New Horizons, VII

By: Hotaru

Warnings: Steve bashing, abuse, strong language, RE: Code Veronica spoilers

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Before Claire had emerged from the bathroom, Katie was crying again so Chris went into Claire's room to cuddle and coo with his niece. "You remember you uncle Chris, don't you?" He asked the little girl. Her big, deep blue eyes looked up in wonder as she reached out and touched Chris' face. "Of course you remember me. What's the matter, baby?" He asked, bouncing the girl softly.

A gurgle of sounds was his answer. "Someone needs a diaper change." Chris said, sniffing the air. He took Katie into the hall and knocked on the bathroom. "Hey Claire, Katie needs a changing." He called through the door. "Just a minute." Claire replied, sniffing deeply. The buzzer for the downstairs door rang, so Leon went to the intercom and told the pizza guy he'd be down in a minute. Chris tossed him a crumpled up ten and Leon took it gratefully before jogging out of the room.

Claire opened the bathroom door and took Katie from Chris. "Hey, I'll do it. It's no problem." Chris said as Claire closed the door. "It's okay." Claire replied sullenly. Chris sighed deeply and looked around for plates in Leon's kitchen. He eventually found them and set three down on the table. The quest for napkins was a difficult one, and they weren't found until Leon returned with a heavenly smelling box of pizza.

"Hey, you need to find a better place to keep these." Chris said, waving the napkins in the air. "Oh yeah, I don't have a lot of cabinet space, really. Over the oven was the only place they could go." Leon said, placing the pizza on the table.

"Hey Claire, pizza's here. Ah, shit. Jill doesn't know where we are. I better see if I can contact her again." Chris said suddenly, jetting over to Leon's laptop.

Toting a now smiling Katie, Claire went into the kitchen and sat down, fingering her plate slightly. "Come on Jill…still be there…" Chris said, tapping his finger impatiently. "Jill?" Claire asked, looking up slightly.

"Oh yeah, she's gonna come over for awhile. Is that okay?" Chris explained.

"Yeah, I guess so. Just as long as she doesn't bring some guy with her." Claire replied.

"Nope, just her. I figured you'd rather talk to a woman that me and Leon here."

"Yeah, I guess."

"Great then…ah, here she is."

While Chris gave Jill their location, she agreed to call them when she knew when she'd be arriving at the airport. "Okay, that's settled." Chris said, hungrily grabbing a piece of pizza. "Don't you want any?" Leon asked as Claire sat motionless. She shrugged, so he pulled her out a piece and plated it. Katie immediately grabbed for it and pulled a bunch of cheese into her mouth. "Thanks." Claire muttered, reaching for the slice and bringing it to her lips.

The three ate in silence for a while, until Leon and Chris finished eating and went to watch t.v. Claire was left to pick at her pizza while occasionally letting Katie nibble on it. "Can I have some new clothes?" Claire asked suddenly. Chris and Leon both smiled. "Sure! What ever you want." Chris said quickly. "I'll wait until Jill gets here…I know guys don't like to shop." Claire said, the pitch of her voice rising considerably. "Great. You want to come watch t.v. with us?" Leon asked.

Claire shrugged and walked over to the couch and sat beside Leon. "What's on?" She asked. Leon searched the guide. "Pet Sematary…the new version of The Shining…The World's Greatest Magic, whoopee." He said.

"I've never seen Pet Sematary. Is it good?" Claire asked. Leon shrugged. "

I guess, for it's time. I mean '88 wasn't that long ago, but it reeks of the seventies. It's strange…that's the best word to describe it." He explained.

He turned to the sci-fi channel, where the movie was just starting. "We might have to put Katie in another room." Chris murmured. "Is it scary?" Claire asked worriedly. Leon shook his head, but said, "Kind of, but she'd probably be terrified." Claire nodded and stood up. "I'll put her in her crib with some toys then." She said, walking to her room quickly.

"Well, she seems to be getting better already." Leon remarked.

"At least she's talking now. That's good. Hopefully Jill can help too." Chris replied.

"This Jill…are you and her, y'know?"

"What? No, ha ha..wow. I never thought about her like that. But no, we're just co-workers."

"She good-looking?"

"Yeah, she's gorgeous. But we're only friends."

Leon chuckled slightly at Chris' transparent affection for the woman. Claire returned and flopped down on the couch with a sigh. "So what'd I miss?" She asked.

"Nothing really…this family just moved in..the little girl is annoying and the little boy almost got hit by a truck. Lucky the weird, old neighbor scooped him up before it was too late." Leon reported with a chuckle.

