III. Convoluted

"Men are gentle, honest and straightforward. Women are convoluted, deceptive and dangerous." –Anonymous

"I'm not going."

Sheva glanced up from where she was cleaning Leon's gun at the butchers block in the kitchen.

Chris stood with his arms crossed over his chest. He was dressed in a pair of jeans and a white tank top rudely referred to as a wife beater. He looked rested, as he'd been out now for most of the day. Leon was currently outside digging the truck out to take to dinner at Claire's.

"Yes you are." Sheva said coolly. "You want some coffee?"

"No I don't want any fucking coffee." Chris stalked into the kitchen and struck up a cigarette. "I want to be left alone."

"Not gonna happen." Sheva replied and went on cleaning the gun. "Not leaving until you're better."

Chris ran his tongue over his teeth angrily. "What? You stickin around waiting for a good fuck? Cause I can give you that right now honey. Make both our days."

Sheva lifted her eyes and gave him a long, cool look. "Be as big a bastard as you want, Chris Redfield. I'm not leaving."

Chris narrowed his eyes. "I had you running this morning. What changed your mind? Decided you wanted a taste of me after all?"

Sheva stood slowly as he crossed toward her. He was big, it was true. She came up to his shoulder.

He looked down his nose at her. She met the look squarely.

"Can't help it can you?" She queried gently. "Have to try to force me away from you."

Chris's smile was feral. "Didn't have to force you this morning. In fact, you were so hot for it my sheets are still wet from you."

Ah, Sheva thought, he was going to try to be rude and crude to get her to run. She was on to his game now and wasn't falling for it.

"You done?" Sheva wondered aloud, "We've got dinner to get to."

"Fuck you and your dinner. I'm not going."

He started to turn away and Sheva grabbed his arm, holding him still. "You listen to me, Chris Redfield. You're acting like a petulant child. Your sister, who loves you, planned this dinner. You will go. And you'll do it graciously. Or I'll drag you outside by your bastard prick and make you."

Chris sneered at her. "You're not my mother. You can't make me do shit."

"Maybe not." Said the voice from the doorway. "But I can."

Chris's body tensed. "I owe you the beating of a life time Kennedy."

Leon opened his arms. "Any time you're ready, Redfield. Take your shot. You're still going to the dinner."

"I'll get up on the table and take a big shit."

Sheva laughed a little. Chris gave her a narrow look and took a step forward into her personal space. She held her ground.

"Go home, Sheva. Leave me alone. Didn't I make it clear this morning that I don't want you here?"

Leon took a step forward to intervene. Sheva saw the ice in those blue eyes and held up a hand to hold him back.

Sheva put her hands up and pushed, using her whole body to shove Chris back from her. "The only thing you proved this morning is that you're not a complete shit. A complete shit would have fucked me and kicked me out. You only kicked me out. It proves you're still a good guy. Somewhere under all that bullshit."

Chris sighed and the pissed off rage reverted to sullen upset. "Jesus. Leave me alone! Is that too much to ask?"

Leon stepped around him, heading toward the loft. "You got ten minutes. Shave. Put on a shirt and a smile. Your daughter is going to be there."

It was the look on Chris's face that told Sheva she wasn't wrong. He was still a good guy. He was just a wounded one. And the love on his face for his daughter was as clear as day.

"Eve's gonna be there?"

"Yeah." Leon started up the ladder. "So why don't you go and prove you're still her Dad. She thought her mother was dead. And now her Dad might as well be for all the good he's done her. Poor kid. I'm surprised SHE'S not a drunken fuck up. But I guess there's only room for one of those in the Redfield family."

He might as well have kicked Chris in the balls. The man looked broken by that one statement.

He turned and disappeared down the hallway without another word.

Leon came back down the ladder carrying a blue parka.

"Was that necessary?" Sheva asked as he handed her the coat.

"Yes." Leon moved to take his black one off the hook by the door. "He needs to be aware of what he's doing to other people. Left to his own devices, he'll just give up."

"You think guilt will bring him back?"

"I think guilt will rape him raw." Leon gave her a long look as he slid on his sock cap. "He needs to be raw to heal."

