Author's Note: As promised, the next chapter :D Thanks for reading!

Caddy

When Claire went to bed that night, she couldn't help but wish to receive another message from Piers. When she didn't hear from him, she was disappointed even if she had no right to be. From the start, the meeting at McGee's was supposed to be a onetime thing. Piers wanted pictures of "old" Chris, he was just curious about his Captain and about his private life. He got the pictures and more details than he could have asked for, so now this matter should be over.

Yes, it was supposed to be a onetime thing, no doubt...but it didn't take Claire more than ten minutes with Piers to figure out that he was a person she wanted to learn more about...she'd need more than three hours and five beers. And the way he said good bye lead her to believe that the matter was very far from being over.

Before she closed her eyes, she came to the decision that it would be for the best if she didn't see him again. He was BSAA, just like her brother and it was enough for her to say good bye to him before each missions, she didn't need someone else in her life that she had to worry for. And when she fell asleep, she had convinced herself that she would go through with it...

Saturday

Claire's phone buzzed in her pocket while she was out shopping for groceries. Almost every Sunday her brother stopped by to have either lunch or dinner with her, so she had to be prepared for the next day. Her phone didn't recognize the number.

"Hello? This is Claire Redfield.", she answered. She was used to unknown phone calls, most of them were work related since she didn't have a business phone.

"Hey Claire, it's Piers.", she felt how her heart dropped from her chest. This was the call she didn't dare to hope for. And just like that, the decision she made before falling asleep was erased from her thoughts.

"Got your number from your business card, but I hope you don't mind me calling outside your working hours.", he continued while she started to put two and two together.

The business card...I completely forgot.

"No! Not at all. But wait...aren't you at work?", she remembered him mentioning that he had to be at the HQ this Saturday.

"Well yeah, your brother is pretty hard on us, but he lets us have our breaks.", she heard him chuckle from the other side of the line and realized that she liked that sound more than she cared to admit.

"So I figured it would be a good time to ask for your plans tonight. Are you free?", Piers went on. She stayed completely silent and tried to think of a good response. Two voices in her head argued whether she should make up a story why she wasn't available this evening or if she should just go along with it. When Piers didn't get an answer from Claire, he continued:

"I'm sorry, I don't wanna be too straight forward, but after last night I-.",

"It's fine.", she finally said and interrupted him with these words. "I'm free. What do you have in mind?", she was annoyed by herself and how easy she gave in. Just like that, when she knew she should not.

Dammit, Claire. You have the determination of a fat girl in a pastry shop.

"Would you be up for pizza at my place?", this suggestion came unexpected.

"At your place?", she asked without thinking about it first.

"Yeah, don't wanna run into one of your ex boyfriends again, you see?", he laughed softly.

"Same here...sooo...when do I have to be where exactly?", she noticed how this conversation went from 0 to 100 in no time. Two minutes ago she thought meeting up with him in general was a bad idea, how was meeting up with him in private any better?

"8pm, I'll text you the adress.", it sounded more like a question.

"Fine, I'll see you then.", she broke off the call at this point, though she wished to keep on talking.

"See you then. Bye.", and just like that, he hung up.

Oh Claire, what did you get yourself into now?

She dressed up casual, just like the night before. She didn't want to send him any mixed signals with her outfit as long as she wasn't sure how to feel about all this. She hoped tonight would help her to figure it out.

When Piers opened the door to his apartment, she was relieved to see that he didn't pay too much attention to his outfit either. He was wearing a black shirt and jeans, his hair was messy and apparently still wet from the shower.

"I'm glad you could make it, the roads are terrible tonight.", he hugged her and she wasn't sure if the hug lasted longer than the average hug...if there was such a thing. He smelled incredible.

"Tell me about it. Glad the cab driver was able to get me here in one piece.", she smiled and entered his apartment. After she took of her boots, he walked her into his spacious living room.

The first thing she noticed were the oversized windows that replaced the outer wall and which let her have a look at the lights of New York. The room was furnished in a modern way and painted white, but the tall walls were reflected the cozy warm lights of the flame burning inside a little fire place. Claire attention was caught by some pictures on the wall, but it was too dark to see any details.

"Wow, how much do you make exactly?", she asked as she still looked around and found more things to admire.

"Honestly, not enough to afford this. The BSAA pays most of it. It's how they win over new recruits. Pretty smart, huh?"

