Chapter Eight:




Loud dance music pounded in Claire's ears and rattled around in her brain. All around her, people were laughing and having
a good time and their merry-making was starting to rub off on her. Beside her Leon was grinning and making up stupid, goofy
moves to the music and throwing in old school when it was supposed to be contemporary. It was hilarious.
Laughing loudly, Claire threw her head back and started to mimic him, once Leon realized this, he hammed it up even more.
Once he moved onto Rockette-style kicks, Claire fell against him, cackling so luridly she was almost heaving.
"I'm going to wet myself!" She screamed in his ear.
"WHAT?!" Leon replied.
Claire was about to repeat herself then thought better of it, she pointed towards the bathroom instead. She hurried to the
bathroom and did her business then returned back to see Leon sitting at a table, toying uselessly with his plastic drink umbrella.
"What's an enthralling guy like yourself doing all alone?" She asked, sitting down next to him.
Leon looked at her, his left eyebrow cocked. "Enthralling? Claire, you know my vocabulary: Two syllables or less."
"Sorry, I forgot." She said smiling.
Claire picked up her drink and sipped while she watched the other couples dance. After a couple more songs, a fast Enrique
Eglesias song picked up and Leon took hold of her arm.
"Let's dance!" He said encouragingly.
Getting up, she followed him onto the dance floor.
"I didn't know you liked Enrique." She commented incredulously.
"I don't." He replied. "I just like to mock him. And throw in some Ricky to insult him."
The corner of her mouth turned up and they started to dance, Leon once again making up the stupidest moves ever thought
up. By the end of the song Claire's cheeks hurt so much from the face splitting grin she had. This time a slower song came on
and the lights dimmed. Leon seemed to hold back, his arms dangling at his side. Truth be told, Claire didn't know what to do
either. It was just a dance, but the implied closeness of the song made it seem uncomfortable.
Finally, as if by mutual agreement, they stepped closer to each other and were soon swaying side to side. It took nearly a
minute for Claire to finally relax into it before she laid her head down on Leon's shoulder.
"You've gotten considerably better since the last time." Claire remarked.
"Eight years is a long time." Leon said.
"It is...but still," She added slyly. "You WERE pretty hopeless."
Leon scoffed. "Will you just let it go? God, you break a girl's foot just ONCE and you're scarred for life."
"Once? Try more like ten."
"If I wanted to be insulted, I could've stayed at my Uncle Gene's home. My cousins love teasing me all because I cried when we
were watching Bambi."
Claire laughed and shook her head. Taking Leon's hand in hers she studied the lines on his palm and fingers. Forgetting about
herself and everything around her, she started to trace them for no apparent reason.
Leon felt her smooth nails tracing the lines on his palm, he looked down but she wasn't looking back up at him. Her eyes were
hazy and blank, almost as if she were in a trance. Her fingers began to entwine with his and she took firm hold of his hand, released
it then began the movement once again.
"Claire?" He asked, breaking her out of her stupor.
"Hmm?" She garbled, looking up at him.
"Okay, now you're just flirting with me, so stop it." Leon said, tongue in cheek. He didn't really want her to stop, but the intense
propinquity between them was starting to affect him.
"What? Oh! I'm sorry!" She stepped back and blinked a couple of times before shaking her head. "Oh God, I'm sorry, I didn't
realize what I was doing."
She looked down guiltily and tucked her hair behind her ear. ' Great job. You're a real damn Casanova, Kennedy. You've
made her feel bad when that is the last thing she should be right now.'
"Don't worry about it," He joked lightly. "I was just fucking with you."
Claire looked up and smiled. "I figured that."
Leon shuffled his feet a little, a sure sign that he was nervous and then forced a brash grin. "Why don't we get out of here? It's
1 a.m. and... I've got to get up early for work..." He shrugged.
"Yeah, let's go now." Claire replied. "I'm beat."


Claire blinked tiredly as Leon's motorcycle came to a stop underneath the tall magnolia tree near the apartment building. A
long, slow breeze blew past them and carried the fresh powdery scent of the last few blossoms.
"I'm going to crash out and not wake up for about a year." Leon said as he got off.
"Same here." replied Claire.
Reaching her arms above her head, she stretched her body out and then took a step forward. The tiny edge of her spiked heel
caught in a crag in the sidewalk, causing her to fall forward. Claire released an agonized moan as she landed on her hands and
concrete and tiny bits of gravel dug through her soft skin, scraping and making it bleed.
"Oh, Claire." Leon grimaced as he knelt beside her and held her up.
Claire closed her eyes and bit her bottom lip as Leon examined her hand with a twist in his mouth.
"We'd better get this clean before it gets infected." He said and Claire nodded. With Leon's help, Claire hobbled up the stairs
and into the apartment where Leon held her hand underneath the faucet water. He instructed her to hold it under until he returned
with a few bandages and some hydrogen peroxide.
The blood and dirt washed away and slid down the drain, reminding Claire about her first shower after they had escaped from
Raccoon City. Their clothes and bodies were caked with filth which quickly quenched Claire's desire for a nice warm bath and
made her settle for a too cold shower. She spent nearly half an hour scrubbing and rubbing her hair and skin until it returned it it's
original light honey hue. When she stepped out of the bathroom, neither Leon nor Sherry seemed to recognize her.
"Here we are." Leon said as he returned.
He took her hand and cleaned it up a little more before applying a few bandages. Claire winced slightly but held in any complaints.
"There we go..." He said and patted her lightly.
Claire smiled then gingerly pressed her palm. It felt numb but she'd survive.
"Thank you." She said softly.
"You're welcome." Replied Leon.
Claire sighed heavily and kicked at her shoes. "Remind me to NEVER wear heels again."
Leon nodded. "I'm going to hold you to that." He gazed down and grimaced. "Your knee."
Claire gazed down and saw a long gash from her knee to her mid-thigh. "Ugh."
"Here." Leon said as he cleaned up that one too.
She hadn't noticed the wound before because it didn't hurt, but once the peroxide touched her skin, she wailed in pain and
pushed away from him.
"Hey, come on." Leon said as he pulled her back and continued to apply the peroxide, Claire biting down on her lip the whole
time. "Okay... now was that SO bad?"
Claire frowned and nodded. "Yes."
Leon laughed and shook his head.
"I'm going to change." She said and Leon shrugged as he headed for the living room.


