New Horizons, IV
By: Hotaru
Warnings: Steve bashing, abuse, strong language, RE: Code Veronica spoilers
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The sound of Katie crying shook Leon out of his deep sleep. Climbing out of bed, Leon walked across the hall to Claire's room and knocked on the door. There was no answer, so he opened the door. Claire was sleeping soundly, so Leon picked Katie up from her crib and took her into the living room. "Hey, what's the matter?" he asked, looking down at Katie's red face.
She stopped crying briefly to stare up at Leon. He stuck his tongue out at her and she giggled. "There, isn't that better?" Leon asked, sitting down on an old rocking chair by the window. He opened it to let the cool, rainy air in. Leon thought of anything he could sing to calm Katie down, but unfortunately, he didn't remember any. So, he decided on a modern song that wasn't necessarily lullaby-ish. "So lately, 've been wonderin' who will be there to take my place? When I'm gone, you'll need love.."* He had forgotten the words. Katie stared up at him, as if expecting him to continue.
"To light the shadows on your face.." Someone offered from the hallway. Leon's head shot up in surprise. "Claire, you scared me." He said, relaxing again. Claire walked into the room and sat down. "I think you scared me more. You stole my baby." She replied teasingly. "Sorry. She was crying and I didn't want her to wake you." Leon apologized. Claire waved her hand and sighed. "I haven't gotten a good night's sleep in ages. When ever she'd wake up, Steve would pretend to be asleep so that I'd have to get up." She said.
Leon shook his head. "Every time you talk about him, I hate him more and more." He said lowly. "She's asleep." He whispered. "The rain, remember? I don't know how anyone could fall asleep to that nails-on-a-chalkboard voice of yours though." Claire laughed, standing up. Leon narrowed his eyes and smiled sarcastically. "I've never heard a voice more flat than yours." He countered. Claire slapped his arm and walked back into her room.
"I was only teasing! No need to get pissy." Claire said defensively. Leon softly placed Katie in her crib and looked down at Claire. She had changed into a large flannel shirt and a pair of boxers, and just a hint of her shoulder was showing. "I better let you get back to sleep." Claire said, pulling her shirt up to cover her shoulder back up. "Yeah, you too. Thanks for taking care of Katie. She hasn't had a respectable daddy in a long time." She said thankfully.
Leon looked down at the sleeping child and smiled. "It's not a problem. I'd rather let you finally get some sleep, than get some myself." He replied. Claire rested her head on Leon's arm and sighed. "Thanks. I'm sure Katie thanks you too." She said. Leon nodded and the two shared silence for a while before Claire starting falling asleep. Trying his best not to disturb her, Leon picked Claire up and placed her on the bed. Hesitating momentarily, he kissed her forehead and quickly retreated to his room.
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Claire woke to bright sunshine streaming through her window. Groaning, she rolled over and covered her eyes with a blanket. "Claire? It's getting pretty late, you better get up." Groaning again, Claire turned to the door. "What?" She asked impatiently. Leon smiled and said, "I said it's getting late. You gonna get up?" Claire dropped her head back on her pillow and shook her head. "No." She said bluntly.
Sighing slightly, Leon walked over to the bed. "Claire..your brother's here." He said quietly. "What?!" Claire exclaimed, bolting upright. "He just got here and really wants to see you." Leon replied. Claire climbed out of bed and wiped her eyes before going out into the living room. Chris was staring at pictures that lined the walls. "Chris!" Claire exclaimed, running over and hugging her brother. "Claire!" Chris said surprised, turning and catching his sister.
"I came as soon as I heard. Are you okay?" He asked worriedly.
"For the most part. I tried to call you but you're never in one place long enough for a phone number or cell phone or anything." Claire answered, sitting down on the couch.
"Ah, can I get you something to drink Chris?" Leon interrupted.
"Sure, water's fine." Chris replied.
"So where is he now?" Chris asked.
"Jail. He sent some of his buddies to try and make me go back with him, while I was in the hospital and when Leon took me back home to get my things." Claire answered sullenly.
"Any idea what the conviction is gonna be?"
"No. Something tells me that it won't be nearly as long as it should, though. Luckily, Leon's with the local PD. Hopefully he'll help out with that."
"I'm sorry I wasn't there for you."
"It's alright, I don't blame you for anything."
"You should."
Claire looked up at her brother and sighed. "I'm not going to get mad at you for not being around. Besides, what if you were there? You'd stop the argument, Steve would go off drinking and I'd clean the house. It'd just happen over and over again until something like this happened. So stop blaming yourself." She said, slightly annoyed. Chris sighed and leaned back on the couch. "You should have left him a long time ago. Everyone saw what he was doing to you but no one could say a damn thing." He said softly.
