Heroes

by The Topaz Dragon

Everyone is driven by something. Hope, fear, courage...parasitism. Ultimately it is the actions, not the motivation behind them, that define who a person is. Leon's mission is to rescue the president's daughters. Dr. Luis Sera wants to return to a simpler life. The girls want out of this hell hole. Whatever their motivations, their desires come to the same thing: a cult's downfall.

40. Home

Ashley Graham was in her car, bopping along to her music, on her way home for the summer holidays. She'd been driving for hours, her secret service guy in a white SUV trailing behind her, and was now turning onto the winding road that would take her up to their hilltop estate. Aurelleah had started summer break just the week before, so she'd no doubt be there when Ashley got in.

She grinned as she drove past the tall fence that marked the start of their extensive property. A large banner painted with all sorts of fun things was hung just outside the gate. It read WELCOME HOME! and was adorned with bright blue flowers, birds and butterflies, a terrier on one end – Rhett, the Boston Terrier was her school mascot – and some other big, golden animal on the other side that she didn't get a chance to look closely at, as she was too busy admiring the terrier. It was pretty well done. She knew Elleah had just finished off an advanced art class, so she'd probably been excited about putting her skills to use.

Ashley considered turning around and taking a picture to post to Facebook, but she'd just do it later. She'd want to do a grocery run that evening or maybe tomorrow morning. For now, though, she was really, really eager to be home. Anyways, the service guy was behind her, so that would be a little tricky. She noticed the white SUV slowing down a bit, maybe to admire the sign. She couldn't blame him. It was a cool sign.

She was pretty sure the current service guy on her tail was named Anders. Leon had been away on a big mission for the last week or two, so she'd gotten a replacement. Leon was called away every now and then to deal with zombie problems. Sometimes he'd travel halfway around the world to prevent or contain viral outbreaks, and whenever he came back he'd bring them souvenirs. Ashley usually got bobbleheads, which she always rolled her eyes at but kept and cherished anyways, but every now and then he'd spot something really nice, like a scarf or a bag or a pair of gloves, and bring that back…along with a bobblehead. He loved any excuse to buy bobbleheads. Her favorite accessory was a pair of orange, elbow-length gloves stitched with stunning pink lotus flower designs, which he'd bought for her in India. Her favorite bobblehead was the Valkyrie from Norway. That was Elleah's favorite, too.

Elleah always got blankets. Always. This was great, because she loved blankets. She had so many that she was able to swap them out on her bed every month. Sometimes twice a month. She had a soft, silky blanket decorated with vines and tropical birds and snakes, from somewhere in South America; a heavy, cross-stitched blanket featuring a scenic vista of wildflowers, from France; and a small blanket lined with some kind of fur and featuring a wise-looking, white-faced monkey, from India. This was one of her favorites. She often had it clipped to a frame and used as a wall-hanging in her room. Sometimes she'd pull it down in the winter and cuddle up in front of the TV with it, just to enjoy its softness. Ashley always loved seeing what kind of blanket Leon had brought back this time, though she did not understand her sister's absolute adoration of them. Maybe it wasn't even the blankets. Maybe she just liked that Leon thought of her.

Oh, and recently he'd started bringing back snow globes for their dad. Dad loved snow globes as much as Elleah loved blankets.

She rolled up to the gate and poked her head out the window, waving to the security guy. He was an older man named Carl. He'd been the security guy for a long time. "Hi Carl!"

"Welcome home, Ashley!" He called cheerfully out of his booth. "Good to see you back from school. You saw the sign your sister put up?"

Ashley smiled widely. "Yeah! When did she put that up?"

"Just this morning. Did your trip go well?"

Her trip had gone wonderfully. The weather had been stunning in spite of the weather reports, which had suggested rain and gloom. The only place where it had rained, she'd gotten to see a rainbow. She'd almost run a red light because she'd been staring at it, thinking about how much Elleah would have loved to have seen it.

"It was great," she said. "And school was awesome…but I'm really glad to be home."

Carl pressed the button, and the gate slid open. "Well, we're glad to have you. And I know your sister will be thrilled."

Oh, no doubt. Ashley was sure she'd hear her footsteps pounding on the stairs as soon as the door closed. She'd have to grab a pillow off the couch in the main living room to cushion herself against the inevitable tackle-hug.

She started up the driveway and noticed the SUV pause at the security booth. Anders probably had something to go over with him. Maybe some new security feature. She left him behind. Luis was probably home, and he was plenty of security.

School had been really rough. But it was important to her, which was why she hadn't dropped out or anything following the incident. From kidnapping to full recovery, she'd missed three weeks of school. That was killer on the quarter system. Thankfully, she'd been able to take online classes to catch up during her last week in the hospital, she had a few really amazing friends who had all pitched in their time to help her, and her professors had all allowed her to do make-up assignments for the various papers and exams she'd missed. She hadn't done super well on grades that quarter, but she'd passed everything.

The real struggle was the stress. Turned out she had PTSD from the whole ordeal. This translated to regular nightmares, occasional panic attacks on campus, and some pretty hard-core depression that came and went in fits. Some days she'd just wanted to give up and go home, start again next year. But she knew if she did that, it would be even harder to get started again. Anyways, she didn't want to give up on account of emotional issues. So she'd fought through the problems, hadn't let it affect her in public – mostly – and made up for it by going home almost every weekend to spend time with Elleah.

Elleah was doing spectacularly, if she was to be believed. No lingering issues at all. Ashley didn't believe her, though. She'd caught glimpses of her little sister sitting alone and tired, on the verge of tears, gaze distant, too many times. She definitely had issues she was working out. Like Ashley, though, she struggled to not let her problems become other people's problems, and she'd hopped straight back into school with both feet as soon as she'd recovered, just like Ashley had.

Her recovery had taken a bit longer than Ashley's, though, and she hadn't really had any friends to help her catch up. She'd passed everything, but it had been rough for her, too. She'd ended up getting a pass on the P.E. class she'd taken, though, so that was something. Actually, she'd gotten an automatic A in it after her instructor, Coach Broils, had received a courtesy letter from Leon explaining all the strenuous physical feats Elleah had accomplished during her kidnapping. As much as he'd been able to put down on paper, that was. A lot of it was confidential, but the stuff that wasn't had been enough to impress.

So, they'd survived not only being kidnapped by a murderous, mind-controlling cult bent on world domination, but also the subsequent remainder of the school year. Not too shabby, if you asked her.

She pulled up to the driveway at last, and saw that she wasn't going to be able to get her hands on a protective pillow. Elleah was already out there, perhaps having seen her approach from the window, and was now running back and forth on the front lawn, seemingly out of sheer excitement. When Ashley finally pulled up, she broke off and sprinted full tilt for the car.

Ashley laughed as she pushed the door open and was promptly tackled by her huggasaurus of a sibling. "Oof. Hey, Elleah. I take it you missed me?"

"Ya! Did you see my sign?"

"Huh?" Ashley said, trying to keep a straight face. "What sign? I must have missed it."

Elleah broke off, glaring up at her suspiciously, and Ashley couldn't manage to keep the grin off her face. Elle punched her lightly on the arm as she burst out laughing. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Of course I saw it. It was awesome, thank you. How come it didn't have my name on it?"

Elleah bit her tongue, then said, "I figured I'd just go ahead and make it a multi-purpose 'welcome home' sign, instead of doing two different ones."

"Huh?" Ashley said as the serviceman's SUV pulled up at last. "Who else is coming home? Dad's not due back from D.C. until next week, right?"

Elleah's face lit up. "He didn't tell you?"

Ashley pouted in irritation. "Tell me what?"

Elleah's eyes slid past her to the white SUV, the door of which had just opened. She grabbed Ashley's arms and turned her around.

Ashley let out a little shriek of surprise upon seeing not Anders, but Leon stepping out of the car.

"What?!" She exclaimed, jogging over. "Leon! Oh my God. You're back! Wait, how long were you behind me?!"

Leon chuckled. "Didn't notice your escort cars switching out? You ought to be more observant. I've been on your trail since you left Boston. Just got back in town last night. I figured I'd surprise you, so me and Anders swapped out when you popped into the Starbucks drive-thru...right before you almost ran that red light. So, finals go well?"

"Uh, yeah," Ashley said, looking anywhere but at Leon. "Totally. Pretty sure I got all A's."

"Uh, huh," he said skeptically. This quarter hadn't been going super well, and while she was sure she'd passed everything, she was also sure that her GPA was going to take another small hit. "All A's? Sure, sure. Incidentally, you remember I'm the one who checks all your mail for anthrax every day, right? Pretty sure your final grades will be coming in…what, in two weeks?"

"Probably three," Ashley said. "Which gives me three weeks to not think about them at all. So, how'd your mission go?"

He shrugged. "Same old, same old. This mission was more about prevention than damage control, thankfully. Managed to keep an outbreak in Finland from getting out of hand."

Elleah ran up and hugged him. She didn't tackle him, as she knew that any time he came back from a mission he was liable to be injured, but she did hug him snugly. "That's awesome. I bet you saved a ton of lives."

"Mighta saved a few," he said, clapping her on the back. She let go and went back over to the car, opening the back seat to start helping carry stuff in. She was always super helpful about Ashley's unpacking.

Ashley would have liked to hug Leon, too, but given her past advances on him, it wouldn't have been appropriate. She was always thrilled to see him, but she didn't want to make him feel uncomfortable. Given how much she owed him, reigning herself in was the least she could do to repay him.

She smiled sunnily at him and went back to grab some of her luggage. Most of her clothes she would be leaving in her apartment in Boston over the break, but she still had a ton of stuff to bring in. Her computer and tech equipment, for instance, and her swim and sports gear, and her books…

Elleah grabbed a big bag full of books and began lugging it towards the house. Ashley reached in, grabbed her computer – she didn't want her tech sitting in the car too long now that the AC was off – and stood up.

She saw that Leon had come over, presumably to help out too, but before he did he stepped up and gave her a one-armed hug. "It's good to see you back from school, Ash. It took some serious resolve to keep up the hard work after everything you'd been through. Good job."

She blushed, and let go of one handle of the bag to awkwardly return the hug. It was a quick, friendly thing, nothing more; but it made her really happy, regardless. "Thanks."

He let go of her, and went to reach into the car. He jerked his head out a moment later, bumping it on the car doorframe as he did, and Ashley jumped and shrieked as a loud trumpet started blaring nearby, played enthusiastically if not expertly.

She looked over the car to see that another friend had shown up to welcome her home, and was now tooting out some fanfare on a long golden hand trumpet. He finished, lowered the horn, and grinned widely. "Ay, your highness, welcome home! Always good to see her majesty gracing her subjects with a royal visit. Did you like my welcome song?"

Leon, still rubbing his head, roared, "Louis, you ass!" He then reached into the car, grabbed one of Ashley's sneakers, and threw it at the man's head.

Luis ducked with a yelp, and the sneaker went bouncing across the lawn. Aurelleah, who had been leaning against the door watching the whole thing started laughing.

"Oh, come on! Some kind of welcome that is! Just because you lack sophistication, and don't know how to welcome a high-class lady home from a long stay away, doesn't mean you need to take it out on me, amigo."

Ashley glared at him, reached into the car, and grabbed her other sneaker. She was going to throw it at him herself, but she didn't have a good arm. Instead she handed it to Leon, who wound up again.

Luis began swaying back and forth in anticipation of dodging the oncoming throw. Leon hurled his arm forward and Luis jumped to the left, but it was a feign. Leon corrected and launched the projectile, and Luis, taken off-guard, had to raise a hand to avoid acquiring a shoemark on his face.

