This chapter is many things. It started short, it grew long. It's Claire and Chris. It's about sincerity. It's friendship. It's Chris and Leon. It's transition. It's three parted.

It's released exactly on the same day as the first line says. I love these ... uh-ehm... coincidences!

ACT 2 - A SINFUL ROMANCE

CHAPTER 13 - Here we go

Part one - End of a nightmare

It was October 23rd, Tuesday. About a month had passed since the day that (ex)changed their lives. Thirty days to be correct, but to them it seemed a lifetime.

It was incredibly early in the morning when the Redfields reunited in the Umbrella's Neurological Research facility lab. Suspense filled the air, dense and heavy like an autumnal fog. Claire and Chris were holding hands waiting for some of the scientists to tell them what to do. They were nervous and excited, hardly believing it was happening. Real Chris could feel the imponent body beside him shifting on her feet and huffing. He was going to say something reassuring when Robert came by, embracing his kids' heads and placing kisses on both of them.

"Here we go." He said excited and his voice was a bit shaken but his professionality was still showing despite he was talking to his own kids "we will lay you on those stretches over there and anesthetize you. The whole operation will last about fifteen minutes, from the setting you inside to the energy loading and the core accelerator to reach optimal intensity... but the transmigration itself won't take more than 70 seconds. Dr Parker and Dr Miller assured us they felt nothing, it was just like sleeping, so don't be scared. You'll wake up in about three hours or thereabout outside the lab, we have prepared a special room with two beds and all comforts to make the awakening as smoother as possible."

The siblings listened carefully and nodded at every warning. They read the emotion in their father's eyes. He was putting his own beloved kids inside a machine he had helped building and that proved to work well, but he couldn't really relax until he saw his kids in their normal bodies again.

They held him tight. "Thank you so much, Dad!... We love you. Thank you for everything!"

Robert held them even tighter, tears flowing shyly down his rugged cheeks.

They laid on the stretchers, looking at each other, hands clasped together and, after one last smile, they inhaled the anaesthetic, slipping slowly into a sound slumber.

Real Chris saw his vision light up slowly, the white shadows becoming walls and blurry human figures surfacing from the brightness. He felt his eyelids still weighed by the drug but he managed to keep eyes open.

One of those figures was standing by the foot of the bed he was laying on, the other went closer and after few blinks he recognized his mother's face. She was smiling and holding her breath, as she was about to discover the outcome of the operation.

"Who are you..." she said softly, in a questioning tone.

He blinked again.

"Darling... please tell me your name." she repeated.

His name. She had asked for his name. Chris.

"M-mom...?" He replied, more a low huff than an audible word. "I'm Chris."

That voice. That raw, deep, warm, masculine voice. He had heard well. He wasn't mistaking. The tears running down his mother's cheeks were the prove he was right. Her son was back.

He was alright. He was Chris.

His eyes were filling with tears as he repeated Mom over and over again, sobbing frantically, enjoying the sound of that voice and the happy wet chuckle of Lily. Robert almost collapsed under the sudden release of adrenaline, he just sobbed quietly as long as his inner tension relented.

When Chris started feeling more awake he moved his left arm, the one Lily wasn't grinding with her motherly love, and looked at his hand. It was big and virile. But smoother than he remembered. With that he reached his face and abandoned himself in a liberating cry when he felt crispy hairs under his fingers. His beard. His most beloved beard!

Claire. Where is she?

He turned his face scanning the room seeking her. He found her lying by his right, just a couple of feet away. She was still sleeping but if he was himself then, she was... there.

"Mom, she hasn't woken up yet, has she?" Still feeling strange at earing again his voice, after a month of that sweet girlish one he had had.

"No, darling. Not yet."

"Is it good or bad?"

"It's ok don't worry. Actually, it's you the one that woke up unexpectedly. Only two hours and a half had passed since the anaesthetic dose. Are you in a hurry?" she joked, laughing heartedly.

"Maybe that's because I have something to do I cannot miss."

Claire opened her eyes and glanced at the light upon her.

Am I dead? Is this heaven?

Sight adjusting made her realize it was just a lamp. Still perceiving a sense of spinning, she looked down and saw her mother's hazel eyes, then her mouth, smiling, then the rest of her face and upper body. She was smiling silently. She remembered anything. What had happened and what was supposed to have happened. She wanted to talk but her dry throat didn't let escape a single sound. She gulped to ease her voice with saliva but, before she could clear her throat, she saw her mother lean back and fade from her sight. She wanted to scream to don't go away but she felt a hand on her right cheek and before she could manage to turn her still heavy head she heard a voice.

"Claire."

That voice. She knew that voice! Too well. She turned, or most likely the big warm hand made her turn the head, and was met by the most beautiful sight she could wish to wake at after that hellish operation. Chris' face was there. Looking right in her eyes with his own hazel brown ones, smiling from ear to ear. Beautiful vision.

"Claire, honey."

"Chri-" her voice made her wince violently. Her voice. Not a growling deep one. But her voice! "I'm Claire!" She was already crying.

