15. Leon
Claire's face had paled, if even possible, more than she already was; the woman had stopped on her tracks out of sudden, and for a few seconds, Leon saw her lively eyes turn dull and empty. Concerned by it, Leon had tried calling her name, but the woman didn't respond. It was almost as if she was in a place very far away from there, but suddenly, she began walking away with a glassy expression. To Leon, it almost felt as if she was in some sort of trance.
All Leon could do was follow the woman as close as he could; Claire's legs seemed to move on their own, and Leon felt a pinch of worry in his stomach as the woman walked through the town without noticing anything around her. The agent considered grabbing her arm and stopping her, but it wasn't necessary as she stopped on her own. Leon realized that they had reached a small antique shop and that the reason why Claire had come was a small pocket watch that played an old traditional welsh song. Claire knew the song; she even knew the lyrics because someone had taught her, but how did she know the watch was there?
The only explanation that the blonde agent could come with was that she had- somehow- heard the song, and she had followed, but they had crossed halfway through the town. There was no way Claire could have heard the soft chiming of the tune where they had been. It was humanly impossible.
Humanly, but -he hated how it sounded- Claire might not be entirely human anymore. She was infected by a virus that could have given her some sort of abilities. The truth was, he'd begun to suspect when they were sneaking away from the monsters in the dark. Claire knew when the enemy was close, even before Leon could hear their heavy breathing or the ruffling of their steps.
Leon's thoughts kept him busy as they left the shop and wandered around until they reached the coastal area. The two stood side by side, staring at the sea in silence. Leon couldn't tell what thoughts crossed the woman's head, but his head was a messy bunch of thoughts that went from worry to relief and contempt.
"You know. This is probably the first and only time we have done something normal together…" Leon said, watching the waves break against the shore, "Took us 13 years to have a normal meeting, huh?"
And that wasn't a lie. Leon still remembered when he had told her that the next time they bumped with each other, he expected they could do it in more normal conditions. It had been ages since then, and they had never had a peaceful and quiet meeting like normal people, until now.
"Has it been that long?" she replied, "Wow, we are getting old…"
"You think?"
"Don't worry. The age will just get you more fans…"
Leon snorted, and she laughed. The last thing he wanted was more fans. It was bad enough having to deal with Ashley's constant emails or Angela's "causal" calls to ask how he was doing. He looked at Claire and found her lost in thought once more. The soft sea breeze was waving her auburn, short locks around her face, and she unconsciously tucked one behind her ear. She looked fragile, and despite the beaten up signs, Leon couldn't help but think that the soft light from that autumn morning beautifully contoured her profile.
When did I start to look at her so carefully?
It was a recent thing. Leon had to admit that he had always considered Claire as an attractive woman, perhaps one of the most pretty ones on his list, but he had never really taken the time to reflect on her traits. He knew her; he knew her charms and her personality, and that had been enough to give her that appeal that had attracted him some years ago; however, things seemed to have changed lately. He didn't even know when it had begun, but, recently he'd been paying a lot of attention to Claire physical traits, too: her pale skin and her beautiful cerulean eyes that were so unlike her brothers; the reddish auburn locks that often fell over her face now that they were short; the pale pink of her lips and the way they seemed to make a slight curve when she smiled; he'd even noticed the faint freckles she had.
He was an observative person; his job demanded it, but he had never paid much attention to that side of her; his fondness for Claire had always been born from her character. Why had it begun to change recently?
"Hey, Leon…" she said, waking him from his thoughts, "Have you ever thought of how life would have been if we had been normal?"
"You mean if Racoon never happened?"
Claire only nodded. The blonde agent's gaze stared at the horizon as he seemed to think about the question. Leon had it wasn't that often, but sometimes he found himself wondering. At the time he had entered RPD, he was young and naive; he had an illusion about becoming a great cop and maybe getting himself a family eventually.
"I'll be lying if I say no…" Leon finally answered, "I've wondered about that on many occasions, to be honest. Where I would be if the events of Racoon never took place. I would probably be the cop I was supposed to be from the beginning. Maybe I would have been promoted, or I would be happily married, with children and a dog. Who knows…"
"I think I could probably picture you." Claire smiled, and Leon wondered what she'd seen in her head."Who would think Mr. Pretty boy actually thought of having a family…"
"I may be flirty sometimes, but even I know when to cut off the jokes and take things seriously. What about you, Claire?"
