Thank you to everyone for following & favoriting (does that verb even exist?) this story. I am just happy that people are enjoying it, since I put a lot of love an thoughts into it.

35. Leon

Leon hadn't intended to overhear Claire's conversation with Pineda, but he couldn't help it.

"I think I'm getting used to their glares by now. That's fine, though. As long as there are people like Helena and you, I can survive."

"Ah..but still. You're too nice of a person. Agent Kennedy should do something about that."

Leon frowned. Do something about what? He wondered.

"There's nothing that Leon can do about that. Besides, it is a small thing. Honestly, I couldn't care less about what they have to say. It's just pure blabbery. Leon has better things to do than worry about a bunch of office workers talking on my back…" Claire laughed.

So it was that. Helena had mentioned that some of the ladies around the office had begun talking about Clara in a not very nice way. Helena had seemed irritated, and she had told him that he should do something about it soon, or she'd be forced to kick some butts. Claire was patient enough to ignore them, but Helena wasn't that nice.

"Oh, how do you do that? I even feel my blood boil when I hear them talk…"

"Knowing you're getting mad for me is enough…" Claire laughed, "That's really alluring, Marie. Thank you…"

"You're too nice, Clara. Way too nice, maybe I should persuade Helena to do something about it instead.

Leon snorted. It wouldn't take too much persuasion for the woman to help her.

"Oh, please, don't." Claire sighed.

Leon heard both women laugh. Those women had no idea with whom they were competing and when it had taken him some time to realize it himself, Leon was convinced that Claire was the only one for him.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Eh...sure, what is it?"

"I'm just curious, but...how did you and agent Kennedy end up together?"

Well, that was bold. Leon couldn't help but wonder if this was what Hamil called a typical girls conversation.

"I mean, agent Kennedy is handsome and popular with girls and all, but he's always all about work… how did he end up marrying a welsh biologist?"

Leon pinched the bridge of his nose. It was a good thing that they had already discussed the answer to that question before. In order to make it less likely to mess up, they had made up a story that was pretty close to reality. Claire would pose as some random person he had met in a mission by chance and eventually got romantically involved. If Hunnigan knew how close to reality the story had become, she'd be proud.

"Well...let's say we kind of met up in stormy circumstances. I was a freshman in college. I had gotten myself a scholarship, so I came from Wales to study. Leon was still a rookie cop at the time and we kind of met in...well, let's just say he saved my butt, and I saved his. We became friends after that…"

"Wow, so you know him for a while…"

"Oh...I've known him for years, and I've even seen his not-so-cool face a few times. ." Claire chuckled, "but we were friends for many years, and we both had a thing for each other, and none of us knew it. We were both quite clueless about it…"

Clueless, wouldn't be his adjective. Perhaps denial would have worked better. If he had known things could be as they were now, he'd have taken his chance long before.

"Oh ...oh...and what happened?"

"Well…"

Claire was considering what to say. It was then that Leon decided that he had abused his luck for too long.

"After some life-changing events, let's say we figured out where our priorities should stay…" he said, stepping into the room.

His words weren't far from the truth. It wasn't until she disappeared and returned that he realized how much Claire meant to him.

Claire was surprised by his sudden appearance, and he had to say that the slight flush she had was cute. He put his arm around her waist and pulled her towards him, making Claire a little shocked.

"Oh, agent Kennedy!" Marie said excitedly.

"Geez, Leon. You know gentlemen don't eavesdrop on ladies' talk…" Claire said with a shudder and a glare.

She was embarrassed. Both had come to terms with their relationship, but she still got a little shy about it. Leon didn't mind. That little shyness from a woman he knew to be fearless was adorable.

"I didn't intend to, but since the conversation involved me, I didn't see anything wrong at speaking."

"Still...not nice, Leon. Not nice at all," she pouted, and he smiled, "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I haven't had word from my wife since this morning, and it's almost lunchtime. I thought I should come and check on what was keeping my wife so busy."