"Sending out my application tomorrow.", she joked and walked over to look at one of the pictures more closely. It showed a beautiful fair haired woman in her early thirties, she was holding hands with two little boys who shared her hair color. Next them stood a man who looked a whole lot like Piers, he was carrying a boy on his shoulders, though this boy was younger than the other two. Based on their surroundings and the clothes they were wearing, they seemed to be out on a hike.

"My parents, my brothers and I.", he pointed at the little boy that was sitting on his father's shoulders. Claire remembered that he mentioned them last night. They were originally from Ohio. His grandfather was part of the military, as well as his dad. That explained why he had decided to work for the BSAA. His Mom was a high school teacher and his big brothers were working in Los Angeles. So far so normal.

"Don't you miss them?", she knew that she missed her parents.

"I do. They are pretty bummed out that I won't be there for Christmas this year, but I promised to pay a visit as soon as I am back from Edonia.", while Piers smiled, Claire frowned at the remark and the mention of Edonia. 'Bummed out' wasn't exactly the way she would describe her feelings towards the fact that Chris would risk his life on the other side of the world, while she would try to celebrate Christmas. Piers wasn't afraid of what would happen, just like Chris. But Claire was.

"Did I say something wrong?", he had noticed the look on her face.

"Don't worry, it's nothing...So where's the pizza I was promised?", she changed the subject and looked at him expectantly.

"Why? Are you in a hurry?", he replied cheerful, but she could hear a little concern in his voice.

"No, just hungry.", she walked over to the couch and sat down.

"I thought we can order some, we have the best pizza places around. It might take a while on a Saturday though."

After a short discussion about where they'd get the best pizza from, they placed their order and chatted a little. Somewhere in between, Piers turned on the radio so there conversation was accompanied with some Christmas music.

"How was work?", Claire could tell that he wasn't home for long before she showed up, so it was another long day for him.

"Shooting practice almost the whole day. Got some new people I was assigned to instruct. Not too bad. I like that part of the job.", he smiled and took a look at his watch.

"I see. Did you tell your team about...last night?", that was something Claire thought about since she left the bar yesterday night. She didn't really want anyone to know that they met...for whatever reason. Piers answered without hesitation.

"Oh yeah, I had to. Had a bet running with them that I'd get you to go out with me. That's what I pay the pizza with today.", Claire raised her eyebrows. Then he laughed.

"You believed me for a couple seconds there, didn't you? No, I did not tell them.", he paused for a moment "...and they wouldn't have believed me anyways.", he blushed barely noticeable. "At least not unless I showed them the pictures you gave me and I wanna save those for a day when the Captain pisses me off.", he added and laughed again.

"I'm sorry the night ended so abruptly, I would have loved to stay a little longer.", she confessed.

"Same here. But it's fine. Things got awkward when young Brad Pitt walked in.", she couldn't help but laugh.

"Yeah but it shouldn't have bothered me. We are done for more than three years now and that's longer than our relationship even lasted.", she said and rolled her eyes.

She could see in his eyes that there was something he wanted to ask, but wasn't sure if it was appropriate.

"What is it?"

"It's really none of my business. I don't want to step a line here."

"It's fine. Ask all you want, I can always refuse to answer.", she smiled and he hesitated for a couple more seconds until he finally spoke.

"What happened? I mean with you two. How did it end?", she should have seen this one coming, still she didn't know where to start and how to finish. It was too complicated and would probably take hours to explain.

"He fell for someone else.", she simply concluded. There was a lot more behind it, but it was the truth and it was all Piers needed to know for now. As she spoke those words, she noticed how it still hurt in a way. There was no affection left for Leon, but the feeling of being inferior, of not being enough for him still cut deep.

"That doesn't make sense. I mean...how could he?", she felt goose bumps crawling up and down her spine when he spoke those words in his soft voice.

"I guess we just weren't meant to be. That happens.", she didn't answer his question, because she didn't know how and tried not to let him notice how his words affected her. She was thinking about something else to say, when she noticed how he slowly moved closer to her.

"His loss.", he smiled and she wasn't sure if he leaned in a little when he spoke those words. Was he waiting for a move from her side? There was no time to explore this thought any further, because she felt her phone in her pocket. Piers was so close by now that he noticed it as well.

"Sorry.", she said quickly and went for her phone, looking at the screen. "It's Jill. I think I need to get that." , every time she called her, Claire was afraid it was something serious.

"Jill? What's up?"

"What the hell are you doing with Piers Nivans at McGees?", Jill's asked so loudly that Claire was pretty sure that Piers was able to hear her through the speaker. Claire's eyes widened and she almost jumped up. Awkward.

"Excuse me.", she whispered to Piers and went to leave the room.