"I...don't know…perhaps I'd have a family, too, and we wouldn't know each other."
"Chris would still be in STARS. We would have eventually met when you came to visit or when I made you a ticket for careless driving. …"
"And I would have tried to flirt my way out of it…" she laughed.
"And who knows, it might work…" Leon chuckled, "But there's no point in thinking that. Those things can't change anymore, but we can still build the future we all wanted once…"
"So you have plans for the future, Mr. secret agent…."
"I won't be an agent forever, Claire, and you know, maybe someday I'll just want to pull out and settle down; get the family I once thought of having and spend lazy afternoons watching the tv with them. "
"I wonder if that certain spy would agree to that arrangement, though…"
"Ada? When did I say that I'd settle down with her, huh?"
"You didn't, but I'm sure it passed your mind." Claire chuckled, "I hope you get it, though; you deserve it."
"We all deserve it…" Leon corrected, "You can't expect to stay in Terra Save forever, do you, Claire?"
"I don't know," she answered.
The conversation ended there, but Leon's mind was busy imagining how Claire's life could be if she were not out there fighting to save the world. Claire was a sweet woman despite her amazing fighting skills and her sharp tongue that could intimidate anyone almost as well as her brother could; unlike Chris, she was loving and motherly in so many ways. He could totally picture her in a family, loving her children and her husband; she'd be a wonderful mom and a marvelous wife if she could find a man who understood her sense of humor. He was sure of that. He could only hope that when he decided to settle down, he could do it with some as half as good as she was.
And suddenly, he realized. He was starting to feel an attraction for Claire. It was not the regular attraction he'd normally felt, the one that came with camaraderie and teasing words. No, it was a different sort of sensation; the question was….what?
"This is a nice place," Claire said, stretching her arms.
"Yeah, quiet and peaceful. I've got the feeling that we won't have much of it for a while, so we might as well enjoy it while we can."
"Yeah, I guess once we get back to the USA, things will get busy. I've got eight months' worth of work to catch up."
"Have it easy, Claire. You don't need to push yourself that much."
"I know everyone worries, but now more than ever, I must focus on my work; at least the one with research…" Claire said, shaking her head, "I wonder who's been helping out BSAA with the analyses…"
"Chambers…" Leon replied, "Dr. Chambers has been the one leading the researchers the past eight months."
"I see...yeah, sounds about right. Rebecca is brilliant…"
Leon knew the woman was. He had had the chance to meet her a while ago when he had crossed paths with Chris, who had come to him asking for help with a terrorist man named Glen Arias. They'd had their crashes, but in the end, they had worked together and put an end to the threat. Leon learned about Chamber's background after reading her profile in the DSO files. The woman was a prodigy medic with great knowledge of medicine and pharmacology. She had been part of the vaccine project for many years, but he knew that she'd been struggling for the past months with what - he had recently figured- was Claire's job. At least, that was what Hunnigan had said at a time.
"Yeah, CHambers is good, but apparently not as good as you."
Leon saw Claire shake her head. The girl had never been very good at taking compliments; she would look down and wave the words away with some modest reply. That was just how she was.
"You are overpraising me, Leon."
"Not really. Don't get me wrong. Chambers is good at what she does, but I've heard the word between colleagues, and she's not as fast as you were."
"As my anonymous team, you mean. Well, Rebecca is a medic. She's not exactly trained to deal with the things my team does. It's not her fault…"
"And no one is blaming her. I am just saying, she's not as good as you and your team, that's all…" Leon said with a small smile, "Helena and I retrieved a viral sample from a small group in Mexico a few days ago. It is presumed to be a new virus, but it seems Chamber's team has had no luck on reproducing it for study or something like that."
"Oh, she must be struggling to find the target cell…" Claire mumbled, and Leon looked at her questioningly. Claire had probably seen his uncertainty, and the woman was quick to explain," Virions have protein signals on their outer coat that can bind to a receptor protein on the surface of a cell that it will infect. These receptors and protein signals are specific, so some viruses can only infect certain cells in specific."
"Guess that would make sense, and how exactly do you fix that?"
"Well, people would usually test the virion with different cell types, and we see how that goes, but that's quite a task, and it takes way too much time and money."
"Right, maybe I should have asked what would you do?"
Claire laughed.