Chris had agreed with his parents that as he wanted to be there when she'd wake up, Lily would just stand by Claire saying nothing and waiting for her to be fully awake. Seeing the face she had worn until few hours before as the first thing might have been too traumatizing. He wanted to be the one to call her, his had to be the voice to tell her she was Claire and she was fine and she was…

"You're beautiful" he whispered with a broken voice and leaned down to kiss her cheek, wetting his lips with her tears.

So there they were, staring at each other in disbelief, touching their faces, screaming for joy, hugging tightly. He was considerately caressing her face, letting her pull him down to place wet kisses on his cheeks, happy to feel again the crisp of his facial hairs under her lips. She let him peel her away from the mattress in a tight embrace, nestling herself in his big chest and stroking his biceps.

Yeah, I'm in heaven.

Chris was again Chris. Claire was again Claire. No more fake Chris nor fake Claire. Just them. No more lies. Only truth.

Part two - Put it right

They stayed at the facility for the rest of the morning as some examinations had to be done. They went home only after midday.

It was new to both of the Redfields the feeling of walking again in their bodies, the change of perspective, the different stature, the different weight. Paradoxically, the body they had lived in for years by then felt stranger. Familiar but stranger. Just like the first time they had swapped, they now had to get used to their bodies all over again.

Home air never smelled better. It was sunny and every room in the house was filled with abundant daylight, making everything look nicer and brighter. Even if someone would have sprayed slurry manure all over the walls and introduced a whole litter of pigs, the Redfields would still have thought their house was beautiful. They were too happy to see any negativity.

Claire and Chris stood by the foot of the staircase few seconds before darting upstairs like lightning bolts, each one throwing open their own bedroom door.

Claire jumped on her bed, scanning her room and savouring every detail of it. From her white and rose-coloured pillows, to her desk besides the large window, her drawer, her photos hanging on the walls, her books on the bookshelf upon the desk, her crimson armchair, her pastel peach carpet, her videogames.

Everything seemed to scream "welcome back Claire!".

Her eyes fell on the ugly grey slippers beside her bed. Those were the only things not welcoming her. She grabbed them and decided it was time to make them step back into their natural habitat.

Chris was sitting on his bed too. Taking in his surroundings. Bed, nightstand, posters, vinyl collection, books, tv, guitar, daylight. Had he missed his room? A bit. After all, he had spent many afternoons doing homework there with his sister or just listening together to some good music.

What he had really missed was in that room too actually, but sitting down. He had missed his body. All of it. He had missed his masculinity, his brawns, his portly stature, the way he weighed on the mattress.

He now wanted to celebrate the... comeback with a long, long shower. Down in the facility he had already seen him in the toilet but hadn't had the chance to welcome him back yet. He had to recover the time being parted from his dick. He had no time to waste nor reasons to stay in that room.

He had already the doorknob in hand when he heard the knocking.

"Wow, Chris! Did you get superpowers today? 'Cause I want some too!" Claire joked quite astonished, not expecting the door to crack open so quickly.

"Oh I wish! But no... I was just going to the bathroom."

"Here you are, Chris. Take these ugly things and gimme my fabulous minty slippers back!" She said handing him the pair.

"More than eager to do it! I won't miss them. Even if I must admit it, they are pretty comfortable." He said while doing the exchange.

"Of course they are! They're fabulous!" she laughed "So... how's your room, uh?"

"Clean. You kept it well." He said glancing at the neat space behind him.

"Thanks. I haven't checked mine for dust yet... But I think I'm gonna clean it up anyway soon!"

"Yeah, Sis! Sweep the dirt away!"

"After all, what's better than a good wipe to start over our new old lives?"

Chris smiled and hugged her. Oh, how good it felt for both of them! Being anew in the right place after all that time. Chris wrapping Claire, and not the other way around. Chris the taller, Claire the shorter. Chris the brawny, Claire the delicate. Chris the boy, Claire the girl.

"I missed this. I missed being hugged this way." She whispered nuzzling his pectorals with her cheek.

"I missed it too." He said, and with a smooth move he squeezed her buttocks in his grinding hands and lifted her on his chest. "I missed this too." he growled, keeping her tilted.

She looped her arms around his neck, embracing his head in her chest, and let her feet dangle freely. That was the best way to feel light and thin again. They were once more themselves. Normality never felt so good.

"Claire, tell me one thing... did you manicure my hands?" he asked against her skin, amused.

"Well... I had to take good care of your body, right?" Claire replied with a cheesy smile, tilting her head back that much enough to look down at his eyes. "All those handlebars get you too many calluses! And cuticles are horrible. Do you like the result?"

"I'm just happy there's no nail polish." He laughed. "But yeah… my hands are smoother now so thank you!"

"I'll teach you how to keep'em that way." She said, breathing softly against his muzzle.

"Or you could manicure me every now and then…"

"Would you really let me do that?" she asked quite incredulous and astonished.

"Yeah… I'd love it."

