The thing about dreams is their unutterable surreality. They are familiar and yet completely impossible to understand; this was an experience that both Claire and Leon were experiencing at this point.
The room is hot, there's nobody inside but them. She has a towel around her waist, she is naked other than this; her skin is radiant, but her expression is confusion. What is she doing here? She doesn't know… She stretches and yawns…she isn't aware he's there yet.
Suddenly, she feels his hands, strong muscular hands gently massaging her shoulders. It is a shock to her, she gasps slightly, and then starts to sign contentedly with the wonderful feeling of relaxation she is receiving.
She hopes it is the man she wants it to be.
"Leon?" she asks.
"I'm here my darling" Leon whispers "Whenever you want me to be"
His caress is extending down her back, down her slightly moist skin, then his hands are around her waist.
Claire twists around, Leon eases himself on top of her, pulling away her towel as he kisses her long and repeatedly on the lips and neck, she grips his shoulders.
"I love you" Leon says.
"I…I…I love you too…" Claire replies, kissing his chest as he…
"UH!!"
Claire's gasp surprised even herself, for within moments she was out of her sleep and staring out of her window, the sun streaming in through the curtains. She panted; wait a minute, why was she panting? Surely she had no reason to…
"Wh…why did I…?"
Then she knew. Her face contorted with embarrassment, her cheeks flushed a deep red colour that very rarely happened unless Leon flattered her; well, she was a tough girl. But no tough girl on earth could give her an excuse for what had happened.
The stain was growing, it was on her sheets and it was getting progressively larger.
"Oh god, I didn't…" she moaned, pulling up the sheets to see if it confirmed her worst fears. It did. Claire fell back in embarrassment, unable to believe that something had happened that had not happened to her ever before, and when it had it did not happen unless she had instigated it. She wasn't a virgin, she had done it once before…
No beating around the bush, she'd just had an orgasm.
An adolescent wet dream…but it had happened, she couldn't deny it. It was thoughts of Leon wasn't it? She'd never considered how close she wanted to be to Leon, oh sure she'd thought of him as handsome and a nice guy to be with; but suddenly, she realised that this was going to happen all the time until she accomplished what she innately desired.
'To be with Leon' she thought, dreamily 'To have a genuine experience with him; you want to be his girlfriend…you've gone soft'
Well, if she was going soft she didn't care; she was going soft with style and panache.
"Claire?" Jill called, stepping into the room without warning.
"OH JESUS CHRIST!!!" Claire said quickly, folding the sheet over her crotch.
Jill looked at the edgy Claire, half wrapped up in her sheets. Jill frowned.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"Nothing" Claire replied quickly "Why should it be?"
"You're hiding something" Jill said, hands on hips. Jill was fully clothed, she'd been up for hours and wasn't really that amused that Claire was trying to hide something that she should obviously know about.
"Hey, I am nearly naked under this you know" Claire replied, crossly.
"Then I'll turn around, you get changed, I take the sheets downstairs for Chris to wash"
"Uh…" Claire suddenly remembered the large stain on the sheets "…um, no, I'll take the sheets myself"
"CLAIRE" Jill said, flatly "What…are…you…hiding…?"
"I told you, nothing!" Claire snapped.
Jill pulled up the sheet at the corner, not only catching Claire off guard but sending her tumbling off the bed onto the floor.
Jill looked down at the sheet…her face immediately became as rigid as steel, in an attempt to prevent herself from laughing at what it was Claire had been trying to hide.
"Claire…" Jill managed, wiping tears of mirth from her eyes "…have you been masturbating?"
"No!" Claire moaned, her head popping up at the edge of the bed "Not at all"
"Then why is the sheet covered in lady juice?" Jill asked, a grin finally schizming across her face.
Claire blushed.
"It's not funny, I didn't will it to happen; it just did!" Claire mumbled.
Jill remained amused, but became far more sympathetic and understanding. Her face mellowed.