"Pardon?", she could hear Jill ask from the other side of the line.

"I wasn't talking to you."

"Then who are you talking to? Wait. Are you with him right now? What the fuck, Claire?", things were getting serious when Jill Valentines she started to swear.

"How do you even know?", her words barely a whisper when she closed the bathroom door behind her.

"Leon just texted me. He saw you two last night."

"That nosy motherfucker. It's none of his business.", Claire rolled her eyes and felt sudden rush of anger. If he was so interested in who she met up with he could have asked her himself. She noticed how Jill hesitated on the other site of the line, her voice was a lot calmer when she continued.

"I'm sorry. It's none of my business either. I'm just worried about you.", Claire felt a mix of sympathy and anger towards the the woman she considered a friend for so many years by now.

"Piers was interested about Chris' past, because you apparently told him how different he was a couple years back. That's why we met last night.", Jill went silent for a moment, but Claire could hear her breathe.

"Oh I remember that day...I had another fight with him about God knows what in his office and Piers was there as well. After Chris stormed out I just tried to explain that he used to handle things differently before.", Jill sounded sad and Claire felt bad that she brought this subject up, but Jill wanted to know after all.

"But that doesn't explain...why are you with him right now?", she added, her sadness vanished from her voice as fast as it had appeared.

"I never said I was.", Claire lied. Behind the bathroom door the door bell rang, pizza was here. She heard muffled voices in the hall way.

"Don't avoid my question.", was she really that transparent?

"Fine. We're having pizza at his place. Just don't tell Chris.", she whispered again, knowing that Piers was paying for the pizza right in front of the bathroom door.

"And now I really have to go. I will call you tomorrow. Bye.", she hung up without waiting for a response and left the bathroom. Piers was standing in his hallway with two big boxes in his hand. Claire couldn't tell if he had been able to overhear parts of her conversation with Jill.

"Dinner's ready.", he announced with the sweetest smile and went back to the living room.

"I'm sorry about that. I thought it might be something important.", she said embarrassed and sat down on the couch next to him.

"I'm glad it wasn't. Otherwise you'd probably just leave right away.", when he put down the pizza boxes on the table, she noticed that he poured them two glasses of red wine. Pizza and wine. What a combination.

She was wondering why he didn't ask about the whereabouts of Jill's call. He had to be curious. She was sure as hell that he knew it was about him after Jill blurted out her first sentence. He didn't mention it during the whole time they ate.

They simply talked about the weather and the snow that had been falling since last night, how much they both enjoyed winter time in NY and how neither of them had been skating at the rink in front of the Rockefeller Center.

After two hours of talking and with her third glass of wine in her hand, Claire decided to bring up the call again. She wanted to explain and she didn't want him to think she kept any secrets.

"So...just to make things clear. Jill heard about our meeting last night through the grapevine."

"I swear I didn't tell anyone at work. I promise.", he held up his hands.

"I know, she got it from Leon.", she hated how present he was in the last 24 hours. She hadn't even thought about him in weeks and now this.

"What does he care?", he asked. Piers tried his best to sound casual, but Claire could tell that he really wanted to know. But the same question was running through her mind since she left the bathroom. "I don't know.", but she had an idea.

"Maybe he wants to get back with you, after he saw you last night.", she just rolled her eyes at this comment and emptied her glass, she could feel how her cheeks glow. Wine worked a lot faster for her than beer.

"Yeah sure.", though their communication was scarce in the past years, she knew Leon pretty damn well. "Like I said yesterday, after I ended things with him, he-"

"Wait, you broke up with him? You said he left you for another chic.", he interrupted her.

"I said he fell for someone else. He didn't tell me, I never caught them red handed or whatever. It was just that easy to see. It's an awful feeling, but I figured it would be the best for us to part ways. And though a little part of me hoped he'd fight for the relationship, he never did. He was glad that I was the one who put an end to it.", Piers noticed her empty glass and took care of it immediately. She knew it was time to stop with the red wine.

"But he still cared for me, he wanted to stay friends and I was the one who closed that door. I think he feels bad about how things went down and that's why he still cares, even after three years. He was the one who helped me in Raccoon and that's a connection that will always remain. Maybe he still feels some kind of responsibility for me, I don't know...but he should have noticed by now that I don't need his supervision.", it was hard for her to cut all the ties to Leon since they shared the same group of friends and also their job forced them to deal with each other once in a while.

"The same goes for Jill and my brother. They want to take care of me and I appreciate their concern, I do, but sometimes I feel pretty...smothered.", never before she talked about these feelings. She didn't want to appear ungrateful.