Chris pulled her slowly down, slid his hands on his sister's shoulders and parted the embrace gently pushing her away.

"Now, you'll have to excuse me but I have a thing to take care of." And placed a quick peck on her head before heading almost running to the bathroom.

Normality. What was normality for them now? Had they really got it back?

Normally, Chris would've never told his sister he was going to masturbate in the shower. And even if he would, his normal sister would have looked at him disgusted and bewildered. But now she just smirked, winking at his hasty eagerness to jerk off. That was normal now.

Claire went back to her room, slippers in hands. She couldn't wait anymore, she tossed away her shoes and wore her real slippers. How impossibly soft! It seemed to be walking on clouds!

Still one little thing was missing to complete her cosy outfit... Her unicorn pyjamas! As she wasn't planning to leave her house on that day, she could just wear pyjamas that early in the afternoon. She went inside her closet to grab one and there she met... herself.

Down in the lab bedroom there was a little mirror inside the small adjacent bathroom thus she had already had the chance to look at her reflection. But now she was watching herself full size after all that time. It was strange. Having another Claire right in front of her was familiar though. For a moment she thought it was Chris in her body again standing in her closet. And if she didn't move it might have seemed. But when she was moving there were no doubts! It was her. She was back! She beamed at herself enjoying the smile back from the glass. She made many funny grimaces and tried many expressions. They were there. She was there. She came closer to the reflecting glass and stared intensely at her own eyes.

Welcome back, Claire.

Before she'd go full emotional, she turned and grabbed her favourite pyjamas, the rainbow one, making few shirts fall accidentally. Crap.

Picking them up, she noticed something on the floor, almost hidden between some white boxes and ruffles of dust. When she grabbed it, she discovered it was one of her panties. She didn't need to think about it much to realise it was Chris' untidiness to have left it down there all rolled up. She knew why it was there. Suddenly she thought that it was in that very closet that her brother jerked off every night. In front of that very mirror. With that very body.

Normal Claire would have looked nauseated by it. She'd have thought it was sick.

But that Claire just smirked shrugging.

Now for this shitty litter. Chris has no idea what a duster is.

Chris was breathless.

It had been savage. It had been furious. It had been what he needed. He was still under the hot water jet, still panting, still grabbing himself. He looked down on himself, as to make sure he was really there. He was. Still hard. Still superb. Still arrogantly virile.

He felt a man again.

He had missed it. Despite, back in time, he had accepted quite well the fact that Claire had to live with his penis as he knew she'd treated it with all regards, still he had always suffered its absence. But now his manhood was back!

He made sure to rinse all the sperm away before stepping out of the shower tray.

Purposefully, he planted himself in front of the mirror and carefully wiped his body, checking with his eyes and palms every curve, every cleft, every muscle, every bumped vein. Yes, he was a man. A handsome one.

He caressed his pectorals, so tight under his touch. How different it felt compared to the tenderness of his sister's round breasts! How thicker his biceps and wrists were! How crispier were the sparse body hair under his fingertips!

He caressed his own body, the touch feeling confirming him it was all real. A touch to become familiar with himself anew.

His mind went back to his first shower as Claire, to the look he saw on that face, to how upsetting that was. He leaned down, lowering his head under the steamed part and looked. He saw the face of happiness. He saw peace of mind. He saw satisfaction. He saw his eyes, then his beard.

Time for a trim, my precious.

After a busy afternoon in tiding up and getting everything back to the usual place, they enjoyed a relaxing dinner all together. After so many days of non-stop toil, Robert Redfield got some time off and that simple meal seemed to him to be the best one he ever had: the best gnocchi al ragù, the best roast beef, the best mashed potatoes. It was just beautiful being gathered there talking about simple things, from Italian recipes to his sister-in-law's last weeks of pregnancy's course.

His eyes roamed from food to his darlings' faces, enjoying the laughs springing from his beloved ones. He had made up the mistake, he couldn't quite believe it. He had given his kids their lives back and that horrible nightmare was over. Once and for all. He felt happy and proud.

During dessert, Claire went silent and pensive, lost in her thoughts.

"Aren't you feeling good, darling?" Robert asked already victim of deepest concern.

"Uh?... well... I was thinking about things, Daddy..."

"Hope nothing bad, Claire."

"No... maybe. I was thinking that now me and Chris will start carrying on our lives back... we won't have to pretend being someone else. But..."

"But...?"

"But we can't just go back to school pretending that the total mess we've been for the whole last month just didn't happen. Our friends noticed that something - everything - was wrong with us, our teachers noticed too. It wasn't just one day of bad mood. It was weeks of anxieties and pain impressed on our faces, of lies they only faked to accept as truth, of… ugh… We hurt our friends as long as we were hurting too. How would we tell them to forget it?"

"I see what you mean, darling. You're right."

"Well, we need to think to an excuse then" Chris candidly said "one last lie."

They needed, indeed. As willing they were to fix the shit they didn't think about the comeback consequences.

