A/N: (*1) Italics in this chapter represent dreaming.

Eve of Destruction

Raccoon City, New York

December, 2014–

Chapter Ten:

The Brain, the Blood, the Body

9:22 p.m. - Kennedy Residence- Main Hallway

Leon helped himself to both of his vices.

Because? Because he'd denied himself the piece of ass he wanted. He denied whatever was in him too. He'd resisted. He was a saint. He was a eunuch. A martyr. He was to be knighted. He was to be given a special place in the kingdom of heaven at the right hand of gods and angels.

That's what saying no to a woman like that earned you.

Surely.

Dante woofed at him and circled three times. Leon gave him a narrow look and remarked, "You'd be one to judge, you old ball of fluff. You couldn't get a chic if you had a hundred dollar bill hanging outcha collar."

Dante woofed again and seemed to grin.

Leon rolled his eyes and answered, "What did the dog say to his wife? You are so pawfect, I will love you furever."

Dante sat down and eyed him. Leon, feeling the judgment, tried again, "What is a pup's favorite superhero? Labra-thor."

Dante put his face down between his legs to lick himself.

Leon sighed and left the house with a muttered, "...everybody's a critic. Even the damn dog is getting more action than I am."

Would he put his head between his legs to lick himself if it helped the blue balls he was suffering?

The image made him laugh and shake his head. Nothing like putting your life in perspective. He glanced at the open files on his kitchen table. Too much to weed through. Too much left to ask.

The note they'd found in room 305 was lying in a crumpled lump on the floor by the front door. Aya must have dropped it when he carried her in. The handwriting was rushed, frantic, and frenzied, "...Midnight on the Orient Express."

Agatha Christie. The story of a train filled with unrelated passengers who all band together to cover up the murder of a man who'd harmed them all in some way. Was the title significant? Was the theme of the story?

If he went to the subway station at midnight, would he find the answers?

When had the writer left it? Was it too late to get there now? Would it matter a damn if he did?

Only one way to find out.

He was standing on the porch in clean clothes smoking with a high ball of scotch in his hand when his phone rang. Kevin - calling him at just after 9 p.m. Hopefully with good news.

"Go."

Kevin laughed back at him, "Go where?"

Without missing a beat, Leon quipped, "Go check on your Mom, I just left her bowlegged and sweaty."

Kevin snorted, chuckling, "You wish. My Mom has standards."

"Must be pretty low based on how ugly her son is."

The laughter felt good. Normal. He needed all the normal he could get right. Kevin's voice was all kinds of eye-rolling as he replied, "Putting aside the fact that you're about twelve years old, I got in touch with Klamp. He agreed to see you and Aya in the morning."

"Aya?"

"Yeah, he seemed really specific that she be there."
Leon furrowed his brow but answered, "Alright. What about the lab? Anything on the bodies?"

"That's the other thing - Birkin included himself in the autopsy."

There was quiet while Leon digested that. "Why?"

"I don't know. But he's been behind closed doors with that licker woman thing and the midget sized bat monster forever now. He actually looked kinda...excited? I don't know if that's the right word for possible Frankensteinian weirdos, but that's the best I got. He was wayyyyy too interested."

Leon nodded, tapping his fingers on the railing. The moon flickered behind heavy clouds, highlighting the small lake just beyond the rise of the property. He finally said, "Give Claire Redfield a buzz over at TerraSave. See if she's come across anything like those damn things in all the relief work she's done. Have Bo get in touch with someone who worked with the Birkins before they left Umbrella. I wanna know exactly what made William Birkin jump ship."

"You think he was playing god?"

A good question.

A difficult answer.

But Leon remarked, "I think the G-Virus was his baby. I think his good intentions were turned into a weapon I'm still trying to stop. I think you don't create something like that...from something ugly like T...without being just a little bit perverse."

Quietly, Kevin absorbed this before he answered, "You think Birkin helped mutate the lickers with the G-Virus? It's heavily controlled man. He's under the eye in the sky twenty-four seven...I don't know how'd he smuggle it out."