"Claire, honey" Jill said, Claire hastily pulling some panties and a bra out of the drawer and assembling some underwear on her person "It's nothing to be ashamed of. It's happened to me…and…quite recently"
Jill blushed heavily. It was Claire's turn to be amused.
"About Chrissy?" Claire teased.
"No!" Jill replied, before adding "Well…sort of…a little bit…a lot…"
"Yes, basically" Claire said, smilingly.
"And I'm the one giving you the pep talk" Jill sighed.
Claire immediately became embarrassed again.
"But why am I fantasising about having sex? I could do that any day!" Claire asked.
"Repression" Jill explained "I'm no psychiatrist, Claire. But something's telling you what you want, something is telling you you want to spend the rest of your life with Leon Kennedy"
"How did you know it was about Leon?" Claire gasped, hand on her mouth.
"Because I know" Jill said, smiling "Come on, you guys are all over each other but you never do anything about it"
"I will" Claire said, nodding "As long as you do something about it. It's Christmas, and by Christmas day…let's say that by then we will have our men"
Jill nodded firmly.
"Good pact" Jill said "You want to use the bathroom?"
"Please!" Claire replied, grabbing a towel.
"Leon's in at the moment, he's been in there for a little while"
Leon finished wiping the mess off himself, and dropped the last tissue in the toilet. Then he turned on the shower, and climbed in. Leon wasn't so keen on leaving the bathroom yet, his…experience had told him to wait a little.
It had been the dream that caused it, hadn't it? Leon had…spanked the monkey on occasion, but he'd never…involuntarily…well, yeah.
But it hadn't been difficult for any man to not react to what he'd been dreaming about; Claire on a beach, in a tight shining bikini that she was begging Leon to remove from her frame, if a little coyly. She's swept back that gorgeous auburn hair of hers, and ran a single finger down her sweaty leg.
Of course the moment they'd got to anything really steamy, he'd woken up to find a tent pole pointing upwards in the bed.
He'd run off into the bathroom the moment it had happened. Chris was downstairs, doing the washing when Jill had complained slightly about having to wash the sheets and Chris, being the knight in shining armour had jumped to her rescue.
Leon sighed.
Cool it Kennedy. Concentrate; your body wants Claire and so do you. Stop delaying it, only a few days more until Christmas boyo! Come on, how are you going to win her over?
Leon thought, the shower drops providing a thoughtful rhythm for him to think to.
"COME ON!" Chris called, switching on the lights of the tree, which glowed not gaudily but with a red, green and pale white aura that gave it a cheerful but strangely noble look, the fresh alpine tree sitting comfortably in the corner of the sitting room. "BREAKFAST! I'M NOT GOING TO WAIT!"
Jill was down first, smiling happily at Chris.
"See? I'm on time" she said, winking at him and coquettishly wiggling her hip at him before going to the oven to get a fried egg and bacon.
Chris smiled oddly, in a dreamy contentment and near ejaculative phase. He stared at her hips, the way they moved…
"Hey bro" Claire said, walking in and pecking him on the cheek.
"Hey Chris" Leon added, falling in and jokingly puckering up his lips for Chris. Chris glared, and thwacked him with a spatula; Leon cackled.
"Isn't this a little too feminine for you?" Leon asked, sitting down next to Claire in the hope he might brush her thigh "I mean, cooking, washing and stuff?"
"Well, I'm still me" Chris said, taking his own breakfast to the table "I'm still a man, I still like my toys!"
"Good to make a compromise I suppose" Claire added, shrugging a little as she chewed.
Leon admired her in profile. Black shorts, white T-Shirt…a little figure hugging. She was beautiful in every way possible, from her perfect face dashed with mischief and impetuousness, to her lithe shape, well set and largish breasts that seemed to him the most utterly perfect pair in the world. The same went for her legs too, he found his gaze wondering over a creamy leg…
STOP BEING SUCH A PERVERT! His mind yelled, and immediately he turned his attention back to the far less interesting food he had on his plate.
"So, what're we going to do today?" Chris asked.
