact that I tend to be a lazy slug. *bows deeply* Please forgive this lazy slug for her lack of updates. I hope this humble offering works for you, and that I will get chapter 3 out sooner. Please leave reviews telling me what you think so I know what to improve, and if you thought it was funny.
Claire's plane arrived around 4:30 in the morning with no delays. Leon thought it was another sign of how unnatural his day (or, he supposed, the past day and a half) had been. He was sitting pensively by the terminal, empty coffee cup on the chair next to him, watching everyone that walked by, consciously scrutinizing them for any sign of possible trouble. Harvardville was still too close to recent memory to make him entirely comfortable in airports. He wasn't sure how on earth Claire had been able to go back into an airport, let alone get on a plane and fly several hours nonstop to another country after what had happened. Leon could manage to get through this by strength of will, and the knowledge that he was packing two pistols, several magazines of spare ammo, and a rather large knife. It was good to be a government agent with more security clearances than the police knew what to do with. Still, he'd be more comfortable once Claire got off the plane and they were in his car driving away.
He watched all those disembarking, letting out a breath when he saw walk Claire off the plane. She looked tired, but he figured that was to be expected after 17 hours in a plane and crossing the international dateline. Yet Leon was still struck by the fact that even as exhausted as she must have been, she still looked beautiful walking along wheeling her small suitcase that didn't look like it would hold enough clothes for two weeks. He stood up, moving to intercept her through the rather thin crowd of people who were there.
Claire saw Leon moving through the crowd, alternately blending in and sticking out. He was wearing the same jacket he had the last time she had seen him, but the pants and shirt were different. She smiled tiredly and waved to him, moving to meet him halfway. "Imagine bumping into you here. It almost seems normal," she said, stopping in front of him. She had impulse to hug him, or do something, anything other than stand there awkwardly and look at him.
Leon was finally the one who made the first move, reaching over and taking her luggage from her, their fingers brushing as he did so. Claire felt the warmth from Leon's fingers move up her arm, which soon joined the warmth coming from the hand Leon rested on her shoulder. "Come on Claire, you look beat. Let's get you back to my place so you can get some rest," he said, giving her a slight smile, which honestly did more to cheer up her day than anything else.
She followed him out, smiling a bit at the way he breezed by security like it was nothing. She figured being a secret agent for the president got you a lot of perks, since she knew Leon had to be armed with at least one handgun, if not a small arsenal. Like her brother, he couldn't go anywhere without some kind of weapon. Not that she was complaining; it let her get through security a lot faster too, which was always a plus in her book.
When they made it to the parking lot Claire let out a low whistle when she saw Leon's car. It was imported, dark, sporty and looked like it could go wickedly fast, the perfect car for a secret agent. "Pretty nice car Leon, I guess it pays to work for the government," she said, running her fingers lightly over it. Claire had always been a bit of a tomboy; growing up with an older brother had ensured that. So she'd always had an interest in cars and motorcycles; even if she couldn't really indulge in her interest anymore, it had never really went away.
Leon smirked, watching Claire admire his car. "Its one the perks of being a secret agent, I get a cool car. It's actually part of my contract," he said, opening the trunk and putting her bag inside. He then walked around and opened the car door for her, smirking again. "After you," he said, waiting for her to get in before he closed the door and went around to the driver's side.
The ride back was uneventful, Leon allowed himself the luxury of speeding a bit on the highway, but mostly he went the speed limit, since he didn't want to disturb Claire, who had fallen asleep within ten minutes of being on the road.
Claire was still asleep when they reached his apartment, head tilted to one side in a manner guaranteed to leave her with a neck ache. Leon parked the car and looked over at her, only contemplating waking her up for a minute before he got out of the car and walked around, carefully opening the passenger door. He reached over and carefully unbuckled Claire before lifting her out of the car. She was exhausted from the flight, and if he knew Claire, she had been pushing herself to work as hard as she could while she had been gone. He frowned a bit when he felt how light Claire was in his arms. Not only had she been working herself too hard - it felt like she wasn't eating well either.
Leon carried her up to his apartment, somehow managing to juggle unlocking his door without letting her go. When she didn't wake up even after that, he knew she really had been pushing herself to the limit of exhaustion. Walking inside he stared at his couch for only a second before bypassing it entirely and walking to the bedroom. He laid Claire down on the bed, removing her boots before he tucked the comforter in around her. He was going to let her sleep; for once there was no emergency, no disaster waiting to be dealt with, they would have time together later.
