Rebecca

"Oh…"

"Is it alright?" Krauser asked me.

Billy and Tanya had let me off of work early and I'd gone home with Krauser because he was living again for two days and he had no idea (yet again) when he'd be back. We were closer now than before, and I was caught between loving that and hating myself because of what I had with Wesker.

But, right now, I told myself not to think about Wesker because Krauser had set up a dinner, presumably romantic, and it was…

"Beautiful," I said, smiling. "This is wonderful."

"It's good that I can do something right outside of missions," he told me.

I opened my mouth to protest, wanting to remind him that he'd saved my life, not to mention pulled every string he could to help me get Sherry and Leon, but he was already moving over to the oven. Knowing he wouldn't let me do anything, I went over to the island and sat on one of the stools, watching him as he went about the kitchen.

"I'd offer you wine, but…"

I raised my eyebrows. "But I'm only nineteen?"

"Yeah," he smirked. "I always forget that."

Sometimes I do, too, I thought to myself. "Lemme guess; sparkling cider?" I asked him, still happy. I didn't need alcohol to have a good night.

"Yeah," he admitted, a red tinge to his cheeks, but I didn't mind. This kind of humility was sweet. It was human.

He brought over a plate of piping hot stew. I smiled even more as he sat down across for me.

"How's work going?" he asked me.

"It's good. Busy," I told him. "How did the paperwork go?"

"First off, there was way too much," he told me. "Secondly, they left most of it to me, so there really was too much. But it's over, so I guess there wasn't too much."

I sighed as I leaned forward. "Paperwork sucks," I said to him, remembering all of the papers at the old office.

He leaned towards me, leaving only a few inches of space between us. My heart started racing as he cupped my face and he closed the gap.

I pulled away almost as soon as his lips touched mine. My reaction caused me to fall off of my stool. "I-I-I can't," I told him, tears starting to roll down. "I can't, Jack, I'm so sorry."

Before he could say anything, or I could make it even more awkward, I rushed into the bedroom. I pulled out a bag and stuffed in clothes and soap. I grabbed my jacket and then I put my shoes on. Krauser was still sitting on the stool, and haven't said anything.

"I'm just going to go stay at Leon's for a few days," I told him, though I didn't expect an answer. "I'll see you when you get back."

"See you," he said softly as I walked out.

Stupid S.T.A.R.S.. Stupid Wesker… He knew I wouldn't be able to...to be with anyone else. Stupid, stupid, stupid… I need to learn how to say no.

I jammed my fists in my jacket pockets and started walking towards Leon's apartment. I wasn't going to just take Krauser's Camino...It was his, not mine. The apartment was his… The bar was Tanya and Billy's… Hell, the only things I actually owned were a backpack, duffel bag, a Gameboy (with Pokemon Blue), clothes, and shoes. I could just hop on a bus since there was nothing actually tying me down.

By the time I'd walk to Leon's in the bitter cold, I was steadily crying, sniffling, and trying to not completely break down.

I knocked on his door, and it took him a few minutes to answer the door. "Hey," he said, his voice kind of raspy.

I noted that he had his arm in a brace, and as he stepped back to let me in, he still had a slight limp.

"Hi," I said weakly, wiping my eyes. "How are you?"

"Between Marissa's doting and Gabbie's daily visits, I'm fine."

I smiled. Mrs. Nivans had been one of the kindest people to all of us. She was constantly bringing in cookies and brownies, occasionally even cupcakes. Aside from sweetening us up, she was sure to make sure we were getting what we needed when any of us were sick. I think she did that because Piers always seemed rather distant, like he didn't need anyone to help him.

But, that aside, one could imagine her reaction when she found out Leon had been in a car accident-she was at the hospital with lemon bars and a thermos of hot tea in under an hour.

Her 'doting' was clearly evident as brownie crumbs could be seen on a plant, as well as a few tupperware containers that had assorted goodies.

Of course, the amount that was left also showed that there was somebody else here occasionally. Leon had a rapidly declining appetite, which meant that Gabbie probably had a sweet tooth. I'd only met her a two or three times, the first in brief passing when she came to Stiletto with Alex, who was apparently her brother.

"Hungry?" Leon asked me, gesturing to all of the food around the kitchen.

"No, I just ate," I told him, even though it had actually been close to an hour since I'd had the brief meal.

"What's wrong?" he asked me as he went over to his couch. He practically collapsed as he sat down on it, closing his eyes as his weight was taking off his feet.