Sheva sighed and moved forward to zip Leon's coat up for him. He stood there, watching her slim hands work the zipper.

She was dressed in a black sheath dress, her hair curly from her shower and clipped up on her head in a corkscrew of curls. She smelled like sin.

She lifted her eyes to his. "The zippers stuck."

He could have brushed her hands aside to do it himself but he put his hands atop hers and helped. The slide of metal teeth was loud in the silence.

"I like your hair curly." He said finally when the silence drug on.

Sheva smiled a little. "It does that without a straightener."

"I like it." He said again.

"Thanks." Neither had moved their hands.

A door slammed down the hallway and Sheva jumped. Leon shifted away from her as Chris came back into the kitchen.

He was dressed in a blue polo shirt and jeans. "Better?"

"Much." Sheva smiled at him and picked up her coat to slip it on.

Leon opened the front door. "I'll start the truck." He closed the door behind him.

Sheva started to put her arm in the sleeve of her coat.

"Here." Chris moved forward to hold the coat for her. "Let me."

She gave him a surprised look before she allowed him to hold it and slid her arms in. "Thank you."

"Yeah."

She turned and he took the zipper, pulling it up. The backs of his fingers brushed over the bare skin of her chest as he drew it closed around her. It was accidental but it still made her feel warm inside.

"You look…good, Sheva. Really good."

Surprised again, she met his eyes. "Thank you."

He was such a hard man to understand. First hot, then cold, then hot, then cold. He was like a malfunctioning tap. You never knew what you were going to get.

Sheva glanced at his shirt. "I like this color on you. It suits you."

Chris stepped back from her. "Thanks. Eve got it for me."

"I'm looking forward to meeting her." Sheva watched him slip on an orange parka.

A softness came over him at the mention of his daughter. "She's awesome. She'll like you."

"I hope so."

Chris met her eyes for a long moment. "She'll like you." He said again, quietly.

Sheva smiled at him gently. "I'm sure I'll like her too."

"You'd be crazy not to." Chris pulled a spare sock hat out of his jacket and handed it to her. "Here. Your ears will freeze."

Considerate. And so confusing.

Sheva slipped it even though she knew it would mess up her hair. "I didn't think it was going to be so blasted cold here."

Chris opened the door for her and held it as she gingerly made her way onto the porch. The cold blasted her in the face like a pissed off prom date. He took her elbow to hold her steady as she walked down the steps.

At the base of the steps, she paused. She was in two inch heels. And there was at least a foot of snow on the ground.

"Well.." She laughed a little. "What a fool I am. I'm usually so good at planning for missions. Always prepared. But here I am in Montana, in the middle of winter, in open toed two inch heels."

Chris couldn't stop the smile. He put an arm behind her back, slid one under her legs and picked her up. The gooey female part in her melted a little because she weighed a good buck twenty and he didn't even strain under the weight. She wrapped an arm around his neck.

"Sorry. I didn't expect you to carry me."

"It's fine. I carry bags of grain heavier then you." Chris navigated the snow easily, headed toward the truck where Leon waited patiently behind the wheel.

Sheva watched his breath fog out in front of his face as he moved. The snow was just flurries at this point, the heaviest part of the storm having come in and out.

"Why Montana?" She wondered as they walked.

"Why not?" He met her eyes for a moment. "It's quiet here. My grandparents owned this place. When they passed a few years ago, I took it over. Claire and Kevin bought the land on the other side of the valley. Jill has family here. It all made sense at the time."

Sheva nodded a little. "You and Jill…there's no hope there?"

He paused in his walking, met her eyes, and then started walking again. "No. We tried for a long time before we separated. We just grew apart. It happens."

"You still love her." Not a question. The truth.

Chris shrugged a little. "She was my wife."

Sheva noticed the use of vernacular in that statement. WAS. She WAS my wife. Not she is. The part of her that was interested in him was happy to hear him phrase it that way.

Chris shifted her in his arms as they approached the truck and Leon opened the door. Setting her inside, Chris adjusted her legs and buckled her seat belt for her. It was a fatherly thing to do. Sheva wasn't sure she liked that. She didn't want him to think of her like a daughter.

