Chapter Seven:
Lalique sighed heavily as she looked at the black frock that was before her. Her lips puckered up and pulled to the side like the drawstring of a purse and she looked at Claire with an expression of profound disbelief. Claire held back a laugh and nodded. "I know what you mean, I wouldn't want to wear it either."
"It's not that I care about how I look in it." Lalique rationalized, wringing her hands together. "It's just that...that...that _tent_ is a cheap, dowdy, matronly sack!"
"It's better than the good girl-bad girl dress." Lalaine spoke up. Both Claire and Lalique looked at her, bewildered.
With a mellow-dramatic sigh, she pulled out a knee-length cotton dress with a white collar. The side she revealed to them was a high neck-line that reminded Claire of something the pilgrim women wore as they journeyed to a new world. After a few moments, Lalaine turned the dress around to reveal the backside. It could easily have been mistaken for the front except that the neckline plunged drastically, a strict contrast from the other side.
"See?" Lalaine explained, twisting the dress from front to back. "Holy and Ho."
Claire laughed and shook her head. "This dress is fine."
"You should look for a dress too." Leila told her, dropping an outfit into the cart they had. "Leon will pay for it."
"Oh, he doesn't have to, I--"
Leila smiled at her strangely before turning around and, with deliberation, led the girls to the next aisle of clothes. Claire was puzzled only for a moment before Leon appeared at the end of the narrow vista of clothes. He was looking intently at a pair of black slacks, obviously in deep cogitation.
Claire walked over and looked at them. "Water and stain resistant." Claire read. "Wow. Really?"
Leon frowned and shrugged. "We'll have to see, won't we?"
At that moment, Lanna passed by with her cart and a drink in her hand. Leon grabbed the drink and spilled some on the slacks he held.
"Leon!" Claire and Lanna exclaimed at the same time.
"What?" Leon defended. "If I'm going to buy it, I want to make sure it works."
Lanna shook her head. "Kid, you are _too_ weird." She took the rest of her drink, downed it in one gulp and headed down the next aisle.
Leon looked down at the slacks again and brushed off the drops that remained. "Hey, lookit. It works."
Claire rolled her eyes and Leon smiled. "Did you find anything?"
"I'm not going to get anything." she replied. "I left my wallet at the house."
Leon made a scoffing sound and shook his head. "Don't be daft. Just get something and I'll pay for it."
"_Leon_, no." she fussed.
"Claire, I'm very unstable right now. I caution you not to argue with me. It's not a problem."
Claire didn't answer because she saw someone sneak behind and grab Leon around the neck.
"I've got you now, Kennedy!" the guy said.
Leon didn't flinch so much as he grimaced in annoyance. "Mason, if you're going to do the falcon neck bench, do it right."
The man looked confused for a moment, allowing Leon to elbow him in the side and release himself from his hold. "What the hell are you trying to do?"
"Just checking to see if you still got your instincts about you." the man said. He looked from Leon to Claire and did a double take. "Wow. A friend of yours?"
Leon nodded. "Yeah, uh, this is Claire Redfield. Claire, this is Dan Mason."
"Hello." she nodded.
"Hey." Dan said with a lopsided smile.
There was an overly polite silence in which Claire tried to tactfully ignore the mooneyes Dan was sending her.
"So... Leon, is Dan a good friend of yours?" she asked.
"Uh, I guess you could say that." Leon laughed.
Tapping her foot on the linoleum floor, she pursed her lips before sighing. "You know what? I'm just going to check on your sisters to see if they need anything."
"Okay. Get yourself something." Leon told her as she walked off.
"You know I won't." she told him.
"She can be so difficult at times." Leon told Dan.
Dan chuckled. "I know how that can be."
"How you been, Mason?"
"Not too bad. Sorry I couldn't make it to the church last night."
Leon shook his head. "Don't worry about it. Your dad told me you were on your shift at the firehouse. You know, I can't believe the kid I used to play cops and robbers with is a fireman."
"Well, at least I like what I do." Dan said jokingly. "Unlike some people who just do jobs for the uniform. Although I must say, it certainly works."
A blank look crossed Leon's face. "What?"
"The uniform. That Claire must have taken to it right away, huh?"
Leon forced his expression to be completely neutral despite the intense desire to frown. He kept his voice light and pretended to examine the rack of clothes in front of him. "Dan, you bastard. You and your insinuations."
"Is she a _good_ friend?" Dan asked. "Like, as in she could be _more_ than a friend?"
