*Once again, still not a medical professional.

Chapter 13:

Veronica ran over to them, blood running cold at the sight of her friend being shot. The gunfire had stopped as soon as the pair hit the floor since Annette was trying to make her escape. Kneeling at his side, the brunette watched the crimson spill from his shoulder so she began to quickly pull off her elbow pads and her windbreaker.

She pressed the jacket to his shoulder, unsure of what to do, but knowing she had to stop the bleeding somehow. Leon hissed in pain, eyes shutting tightly at the pressure put on it. You could tell he was trying to stay conscious but was losing the battle quickly. She could barely hear a mechanical door starting to close off Annette's exit while Ada tried to shoot at her. But it was all white noise in the background. All she could focus on was the man bleeding out on the floor.

"You'll never get the G-Virus!" Annette screamed at them before running away, the giant door shutting behind her. Ada stood up, eyes still focused on where Annette disappeared.

"Didn't expect that from a scientist." After a particularly loud grunt from Leon, Ada finally looked down and knelt at his side. "Leon."

"Forget about me...Just go...Stop her before she gets away," was all he could say before finally passing out. She looked over at the doorway then stood up.

"Are you actually going to go?!" Ada looked down at the young girl with a nod.

"You heard him. I have to go after her before she gets away! You can take it from here." Veronica only shook her head, eyes brimming with tears.

"Please don't leave us! I need your help!"

"But Annette-."

"Ada, I don't know what to do! I 've never dealt with bullet wounds before. You can't just leave him like this, please!" Veronica pleaded, hot tears falling down her cheeks. The agent looked at her and Leon then to where Annette disappeared then back again.

Despite being not much older than they were, she had to remember that she had more experience with this type of stuff. Not to mention, Leon did just save her life. She groaned then began taking off her coat and laying it at Leon's feet, revealing the red satin cocktail dress that hugged her figure. A cute black bralette covered her chest from the low neckline the dress had and it matched the black choker around her neck.

It shocked Veronica, mainly because it was such an out of place outfit for not only an F.B.I. agent, but for someone going through a zombie outbreak. That and, now with her sunglasses removed, she could now see that Ada was a beautiful woman.

"Fine. I'll help, but first I'm going to need you to calm down."

The brunette watched as she knelt back down and began digging through her trenchcoat pockets for a roll of gauze and small first aid kit. As she opened it for a pair of tweezers, Veronica tried calming herself down by taking some deep breaths and wiping her tears away. Looking down at Leon, she could see him growing pale, probably due to the pain and the minor blood loss. This was not the time to have a breakdown again.

"Keep putting pressure. We don't want him bleeding out," Ada instructed her, causing her to press a little harder. "Do you have any first aid supplies?"

"I have a bag of mixed medicinal herbs and a first aid spray. He might have a couple of sprays on him too."

"We'll just use what we both have. Take out your spray, he's going to need it. When he's awake, he should probably take some of the herbs as a backup. But first, I have to take out the bullet. Help me with his clothes."

The two girls set to work on undoing Leon's vest and his shirts. He would groan every now and again from the pain but remained unconscious. They unbuttoned and took off his police uniform shirt then began lifting his long-sleeved undershirt.

As they pulled it up, the two women were pleasantly surprised by the young man's well defined upper body. Oh, fuck! Despite bleeding from a gunshot wound, his muscles were toned and nicely sculpted, clearly showing that Leon took care of himself. Being a new policeman and all, it would make sense. His body and that face, it had to be a crime to be this attractive. The girls glanced up at each other with looks of mutual understanding then back at Leon.

"Well, aren't you the lucky one," Ada said with a slight smirk as she tossed the blood-soaked shirt. Veronica blushed at that, keeping her eyes on Leon's face.

"Uh, we're not-."

"Use this to clean the blood," Ada interrupted while giving the other a piece of the gauze. The younger took it and began wiping the blood that would seep out of the bullet wound while Ada worked with the tweezers.

"How long have you known each other?" she asked nonchalantly as though she wasn't peering down into a bloody hole.

"Not for long. I'm not really sure how much time has passed since we met." Ada blinked up at her in surprise.

"That's surprising." A pained groan from below them caught her attention. She took a moment to dig for the bullet before pulling it out in one piece.

"You got it!"

"Ok, now I need you to spray the entire area. Hold down his other shoulder, he might thrash a little." Veronica uncapped the spray then did as she said.