Leon shook his head, watching the clouds obscure the moon, and he replied, "I do."

Aya was listening to the speakerphone conversation. She filled in the blanks, surprising him, "...Megan Pearce."

Leon nodded and Kevin, on the phone, whistled, "You think Birkin used Pearce like a guinea pig?"

Aya shook her head, watching Leon's face, "No. We're gonna find out Hans Klamp did. He's gonna be connected to her. He sent her to Birkin...and Birkin just made sure she was the right donor for his daughter."

Leon nodded, holding her gaze, as Kevin responded, "Somebody fucked with her DNA."

Aya shook her head, "Neither of them are capable of that right? That has to happen at a cellular level. At the beginning. What is it? Mitochondria?"

Leon nodded. Kevin spoke up first, "Pretend I'm not a fucking genius and level it out for me. What are you getting at?"

Leon answered, pacing the porch, "Something engineered Megan Pearce to be the perfect mule for two mad scientists to play god with. Neither should have been able to...but there was something about her that made her the ideal subject. Why?" He shook his head, moving into the house to get his coat, "Get Rebecca Chambers, Kevin, tonight. Now. I need her. I need to know what makes Megan Pearce so special."

Aya watched him move, almost patiently. When the call ended with Kevin, he paused at the door and said, "...I'm sorry to ask. I am. But I need you to let me run a few tests on you."

Aya studied his face. He looked earnest, calm, and a little sad. She nodded, softly, "It's ok. If it helps, you can do anything you want to me."

Probably the wrong thing to say.

Probably.

Leon twitched his mouth and glanced at hers, "...man...I wish I knew if that was a line or not."

Aya shook her head, unable to stop the smile, "...Sir, I think you're a pervert."

"I'm not. I'm really really not. Enough with the sir, kid. I think we're past that." He tossed her a spare jacket from the rack by the door. It was black leather, too big, but warm and supple. She slid it on over the white t-shirt he'd loaned her. The jeans she wore fit surprisingly well.

Curious about it, she mused, "Why do you have women's jeans in your house?"

He shrugged, holding the door for her to climb into the SUV. "Kevin's sister crashes here sometimes when she's in town."

Brows arched, Aya waited until he pulled out onto the dark road to say, "You let his sister stay with you?"

He glanced at her and eased onto the long empty road toward the RPD. Her face was highly amused. Rolling his eyes, Leon said, "It's not like that. She's like a sister to me too."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, oh. And bro code says you don't bang your buddies sister."

What about banging your coworkers?

She stared into the dark, unwilling to ask. He was being the good guy here. He was saying no. He was keeping the divide up. It was the right thing to do.

What did it say about her that she was so drawn to the wrong?

So she mused, "You have a cute dog."

He shrugged a shoulder and looked a little sheepish, "A bad relationship that ended with the best friend I ever had. Dante's grouchy and mostly likes to eat pizza and steal my beer...but he's probably about as close to a clone of me as a canine can get."

Clones. The wrong word again. But she let it go with a small chuckle, "He's adorable...you're a dog guy."

"I'm a dog guy."

Damnit. She really didn't want to like him or his stupid white-haired poofy pizza eating dog. It just made it worse.

Aya shifted in her seat and remarked into the silence, "The note on the table...it was Melissa Pearce."

Surprised, he glanced away from the road toward her and back again. The moonlight gilded his face in a purplish hue until a car passed them and split the purple with gold. He was that guy whose face you remembered long after you met him.

It wasn't that he was handsome, not entirely, it was that his face was so expressive. She saw every emotion he had shoot over it as he felt it. It was a good face. The kind of face you wanted to watch while you made love.

Annoyed, Aya added, "The handwriting was the same as the one at Carnegie Hall. Melissa Pearce was in room 305. She used the trick wall to 305. Why? And what about the note she left? Was she alone? Was she responsible for the thing we killed there?"

Leon gave her a hard sigh, "More questions."

"I know." She considered and added, "While I'm undergoing whatever tests...maybe you should go see if the note is specific. Does she mean subway? Does she mean train yard? I don't know."