Elleah was nearly in tears. She finally opened the door and carried the heavy load of books in, and Ashley rolled her eyes and went to follow. "Hello, Luis. I hope you've been behaving yourself."

That was always the first thing she said to the man, and she was always reasonably certain that he hadn't been. Elleah didn't talk about their relationship, on account of the fact that dad would not be happy if he found out that Luis, who had been living in their guest house across the way since receiving citizenship status, had romantic interest in his youngest. Still, if Elleah was to be believed, they hadn't gone all the way yet. And Ashley actually did believe her about this. She was pretty sure Elleah would tell her if they'd gone that far.

She ragged on Luis for their relationship, but in truth she was glad Elleah had him around all the time. It probably went a long, long way towards helping her get over the trauma of the Illuminados incident, being able to talk to him. Also, he'd helped her a lot with catching up in school, what with having a doctorate in biology and all.

Ashley was usually in Boston, and Leon was almost always either shadowing her there, watching after their dad on his bigger, riskier trips, or off killing zombies in some foreign country. As a result, Elleah hadn't gotten to see him more than a handful of times since they'd returned home, and only ever on the weekends and once over half of spring break. But now summer was here, bioterrorism attacks had been dwindling over the last few months, and dad's schedule for the holiday was mostly press conferences and fancy dinner parties, with a good chunk of it right here with his family. As a result, Leon was probably going to be spending most of his time looking after the younger half of the Graham family here at their estate.

It was a pretty sweet gig, as well as an easy one. Their security was top-notch, so all he had to do, really, was be within shouting distance of them at all times. To make this easier on him, he'd gone ahead and tested the exact range at which he'd be able to hear her calling for help on the property.

He could pretty much be anywhere. Ashley was a loud screamer.

They all spent the next half an hour helping her unload her stuff and carting it all up to her room. Upon entering it, she saw that Elleah had popped in to dust everything, vacuum, and make her bed, which she thanked her for profusely. That had been sweet. And there were yet more surprises, as when they went downstairs, Elleah dashed into the kitchen and started grabbing things out of the fridge and putting something together. When she came out into the living room, it was with a plate of mini-sandwiches, a pitcher of citrus water, and a huge platter of deviled eggs.

Leon was usually pretty aloof, but even he broke down at the deviled eggs and mini sandwiches, at least a third of which were packed with ham. "Oooh. Don't mind if I do. Thank you."

"Aww, Elleah," Ashley gushed. "This must have taken you ages. Thank you!"

Elleah shrugged as they all settled down and helped themselves, Leon keeping a slight, professional distance as he always did, sitting back a ways in one of the recliners. "Nah. I have a new egg cooker. It only took like an hour and a half to make all these eggs."

"Seriously?!" Ashley exclaimed. "Cool! Show me how over the break?"

"Totally. So, how'd finals go?"

Ashley immediately launched into her exams and essays, and the countless hours she'd spent studying for and writing them.

"…and I'd put that one off way more than I should have, so after classes I grabbed a burger from Burgers and Brew and went straight to that little office my counsellor's been letting me use. I swear, I was there until four in the morning. Anders probably wasn't psyched. Super helpful having SS, though, 'cause he gave me a ride home after. And I did that three days in a row to finish this thing. You know, I write a lot of, like, seven page essays, and those only take me, like, three hours or so, so I figured a twenty page essay would just take about as long three seven-page essays. Oh. My. God. It didn't. It took almost thirty hours altogether. It was insane."

Elleah laughed. "That's awesome. Good job finishing it. You'll excuse me if I don't read it?"

"What, you're not interested in the societal effects The Pickwick Papers had with respect to debtor's prisons and justice reform in England in the nineteenth century?"

"Sounds riveting, your highness. As an aside, you should ask your sister what she did over the last two weeks."

Ashley was pretty sure she knew what was coming. She rolled her eyes good-naturedly and asked, "Elleah, what awesome and practical thing did you do over the last two weeks?"

"Nothing! I just did some more yardwork for Bob and Shannon. How'd your other finals go?"

Luis was constantly ragging on Ashley for the differences in her and her sister's accomplishments. She knew that, despite being a university graduate himself, he didn't have a ton of respect for academia. While he regarded the hard sciences as respectable, he had no respect whatsoever for the vast majority of the arts and humanities, having been raised to value hands-on work. People who wrote essays for a living did not impress him.

Elleah was always doing yard work for their more elderly neighbors, learning how to cook new and increasingly complex meals, tidying and fixing things up around the house, and generally getting her hands dirty. And, of course, her skill pool was always expanding. Lately she'd been calling Ashley at least once a week to tell her about some cool new handy-man skill she'd learned from Luis, who enjoyed teaching her basic, useful stuff like how the plumbing system worked, how to rewire an extension cord that had been chopped up by a weedwhacker, how to hook up a generator to the fridge to keep food cold during a blackout…stuff like that.

Ashley had to admit, Elleah was probably learning much more useful stuff than she was. When her toilet had broken in her apartment three months ago, and she'd been at a total loss. When their toilet had broken here at the house just the previous month, Elleah had fixed it up lickety-split under Luis's watchful eye. She hadn't needed his help, and he hadn't offered it. He'd just been there to step in if it turned out to be something she hadn't learned to deal with.

Ashley was probably going to go into politics. Elleah, on the other hand, was already thinking along the lines of stay-at-home-mom. She wanted to work for a while, get to know the real world, but she was really geared towards settling down and having a family. Ashley didn't understand it at all, but she'd since learned to respect that some people had that particular instinct, and others didn't, and both lifestyles were totally respectable and vital to a functioning society.

One of her gender studies professors had argued in class that being a stay-at-home-mom was an absolute travesty towards modern feminism, and that women who wanted that out of their lives were small-minded, male-brainwashed, typically conservative dregs. Ashley had been frustrated nearly to tears at this characterization – her sister was highly intelligent and very independent (and, yes, conservative) – and had wanted to speak up against it.

But…things tended to not go well for students who contradicted liberal norms on campus. Like, really not well, especially in recent years. And she didn't need her dad getting any bad press when he'd need to run for reelection eventually. So, she hadn't said anything. She would have thought that, after everything she'd been through, the idea of a little social flak wouldn't be the least bit intimidating. Hoo-boy, was she wrong.

She wrenched her mind off of this unexpected tangent and smiled wearily. "Great. Nothing to really tell about, honestly. What about yours?"

Elleah's eyes lit up, which meant she'd really enjoyed her finals and was certain she'd done well on them. She went into her anatomy final and the cat dissection she'd done that semester, as well as her AP English Literature class, the weight training class she'd taken for fun, and finally, her advanced art class.

She ran and grabbed her portfolio. Ashley was excited. She'd shown her all the stuff she'd done in her first art class the previous year, and it hadn't been bad. It hadn't been great, but given that she'd never touched a paint brush in her life for anything other than fence-painting, she'd done well.

She started pulling out pictures and showing them all the stuff she'd made over the semester. She'd done stuff in paint, pencil, and ink; portraits, still-lifes, abstract stuff, and even a half-finished mandala that she'd gotten too ambitious on and had made too complex to finish. She'd done a beautiful painting of a Japanese maple tree in a park in the fall, with a large pond in the background.

"Oh my gosh, the colors are stunning, Elleah. We're gonna need to frame that."

Elleah looked halfway between skeptical and pleased. "Yeah, I'm sure mom will love seeing that on the wall."

Ashley snorted. "Who cares what mom thinks?"

And she meant that, one hundred percent. She'd learned recently that the relationship between her mom and her sister was worse than she'd always thought. A lot worse. In fact, Luis had called her up one night to explain it all, against Elleah's wishes, and Ashley had hopped in the car and driven home, walking in at three in the morning and dragging her mom out of bed to talk about it. As a result, they'd gotten into the first major fight they'd ever had, and she'd ended up screaming at her and finally threatening to drop all her classes and come straight home if she ever heard of anything like it happening again.

And she knew that she'd hear about it. Luis would tell her. He wasn't really allowed to intervene on account of his position – Elleah was against him doing anything that would jeopardize his staying here, and that included confronting their mom – but he could still keep an ear to the ground and sound the alarm if things got rough for her.

That was another reason she liked Luis being here. He was Elleah's advocate for things she was uncomfortable speaking up over. Like mom's…abuse.

She hated that word, but that's what had been going on. Abuse. It still hurt to realize that her mom had been acting that way. But now that things were out in the open, hopefully they would stop.

"By the way," Leon said. "I liked the lion on the sign. It was a nice touch."

Ashley thought back to the golden animal she'd spotted on the other side of the sign. It must have been a lion, for Leon. That was sweet.

Elleah beamed and offered him another deviled egg. He popped it into his mouth and grabbed one more.

Ashley yawned. It had been a long drive. She'd probably take a cat nap later. But first…

"What about you, Luis? What have you been up to?"

"Besides learning how to play the trumpet?" He asked.

She groaned, and Elleah giggled again. She was sitting on the opposite end of the couch from Luis out of respect for Ashley. They were surprisingly polite around her in that regard. "Yeah, besides that. You still thinking about starting up that survival skills seminar thing?"

He nodded. "I've already gotten a lot of interest in it. I think that, given how scary stuff has gotten in the last decade, people want to know how to take care of themselves in a worst-case scenario. I'm starting out with forestry, and will move onto other biomes once I'm more familiar with the area. Most of these skills carry over from my own upbringing, but I really need to know the ins and outs of American culture before I instruct on how to survive a breakdown of it. Once I finish learning all the useful North American plant life, I'll be ready to polish off the curriculum and start signing people up."

"That is super cool," she said emphatically. "Let me know once you've got it up and running. Elleah and I can be your lab rats. God knows I need to learn a thing or two about taking care of myself."

She saw Leon masterfully manage to keep a smile off his face as Luis said, "What? No idea what you're talking about."

They went on chatting for a while longer, but were interrupted by the phone. Ashley groaned and leaned over to pick it up, but gasped excitedly when she saw the caller ID. She answered, put it on speaker phone, and said, "Hi, dad!"

"Dad?" Elleah said.

There was a brief pause. Then,

"Hi girls! Sounds like you got home from school okay, Ash. How'd your finals go?"

"Great!" She said. "How's that peace summit going?"

"Mmm. Well, no new wars. That's something, right?"

Elleah laughed, but Ashley winced internally. She could tell genuinely lighthearted from stressed out and trying to hide it-lighthearted. He was stressed.

"Oh, dad, Leon's back!" Elleah said.

"Glad to hear it! Is he there now?"

"Glad to hear the summit is going well, Mr. President," Leon called from across the room, stepping over to grab another deviled egg.

"And I'm glad to hear the Finland incident went well. I cannot stress enough how much this country values your service, Leon. And the world does, as well. Goodness knows half of the headway I've been making the last few days is as a result of support from all the heads of state whose countries you've helped combat this virus. Actually, your name came up today. And Yorickson asked me to give you his personal warm regards."

Ashley's eyebrows went up. A commendation on the world stage was no small thing. And she was pretty sure Yorickson was the President – or Prime Minister, or whatever – of Finland. A world leader sending his personal, warm regards? Man, Leon really was a hero.

Not that she needed reminding.

"Always an honor to serve, sir," he replied, and there was an air of humbleness that bordered on mild embarrassment about the reply. Leon was cocky on the battlefield, but affairs of state were things he tended to avoid.

"Well, I'm afraid I can't talk long. We're only having a short recess, then back to the talks. We're getting a lot of pressure from the BSAA to lift restrictions on…well, it's complicated. You know what I'm talking about, Leon."

"Yeah," he said. Ashley did know what the deal was there, but she got the feeling it was a touchy issue.

