New Horizons, V

By: Hotaru

Warnings: Steve bashing (meaning the story doesn't make him out to be a nice guy), abuse, strong language, RE: Code Veronica spoilers

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The next morning, Claire woke up bright and early to cook breakfast for Leon and Chris. It had been ages since she and her brother had been together long enough to have a home cooked meal, and she wasn't about to let this chance pass her by. While waiting for a pancake to cook, the phone rang. Claire bit her lip and wondered whether or not she should answer it. /I don't want Leon to miss any important calls from work…I better answer it/

Picking up the receiver, Claire said hello.

"..Who's this?" A gruff voice asked.

"A friend of Leon's. Who's this?" Claire replied.

"Claire?"

"Y-yes…who is this?"

"Hey baby, I've missed you."

Claire's knees buckled underneath her and she sank to the floor. "How did you get this number?" She asked as calmly as she could. "Ask and ye shall receive. So how you doin'?" Steve replied as if nothing had happened.

"Since when do you give a shit about how I'm going?" Claire asked worriedly.

"Aw, that hurts babe. So have you talked to the cops yet?" Steve said in that immature tone of his.

"Yeah, and they're going to put you away for a long time, you asshole."

"Ouch. I guess you really do miss me, huh?"

"I'm hanging up now."

"Wait a sec, we need to get our stories straight here."

Claire couldn't believe what she was hearing. "What the hell are you talking about?! I told the cops exactly what happened, and if you have any sense in you, you should too." She said shakily.

"Tch, they won't lock me up. I'll just tell them all about your kinky sex games and how you begged me to do it rough."

In an attempt to clear her head, Claire banged the telephone receiver against the wall, shaking Chris from his sleep on the couch. "Fuck you!" She spat, hoping she had hurt Steve's stupid ears. "Don't you wish? Come on, they said you gotta come down to see me now." Steve said crudely.

"No way in fucking hell." She was almost shouting now. Leon emerged from his bedroom to see what was going on, just as Chris walked into the kitchen. "Claire, what's going on?" He asked worriedly.

Claire let the phone drop from her hands, and Leon picked it up swiftly. "Who is this?…oh, everyone's favorite asshole! Call Claire again and I'll rip off your dick and feed it to you." He exclaimed before hanging the phone up. Both Chris and Claire's eyes widened at Leon's sudden ludeness. "S-sorry." Leon said, putting a hand behind his head.

Chris took Claire to the couch, and Leon turned off the stove after flipping over the pancake. "What happened? How the hell did he get this number?" Chris asked worriedly.

"I-I don't know. He said that they gave it to him." Claire sobbed into her older brother's shoulder. "And he said that I have to come down to see him because they said s-so. A-and he said that he'd tell them that I be-be-begged him to rape me!" She was overcome with sobs now, barely breathing.

Leon went to his room and changed into his police uniform before going to the siblings. "I'm going down there to straighten this all out right now. He's not going to talk to you again." He said, before stalking out of the apartment.

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Ignoring the desk clerk, Leon stormed through the detective office and into the lieutenant's office. "Kennedy?" His boss asked, wrinkling his brow. "What's up?"

"You know that rape case, y'know, involving my friend? Well that asshole calls up my damn apartment this morning, telling her that she's gotta come down to see him and that he's going to tell the DA that she begged to be raped." Leon rambled lividly.

"Are you serious?" His boss asked.

Leon nodded and paced impatiently around the office. "Lets go down to holding to talk to this little punk." The lieutenant said, standing from his chair. "The only talking is gonna be him begging me to stop beating his—"

"Leon, relax. It isn't going to help if you get all worked up here." His boss interrupted.

"Yeah…yeah, you're right. Ok, let's do it."

The two headed down to the bowels of the building to the holding cells. "Burnside! Get your ugly mug out here!" The lieutenant exclaimed. Pale hands emerged from a cell before Steve showed his squinty-eyed face. Leon had to practically overexert his lungs to keep from pulling out his gun and pump Steve's head full of lead. "What's this I hear about you calling up your ex, huh? Threatening her?" The lieutenant asked.