"Sorry, Leon," she said before spraying all over the wound. The officer cried out in pain trying to move away, but the girls kept their grip on him. After a minute, he stopped moving and whimpered softly before getting quiet again. Ada placed the rest of the gauze on top of the wound then brought out medicinal tape.

"Help me sit him against the wall. It'll be easier to bandage him." With a bit of a struggle, the girls hauled him against one of the concrete walls. He was heavier than he looked. Veronica kept him sitting forward while Ada began wrapping his shoulder in bandages.

"Ada, thank you for staying," the young girl said softly, causing the agent to pause in her work. "You could've left and gone after Annette, but you didn't. I just...thank you." Ada sighed and gave her a small smile. It was nice to see after only getting either mad or neutral expressions all night.

"I'm not that heartless, so...you're welcome, Veronica. Thank you for helping me in my mission." Veronica smiled back and nodded in response. Ada continued her bandaging and finished rather quickly before setting her tools away.

The undershirt was too bloody and would probably make things worse, so they left it on the ground. The girls did, however, slip his uniform shirt and his bulletproof vest back on. Veronica seemed to have a hard time getting the bandaged shoulder through his sleeve, so she opted to cut it off with one of her knives. It wasn't the cleanest cut, but it would have to do. Tucking his shirt back into his pants was an experience she didn't think would happen so soon, but considering the situation they were in, she had to fight some inappropriate thoughts in her head.

As she was buttoning up his shirt, there was a sound of beeping coming from the device in Ada's pocket. The agent took it out and began walking towards the other end of the room to talk in private. Veronica couldn't hear the other end, only mumbles, but she could hear Ada's voice.

"I'm right outside the facility, in pursuit of Annette." There was a moment of the other line talking before she continued. "If it's not on her, it must be in the NEST." Some more muffled talking. "Once it's in hand, I'll call for extraction." NEST? Extraction?

Veronica was placing the vest back over Leon when Ada walked back over. She looked around then reached into her gun holster to pull out her gun. She checked it for ammunition before turning to the younger.

"I have to go and find Annette. She shouldn't have gotten far. You stay here and watch Leon until he wakes up. When he does, you both can catch up." Veronica looked up at her in surprise.

"It's too dangerous to go alone. Can't you wait for us?"

"There's no time. We have to stop her and Umbrella before it's too late. If you're worried, you could tag along." The young girl looked down at the unconscious man and shook her head.

"I can't just leave him."

"Then stay here and I'll go. I can take care of myself pretty well." She picked up her trenchcoat and laid it over his legs. "Keep him warm and make sure he doesn't die."

"Ok. Please be careful, Ada!" The F.B.I. agent nodded before running down the corridor towards a ladder that led up to a giant fan in the wall. She put her gun away then reached into another holster and pulled out a small gadget.

"You can run Annette, but you can't hide. It's secret weapon time," she said to herself before aiming it at the wall. Veronica watched curiously as some beeping noises came out of it then Ada aimed it at the fan. To the brunette's surprise, the blades started spinning faster and faster till it exploded, revealing an opening for Ada to walk in.

"Holy shit!"

Ada smirked at her before climbing the ladder up to the opening. Unfortunately, the moment she was at the top, the ladder broke behind her, bending backward awkwardly. Clearly, it had rusted badly enough over time and no one had climbed up it for a while.

"Damn! There should be other ways to find me. Just look around. You'll find one," Ada said, before turning and disappearing. Veronica could hear her heeled footsteps fading away as she ran. There was another muffled explosion then silence.

The room suddenly felt so empty, leaving the couple with only the sounds of both of their breathing and the soft hum of the machinery around them. They were alone now and it was unsettling.

She finished clipping on his vest then pulled away. Looking down at her blood-stained arms, she decided to roll up her sleeves up to her forearms and took off her gloves. She didn't need to constantly see his blood on her. She rubbed the blood off her gloves with one of the last clean parts of her jacket before discarding the thing overall. It was too damaged and covered in blood to use anymore.

Placing her gloves and her elbow pads back on, she made sure the room was sealed off before plopping next to Leon against the wall. Her back ached as it pressed against the cold concrete but slowly faded to the back of her mind. Looking over her friend, he was still breathing just fine and his face was slowly returning some color. She took one of his hands in her own and was happy to feel them getting warmer in her palm. She gave it a squeeze before scooting closer.