"That's okay," Elleah said. "You get back to keeping the world peaceful, okay?"

"Will do, sweetheart."

"Love you, dad!" Ashley said.

"Love you, girls. Tell Luis I said hello, and be sure to mind your mother."

Ashley tilted her head curiously. Mom had hopped on a plane just a couple days ago for a vacation down south. "Uh, mom's in Puerto Vallarta for the next month, remember?"

"SHE'S WHAT? When the h—uh, nevermind. You two enjoy the start of your summer break." There was a slight hesitation, then he added, "Oh, and by the way…"

He trailed off, and Leon said, "I got you a snow globe from Helsinki."

Dad made an excited noise. "Helsinki! Oh, would you put it on the shelf for me? It'll be a while before I get home."

Leon smiled and shook his head. "Of course, Mr. President."

"Your country thanks you for your snow globes," Elleah said with mock seriousness, puffing up her chest importantly. Leon's head-shaking increased in intensity and he had to reign in a snort.

"Alright, the pencil-pushers are tapping their toes, so I've got to get going. Talk to you all…uh…tomorrow. Hopefully. Maybe Thursday."

"Love you, dad," Elleah and Ashley said in unison.

They hung up, leaving Ashley with the usual mix of happy and worried. She was always happy to hear from him, but she knew how hard this job was for him. She really hoped the peace talks went well.

She yawned again, and Elleah said, "I bet you want to take a nap after that long drive. You go lay down, okay?"

"Nah, I'm f-f-f—"

She broke on in another yawn and relented. "Ugh. Okay, maybe I'll take a quick nap. I've pulled a lot of all-nighters the last couple weeks."

They stood up and hugged. Elleah passed the sandwiches around again, the deviled eggs, too – Leon took two more, he really like the recipe, which used no sugar, and a bit more mustard than all the online ones – then grabbed everything and brought it all back to the fridge as Ashley headed upstairs.

She passed by the various portraits hung along the hall, which included a big montage from her early life. They had no pictures from Elleah's early childhood, only from the later years she'd spent with them. But they had a ton of those to make up for it. Maybe a quarter of them featured just her doing various things by herself – learning how to ice-skate, working on a puzzle, holding a baby bird she'd found on one of her jobs and nursed to flying age. But almost all the rest of them featured them together.

Ashley didn't stop to look at these pictures all that often, but she did now. Pictures of them baking cookies in the kitchen, pictures of them hanging out in the garden, pictures of them at Disneyland, pictures of them just sitting on the couch together, watching T.V.

There were far, far fewer of them from the time Ashley had started college on. She and Elleah just didn't see each other all that much anymore. But now summer was here again, so they could work on making up for all the lost time.

She paused at the most recent one. It was a big picture that featured all of them – her, Elleah, mom and dad, in a family pose outside the hospital. That was taken right after their recovery. Leon and Luis were also present, just slightly removed from the family, to their right. There had been one with only the family, but she and Elle had absolutely insisted – against their mother's vehement wishes – that the one with Leon and Luis be the one they hung up in the hall. Nevermind that they weren't technically family. They were to her and Elleah.

She finished her reminiscing and went to her room, shutting the door behind her, and as she looked around she felt a huge weight drop off her shoulders. School had, in a way, been good for recovery. It had helped her return to normalcy, and helped her maintain her will to function.

But God she'd missed home. She needed some time off.

She pulled her curtains closed, undressed – she'd made the mistake of doing these two steps in reverse one time, and Luis had gotten an eyeful that he still loved teasing her over – and slipped between the sheets. She could tell at once that Elleah had not only made the bed, but had also washed her bedding, too.

Her eyes stung with tears. This wasn't uncommon. Usually, however, it was from depression or a panic attack. This time it wasn't. This time it was just general emotional overload.

She was home, safe and sound, with the people she loved most in the world (most of them, anyways). She had all of her belongings and utilities. She was comfortable. She was secure and taken care of. She had all the time in the world to do what she wanted to do and to finish putting the Illuminados Incident behind her.

Summer was here. She was so ready for it.

---

Ashley was asleep upstairs. Aurelleah was back in her room, on her computer, playing a game. Luis was in the living room reading up on North American plant life, taking occasional notes in his little black notebook. He was super serious about this survival seminar, and Leon liked the idea. He'd offered to help out when the time came for suburban and urban survival courses. He was kind of a master at that sort of thing.

For now, though, he was heading out to grab the mail. Carl normally brought it in, but Leon enjoyed the long walk down and up the driveway, no matter the weather, so he always picked it up while he was staying at the Graham estate. The gatekeeper appreciated it.

Leon was cautiously optimistic about this upcoming summer. He'd had a rough time the last few years, and truth be told, he could use a few easy months. He knew the summer vacation was long for Ashley's school, and barring bioterror attacks that required his intervention, he'd probably be spending most of it right here, watching after the girls and cracking jokes with Luis. Who knew, maybe he'd even be able to snag a week of vacation time to go on that hunting trip.

And he'd be training, of course. He never let up on his training. He'd spend a day or two recovering from the Finland case, then get back to the grind. There was a tall hill that Graham had set aside for him on the edge of the property to use for target practice, and he'd promised Ashley – with her father's permission, of course – to teach her the basics of how to handle a handgun this summer. Elleah would no doubt want to join in, too. He'd be sure to ask her about that the next time it came up.

He approached the gate, and Carl looked up from his book and opened the pedestrian gate for him. The mailbox was just outside. Leon unlocked it, opened it up, grabbed everything, and headed back inside just before the gate automatically closed again. He waved to Carl – he'd said hello earlier, when he'd first arrived – and started the walk back up to the mansion.

He looked over the estate. Rolling, grassy fields, gardens nearly as extensive and twisting as Salazar's but infinitely more beautiful, trees with bird feeders hung from their branches here and there nearer the house, and a pool in back. Across the way was the guest house, significantly smaller than the main house, but still upper class. Leon slept in a guest room in the main house, to maintain proximity to his charges.

He unlocked the front door – he always locked all doors behind him, even when taking such a short trip, and the girls knew to as well – relocked it behind him, and headed to the kitchen.

He was already wearing his gloves, and now he set the pile of mail next to his scanning equipment. He started by running everything through to check for explosive materials, doing extra scans on the small package in the mix, then he began opening and checking each piece of mail thoroughly. He'd never found anything more suspect than an unsolicited Sears catalogue in the Graham mailbox, but that didn't mean he could let his caution slip. You never knew when some nutjob would get the president's personal address and send something dangerous over.

He didn't read anything. He just sorted it all into different piles based on what kind of mail it was. Spam, legal stuff, bills, so on and so forth. Most of it was Jonathan's, some of it was Christine's, a couple pieces were for Ashley, from her school. There was only rarely any kind of personal mail, and this usually fell around Christmas and probably birthdays. It was summer, and no one had any birthdays coming up, so he was surprised to see a personal letter mixed into the lot. And to Miss Aurelleah Graham, no less.

He checked the return address – some P.O. box in a town he wasn't familiar with in Nevada – as well as the name. Ulysses Grant. Yeah, that wasn't fishy at all.

He checked the letter thoroughly without reading a word of it, making absolutely sure there was nothing dangerous about it. It was only a one-page letter, handwritten. He wondered if he ought to give it a read, just to make sure it wasn't anything malicious, but decided against it. He didn't want to invade Elleah's privacy, and he was sure that if it was problematic, she'd share it with him, or her sister, or her dad. Or Luis.

The letter was, on its surface, fine. He finished checking the rest out. He'd already checked the package, but upon seeing that this was also addressed to Elleah, he opened it up to quadruple-check. It was something small and metallic wrapped in a small piece of red cloth. Satisfied that it didn't contain anthrax and wasn't going to explode, he slid it back into the box. He then put the letter back in the opened envelope and went upstairs, both in hand.

He knocked on the door. There was a brief pause and a few frantic keyboard taps, then the sound of her cushy gaming chair being rolled back from her desk. She'd gotten a whole new setup as a special gift for her last birthday, including one of the best gaming computers money could buy, dual monitors for it, and a bunch of cool equipment. Ashley's presents, Leon had learned, were always hit-or-miss. She either nailed it, or completely flubbed it. She'd totally flubbed on the game she'd gotten to go along with the setup, as Elleah was NOT a Call of Duty fan (she'd slipped him the game behind Ashley's back, and he'd been enjoying it on and off ever since) but the setup itself had had Elleah raving for days. She'd pretty much forced everyone to sit down and play one of her games, a puzzle game called Portal that Leon had found highly entertaining, for half an hour just so they could really appreciate the whole thing. He had to admit, it was pretty neat. If he had more time for gaming, he'd probably get a similar setup for himself.

The door opened, Elleah in the doorway. The screen behind her, unless Leon was mistaken, featured the pause menu for Bioshock.

"Oh! Hi Leon. What's up?" She looked surprised. Understandable. He was usually very hands-off in their lives unless there was a security concern, or unless they approached him. It was just more professional that way.

"You've got mail," he said in that quirky computer-alert way, handing her the letter and box.

If she'd looked surprised to see him knocking on her door, it was nothing compared to how she looked upon seeing the clearly handwritten letter and accompanying package. She actually shook her head in bewilderment. Still, she seemed extremely curious and a bit excited. No wonder. She was still at the age where getting mail was typically a positive thing. She hadn't gotten called for jury duty yet.

She took it and read the name. She snorted with amusement upon reading it, then pulled out the letter.

Leon watched as her expression went from curious, to confused, to unnerved, to stunned. Then cautiously curious. Then more confusion. By the time she reached the end, her brows were knit.

She looked caught between dismay and befuddlement. He wanted to ask what was in the letter, but he figured he ought to wait for her to finish mulling it over.

She folded the letter back up and opened the box. She dropped the crimson-wrapped object, something small, thin, and heavy for its size, into her palm and unwrapped it. It was a pin, gold and crimson, and Leon got the strange sense that he'd seen it somewhere before.

She looked stricken. Finally, after another minute of silent consideration, she said, "It's from Krauser."

Leon's jaw dropped. He held out a hand. She gave him the pin, though she tucked the letter a little closer. She wasn't willing to divulge it yet.

He took a closer look. He recognized it. It was a badge of honor, one of the many Krauser would no doubt have accumulated during his time serving. It was typical American style, with an eagle motif, a star above the bird, laurels lining the edge, all gold on a crimson backdrop. It was beautiful, and he now recognized it as the pin that Krauser usually wore on his beret. For some reason, he'd sent it to Elleah.

Leon passed it back. She took it. Then she said, "It's nothing. He just wanted to apologize for everything."

Leon said, "That's nice of him. Also, didn't he die?"

Elleah flushed bright crimson, and he figured it out. She'd known Krauser was alive…and hadn't told him. Or anyone else, for that matter.

He crossed his arms and pinned her with a stern expression, waiting for an explanation. She shifted back and forth awkwardly, trying to think of how to respond, then she just closed her eyes and started rubbing her face.

"Elleah," he prompted. He didn't need to say anything else.

She sighed. "I'm sorry Leon. I kind of put it out of my mind. And at the time I just…wanted to put it past me."

"You knew he was alive, then?" Leon asked. He wasn't going the accusatory route, but he did want any information he could get out of her. This was kind of important.

She relented, opening her eyes and looking up at him worriedly. "Yeah. You remember when you fought, and I ended up in that warehouse, and Ada woke you up, and then you and Luis caught up to me a little while later?"

He nodded.

"Well, um, Krauser was sort of…I mean, he caught up to me, and…um…"

She looked like she was really struggling. She didn't want to talk about it.