"You driving?" Leon asked as Chris shut her door and turned to face him.

"You know the way?"

Leon's look was very droll.

"Right. Stupid question. But I'll drive."

Nodding, Leon opened the back door behind Sheva and climbed in. Chris made his way around the front end of the truck.

"Everything okay?" Leon asked before Chris climbed into the car.

"Fine." Sheva smiled.

The trip to Claire and Kevin's didn't take long at all in the massive truck. It ate up the distance and the snow like a starving predator.

Their house sat low in the valley. It was a cottage, quaint and cute, looking picture perfect with its piping chimney and red front door. Nestled amongst the snow, it was like a well crafted painting.

Chris pulled up behind a black 4x4. A maroon Tundra sat off to one side. And in between was Claire's blue Chevy Tahoe.

Sheva lifted a brow.

"Jill's truck." Chris informed her and climbed out. Leon opened Sheva's door.

"Need me to carry you?" He smiled a little with the question.

Chris made a pfft sound. "You'll drop her half way there, skinny."

Leon rolled his eyes and scooped her up. He didn't struggle with her weight either. "Bigger muscles doesn't mean stronger, hero. I could carry you too if I had to."

Chris fluttered a hand in front of his face like a damsel in distress. "My hero!"

Sheva laughed. Leon set her down on the porch and knocked.

The door burst open. The face on the other side was delicate with a crop of shaggy looking dark hair and eyes as blue as the sky just before dawn. Sheva didn't understand kids these days with their shaggy styles. To her it was just Beatles hair, straight out of the sixties.

The adorable little urchin, in a Rolling Stones T-shirt and holey jeans, had to be Eve Redfield.

"Dad!" The little girl launched herself into his arms. "You came!"

Chris picked her up and carried her back inside wrapped around him like a monkey. "Course I came. As soon as I heard you'd be here."

Eve grinned as he sat her down and took off his parka. "Mom won't let me come see you at the house anymore. She said you're having a hard time and we need to leave you be. You having a hard time, Dad?"

Leon shrugged out of his parka, listening. Here was Chris's chance to be honest with his daughter. She was almost ten years old. Smart as a whip and capable of getting it. If he lied to her, he'd start burning a bridge that was already hanging by a thread.

"Yeah." Chris answered, tucking his hat into his pocket. "Yeah I am. But I'm working on it."

Eve nodded solemnly. "Hey Uncle Leon." She turned and Leon embraced her, ruffling her hair.

"Geez kid. When'd you get so big?"

Eve grinned. "Have to keep up with my Dad, ya know?"

Leon snorted and turned as Jill wandered into the kitchen.

The experiments in Africa had stolen her dark hair forever but she still looked beautiful. Trim and athletic in jeans and a red cashmere sweater. Her blonde hair was loose and curly around her back and shoulders.

"Hey Leon."

"Hey Jill." They embraced briefly.

Eve tilted her head. "You must be Sheva."

Sheva nodded. "You must be Eve. Its very nice to finally meet you."

"I've heard lots about you. You helped save my Mom."

Sheva smiled gently. "Only a little. Your Dad did most the work."

Jill and Sheva shook hands. "You look good, Sheva."

"You as well."

Jill wandered into the main part of the kitchen to stir a pot on the stove. "Kevin and Claire are in the living room."

Leon nodded and he, Eve, and Sheva made there way out of the room.

Chris hung up Sheva's parka.

"Christopher."

He turned to face Jill as she made her way toward him.

"I'm glad you came."

"I didn't come for you." Chris toed off his boots. "I came for Eve."

"I know that. She's missed you."

"She wouldn't have to if you'd let her come see me."

"You know why I don't. You're a mess. I don't need my nine year old daughter to walk in on her drunk ass father bleeding in a bathtub. You want her to see that?"

Chris shook his head. "Of course not."

"Okay then. I'm not punishing you, Chris. You need to get your life in order before she can come over. Its that easy."

Two pairs of blue eyes held for a moment. "You're right." He said finally. "I'm trying."