Leon walked through the quiet hallway and flicked on the light switch. Sitting down on his sofa bed, he laid down then sat
back up again. It was nearly three o' clock and he was going to be very discombobulated at work the next day... but there was
no doubt it would be worth it... He smiled suddenly at the memory of Claire's body pressed against his, the warmth still present
on his chest. She really was a great dancer and he scarcely did her justice as a dance partner that night. But she hadn't seemed
to care very much. She had a good time, and it was all because of him...
Remembering something, he reached underneath the bed and pulled out his duffel bag. Looking over his shoulder, he made
sure that Claire wasn't around. He didn't know if he could openly lie to Claire about this, he was never very good at keeping
secrets but... Claire wouldn't be able to understand why... why he...
Digging underneath all of his clothes, he found a brown box that was the size of a Kleenex container. Opening it, he pulled out
a porcelain jewelry box with a Cameo brocade in the center. Lifting the top open, he gazed at the seven pieces of jewelry that he'd
collected over the years. He scoffed as he flicked at the little ballerina that stood near the mirror performing an arabesque. This
just proved what a coward he was. Over the past few years, he'd passed so many jewelry stores with pieces that reminded him
so much of Claire that he couldn't stop himself from buying them. But once time came to mail it out, he didn't know if he could.
There was always that nagging feeling that he would be making a fool of himself or that something else or other would go wrong.
Leon pulled out one of the necklaces that dangled there on one of the little pegs and examined it. It was a pale pink flower shaped
Pearlesque button necklace. This was what had caught his attention the most. Something about it reminded him about Claire,
the soft delicate color along with the smooth, tough cubic zarconia in the center was exactly like her personality.
He had hoped that he could give all of this to her now, but with Steve around, it just didn't seem like the right thing to do. Leon's
fists clenched tightly and his brows dipped into an intense, angry frown. Who the hell did that little bastard think he was? For
nearly two hours, Claire had cried her eyes out to him, telling about Steve's infidelity and abusiveness, and Leon had done nothing,
said nothing. He had kept it all in when all he wanted to do was beat the crap out of him before blowing a whole in his head.
Seeing Claire's unhappy expression was painful. Almost as painful as when they were at the lowest of their lows in their search
for Chris and the destruction of Umbrella. Steve didn't know just how valuble Claire was and how lucky he was to have her in
his life. Leon would kill for just one night with her and he'd sell his soul for even one chance to be with her forever. The little shit
had heaven on earth and he was willing to just throw it away for some girl who didn't hold a candle to Claire's flame.
Before he could get any deeper into his rage, he traced a little jade cabochon ring. There were only two rings because his
friends caught onto his little idea and advised him not to get her too many rings--something about the suggestion of commitment.
The other ring was a freshwater pearl with little butterfly designs making up the band.
"Leon?" Claire's voice came from the hallway.
Leon whipped around and saw her standing only a few feet from him.
"Oh, um, Claire!" He said as he shoved the jewelry box beneath his pillow.
"What's that?" She asked, a small smile on her face.
"Oh that? Oh, that's... um... nothing..." Leon said, and as Claire advanced towards him, he repeated, "Claire, really, it's nothing."
"It's not 'nothing', otherwise you wouldn't be trying so hard to hide it." Claire replied.
They struggled for a little while before Leon finally surrendered and Claire giggled greedily as she opened up the box. Her
smile disappeared as she opened it up and saw the assortment of trinkets inside.
"Well, this is interesting." Claire said slowly. "Are you--"
"No, I'm not gay, Claire." Leon interrupted.
"Oh. Oh!" Claire forced a laugh. "I wasn't going to ask you that."
"Yes, you were." Leon said, smiling. "Don't worry. It's natural to assume that. No, actually, nothing in there is for me."
"Oh? Who's it for?" She asked, looking down at all the stuff, her child-like naiveté amusing him.
"Um... it's for... for you." He said.
Claire's eyes were on the jewels for only two more seconds before she looked up to him. A smile spread over her face.
"Really?" She asked.
Before he could reply, she set down the box and gave him a fierce hug.