He softened. "You don't have to tell me everything. Just whatever you can would be helpful."

She bit her lip, and when she spoke again, her jaw moved crookedly, as though she literally had to force it to action. "He was trying to…hurt me. But he stopped himself before he did. And he apologized, and turned to leave. That was when Ada showed up. She was standing right behind him with a shotgun. She'd seen the whole thing, I think."

"And he managed to fight her off and escape?" Leon asked, trying to move the conversation forward. He didn't really want to linger on what exactly she meant by 'trying to hurt me'.

She closed her eyes and shook her head. "No. That's not what happened. I didn't want her to shoot him. I don't know why. After everything that had happened, you'd think I would have been okay with it, right?"

She was now looking at him imploringly, and he figured it out. "You asked her to let him go," he finished slowly.

She nodded.

He ran a hand through his hair. She'd intervened to save Krauser's life. Krauser. And why? Because, after everything he'd done, all the pain he'd caused her, everything he'd tried to do, he'd apologized? Once? At the very last minute?

Then he recalled something Luis had told him one night, a week or so after things had settled down, when they'd gone out binge-drinking. Luis had been pretty hammered, Leon only moderately tipsy, and the Spaniard had started raving about Elleah. How much he needed her, how much he didn't deserve her. And he'd mentioned her forgiveness of his many and horrendous screw-ups. He hadn't been able to emphasize it enough.

Do you…do you know what she said when I asked her? I mean, about…you know, about how she felt about me, when I was the one who…who made the thing in her chest? I asked her if she could forgive me, ever, and she said…hic…you know what she said? She said she didn't blame me, but, if I blamed myself, she'd forgive me. She forgave me for that, man. And then, later on, in the hospital, she…hic…forgave me for everything else, too. For all the pain. All the fear. All the…everything. The monsters. The Plagas. She forgave me for it all. I didn't really…did I deserve that? I don't…hic.

Leon really had to process this one. It was a bit much for him to wrap his head around. Of course, he'd never wanted to kill Krauser. But after everything that had happened, he wasn't sure he'd have been able to let the man walk away like that.

Would you have been able to just execute him, though? Which would have been harder, really?

"I'm sorry," she said quietly.

He drew himself back into the moment. She was looking down at the floor, no longer able to face him, and he reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. "Look…I really would have liked to have known about Krauser sooner. And yeah, it's a little crazy that you'd be willing to just let him go after everything that happened. But don't apologize for having mercy on an enemy. It's always a hell of a lot harder to let someone like that go. And usually it ends up biting you right in the ass. But sometimes it doesn't."

She was looking up at him now, wide-eyed and hanging on his words. He hoped they were the ones she needed to hear right now. She didn't need any more pain.

"I don't know what's going to come out of Krauser getting away—"

Hopefully not more terrorism—

"—but it seems like he's acknowledged that he made some pretty big mistakes. That's a good sign. Who knows, maybe he'll even get on the straight and narrow from here on out."

She smiled, eyes a bit hopeful. "That's what he said he's doing. And he says he's not working for his old boss anymore."

Oh, thank God.

"That's good," Leon said passively, not letting on how relieved he was to hear that. He wasn't about to open that can of worms with her. Albert Wesker. Ugh.

She looked back down at the letter, then held it out to him. "You can read it if you want to."

He took the letter, but before he could start on it, she'd stepped back and closed the door most of the way, leaving it open a crack. Presumably that meant he could pop back in to drop the letter off when he was done. For now, though, it looked like she wanted a moment alone.

He leaned against the wall and started reading. It wasn't long enough to merit him grabbing a chair, so the wall would be fine.

Miss Aurelleah Graham,

I suppose you'll remember me, though not fondly, and possibly not by name unless Leon mentioned me. Krauser. If that doesn't ring a bell, then The Man Who Kidnapped You will probably do the trick.

My intent with this letter isn't to worry you, or to dreg up bad memories. I just felt like there were some things that went unsaid, and I thought a concrete conclusion to our whole debacle would be preferable to just trying to forget it. To that effect, I want, first and foremost, to apologize.

I will not get into the circumstances surrounding my involvement in the Los Illuminados plot; I will only say that your kidnapping was a small part of a much larger campaign, one that I honestly believed would lead to a better world at the time. I've since come to believe that I was very mistaken in that regard, and for what it's worth, I have abandoned the lifestyle that set me on your path and have broken with my previous employer. I intend to pursue a more peaceful life moving forward. Needless to say, I will not be bothering you or your sister again.

My conduct towards you was unacceptable. When I think back on it, I only hope that you linger on those dark minutes far less than I do. The parasite, which I had not yet become fully acclimated to, had affected me in a way that I had not anticipated. It was preying upon my instincts and impulses, trying to encourage bestial behavior, and the insidious efficiency with which it did this took me wholly off-guard. That is no excuse for what I tried to do to you, but I just wanted you to know that that's not who I am. I would have treated you better, given the chance. I hope that my self-restraint did not come too late, and that you are not still pained by the memories of our encounter. I am contrite. Pitiable comfort, I know, but it's all I can offer.

I also hope you will excuse my natural inclination towards you, as you are a singularly stunning girl. Your strength and cunning on the battlefield were admirable, especially given your age and stature. You evaded capture again and again, fought against overwhelming odds, and were even willing to lay down everything to save your comrades. I have nothing but respect for you. I sent a small token of that respect alongside this letter, a memento from a more honorable time in my own life. I suppose odds are better than even that the gesture is unwanted, but I wanted you to have it regardless.

I still do not fully understand the mercy you showed me following our encounter. I did not deserve it. But I thank you for it, regardless, and promise I will not squander it.

I'll be a better man going forward. I'll live a more honorable life.

I won't bother you again. Please live well and happily.

Jack Krauser

P.S.

Give my regards to Leon if you see him again, and tell him that I enjoyed our fight. That that a damn good feign!

Leon rubbed the back of his head…then chuckled. Krauser.

He pushed the door open and poked a head in. Seeing Elleah blasting bad guys on her computer again, he went ahead and set the letter next to her on the desk and paused a moment to watch her play. She was killing a Big Daddy at the moment, and doing a pretty good job of it, too. Her aim could have been better, but slingshots weren't a weapon option in Bioshock. Speaking of which…

She finished it off, then paused and looked over at him, headphones coming off.

"How ya feeling?" He asked.

She looked at the letter, and Leon saw that she'd affixed the pin he'd sent her to a small ribbon hanging from the wall just above her computer. It was nestled between a few other things: a picture of her and her sister from a few years back, a picture of her and her dad which was more recent, a picture he hadn't seen before – one of him and Luis hanging out in the guest house, going over their guns. He recalled Ashley popping in one day and taking that, though he hadn't known she'd gotten it developed. There was also a small Asian cloth doll dressed in a brightly-colored kimono that he did not know the significance of hanging from a keychain, and a very old golden locket that she'd shown him once before, a few months back. On its back in extremely small print was an engraving of the Serenity Prayer. She mentioned she'd been given it by a very kind old woman who had lived next door to her growing up, and who had often told her stories and baked her cookies. The woman's children had all passed away before her, and she'd resultingly had no one to pass the necklace along to. She'd died not long after giving it to Elleah.

In other words, all the items on the wall above the computer were items of close sentimental value to her, things she kept to remember the people who had had a strong positive influence on her life. Christine was not on the wall anywhere…but it seemed that Krauser had earned a spot. He wouldn't have understood it if he hadn't read the letter.

She nodded casually. "I'm feeling good. Better, actually. Thank you."

He smiled and ruffled her hair. Then he said, "You know, you still haven't taught me how to use a slingshot. I'm gonna go order one for myself now. Don't suppose you'll be able to teach me how to use it this summer?"

She beamed up at him. "Heck yeah!"

"Awesome. I'll let you get back to your game. Anything for dinner tonight?" Elleah often cooked, and she always cooked really well. Sandwiches and deviled eggs were only the tip of the iceberg.

"Oh, yeah. Make sure you're hungry by seven or so."

"What's on the menu?"

"It's a surprise. Don't worry, you're gonna love it."

"What did we do to deserve you, again?"

"You dismantled an army of super-human monsters and saved the world from a doomsday cult."

"Oh, yeah. Forgot about that."

She laughed. After everything that had happened to her, she still did that a lot. He was glad. He stepped out of the room and headed back downstairs to finish checking out the mail.

He knew he'd have to report Krauser being alive to the DOS. That said, he'd definitely leave out the part about Elleah knowing about it beforehand. He'd make it seem like the letter was as much a surprise to her as it had been to him, and he'd be sure to tell her to back this up. She didn't need any flak from the government.

As for Krauser…well, an investigation would be launched into him, but Leon was pretty damn sure nothing would come of it. No, Krauser knew exactly what the U.S. government was capable of. It was why the abduction of the Graham girls had gone so smoothly. No, they wouldn't be catching Krauser anytime soon. And maybe that wasn't such a bad thing.

He picked up the rest of the mail, and also grabbed the snow globe he'd picked up for Graham in Finland and went to drop them all off in his office. As he did, he wondered if he'd ever bump into his old comrade again. Probably not. And that was probably for the best as well.

He opened the door, set the mail in the appropriate piles, and settled the snow globe on the shelf alongside all the others. Pyramids, Tibetan tigers, Chinese dragons, and miniature fjords all sat in their little aquatic spheres, lighthearted mementos from past dark campaigns, and symbols of the position he'd earned for himself. Personal guardian and friend to the Graham household…and to the country it governed. And to some degree, the rest of the world, too. He hoped, sincerely, that Krauser had found himself a lifestyle that contented him as much as Leon's did him.

He turned to step out of the office, and to go take care of the handful of other responsibilities he'd need to mind before dinner. He was pretty sure he could work up a good appetite before seven.

Live well, comrade. You've earned a break. I think we all have.

---

Hours later, as the sun was starting to sink outside, Aurelleah Graham began pulling out everything she'd need for dinner tonight. She intended it to be a good one.

The steaks had already been tenderized, and had been marinating all day long. She was pretty sure she'd outdone herself with these. Now it was time to let them slow-cook while she fixed up everything else.

She'd already placed the order from Fuji's, and Luis had very kindly offered to run down and pick it up for her. When he got back it would be to a feast fit for a king. Of course, he was kind of used to that by now. She cooked for him regularly, and she did a darn good job of it. Leon hadn't enjoyed her cooking nearly as often, so she was really looking forward to wowing him tonight. She loved treating him whenever she could.

The potatoes had been boiled and drained, though they were still on the stove with the lid on to keep them hot until she was ready to mash them. A big part of cooking was the timing, making sure everything came out hot and fresh at the same time. Once the steaks were on, she'd start mashing the potatoes. The oven was preheating now, and once she'd flipped Leon's steak – Luis liked his done medium-well, so it would cook longer – she'd pop the garlic bread in. The lobster was already finished and shelled, and was in a steaming pan to keep it hot and moist. After everything else was finished and Luis was back, she'd mix up the cucumber salad, which would go on the table last. There was nothing quite like a cold, freshly-dressed and crunchy salad to go with a piping hot meal. The drinks were all in the fridge, chilling.

As she cooked, she didn't have a ton of extra mental space, given how much she had to juggle. Still, the letter she'd received earlier that afternoon continued fluttering around in the back of her mind.

She wasn't sure if today was the best or worst day for it to have come. Goodness knew it had dredged up bad memories, and given her plans for the evening, she wasn't sure if those were the best ones to have preying on her. But really, once the shock had worn off, she'd decided that she appreciated the letter. Like Pi Patel, she couldn't stand botched farewells, and was, on the whole, glad for the formal conclusion. She dumped the potatoes into the mixing bowl, put a cup of milk into the microwave to heat, then started adding the butter and salt and sour cream and all the other good stuff.