He shrugged lightly, "Maybe she's referencing rising up against the man responsible for all their misfortunes."

Aya arched her brows. "Like calling us all together to...what? Take on Birkin? Is he even the real bad guy here?"

"I don't know. But we're damn sure gonna find out. And when we do?" He laughed, dryly, "I'm gonna show him exactly what happens when you play god."

Curious, Aya wondered, "What happens when you play god?"

He glanced at her, the light hit his face and made him look...sinister, and he answered, "...eventually what you created rises up to destroy you."

She wasn't sure why...but she believed him. No. Wait...what was it?

She believed in him.

11:00 p.m. -Raccoon City General Hospital- Lower Level Laboratory

She was dreaming.

She didn't know it.

She was lying on a cot in the lab while Rebecca Chambers observed her brain waves and extracted images from her dreams. She jotted and sipped coffee, bobbling her brows. Above her, Leon watched the silent figure in the sad little hospital gown beyond the glass.

"What?"

Rebecca glanced up at him, her pixie face full of humor and curiosity, "...you're something else."

He arched a brow, "Why?"

Rebecca gestured to the jumble of things on the screen, "This is the subconscious at work. She's dreaming, hard, and her dreams..." Rebecca glanced up at him. "Maybe it's better if I show you."

Clicking a few keys, the former medic popped up a hologram in front of them. A fancy piece of work, to be sure, it showed a foggy idea of what Aya Brea was seeing. As the image came together, Rebecca remarked, "Her blood work is incredible. Like nothing, I've ever seen. There's something fused to the cells...what? I can't tell. It's sticking to her at the most basic level - altering her body in ways..." She trailed off, looking excited like a scientist with a new discovery, "I don't know what's happening to her, Leon...but she's evolving."

The beep of the hologram told the reconstructed images from her brain scan were done. Rebecca cued up the video and leaned back in her chair, smirking. "Wanna explain, boss?"

He would, but he was too busy staring at the movie. Admittedly, he had a vested interest in the show.

His brow furrowed as he watched what they both wanted like a junkie looking for a fix.

Inside the head of Aya Brea...(*1)

Aya lifted her head as he lowered his. Neither stopped it or moved to try. They kissed, smooth and soft. The gentle swing of his hair tickled her face as he bent enough to reach her. Her fingers slid against his face and tunneled into his hair. She opened her mouth for the slide of his tongue.

His hands skimmed up her ribcage to cup her breasts, pulling the sigh from her mouth into his as they kissed.

He lifted her and her legs dangled as he carried her against his front out of the shower. The water continued to poor, but he didn't care. She didn't hear it. She kept hold of his hair in her hands as she claimed his mouth.

He set her down on the dresser in his bedroom and her legs parted to let him between. The denim of his jeans tickled her thighs as they kissed again, wetter now, softer. One of them gasped for air as her hands slid against his belly and to the fly of his jeans.

He let her, palming her breasts as he leaned her back against the mirror to kiss her. Their mouths broke and they watched each other as she slid her hand into his open fly to cup him. Silky, sticky, he brushed against her palm and made them both tremble.

His hands left her breasts to catch the waistband and let them join the jeans on the floor. She brushed the slick tip of him against her body and whined softly in her throat. There was something she was forgetting. What was it?

The rustle of his jeans falling left him in boxers that clung haphazardly to his hips as he scooped her up again and turned to the bed.

Whatever she was trying to remember? It didn't matter right then.

They bounced on the bed and rolled twice, kissing, hands claiming. Her legs parted and he rubbed himself over her. The fusion of flesh and need made them both breathless.

Back in the Lab

The scientist in the room was having a field day. She was watching the pornographic display with the eye of someone dissecting a frog. He wished he was that detached, but he could almost feel what he was watching. Or maybe he just wished he could.

Beside him, Rebecca remarked, "She starts out submissive, but watch."

Oh, he was watching. He was kinda afraid he had a fucking boner, but he was watching.

How could he do anything but that?