"Claire Redfield and I are nothing but pals."
Dan gave a hearty laugh. "Sure, Kennedy. How long have you known her."
"I don't know. About four, five years, give or take a month or two."
Dan leaned over as if he were going to reveal something highly confidential. "So... have you bonged her yet?"
Leon shoved his fist into Dan's shoulder.
"Damn, Kennedy! That fucking hurt." Dan exclaimed, clueless as to the intention behind Leon's action.
"Sorry. Reflex." he said, pulling back. "But no, we haven't--I haven't--"
"Never? Four years and you never banged her once?" Dan looked thoughtful. "Do you mind if I have a go--"
Leon grabbed Dan by the collar and shook him violently. "_Fuck_ you--"
"Easy, man. I was just joking." Leon released him with a heavy shove before turning away. "God, you really have something for her if you're going to take everything I say the wrong way."
"Nobody talks about her that way."
Dan rolled his eyes. "Geez, okay, I catch the drift, she's _your_ woman, I'll lay off."
Leon blinked rapidly and looked at Jake. "She's not my woman, she's very much her own person."
Sniffing haughtily, Dan gave sarcastic grin. "Sure, Leon. Keep telling yourself that. Women really go for that innocent, good-guy ruse."
Dan said his farewell before heading off, probably grateful to be leaving. Leon, on the other hand, was left with a strange feeling in his stomach. He really went off the meter when Dan said those things. And why shouldn't he have? No man had a right to even talk about a woman that way... and yet... there had been something inside him that broke. Like a wild, animal instinct he had never known existed inside him... He didn't like how the feeling was somehow kin to jealousy. From a few aisles down, he heard Claire talking with Lanna and Leila about their jobs and he suddenly a calm rush over him. It was probably nothing. Claire was very close to him. It was probably just over protectiveness acting up. At least he hoped so...
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Sound filled the Kennedy household a few hours later when they all returned from shopping. From the kitchen came the sound of female chatter as Lanna, Leila and Claire sat around the island bar waiting for the spaghetti sauce to finish simmering. From right above the ceiling of the living room was loud rock music blaring from Lalaine's room as she and her best friend somehow managed a conversation through the racket. Just outside the door was Mrs. Kennedy telling Lalaine to lower the volume. And from up in the attic came graceful strains of piano music as Lalique practiced her daily ballet routines. The only place where there was a smidge of peace was in the living room where Leon sat on the couch, looking at a bunch of old photo albums.
Leon smiled fondly as he reminisced about the good old times he and his dad had. Page after page and album after album was filled to the brim with pictures of precinct picnics (they rarely had time to go on regular outings because of his father's beat), rare family vacations and pictures of their first communions and confirmation. Leon smiled at pictures of his father and frowned slightly when ever his Uncle Ralph turned up. The man would turn up every now and then whenever Leon put his guard down; He was forever creeping closer and closer towards his mother, being separated at the last moment by Frank Kennedy, who always knew what was going on.
"You don't really like your Uncle Ralph, do you?" a soft voice asked from Leon's left.
Leon glanced up to see Claire standing beside him. "No, uh, I never really did."
Claire smiled and sat beside him. "May I ask why?"
Leon shrugged. "God, I don't know. I just remember that for the longest time I've had this... this... this--"
"Animosity towards him?"
"Right, right this animalsitry tow--"
Claire laughed, "That's ani-mo-sit-ee, Leon."
"Tomato-tomahto." Leon replied.
Claire leaned back. "You've been awfully quiet today. Why don't you help in the kitchen? It'll help get your mind of things."
"Claire, whenever I want to get my mind off my father, I'll do it. Right now, I just want to remember him."
Nodding, Claire sighed. "I wish I had known him."
"I wish you had, too." Leon chortled softly. "You would have loved him. He was forever telling jokes, stories and he was brave, smart and...and all the things that I always hoped I'd be when I grew up."
A gentle hand on his shoulder was the first response before Claire whispered softly, "But Leon, you're _all_ of those things."
"No." he shook his head. "Not by a long shot."
"Oh, Leon..." Claire rested her head on his shoulder.
"I mean, I'm not even secure enough to brush off whenever someone makes a comment about you."
Claire lifted her head and frowned at him. "What?"
Damn. He hadn't really meant to say that out loud.
"Nothing, never mind."
"No, you tell me." Claire demanded.
Leon sighed nervously. "Well, Dan just... he had this... this... _idea_ about us, you know? And then he started saying all these _things_ and, you know? I should have handled it better but I lost it and--"
Silencing him before he started spinning off into another dimension, Claire placed a hand over his mouth and shook her head. "Boys will be boys."
