New Horizons, X

By: Hotaru

Warnings: Steve bashing, abuse, strong language

~^~

"I kicked your ass!" Leon boasted as they walked away from the arcade with a bag full of candy and a ring he decided to give to Claire. "I haven't been to an arcade for…nearly ten years! You had an advantage, that's all." Chris retorted. Leon snickered and popped a tootsie roll into his mouth. "So what do you want to do now?" He asked.

Chris shrugged. "I just realized that the girls don't have a key." He stated, looking into the clear blue sky. Leon chewed silently and swallowed. "That's true. You wanna go into town looking for them?" He asked, in all seriousness. Chris laughed slightly. "Well…I don't know. You know this town more than me. Wouldn't it take forever to find them?" he asked.

Leon shook his head. "There's a shopping district in the middle of the city, and that's about it. There's some department stores and the likes but they're too far away really." He explained. Chris shrugged as they arrived at Leon's car. "Alright then. We'll take a drive through town, and if we can't find 'em, we'll just go back to my place, where I can further kick your ass with the videogame of your choice." Leon said, pulling his door open.

Chris shook his head. "I'm sorry that I have a job protecting innocent civilians from a major evil organization that has wreaked havoc on four separate occasions." He said. Leon shook his head.

"I'm a cop, Chris, a cop. Put my life on the line for the innocents every day! Besides, I was in Raccoon too, I did my thing." He said suavely, heading to the shopping district.

They looked around, through the shop windows, but Claire and Jill were nowhere in sight. "Maybe they went to eat someplace?" Chris suggested. Leon shrugged, and they drove around until they spotted the two at an outdoor café. "Hey ladies!" Chris called as they pulled to a stop in front of the café. Jill looked up from her salad and shook her head with a sigh.

Leon and Chris climbed out of the car and jumped over the café's fence. "We were gonna head to a movie, but then we realized you don't have a key." Leon explained as they pulled up two chairs. "Did you make one?" Claire asked, sipping from a melted milkshake. "No. That would have been a good idea. But you wanna go with us?" Leon offered. Claire was feeling uncomfortable, thinking about going on a date so soon.

"All four of us, an alien invasion, nice cool air conditioning. What could be better?" Chris asked, trying to convince the two women. "I don't know, Chris." Claire said, stirring her milkshake with her straw. "Ah, come on! I've heard great things about "Signs". It'll be fun." Leon said enthusiastically.

With a sigh, Claire agreed. "Alright, I guess. But won't it be too scary for Katie? She's only a baby." She murmured. "That's true…I guess we can't go." Leon said disappointedly. Claire frowned apologetically.

"You guys can always go. I don't want to ruin your fun." She suggested. Leon shook his head.

"I'm not leaving you alone. You never know what that asshole will try." He said firmly.

"Then I guess it's just you and me." Chris said, turning to Jill. She blushed slightly and nodded. "I guess so. We could always take care of Katie if you guys wanted to go anywhere later anyway." She said to Leon and Claire. Jill finished up her salad and she and Chris went to one car, and Leon, Katie and Claire went to the other. "See you guys later." Leon called, pulling his door open.

~^~

"Thanks for offering to stay with me. I'll have to admit I'd be a little weary all by myself." Claire said, buckling Katie into her car seat.

"Oh, it's no problem. Besides, Chris and Jill need some time alone." Leon replied.

Claire smiled and wondered why she hadn't realized how handsome Leon was before. "So what'd you buy?" He asked.

"Huh? Oh, um…some sweaters, a sun dress, pants, shirts, that's about it." Claire replied.

"A sun dress. I bet it'll look great on you."

/Oops. Shouldn't have let that slip out/ Leon thought worriedly. But Claire remained silent, unsure how to react. "Um..do you…like me, Leon?" She stammered. Leon began to sweat nervously.

"Well, I can't lie to ya Claire. I think you're really great, and well yeah…I do like ya." His eyes remained fixated on the road, but Claire could tell he was trying not to look nervous or antsy.

"I uh…don't know what to say." Claire said quietly.

"Don't say anything. The last thing you need right now is a relationship or guilty feelings towards me or anything. I probably shouldn't have told you but I didn't want to lie to you either."

"Yeah, I understand. But you've helped me so much, through all of this, Leon. I don't want to keep you waiting…"

"Don't worry about it. There isn't a bunch of girls in line for me, anyway."

"Aw, don't say that Leon. You're great. I'm sure if you got out more, a lot of girls would like you."

"Ah, I get out plenty with the job. But everyone I stop to talk to is either a witness, or a criminal or a co-worker. It's not the greatest job to meet people. But there have been advances made."

"Yeah?"

"Well, sometimes people get worked up in relief when a case is solved, that they compliment me or ask me to dinner. I've never actually gone out with anyone but I have a stack of numbers at home that I don't think I'll ever call."

