It was now late evening, Sherry had been anticipating Rebecca's arrival for a while now – Would she be more mature, or would she be here to do her puppy dog impression?
She decided to spend more time with Leon, and so for the rest of the day she spent her time snuggled up to him, feeling his warmth and enjoying the touch of his body.
When he'd given her a kiss on the head, she felt as if she was about to sprout angel wings and fly away.
'He's mine' she told herself 'He's mine, and no-one else can have him'
Selfish, she knew – But she didn't have much in life, and so she felt that Leon may as well be hers.
Suddenly, as if to jar her mind from its fixed position on cloud nine, the doorbell rang. She suddenly realised, with a twinge of horror that that could only be Rebecca. She'd been hoping she wouldn't turn up, and that she'd suddenly changed her mind or something.
But Rebecca obviously hadn't. She had remembered all right, and as if the funeral march was playing in the background, she bowed her head as Leon went to the door.
"Hi!" she heard him say.
"Hi Leon!" she replied, in that 'happy' voice of hers.
At least Claire sounded less like a child.
"Looking forward to staying?"
"I am, really!"
Sherry rolled her eyes.
Leon walked into the room, followed by Rebecca. Rebecca was carrying two suitcases, and she was dressed in jeans and a scarlet jumper. She was a pretty girl, but looks weren't everything, Sherry told herself.
"Well, why don't
I leave you two to have a chat, I'm going to make us some drinks, whaddya
want?"
"Hot chocolate" Rebecca and Sherry
said, simultaneously. Sherry glared at Rebecca, but she was looking at
Leon…Sherry dreaded it would happen, and it was true. As Leon went into the
kitchen, Rebecca's gaze trailed over Leon as he left the room.
Rebecca sighed.
"Ah…"
"What're you sighing about?" Sherry asked, as innocently as she could.
"Have…you ever been in love, Sherry?" Rebecca asked.
Sherry felt as if somebody had crammed a football down her throat.
"Yeah…"
"Was it real love?"
What kind of a stupid question was that?
"I don't know…I know what love is" Sherry replied. She knew she wasn't talking about previous experience – She knew that she was talking about how she felt at the moment…Sherry nearly sighed too.
Rebecca gave her a lopsided smile.
"Well…I think I know too…" she gazed off towards the kitchen.
Sherry was almost insulted that Rebecca was assuming she didn't know what she was talking about. Then, a sympathetic side of Sherry came out of her pure annoyance at Rebecca.
'Give her a chance' she told herself 'Surely she's not all that bad, is she?'
"So how do you know you're in love?"
Rebecca sighed again, a long-suffering sigh.
"Because I tingle when I'm in his presence, I'm just so…malleable in his presence, you know? I'm putty in his hands"
"Who is 'he' exactly?"
Rebecca blushed, and tipped her head down a little.
"Well…It's a
little embarrassing…"
"Leon, huh?" Sherry replied.
Rebecca looked up, a little surprised.
"How did you-?"
As if I hadn't already guessed, Sherry thought, the angry part of her coming back.
"So do you think that him and me-"
"No" Sherry cut in, abruptly trying to end Rebecca's little dream.
Rebecca looked a little hurt by this.
"Well…I don't care if that is what you think, I'm going to go for it anyway…" she looked up "It was meant to be…"
Sherry clenched her fists.
If it was meant to be, she was meant to live with an Alsatian for the rest of her life.
"I don't know, I think he's kind of got eyes for Claire…"
Good one Sherry, she told herself, that'll throw her off.
"But Claire isn't here at the moment, is she? A few months is long enough for things to develop…"
Well, well, well…So she's a little schemer too?
She's been planning this, hasn't she? She was desperate for this moment, to get within reach of Leon…
Sherry narrowed her eyes, and clenched her fist yet harder. If war was what Rebecca wanted, then war was what she'd damned well get.
Leon was only a few minutes, carrying the mugs of hot chocolate in with an easy smile that both Sherry and Rebecca melted at.
"So, what have you been up to Rebecca?" Leon asked, politely.
Sherry tolerated this. It was only polite conversation at the moment – At least.
"Nothing much" Rebecca said, stirring her finger in her hot chocolate "I've been hanging around at my house mostly, Chris told me to stay put so I did"
"Any hassle? From Umbrella?"
"None at all"
Leon nodded.
"Well, that's a good thing. Any run-ins with Umbrella on the way here?"
"They haven't even come close – I don't know what's going on" Rebecca replied.
Sherry could see that Rebecca was avoiding the subject with a vengeance, desperately trying to become more personal. Either that, Sherry thought, or I'm being paranoid. Which I am being, a little I guess.
"Where were you staying?"