Aya rolled him beneath her, rising above him. Her hands slid up his arms to bind them over his head. She leaned down, licking and nipping at his mouth like a dog.

No...like a wolf.

Softly, he gasped, "I have-" Her mouth chewed over his jaw and ate at the pulse in his neck, "...wait...I can't think."

And Aya breathed, "Don't think. Just feel."

Rebecca gestured at the display, "See? She's dominant to you in the dream. She commands you, softly, sure, but she's the boss. No doubt about that. What's curious is the why."

Leon arched his brow at her, "What do you mean?"

Holy hell this was simultaneously uncomfortably weird and impossibly hot. Because he was enjoying the living hell out of creep sneaking on Aya's dreams.

Rebecca was typing furiously on her keyboard.

Leon rolled his neck to loosen his shoulders.

And Rebecca added, "Wait for it. You'll see."

Her teeth slid over his nipple, suckling, and his back bowed a little. With a gasp, he said, "Let go of my hands."

Against his skin, she laughed.

But she didn't let go.

Her wet heat rocked against his groin and Leon grunted, "...whoa...Aya...just...in the nightstand, ok? Condoms."

Her head tilted, again like a dog, and eyed him, "...we don't need condoms."

He shook his head. "You kidding? Of course, we do...just...it'll just take a second...let me-" She kissed him, all tongue, all need. Her breasts brushed and smashed on his chest. Her nails dug into his wrists.

He tried to tug his hands free - and couldn't. She was stronger than she looked.

He was breathless when she let go of his mouth. Like a wolf scenting blood, she rose above him. Panicked, he grunted, "...don't. Ok? Don't."

Don't what?

But of course, he knew. She lowered her hips, wiggling. It didn't take much. He was hard as a rock. He tried to stop her, he did, but she impaled herself on him with hiss of want.

She was so wet. He was so ready.

His body jerked. His hips thrust up into her.

And she rode him to victory.

His hands were splayed on the counter, watching the movie unfold.

Rebecca glanced up at his face, "...she rapes you. Why?"

Surprised, he glanced over at her. "Rape?"

"Sure. You said no. Maybe your body likes it alright. But you said no. She took what she wanted, even though you didn't want it. That's rape, Leon. There's no other word for it. Why would she rape you?"

He shook his head, unsure he agreed. He was reluctant in the whole thing, maybe, but rape felt like the wrong word. He watched his alter ego in her dream throw back his head and fuck hard and desperate into that willing body. Rape?

What had Yoko Suzuki said?

I'm the one that raped you.

What was it about the organs in these women and rape?

Dominance?

Did it have to conquer him to matter?

Leon mused, aloud, "Is there something in genes that seeks dominance over others?" It was rhetorical, but he was certainly going to find out if it was true.

Rebecca answered him anyway, "Gene dominance is all part of DNA, Leon. Dominance is, literally, coded into our mitochondria. Some mutations are recessive. Some aren't. I'm hoping Aya's blood will tell us why."

Leon shook his head, watching his body go wild on the hologram. Was he the type of man to let her? If she mounted him, would he stop her? He wanted her. It was painful. It was evident. Would it be rape?

He couldn't say yes and mean it.

Quietly, studying him, Rebecca said, "Look here. This is the end."

But part of him already knew how it ended.

Their bodies made wet slapping sounds as they fused. It didn't last long, it couldn't, and she leaned down to lick his mouth and demand, "...go. Free yourself." She coupled it with, "I need you."

And he gasped, "I can't! Aya...stop. I can't."

But he did. His body went right ahead and gave her what she wanted. He came so hard in her that his body bowed like an electrical current had shot through it.

Aya laughed. She rode. She robbed him of his release. And while he trembled...she leaned over...and bit his throat out.

Blood sprayed her naked body as she claimed him. She kept right on fucking him as he gushed, as he died, and he never stopped shoving up into her.

Leon leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest.

The image flickered away.

Rebecca sat watching him until he finally glanced away from the sleeping girl beyond the glass to her face. "...what?"

"Doesn't this disturb you?"