Claire woke up slowly the next morning, which was unusual for her. She might not be on the run or fighting Umbrella anymore, but some of the instincts instilled in her from that time still remained. Generally even if she wasn't an extremely light sleeper any more, she still transitioned from asleep to completely alert. But today she seemed to be waking up in stages, first becoming aware of the fact that she was warm and covered in something very soft. She slowly stretched, her hand curling under the pillow that smelled faintly of some kind of expensive aftershave, until it touched something cold and metallic. Blinking she slowly pulled a Glock handgun out from under the pillow, fully loaded with the safety on. That made her lift her head up and look around the room, since she herself had stopped sleeping with a gun under her pillow years ago. Sitting up, she looked around the room, immediately identifying it as a man's room. Everything was stark, utilitarian and neat, no personal touches or anything to give away who lived here. All the furniture looked newish, like it had all been ordered to match out of a catalog. She pushed the gun back under the pillow, trying to remember how exactly she had gotten to the room, let alone into the bed. The last thing she could remember was getting into Leon's car to drive back to his place...
Well if she was in Leon's car, going to Leon's apartment, she could only assume that this was Leon's bedroom. She must have fallen asleep during the drive, which meant he would have carried her up here. The thought made her blush a bit, running a hand over her head. She could feel that her hair was a mess, half of it falling loose of the ponytail holder to fall around her head. She pulled the band out, working her fingers through the strands to get out the tangles and ease the slight aching in her scalp from sleeping with it up. She glanced at her watch as she put the band around her wrist, 5:29, she'd slept for almost twelve hours, which was completely unlike her. She guessed the jet lag had really caught up with her this time. Standing, she noticed that Leon had even thought to take off her shoes.
Leon glanced up from his work when her heard Claire padding down the hallway from the bedroom. He smiled when he saw standing there in the same clothes as last night, still looking sleepy, auburn hair free of its perpetual ponytail that Leon had always seen it in. The tousled look made it seem like she'd just been rolling around in a bed with someone, and didn't that just bring all sorts of interesting images to mind? The kind of images that would get him gutted and skinned alive by Chris if he ever knew about them. Forcing those thoughts and his late night fantasies to the back of his head, he gave Claire a smile. "Awake at last I see."
Claire nodded, rubbing her eyes as she walked into the living room. "Yeah, I can't believe I slept that long," she said, sitting down in a chair and letting out a yawn. She pulled her legs up underneath her, wrapping an arm around her knees and looking around the apartment. "Nice digs Leon, another government perk?" she said, looking over at him.
Leon shrugged, gesturing to his apartment. "Your tax dollars at work my dear. Those deductions you see on your paycheck are helping me live the high life," he said, reaching over and picking up his coffee cup, making a face after he sipped it. "You hungry or thirsty?" he asked, standing up and moving towards the kitchen. "I was going to order take out for dinner, feel like Chinese?"
Claire made a face, shaking her head. "No way, I've had enough Asian food for awhile thanks. I think I want something quintessentially American for dinner, especially if you're buying."
Leon grinned, opening the drawer he stashed his to-go menus in. "How about pizza then? Can't get more American than that," he said, walking in with the menu from a local pizza place.
Claire definitely perked up at that, straightening in the chair. "Sounds fabulous, do I get to pick the toppings?"
Leon snorted and shook his head. "No way, I am not having jalapenos and pineapple again. Once was enough." Leon remembered the one time he had let Claire pick whatever she wanted for the pizza toppings. She'd ordered jalapenos and pineapple, and he'd never tasted something so disgusting in his life.
Claire snorted, rolling her eyes. "What's not to like? It's sweet, spicy and savory all in one," she said, watching with amusement as Leon blanched at her comment, shaking his head. "Oh alright, you big wuss, I would have thought after all your experiences you wouldn't be done in by a pizza."
"That's not a pizza, Claire, that's explosive diarrhea and indigestion waiting to happen. Not to mention how much it makes your breath stink." Leon sat on the couch, unfolding the menu onto his coffee table, covering up the reports that had littered it. "So you think a large will be good?"
"We can order a large, but I don't know what you'll eat," Claire said, leaning forward. For someone so tiny and skinny, Claire could pack away almost insane amounts of food. Leon still wasn't sure if she had a fast metabolism, or if she just ate lightly so she could compensate on days she felt like pigging out.
"Alright then, two large pizzas and bread sticks," he said, reaching for his phone. "Supreme going to be ok? Because I refuse to order that... concoction you like." He watched Claire roll her eyes but nod to him, getting to her feet and stretching. Leon immediately began to dial for the pizza place as Claire walked down the hall.
"I'm going to go take a shower Leon, is my suitcase in the bedroom?" At the muffled affirmation Claire went back to Leon's room, swiftly opening her suitcase and digging around for some clean clothes and her toiletries. She felt gross after being in the airplane for so long and then sleeping all that time. Not to mention she'd slept in her clothes, which was just added to the grubby feeling. She figured by the time she was finished showering the food would be here. Her stomach gave a growl at that thought, as if to remind her of just how long it had been since she'd eaten. Paranoia and lack of appetite had led her to skipping the meal offered on the plane.