"Then why do you still have them?"

"To impress people I guess."

Leon chuckled and pulled into the parking lot. "Well, I like you too Leon." Claire said quickly, getting out of the car. Pausing, Leon smiled and left the car too. "Thanks. But take your time alright? I'll wait an eternity for you, if I have to." He said as Claire pulled Katie from her car seat. "Thanks Leon. I don't think I could handle pressure right now. This is the most I've talked in a while." She replied.

"Great. Let's get out of this heat, ah?" Leon said, heading into the building quickly.

~^~

They played with Katie for a while, and turned on some Sesame Street for her. "I can't stand another minute of this." Claire murmured, getting up and heading into Leon's room. "Hey! Where are you going?" He asked, jumping up from his seat. He made sure Katie was still enraptured by the t.v. before following Claire. "I want to see your room. Wow, a lot of awards." She said, looking up at a wall.

"Ah, not really. Just community stuff. I tried to bury myself in work, and charity and volunteering to get my mind off of things. Raccoon, I mean." Leon explained, sitting down on his bed.

"I did that too. But it got to the point where I was so exhausted that I could barely stay awake. Then Steve showed up and he forced me to quit work and everything. Instead I cleaned at home, and did laundry except I never got paid." Claire replied solemnly, joining Leon.

"What happened while you were living together? There had to be some good times, right?"

"Sort of. Like I've told you before, when he first came back, I was so…amazed that he was alive, I let him right in, let him stay over. I tried to get him to look for a job but he just stayed home at watched t.v. Pretty soon, he got depressed and turned to alcohol. It made him feel better but the truth was still there. He stopped going outside, turned pale…he was like a bat or something you know?"

"That's strange. Did he ever do things that didn't make sense? Or did he go places and not tell you?"

"Sometimes. He'd act like he was really out of it. Not like he was high, or drunk or anything…but like he had just been dropped in the middle of God knows where."

"Like a deer in headlights?"

"Mm-hmm."

Leon stroked his chin. "You know, Jill and Chris think that Umbrella might still be conducting experiments on him. Maybe he was given a strong dose of sedative or something, so it looked like he was dead, that way they could experiment on him without circumstances or the police…though I doubt they'd help." He offered.

"Umbrella!? I never thought about that." Claire said incredously.

"I think we should send Jill undercover to visit Steve in jail, try and get some information on him. We may even get some evidence about what he did to you too."

"Wow…I don't know how well that would work…"

"We'll figure out the details later."

"That's fine. You know…in the back of my mind, I always wondered what would happen to Katie. Steve was infected with the T-Veronica virus when he 'died'. Do you think that he was vaccinated so they could inject him with different viruses to see what happened? Cause I don't want anything to happen to her."

"That's a good point. She may very well be infected in some way. I don't want to worry you but…we have to take all possibilities into account."

Claire covered her face with her hands. "I can't believe it. My poor baby might be infected. What are we going to do!?" She moaned. Leon wrapped an arm around her and sighed. "We'll figure something out."

~*~

"That was so freaking scary." Jill said with a shiver as she and Chris emerged from the movie theatre. Chris wrapped his arm around her shoulders and grinned.

"Maybe a little. You were squeezing my hand so hard I could barely concentrate."

"Sorry about that. It's been awhile since I've seen a really scary movie, though."

"What, Raccoon wasn't enough for ya?"

"Yeah, but I wasn't allowed to be scared during that! I had to be tough, and stay focused so I'd come out alive."

"That's true."

They arrived at the car and headed back to Leon's apartment, with the cool night air ventilating through the car. "I had fun." Chris stated, staring at the road ahead. Jill lifted her head off her arm and looked at him. "Me too. We haven't been on vacation in so long..I forgot what it felt like." She remarked.

"What?" Chris questioned.

"This…freedom. Knowing that you won't have to wake up early the next day, being able to do things on a whim without worrying about the consequences."

"Ah…haven't felt like that since college."

"Frat boy?"

"Not quite."

"Yeah, whatever." Jill said with a laugh.

They arrived back at Leon's apartment, and were surprised to find Katie alone in the living room. "Wonder where they are." Jill said, picking Katie up from the floor. Chris looked in Claire's room briefly before glaring at Leon's closed door. "If he tried anything—"

Shoving the door open, Chris sighed deeply to find Claire and Leon asleep, with their clothes on. Jill ran over to the door and pinched Chris. "Oh relax, Chris! Leon wouldn't try anything with Claire at a time like this." She said, as he glared at them for a little longer. "So…what do you want to do?" Jill asked, glancing at the cable box.

Chris shrugged. "I'm gonna take a shower." He said, turning to go into the bathroom. Jill smirked and pulled a book out of one of her bags before settling down on a couch for a good read.

TBC