"I can see that. Is it Sheva being here that's helping?"

Chris smiled a little. Jill wasn't sure she liked that smile. She wasn't even sure she liked Sheva. Jill thought there was something shady about that girl.

Or maybe there wasn't. Maybe she was just jealous.

She knew that she and Chris didn't work as a couple. But that didn't mean she wanted him to find someone else. Crazy but true.

Jill skimmed her fingers over his arm. He blinked in surprise.

"Maybe later we could take a walk."

He blinked again. Was she serious? What was that look on her face?

"Okay." He replied slowly. Was she flirting?

Jill smiled and turned away.

Two seconds later, Leon came hurrying back into the kitchen.

"Shit and piss."

Chris lifted his brows. "Is this Jeopardy? You want me to phrase a question based on that answer?"

Leon rolled his eyes. "I didn't know Ashley was going to be here. The second I walked into the living room, she was rubbing all over me like a cat in heat."

Chris chuckled. "You know she and Sherry are good friends. Ashley is her Maid of Honor."

"More like dishonor. That girl is all kinds of dirty. What kind of person gives you a hug and tries to grope your dick in the same moment?"

Chris nodded with appreciation. "She's what…twenty two? She's horny. It might not hurt you to go for it."

"Noooo thanks. I don't need to roll in the hay with the Presidents daughter. Speaking of which, where's the Secret Service? They should be here on detail if she's here."

Jill smiled. "There's five BSAA agents in this house. I think he figured she was covered."

The clack of high heels coming down the hallway had Leon looking panicked. "She's coming!" He glanced around. "Gotta hide."

And off he went to slip into the bathroom. Chris heard the lock click on the door.

Really. The guy had faced monster, mutants, mass amounts of hungry undead and he was scared to death of a twenty two year old coed with a crush.

Ashley emerged, dressed in a plaid mini skirt with a white open necked top. She had a pink streak in her bouncy blonde hair and more make up then a transvestite hooker. Her thin legs were encased in thigh high white stockings and her feet fitted with black platform Mary Janes. All in all, she looked like a naughty catholic school girl.

"Heya Chris. You seen Leon?"

Chris thought about torturing Kennedy but decided to play nice. "Nope. I think he might have gone out to the truck to get something."

"'K." Ashley chewed her gum thoughtfully. "You see him, tell him I need his help with something…in my room."

"Will do." Chris kept his face straight until the girl disappeared down the hallway again. He laughed as Leon emerged from the bathroom.

"Right. Her room. That'll happen."

Jill snickered. "That girl loves you Leon. You should give her a chance."

Leon gave Jill a very dead pan look. "No. And no again. She's too young for me anyway."

Jill had to say it. "I see what you mean. She and Sherry and Sheva are all around the same age right?"

Chris lifted a brow. "Sheva's twenty four."

Jill shrugged. "Coupla years. Not much difference."

Ah, Leon thought, that was how the wind was blowing in the kitchen. Jill was making it rather clear that she disapproved of whatever was going on with Chris and Sheva. Interesting. And ultimately none of her business.

"Big difference." Leon replied. "Sheva is a grown up. Ashley is a spoiled kid. Big big difference."

Dinner was served an hour later. Claire had made a big turkey with mashed potatos, squash, cornbread hash and stuffing. Jill had brought over her famous green beans and ham salad. Ashley had contributed a bottle of expensive Scotch (courtesy of her father's endless pantry). Eve, it seemed, had helped Kevin make Apple cobbler for desert.

"The only reason I'll eat that," Chris said of the cobbler, "Is because I know Eve helped make it. Otherwise, I wouldn't touch it."

Kevin narrowed his eyes. "I'm a good cook, ass wipe."

"Yeah. Sloppy joes out of a can isn't cooking." Leon responded and Kevin slapped him on the back of the head.

"Boys." Claire admonished. "Sit down and be nice."

Kevin sneered. Leon and Chris chuckled and everyone sat down for dinner.

Ashley scooted her chair over and thrust her hand on Leon's thigh suggestively. He cringed and gave panicked eyes to Sheva on his other side.