Steve ignored him, and sat down on his bed. Leon stepped in front of his boss and growled lowly. "What are you gonna to say now, asshole? Now that you've got me face to face? Yeah, not so tough now you fucking wife beater!" His voice echoed throughout the hallway making some inmates stick their heads out to see what was going on.

Smiling sickeningly, Steve smacked his ass and blew Leon a kiss. "Keys!" Leon demanded, catching the jingling objects one handed. Steve remained poised on his bed with a stupidly innocent expression on his face. Leon unlocked the cell and stormed into it, grabbing Steve by the collar and hoisting him into the air. "You're such a big man, Burnside. Beating up women, raping them, playing innocent. I bet there's some fat tattooed man downstairs named Juan Carlo who'd like to ram you up the ass because he thinks you're sexy. You wanna go down there and see? Give ol' Juan Carlo a call?"

Steve stared into Leon's eyes and ignored him. "That's what I thought you piece of shit. If you even think about Claire again, I'll make sure to have them send up your good pal from downstairs. And I'll tell him you like it rough." Leon finished, throwing Steve against the wall before pulling the cell shut and locking it swiftly. Once the two headed upstairs, Leon's boss put a hand on his shoulder. "I don't know what to say, Kennedy. That little shit looked like a fly caught in a spiders web, albeit for a short while." He said.

Breathing heavily, Leon ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah, that's kinda what I was hoping for. She's a damn emotional wreck, lieu. She damn near broke down after I told that ass off and hung up the phone." He said worriedly.

"Well, unfortunately in cases like these, the victims some times have suicidal tendencies. Now I'm not familiar with your friend, so I can't say this for sure, but…well she shouldn't be left alone until she's more stable." Leon's boss advised.

"Yeah…I could never see Claire doing something like that…or being this messed up. But now…you never know, I guess." Leon replied.

"Well, I better let you get back. Go on down to payroll. There's some money you can use to take care of your friend for awhile until she's back on her feet."

Leon raised his eyebrows. "But I haven't been working for awhile. I can't just take money from anyone." He refused.

"Leon, it's not for you if that helps your conscience. Treat her well, make her know she's safe, and loved and just give her support, ok?" his boss insisted. Leon reached his hand out and shook his boss' hand tightly. "Thanks a lot, for all your help. Alright, I better get going." He said gratefully, before heading down to pay roll.

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Meanwhile, back at Leon's apartment, Claire had calmed down a bit. "You wanna talk?" Chris offered. Claire shook her head and buried her face in a pillow. "You know, some times it helps to talk about things…like when Mom and Dad died. You wouldn't stop crying until you finally talked about it." Chris continued. Answering Claire's silence with a sigh, Chris looked around for a notepad.

Upon finding one, he took it and gave it to Claire. "It's hard to say things out loud when you're so upset, so just write it down and we can talk about it, ok?" Claire nodded at took the notepad and shoved it under her body. Luckily, Leon returned home, breaking the awkwardness. "Hey, how's she doing?" Leon asked quietly. Chris shook his head and ran his hand through his hair. "Not good. She won't talk and just kinda lays there." He replied.

"I guess it'd be best to just leave her alone for awhile, huh?" Leon said, sighing slightly.

"Yeah. Hey..maybe I can give Jill a call to see if she can come down." Chris said suddenly.

"Jill?"

"Yeah, we're partners. Maybe Claire needs a woman around to feel more comfortable."

"That's true."

"The only problem is that we only communicate through e-mails and a private instant message server. So it'll be tough getting in contact with her…"

Leon stroked his chin. "Well, it's worth a try." He said, going to retrieve his laptop.

"Yeah. She usually checks her mail often to see if there was any information sent about Umbrella, so hopefully we can talk soon." Chris replied, allowing Leon to sit at the table to set up his laptop.

"Ok, all set. Let's hope this works.." Leon said a moment later, with complete and honest sincerity.

TBC