"I...Krauser sort of kissed me," I told him. I was starting to play with my fingers as I sat on the floor; the tips of my right pointer and middle fingertips were pressing into the palm of my left hand before wrapping around my other fingers.

"Sort of?"

"I guess...I mean, I pulled away from him."

"So this other guy is really getting under your skin," Leon assumed.

"Yeah, you could say that," I told him before bringing my left knee up to my chin.

I had briefly skirted the topic that I'd been with someone else, telling Leon it was a one night stand that had the small potential to become something else. If that made sense. Of course, I hadn't told him that the 'other guy' was Albert Wesker. God, I could already see him freaking out over it. He was protective of me like some brothers were of their sisters.

"Are you alright?" he asked me.

"Not really…" I told him.

He sat up and looked at me. "Becky, I don't want to lose you like I've lost Sherry. I'm here. You can talk to me."

I flinched at the mention of Sherry. I hadn't talked to her in a month because Simmons seemed to have her under lock and key-the guy was a complete freak, but it was as if nobody but Leon and I noticed it.

"I haven't seen him since that night," I admitted softly, meeting Leon's gaze. "I thought...I thought that maybe he actually did care, but I don't think he does. I don't know why I ever thought that. It was so fucking stupid of me to think that he cared."

Leon looked concerned. "Becky, this guy… He shouldn't be your sun. You've got so much potential, and you're great-if he doesn't know that, then he should go rot in an isolated corner of the world."

I chuckled lightly. "Easier said than done," I said as a few drops of water trickled down my cheeks.

"C'mon, come here," he said, patting the couch.

I slowly got up and sat down next to him. He coaxed me into leaning against him, and he fingered my hair. "Really, it's gonna be alright. I promise you. You just have to remember it gets worse before it gets better."

I briefly wondered who had told him that. Probably Gabbie, because no one else would ever think to say that to Leon. To us, he seemed too broken to even try to save sometimes-he had walked in front of a car. But he was part of our haphazardly brought together 'family' anyway.

"It's already been so, so bad though," I whispered against him.

I closed my eyes, my mind wandering to last July. I shuddered and pressed a little bit more into him.

There was a knock on the door and Leon sighed. He pulled away from me and got off of the couch, limping over to the door. He opened and Krauser was standing there.

Leon stepped aside and Krauser came over to me. I was almost afraid he would start yelling at me, but he didn't. He just stared at me.

"Becky, you don't need to move out," he told me.

I sat up. "Krauser, it was never supposed to be a permanent thing," I reminded him.

He kneeled down in front of me, taking my hands into his. "Please."

I looked at him, heart hammering in my chest. What the hell was I ever thinking?

I glanced over at Leon. He shrugged as he met my gaze and then he 'hobbled' over to the counters in the kitchen, out of sight.

I looked back to the blond in front of me. It felt like I was cheating on Wesker as the words came out if my mouth, even though I hadn't seen him since that morning last month.

"Ok, I-I'll come back," I said softly.

He smiled. It was different then any smile I'd seen on Wesker's face; Krauser was genuinely happy. In fact, he hugged me to him, bringing me off of the couch. I heard Leon chuckle and I sighed against Jack's chest. I wriggled my arms out from underneath my body to hug him back.

"Thank you," he whispered into my hair.

I blinked, crying yet again. "I'm sorry... I... I shouldn't have left."

"It's alright," he told me.

We just stood there, in the middle of Leon's living room, six days into February. He'd be gone in two, and then who knows when they'd be back again...

I found myself perpetually afraid of losing him, but at the same time, he wasn't quite mine to lose. I lifted my head slightly and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek. At the touch, his cheeks turned bright red, but he didn't say anything.

"Let's go home," I told him.

He smiled at me. "Gladly."

As the two of us walked out, I glanced over at Leon. A sheepish smile was on his face as he waved his hand, ushering us to leave.

In the morning, I finally was able to make Krauser breakfast, instead of the other way around. Around eight, I felt his strong arms wrap around my waist in a loose hug. "Good morning," he said, his deep voice seeming to vibrate through me. I smiled and leaned against him gently. Last night, like usual, we talked until we both had to go to sleep.

And now, we were just doing this, whatever this actually was.

After we finished breakfast and cleaned up from it, I sat down on the stool across from his. I swallowed saliva that had gathered in my mouth, and slowly stretched my hand out, taking his into mine.

"Can you promise me something?" I asked him.

His blue eyes looked over to me, concern flashing in his eyes more than the time Gabbie had walked into Stiletto looking disheveled after apparently a night out to find Henry having lunch with Krauser.

