Leon Kennedy walked out onto the moonlit rooftop. Clenched in his hand was the small note he had found stuck to his apartment door an hour ago. All it said was Garden View Apartments roof. Midnight. The words were written over red lipstick in the shape of perfect lips.

He looked around cautiously as his steps carried him from the relative safety of the stairwell. He knew the identity of the person waiting for him and that made him wary. He had finally reached a point in his life where he could make a difference in the world and it wouldn't do to waste the opportunity by walking blindly into a trap.

He checked the time on his new Rolex, a gift from President Graham for the safe return of his precious daughter. 11:57. He waited in the moonlight, looking over the city that had become his home. His thoughts turned to the events that had brought him there.

That fateful night in September 1998. If he had started only a day earlier, he'd probably be dead, caught in the mass of undead as they swarmed the police station. As it was, there he had been, a fresh faced cadet heading for his first day on his first assignment. He had been so confident on the drive from the city, so sure of his training and abilities. What followed in Raccoon City had confirmed his trust in his skills but had also humbled him with the greatest of all failures. Failure to save the life of another.

Those feelings had followed him through his government training. Time and distance had given him the ability to think objectively and he had realized he couldn't have saved her. It didn't completely dispel his sense of loss, that he hadn't been good enough.

In a way, that was what had pushed him to excel. He would never again allow someone under his protection to die if it was in his power to stop it.

This rumination brought him closer to the present. His contemplations focused on two years ago. That was when he was informed that she wasn't dead at all, in fact, she was very much alive. His heart skipped a beat as the news sunk in. He hadn't failed after all. Somehow she had survived the seemingly fatal wounds inflicted in the lab deep under Raccoon.

The gray veil that had hung over his every thought for over 4 years lifted. He felt happier, lighter, almost intoxicated. She was alive.

He talked with his mother, trying to categorize his new feelings. She was more than just the woman who had given birth to him and raised him. She was his best friend and confidante, the one woman in the world he could trust to never lead him astray or lie to him. She had helped him to make sense of what the news truly meant to him.

Last year, he saw her again for the first time since Raccoon. At the sight of her face, he was thrust back in time to 6 years previous, when she had begged him to leave her behind and save himself. When he had watched her die.

Despite his better judgment, he allowed her seeming affection for him to soften his heart. He had resolved that if he ever saw her again, he would be indifferent. Yet, after she risked her own life a number of times to save his sorry butt, he began to feel as if perhaps she truly did feel something for him. He began to trust her and in the end, was repaid with betrayal…again.

Leon pushed off from the wall that surrounded the edge of the roof and checked the time again. 12:02. He let out a breath, it was funny how much you could think about in five minutes. The highlights of more than 6 years had just flashed through his mind.

He turned and surveyed the shadows. She wasn't normally late.

As if hearing his thoughts, a svelte figure emerged from the shadows. Her black coat rippled as she neared him, the black fox fur collar framing her delicate features. Fur was passé but, then again, she had always had her own unerring sense of fashion.

Her silky voice washed over him, "Leon. I'm glad you came."

Leon sighed, he was tired and wanted to get this interview over with as quickly as possible. He spoke brusquely. "I'm not sure why I bothered. Call it curiosity. What do you want?"

A humorless smile touched her lips and emotion dripped from her words, "It's simple. I wanted to tell you how ardently I love you."