She'd spent a lot of time those first few weeks thinking about Krauser. That last encounter with him had stood out so much more powerfully in her mind than anything else that had happened to her, even more so than Salazar's threats. Salazar was dead and gone, and she'd largely managed to dismiss him, as well as Saddler, the Verdugo, and most of the other monstrosities she'd encountered. The rasping breath of the Regenerators still featured in her nightmares sometimes, though, and memories of Ashley's attack at the hands of those two Ganados still haunted her thoroughly (though what had happened afterwards was frankly a blur to her). But the confrontation with Krauser took precedence above all else.

The milk was done. She took it out – it was steaming, and would keep the potatoes from cooling off too quickly – and poured it all in.

She still had some lingering scars. Mostly, however, the fits of sadness she sometimes got were borne of a deep-seated exhaustion that had persisted even months after her physical recovery. She was still just tired.

She really didn't know how else to describe it. She wasn't scared. She wasn't angry. She just got tired from time to time, remembering it all. Sometimes she felt so tired she just needed to sit and cry a while. Then nap. Then she inevitably felt better. And most days she felt great; but sooner or later, the tiredness would come back.

Maybe it was just exhaustion lag. During the Illuminados thing, there had just been so many times she'd felt ready to give up. So many time she'd wanted to just lie down and curl up and go to sleep. But she'd been forced to keep going again and again, and that had been almost more than she'd been able to handle in the end.

With all the medication and care she'd received upon her return, the pain of her injuries hadn't bothered her all that much. But the fatigue had lingered for weeks, and that had been the worst part. Every time she'd sat down, she'd felt like getting back up would be impossible. But every time she'd stood up, she'd gotten tired so fast that just staying upright became a pain. And as her hospital stay had extended from days to weeks, she'd gotten more and more antsy to be out and on her feet again. But her body just wouldn't let her. If she could have hibernated all that time to let her body catch up on rest, she would have.

Leon's steak had been cooking long enough. She went over and flipped it, then opened up the oven to pop the garlic bread in. Then she went back to finish mashing the potatoes, going at them furiously until they were perfectly fluffy and creamy, no lumps at all. That took real effort. She tasted them. They needed more salt. She added this and went back to mixing, all while keeping the largest part of her mind trained on the steaks. She couldn't let them overcook.

She knew there were a ton of horrible things she could have spent her time mulling over these last few months. More often, however, she found herself thinking about the positive things. She focused on how close she and Ashley had gotten during the adventure, for instance. They'd been there for each other, supported each other like most people couldn't imagine, saved each other's lives, even. She still remembered how Ashley had taken care of her after she'd gotten her arm injury, how worried she'd been. And how furious upon hearing about Leon's priority orders. That still made her smile.

She thought about how well she'd handled all those dangerous situations, and how much she'd been able to help Leon and Luis in their fights…even if she didn't like thinking much about the fights themselves. Talk about a horrorshow. Egads.

Another great memento was her trophy. After a lengthy stint in a lab somewhere making sure it wasn't dangerous, she actually had gotten that Novistador hand back, and it had been mounted on the wall. As expected, Christine hated it with a burning passion, and dad always showed it off to every visitor that walked in through the door. Literally every visitor. Their new electrician, who had looked very surprised to find himself in a conversation with the President of the United States, had just stood there looking shell-shocked while her dad had relayed the story. Christine had walked in in the middle, gotten an expression on her face like she'd just smelled a decomposing animal, turned and walked out. Elleah had liked that.

She also thought about Ada, and hoped the woman was doing well, wherever she was. She was pretty much her new role model, even if she had robbed Leon before taking off. She was just so cool.

And she still couldn't help thinking about that brief conversation she'd had with that man on Ada's communicator, the handsome one with the sunglasses and the nice accent. She wouldn't mind meeting him again. Ada had seemed kind of hard towards him, but Leon and Luis had both been kind of harsh on Ada, and she'd saved their skins several times. Maybe things were a bit more complicated than she was capable of understanding from her limited perspective, but given that she'd probably never meet those people again, she'd just choose to do as the old song suggested and accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative.

Satisfied that Luis's steak was cooked on one side, she went over and flipped it, then turned the heat way down on Leon's. His would be done very soon. Hopefully Luis would be back in the next five minutes.

"Ashley!" She yelled loudly. "Dinner's almost ready!"

No response. Leon, however, had heard, and called back, "I'll let her know!"

"Thanks, Leon!"

She heard him heading upstairs. Hopefully Ashley wasn't still napping. She wouldn't be able to get any sleep tonight if she'd been resting all day long. Anyways, food always tasted better when you were wide awake enough to enjoy it. You couldn't enjoy dinner properly if your taste buds and appetite were all addled with sleep.

She checked the garlic bread. Few more minutes on that. She tasted the potatoes again. They were perfect, so she covered them to keep them hot. She got out the salad bowl, checked that the pre-sliced Armenian cucumbers and dressing were still in the fridge, and pulled out the best glasses for the drinks. Not the nice crystal ones her parents always pulled out for company. No, she grabbed everyone's favorite glasses.

Leon and Luis both had their special pint glasses – Luis's was a Grateful Dead one, while Leon's was a Looney Toons glass featuring the Roadrunner – and Ashley's was a tall, narrow glass adorned with blue and green flowers, a gift from a friend from college. Her own favorite was one her dad had gotten her, a black coffee mug with various Marvel superheroes all along the outside. She was not a superhero fan, but she loved it 'cause it was from dad.

The loud chime that announced the gate being opened rang through the kitchen and living room, signaling that Luis was back with the goods. She pulled out the garlic bread, turned the stove off, moved the potatoes to the counter, and had just started mixing the salad when the front door opened.

He came around the corner holding up two bags full of white Styrofoam containers, all packed with the various delicacies she'd ordered. "My apologies for the wait, mi cadenza, but your friends at the restaurant kept me with conversation. They wanted to know how you were doing."

"How did you tell them I was doing?" She asked curiously.

"I said you were as happy as could be, and that worries and fears were a thing of the past. I hope I was truthful in my answer?"

She finished mixing the salad, rested the tongs against the edges of the bowl, and went over and hugged him. "Absolutely. Thank you for grabbing the food."

She hopped up and gave him a quick kiss, which they were sadly forced to break off quickly as they heard Leon's heavy footsteps coming down the stairs, Ashley's not far off.

That was okay, though. She had more planned for later. For now…

"Soup's on!" She yelled, grabbing the bags from Luis and taking them out, box by box. She'd set out large platters in advance for the sushi and sashimi, and now set to opening up the boxes one by one and placing everything artfully around the platter. "Did you get the extra sauces?" She asked.

He handed her a smaller plastic bag that she hadn't noticed, this one full of little plastic ramekins. She took these and was just drizzling the pale pink and white and orange sauces artfully across the rolls when Ashley walked in and gasped.

"Oh. My. Gosh," she said, thankfully looking wide awake. Her hair was wet, so she'd probably just taken a shower. "This looks amazing."

Leon's nose was working as he walked into the room. "Steak?" He asked.

"And lobster, mashed potatoes, garlic bread, and that one green thing that you actually like," she told him. "Go sit down. I'll bring everything over."

"You are amazing, Elleah," Ashley said as she and Leon made their way over to the table. Luis didn't, though. He always very kindly helped set everything up when the table was for a larger party than just them, and now began toting the garlic bread and lobster dish over.

They got everything set up in a minute or two. Steak, lobster, bread and potatoes, piping hot and perfectly cooked, drinks and salad chilly and refreshing, were set on the table one by one. She couldn't keep a smile off her face. She still felt tired from time to time, but tonight she felt invigorated. Especially thinking over what she had planned for later, after dinner.

That wasn't for everyone. Actually, she was kind of hoping to knock Leon and her sister out with all this good food and drink so she could get away with a nice quiet night with Luis. She wanted a whole night to themselves. She really hoped she could get it.

She'd upheld every promise she'd made concerning what she'd do when they got back. The first day they'd been released from the hospital and finally allowed back home, she and Ashley had gone to Fuji's – the same place that was furnishing their dinner tonight – and gorged themselves on fish. She'd thrown Ashley a spectacular bath the following night, with all the amazing stuff she'd promised, big, creamy white Russian included, and Ashley had gotten them both Lush bath bombs so she could enjoy a bath herself. She'd cooked them their special breakfast, and had juiced a good tree or two worth of mandarin juice that week for everyone, even Christine, who had loathingly admitted that it was one of the best things she'd ever drank.

She'd also spent oodles of time introducing Luis to all the great things America had to offer, helped him get acclimated to the country, and done everything in her power to make sure his new life was comfortable. But she'd also kept a halter on their relationship, partly because she wanted to make sure he still felt the same way about her outside the confines of a life-threatening adventure, partly because she'd had enough to focus on with finishing up school and hadn't wanted to be distracted, and partly because she'd had enough to be getting on with during her psychological recovery. He'd been very accommodating. They'd taken things slow. Mostly slow.

But now she was recovered. She had a whole summer to spend with him. And he'd more than proven than he felt just as strongly about her as he had when their lives had been on the line every other hour. Grand gestures of loyalty and courage had given way to simple gestures of kindness and consideration, but these were still more than enough to regularly reaffirm their connection. Things were pretty much cinched at this point. She didn't see a future without him in it, and he'd made it clear that he felt the same way, from every conceivable standpoint. A formal and open relationship wasn't in the cards just then, but it would be. They just needed to be patient.

That said, she'd been very patient about some things already, as had he, and she was getting tired of waiting. Hence her plans for tonight.

"Alright," she said, finally setting down the drinks and taking a seat herself. Luis held out the chair for her, only sitting down once she was seated. She and Ashley were next to each other, their side of the table covered in rolls, sauces, rice, salmon, tuna, red snapper, and a myriad of other fishy delicacies. Leon and Luis, across from them, were already loading up their plates with potatoes and garlic bread and lobster, and Leon was eyeing the colorful brew bottles sticking out of the small silver ice tub nearby.

"Dig in," she concluded.

"Bon appetite, mi cadenza," Luis said, winking at her.

She smiled widely and started piling her plate up, taking care not to overdo it. She didn't want to stuff herself.

Boy did he have a surprise in store for him tonight.

---

Luis stood out on the porch behind the Graham household, enjoying an after-dinner smoke. Or vape, rather, as Ashley had very kindly gotten him an extremely nice vape pen. Whether this was because it was a healthier habit, or because she hated the smell of cigarettes, he was not quite sure. Probably a bit of both.

Aurelleah had prepared them a veritable feast to celebrate Ashley and Leon's homecoming. He had never, not even when he'd been living in Castle Salazar, so enjoyed a feast. The steak had been perfect, and he'd eaten lobster for the very first time in his life. She had Ashley had had their own favorite, sushi, and a small ocean's worth of that. There had also been champagne, and she'd managed to procure a pack of Kona beer for Leon, who enjoyed the relatively mellow and flavorful brew on festive occasions. Finally, she'd baked a rhubarb pie for dessert, but they were all too full, so they were going to go ahead and let their stomachs mellow before tucking into that. Or maybe they'd just enjoy it tomorrow after a nice lunch. Knowing Aurelleah, she'd be cooking like this all week in celebration. He hoped she did breakfast tomorrow. He loved her breakfasts.

Luis hoped that maybe he could convince her to engage in some more private celebrations with him shortly, once the rest of the household had settled down. It was always nice to be able to enjoy some alone time with her, and now that summer was here, he was anticipating enjoying a good deal more. She worked so damn hard during the year. Hopefully she would take some time off, skimp on all the yard work with the growing heat, just enjoy the rolling yards and cool, fruitful gardens of her own property. And spend plenty of time in the guest house.