It was Lily to bring on the table a quite reasonable solution. They'd just have to tell their friends that all those three past weeks they had been worried about their mother's health, as some medical examination, lately resulted wrong, had shown a bad breasts cancer. And as their mother had told them to keep it temporarily secret, at least as long as the results weren't confirmed and as it was something too grievous to talk to everybody yet, and that made her suffer a lot, they just suffered in silence too.

They all looked at Lily in disbelief. How could their lovely mother have conceived such an evil plan?

Discussing it, it just turned out not to be such a bad idea, after all. It might have worked. If they lied well. But after weeks of weird attitude, their friends would surely believe their smiling faces.

They had a plan.

The following morning Chris woke up at the sound of the alarm and soon sent his hand to make it shut the fuck up. But the more he searched the less he could find the stupid bothering device. He opened his eyes and noticed that he was only patting the other pillow. Alarm still ringing undisturbed, from some place behind his head.

He wasn't anymore used to sleep in his bed inside the Man's Cave. There he used to rest on the side closer to the window opposite the door. So, his bedside table was on his right side if laying belly up. Differently, in the Girly Room, it would be on his left side. Funny how both him and Claire, when swapped rooms, just continued sleeping on the same bed side as the other had always done. Maybe it was because of the closeness of the window, who knows?

He shut the alarm, grunting at the echoing shadow it left in his ears. He sat upright, the sight of his room welcomed him, the sight of his grey slippers put a smile on his face. Ready to start the day!

Claire was already in the bathroom when he knocked.

"Just one second! I'm almost done!" He heard her yell from behind the door.

"Ok..."

But minutes passed and the door was still closed. He could hear the monotonous buzzing of the hairdryer going on. He knocked louder.

"Claire? Please... How long does it take you? I cannot keep it anymore! Don't make me go down in the basement!"

He heard the door lock click. "Come in!"

Claire was busy in drying and styling her hair in front of the mirror in her red bathrobe.

"Sorry Chris. My hair looked horrible. Had to apply a mask."

"A mask?"

"Yeah. Guess you never did, right?"

"Sorry. I used conditioner but... I just forgot hair masks exist." He replied, a faint embarrassment blushing his cheeks.

"Don't worry, honey. You did great anyway. You need the shower?"

"Yes, but before, I have to pee."

And he just went to the toilet and did it standing up. Claire could see his whole back reflected in the mirror, her eyes roamed from head to knees, obviously passing through his butt. She wasn't anymore used to see that side of Chris.

As she turned off the hairdryer, she said "you must have drunk a whole pool!"

He just laughed heartedly. "Big dick big piss!"

When he was done, he turned and started pulling his shirt off, tossing it in the laundry basket next to the sink like a pro basketball player. Playfully, he put his hands on her face from behind, covering completely her eyes.

"Guess who?" He asked.

"An idiot! Take those filthy hands off my face, you haven't washed!"

"So what?" He was confused.

"So... that's gross!"

"Claire I just touched the same dick you touched until yesterday..."

"I know, but I never put my hands over my face after touching it."

"Your loss. I did it with your vagina without even blinking."

He laughed and pushed a finger on her lips making her wiggle to free herself from his grip and attempts to make her lick his fingers, laughing all along with him. She was joking as well, in fact, she lastly gave up and sucked his forefinger, releasing a smack sound when he pulled it out of her mouth.

He released her, lowering his hands to her waist and smacked a sound kiss on the crook of her neck, then took off his boxers and stepped inside the shower tray.

"Hey, Claire, would you wash my back?"

"Ha! You can do it by yourself, I know it!"

"Of course I can, but it's much more comfortable being scraped by someone else!" He said reminiscing how much he appreciated when fake Chris washed him.

"Sorry, Chris. Gotta leave now or the steam would make my hairstyling efforts useless!" She said. "Maybe next time."

Her brother simply responded by squishing his buttocks against the glass and making it move like a belly dancer.

"You're such a doofus!" She laughed shaking her head and left.

They were just few feet away from the bus stop. They were going to meet their friends for the first time after the switching back. Claire tightened her grip on her brother's hand.

"You ready, Claire?"

"Yes, Chris. I'm just a bit nervous. I don't like telling lies."

"Me neither. But we've been lying a lot lately. We're kinda pro now."

"I know... at least this is not the hardest thing we may ever do."

"Yup. The worst is gone."

That day the kiss on the temple felt perfect.

Claire approached Jill and Rebecca with a smile. She knew her friends would soon spot unusual easiness on her face and start questioning her. At Rebecca's predictable question, she replied telling the story she had minutely prepared, hoping to sound convincing. She was really nervous, but the shaking of her voice was mistaken for emotion by her friends. When she had told everything, they just threw themselves on her hugging her tightly. The first contact in weeks. That unexpected bounce made her melt and her eyes fill with salty tears.

"I missed you, girls." She said sobbing quietly.

"We missed you too, Claire." Jill replied.