In reality, Leon had missed her presence in the office. He'd grown so used to Claire that whenever she wasn't around, he'd worry and feel restless. He was starting to understand why Chris acted the way he did.

"These are the ammunition you've been working in?" Leon asked, looking at the bullets on the table.

"Oh yes," Marie said enthusiastically, "They still need to be tested on real subjects, but I believe they will serve their purpose well…"

"They should work well against the new kind of BOW…" Claire assured.

"Sounds useful…" Leon nodded.

"Well, I appreciate your help today, Clara, but I think your man is demanding your attention now."

Claire's face reddened, and Leon smiled. They said goodbye to Marie before leaving the workshop and heading to their office. Halfway to the elevator, Leon's hand slipped his hand to grab hers, making sure that the gesture was noticeable enough. He was sending out a message, even if it might have looked a little out of character.

"So, I guess the lunch thing was just an excuse?"

"Not really. It is almost lunchtime, and I don't think I want you skipping meals…"

"I assume you already bought my lunch then?"

"You know me well… Hope you don't mind eating at the office."

"Always a gentleman…" Claire chuckled, "And no, I don't mind eating at the office. I did it all the time before."

Claire and Leon ate their lunch while chatting entertainingly, the atmosphere was pleasant, but their meal was interrupted by the repeated arrival of Miss Smith. The woman had arrived to deliver a letter that had mistakenly ended up in Mercer's correspondence. The letter was for Clara, so Leon automatically felt concerned. Clara's existence was fabricated. All those who knew her would not write a letter when they could just call her.

Leon was the one who opened it. The envelope held only a bunch of black and white pictures from people he had never seen before and an old silver locket. The items made no sense, but at least they seemed harmless, or at least that was what he thought until he saw Claire.

She had turned pale as chalk, and her gaze was cloudy and absent. Leon tried calling her several times, but she didn't answer. It was almost as if she had fallen into a trance and was isolated from everything else. He tried shaking her, but she remained unresponsive until suddenly, she gave a shake and collapsed into his arm tremblings. His quick reflexes were to thank for not letting her hit the floor, but he felt something warm spread around his chest, right on the spot where Claire's head rested. She was having another nosebleed. But unlike the one from the night before, the bleeding an alarming amount of blood.

Leon was famous for being stoic and usually calm when he faced a critical situation. He had earned himself the reputation of a cold and always collected agent around the organization, but at that moment, he felt like the rookie cop that ran through the ruins of Raccoon city trying to survive.

"Leon….what's….? " Helena stopped in mid-sentence. She stared at the scene in shock.

Leon was in a panic, something that she had never seen before, and Claire was unconscious in his arm and bleeding.

"Oh my god, Leon…"

"Call Hiwamura, hurry..."

The following hours were tumultuous, but somehow Leon had managed to carry Claire back to her lab, where Hiwamura was waiting for them. The doctor had led them to one of the rooms and then pushed him out unceremoniously.

Leon was pacing around the corridor until Dhriti had come to drag him into the offices and offered him a cup of tisane. The place was uncharacteristically silent since Wallace was absent. The man was currently in BSAA offices helping build the new security system.

His phone rang inside his pocket, and he pulled it out almost automatically.

"Helena," Leon greeted in a soft mutter.

"I finally reached you...I've been trying for hours, Leon…"

"Yeah...I'm sorry, I…"

"How is she?"

"I still don't know. Hiwamura hasn't come out yet." he sighed.

Helena didn't answer immediately; he could tell that she was thinking something but was pondering whether it was the right time to ask.

"I see…" she finally said, "I took the package to Hunnigan. We'll try to track down those photos and the locket. I already requested the security footage to see if we can find who delivered it."

"Good...let me know if you find anything in there."

"You know, I will. Do you think those things caused her to have a breakdown?"

"I don't know…" Leon sighed. "Maybe...maybe not. She had a smaller attack like this one yesterday; so, it could be unrelated. Still, the letter is suspicious."