"You don't need anyone to take care of you. I have the feeling everyone's trying to protect you, but you need no one's protection.", Claire shivered again. He read her like a book, how could he know here so well in so little time? She stayed silent as he went on.

"That's what I like about you. Don't get me wrong, I know we just met...but it's not hard to see that you are funny, kind, strong, independent and incredibly intelligent.", since her face was already red from the wine, she was sure that he didn't notice her blushing.

"Thank you, Piers. You are not too bad yourself.", she winked and started drinking from her freshly filled glass of wine. When she noticed that he reduced the space between them once again, Claire set down her glass and got up from the couch to walk over to the big window. She could feel the wine in her legs and wondered if it was such a good idea to drink this much in the presence of Piers, she still had to get home somehow.

"What are you looking at?", he asked still sitting on the couch, observing her.

"Nothing. Just the snow and the lights.", she thought if she'd live at this place, she'd probably spent all of her evenings in front of that window and admire how the seasons change in front of it.

In the corner of her eye she saw how Piers got up from his seat to stand behind her.

"I actually do this quite often, just standing at the window and looking at the small people outside. The world seems okay here...and it helps me think.", he confessed and she thought she liked that habit. She'd probably be just the same.

"What are you thinking about?", she was curious and with the vine in her veins she felt brave enough to ask personal questions.

"Everything. My day, my job, my family, my future.", she felt how he laid his hand on her hips, she didn't protest.

"What are you thinking about right now?"; she asked, still not looking away from the window, but she shifted her focus from outside to the reflection of Piers in the window glass. It was blurry, but thanks to the dim lights in his apartment she could see his face clear enough. Their eyes crossed in the reflection. Another shiver.

"Piers, I...", she didn't even know where she wanted to go with this sentence, and it didn't matter, because within a part of second, he turned her around and laid his lips on hers.

She knew it would happen, she knew it from the moment their eyes locked. She knew she wanted it since they said good bye last night.

His lips felt warm and soft on hers and when she opened her mouth just a little bit to allow him to explore her, she could still taste the wine on him.

"Sorry.", was the first thing he said after they parted. "I wanted to, I just had to.", he smiled, his cheeks burning red.

She didn't say a word, but took his face in her hands and kissed him again, this time with more force. She didn't care about the consequences, this felt good and it felt right, so why should she deny herself this little bit of happiness?

Her straightforwardness helped him gain confidence, as she could feel his hands travel from up her back. She enjoyed his touch and she didn't want it to end, but something in her head told her to stop. She heard Jill's voice in her thoughts. She stopped the kiss before it could get out of hand.

"I should probably go now. I'm way too drunk to make important decisions.", his look told her that he knew what she was referring to.

"What if I want you to stay?", he tried to kiss her again, this time she refused.

"I can't.", she didn't want to read him a list of reasons why she had to go, so she just hoped that he'd give him before she would change her mind.

"I understand.", he took a step back and looked outside again, she followed his gaze. "You sure you wanna go out there? I can take the couch if you want, it's no big deal."

Claire didn't know Piers well enough to make out if this was just a way to convince her to stay the night. She wished she could read her thoughts.

"I've seen worse, believe me.", and with that she rejected his offer. She went over to the table, finished the last sip of wine and put on her boots in the hallway.

"Then let me be a gentleman and let me take you down until you found a cab.", she thought about turning this offer down as well, but she saw no reason to. He put on his coat and held the door open for her. To avoid awkward silence in the elevator, she went for some small talk.

"Couldn't have wished for a better Saturday night, thank you.", she said and smiled. He returned her smile, but she was sure she could see a little bit of disappointment in his eyes. Maybe it was just the wine. Maybe he was just tired.

"I hope I wasn't too straightforward, it wasn't my intention to make things weird.", the elevator announced their arrival on the first floor with a loud bing. "

"You weren't...and you did not.", she replied as she walked out of the elevator into the lobby. It was empty by now. "I just have a lot on my mind, let us talk about it some other time, please.", she didn't know what to say to him, because she didn't know what to think.

"Sure...", his voice was quiet and soft, she noticed how he avoided eye contact with her when he held the door open. The streets were still busy and it didn't take long until a cab pulled up by Claire's side.

"Have a good night, Claire.", he leaned in for a hug, but Claire turned her face and gave him a short peck on the lips. It felt surreal, but good. She sat down in the back seat of the cab and watched him look after her as she drove off in the snowy night of New York.