Rebecca pulled away from that tangle of girls and, looking straight in her eyes said, more earnestly than she had ever done "Claire, next time you'll be facing anything bad, no matter how bad, just talk with us. We're your friends, we are here to help and support each other. Not just to talk about guys and have fun! Ok? And if it must remain a secret, we will keep it. You know you can trust us."

She was the sweetest girl on Earth. The best friend anyone could ever desire. She knew, as Chris had told her, that Becky had been the most caring of friends in the past weeks. Unlikely the other girls who'd just keep asking questions and judging and scolding and giving unrequested advices, Rebecca always had a comforting word for her, always a caress, always trying to cheer her friend up.

Jill was a loyal friend too. That was for sure. She had a very discreet disposition, making her look a bit cold to most people. But she was a caring person too. A good friend. Not warm like Rebecca, but exquisite anyway.

"Hey Chris" "Sup buddy" "Hey man!"

Ok. Let the show begin, he thought.

"Hey guys... I have to tell you something and... apologize." He said with a low tone.

He told the same story as Claire in his usual manners: straight to the point and no frills.

His friends seemed to understand his pain. Even Carlos listened with a serious face.

"Don't worry, man. It was evident you had something bad messin' with your life. I wish I could have done more" Piers said, a concerned look shading his green eyes.

"Yeah, Chris. Piers is right. We all wish that. You've been pretty weird but the important is that now both you and Claire are fine. Is she fine too, right?" Leon asked, turning to scan the crowd looking for Claire, and sighing quietly, brows furrowed, when finally seeing her wiping her tears while Jill and Rebecca lovingly stroked her arms.

Chris thought back at the infamous kissing accident, at his words about liking Claire and his care when he thought he had met her drunk. Leon was a good friend. A real trustworthy young man. Maybe he might be even good for Claire, but he had heard him talk smutty about what he liked to do with girls too many times to just let him even slightly get close to her bed and even lesser to her heart. He grinned at that last thought. Nobody is worth of Claire.

Carlos was standing there, looking down in silence when, at some point, shaking his head he said "Dammit man! I suck with words!" And just hugged him patting his back heartedly and loudly.

So, apparently, everything went well with their friends, it only remained to adjust their scholastic situation.

Chris stepped in his history classroom, sat on his usual seat, next to his usual Kevin just like his alter ego had done every day for the last weeks. But for him it felt like ages since the last time he had been there. Damn, he had even missed Professor Burton!

Barry Burton was taking some notes on his register, scraping the reddish beard on his round fat face as if something was worrying him. He then got up and started explaining the daily topic. Once the lesson was over, Burton approached Chris' desk and asked him to exchange few words. Unlike the last time Chris had experienced a teacher asking him to stay after the lesson, this time he was relaxed and optimistic. Barry Burton was no Albert Wesker.

"Chris, principal Wallace told me about your situation" Barry said in his usual paternal manner.

In fact, earlier that morning, Robert and Lily had phone called the principal of their school repeating the same old big lie. The latter assured them he'd report it to both their kids' teachers as to let them consider it in their valuations, even if the most difficult school situation now was Chris', as Claire didn't got her grades lowered at all: her brother had had no problems at studying again what he had already studied two years before after all.

"Let me tell you I'm truly sorry for what happened to your family, it must have been very hard." The robust teacher continued.

"Thank you, sir. But it's all over now." Chris said.

"I noticed. You look… you look like the same old Chris I used to know." He smiled. "I want you to know that I'll pretend it didn't happen. After all, your grades in history are still pretty good, but promise me you'll start over studying like you used to do, ok?"

"I will."

"Good. I'll see what I can do to convince your other teachers to be considerate about your situation. Heard Ada being pretty disappointed by you. You should've heard her in the teacher's lounge!"

"Thank you, professor Burton. But I'll show her I'm willing to recover."

After that little conversation with Burton, Chris headed towards the school cafeteria to have his lunch. Whilst walking the last crowded hallway he came across that blond creep of Wesker, pacing in the opposite direction. Chris stopped and stared. Now that he was tall and big again, Wesker seemed no more the imponent fearsome bitch he was. Not that Chris had ever feared him, but he wasn't confident he could beat the shit out of him with that delicate body of his sister's.

And, by the way, he'd have never exposed his sister's body to such a risky peril.

Chris felt shivers of pure disgust run down his spine at the remembrance of his squalid touch. He couldn't stand the idea of Claire risking to end up in the same situation he had experienced. How could he know if that bitch tried again his hair-rising move on her? He had to warn her.

He saw him come closer and closer, walking just a few feet away from himself, those fucking sunglasses screening his eyes. If the bitch had noticed the pure hatred glare coming from that big boy standing in the middle of the corridor, Chris couldn't tell. But he knew that if that beast even slightly beckoned to move towards him, this time he wouldn't have spared none of his fists. His muscles were ready to attack. And Claire wouldn't have ended up in trouble as only his would've been the consequences.

But the pig had to be punished.

After what seemed an eternal moment, Wesker walked past him undisturbed and disappeared from his sight. Only then Chris made up his mind to let go that monster and go on, but he didn't walk much further as he felt someone nudging at his arm. It seemed everyone had to talk with him on that day!