Body heat was a type of warmth that he probably needed, so this was fine, right? She was even a little cold too if she were honest. She was still slightly wet from the rain and she felt so bare without the jacket. Taking a moment to relax the tension in her body after the whole thing, she laid her head on his shoulder. They sat in silence which seemed almost unbearable after all of the shit they had been through. It was strange, really.

She peered down at their joined hands, rubbing across the soft skin of his with her thumb. He sighed softly next to her, still unconscious, and gently tightened his hand's grip in hers. She got excited for a moment thinking he might've woken up, but found his eyes still closed. Looking back at their joined hands, she realized he unintentionally cuddled closer and it made her feel warm inside.

It was weird to think that they hadn't met that long ago, and now here they were, partners in crime sitting in the sewers of Raccoon City while working with a federal agent. It almost felt like a movie with how everything turned out. But it was just more terrifying then she realized. If she had told her past self from a year ago that this would be happening, she would think she was crazy, but it was all too real.

Minutes went by as she waited, listening to his breathing. It wasn't so labored anymore, which was a good sign, but he still wasn't waking up. She sniffled a little at that thought, wondering how much longer he would sleep for. It was scary watching him bleed out like that.

After all the time they had spent together, she came to truly accept that she truly cared for him, whether as a friend or something more, she wasn't sure she could totally answer. But she cared nonetheless. At the gun shop from before, she could pinpoint that moment she fell for him, but she couldn't admit it out loud or to herself that she did. This wasn't a good time to like someone so much. It could get them killed if they're not careful. But she couldn't help what her heart felt.

"Leon, I hope you wake up soon. It's so scary being alone. I could really use a smile right about now." She closed her eyes, waiting in hopes of getting some sort of response, but was instead met with silence. Opening her eyes again, she kept her gaze on their shoes sitting next to each other. She bit her lip, unsure if she should do something to pass the time before just saying fuck it.

"You...are my sunshine, my only sunshine," she softly sang. It was a song her mom would sing to her to make her feel better when she was feeling down, and now was definitely one of those moments. She paused for a moment to see if anything would happen and when nothing did, she continued. "You make me happy...when skies are grey. You'll never know dear, how much I... love you. Please don't take my sunshine away." She sniffled more, feeling her eyes starting to water. "Please don't take my sunshine...away."

"I was right." Veronica shot up in surprise and turned to see Leon awake and smiling at her weakly. "You do sound great." She couldn't help the soft smile on her own face even as she was tearing up. He reached up with the uninjured arm to cup her cheek and brush away the tears with his thumb. "Don't cry, Vee. I'm alright." She laughed weakly as she leaned into his touch.

"How can I not? You just got shot!"

"But I'm still alive because of you." She shook her head.

"I had a little help. If it wasn't for Ada, I don't know what would've happened." He blinked suddenly remembering the government agent that was with them.

"Ada? Where is she?" he asked, glancing around the room then down at the trenchcoat on his legs. He dropped his hand to toss the coat to the side. While reaching over, he winced and reached up to his injured shoulder, finding it bandaged.

"After she helped you, she ran off to find Annette. I wanted her to wait for us, but she said there wasn't enough time." He looked back up at her.

"Why didn't you go with her?"

"And leave you here? Alone? And injured? I couldn't just abandon you!"

"But Ada-." She leaned forward and cupped his cheek tenderly to interrupt him.

"We're partners...aren't we? We stick together. I have your back," she said to him softly.

"And I have yours," he finished.

"Always." He sighed softly as he gazed at her with a fondness in his eyes.

"You really did save my life...again," he chuckled. She did the same, brushing her thumb against his cheek as he nuzzled into her touch.

"Now, I really should be getting a reward for being your knight in shining armor. But I'm not sure if a police paycheck will be nearly enough," she teased playfully.

"Is that so? Veronica, if I didn't know any better, I would think you were flirting with me," he grinned cheekily. She bit her lip at that and scooted a little closer.

"Well...maybe I am." She gently brushed away the hair out of his eyes, allowing blue eyes to meet brown ones. They both found themselves following the magnetic pull between them as they slowly leaned in towards each other.

Her heart pounded in her chest as she closed her eyes, the distance between them diminishing. Their lips barely brushed together when, suddenly, Leon hissed out in pain and fell back against the wall. Quickly pulling away, she could see him grasping at his shoulder in pain.

"Whoa take it easy! Are you ok?" He gave her a weak chuckle as he gently patted at his wound.