Luis greatly appreciated being able to stay on the Graham estate. He'd been assured by Jonathan that he needn't pay a dime of rent, that the lodgings were the least he could do for the man that had gone to such astounding lengths to save his daughters, but the moment he'd managed to sell the first of his artifacts from castle Salazar, he'd insisted upon a fixed monthly rent. It wasn't as though he couldn't afford it, given that he was now a millionaire, and at any rate, it alleviated some of the guilt he felt about pursuing his youngest while the man was away.

Ordinarily, he would have considered this a broach of trust, and would have refrained on principle. But his dealings with Aurelleah had begun before Jonathan had ever offered the guest house to him, and he wasn't about to give her up on account of living next door to her with her father's blessing. That said, he also wasn't about to openly admit to their relationship. He would wait until he'd moved out, found a nice home of his own, and maybe convinced her to move in with him. Or perhaps they'd take things slower in public. Whatever the case, all of it amounted to as furtive a romance as one could wish. It was really quite thrilling, to tell the truth.

He had also learned to appreciate the pace of it. He'd always been very quick to the kill in his younger years. This slow burn was maddening in some ways, but it made every single touch more satisfying than he could imagine.

He sighed, expelling a small burst of water vapor that vanished quickly in the moonlit air as he thought back on his first perceptions of her. She'd been so receptive, so quick to accept his advances. He'd assumed she would be so easy to seduce. How wrong he'd been.

No, they still hadn't gone all the way. They had enjoyed a number of very satisfying experiences, though, and he'd taught her a great deal about both giving and receiving pleasure during their short, quiet trysts while the household was still and the many Graham family servants were occupied or absent. He'd been delighted with how eager she was to learn some of these things. For the most part he'd had to introduce them, slowly and carefully, but a few times she'd actually taken the initiative.

His birthday, for instance. She'd explicitly asked him to teach her how to please him with her mouth, and had taken to his instruction swimmingly. She quite enjoyed the act, and several times now he'd woken up from a nap with her to discover her under the blankets, near the foot of the bed, seeing how far she could get his cock down without waking him up. It was like a game to her – one that he very much enjoyed playing.

She was inside cleaning up. He often offered to help with the dishes, but tonight Ashley had stepped in to do so, and the two were in there chatting up a storm. They always had something to talk about. Sometimes it was games or books they'd played or read, sometimes it was some scientific marvel one or the other had learned about, and often it was politics and world events. They had such vastly differing views on many things, but somehow they managed to debate them civilly and never became more than mildly heated over the most riling of topics. Luis enjoyed listening to them. He tended to side with Aurelleah far more than Ashley, though he appreciated getting both points of view. He and she may have had very different cultural upbringings, but they shared the same values.

This was vitally important in a relationship. Too many times in the past he'd had to break things off with otherwise wonderful women because they had a handful of values that he could not in all conscience abide by. He'd been greatly relieved to discover that he and Aurelleah aligned on the vast majority of moral topics.

He heard the dishwasher start up. That was usually the end of the job. Sure enough, he heard Ashley heading upstairs a minute later. Aurelleah remained in the kitchen for a few more minutes, opening and closing the refrigerator and running the sink several times, touching up. Before long, however, he heard her approach from behind, and a moment later her arm was settling against his as she leaned against the railing.

He took one last drag then put away his pen. She'd decided to quit smoking, and while she didn't have the same hard addiction that he had, he still tried not to tempt her by indulging around her. It was simply polite.

"You outdid yourself tonight, mi cadenza. Leon was more or less in heaven. For that matter, so was I."

"Yeah?" She asked. He could hear the warm pride in her voice. She loved making those she loved happy. Such a catch he'd landed himself.

He nodded his confirmation. "Sí. And I know your sister was ecstatic. No doubt you have made her first day back as pleasant as she could have hoped for. Of course, I could not help but pity them, in a way."

"Huh? Why?" She asked, confused.

"Because, mi cadenza, they only have the summer to enjoy your care and tender heart. I have been enjoying it all this year. And I do hope I will be able to enjoy it for the rest of my life."

He'd dropped his voice to a low, quiet rumble as he'd said this last, and slid an arm around her waist. He was forced to retract it quickly with a low snort of annoyance as he heard footsteps approaching, however.

They both glanced back. The door to the deck opened, and Leon poked his head out. "Elleah, that dinner was amazing," he said. "Thank you again."

She smiled at him. "No problem. Was the steak good?"

"Best I've ever had. I mean it. And I'm kind of a steak connoisseur, so that's saying something."

Her smile stretched into a wide grin. "I'm glad you had a good night. You'll be staying for a while, right?"

Leon nodded. "Yup. Probably. Assuming there aren't any more zombie outbreaks I need to deal with. Anywho, I'm gonna hit the hay. I've been traveling all day, and I kind of stuffed myself."

Luis thought Aurelleah looked oddly satisfied at this statement. "Night Leon. I washed your bedding this morning, so it should be nice and fresh."

"You're awesome. Thank you. Night Luis."

He gave a nod and a casual salute, and Leon turned and went back inside, leaving them alone once more.

Before he could even consider how to try and wheedle his amor into coming back to the guest house with him, she said, "Ashley said she'd be going to bed soon, too. Want to go take a bath?"

This sent a shiver of delight up his spine. Connected to his bedroom was an extra-large bathroom with a bath big enough for two. A handful of times, he'd managed to tempt her into the tub with him, and he'd always enjoyed these soaks.

"Sí," he said, pushing off the railing, eager to be gone.

She looked happy, though he could sense a hint of nervousness about her. Even after all these months, she was still so cautious about instigating things with him. He loved that about her. He would almost be sad to see it go as she grew accustomed to him. Almost.

"Want to go get the tub ready? I'll be right over," she said. He nodded, and set off.

It was a short walk to the guest house, and the path over went partway through the rose garden. He pulled a pocketknife out and cut off a bloom that was just starting to fold in the last vestiges of twilight. They'd started dinner around seven-thirty – according to Ashley, the Grahams always ate late during summer – and they'd spent a good hour at the table, slowly savoring the food and drinks, talking about everything they hadn't gotten the chance to talk about earlier. Leon had produced the souvenirs he'd picked up for the girls on his trip, and they'd gotten to open them at the table. For Ashley, a stunning hat in deep shades of blue and green, the image of a whale done in velvet across the side. She'd loved it. For Aurelleah, of course, a new blanket, this one featuring a seaside scene, with a fjord and a little white lighthouse on the cliff.

She loved blankets. Nothing made her feel more secure and cozy than a plethora of blankets. She'd never had enough as a child, and had often slept cold during the winter. In Maine, this was not a pleasant experience.

And, as an unusual turn, Leon had brought something back for him as well. He'd received a very nice new throwing knife, the hilt of which was silver and caribou bone, well-balanced. A very nice piece. He'd pretended he was going to throw it right at a portrait of Christine smiling spitefully down at them from over the table, much to the cheer of Aurelleah and Leon. He hated that picture, and he knew they did, too. Sadly, Ashley had once again patiently informed him that he was not allowed to stab, burn, tear, or harm the picture in any way. Their father liked that picture too much. It was one hell of a hard job to get the woman to smile like that.

Ahh, and now, a month with no Christine. By the lights, that woman was a miserable pain. He wondered how Aurelleah had put up with her all this time.

He turned back to the house as he slid the key in. The girls' windows both faced his, and after a moment he saw Aurelleah's bedroom light flick off. A dim, bluish, shifting light still flickered in the window, though, and he was willing to bet she'd turned on a YouTube video, muted, so if Ashley or Leon walked by her room they would see the moving light under the door and assume she was in there watching something on her computer.

He grinned at the antics of his little Valkyrie and went inside to draw the bath, setting the rose on his bedstand as he passed. He'd give it to her before she retired for the night. Or perhaps tomorrow morning, if fortune favored him.

He set the water running, and as he did, he got a few things ready. He poured them both tall glasses of water, as they always got thirsty in the heat; he made sure he had fresh, clean towels set out for them both; and he set up a small, rotating fan on a tiny folding table beside the tub. It was summer now, and still just a tad bit warm outside. The breeze would keep them from overheating. He also recalled that he had a few fresh lemons from their lemon tree, and he went into the kitchen to slice these up for the water. Aurelleah loved iced lemon water.

She'd thrown him several baths so far, the same way she had her sister, and he had to admit, they were grand affairs. Snacks, good drinks, and she had some really pleasant music that she let flow in the background when he wasn't in the mood for a book. Christopher Larkin. Not to mention, she'd occasionally pop in to see if she could get him anything, sometimes lingering by the tub just to fawn on him, even more rarely allowing herself to be lured into the tub with him.

He realized that, in his musings, he'd forgotten the water and dashed back to see the tub nearly overflowing. He tossed the lemon wedges into their glasses and swore aloud. There was only so much hot water in the heater, and the heater happened to contain exactly one tub-full. When it overfilled, it did so with lukewarm and finally cold water.

He checked the temperature. Still hot, but it had definitely gotten a hint of cool mixed in there. This would be a shorter bath than usual.

He cursed his lack of attention and set to draining the tub to a more appropriate level. The first time Aurelleah had joined him, her mass had displaced a good inch of water onto the floor. He knew exactly how much to let how for two people.

He'd just gotten it down to the right level when the door to the house opened and quickly closed. He heard her enter his own bedroom, there was the light thump of a small bag or package being dropped on the floor – probably an extra towel or change of clothes – and as she pushed open the door behind him, he turned to see her putting her hair up in a bun to keep it from getting wet. She had such thick hair, it took ages to dry out when it got soaked.

His heart skipped a beat when he saw what she was wearing. She'd changed out of her soft clothes, and had put on something he'd never seen before. It was a nightdress, the fabric a soft and shimmery blue, and it reached about halfway down her thighs in a fluttering wave. Her face was the soft pink, not of a blush, but of a recent scrubbing, and he thought he caught the hint of some faint but pleasant fragrance about her as the fan brushed over her, rustling her dress. It was something tropical, like guava or mango or passionfruit. She liked fruity and tropical scents. So did he.

He also noticed that she had shaved very recently, and her arms and legs were both smooth. Her left knee had a small razor-nick, which she'd covered with a dab of super glue to keep from irritating her.

He liked little flaws like that. Those tiny mistakes, the scars of her past battles, her mishaps and mismovements, all delighted him. They reminded him how wonderfully human she was. He desired no goddess or queen, nor any kind of perfect being. He'd had enough of such things. He wanted reality, and peace, and that never-ending kindness that he'd only ever seen in a scarce handful of people in his life. One had been his grandfather, and he'd missed it desperately since the man's passing. Another had been, surprisingly, his old friend from Complutense, the mycologist Carlos Torres, for whom he'd held a lone wake some month after settling down. It was a rare thing, that trait. He'd despaired of ever finding it in a prospective mate.

More fool him.

He stood, wiped his hand dry, and went to her. He placed his hands on her hips and drew her in towards him, all but purring as she pressed up against him, reciprocating his affection. "I've never seen you in that," he commented. "Where did you get it?"

She rolled a shoulder casually. "Kohl's. Ashley and I went last time she was in town. Do you like it?"

"I love it. It's almost beautiful enough that I feel bad about taking it off."

As he said this he reached down and snaked his hands under the hem of it, sliding it slowly up between the bare centimeter-wide channel he'd permitted between their bodies. She took a deep, steadying breath as he undressed her, as she always did – still faintly skittish – and raised her arms to help get it off. He folded it easily over his hand and draped it on the towel rack, as he knew she would not appreciate it being tossed on the floor.