After a quick survey of the room Claire located the door leading into the bathroom, flipping the light on and letting out a small gasp. The bathroom was positively huge; not only was it huge, it had a separate shower and a garden jacuzzi bathtub. Claire suddenly felt better about her hard earned income tax paying for this place, since she planned to take full advantage of that tub when she was here. After all, a girl had to pamper herself sometime and it would sure be a waste for such a nice bathtub to never be used. Especially since the very idea of ready rough and tumble special agent Leon S. Kennedy relaxing in a bath was just too absurd even for her to consider.
Claire walked down the hall and into Leon's living room almost half an hour later, damp hair falling it mussed waves around her face and neck. Leon noticed that she was wearing a pair of sweat pants that seemed to be trying desperately to escape her slim hips, not matter how much she had rolled them up so they'd stay, and an old t-shirt that stopped a good two inches before the sweat pants began. Leon was left wondering, as he tried very much not to stare at the inches of bared skin Claire was showing, if she realized just what effect she had on him, or any red blooded male for that matter.
Leon still remembered the much skimpier outfits Claire had worn when she was younger. He never would have admitted it, but there had been several dreams of a less than appropriate nature that had involved Claire and that little pink biker outfit. While it seemed her taste in clothes had matured a lot in the time since, he still got the feeling that she never knew the impact her figure had on men. Of course Leon wasn't about to tell her that; it might cause her to reconsider how she dressed and Leon rather liked being able to catch glimpses of bare skin.
"Pizza should be here soon, you want something to drink? I got some soda I think..." He got up and wandered into the kitchen, opening his fridge. "And I have some beer or..." He checked a bottle, sniffing it slightly before making a face and dumping it out. "Soda, beer, water or coffee," he said, straightening up.
"I'll have some water then." Claire said, sitting on the couch and looking at all the scattered paperwork. Normally she wouldn't have tried to pry into Leon's work; she knew a lot of his work was classified and she didn't have security clearance for, but he had left it where she could see it. Curiosity getting the better of her, she reached out and picked up one of the reports, skimming through it briefly to see what it involved. Then she immediately went back and began to read it in depth when she caught the name 'Ron Davis'. She had heard on the news he had been found dead in his office, but she'd been so busy and then out of the country she hadn't actually had a chance to follow up on it. She was so engrossed in reading that she didn't hear Leon come in, and didn't have a chance to put it down before he could see what she was doing. She gave a guilty start when she saw Leon set her water glass down on the corner of the table.
"Reading my reports now Claire?" Leon said, smirking as he sat down next to her and gently prying the report from her hands, tossing it onto the coffee table, before gathering it and the others up, shoving them back into his briefcase. "I could have had top secret government documents in there," he said, his tone meant to be teasing more than anything else. He did have secret government documents in his briefcase, but he knew Claire would never reveal anything; besides she'd hear about it soon enough.
"Well you shouldn't leave it out on the coffee table when you have company," she said, propping her chin up on her hand. "Chris has the same bad habit, and then he gets annoyed when I read all of his confidential reports. But I can't help it, most normal people keep coffee table books around to entertain their guests, not top secret reports."
Leon chuckled, stretching out his legs as he sat back down. "Well I thought about getting The Zombie Survival Guide, but given everything that's happened, I thought it would just end up being tacky." He paused as Claire let out a small laugh, smirking to himself. "Besides, it's not like I have a lot of visitors to entertain."
"Their loss then, I mean you're such a charming host." Claire paused when there was a buzzing sound from the intercom. She watched Leon get up and answer the buzzer, presumable letting the pizza guy in. And she resolutely told herself she was just watching Leon, not looking at how nice his ass looked in those pants of his. Besides, Leon's ass wasn't that great, it was good, but it wasn't something to write home to your mom about, if you talked to your mother about those things anyway...and she wished the pizza boy would hurry his ass up so she could focus on something else.
When the pizza finally made it into the apartment and to the table, there was a comfortable silence as the two of them ate. Claire found she was hungrier than she had thought, easily packing away her share of the food. Once it was all gone she let out a contented sigh, stretching a bit and curling her legs more firmly under herself, glancing over at Leon, who was finishing off his second beer of the night. The silence between them was warm and comfortable with no expectations, just two really good friends enjoying the others company.
It was Leon who broke the silence, mainly because he had a couple of questions, and as nice as sitting with Claire was, talking with Claire was generally better. "So what do you plan on doing while you're here? I can take you on the sight seeing tour if that's what you want, but I'll have to work during the week." He doubted Claire planned to just sit around his apartment the entire time.