"I tried lifting my arm, but that didn't go too well. I'm sorry." She shook her head with an understanding smile.

"Don't be. It's ok! I don't want you hurting yourself more. Besides...we might not have as much time as we'd like." His eyes twinkled slightly at the idea but understood. Instead, he sighed, exhaustion evident in his face.

"Damn it." He paused then the corner of his lip curved up in a small smile. "I would hug you, but I kinda can't right now." She bit her lip to keep from giggling, her own words being said to her. Things really are coming full circle, aren't they?

"Will this do?" she asked before leaning in and pressing her lips to his cheek to kiss softly. Pulling away, she found him smiling at her fondly.

"That'll do just nicely," he sighed, happily. She smiled then leaned over to look at his shoulder, pulling back the fabric to check the wound.

"How are you holding up?"

"Doesn't feel too great, not going to lie."

"I don't doubt it. It still looks ok. Do we still have those pain pills?" Leon nodded then gestured to the pouch on his left side. Veronica reached over and felt around for them in the bag before pulling them out. She popped out a couple of them then gave them to him to take. He did so and the pair decided to wait till they would kick in before going after Ada.

Veronica sat across from him while he continued to rest against the wall and slightly tested his mobility. She had him take some of the herbs as well, to see if it could speed up some sort of healing process. But considering the severity of the injury, it's possible that it wouldn't do anything. It was worth a try, though.

"Anything happen while I was out?" the young officer asked.

"Besides patching you up, I found out Ada's hot underneath that coat of hers," Veronica answered with a raise of her eyebrows. He looked at her in slight surprise.

"Is she now?"

"Yeah," she paused, realizing she hadn't told him about her sexuality. It was going to happen eventually, but she was nervous. She trusted him wholeheartedly, enough that she trusted him with her life. So, taking the leap, she said it slowly to him to see how he would react. "You should probably know that I like...both." He blinked at her, letting her words sink in, then nodded with a small relieved sigh.

"Glad to know that I'm not the only one," he smirked. Her eyes widened as a grin grew on her face.

"You are?"

"I may have lied when I said I had only one girlfriend. I also had a boyfriend before her. My, uh, my parents don't know."

"Neither do mine. Being in a Hispanic family makes that hard." Leon nodded in understanding.

"So...Ada's hot then?"

"Whoof! Leon, you should've seen her outfit. Like it's really weird for her to wear at a time like this, but boy is she a looker!"

"What is she wearing?"

"A red satin cocktail dress." He looked at her with a confused expression. "Yeah, I know! I'm just as confused as you are. Aren't F.B.I. agents supposed to dress more…?"

"Professionally? Yeah, that's kinda weird."

"Besides being dressed to kill, HQ called her. I couldn't hear what they were saying but I overheard Ada say something about Annette having something and that if she didn't have it, it was in 'NEST'."

"NEST?"

"Yeah. I'm assuming the thing she was talking about was the G-Virus, but I don't know what NEST is. Ada left before I could ask."

"Weird. When we catch up to her, we'll have to ask. Do you know which way she went?" Veronica pointed down the hall to the broken ladder.

"She went up there. It was actually really cool! She pulled out this gadget that, like, hacked the fan into exploding or something, but the ladder broke when she got up there."

"We would have to find another way then."

"Right."

"We should get going. She might need our help." He said sitting up and away from the wall.

"Are you sure? What about your shoulder?"

"There's no time. I'll be fine. Let's go!" Veronica helped him onto his feet then began looking around for a way to move forward. As they looked, they finally realized the body Annette had set on fire before was now just a charred up skeleton. However, there was something alien-like that looked like it had tried to pop out of the dead man's chest before it could be burned alive. It clearly didn't make it in time since it was also completely charred, but it was still distinguishable to see.

They didn't know what it was, but it was now posed a new possible threat to them. While she was looking at it, Leon noticed a small lift sitting across the room. Calling her over, they both got on and with a push of a button, it lifted them up a floor to an entryway that led to a large room.

"Dammit. Where did you go?" Leon whispered more to himself.

"Don't worry, Leon. We'll find her. Ada's a tough girl, she can take care of herself."

They could hear the sound of rushing water as they entered and found there to be a large sewer opening down below them. Descending down a flight of concrete stairs, they reached an opening that led down into nasty green waters. The pair looked at each other then back down.

"This is gonna suck, isn't it?" the girl murmured.

"Yup."