"I am a geneticist. Most of my approaches would go that way. Proteins are coded by genes. If you can locate the protein receptor coding sequence, you can more or less work on it to identify it, and then you can reduce the number of possible receptors."
"Sounds complicated."
"A little, but compared to the losses by trying different cell lines, it is a lot more efficient if you know how to approach it. I guess I should ask Chris if I can get a hold of a sample of the virus…"
"I am sure they will agree."
"So that was the mission you were before you came here?"
"Yeah."
"You sure have an exciting life."
"You could say that; my new mission doesn't sound like it'd be easy either."
"Oh, can I ask, or is it classified?"
"It is classified, but you can ask. It's an escort and guarding mission…."
"Oh, no...your nightmare….you just love those." she teased.
"This one sounds promising, though. The subject seems likable."
"Subject, huh? Testosterone or estrogen?"
"It is a she if that's what you mean."
"I should have guessed it was a female. Pretty girl?"
"She is pretty, has quite a temper, and certainly won't like the arrangement. You know, she's the kind of woman who takes care of herself perfectly well…"
"If she's that good, why does she need you as an escort."
"Because she tends to worry more about others' safety over hers, and right now, she's being targeted by a dangerous group."
"Huh, sounds nasty. I wouldn't like to be in her shoes. You'll do a great job, though, and she'll eventually accept you; she'll probably end up crushing over your heroic form as every girl does."
Leon snorted, and he pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to keep down a laugh. If only she knew that maybe that would have been true a few years before, but now he could be sure that Claire was most likely immune to any of his flirting attempts.
"I don't think that would happen this time."
"What? You know that always happens."
"I don't think there's that kind of attraction…"
"Why? Oh, she likes other women then?"
Leon wanted to laugh at that.
"No, it's not that. I think she's simply too smart to fall for that."
"Oh, so you know her…"
"Yeah, we might have some story…"
"Oh….don't tell me it is Ada…."
Leon choked. As if Ada would ever need or allow someone to try to guard her.
"No. It is not Ada…"
"Oh, then I have no idea who it might be…"
"You'll find out soon enough."
"Oh, come on…Do I know her?"
"Oh, yeah; you know her very well…"
Maybe too well, considering it was herself; but Leon wasn't going to tell her that. He would give her brother the honor of breaking the news to her. He knew Claire was going to be annoyed, but the woman's annoyance never lasted too long. Claire's temper could be volatile at times, but she was reasonable.
Suddenly, his phone began beeping, and he saw Chris's number on the screen. He had forgotten to do his every 10 minutes report, and the man was desperate enough to start calling him. It kind of made him want to laugh.
"Hello, Chris…" Leon answered casually.
"Leon, how's Claire doing?"
"She's fine. We are on the beach now. She's enjoying the view; I think she needed the fresh air." Leon said, looking at the auburn-haired girl that was toying with the pocket watch."How did things go on your end?"
"It went fine. Just debriefing; you'll probably hear it on your side, too….eventually."
"Yes, Hunnigan will probably call me soon."
"I will let her have the honor then. The meeting is over, but there are some things we need to take care of before we can head out for lunch. We can meet up by the pier by noon. There's a good place to eat there."
"Sounds good. We'll see you there."
"Alright...see you in a while, then."
Leon cut off the call and pushed the phone back into his pocket. Claire was staring at him with curiosity.
"That was Chris…"
He saw Claire roll her eyes, and a smirk came to his lips.
"Please tell me he wasn't checking on me…"
"Ok, I won't tell you," Leon smirked, "but he also said that they'll meet us at the pier at noon. It's 10 am….so we still have two hours."
"Aren't you bored of following me around?"
"Surprisingly, not at all. I am actually enjoying myself..."
"Ok, who are you, and what did you do to Leon?"
Leon laughed at Claire's sudden outburst. Yes, those reactions were, exactly, what made him like her so much.
"Claire?"
"Yeah?"
"I am glad you're back."
The words had been sincere. He really was. When he had believed her dead, he'd fallen into a deplorable state that could rival Chris's. Claire had grown to be a part of his life that he'd never considered he could ever lose, so the hit had come hard. Having her back was a blessing that he had no words to describe.
"Oh, wow. I had no idea you were so sentimental, Leon…" Claire giggled.
Leon watched Claire as they walked following the shoreline, and he caught the glitter of something on her hip. The pocket watch was now safely tucked in her pocket.