Arching a brow, he shook his head, "Why? It's not her. It's whatever is inside of her." He turned back to look at her, "Would removing the cornea stop it?"

Rebecca shook her head, "It's too late for that. This has bonded, Leon. It's part of her now. I don't think there's any way at all to stop it. But it might...it might be the reason you react so strongly to her. The eye...it's connected directly to the brain. The parasite could use it at as a conduit to yours. What if that's why you can feel each other? What if that's the reason you're linked? What if the parasites share brain waves?"

Well...that was terrifying in about a thousand ways. He shook his head. "I hope you're wrong."

"Hell, me too."

He glanced back at her, "What about a cure?"

Rebecca shrugged, "I can try. But given what little we have to work with, synthesizing something could take months. How long do you really think she has?"

Leon looked back at her as Aya started to wake. "You tell me."

"The progression of this thing...if it continues...a few weeks. Maybe. Before she turns into whatever Sherry Birkin is...whatever Helena Harper is trying to become. I can retard it, maybe...but it's different in her."

Leon glanced at Rebecca, "How?"

"I don't know. She's not succumbing as fast. The little bit of data I can glean from those things you brought in...they mutated, fast. Whatever this is...it's not the T-Virus, Leon. It's not a virus at all...it's already in her."

Leon took a deep breath, "What about those damn things that came after us?"

"That's the weird part...the thing that you fought that was mostly a woman? That's the T-Virus...or a variant of it." Rebecca clicked keys on the keyboard of her computer, "But the thing in the room? You said it was invisible right?"

"Right."

"That one...there's no sign of the virus. Nothing. The cells...they have this mutation that exists on the most primal level. Whatever infected them? It didn't just mutate them, it literally reprogrammed their DNA. The two aren't connected at all. The only connection I can find? The licker in that boiler room had evidence of both viral mutation and gene manipulation. That? It had a double dose of whatever this all is."

Leon kept watching as Aya slid off the cot beyond the glass and shed the paper gown. She dressed, in better fitting clothes this time, but she kept the jacket he'd given her. She slid it on and, unaware she was being watched, took a moment to sniff it and cuddle it around her.

His heart thumped - twice.

Rebecca interrupted him, clearing her throat. Embarrassed, he turned away from the glass, "Sorry. You were saying?"

Rebecca tilted her head, considering something. She gestured with her arm, "Sit down."

"Why?"

"Just...trust me."

Leon eased to the chair and Rebecca rolled up the sleeve of his white thermal shirt. Admittedly, he was worth a few wet dreams, she thought from an objective standpoint. He wore that thermal undershirt beneath a black Guns 'N Roses tee. The distressed jeans over the heavy steel-toed boots crossed classic rocker with ass-kicking badass. He was handsome, without trying, charming, without knowing it, and worth a few crushes.

Rebecca pulled a vial of blood while she said, "You have what we call dart veins."

Leon arched a brow, "Meaning?"

"I could chuck this needle from across the room like a dart and hit your vein." Rebecca smirked, "It means you're muscular enough that you're in great shape."

"Ah." Not a compliment, he thought, not from her. She was just stating facts. He studied her head as she ran his blood through some kind of program, "What are you looking for?"

"Answers." She eyed him and said, "The attraction between you fascinates me. Admittedly, I'm attracted to you."

She said it so casually that he just blinked and she laughed, shrugging, "You'd have to be blind or dead not to be. You're handsome. You're in good shape. You scream virile, masculine man. You attract both men and women, naturally."

Talk about laying it out there. She just lobbed that in like a grenade. It was somehow amusing and refreshing at the same damn time. Women.

Leon leaned back in the chair, "Ok. What are you saying here?"

"I'm attracted to you like I'm attracted to Kevin. He's charming. He's funny. He's probably good in bed." When he snorted, Rebecca chuckled, "Stop it. I'm just talking to you straight here."

"I'm not sure Kevin does anything straight."

She smacked his knee and rolled her eyes, "Focus."