"Chris are you free this afternoon?" Leon asked as his friend turned towards him.

"Yeah, why?"

"RPD has organised a public session at the firing range. I'm going. Wanna come with me?"

Chris thought about it a bit. He wished to spend the afternoon with Claire but he read on Leon's face the need to spend some time with him. Actually, Chris needed the same. "Yeah, yeah sure."

"Great! I'll meet you at the police station!" he said flashing a smile at his friend and together they went having their meal.

Part three – RPD

It had been an idea of Chief Irons to open the doors of the RPD to citizens, especially to people curious to know how the justice machine works, how to contribute to maintain the order or even interested in joining the state police. Hence, many meetings, conventions, first aid and self-defence practical simulations and much more had been organised. For that afternoon the firing range door would've been open to anyone interested in learning how to shoot. As the building once had been an art museum, they even put up a whole painting exhibit on the first floor.

Chris found Leon waiting for him inside the building, chatting with an officer by the front desk in the big hall.

"Hi, buddy." Chris said, approaching.

"Hey, man" Leon greeted his friend, handing him some flyers and waving to follow him "C'mon! Let's go. See you later, Elliot!"

Whoever had concocted that building ought to have a very sadistic mind. To reach the firing range they had to cross the whole East wing's corridors, passing in front of the press room where some convention was going on, cross the watchmen's room, then more corridors, go downstairs, and finally walk the last hallway.

"They keep dogs down here?" Chris wondered as he heard some muffled barks echoing in the air.

"Yup. Kennel's right behind this wall." Leon replied.

"You seem to know this place very well, Leon." Chris said astonished.

Leon let out a sheepish laugh "I may have come here once or twice. I still get lost, though."

The two entered in the firing range and there an officer welcomed them, winking at the blond boy and flashing him a bright red-lipstick smile.

"Someone got the lady impressed the once or twice he'd been here…" Chris whispered, maliciously smirking at his friend as the officer turned towards some other attendees.

Leon blushed a bit and shook his head but said nothing. Soon they were given a handgun each, two Samurai Edge to be specific, and were assigned to a stall. The lady officer explained Chris how to handle a gun, how to aim, how to recharge when the magazine ran out of bullets. Leon needed none of those explanations and just kept shooting at the cardboard target. He seemed pretty expert and skilled, not a single shot was wasted. The way he held the gun, the focused look on his angelic face it all made him look like someone born to be a police officer.

Once or twice, uh?

Once they emptied two whole magazines, it was other people's turn to shoot, thus they went inside the little adjacent locker room and waited for their turn, looking through the thick sound-insulating glass.

"She's still glancing at you, buddy!" Chris chuckled, amused by that situation.

"You're seeing things, Chris!"

"You should make a move on her." Chris giggled "She's kinda asking for it, man."

"What?! She could be my mother!"

"But she isn't!" Chris laughed, determined to fool his friend. "And by the way she's not even old. She looks in her twenties."

"Whatever." Leon bluntly replied.

The two friends fell silent and both pretended to focus on the shooting in front of them. Chris knew his friend didn't ask him to join just for the pleasure of shooting a fucking cardboard. He had seen how skilled he was, Leon didn't just need some more practice. Chris knew Leon wanted to talk with him. It was a matter of time and they'd have tackled some big matters.

"You shoot pretty well." Leon said, breaking the silence. "Some more practice and you'll be worthy of S.T.A.R.S., mate!"

"Thanks. And you're fucking awesome, Leon! Guess you've been here more than just twice…" Chris chuckled.

"Yeah… you know, I'm considering joining the police."

"Really? And quit the school?"

"Oh, no, no… I can attend the Police Academy instead of going to college. You know I… I mean, Mom wants me to go to a college but…" Leon hesitantly said and shrugged.

"You want to become an officer, right?" Chris said, completing his friend's sentence to encourage him to open up.

"I do." He replied.

"Then you should go to the Academy. It's only yours the choice, buddy. You still have a couple of years to ponder it out."

"Mh-mh." Leon nodded, humming. After a little pause, he added a murmured "And I don't want to leave Mom alone now that she's divorced."

Those were the last words Leon spelled before turning silent anew. Chris knew Leon always clamed up about his parents' divorce, but he also knew that his friend's desire to fight the crime and become a protector of the citizens originated from his hatred towards that violent beast of his father.

All that silence was unnerving Chris. He glanced at him. Leon was absentmindedly staring past the glass but it was obvious something was storming in his mind. Chris was pretty damn sure that Leon was on the verge of exploding. The time bomb's countdown was coming to an end.

As Chris breathed in to speak, Leon anticipated him.

"Why the fuck did you cut me off of your life?" the young blond sternly asked staring at Chris right in his hazel brown eyes.

A look he couldn't hold for much long. That question, so hard and direct, hit him right in the core. Chris didn't expect Leon to be that pissed at him. His reaction by the bus stop had been just polite and friendly, he now was claiming due explanations.