Taking pity on him, she addressed the girl to try to turn her attention. "So, Ashley, you're in school with Sherry?"

Ashley bobbed her head happily. "Yep. Third year law. I'm going to be a DA. And then a judge. And then a Senator."

Good GOD, Leon thought, that was scary. Ashley Graham already had her Daddy's power. Imagine how far he'd have to run if she had her own.

Sheva nodded. "That's pretty ambitious. I hope you make it."

"I will." Ashley shrugged. "My Daddy is the president."

Sheva stuck her tongue in her cheek. "I heard that."

Ashley's hand shifted to Leon's earlobe to rub. "I asked Daddy what the husband of a female president is called. You know since its not the first lady."

"Mm-hmm." Sheva prompted trying not to laugh at the paleness of Leon's skin.

"He wasn't really sure since we've never had one. I'm going to be the first. I think Leon would like living in the White House. I'd still give him the First Lady's quarters."

Leon stood up abruptly looking vaguely like he might vomit. "I'm going to use the bathroom. Excuse me."

He all but ran out of the dining room. Sheva chuckled quietly as she sipped her wine.

Ashley grinned. "He's just playing hard to get."

Chris and Eve were deep in conversation about her karaoke machine she'd set up in the basement. Apparently she was trying to talk her Dad into using it after dinner.

"Dad, you can do Enter Sandman!"

"Oh!" Sheva exclaimed. "I can't wait to hear that!"

"No." Chris shook his head. "No way."

"Come on Dad!"

Kevin kissed Claire's fingers. "Yeah, come on, you wimp. Why not?"

"You gonna sing, Ryman?"

"Sure." Kevin shrugged. "I do it all the time."

Claire sighed. "It's true. You haven't lived until you hear Kevin singing Friends in Low Places."

Chris looked appalled at the idea. "I heard Ryman sing once at J's on Karaoke night. That was bad enough."

Kevin made a pfft sound. "I was drunk."

"Drunk doesn't make you sound like a dying cow, dude. That's just being tone deaf."

"B-" Kevin caught Claire's look and rephrased what he'd been going to say. "Bite me, Redfield."

"So karaoke it is!" Jill exclaimed as they finished eating and started cleaning up plates. "Right after coffee. Coffee anyone?"

"Me." Kevin raised a hand. Chris, Claire, and Sheva all echoed it.

Ashley perked up. "Mocchachino?"

Jill chuckled. "Sorry honey. Only the boring kind brewed in a pot with regular beans. We have cream though."

"Ugh. Pass." Ashley took out her cell phone and dialed a number. "Billy? Hi. Yeah I want a mocchachino." She listened for a moment. "I don't care if its twenty miles to the nearest Starbucks. Go get me one!"

She hung up her phone. "Stupid Secret Service. They know better then to argue."

Sheva was vaguely amused at the same time she was disgusted. Spoiled rich girls just didn't appreciate anything. She knew Ashley's fascination with Leon was very simple. He'd saved her. He was handsome, older, and an asskicker. He was a bad boy who kept on rejecting her. And that just made her want him more.

Ashley said, pouting, "I don't like that dude Dad replaced Leon with on my detail. Billy Coen. What a stupid name. Ex-Marines or something. And what's with his mullet? Someone should tell him that look died with Achy Breaky Heart."

Chris laughed outright. Kevin snickered into his beer. Everyone there knew Billy Coen. He was Rebecca's husband. And, Sheva knew, another Raccoon City survivor. Apparently they all still kept in touch.

Sheva rose and followed Jill into the kitchen to see if she needed help.

Jill was pouring steaming black coffee into mugs. "Where'd Leon go?" She asked as Sheva made her way over.

"He might have run all the way back to New York."

Jill laughed a little. "That girl is certainly tenacious. Of course, girls that age are always fascinated by older men."

Sheva lifted a brow at the underlying tone. Surely she was just reading too much into the comment.

"Most of them don't realize that guys in their thirties who aren't already married aren't looking for anything but a quick tumble."

Sheva definitely wasn't reading too much into that. That was aimed at her. Interested in this change in the wind, she eyed Jill. Was she jealous?