Leon returned and handed Chris his water and turned to Claire. "Do you want me to go or..?" He asked. Claire shrugged so Leon sat down on the couch next to Chris. "Why couldn't you say anything if it was so apparent?" Claire asked Chris.
"It was just hard to. You never had a real relationship before, and this one used to work out really well. Now that there was a baby involved, no one wanted to try and separate a family." He retorted.
"So what!? If you guys saw how much of an asshole he was, I would have appreciated being told about it!"
"How the hell could you have missed it!? He fucking beat you! And you wanted someone to tell you that he was a jerk off!?"
"No! I wanted someone to tell me that he's going to just lose it one day and it'd be better if Katie didn't have a father, than to have one like Steve!"
"If we would have said that to you, it'd have to be in private, and Steve never let you go anywhere! Not even with me! Did you expect me to just waltz into your house, interrupt Steve while he was in a drunken rage and tell you that he's a good for nothing piece of shit!?"
"Yes!"
Leon raised his eyebrows and Katie started to cry. "I'll get 'er." Leon said quickly, escaping the room. "She's probably hungry." Claire called into her room. "Okay. You want to feed her?" Leon replied. Claire eyed Chris and said, "Hold on." And she went to help Leon. "Here. Just feed her this and if she's full, she'll spit the food back out so be careful." She said, handing Leon a jar of baby food and a small spoon.
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The four had gone out to dinner that night, after Chris decided it was hopeless trying to get Claire to understand him. "Ok, how about this. Imagine that Jill and I were together, which we're not. Now, imagine that Jill is cheating on me with Leon here. Now, could you just tell me straight out, knowing how much I loved her?" Chris asked Claire as they waited for their food.
"Oh Jesus Christ! Do we have to talk about this?" Claire hissed.
"Yes! I don't want you thinking that I just was afraid to tell you what I thought about Steve. I want you to know how hard it would have been." Chris replied.
"I think what Chris is trying to say is that it'd be a painful task to tell someone so in love as you were, that they were just wasting their time on something that wouldn't work out." Leon interrupted. Chris raised his hands and exclaimed, "He get's it!" Leon chuckled softly. Claire nodded her head slowly. "Yeah, well. I'm still upset." She said, crossing her arms on the table.
"Can I take this away?" A waiter asked, popping out of nowhere. "Yeah, sure." Was the general consensus, and all food was taken away. "We better get out of here. It's getting late." Leon remarked, looking down at his watch. The check arrived, and all three put money on the table. "Come on Claire, this was our treat to you. You don't have to pay." Leon said, pushing Claire's money back to her.
"Nu-uh, this was expensive and I don't want you guys to pay for it all." Claire replied. Chris snatched the money from her hand and placed it in the little flipbook where the check was. "I don't mind taking your money. After all, you did it to me so much when we were little." He said with a sly grin. Eventually, a truce was made and they all paid for their own dinner and chipped in for a tip.
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After arriving back at Leon's apartment, Claire went to bed while Chris and Leon watched some t.v. It was still awkward between the two, who hadn't really gotten to know each other. "Thanks for doing all of this. Claire wasn't allowed to have friends with Steve around so she probably would have been in some shelter if you weren't there." Chris said thankfully.
"It's not a problem. I'm glad that she had given me her address when we met before, or else…" Leon replied.
"Man…I still feel like shit for not being there. I should have said something when I first realized what he was doing to her." Chris said angrily at himself.
"Trust me, it's not just you. Since I've been with the PD, I've seen plenty of cases like these. Unfortunately, some ended with morbid circumstances, but everyone feels that same that you do now. And we always tell them that it's not their fault and even if they had said something, things probably wouldn't have changed."
Chris nodded in agreement, and ran his hand through his hair. "So what do you think is going to happen to him?" He asked after awhile. Leon sighed and looked thoughtful. "It all depends on evidence, witnesses and things like that. If he cooperates, then they'll most likely give a lighter sentence, and since he and Claire were technically involved, they might make it a count lighter than rape, so I have no idea." He said finally.
"It isn't right. You saw what happened, she knew what was going on. Shouldn't that be enough?" Chris asked. Leon shrugged slightly. "In my opinion, of course, but different cases, different views…everything is viewed on a case by case basis, you know?" Chris nodded and yawned slightly. "I better get some sleep. The flight here was terrible." He noted.
Leon raised his eyebrows. "You flew here? Where were you?" He asked. "Europe. Non-stop investigating." Chris replied tiredly. "It's an honorable job, stopping mega-organizations from world domination. Alright man, see you in the morning." Leon said, standing up. Chris shook his hand and Leon retired to his bedroom.
TBC
* "Where ever You Will Go" by The Calling