"Yeah, but--" Leon mumbled, his voice muffled by Claire's hand. She removed it and looked at him.
"What did you do anyway?"
"I don't even know. I just know I kept pushing him and--and, I just wasn't myself. It was almost like I was... I was..."
Claire seemed completely intrigued by every single syllable that came out of his mouth and he looked away.
"It was almost like you were _what_, Leon?" she coaxed. "Like you were... come on, _what_?"
"Oh, come on, you already know. You're going to make me _say_ it?"
"Well, how else will I know I'm right? Come on, spill."
Leon held his tongue for a few more seconds than let up. Who cared anyway? "I guess I was... I was just jealous."
There was a long pause in which Claire only stared at him. He wasn't looking at her but he could see her out of the corner of his eye.
"You were jealous?"
Leon looked at her squarely and was shocked by how penetrating her gaze was. It was almost as dangerous as looking into an eclipse.
"Why would you be jealous?"
"Because he could say things that I can't." Leon told her. "I mean, not that I'd say them in the same, degrading way he was saying them but I just meant, like, in it's whole--"
"Leon, would you just _shut-up_?" Claire demanded.
"What? Why?"
"So I can work up the courage to do something." her tone was irritated and Leon worried he might have said the wrong thing.
"What?"
Instead of answering him, Claire pressed her lips to his. It wasn't anything big or demanding. It was a little forceful in the beginning but after a few seconds, her lips became soft and gentle. The whole feeling was surreal. Without even realizing it, Leon's eyes closed and he held her cheek in one hand and twirled her soft hair around his other. There wasn't any tongue action, just a sweet, honest kiss that made Leon wonder why he hadn't thought of this sooner. Four years he had known Claire and he never once ever tried to...not even at Christmas parties. When she pulled away, Leon didn't make her move too far; he just held her close and looked deeply at her. The numbness he had grown accustomed to washed away and warmth flooded over him. It was a nice feeling after being cold for so long.
"Where did _that_ come from?" he wondered.
"It's just been building up." Claire replied, dazed.
Leon nodded. "It was nice."
"Very."
"I want to kiss you again."
"Would you?" Claire asked with a coy smile.
Leon pulled her towards him, with the intention of turning this one into an open-mouth kiss when the door opened suddenly. Inside stumbled Leon's Uncle Ralph. His eyes were bloodshot and he reeked of the heavy stench of booze. Leon's Uncle Jake, who was straining from the weight of his younger brother, was practically carrying him.
"Uncle Jake! What the--?" Leon eased away from Claire and stood up. "What happened?"
"He was just at my house, boy. He got into the liquor cabinet and just... he's just hammered."
"How did he get here?" Leon asked, helping his Uncle Jake to carry his other uncle.
"He left the house without us knowing. I'm sorry boy, I know this upsets you."
"Never mind me. I don't want my mom or sisters to see him like this--"
"Where's Mary?" Uncle Ralph slurred loudly. "I want to see Mary."
Claire cringed as she saw Leon's muscles tightened and she knew that he would like nothing more than to drop his drunkard uncle right on his ass but he restrained himself.
"Should we get him back to his house, Uncle Jake?"
"If you would just help me to get him back in the car. Your other uncles and I will take care of him."
"Mary?! Where's Mary!" was the insistent rant that Uncle Ralph bellowed throughout the house.
"She's not home, Uncle Ralph." Leon muttered, groaning against the drunken man's protests.
"Leon?" Mary Kennedy's voice came from the top of the stairs.
"Mary?!"
"Leon, who is down there?"
"Um, it's just Uncle Ralph and Uncle Jake, mom."
"Well, what do they need?" She descended the stairs and froze when she saw how sloshed Uncle Ralph was.
"Ralph, are you all right?"
"Mary!" Ralph broke away from Leon and Jake's grasp and stumbled towards her. "I know you think I'm a good-for-nothing, but the thing is, I love you. I've always loved you, ever since Frank brought you home to meet mom and dad for Christmas."
Mrs. Kennedy's face turned four shades of pale and her eyebrows shot straight up. "Um, Ralph, you know--"
"I don't want to be disrespectful to you or--or--or to your kids, but I need you. I held myself back because of my brother, but he's gone now. If you want, we could---"
"THAT'S IT! _GET OUT!_" Claire had been wondering when Leon would interrupt his uncle's revelation. She had been looking back and forth betwixt Mrs. Kennedy and Ralph and Jake and Leon. Both Leon and Jake looked frozen with shock, their mouths hanging open but a higher degree of outrage was detectable in Leon's eyes. And his mother seemed even worse.