"Somewhere in Milwaukee. Barry said that it wouldn't be advisable for me to stay"
"Right…Barry knows what he's talking about, I'm sure"
Rebecca leaned forward.
"But enough about me…what about you? What have you been up to?"
Sherry eased herself gently into the conversation.
"We've been living by ourselves here for a while, and things haven't been too bad, huh Leon?"
"That's right!" Leon smiled and gave Sherry a squeeze, at which she grinned, and squeezed him back "We've been holding the fort pretty well"
"Sounds like it's been pretty good for you two here!" Rebecca said, smiling. The harsh conversation she'd had with Sherry appeared to have been forgotten – temporarily, at least.
Leon gave her an indecisive look.
"Well…I can't say it's been fantastic – We're always being hassled by Special Forces guys, to check up on us to see if we're 'still here' and they are watching the house on a pretty regular basis, so sometimes you feel as if you're taking part in a soap opera"
Rebecca giggled.
"I've got a pretty intimate view into life here, huh?"
They talked quite long into the night, although Sherry's feelings about Rebecca remained vastly unchanged, they could at least talk without spitting insults at each other in a fairly friendly atmosphere.
Sherry didn't HATE Rebecca. It wasn't that she didn't like her either, she wasn't too bad apart from her annoying crush on Leon.
'And yours is no worse?' Sherry's inner voice said again 'Look at you – You're twelve and you've got the biggest crush on Leon the world has ever seen!'
'It's not a crush!' she would tell her inner voice.
'Well if it's not that, then it's love'
That had effectively ended her mental argument.
Leon looked at his watch.
"Well, I think it's time we all hit the sack – I'm dead beat"
"Yeah, me too" Rebecca replied "I was just wondering…where am I staying?"
"The guestroom's ready and prepared – I hope it's to your liking, madam?" he said the last part of his statement in a strong French accent. Sherry couldn't help but giggle, she loved Leon's impressions.
Rebecca giggled too.
"I'll go and unpack" she said, and stood up, picking up her cases before jaunting across the hall and up the stairs.
Leon watched her go, and then turned back to Sherry.
"Your bedtime too, young lady" he said, in an almost comical way.
Sherry rolled her eyes.
"Yeah! I know!"
Leon smiled, and then picked her up bodily, carrying her up the stairs. Sherry clung to his shoulders, eyes closed, breathing against his shoulder. Leon always carried her to her bed, it was like he wanted to stay close to her just before he decided to sleep. That was one of her favourite parts of the days she spent with Leon.
Sherry couldn't sleep. She could usually, and on a fairly regular basis. She was thinking hard. She was thinking about Leon.
She found herself keeping a mental diary of Rebecca's every single movement, her possibly suggestive movements in her conversations with Leon. She found it strange she was feeling so defensive all of a sudden. In any other circumstances, she wouldn't have particularly minded, nor particularly cared about Rebecca coming to stay.
Her heart was pressured by several emotions: One, was sadness. This was that she knew that getting to Leon would not be able to happen until she grew up. Two was joy. This was that she would possibly spend all of those years with Leon up until the day he might finally become attracted to her. There was also some worry in there. This emotion made itself felt with a vengeance, her worry that Rebecca would indeed get to Leon, the worry that Leon wouldn't come to love her the way she loved him…she was worried about a lot of things. She also felt annoyed that Rebecca even had the nerve to go near HER man.
'Your man, Sherry?' her mind said again 'Since when, exactly?'
She pushed this away. She lay in her bed, tossing and turning. She couldn't bear it any longer, she decided to go see Leon. To tell him. That would be the right thing to do. It might also get it off her heart.
She climbed out of bed, and after a moment to get her balance, she walked out onto the landing. It was dark, Leon was always the last to go to bed, so he always turned off the lights. She tiptoed, barefoot, since she was only wearing her nightshirt past Rebecca's room.
She made her way down the landing, making sure not to wake Rebecca. She didn't want to wake her up, because if she did – Whatever next? Questions would be asked, there would be a row…and she didn't want that.
She reached Leon's door, and slowly pushed the door open. Light spilled into the room, and Sherry looked on Leon as he lay, half wrapped in his bedsheet's, asleep.
Her heart almost melted as she saw him lie there, it was like watching an angel sleep.
Sherry took a breath. This would be difficult.
She tiptoed into the room, and leaned over Leon. She could feel his breath she was leaning so close. She sighed.
She just wanted to stay in this position forever, to just spend her time feeling his breath on her cheek.
Suddenly, there was a grunt from Leon.
"Mm…?" he groaned.
Then, he saw her and leapt up, pulling out the Desert Eagle from under his pillow, and pointing it at her. Sherry nearly screamed, but when Leon finally recognised her, he smiled and put it down. Her rubbed his blurry eyes.