" I didn't know you fancied antiques…" he said, pointing at the glowing chain that fell out of her pocket.
"I...don't. I don't know why I bought it, the song perhaps."
"You like folk tunes. " Leon teased, "That's another side of you I didn't know. Orchids and folk songs. That doesn't sound like you."
"I've got nothing against folk songs just...felt familiar."
"You said someone taught it to you…" Leon asked, "Mind if I ask you who?"
Claire hesitated, and Leon could see that she was considering her answer.
"I don't know…" she finally replied, "My mind is a mess, Leon. There are things I can remember well and things that just seem to be missing; then their images keep popping in my head, but I just can't make any sense of them…" Claire said with a frustrated voice, "Look at what happened at the MedCenter, for example. I can't remember what I went through the past eight months, but I could remember those monsters. I remembered meeting them and running away from them, too. I knew what to do because I had done it before. I knew their behavior and their weaknesses, but I just can't remember when or why I know welsh. Isn't that stupid?"
"No, it isn't," Leon replied.
"Then there's this song…" Claire added, taking out the pocket watch and opening it so that the melody played as they kept walking, "I saw a...memory, perhaps? I was in some sort of garden. There were roses, red as blood, and I was sitting on a bench staring at this box. It was a music box made of brass, old and worn. I wasn't alone, though. There was a man with me, but I couldn't see his face; all I saw was a blur as we were talking. He told me he had made the box for his daughter, and he said he could teach the song so that I could sing it to my children when I was out…"
"Out?"
"From the asylum. At least, I think it was an asylum or a hospital of some kind. If only I could remember something that wasn't so general…" she sighed, "It'd help Chris find that place."
Claire sat on a large boulder that stood in the line between the sand and the green grassland. Her cerulean gaze was staring at the horizon while her hands were playing absently with the oversized sleeves of the BSAA themed jacket. Leon took the hint and sat quietly by her side.
"It's ok if you don't remember…" he said quietly.
The truth was that Leon had been curious about the topic ever since the hospital incident, but he'd not asked because he feared the effect it would have on her. He figured that Claire would eventually tell him.
"No, it is not ok. Leon, we were lucky that I could remember those things…" she said softly, "What if I didn't? We wouldn't have made it. You could be dead like everyone else just because I didn't remember."
"Claire, you can't blame yourself for it. There was no way you'd know those things would attack us…"
"But in a way...I did. I sensed them. I knew they were around, but I was too slow to react…"
"You're only human, Claire. You saved me from messing up and getting myself killed by those things. You helped us kill them. You showed us the way…" Leon said firmly, "Sometimes we can't save everyone…"
Claire didn't reply. Her look was lost in the endless sea of black waters, but Leon saw sadness and guilt in expression, and he fought the impulse to grab her hand.
"You know what's the worst of all…?" she said in a whisper, "There is more. I can remember every monster I faced at some point, the feelings attached to them...fear, anger...hopelessness… I can even remember how I fought them, how I beat them, or how much it hurts if they caught me in the dark…"
So that was it. Leon now understood why Claire was so afraid of the dark when she didn't care before.
"Claire...that…"
"I don't know when or why I faced them. I just know I did… and it was always dark and cold when I did. They can't stand the light, so it makes sense...right?" she replied "There are more like them, Leon. There are others much more dangerous. What if they come next and I can remember on time?"
Leon could see what Claire was trying to say. She had the power to save many lives, but at the same time, she couldn't trust she'd be able to use it when the time came. Claire was a savior by nature. Unlike him or her brother, she wasn't a warrior. She fought, yes, but only if she couldn't help it; Claire's heart always focused on saving and protecting; the weight of knowing that she had the key to saving or killing was a heavy one.
Hadn't he felt hopeless when he had failed to save innocent lives before? His comfort at the time was knowing he'd tried all he could and that as much as he'd have liked it, there was no way he could have prevented it; but Claire's dilemma was different because she knew, but at the same time, she didn't. He put aside his reservations and took Claire's hand affectionately. Unlike the delicate hands of many other women, her hands were scarred by old and new scars, and Leon did not want to imagine the cause of the most recent ones.
"It won't be your fault…" he said softly, "It'd never be your fault. If there's someone we should blame, that's the people who are behind all this. You're a victim, Claire. Not a culprit…"
"I know you're right, but I can't help it. Sometimes I'm just..."