Her complexion was a ghastly white and she looked faint and Claire worried she might pass out. She tried to speak once or twice but no words seemed to come out.
"Momma, what's happening out here?" Lanna called, entering from the hallway. "Oh, I--" she trailed off when she saw how flabbergasted everyone was.
"GET _OUT_, RIGHT NOW!" Leon screamed. "I swear to God, I will throw you out myself! How dare you do this to my mother now? Can't you see she's still grieving, you bastard?!"
"Leon," Mrs. Kennedy admonished, trying to lecture as a mother and recover as a woman at the same time. "He doesn't know what he's saying."
"I don't care, I'll kill him if he doesn't get out right now." Leon yelled, his eyes dark and terrifyingly narrow.
"Ralph, let's _go_." Jake said, grabbing him around the shoulders and hauling him towards the door.
"Mary hasn't answered me yet!" he blubbered.
His nostrils flaring, Leon started in with, "You sonofa--"
"Leon, calm down!" Claire found herself scolding him. "The last thing we need is for you to lose your head."
Leon glared at her. "You know what, _you_ can calm down. I've had it up to _here_ with this guy. You haven't known him as long as I have. You don't see him on holidays looking at your mother like he's undressing her with his eyes. You don't lust after your brother's wife, damn it!" The last remark was directed at his discombobulated uncle and there was a clatter from the stairs. Lalique and Lalaine appeared, looking questionable and frightened at all the noise.
"Momma..." Lalique said, her voice wavery and thin. "Momma, what's going on here?"
"Good news, girls!" Uncle Ralph announced in a grandiose manner, his arms thrown back. "I'm gonna be your new daddy!"
"I'M GOING TO _KILL_ YOU!" Leon roared, charging toward him.
Without thinking, Claire lunged in front of Leon and pushed him back and held onto him.
"Leon, stop, think about this."
"I don't have to think about it, I know exactly what I'm going to do!" he squeezed her shoulders and was about to push her back when he realized who he was talking to and calmed down just enough to fight back whatever impulse he had. "He doesn't have any right to do this to my family. It's only been four days and already he has the nerve to come to my house--"
"I know--"
"--drunk as hell, and starts this rambling about how he wants to be my new father--" Leon glared at Ralph. "You're NOT MY FATHER!"
Lanna and Leila rushed over to help Claire hold Leon back and the two younger girls comforted their mother. From the doorway came a few of the neighborhood boys and their fathers.
"Is everything all right?" one man asked.
"Everything's FINE!" Leon barked.
"What do you think?" Snapped Lalaine.
"It's just a little argument. Our uncle is a little drunk. We need some assistance in getting him back to my Uncle Jake's car, please?" Lanna spoke calmly, instructing the men, who nodded and followed as she said.
His Uncle Ralph ranted and raved all the way to the car and the girls made sure to hold onto Leon until he was out of sight before they rushed over to help their mother. She assured them she was all right although she was clearly shaken and troubled. Claire stayed with Leon, who was leaning against the wall, shooting darts into the ground with his gaze.
"Leon, I--" she reached out to touch his arm, but he jerked away and paced the floor wildly. "Leon, please, talk to me."
"You see, that's the thing, Claire. I don't want to talk. Not right now. Not after this. Maybe not ever." He glared at her and shook his head. "I need to go for a walk."
He swiveled around and headed out the still open door. Claire took a deep, heavy breath and grabbed his jacket from the coat rack and headed after him. "Leon, at least take a jacket, you'll freeze to death out here."
"I don't care.," he snapped. "Don't follow me. I need to think."
"But Leon, you can't--"
"I _said_ I need to think. I need space, I need time away from you."
Why didn't he just take a knife and stab her in the heart? Or take a bullet to her head? Anything, any form of execution or torture would have hurt less than what he said. Leon took a deep breath when he saw the look of exquisite pain in her eyes.
"Claire, I didn't... I didn't mean _you_ I just, I need to think. I need to be away from everybody--I--"
"Yeah, yeah, I know." Claire said shortly. She looked around, biting on her bottom lip before looking down at his jacket and throwing it at him. "I still don't want you to freeze your ass off, so just take it, would you? Then you can go think all you want."
Without looking at him, she turned on her heel and stalked back into the house.