Claire shifted a bit, smiling and brushing her hair back. "Actually, I have some interviews this week at a couple of places for a new position, and I thought I'd do a little more job hunting."
Leon gave a slow nod, thinking back to their earlier conversation. "You work fast. So you're really going to leave Terra-Save then?"
Claire nodded, swirling her water glass around. "Yeah, I am. I already handed in my resignation. I joined Terra-Save to help people, to stop another Raccoon City from happening. I wanted to stop seeing people being taken advantage of and made into victims. In the end, we almost caused another tragedy to happen. I can't handle that. I know you're going to tell me it's not my fault, and that it's not entirely Terra-Save's fault, and you're right, Leon, but at the same time we didn't do enough. We didn't try to find out what WilPharma was researching, we just assumed it had to be bad because they were involved and never questioned that." Claire sighed, looking over at Leon for a second before her blue eyes slid away. "Also I... it might be stupid, I'm probably catching some of Chris' paranoia, but I just get the feeling that if I don't leave now, and wait instead, things are going to get bad."
Leon frowned at that, watching her carefully. Claire always got a shiver when Leon focused, really focused, on her with those blue eyes of his. "Bad how Claire?" he asked, and while his voice might have sounded neutral to everyone else, Claire could hear the under current of worry and concern.
"I don't know exactly. I know that Terra-Save's image has been damaged because of what happened in Harvardville, how Terra-Save's accusations prevented the vaccine from being administered to the surrounding populace. I was one of the people who was involved and, I've just got a feeling that if I stick around too much longer, I'm going to become their scapegoat. The person they try to blame so that they can start to look good again. I mean after all, I survived Raccoon City, what are the likely odds of me ending up in the middle of another bio-terror incident? Especially one so similar."
Leon understood what Claire meant, but more than that he could actually see how it would play out. They'd point out her connection to Raccoon City, how being involved in such a tragedy no doubt left her scarred, unhinged, paranoid. Her distrust of pharmaceutical corporations had caused her to push Terra-Save into fighting WilPharma without even knowing what they were doing. They might even try to hint that she had somehow been involved with Curtis Miller in an attempt to prove her accusations, to paint her as partially responsible. Despite the fact she had been caught up in it just like all the other victims. Claire's life and reputation would be ruined, or if not ruined dragged through the mud so badly it would be almost impossible to repair it. It wouldn't really matter to them in the end; Terra-Save would have their scapegoat and hopefully a boost in their public ratings when they made it public they were letting her go. Probably with some falsely encouraging word about how they hoped she got the help she needed. At which point Chris, Claire, or both would just completely loose it, thus adding to the scandal. The very fact that he could see the scenario play out in his head, almost word for word, told him he'd been working for the government way too long. He'd gotten too used to backstabbing tactics and political motivations. It left him feeling vaguely sick that he was actually starting to think like they did.
Leon shook his head and stood up, walking into the kitchen and a can of Dr. Pepper before walking back out. "Evidently they don't know about Redfield's law."
"Redfield's law?" Claire said, raising at eyebrow as he walked back in. "Care to explain?"
"Yeah, it's kind like of Murphy's law, anywhere there's zombies, you'll find a Redfield nearby beating them down." He was glad to hear laugh at that, even as she reached for a pillow, hurling it at him. He dodged it; after all he had years of government training in the secret art of pillow warfare. "So then, where did you have interviews at?" he asked, watching as Claire covered a yawn with her hand.
Claire took a breath, getting her laughter under control before she responded. "Ah, I have an interview with the Bio-Terrorism Response and Rescue Organization, another with the Biohazard Regulation and Prevention Commission, one with the Pharmaceutical Regulation Committee and just to round things out, a final one with the Food and Drug Administration."
Leon let out a low whistle. "That's some pretty serious alphabet soup you have going on there Claire." A job with any one of those groups meant she would have to move from New York to D.C., making her that much closer to him, and to Chris, but that didn't matter as much to Leon as the idea of having Claire close again. "I'm sure you'll get in at one of them. You're more than qualified and you have the experience."
Claire gave him a smile. "Thanks. I'm actually going to need to go shopping this weekend, I don't have any clothes for an interview. I didn't want to take one of my two really nice outfits with me to trudge around the jungle in. So I'm going to need you to at least point me in the direction of a department store, but I won't make you stay around while I try stuff on. You can go and hide out in the man space."
Leon didn't think it would be that much of a problem, waiting around while she tried on clothes. It might not be exciting, but it would also mean he got to see Claire in something other than pants. Something girly-maybe she'd even try on one of those pencil skirts like he'd seen Hunnigan wear. "Not a problem Claire, I don't mind coming along, it'll be nice to actually do something not work related on my weekends." And spending time with Claire would definitely not be related to his work. So long as she didn't dare try and ask him if anything she tried on made her look fat.