"Right. You're hot for me - showing good taste. And hot for Kevin -suggesting slight mental retardation."

"...Leon."

The admonishment felt vaguely like his Mom scolding him. He cleared his throat, "Sorry. Continue."

"But attraction is natural. It's part of life. You and Aya?" Rebecca shook her head, "Nothing I've ever seen. Ever. It's like...two cells trying to fuse. You're resisting, and it's possible...highly possible...that it's actually hurting you both to do so."

His brows winged upwards, "...hold the phone here."

She picked up her lab phone and held it until he laughed and shook his head, "...smart ass."

"Probably better than a dumb ass."

Giving her a long suffering look, Leon continued, "You saying I should go in there and screw her brains out?"

Yep. His body liked that. No reaction at all to Rebecca confessing attraction, but one second of picturing Aya with her legs beside her ears and he was sporting a chubby in his Diesel jeans.

Rebecca chuckled, eyes twinkling, "I think she'd thank me afterward if you did, we both know you won't anyway, and that it might be exactly what needs to happen. The dreams she mentioned and you mentioned. Yoko calling me to tell me hers. Something is coming for you, Kennedy. It's highly possible if you give in and pick your partner here, that you might be able to stop it."

"You think me having sex with Aya Brea might stop the apocalypse?" Oh lord. Saying it out loud made them both laugh.

Rebecca shrugged, "I don't know yet. But I promise I'll tell you when I do. What I figure is that you're both walking a fine line. Nothing wrong with stepping over it because there may come a time you don't have a choice anymore. Right now?" She gestured with her head, "I think someone is looking for you."

"Apparently, there's too many women doing that."

"I know. Maybe you should look back at the one waiting for you."

"Looking at women gets me in trouble."

Rebecca shrugged, "Some things are worth it."

Too smart for her own good, that's what she was. He tapped his lips, chuckled, and patted her knee. "You're something else, kid. You know that?"

"Yeah? They say you're practically a genius."

"Pfft. Someone said the earth was flat once too. People are stupid sometimes."

She watched him head out into the hallway. Humble. She glanced down at the readings she'd taken on his blood. Humble or not, what was throwing through his veins was extraordinary...and pretty much an echo of the man it came from.

He rose, moving out into the hallway. He lowered his sleeve as he went. Aya glanced at it and back at his face, "You ok?"

Don't think. Just feel.

He shook his head, loosening the image of her dreams. It wouldn't do any good to scare her with them. It didn't help anything to tell her. Leon cracked a smile and shrugged, "I don't know that I've ever really been fine since N'Sync broke up."

Aya rolled her eyes, "Big J.T. fan?"

"Oh, you know it. Cry me a river."

Aya laughed and fell into step beside him. "Someone's probably told you how bad your humor is before me, right?"

"...it's come up a time or two."

From down the hallway, Kevin shouted, "There's a first time for everything! Usually you can't get it up at all."

Aya, without missing a beat, whispered, "That's funny. I don't think I've been around you when it was down."

They both froze. And yep, they both looked at his crotch to check. Sure enough, she was right.

She blinked and her face flamed bright red. Leon, charmed by her, replied, "Another Viagra success story."

She dropped her forehead against his chest, laughed, and backed away, "Oh, lord. I hate what you do to me."

"Do you?" He wanted to hug her. It was an odd feeling for him. Part burning need, part tender interest. Yikes. He was turning into a girl. Maybe the plagas in his chest was a woman.

It certainly kept hanging on like one.

He snorted at his own joke as Aya said, "Should probably try to get some sleep. Klamp agreed to see us before the Museum opens tomorrow morning. I'm going to visit Helena first. Although I don't know that it matters that I do. She can't hear me right?"

He nodded and answered, "I'm going to go check out the midnight express train at the Subway."

Aya paused and shook her head, "I should go with you. What if she's there?"

Curious, Leon tilted his head, "Good. We need to talk to her."

"No...I just..." She glanced around and tugged him into an alcove where the vending machines were. In the light of the pop machine, she finished, softly, "What if you...react to her...like you to do me?"