Lalique sighed heavily as she looked at the black frock that was before her. Her lips puckered up and pulled to the side like the drawstring of a purse and she looked at Claire with an expression of profound disbelief. Claire held back a laugh and nodded. "I know what you mean, I wouldn't want to wear it either."
"It's not that I care about how I look in it." Lalique rationalized, wringing her hands together. "It's just that...that...that _tent_ is a cheap, dowdy, matronly sack!"
"It's better than the good girl-bad girl dress." Lalaine spoke up. Both Claire and Lalique looked at her, bewildered.
With a mellow-dramatic sigh, she pulled out a knee-length cotton dress with a white collar. The side she revealed to them was a high neck-line that reminded Claire of something the pilgrim women wore as they journeyed to a new world. After a few moments, Lalaine turned the dress around to reveal the backside. It could easily have been mistaken for the front except that the neckline plunged drastically, a strict contrast from the other side.
"See?" Lalaine explained, twisting the dress from front to back. "Holy and Ho."
Claire laughed and shook her head. "This dress is fine."
"You should look for a dress too." Leila told her, dropping an outfit into the cart they had. "Leon will pay for it."
"Oh, he doesn't have to, I--"
Leila smiled at her strangely before turning around and, with deliberation, led the girls to the next aisle of clothes. Claire was puzzled only for a moment before Leon appeared at the end of the narrow vista of clothes. He was looking intently at a pair of black slacks, obviously in deep cogitation.
Claire walked over and looked at them. "Water and stain resistant." Claire read. "Wow. Really?"
Leon frowned and shrugged. "We'll have to see, won't we?"
At that moment, Lanna passed by with her cart and a drink in her hand. Leon grabbed the drink and spilled some on the slacks he held.
"Leon!" Claire and Lanna exclaimed at the same time.
"What?" Leon defended. "If I'm going to buy it, I want to make sure it works."
Lanna shook her head. "Kid, you are _too_ weird." She took the rest of her drink, downed it in one gulp and headed down the next aisle.
Leon looked down at the slacks again and brushed off the drops that remained. "Hey, lookit. It works."
Claire rolled her eyes and Leon smiled. "Did you find anything?"
"I'm not going to get anything." she replied. "I left my wallet at the house."
Leon made a scoffing sound and shook his head. "Don't be daft. Just get something and I'll pay for it."
"_Leon_, no." she fussed.
"Claire, I'm very unstable right now. I caution you not to argue with me. It's not a problem."
Claire didn't answer because she saw someone sneak behind and grab Leon around the neck.
"I've got you now, Kennedy!" the guy said.
Leon didn't flinch so much as he grimaced in annoyance. "Mason, if you're going to do the falcon neck bench, do it right."
The man looked confused for a moment, allowing Leon to elbow him in the side and release himself from his hold. "What the hell are you trying to do?"
"Just checking to see if you still got your instincts about you." the man said. He looked from Leon to Claire and did a double take. "Wow. A friend of yours?"
Leon nodded. "Yeah, uh, this is Claire Redfield. Claire, this is Dan Mason."
"Hello." she nodded.
"Hey." Dan said with a lopsided smile.
There was an overly polite silence in which Claire tried to tactfully ignore the mooneyes Dan was sending her.
"So... Leon, is Dan a good friend of yours?" she asked.
"Uh, I guess you could say that." Leon laughed.
Tapping her foot on the linoleum floor, she pursed her lips before sighing. "You know what? I'm just going to check on your sisters to see if they need anything."
"Okay. Get yourself something." Leon told her as she walked off.
"You know I won't." she told him.
"She can be so difficult at times." Leon told Dan.
Dan chuckled. "I know how that can be."
"How you been, Mason?"
"Not too bad. Sorry I couldn't make it to the church last night."
Leon shook his head. "Don't worry about it. Your dad told me you were on your shift at the firehouse. You know, I can't believe the kid I used to play cops and robbers with is a fireman."
"Well, at least I like what I do." Dan said jokingly. "Unlike some people who just do jobs for the uniform. Although I must say, it certainly works."
A blank look crossed Leon's face. "What?"
"The uniform. That Claire must have taken to it right away, huh?"
Leon forced his expression to be completely neutral despite the intense desire to frown. He kept his voice light and pretended to examine the rack of clothes in front of him. "Dan, you bastard. You and your insinuations."
"Is she a _good_ friend?" Dan asked. "Like, as in she could be _more_ than a friend?"
"Claire Redfield and I are nothing but pals."