"Finish off decorating" Jill said "We still got some stuff to do, you know so…I…I…"
Leon looked at her, and saw that she and Chris were eyeing each other a little. Jill smiled nervously, as did Chris.
"Shall we leave you guys alone?" Claire asked, standing up and nudging Leon "Come on…let's go and do something…I mean, um…oh, um…"
"Um…yeah, let's…" Leon added, allowing his gaze to magnetise himself to Claire before finding enough willpower inside himself to go out.
Claire thought about what she was going to say next very carefully.
"Sleep well?" she asked.
"As best as can be expected I suppose" Leon replied, smiling a little as they sat down in a sofa together.
"What are you doing in the run up to Christmas? Anything planned?" she asked.
"Well, I'd have told you if I did, but nope…staying here with you guys!" Leon said, grinning broadly.
Thank the lord Claire thought, her heart swelling a little.
"I want it to snow" she said, suddenly in a full flow "I love snow, everything just looks so perfect, you know? It's like…" she waved her hands a little "…I don't know exactly…like a fairytale or something!"
"Snow's cool!" Leon remarked "In more ways than one!"
They laughed.
"Anyway, I thought you were…well, quite…" Leon couldn't believe he was saying such a stupid thing "…um, how can I say this…tomboyish?"
Claire smiled, understand what he was trying to say.
"Just because I can drink like a guy and ride a motorbike doesn't mean I'm not still a woman" Claire said, and in a move that forced Leon to cross his legs, gently juggled her breasts in her hands "These kinda give it away"
"I…noticed" Leon gurgled, attempting to regain some composure.
"What about you? You're not exactly Mr.Macho, are you?" she asked.
"Nah" Leon said, shaking his head "I mean, I don't think I'm a ponce but most really macho guys have less brains than an infant baboon, ya know? It's…well, you know I've been brought up by a strong mother and I kind of absorbed my softness towards people through her I guess"
Claire nodded.
"I didn't really know my mom that much" she said sadly "She and dad died in a car crash when I was little…Chris is the only person who's ever really looked after me"
Poor girl Leon thought No parents, man…
"My upbringing has been serene by comparison" Leon said, smiling "But I suppose that being brought up in a family that lived on the edge…"
"The edge?"
"Money" Leon explained "We were always short of money at home, I learned how money and people were important…when I got a job, I was surprised to have any money at all, you know?"
Claire nodded, shifting closer.
"I do know…" she murmured staring into his eyes "…I know perfectly…"
He was aware his hands were sliding past her waist; that he was tilting his head for the kiss he felt was coming. Claire felt it too, felt the tingle as her hands started to slide around his neck as he eased her against the sofa...
Kiss me Leon, kiss me…she thought, closing her eyes and parting her lips.
"Hey, you guys!"
They leapt apart, suddenly obtaining ordinary postures on the sofa in a 'social' way that indicated they were just talking like friends.
Jill and Chris walked in, Jill's arms on Chris's shoulders as she occasionally kissed him lightly on the head, him kissing her lovingly on the throat.
"Get a room" Leon said, sourly but still with a grin on his face.
"Well…we will do later" Chris said "Huh Jill?"
"You bet Chrissy boy" she replied, smiling coyly.
"Don't scream too loud or anything, me and Leon will be trying to sleep"
Chris nearly grinned evilly.
"How about…" he said "…we go see Lord of the Rings tonight, a Christmas celebration?"
"Sure!" Leon said "I love Tolkien"
Claire turned to him aghast.
"Wow, you too?" she asked "My favourite was Return of the King!"
"How did you know which my favourite book was?" Leon asked, grinning broadly.
"So that's settled" Chris said, going to the phone, but not before squeezing Jill lightly on the butt that made her squeak in excitement. Leon and Claire smiled at each other. Leon and Claire prayed almost simultaneously that the room would be sufficiently dark enough for them to…make whatever moves they wanted to make…
Maybe we can get this pair together at last Chris thought, dialling the cinema number okay, nearly back row seats…
END OF PART TWO