"I'm sorry, but as I told yo-"

"Yeah you told me about Lily. I'm asking you why the fuck you just ignored me?" Leon said, harsh and resolute. And, in front of Chris' silence he continued "You always say we're brothers from different mothers, then something bad happens to you and for weeks you just avoid me, you even have panic attacks and almost die in front of me, then you show up on one day like everything's fine and expect me to buy your lies?!"

Chris' heart ached bad. How could he apologise for his sister's sorrow? For something he hadn't done? "We all make mistakes."

Lame. But that's all he could say in that moment.

"Yeah, right." Leon grunted under his breath.

"Listen, something I couldn't… handle… ran over me. Out of nowhere. I reacted in the wrong way but…" But what, Chris? You can't tell the truth, you can't repeat the lie, what are you gonna do? What more bullshit you can tell? Honestly, he had plenty of bullshit. "I wanted to spare you my problems…"

"Spare me?!" Leon yelled, widening his crystal blue eyes in utter wrath "what am I to you? A puppy? A little brother to protect? I ain't Claire! I ain't no little girl! Fuck you, Chris!"

That sudden rage outburst just got Chris to lose his mind. The wrong name had been spelled and in the wrong sentence. By the wrong guy. The deflagration was immediate.

"Are you assuming my sister is a little girl that can't take care of herself?" Chris shouted angrily with bloodshot eyes, vehemently pushing Leon away with a move he didn't mean to be that ponderous but whose outcome he didn't regret.

Leon almost lost balance but managed to stand. He glared at his friend all his rage but didn't react. He could've easily started a fistfight and he wasn't scared to confront Chris' brawns at all, but he resisted. Fighting wasn't what he sought. He just gritted his teeth and gulped down the provocative burst.

Both took few seconds to cool down.

"Claire's not a little girl. You know I don't think that of her." Leon murmured.

Chris was still fuming for his sister's name having been brought between them.

"Then leave her out of this." He grunted, clenching his fists but managing to keep his hands low.

"Do you remember that time at Kevin's?" Leon asked.

Hell no that I don't! I wasn't there!

"Yeah." He lied, still sounding harsh and sullen.

"I told you it was my turn to be helpful, because you always helped me when I needed. I don't need to remind you all the shit I've been through, but you've always been there for me. But when it comes to you being in trouble you just don't let me help, don't let me get close, and you dare say me it's because you want to spare me your problems?!" Leon replied with an almost imperceptible flickering in his voice. "As if I'm not able to help you! As if the great Chris Redfield is better than anyone else and needs no one! He's the big hero that comes to save the day for everybody but doesn't need to be saved!"

Chris remained silent but held his gaze. He was beginning to understand what his friend meant.

"I just want you to consider me as your peer." Leon defencelessly said. He breathed out, releasing a bit of his tension and sat down on a wooden bench under the metal lockers.

"I'm no hero." Chris mumbled and finally relaxed his hands.

"I even thought it was my fault…" Leon scoffed at himself.

"Your fault? Why?" Chris asked getting closer and sitting down beside him.

"For something I may have done… some mistakes." he murmured, keeping it generic and forcing a fake careless shrug.

"You mean when you kissed Claire, right?" Chris candidly asked.

Leon winced badly on his seat. He couldn't believe his ears. Shit! Then Claire told him everything! He knew he oughtn't trust a drunk girl! He couldn't believe he was going to talk with Chris about it… in a gun filled room.

I'm dead.

Chris noticed his friend's shock and let a little smile dawn among his facial hair. "I know about it."

"When did she tell you?" he hardly whispered, looking down but keeping track of his friend's moves with the corner of his eye.

"She was drunk… it's not really her fault you know if she spoke…" Chris said, bowing reality to his own will. "She let some words escape and I made the right questions."

"I'm sorry for it. Please, believe me!"

"I do."

Again, silence. A most embarrassed, deafening silence filled the room, only the muffled bangs coming from the other side of the wall gave rhythm to time.

They both felt uncomfortable. The one because his dearest friend (and most jealous brother in the world) knew by then that he had unashamedly made a move on his sister and had even been badly rejected. The other for the remembrance of their kiss and for having to lie so awfully. They just stayed sitting down, staring at the void, waiting for someone to speak first.

"So… how are you gonna kill me?" Leon joked, trying to let off steam "Just make it quick. Can I spell my last words? Have a last cigarette?"

Chris laughed at him "Last words?"

"Don't they give last words to condemned?"

"I think so. What would be yours?"

Leon thought about it few seconds and then shrugged "Story of my life."

"Awful choice. Let me tell you that." he laughed.

After a while Leon asked "Why aren't you mad at me? You don't seem mad at me."

"Ugh… I kinda am not." Chris replied huffing and shifting on his seat. "Claire told me everything. When she was sober. I know you been uh… respectful. I know everything you told her. And I believe her." As I believe my own ears and eyes.

"So… will I survive today?" Leon asked laughing.