Dan gave a hearty laugh. "Sure, Kennedy. How long have you known her."
"I don't know. About four, five years, give or take a month or two."
Dan leaned over as if he were going to reveal something highly confidential. "So... have you bonged her yet?"
Leon shoved his fist into Dan's shoulder.
"Damn, Kennedy! That fucking hurt." Dan exclaimed, clueless as to the intention behind Leon's action.
"Sorry. Reflex." he said, pulling back. "But no, we haven't--I haven't--"
"Never? Four years and you never banged her once?" Dan looked thoughtful. "Do you mind if I have a go--"
Leon grabbed Dan by the collar and shook him violently. "_Fuck_ you--"
"Easy, man. I was just joking." Leon released him with a heavy shove before turning away. "God, you really have something for her if you're going to take everything I say the wrong way."
"Nobody talks about her that way."
Dan rolled his eyes. "Geez, okay, I catch the drift, she's _your_ woman, I'll lay off."
Leon blinked rapidly and looked at Jake. "She's not my woman, she's very much her own person."
Sniffing haughtily, Dan gave sarcastic grin. "Sure, Leon. Keep telling yourself that. Women really go for that innocent, good-guy ruse."
Dan said his farewell before heading off, probably grateful to be leaving. Leon, on the other hand, was left with a strange feeling in his stomach. He really went off the meter when Dan said those things. And why shouldn't he have? No man had a right to even talk about a woman that way... and yet... there had been something inside him that broke. Like a wild, animal instinct he had never known existed inside him... He didn't like how the feeling was somehow kin to jealousy. From a few aisles down, he heard Claire talking with Lanna and Leila about their jobs and he suddenly a calm rush over him. It was probably nothing. Claire was very close to him. It was probably just over protectiveness acting up. At least he hoped so...
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Sound filled the Kennedy household a few hours later when they all returned from shopping. From the kitchen came the sound of female chatter as Lanna, Leila and Claire sat around the island bar waiting for the spaghetti sauce to finish simmering. From right above the ceiling of the living room was loud rock music blaring from Lalaine's room as she and her best friend somehow managed a conversation through the racket. Just outside the door was Mrs. Kennedy telling Lalaine to lower the volume. And from up in the attic came graceful strains of piano music as Lalique practiced her daily ballet routines. The only place where there was a smidge of peace was in the living room where Leon sat on the couch, looking at a bunch of old photo albums.
Leon smiled fondly as he reminisced about the good old times he and his dad had. Page after page and album after album was filled to the brim with pictures of precinct picnics (they rarely had time to go on regular outings because of his father's beat), rare family vacations and pictures of their first communions and confirmation. Leon smiled at pictures of his father and frowned slightly when ever his Uncle Ralph turned up. The man would turn up every now and then whenever Leon put his guard down; He was forever creeping closer and closer towards his mother, being separated at the last moment by Frank Kennedy, who always knew what was going on.
"You don't really like your Uncle Ralph, do you?" a soft voice asked from Leon's left.
Leon glanced up to see Claire standing beside him. "No, uh, I never really did."
Claire smiled and sat beside him. "May I ask why?"
Leon shrugged. "God, I don't know. I just remember that for the longest time I've had this... this... this--"
"Animosity towards him?"
"Right, right this animalsitry tow--"
Claire laughed, "That's ani-mo-sit-ee, Leon."
"Tomato-tomahto." Leon replied.
Claire leaned back. "You've been awfully quiet today. Why don't you help in the kitchen? It'll help get your mind of things."
"Claire, whenever I want to get my mind off my father, I'll do it. Right now, I just want to remember him."
Nodding, Claire sighed. "I wish I had known him."
"I wish you had, too." Leon chortled softly. "You would have loved him. He was forever telling jokes, stories and he was brave, smart and...and all the things that I always hoped I'd be when I grew up."
A gentle hand on his shoulder was the first response before Claire whispered softly, "But Leon, you're _all_ of those things."
"No." he shook his head. "Not by a long shot."
"Oh, Leon..." Claire rested her head on his shoulder.
"I mean, I'm not even secure enough to brush off whenever someone makes a comment about you."
Claire lifted her head and frowned at him. "What?"
Damn. He hadn't really meant to say that out loud.
"Nothing, never mind."
"No, you tell me." Claire demanded.
Leon sighed nervously. "Well, Dan just... he had this... this... _idea_ about us, you know? And then he started saying all these _things_ and, you know? I should have handled it better but I lost it and--"
Silencing him before he started spinning off into another dimension, Claire placed a hand over his mouth and shook her head. "Boys will be boys."