"Of course," he said after a moment.

"Can you do your best to stay safe?" I asked him, water pricking at the corner of my eyes. God, what is wrong with me? I'm so weak... "I can't lose you, too," I said, my throat feeling like it was closing up. Was this what it had been like for Sherry; to recognize that there was only one thing keeping you grounded, and that one thing could be taken from you at any moment? Sure, I had the other workers at Stiletto-Billy, Tanya, Marissa, the chef, and, by extension, Piers-not to mention Leon, but Krauser was... He was that rock during the storm that you clung to.

"Becky..." he said softly. "Of course," he added with a small smile. He squeezed my hand reassuringly before bringing his free hand up to my cheek and wiping away the little drops of moisture.

"Hi Rebecca," Henry said to me, messing with the strap of his pack. He looked more serious than anyone else, but I didn't comment on that.

Instead:

"Hey Henry, how are you?"

He chuckled. "Relaxed, surprisingly."

"That's good," I said, not sure what else I could say.

"You seem distant," he commented.

I sighed. "Is it stupid to say that I have this weird feeling in the pit of my stomach? It's like a mixture of fear and worry. I could barely eat this morning," I explained to him.

He glanced over to where Jack was standing, frowning slightly. His bright blue eyes seemed dilate, even if only for a moment. "I'll keep an eye on him for you, if that'll make you feel better," he offered.

I looked up at him, surprised. In a spontaneous moment, I threw my arms around him. "Thank you! I'm lucky that you're in his unit now," I told him.

"The luckiest," he muttered. "Keep an eye on Gabbie for me though, alright?"

I smiled as I pulled away. "Of course! It shouldn't be to hard, considering she's so close to Leon now."

He seems to flinch. "However you do, I don't really care. I just want her to be safe."

Normally, I'd ask "why?" but I knew about Alex, and Alex knew Albert, which was probably like putting a target on your back in certain groups of the world.

Gabbie suddenly walked in, surprising Henry as she jumped on his back. He started chuckling as he straightened up from the impact, holding her thighs.

"Hi Becky!" She waved her hand as if this one of the most normal things in the world.

Henry tilted his head back slightly. "How did you get here? You don't drive."

"Leon was coming over here, so I came with him," she said, smiling.

"Leon?" I looked around and saw the said blond talking to Krauser. *When did he get here?*

I let the two of them talk-it looked pretty serious-and stayed where I was to talk to Henry and Gabbie, who eventually did get off of him.

A few minutes before the unit was about to leave, Alex came in, shuffling across the floor with his head down. It was like he was a hurt puppy.

Henry instantly smiled when he saw Alex come over, and the two of us were forgotten as he went over to the older man.

I looked over at Krauser and saw that Leon had finally walked away from him, which led me to go over to him.

I hugged him again, putting my face against his chest.

"Are you gonna be alright?" he asked me softly.

"Maybe," I told him. "Come back in one piece."

He kissed my forehead and I couldn't tell if it was supposed to be in a romantic or platonic way.

"Stay in one piece," he told me before pulling away. "See you in a few weeks, Cupcake."

I swallowed hard. "Bye Jack."

Author's Note: Hello everyone! I wasn't kidding when I said I might not be able to post Friday or Sunday, but y'all didn't seem to mind much anyways. I think I said that there was going to be some cute stuff for Leon & Gabbie, but it turned out that there wasn't any place to put said cute stuff... (even though this was my longest chapter...)

Alright, I wanted to tackle something that I've been meaning to, but just kept forgetting. I've been asked a few times about how long this was supposed to continue (RE5 or...) or if I was still writing more (?) . So, to let the answers be known to everyone, the storyline is supposed to continue through RE6, and would probably end in the vicinity of January 2014 (for the storyline.) In all honesty, when I first started writing this in late July, I thought I would be able to finish it before October 12 (the release date of Pokémon X & Y) but it's obviously not going to be finished. So, since the new Pokémon games are coming out Saturday, I'm trying to give all of you fair warning that I'm going to be playing that all weekends cuz I have a three day weekend, and I'm a die hard Pokémon fan, so I'm once again not sure how well/efficient my posting will be. I'm trying to write ahead so I don't have to worry about it, but still.

Okay, thank you for dealing with that if you did read it! I appreciate you all so very much :) Also, just to let you know, the next chapter will be from Henry's POV! *cheers.* Oh, and thanks for over 5,000 views! Pwetty pwease weview?

Okay, I'll shut up now, ciao!

~HolleringHawk65