Sheva was generally very blunt about these kinds of things. "Are you warning me away from Chris?"

Jill looked at her in surprise. "Do I need to warn you away?"

"It seems you think you do. Which really isn't necessary."

Jill wiped her hands on a dish towel and turned to face Sheva. She preferred this honesty. It was refreshing. "You're not interested in him that way?"

Sheva lifted a brow. "That's not really your business, is it?"

"When it concerns my daughter it is."

"I wouldn't do anything to harm Eve."

"She's fragile right now. She thought she'd lost me. And now she thinks she's losing Chris. The last thing she needs is some girl coming in and taking her Daddy's attention away."

Sheva crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm not a girl. And I'm not taking her Daddy away. I'm here to help him. He's a big boy, I'm sure he can make the right decisions about his daughter. And himself."

Sheva moved passed Jill and picked up the tray of coffee. "Thank you for your concern, Jill. Really."

Jill stood there for a moment until Sheva was gone. She was pretty sure the other woman had just told her to fuck off in a more polite fashion.

Leon was stepping back into the kitchen when Sheva reemerged with the tray to place it on the counter.

"There you are." She smiled. "We thought you'd run away."

"I did. But then I figured the other body guards would laugh at me if I didn't come back."

Sheva grinned at him. "Your ears are pink."

"Yeah I forgot my hat."

The clack clack of approaching heels made Leon move. Sheva glanced up in surprise as he backed her against the counter.

"What a-"

"Sorry." He cupped her face and kissed her.

Sheva's hands dropped the dish towel and lifted, fisting in the front of his shirt. It was a rather chaste kiss at first. And she knew it was all for Ashley's benefit. Apparently he thought he could get the other woman to leave him alone if he pretended to be interested in another girl.

It was a closed mouth press of lips to lips. He didn't push, didn't even invade. He was as gentlemanly as possible about it.

Sheva knew that there was no way the girl coming down the hallway would believe this. It was too staged, felt too contrived.

Sheva slid her hands up his chest, cupped the back of his head in her fingers and aligned a thumb on either side of his ears. "Please." She whispered, "She'll never fall for a kiss like that."

"You're probably ri-"

Sheva jerked him down to her and smashed their mouths together.

He might have protested, realized he didn't want to, and went with it. His stiff carriage relaxed, his arms wrapped around her and at the first teasing press of her tongue, he opened his mouth.

Electric, Sheva thought, the iceman had an electric kiss. Their tongues mated, tasting and retreating like well trained soldiers.

There was a gasp from the back of the room, unnoticed by the two currently engaged in open war fare. Sheva heard the retreat of foot steps followed by a howling wail of the broken hearted.

It didn't matter, she thought, and her mind raced. She knew they had moments before people flooded the kitchen to see what the fuss was about.

Leon drew away from her. His skin was flushed. "Tha-"

"Wait. Not yet." She took his hand and tugged. Confused, he followed her out the back door onto the back stoop into the cold.

"Didn't you hear her screaming like somebody kicked her dog?" Leon queried. "It worked."

Sheva turned and pushed him gently. His back bumped against the wall of the house. In the dark, her beautiful face looked feral and feline and hungry.

"I have to know." She said it so quietly he almost couldn't hear it.

"Know what?" His voice echoed in the darkness, loud in the quiet snow filled world.

"If you were acting." She slipped her hands up under his shirt, raked her nails over his chest. "If I was."

They called him Iceman because he was cold. Because he disconnected and set aside and pushed through pain and horror, heartache and hurt. Because he didn't feel a thing.

They were wrong. He felt it all. He felt everything in nearly strong, sharp relief. It was like living in a bubble sometimes. He simply cut himself off from anything, anyone, and everything that mattered. It was how he survived. How he killed so efficiently, so perfectly.

There was a bustling inside. Someone said, "What are you talking about Ashley? They aren't in here."

Sheva met his eyes from inches away. "We can go back in."

And the iceman said, "Not yet."

He grabbed her hand and drew her out into the snow. She stumbled a little in the heavy fall of it and he lifted her and kept moving.