"…Sherry? What are you doing up?" he asked, softly, still saturated with sleep.
"I just…wanted…"
"…Wanted what?"
he asked, still smiling, inviting Sherry to sit beside him on the bed. She
nodded gratefully, and sat beside him "Nightmares again, huh?"
Sherry found herself nodding.
"Well I'm always here, Sherry – Talk to me about it" he put his arm comfortingly around her, making her feel warm and protected.
"Well…" Sherry fumbled with her words, she didn't know what to say now, words just stuck in her throat "Have you ever…felt something for someone and you know that…there's going to be a while before you two get together?"
Leon appeared to ponder this for a moment.
"Have you got the hots for somebody?" he asked, softly and not the least bit incredulously.
"Uh…"
"Don't worry, I won't pressure you about it – But believe me, if you really love this person enough then it'll be worth the wait"
Sherry nodded, understanding. She threw her arms around him.
"Leon, you're the best guy in the whole world…" she whispered, face buried in his chest.
Leon looked a little startled at both her expression and her action, but her smile made him warm to it.
"That's okay, Sherry" then he added "Did you have any nightmares after all?"
"Uh…" Sherry didn't want to make her intentions too obvious.
"Kind of"
"The same one?"
"Uh-huh" Sherry replied in the positive.
He gave her a hug.
"Just don't think about it now" he squeezed her, and she gave a nervous smile, a little bashful.
"Uh…Leon?"
"Yeah?"
"Can I…spend the rest of the night with you?"
He smiled.
"Of course, I'll shove over to make room"
Leon climbed back into bed, shifting over so that Sherry could move in beside him. He gave her a kiss on the head.
"Sweet dreams" he said, and lay his head on the pillow, closing his eyes.
It was just as well he'd closed his eyes, because Sherry couldn't help but cover her flushed cheeks.
She put her arms around him, and snuggled up.
He put his hand on hers.
'Oh Leon, if only it could be like this forever…'
Rebecca was the first to wake up, gently turning her head to see the bedside digital clock to see the numbers 9:00 blur into view. She blinked a couple of times, and then after a few minutes she slowly sat up.
Her first night had been a good one, no disturbances, no nothing. She slid out of bed, grabbed a bathrobe from the hook on the door, and wrapped it around herself as she stepped out onto the landing, yawning.
Rebecca walked across the landing towards the shower…and faltered. She was very tempted to sneak a peek at Leon while he slept. Her mind told her it was a rather sad thing to do, and she knew herself that just watching him sleep wasn't going to earn her any bonus points…but she just wanted to see him. How she felt was something that she knew nobody else could ever get. She'd had several crushes before, one on Chris, she remembered that one. But it had passed, she'd got the impression that Chris was in love with Jill Valentine anyway, so it had seemed pointless to pursue that.
Then she'd met Leon Kennedy. She was immediately entranced, in a way that she had never felt before, and she'd been disappointed when him and Sherry had left Barry's house where they'd all been having one of their strategy meetings. A month or two later, and Barry called to say that she was probably in danger – She'd asked why, and he'd said it was because he'd been staking out her house, and had spotted a couple of fishy looking guys in black suits wandering around her house whilst she'd been out. He said they were probably planning something, so it would be best if she got out of town.
Rebecca had pointed out that she had nowhere to stay – Until Barry suggested that she contact Leon and ask if she could stay with him.
Rebecca's stomach had been practically in her mouth, and she'd garbled some rubbish about him probably not trusting her – so Barry offered to call for her. The truth was, she was too scared of making a fool of herself over the phone. It wasn't the sort of thing you did to a prospective boyfriend. She giggled to herself. She knew that work went into getting a boyfriend – but she was prepared to work for that. Besides, it wasn't the status that attracted her - It was Leon that attracted her.
She decided to go for it. She crept towards Leon's door – and opened it slightly.
She looked on as he lay there, still asleep…
She froze. Sherry was sleeping beside him.
'Oh damnit! If Sherry wakes up, that's the end of the road!' she thought hurriedly, and quickly but quietly left towards the shower.
She mentally cursed herself, and grumbled as she went into the bathroom. Why did Sherry have to get in the way? What was her problem? If she hadn't been there, she would have probably been able to watch him for a few tender moments.
She was beginning to wonder if Sherry and her would really get on. Sherry had been quite rude to her at the beginning of the evening…what had she done to earn that? Sherry was okay the rest of the time…but somehow, when Leon cropped up in the subject, Sherry suddenly became kind of aggressive.
What was the problem?
She shrugged, and got into the shower. She worked that out if she studied Sherry a little harder – To see what the real story was, then she would find out what was going on.
END OF PART 2