"Yeah. You will this time." Chris replied. Then, becoming dead serious, he added with a solemn tone "But don't try even thinking about making a move on my sister ever again." And glared the younger guy a grave, threatening look.

Leon nodded and looked away, shifting forward and downheartedly rubbing his forehead. "Don't worry. She's doesn't even consider me."

Chris left a heavy-handed pat on Leon's curved back trying to hearten his friend.

"Chris?"

"Yeah, what?"

"I have one last question but I want you to be honest."

"I always am."

"This last week I felt you even more distant… standoffish… did you… did you avoid me because of… because of what happened at Carlos'?"

Chris didn't immediately understand which event he was talking about but when he did, his mind panicked. "Y-you mean… P-piers?"

"Yeah."

"…"

"Guess the answer is yes."

"…"

"I don't want you to feel embarrassed."

"I was drunk."

"I noticed!" Leon exclaimed, laughing on top of his lungs.

"I don't know why I did it. Believe me. I have no fucking idea." This time Chris wasn't lying. He really had no idea what crossed his sister's mind when she kissed Piers on that stool. "I-I don't like him… You know what I mean."

"I know. Fuck, Chris! That didn't even cross my mind for a single moment!" Leon said.

Chris was confused. Didn't Claire tell him that she had been caught while intensely making out with Piers? All touching and moaning and grasping? She told her hands were all over him! If it was the other way around, Leon kissing a guy that way, Chris would've thought there was some kind of romance going on, for sure!

"I know you too well. I know you don't like boys, man." Leon continued. "If I thought any different, then I wouldn't be the close friend I suppose to be."

"What you thought then?" Chris wondered.

"Honestly? That you were high as fuck."

"But I don't do drugs, you know that!"

"And I know you don't do boys so…" Leon laughed at his hazardous joke, gaining a scoffing smirk and an elbow nudge by his friend.

"Mh… maybe I was high. I can't tell." Chris shrugged. And leaned forward rubbing his face in his palms, planting elbows on his knees. "You haven't told anybody, have you?"

"No, I haven't. And Piers doesn't remember a thing."

"As Piers does."

Chris was walking down the sidewalk towards his house. It wasn't even dinner time but the streetlights were already on. He was exhausted. The first school day as Chris and it had been so tiring. But he didn't regret a single moment of it. From the annoying alarm to the needed talk with Leon.

The two of them had parted ways few blocks before, smiling and joking as they have always done. Each one appreciating to have his friend back again. Everything had been settled between them in the end. Their friendship grew up a lot on that day. The bond strengthened.

At the end of that day, it seemed everything was just returning to its own natural place and state. Classmates, teachers, grades, slippers, rooms, phones, genders, names.

Only one thing just didn't. Their siblinghood.

Finally, his house. He couldn't wait to get in there and meet Claire and spend the whole evening with her. He wasn't anymore accustomed to be parted from her all that time. For the last weeks he always had her around all day, except for school time. But still, even there, or whenever she wasn't around, he had her body to feel her close. Now that both soul and body weren't with him, he felt… lonely. She was just away from him and he hated it.

He was already on the cobblestone driveway when she peeped out the front door all wrapped in a thick black trench coat.

"Hey! Are you leaving?" Chris asked, an incredulous expression cracking on his face as she approached, all joyfully jumping down the few wooden steps.

"Yup, Chris!" she replied, smiling from ear to ear. "I'm going to Becky for a sleepover."

"Oh… I thought we'd have dinner together tonight." He replied, trying to conceal his disappointment the best he could, as his plans for the evening got crashed in front of his eyes. "What you got there?"

Claire opened the paper bag she was carrying and let him peer at the inside. "It's just the body scrub."

The sight of that white jar summoned a ton of hot memories within him. The naked bodies of Jill and Rebecca appeared vivid in his mind, secret fantasies powerfully resurfaced.

"There's still enough for another girly night!" she winked "I can't wait to try it! I'm so excited!"

Yeah, me too.

"Ok, Sis… see you tomorrow then…" he said and, as she was departing, he grasped her arm and tugged her closer.

"Where do you think you're going without my kiss?" he asked with a low growled whisper and clasped his lips on her forehead, keeping them pressed until he felt her relax against his body. "Goodnight, sweetheart."

"Goodnight, honey." She whispered as she pulled back, smiling softly at his intense stare.

He got home only when she disappeared behind a neighbour's hedge. He didn't even bother to announce he was back, but simply slammed the door and slumped onto his bed. His heart was pumping hard, his mind was still raging with memories of Claire in the shower with her friends all covered with the smelly scrub, images of Claire in the pink bed with Moira, Claire reflected in the closet mirror, Claire speaking nasty under his palms.

He could still feel the wet, warm, slippery feeling of her most intimate skin under his fingertips, even though, those very fingers never touched it. Well, at least not with him inside!

Then his fantasies of her acting naughty with other girls began to reach impossible heights of depravation and the more he got lost in those, the more his smile would widen.

He slid his phone out the pocket and then looked down on himself and smirked "Well, it's just you and me buddy."