Oh. It was a good question. She didn't look jealous or upset. She looked worried about him.

Leon winked at her and replied, "I'll take Kevin with me. It's impossible to get wood with him anywhere close by. He's a boner killer. I'll be fine. I can handle myself, Aya."

"What if you can't? What if she does what the dreams -" Aya shook her head, "I should tell you about my dreams, Leon. I should tell you."

He felt guilty now. He did. Because he already knew about them. He'd seen them. He'd watched them like a dirty pervert in a XXX theater. He started to answer and Aya urged, "If you react to her, you might let her hurt you. I just-I don't want her to hurt you."

Touched, he scanned her face with his eyes. Something in him softened in a way that scared him, a little, because it had nothing to do with the parasite linking them. It was him.

Leon blew out a sharp breath and invaded her personal space. She let him press against her and they both made happy sounds. He murmured, "...it's not me you should be worried about, Aya."

She shook her head. Her fingers tucked into his shirt and tugged. Her back bumped into the wall and he went, happily, one hand flattening on the wall beside her face, the other tightening into a fist near his hip.

Her mouth turned up to touch at his. He didn't touch her. So he was getting better. He didn't stop her from nuzzling around his mouth like a cat in heat either...but he didn't touch her.

Even though his blood felt like lava.

What if giving in was the answer? Was Rebecca right? Was it possible that giving in would be what saved them?

He whispered, "Aya...Aya...I saw your dream."

She stopped trying to kiss him. She backed against the wall and put that artificial distance between them. They watched each other while they both breathed heavily.

Finally, Aya returned, hoarsely, "...I killed you."

He nodded, keeping his face calm. "I know."

She shook her head, she tried again, with more urgency, "No..no. I killed you. I held you down and I killed you."

Leon wouldn't let her look away. He kept his voice level, his eyes level, his feelings level -sorta. "I won't let that happen. Aya..."

She closed her eyes and denied him. She turned her head away. "...you should go. It's almost midnight."

He denied that request as well and caught her chin to turn her face back to him. "Look at me."

She did, tremulously.

Leon imparted, "I won't let that happen. Do you understand me?"

Aya returned, softly, "Which part? The killing?...or the sex? Rebecca told you, I'm sure, that it might be good to have sex. It's like getting permission from your mother to fuck in her bed."

He kept his gaze cold and returned, "Until we know more? Either. Parasite or not...I'm still me. I don't die easy. In Spain, I didn't sleep for three days until Ashley was safe. I know how to deny myself, Aya. It doesn't matter how much I might want to give in."

She scanned his face. He looked so resolute. Like in the car, she believed him. He meant it.

She laughed, softly, and said, "Saint George. Gonna fight the dragon?"

"That's the story of my life, kid."

"...I hate that I'm your dragon."

He answered, almost immediately, "Not you. I kinda like you."

Oh. Shit. Her heart thumped twice, "...same."

"Yeah. Sucks, doesn't it?"

"Big time."

Leon let go of her face and backed up. In one hand, he got it. He did. He was the one who pushed her into the wall. He was the one who touched her in the shower. He'd watched her dream and coveted her. It was him.

He was the perv.

Maybe she was the one with less control, but she was the one with the damn organ in her. He was touching her like a guy taking advantage of a drunk chic. It was pathetic.

It was time to get away from her. All the resolution in the world wouldn't last forever. End of the day? He was still a man. And he wanted her.

It had been a long time since he'd wanted a woman that didn't have Ada Wong's face.

Without looking at her, he moved into the hallway and said, "Visit your sister. Get some sleep. I'll wake you when I get back."

Aya watched him go, yearning a little. For what? How much was the parasite and how much was them? Was there any way to know the answer to that?

She couldn't lose sight of what they were doing here. The world might depend on it.

All she had to do was keep her hand out of Kennedy's pants, or if Rebecca was right...maybe take them off him completely.

Aya closed her eyes to suffer like a sinner in silent frustration. It was fitting he had a dog named Dante, because every time she was around him? She went down into another circle of hell.