He then reached down to take off anything else she might be wearing, but he found there was no need. She'd been quite undressed underneath.

Instead he began running his fingers up and down her sides and back, and he discovered her skin to be abnormally smooth. He knew what that meant – she'd splurged on one of those fancy bathing additions her sister got her sometimes, and recently. And to top that off, he was sure she'd applied lotion to a handful of choice locations. The good stuff, too. That was where the tropical scent was coming from.

Her hands came up and tentatively worked themselves under the hem of his own shirt. She was always so bashful about getting him undressed, which amused him to no end since he knew how much she enjoyed seeing his body. He would never forget the first time he'd allowed her to explore him. He'd been sitting up in his bed, she'd settled down in his lap, and she'd spent a good twenty minutes simply running her hands over his chest, up and down his back, along his arms, his neck, his face, his hair, her cheeks crimson and her eyes never quite touching his for more than a moment or two. She'd been enthralled with him.

He'd wondered if his own scars would bother her. They hadn't. He still recalled how she'd shimmied down his body and begun placing soft kisses all up and down his torso, hitting each and every one of his numerous flaws.

You're magnificent, she'd said, and he'd all but keened beneath her. Those words still rung in his head. He'd been called many things in his day, but…magnificent. That was his favorite by far.

He shrugged his shirt off, then quickly undid his belt and dropped everything else away, kicking it all carelessly to the side. She liked her clothes to be kept clean and dry, but he couldn't care less about his. He was just impatient to be in the tub with her.

He turned the adjustable lights down low, whirled her around, and she stepped over the rim, dipping a foot in to check the temperature. He watched her reaction. Had he gotten the water too cool?

She sank her whole leg in, settling against one end of the tub to give him room to get in as well. She sighed as she sank in, nearly to her neck. "Perfect," she said.

She was looking at the faucet rather than at him as he stepped in. She never watched him get in or out of the tub, and was terribly modest in this regard. The only time she even openly and unabashedly admired his body was when he wasn't watching her. He couldn't count the number of times he'd closed his eyes for a rest, or to bait her, and opened them suddenly to see her drinking in the sight of him. Her eyes often darted away, or up to his face, or sometimes she'd hide herself, burying her face in his neck or chest and peppering him with kisses.

He sat down as well. Indeed, the temperature was perfect, though it wouldn't stay that way for long. But that was alright, he supposed. Maybe he would be able to convince her to stay the night. He'd managed it once, when she'd fallen asleep against him in the tub. He'd gotten her out, dried her off, and carried her half-conscious to his bed. She'd been alarmed upon waking up, not wanting anyone to know that she'd spent the night with him, but no one had noticed.

If only I'd thought to bring the champagne over, he thought wistfully. I might have been able to cozy up to her all night long.

Once he was settled, she shifted over to him in the tub, careful not to disturb the water too much. He leaned back against the gently curved wall, and she snuggled up against him, her whole bare body flush with his at last.

He was nearly aching with the need for more contact, more friction, but he'd learned how to restrain himself. Self-discipline was second hat to him, now. He wrapped his arms around her and began running his fingers gently up and down her arm, just the way he knew she liked, and whispered in her ear,

"There is no place in the world I'd sooner be than right here. Everything I could possibly desire is right here in my arms. You know that, sí?"

"Mmm," she hummed contentedly, and laid her head against his chest. She, too, took up lightly stroking his skin, and he swallowed heavily as her fingers slid across his collarbone. In all likelihood, they would sit like this for an hour or more, largely quiet, just touching each other and being close. In a way it was torment for him, but it was a torment that he loved.

And perhaps, if he was lucky, she would lather up one hand with the oil he kept on the lip of the tub just for such applications, dip it beneath the water, and treat him to a little surprise. She'd done it twice before, playing with him, teasing him, movements ramping up and up and up until he'd come undone. She'd lay against him, then, trembling with exhilaration, thrilled at the knowledge that she'd been the cause of his undoing, and of the hazy white cloud permeating the water.

Not this time, though. He could already feel her dozing against him, content with these simplest of ministrations, and he suspected that he'd be tending to himself tonight. That was fine. He did not mind, especially when he had the sight of her lovely body to inspire himself. Ah, the situations he'd dreamed her into.

He tilted his head back, dozing, and she did the same, occasionally waking to sip at the water he'd fetched for them. The fan drifted across them, periodically cooling the sweat on their brows and shoulders, and for a good, long while, they simply lay.

Eventually the water began to cool. As it did, he noticed something strange. Ordinarily he would feel Aurelleah's heartbeat slow as time went on, and for a long while it had as she'd drifted closer to sleep, but how he swore he felt its pace increasing. Fluttering, even.

He'd closed his eyes. Now he opened them to see her staring dreamily at nothing in particular, pupils heavily dilated, and he wondered if he might not get some satisfaction from her before bed after all. That scent hung about her tonight.

He brought a hand around to her behind and gave it a good, firm squeeze. He knew she liked this. Indeed, he felt her quiver against him, and she took a deep, long breath.

"The water cools. We'll have to get out soon," he said, slipping a hint of suggestiveness into his tone.

She nodded, then, to his mild disappointment, began standing up. No bathtub treat for him tonight…though she may have other things in mind. She sometimes did.

He followed her, pulling the plug to let the water drain, and they both toweled off. She went over to her nightdress, and he thought she was going to put it on again, but to his delight she was only bringing it out of the bathroom. She draped it carefully over the headboard as she entered his bedroom.

His curtains were drawn, both the normal ones and the blackout ones. He saw that she'd shut and locked his door on the way in, too, and as she settled onto the edge of the bed, he knew that the night was not quite finished yet.

He came over to her, kneeling on the floor between her legs, and rested his chin on one of her thighs. He looked up at her and asked, "Something on your mind, mi cadenza?"

The lighting in here was dim, cast by two low lamps on either side of the bed. That, combined with the dilation of her pupils, meant that he could see only a thin cobalt ring in her eyes. He loved that ring. It was her most beautiful accessory.

Then she looked into his eyes and said, "Luis, I want to do it tonight."

His heart skipped a beat in his chest. He missed a breath. Did she mean…?

He rose from the floor and leaned over her, arms to either side of her, palms pressing into the bed as he brought his face to hers. He licked his lips. Well washed, well shaved, a lovely dress, and an evening of pleasant restraint. Yes, she meant it.

"All the way, mi amor?"

She nodded.

He shivered, then pushed her back fully onto the bed. Oh, he'd been waiting for this so very, very long.

He placed a hand on her hip, but before diving right in, he forced himself to take at least some small sliver of responsibility. He asked, "When was your last cycle?"

"A couple weeks ago. We'll be fine."

She'd definitely been preparing for this. He knew she was not on the pill, he did not even own condoms, and he had no intention of pulling out, so it was up to timing to keep any accidents from happening. Not that he'd mind terribly if they did. He could not wait to start having children with her. Lots of them. She was in agreement with him on this.

His fingers twitched as he pondered where to start. This was a momentous occasion. He intended to make it excellent for her. His eyes lowered to her lips, soft and parted, and he decided you could not go wrong with simple beginnings. He began with a kiss.

She took a deep breath through her nose as he slipped into her mouth, which still tasted slightly of lemon – most refreshing. As he kissed her, he smoothed a hand up from her hip to one breast, gently caressing it, teasing the already-hardening nipple, and she moaned gently into his mouth.

Her hands came up as well, wrapping around his back, fingertips tracing themselves firmly over his muscles, and the simple contact roused him considerably. It always did with her. The result of so much restraint was that every shred of affection was satisfying in the extreme…and tonight, he would indulge himself to the fullest. And he would indulge her, as well.

He knew what she liked, where she liked to be kissed and touched. He broke from her lips and lowered himself to her neck, worrying at the soft skin he found there. Her chin tilted up, and her next breath was expelled in a high, pleased shudder as he worked his way across her throat. It was always her weak spots, her most vulnerable places, that she liked him touching. She liked when he would pin her wrists to the bed, keep her moveless with his weight and strength, and once, not long ago, he'd bent her over the couch, keeping her stationary while he'd ravished her with his hands. She'd mewled and writhed like mad, and had been thoroughly satisfied by the end of his attack.

In other words, she liked being controlled. This was perfect, as he very much enjoyed doing the controlling.

He growled low and dipped down, nipping at her collarbone. The season was now too warm for her to get away with a scarf, so he would be considerate enough not to leave any marks on her neck, but she would not be able to get away with any low-cut clothing for a few days. Or weeks. He nipped hard.

She whimpered, and he felt the suggestion of a buck in her hips. He dropped down further, teeth trailing over her skin, and latched onto a breast. She bucked in earnest this time.

As he started in exclusively on this soft tissue, one hand came up and gathered her wrists in his grip, pinning them above her head. She arched into his mouth, hips digging into the bed to brace herself with the loss of her hands, and he slipped between her thighs as they wrapped around him. One calf coming up to smooth itself up and down the back of his leg. He loved it. Her skin was so soft.

He was rock hard by then, and he knew full well that she would already be quite ready for him, but he had no intention of cutting so quickly to the chase. Still, he thrust his hips against her, rubbing his cock against the soft and increasingly moist skin of her inner thigh, enjoying what friction he could as he gently mauled the firm, modest swells of her breasts.

She was a quiet girl by nature. He had to really work her into vocalizing her ecstasy. As he continued, her soft, barely-audible moans hitched up into high mewls that she had to struggle to keep in. He did nothing to help her in this regard. He wanted to hear them.

He broke off, leaning back and shifting his weight to keep her hips pinned. One hand remained clenched on her wrists, and in this position, he had her body quite nicely bared to him.

She looked up at him with huge eyes, chest heaving with quick, sharp breaths, and he brought a hand up to stroke her cheek. She turned into it, nose nuzzling her palm, and she kissed the only parts of him she could reach, lips touching on each fingertip before he smoothed his thumb over her lips.

It slid past them, and she took to sucking lightly on it. This brought to mind other things he could have her suck on, but he didn't think he had the patience to endure such ministrations without giving out completely. He intended to pour every ounce of himself into her tonight, for as long as he possibly could. All of his strength, his determination, would be put into servicing her.

"Mi cadenza," he rumbled, voice deeper than a tiger's growl as he slipped his hand up to her hairline, sliding his fingers through her soft, silky locks. So deep and beautiful. "Mi amor."

"Luis," she sighed, closing her eyes and creasing her brow as she wrapped her legs tightly around his, taking what action she could in her restrained state. "Please…"

He grinned that roguish grin of his, and asked, "Please, what?"

Her eyes flickered open wide, and for a moment she looked totally distracted. He tilted his head curiously. Had his words had an effect on her?

She breathed deeply and drew her gaze away from whatever memory he'd conjured up, locking instead on his own dark eyes. She bit her lip, unwilling to say what it was she wanted.

He did not press her. She did not need to voice her wants. He knew.

He let go of her wrists and slipped his weight down a bit. He trailed his fingers down her body, dusting them over her hips, finally lightly brushing the soft, dark curls that she'd lately been keeping so well trimmed and groomed. Her hips bucked again at this touch, and she let out the smallest of cries when one finger finally dipped into that tight, hot little cove.

He worked this finger in and out, gently stretching the muscles. He ran his thumb over her clit, producing another small cry, though this time her hips tried jerking away. He hissed and pressed harder. She threw her head back with something that was nearly a yelp. He knew that she almost never touched herself, and had never made use of any of the fun little toys that so many girls availed themselves of nowadays. As a result, she was extremely sensitive.