"Something tells me that kid isn't too bright." Claire replied, grinning slightly.

The three watched the movie in peace, commenting occasionally at the stupidity of it all. About a half and hour after it ended, the phone rang. "I'll get it." Leon announced, getting up from his seat.

"Yello?..ah, you must be Jill…yeah, he's here. Just a sec." Leon said, and Chris was by the phone in a flash.

"Jill? Hey…wow, that soon huh? Yeah, I guess so…uh huh…okay…twelve a.m., got it. Sure, see you there. Ok, bye." Chris said, writing down information on his hand. After hanging up the phone he returned to the living room. "She'll be at the airport around midnight. You guys don't have to go if you don't want to." He said.

Leon shrugged, as did Claire. "What the hell. I won't be going to sleep any time soon after that anyway." Leon said, placing his hands behind his head. "Claire?" Chris asked, waiting for his sister's approval. "Sure. Doesn't matter to me." She replied, yawning slightly.

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"Monopoly?"

"No way. Too long."

"Okay how about…Pictionary?"

"That sounds like fruity-licious fun."

"Shut up Chris!"

"Right back at'cha Leon!"

Claire groaned and tossed a pillow at the two who had started to wrestle each other. "You guys are acting like a couple of kids, for Gods sakes." She said with a shake of her head. Chris climbed off of Leon and growled at him sort of, before stretching his arms upwards. "Okay, Trivial Pursuit? Gotta love dem pie pieces." Leon said, hoping that they would agree on a game to pass the time.

"Oh fine, if it'll stop you two." Claire said, finally caving in. Leon restrained from clicking his heels and went to retrieve the game. "I can't believe how childish you're acting." Claire spoke to her brother.

"Yeah yeah, just good fun." Chris said with a wave of his hand.

"I bet you wouldn't be acting like that if Jill were here." Claire said teasingly.

Chris' face reddened slightly. "Shut up! We're just friends, for the love of God!" he said nervously. Leon finally emerged with the dusty box and plunked it down on the table. "Okay, I call blue!" he announced. Chris called green and Claire grudgingly took pink.

They set up the table and rolled the dice to see who went first. Chris got the highest number so he rolled, moved four spaces and Leon pulled out a card. "I don't know how the hell we'll know the answers to these, but here goes. What killed reggae king Bob Marley?"

"Heroin!" Chris answered quickly.

"Brain cancer." Leon countered, shaking his head in dismay.

"Ok, Claire, it's your turn." Leon continued, wondering how long the game would actually last.

This time, Chris pulled out a card. "What color were Bob Dylan's shoes in his 1969 Isle of Wight concert?" He asked.

Claire pursed her lips. "Pink?"

"Green. Shit, this game sucks!" Chris exclaimed, tossing the card down.

Leon sighed and leaned back in his chair. "Ok, fuck Trivial Pursuit. Let's just make up our own version and use money instead of stupid pie pieces." He offered. Chris and Claire shrugged and nodded. "Ok, I'll go first since I made it up. Chris, since you were first in the last game you can be first again in this one. Let's say…fifty cents for each correct answer?" Claire and Chris nodded again.

"Alright, what's the square root of 144?" Leon asked.

"…12." Chris answered with only a moment's hesitation.

"Dammit. Ok, let me get some paper so we can keep score. The person with the highest score gets paid by both the losers, ok?" Leon said.

Since there was no argument, the game continued.

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"I'm so tired…I give up." Claire moaned, trying desperately to try to figure out how long one guy had the hiccups for. "You give up?" Leon asked. Claire nodded. "Sixty-nine years! How could you not know that!?" Leon exclaimed. Chris had given up nearly an hour ago, and Leon and Claire were neck and neck. "Ok, you guys owe me…ah, fifty bucks each? That's it? Damn." He boasted, looking at the score sheet. Chris coughed up the money and Claire wrote an I.O.U.

Chris glanced at his watch and nearly freaked. "Oh, shit! It's almost twelve. We gotta go get Jill from the airport!" he exclaimed, jumping up from the couch. Leon pocketed his cash and went to get his shoes on, and Claire went to wash her face, in an attempt to wake herself up. "C'mon, c'mon! Hurry up!" Chris said impatiently, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "If you want me to hurry, you can get Katie's stroller out." Claire called from the bathroom.

Chris went to Claire's room and looked in the closet before finding it behind a bunch of clothes. "Got it!" He exclaimed, picking Katie up from her crib. In a few more minutes, the four were in the hallway, ready to go. Claire held Katie, and Chris carried her stroller. The three piled into the car, and Leon zoomed off to the only airport in town.

TBC