"Scared? I am scared, too. Each time something like that happens I am scared. We all are, but hey...I'm here for you."
Leon meant his words, not because he was her newly-appointed bodyguard, but because he was her friend. Claire had been there for him many times before, and if she needed him, he didn't mind crushing some heads and kicking some asses just to be with her.
"Leon... that's kind of you, but I believe you're way too busy with your own business to deal with mine."
"Claire, I can make your business mine if I have to…"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means I care, and I can't say I understand because I didn't go through what you did, but I am willing to hear from you if you need someone to listen. I don't mind answering your calls at 2 am if you wake up from a nightmare or if you just need to chat with someone. I will make the time for it..."
"But what about your girl? I don't intend to take your attention from her; she's your assignment...she's much more important. "
Leon smiled at the irony; if only she knew that he was more than willing to give her his attention whether she was or not his assignment.
"You won't. I can promise you that…"
Claire looked at him, and she eventually smiled. Just like before, it seemed that Claire's mood could change in a blink. She wasn't like that before, but then again, she hadn't been tormented by missing memories and memories filled with unpleasant things.
"Sometimes you are too much like, Chris…" she chuckled.
"I'm not as buff as him...and I have a much better temper…"
"Oh, he became grumpy with the years. He was a goof when he was a younger...and overprotective goof."
"That hasn't changed much…"
"Yeah, but it isn't only him. I don't know why everyone suddenly seems to be so overprotective about me…"
"I can list you several reasons for that, and one is pretty obvious…"
"That I was dead for eight months?"
That was, probably, the most important reason. They had lost her once, and no one was willing to lose her again. At least, for Leon, he wasn't going to fail at protecting her this time.
"Was it really that bad?" she asked absently, "Me gone?"
Bad was an understatement. No one had noticed the part Claire played in everyone's lives until she was no longer there. He had lost a friend, a confidant, and someone who knew and understood him, and the world had lost a brilliant person who fought for the future.
"We had it bad…" he replied frankly. He remembered that the first months he had hidden in his job, taking mission after mission and stopping only to visit Claire's memorial now and then. Hunnigan had been frantic and worried about the man's wellness. It had taken him a lot of time to accept the fact that Claire was gone.
"I can understand it from Chris. I'd be the same if I lost him…" Claire said, thoughtfully, "but you, too?"
" I can be quite protective of the people I love…" Leon admitted. He loved her, didn't he? "it's part of my charm…"
"I know, charmer." she smiled at him, "Don't tell Chris about this, okay? I will tell him, eventually. I just don't want him to go in berserk because of me…"
"My lips are sealed, which means I just got another con added to your brother's list," Leon said, following her closely.
"Ah, he doesn't have a list...I think. "
"He is a big brother. He has one for each guy that is your acquaintance. All big brothers have. "
"Oh...sounds like someone who knows from experience."
"I might have dated a couple of girls with big brothers when I was in highschool…"
"Oh, so you do have experience…" Claire burst to laugh.
"Chris's list of me must be about 20 pages long…"
"Why are you worried about Chris's list anyway?"
"Hey, you never know. Maybe..."
Leon stopped in mid-sentence; he had been about to say that they never knew if maybe someday they would get married and if that happened, he wanted to be on Chris's good side, but then he had realized the implications of that comment and found himself silenced by the shock.
Did I just think about marrying Claire?
There had to be something about Wales that was messing with his head. Ever since he had arrived, his mind had been playing him dirty tricks, especially when it came to Claire.
"Leon, are you listening to me?"
Leon snapped out from his trance and stared at her, surprised.
"Sorry...what?"
"Look who's having a flashback now…" Claire teased him, "I was saying….that we should go to the marketplace."
"Ah, right...sorry I was spacing out."
"I noticed. Are you sure you're not getting bored of following me around?"
"Nah, my mind was thinking improper things."
"Do I want to ask?"
Leon frowned. He couldn't tell her what he'd been thinking about, could he?
"Never mind; come on."
Leon found that spending the morning doing random tourism with Claire was probably the most enjoyable thing he had ever had to do during a mission. It wasn't the first time he had gone "shopping" with an assignment. In his early years as an agent, he had escorted Ashley several times, but in those cases, he had just followed her around. With Claire, things were certainly different, and he was having fun.
It didn't feel like he was guarding her, but rather like they were two good friends on a silly vacation. They joked and laughed, and Claire even convinced him to take some random pictures with her. It felt natural, and it was as if Claire had never been gone.