"Please…" she whimpered. "Please, please, please, Luis…"

Just then, her hand came down, unnoticed, and slipped around his cock, thumb running firmly down from the head to the base as she stroked it.

He bared his teeth and let out a small growl of satisfaction. And not at the touch, though that was pleasant enough. No, he just loved it, absolutely loved it, when she begged. And now, given what she was begging for…

"Yes, mi cadenza. Right away," he said huskily, and withdrew.

He settled her into just the right position. There were many he would want to try with her, but for now, he would start simple. He laid her out and dragged her hips up to his, such that he would be able to lean over her while he had her, and would be able to get a good view of their hips. He wanted to watch it happen this first time. The entering. And he wanted her to watch it, too.

He took his cock in hand and lined it up with her entrance. He was large. Very large, especially compared to her. She'd never in her life had anything bigger than a finger in her, and he was thrilled with the prospect…though he knew it would be uncomfortable for her.

Nevermind. She would endure. And he would be gentle enough.

He drew his gaze away and looked to her face to see that she was already looking down at the place where they were to join. Her gaze was rapt, expression hazy, and he could feel every one of her nerves and muscles singing in anticipation of what was to come. She was ready, and willing, and his.

Her eyes locked onto his, and she swallowed heavily and nodded. As though he'd needed confirmation. He reached up, pecked her once on the lips, then dropped his sight once more. He pushed, shuddering in pleasure as the blunt head of his cock finally pressed into her.

Already, he could tell that she would be the tightest girl he'd even had by a considerable margin. Not surprising, given the difference in their ages and statures. He pushed in an inch or so, and received a whimper. One more, and the whimper became a bit harsher. Oh, yes, this would be uncomfortable for her. He'd need to go slow.

But as he slid in just one more inch, her hand came up to the small of his back, pressing weakly, and she gasped, "Please, all of it. Please."

He looked up from his gradual penetration, and frowned. "That would hurt, mi amor."

But when she locked gazes with him again, he saw only hot, shaky resolve. "You know I can handle pain."

He shuddered powerfully, and not in displeasure. His cock, not even half-submerged, twitched sharply. His little Valkyrie.

How could I deny you anything, mi cadenza? He thought, and thrust all the way home.

He tilted his head back, groaning in sheer bliss, as he was completely enveloped in her. He felt her clench down on him at once, a hitching cry forced from her throat, and he knew that every part of her had just tensed in response to the brutal penetration.

He meant to remain still within her to allow her time to adjust. Truly, he did. But he could not quite stop his hips from beginning a small, gentle assault on the young body below right away. They bucked softly into her, rutting mere centimeters in and out, but he knew it was enough to agitate her. She was biting down on the groans of discomfort, but she could not hide her expression.

He forced himself to still, and at once she gasped, "No, it's okay…please, just…"

Ah, how was he to restrain himself with her encouraging him in such a manner? To compensate for the pain he caused her as he began his gentle rut again, he leaned down and latched onto her neck, softly sucking at the skin in just the way he knew she liked. She kept her sounds to herself as he tended to her, moving from the base of the shoulder up the jugular, and even further up to her ear, and he hoped the pleasure was enough to offset the rest.

As the minutes ticked on, he gradually felt her relax beneath him, and he sighed heavily into the crook of her neck. He withdrew nearly all the way…then slowly pushed forward again, and this time the sound he received was not a sharp cry of pain, but a deep gasp.

Ahh, there you are.

He did this again, and again, and again, and now her gasps shifted into moans, and with that last slow thrust he felt her thrust back against him, clearly ready for more.

He leaned back again and watched their joining as he began a nice, steady rhythm. His eyes were half closed in the slow fervor of the moment, and he groaned long and low as he got along, working himself up to the frenzy he craved.

He didn't need the sweet cacophony of sounds now flowing from her throat to tell him that she was ready for it. Nor did he need her hands, now reaching up to scrawl softly on the skin of his hips, his back, his shoulders, to communicate this. She was exuding her desire through every pore, and it hung in the air like a rich and intoxicating perfume. She wanted everything he could give her, and she wanted it now.

But his need for control was gripping him again, and he was not about to rush hastily to such conclusions as she desired. He maintained his steady pace, though he did increase the force of his thrusts, pounding into her core with slow deliberation. She threw back her head and nearly sobbed with want as, just for a few moments, he rutted forward sharply and harshly, testing the waters. Oh, yes, he knew what she wanted. She wanted him to take her like an animal, to ravish her, to fuck her into a senseless little heap.

He would, but not yet. She had a little ways to go before that.

He reached up and looped his fingers through her hair, gently tugging her head up. "Watch," he said. "Do you see what I'm doing to you? Hmm?"

Her eyes, clouded with biological reaction, went first to his in confusion. Then they dropped to the sweet spot of their joining, and became fixed as he dragged his cock out of her, sliding it in again slowly enough to let her see every inch. She whimpered.

He licked his lips. "Do you like that? Hm?"

She whimpered again, and he tightened his grip on her hair. Not much, just enough to hint at discomfort, and she gasped, "Yes…"

"Do you want more?"

This time she answered right away. "Yes…"

"Are you sure?" He prompted. It wasn't her permission he was asking after, though. Hopefully she would pick up on this.

"Y-y-y…" she stammered for a moment, then figured it out. She knew what he liked.

"Nnn…please. Please, please, please, Luis…"

That was it.

He pulled out completely, sitting back, and her eyes went up to his, alarmed. He could almost see what question in them – What did I do wrong?

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. He just needed a better vantage point to watch her fall apart.

He grabbed her hips and twisted them, encouraging her to turn over, and understanding lit her features. She went, quickly taking on the stance he sought from her, and in a moment he had her on her hands and knees.

He pushed her shoulders gently down onto the bed, and she collapsed obligingly. He liked this position. Liked to see her palms splayed flat on the expanse of the bed, though goodness knew she'd need a sturdier stance to hold her own against what was coming. Oh, this was going to be delicious.

He lined himself up with her once more, slid the head of his cock in, paused, and said, "Good girl. Good girl. Oh, Aurelleah…"

And he started thrusting.

He went rough and fast from the get-go, and she gasped and had to move her arms quickly to brace herself against the powerful drive of his hips. He grunted low, wrapping an arm around her hips from behind as he began rutting into her like an animal, using his other hand to steady himself against the bed.

His cock was on fire, a red-hot ramrod that he drove into her with punishing speed. At long last, he did as he'd been dying to do since their very first embrace, and let his mind sink completely into that hot pool of impulse that rested on the edge of his soul. He gave in, focusing solely on the sheer, unfathomable pleasure of the moment, and his inner beast howled with mirth.

Take her, fuck her, use her! Don't stop! Finally, finally!

The moments bled into minutes, and it seemed like these just went on and on. The world became nothing but the rough snap of hips, the soft, hitching cries and low, feral groans, the scent of her, of him, of them, and all the while, that hardline of pleasure that went from his cock straight through his ego and up to his brain.

But he couldn't keep this up forever. Part of him wanted to, but as the time went on and she began shuddering and quaking beneath him, another desire welled up inside him. The desire to lay that best of claims to her, the one that she'd be able to feel until every drop of it had seeped out of her. And this desire was quickly taking precedence.

He reigned it in, and his inner beast howled its fury. Mine. Don't stop. She was made for this. She wants it, damnit!

But he wanted more. He kept going. And now he brought a hand down between her legs to work her towards it.

As soon as he touched her clit, she bucked hard against him, a little yowl escaping her, and he clenched his teeth and held onto her more tightly. His little vixen. His little Valkyrie.

He touched on that sensitive nub again, and this time his grip was iron. She couldn't get away, though her movements did throw off his rhythm a bit. He worked that bud over, rubbing quick little circles into it until every muscle in her body was taut. She was overstimulated, he was sure, but if that's what it took, that's what it took. He would not be denied much longer.

He regained his momentum, his rapid strokes, and combined with his new assault on that most sensitive part of her body, it wasn't long before she was coming apart beneath him.

He felt it building in her, and his focus narrowed. She was no longer struggling, her body was past that. She was a tense little ball of nerves centered solely on the junction of their hips, beyond resistance. He felt her gradually tightening, right on the edge, until—

Finally.

Her throat clenched on the latest whimper, and she went dead silent as her tight, young channel became tighter still, clamping down on him as she came apart at the seams. And with that, he came as well.

He'd never had an orgasm like this in his life. He pressed himself hard against her, buried to the hilt, and shot his seed as deep as he could in long, powerful spurts. It seemed to him to go on and on, far longer than he was accustomed to, perhaps having to do with how long it had been since he'd last tended to himself. It had been nearly a week, and he'd been stiff and ready for well over an hour.

Oh, he reveled in it. No barriers between them, chemical or physical. He let himself go, holding her tightly, and it made him feel powerful. Very powerful. As well he should. After all, was he not the guardian of her very life? Had he not proven himself the strongest, the fittest, the finest possible mate?

Oh, yes. He'd earned this.

Slowly, he calmed as her body milked him of those last few scalding drops. She, too, relaxed beneath him, slumping weakly into the bed, only held up now by his grasp on her hips. He let go of her, and she tumbled onto her side before rolling over onto her back, clamping her legs together and twisting her hips back and forth in remnant reaction. Working the last of those nerves out, no doubt.

He liked the sight of that. It reminded him of the way female cats would behave after being mated, writhing around to work the male's contribution deeper into their bodies. He nestled himself between her hips again, brought them up onto his lap, and began gently but firmly massaging her lower abdomen.

She sighed in bliss as he did this, and slowly the last of the tremors faded out of her body. Her eyes drooped until they were only halfway open. She watched him drowsily until his own tiredness began to encroach, and he lowered her hips and laid down beside her.

He reached over to turn off the lights, encasing them in darkness. In that darkness, her arms wrapped around him, and she pressed herself tightly against him. Her head came up to rest on his shoulder, and she said quietly, "I love you, Luis."

He breathed deeply and pulled her close, wanting to hear those words again. "Hmm?"

She repeated herself, a little louder. "I love you, Luis."

He smiled playfully. "Sorry, what was that?"

He felt her grin against his skin, and a shaky laugh came from her. "Luis…"

"One more time, mi cadenza. Por favor?"

She sighed, though not in exasperation. "I love you, Luis."

He closed his eyes, sinking into the peace and quiet of this, his new home. This girl – this woman – lying beside him.

His love. His strength. His song. She was his home. And he had been welcomed to it, at last.

"I love you, too, Aurelleah. Mi amor. Mi cadenza. For the rest of my life, I love you."

Entwined in the warm darkness, they slept.

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OoO

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I've never in my life published anything quite that explicit, though I've written a bit of it before. Namely an alternative take on a relationship in First Impressions that I will never be publishing. Don't ask.

Anyways, thanks to my most recent reviewers, Vio and Uzu, as well as to my recurring friend Evolution, who was there from the very first chapter! Love and appreciation to all of those who have stuck around for so long, and particularly to my reviewers. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I start these stories for me. I finish them for you. Though, to that effect, I'm surprised to have already gotten a notable touch of interest in starting an RE5 fic. I've never started a story for anyone before - though I had some oddball request that I write them a fic about someone named Maria Larosa a while back - and I'm still on the fence. As some of you now know, I stick with a story to the end when I start it. It would really be an investment. A fun investment, but I was really starting to get burned out by the end of this one.

I'll keep thinking about it. Anyways, I thank you all again for your support and kind words. Please, do let me know if there's anything you feel is missing, aside from the obvious. And I'll be happy to field any unanswered questions if any remain.

Truly and Sincerely,

Always Yours,

The Topaz Dragon