"Yeah...agree to that. I'll see what we can find. Call me when you get news about her, okay?"

"I will…"

Leon put the phone away and ran his hand through his hair. He had lost his cool that afternoon, but he couldn't help it. At one minute, Claire was just fine joking and talking with him. The next she was lying on his arms, convulsing and bleeding.

"Don't worry…" Dhriti said kindly, handing him a new cup of tisane, "I'm sure Claire is alright…"

He wished he could be that sure.

"Agent Kennedy?"Hiwamura said, entering the room.

Leon was on his feet instantly; Hiwamura looked worried, and that couldn't be a good sign.

"Claire is fine." she said immediately " The bleeding stopped and...she is conscious. A little confused and tired, but overall she seems okay, but I'm running some tests just to be sure."

"Okay, that's good news, at least."

"Yes, but I'm afraid that I have bad news as well. The PRP shots seem to be losing effectiveness…" Hiwamura replied, pinching the bridge of her nose" I am not sure of the cause or if it's fixable. I gave her the last remaining doses we had in stock to see how it goes. ."

"If those don't work anymore, what will happen?"

"We'll be back in square one again. If those won't help, Claire's blood cells will keep self-destructing, and well, that will be problematic."

Problematic was an understatement,

"Anything that we could do?"

"No, nothing until we get the results from the tests, and then I'll work on that when we reach that bridge. Anyway, she was asking about you, so you might want to go see her."

And he wanted to see her. Leon thanked Hiwamura and walked into the room where Claire had been attending. Claire was sitting on the bed looking as pale as ever, her auburn hair falling over her shoulder, and despite looking like she could breakdown at any time, she had her laptop on her lap and was looking at the white shelves distractedly.

"I would have expected you to be resting, Claire…" Leon said closing the door behind him and approaching the bed. Claire had given a small jump, she hadn't noticed his presence, and the sudden sound of his voice had caught her by surprise.

"No rest for the wicked…" she replied, smiling at him weakly; she grabbed his hand and squeezed it, "Sorry, I did scare you this time, didn't I?"

"You did… " he replied, sitting by her side. Leon couldn't put words for the relief he felt by seeing her smile at him; he felt so relieved that everything he'd been thinking before had instantly fallen into oblivion. A part of him wanted to pull her into a hug, but another one kept telling him that she was much more fragile than she wanted to let others see. "You owe me one now. I'm not gonna hear the end of this in the office for the next couple of weeks."

" What?" Claire said, putting the laptop away and turning to see him. "What do you mean?"

"I might have lost my "cool-headed" agent reputation because of you…" he said, caressing her cheek.

"Oh? Will I hear that story?"

"Maybe Helena will like to tell you. I am honestly not too proud of my image back then."

"Oh, do I hear the embarrassment in there?" Claire smiled, tapping his nose, "Don't worry, knowing you…it'll probably give you more points. You know girls like them sensitively."

"Oh, yeah? Talking for personal preference?"

"Ehm...half of it? I already knew you were sensitive. Don't forget that I saw you back, Racoon…" she replied, winking at him.

"Yeah, that wasn't my best look…"

"I thought you were rather hot like that, though..."

"You did?"

"Why do you think Chris is so jealous of you?"

"You told Chris that you thought I was hot? No surprise he wanted to gut me out, the first time we met."

Claire let out a soft chuckle and kissed his cheek.

"Get used to it. That way, you'll be prepared for when he finds out about us."

"I don't forward to it, but I'll figure out a way to survive."

"That's the Leon I know…" Claire said, punching his arm,

Claire's color was starting to come back a little, not completely, but at least she wasn't looking like a corpse anymore.

"What were you looking at on the laptop?"

"You know, the usual...sexy boys in swimming suits?"

"Very funny. Just don't forget you're still Mrs. Kennedy."

"Only on paper…"

"Hey, who knows, maybe it is just for now…"