Claire:
I walked back out to find Leon on the couch, watching the news in silence. As my eyes moved over him, Chris' words buzzed around my skull wildly. Leon turned up to me, smiling as I sat down beside him.
What the hell did Chris mean by that? He barely knew Leon, how could he make such a statement? It's not as if the two spent a lot of time together or talked. So why would he? And could he? Could Leon like me as much as Chris implied? No.. Not like, 'cared'. He 'cared' about me a lot. But what did that mean? I mean I care about Chris, but then again that's my brother. Caring and Loving are two different things. And he and I had gotten no where near saying 'I love you' Or anything remotely close to that.
"What's the matter"? He said looking at me sternly. "Is everything alright with Chris"?
Oh yeah Chris was fine.. Just insulting me as usual and then saying something like that to me. I should just tell him what he said. Be like "Oh yeah my brother seems to think that you're in love with me. Or I'm sorry, I mean 'care for me a lot' By the way do you?" Yeah that will go over great..
"Yeah he's fine". I said as casually as I could.
Leon nodded, glancing back at the tv for a second. "Did he say anything about what's going on down there"? He said looking back at me.
"No. Not at all". I whispered slowly.
That's right.. I had been in such a dream world the past few days, I almost completely forgot about reality.
In reality things were not great.. The monsters in my dreams had not disappeared just because Leon came back to me. They were still out there. Now in more sinister forms. They were utterly human, though they had the monster inside of them. They used politics to destroy the world, and for such selfish reasons. They wanted a world that they would control, and they wanted to destroy the lives of so many people.. Including Leon and I .
There was no way we could think of doing anything before all this was over. We couldn't even begin to go into building anything together when the people out there fought so hard to destroy everything.
"Hmm". Leon muttered as his hand dropped onto my shoulder.
I looked up at him slowly, seeing the pain and anger in his eyes.
Anger because he was thinking of what he wanted to do to these terrorists. And pain because he knew what it might cost.. Would any right minded person really want to take that chance? No.. But he and I weren't right minded people.. We never were.
He pulled on my shoulder, drawing me against his chest slowly. I curled against his side, no longer marvelling at his strength.. There were too many other things to think about now.. Though I didn't want to think about it, I couldn't stop myself.
"It'll be alright.." He whispered against my hair as his hand stroked my shoulder.
"How can you be sure"? I muttered as I wrapped my arms around his waist tightly. I didn't want him to leave, I didn't want either of us to leave this apartment ever again.
"Because". he whispered kissing my temple lightly. "People like Chris wouldn't be fighting if they didn't believe it would be."
Claire:
We tried not to think about it, and go on as we had earlier.
I went home and changed clothes, eager to get back to Leon now more than ever.. I couldn't bear to be alone with my thoughts. Not now.. And Leon.. Well he just made everything seem so normal.. And that's what I needed.. Normalcy.
When I got to his place he met me downstairs, kissing me roughly as I got out of the car. It was the most passion I'd felt in his kiss since our first time. Almost as if he had been thinking I wouldn't come back and was happy to see me. I let myself indulge a little, and allowed him to press me against the hood on my back as his fingers swam through my hair. Again it brought me back to when I awoke up in his arms and the feelings I felt then.. I never wanted moments like this to end.. And hopefully they never would.. For now at least.
Leon:
We went upstairs and retreated back to the bedroom. It seemed the only sane place in the whole world. Everything just felt right there. As we lay there together; Claire in my arms and my chin pressed into her soft hair, the world didn't seem to matter.
I could hear my phone ringing in the distance from it's place in the kitchen, next to Claire's phone, and could only assume it was Hennigan. And a few days I would have jumped up to answer it, today I just wanted to stay in this bed. Forever.. And never hear from the government ever again..
I wanted Chris and the BSAA to handle everything in Africa.. I wanted the president to protect his own accident prone daughter and keep her from getting kidnapped again.. I wanted all the sociopaths of the world to drop dead, along with their dreams of world domination.. I just wanted everything to be alright for once.. Was that to much to ask? Apparently for Claire and I it was.
I felt her sigh before I heard it, and knew she was thinking the same thing. I turned down to look at her as she looked back at me.
She bit down on her lip, as she stared at her hands that were folded on my chest.
"Just say what you want to say". I whispered running my fingers through her hair.
She shook her head, but then figured it was pointless as I would just continue asking. "I just think that..." She sighed heavily, her eyes shutting tightly. I saw a little droplet of water gathering at the corner of her eye, but she quickly brushed it away. "I don't think you can keep that promise Leon". She whispered looking back up at me weakly.
I gulped deeply, my heart turning to lead in my chest, and sinking deep inside of me. "Why do you say-"
"Because Leon, look at everything around us! It's crazy to think that things will work themselves out.. Because they won't! The only way things have ever worked out is when you and I did something about it and now-" She squeezed her eyes closed again and bowed her head. "I just.." she stammered as her shoulders began to tremble.
I lifted my hand carefully, brushing my fingertip gently under her eye as she turned to look up at me.
"Claire.." I muttered feeling my chest tighten even more.. "If I had to..."My throat was dry and getting dryer by the second. As if my body was fighting back to keep me from talking. Hopefully my mind wouldn't go now, she had to hear what I had to say.. "If I had to leave... No matter what, I would come back and if...."My breath came out sharply and my lungs constricted tightly. "Things weren't as they were... Now..I would want.. I just want you to be happy.." I licked my lips slowly, shutting my eyes slowly. "All I've ever wanted was... For you to have the life you should have had before all of this happened.." I couldn't say anything more.. It was all getting jumbled in my brain and causing my head to ache. A thousand things were said at once in the confines of my mind.
'I love you Claire.. I always have and just had never known.. I want you to be happy. I want to see you smile and I want you to laugh.. I want you to cry when you need to and not be so proud! I want you to sleep easily and wake up smiling and beautiful and not thinking so much! I want to kiss you and hold you and lay in this bed forever! I just want you Claire! I've always wanted you!' I shook my head roughly but it didn't stop. I jumped as her hand pressed against my cheek as she shifted across my chest.
I felt her warm breath spread across my eyelids as she kissed the left one, and then shifted to the right. Her hand was firmly pressed against my cheek as her other rested on my chest.
"I've always wanted the same thing for you Leon.." She muttered before her lips found mine, silencing our conversation.