"Yeah, but--" Leon mumbled, his voice muffled by Claire's hand. She removed it and looked at him.
"What did you do anyway?"
"I don't even know. I just know I kept pushing him and--and, I just wasn't myself. It was almost like I was... I was..."
Claire seemed completely intrigued by every single syllable that came out of his mouth and he looked away.
"It was almost like you were _what_, Leon?" she coaxed. "Like you were... come on, _what_?"
"Oh, come on, you already know. You're going to make me _say_ it?"
"Well, how else will I know I'm right? Come on, spill."
Leon held his tongue for a few more seconds than let up. Who cared anyway? "I guess I was... I was just jealous."
There was a long pause in which Claire only stared at him. He wasn't looking at her but he could see her out of the corner of his eye.
"You were jealous?"
Leon looked at her squarely and was shocked by how penetrating her gaze was. It was almost as dangerous as looking into an eclipse.
"Why would you be jealous?"
"Because he could say things that I can't." Leon told her. "I mean, not that I'd say them in the same, degrading way he was saying them but I just meant, like, in it's whole--"
"Leon, would you just _shut-up_?" Claire demanded.
"What? Why?"
"So I can work up the courage to do something." her tone was irritated and Leon worried he might have said the wrong thing.
"What?"
Instead of answering him, Claire pressed her lips to his. It wasn't anything big or demanding. It was a little forceful in the beginning but after a few seconds, her lips became soft and gentle. The whole feeling was surreal. Without even realizing it, Leon's eyes closed and he held her cheek in one hand and twirled her soft hair around his other. There wasn't any tongue action, just a sweet, honest kiss that made Leon wonder why he hadn't thought of this sooner. Four years he had known Claire and he never once ever tried to...not even at Christmas parties. When she pulled away, Leon didn't make her move too far; he just held her close and looked deeply at her. The numbness he had grown accustomed to washed away and warmth flooded over him. It was a nice feeling after being cold for so long.
"Where did _that_ come from?" he wondered.
"It's just been building up." Claire replied, dazed.
Leon nodded. "It was nice."
"Very."
"I want to kiss you again."
"Would you?" Claire asked with a coy smile.
Leon pulled her towards him, with the intention of turning this one into an open-mouth kiss when the door opened suddenly. Inside stumbled Leon's Uncle Ralph. His eyes were bloodshot and he reeked of the heavy stench of booze. Leon's Uncle Jake, who was straining from the weight of his younger brother, was practically carrying him.
"Uncle Jake! What the--?" Leon eased away from Claire and stood up. "What happened?"
"He was just at my house, boy. He got into the liquor cabinet and just... he's just hammered."
"How did he get here?" Leon asked, helping his Uncle Jake to carry his other uncle.
"He left the house without us knowing. I'm sorry boy, I know this upsets you."
"Never mind me. I don't want my mom or sisters to see him like this--"
"Where's Mary?" Uncle Ralph slurred loudly. "I want to see Mary."
Claire cringed as she saw Leon's muscles tightened and she knew that he would like nothing more than to drop his drunkard uncle right on his ass but he restrained himself.
"Should we get him back to his house, Uncle Jake?"
"If you would just help me to get him back in the car. Your other uncles and I will take care of him."
"Mary?! Where's Mary!" was the insistent rant that Uncle Ralph bellowed throughout the house.
"She's not home, Uncle Ralph." Leon muttered, groaning against the drunken man's protests.
"Leon?" Mary Kennedy's voice came from the top of the stairs.
"Mary?!"
"Leon, who is down there?"
"Um, it's just Uncle Ralph and Uncle Jake, mom."
"Well, what do they need?" She descended the stairs and froze when she saw how sloshed Uncle Ralph was.
"Ralph, are you all right?"
"Mary!" Ralph broke away from Leon and Jake's grasp and stumbled towards her. "I know you think I'm a good-for-nothing, but the thing is, I love you. I've always loved you, ever since Frank brought you home to meet mom and dad for Christmas."
Mrs. Kennedy's face turned four shades of pale and her eyebrows shot straight up. "Um, Ralph, you know--"
"I don't want to be disrespectful to you or--or--or to your kids, but I need you. I held myself back because of my brother, but he's gone now. If you want, we could---"
"THAT'S IT! _GET OUT!_" Claire had been wondering when Leon would interrupt his uncle's revelation. She had been looking back and forth betwixt Mrs. Kennedy and Ralph and Jake and Leon. Both Leon and Jake looked frozen with shock, their mouths hanging open but a higher degree of outrage was detectable in Leon's eyes. And his mother seemed even worse.
