Disclaimer: Blah blah Resident Evil yadda yadda yadda Capcom

Yeah…I'm still not sure what I was thinking here. Short as well.

Chapter Two: Bang, Baby, Bang

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Two days. Months of waiting for his replacement, and two days before Ark arrived some wacko with a gun and a grudge had tried to take out the President. Leon did his job and disposed of the would be assassin, but not without him getting a couple of shots in first.

Leon lay on his back, the ceiling of the banquet hall where the Benefit Dinner had been held flashed in and out of focus as the lights from the hundred Press cameras covering the event went off around him. He could hear someone shouting at him, but they sounded far away. Turning his head he caught sight of Ashley, still dressed in the pale baby pink dress he had jokingly said made her look like a birthday cake. She was reaching towards him, the fuzzy noise that must have been her calling his name emanating in circles as two armed men in black suites held her back.

He wondered why she would be crying when warm hands turned his face back up towards the ceiling, only to focus in on Ingrid Hunnigan's pretty face instead. Her hair was loose, just how he liked it, curling around her face in gentle waves. Her hand pressed on his ribcage, pain flaring through his body as she continued to apply pressure. Her face was already starting to blur when dark spots started to dance above her head, and then he saw nothing.

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Earlier that day:

Ingrid awoke to the sound of Leon cursing, loudly and with imaginative creativity. She rolled over to prop herself up on her side with her elbow, the sheet sliding to her waist as she did so, leaving her sleep mussed hair to cover her breasts, a task it didn't seem to want to partake much care in accomplishing. She grinned when Leon ran past the open doorway, pants only buttoned halfway and shoes untied, no shirt to speak of, an exceptionally explicit curse tumbling from his lips.

"I seriously doubt you could do that without hurting yourself." She called out as he disappeared behind the doorframe. A moment later he leaned back around to look at her, his hair sticking up in the back.

"Do you happen to remember where my shirt disappeared to last night?"

The smirk that graced her lips would have put the Cheshire cat to shame, "I'm still wondering how we made it as far as the bedroom myself."

Leon's trademark smirk was followed by a rushed, "Oh shit!" as he caught sight of the clock again, his upper body disappearing once more around the doorframe.

She waited a moment before pulling a wrinkled gray shirt from under the sheets where it had entangled itself around her legs.

Moments later Leon ran back into the room, hair less disheveled and shoes tied, a muttered curse dying in his throat when he caught sight of Ingrid. She was sitting cross-legged on the edge of her bed, his missing shirt the only thing she was wearing as she held up the flip calendar that had been sitting next to her alarm clock.

Leon groaned, shoulders sagging in defeat, "You couldn't have reminded me earlier?"

Ingrid leaned over and switched the clock back an hour as she set the calendar back down, "What? And miss out on that little display?"

Leon advanced on her, "Devil woman. You enjoy torturing me, don't you?"

She giggled as he pushed her back into the mattress, one hand snaking under the shirt to skate over her abdomen, the other wrapped behind her neck, thumb brushing against her earlobe as he knelt over her.

"Mmm…" Ingrid's body curved upward towards him, neck supported by his hand, "We really should be getting ready." Her body language implying anything but.

"Hn. I didn't think attending fancy dress parties were a part of the job description," he paused to place an open mouthed kiss above her collarbone, then pulled away teasingly, "But if I must…"

She gasped as callused fingers continued their move upward, cupping the sensitive skin.

"No, stay!" Ingrid mewled, hands holding him in place by his belt loops.

A breathless chuckle was followed by his lips descending on hers, heat soaring through her belly at the force of it, leaving her breathless and flustered when he pulled away.

"Stay." The word slid out in a breathy moan, the meaning changed, barely intelligible. Leon stopped. Staring into her eyes when she opened them, the deep mahogany reflecting what she hadn't said: Forget Umbrella, let someone else deal with it. Stay here, with me.

Leon's voice cached, but he didn't look away. "I can't."

Ingrid smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes, "Somehow I knew you'd say that."

"Doesn't hurt to ask, though." Leon finished, returning the same sad smile, his hands still and warm on her skin.

Ingrid pulled him in for a kiss, her hands on either side of his face, Leon's arms tightening around her, pulling her into him, his apology bittersweet on her tongue.

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Next: The aftermath

Chapter Two Completed 11-17-05