Her complexion was a ghastly white and she looked faint and Claire worried she might pass out. She tried to speak once or twice but no words seemed to come out.
"Momma, what's happening out here?" Lanna called, entering from the hallway. "Oh, I--" she trailed off when she saw how flabbergasted everyone was.
"GET _OUT_, RIGHT NOW!" Leon screamed. "I swear to God, I will throw you out myself! How dare you do this to my mother now? Can't you see she's still grieving, you bastard?!"
"Leon," Mrs. Kennedy admonished, trying to lecture as a mother and recover as a woman at the same time. "He doesn't know what he's saying."
"I don't care, I'll kill him if he doesn't get out right now." Leon yelled, his eyes dark and terrifyingly narrow.
"Ralph, let's _go_." Jake said, grabbing him around the shoulders and hauling him towards the door.
"Mary hasn't answered me yet!" he blubbered.
His nostrils flaring, Leon started in with, "You sonofa--"
"Leon, calm down!" Claire found herself scolding him. "The last thing we need is for you to lose your head."
Leon glared at her. "You know what, _you_ can calm down. I've had it up to _here_ with this guy. You haven't known him as long as I have. You don't see him on holidays looking at your mother like he's undressing her with his eyes. You don't lust after your brother's wife, damn it!" The last remark was directed at his discombobulated uncle and there was a clatter from the stairs. Lalique and Lalaine appeared, looking questionable and frightened at all the noise.
"Momma..." Lalique said, her voice wavery and thin. "Momma, what's going on here?"
"Good news, girls!" Uncle Ralph announced in a grandiose manner, his arms thrown back. "I'm gonna be your new daddy!"
"I'M GOING TO _KILL_ YOU!" Leon roared, charging toward him.
Without thinking, Claire lunged in front of Leon and pushed him back and held onto him.
"Leon, stop, think about this."
"I don't have to think about it, I know exactly what I'm going to do!" he squeezed her shoulders and was about to push her back when he realized who he was talking to and calmed down just enough to fight back whatever impulse he had. "He doesn't have any right to do this to my family. It's only been four days and already he has the nerve to come to my house--"
"I know--"
"--drunk as hell, and starts this rambling about how he wants to be my new father--" Leon glared at Ralph. "You're NOT MY FATHER!"
Lanna and Leila rushed over to help Claire hold Leon back and the two younger girls comforted their mother. From the doorway came a few of the neighborhood boys and their fathers.
"Is everything all right?" one man asked.
"Everything's FINE!" Leon barked.
"What do you think?" Snapped Lalaine.
"It's just a little argument. Our uncle is a little drunk. We need some assistance in getting him back to my Uncle Jake's car, please?" Lanna spoke calmly, instructing the men, who nodded and followed as she said.
His Uncle Ralph ranted and raved all the way to the car and the girls made sure to hold onto Leon until he was out of sight before they rushed over to help their mother. She assured them she was all right although she was clearly shaken and troubled. Claire stayed with Leon, who was leaning against the wall, shooting darts into the ground with his gaze.
"Leon, I--" she reached out to touch his arm, but he jerked away and paced the floor wildly. "Leon, please, talk to me."
"You see, that's the thing, Claire. I don't want to talk. Not right now. Not after this. Maybe not ever." He glared at her and shook his head. "I need to go for a walk."
He swiveled around and headed out the still open door. Claire took a deep, heavy breath and grabbed his jacket from the coat rack and headed after him. "Leon, at least take a jacket, you'll freeze to death out here."
"I don't care.," he snapped. "Don't follow me. I need to think."
"But Leon, you can't--"
"I _said_ I need to think. I need space, I need time away from you."
Why didn't he just take a knife and stab her in the heart? Or take a bullet to her head? Anything, any form of execution or torture would have hurt less than what he said. Leon took a deep breath when he saw the look of exquisite pain in her eyes.
"Claire, I didn't... I didn't mean _you_ I just, I need to think. I need to be away from everybody--I--"
"Yeah, yeah, I know." Claire said shortly. She looked around, biting on her bottom lip before looking down at his jacket and throwing it at him. "I still don't want you to freeze your ass off, so just take it, would you? Then you can go think all you want."
Without looking at him, she turned on her heel and stalked back into the house.