After running around like a pair of silly tourists for about an hour and a half, they finally headed to the pier. Claire and Leon sat on a bench waiting for Chris and the others to appear. Claire was happily browsing through the pictures they had taken and giggling like a little girl.
"Oh, I hate you so much. How can you always look good in the pictures…"
"It's a passive ability…"
"I see, is the lack of modesty a passive ability, too?"
"Why being modest when you know it is true."
Claire rolled her eyes but smiled nevertheless.
"Oh, this one is nice. I like it…"
"You look good in that one…"
"Well, thank you…"
"So...the score goes Me: 20 vs You:1."
"Oh...come on…!" she laughed, punching his arm playfully.
Leon laughed as well, but he soon noticed the group of BSAA uniforms that were heading their way. He patted Claire's arm and pointed at Chris, who was walking to them, followed by Jill and Barry.
"Hey...how was the meeting?" Claire asked.
"Boring as usual...!" Barry replied grumpily, "You know lots of talking…"
"That bad?"
"Adams wanted a report about the events on Med Center." Jill said, "Not a big deal…"
Leon automatically looked at Claire, and he saw the glow of happiness that had been there for the past hours disappear instantly, replaced by a grieving blankness; and unconsciously, his hand rubbed her back in a comforting way.
"Sorry. I wish I could have helped more people there…"
"Don't worry about it. You gave us data for future reference, and that's enough." Chris quickly said, shaking his head, "We are just glad you're safe, and now what's important is keeping it that way."
"What are you going to do? Get me a bodyguard?" she sighed.
"Actually…"
Leon saw Claire stare at her brother questioningly, and soon that curious look evolved into an accusing glare. Chris shook his head and crossed his arms.
"You didn't…" she said.
"It's for your safety…" Chris replied, "We all considered it'd be the best…."
"Seriously?" Putting me with some random guy, I don't know at all to protect me?"
Leon felt the urge to let out a cough, but he restrained. Well, he wasn't a random guy, was he?
"Technically...he's not a random guy…" Barry snorted, saying the exact words Leon had been thinking.
Leon watched Barry and Jill stare at each other and burst out, too, was feeling the urge to laugh, but he kept his stoic mask in place and watched Claire's reaction as Barry revealed the identity of her new bodyguard. Claire had frowned and pouted, and then she had looked at him offended and accusingly. The look on her face was priceless, and Leon found it rather cute. Especially when the younger Redfield realized that the "subject" they had been talking about earlier was her.
"The girl from your new assignment! It was me?"
"I told you you knew her well," Leon smirked in defense.
"You totally tricked me! Whose idea was this?"
"It was mine, Claire. I offered for the mission." Leon replied, "Both Chris and I agreed that you need to be safe in case they came after you again."
"I would have done it myself, but still need to do some work for BSAA…" Chris sighed, "Leon was the best option…"
Claire let out an annoyed sigh making obvious how pissed she was with the two men. Suddenly, Leon's phone started to ring; the screen lit up, showing Hunnigan's number, and he had to thank the woman for her good timing. He would let the brother handle the fire, and he would come later to work with the leftovers. He excused himself as he smirked at Claire's glare.
Leon walked as far as he could from the group before picking the call. He made sure it was a secured place and that no unwanted ears were spying on him.
"Good timing, Hunnigan. I think you might have saved me from Claire's fury…."
If Hunnigan was surprised by his greeting, she didn't show it.
"I take, Ms. Redfield wasn't too fond of the plan."
"I already expected it…." Leon replied, "So, what's new?"
"I have your orders, Leon. I just called to give your instructions…"
"Sounds good…"
"You sound in an awfully good mood, Leon. That's a little unlike you."
"Not really. So what are my orders?"
"Right. We have prepared an apartment for you and Ms. Redfield when you return to the USA. You'll be her guardian 24/7 until the threat is taken care of."
"So I'll be living with Claire?"
Chris was going to love that.
"Yes, you will. Agent Harper will stay in a neighboring apartment as well. Due to Ms. Redfield's situation, the case needs to be handled carefully. The higher-ups considered that the best option was to keep her undercover."
"Undercover?"
"Claire Redfield will need to stay dead for a while longer." Hunnigan explained, "Changing her identity will difficult her location,hence why she'll be safer."
"Well, I guess that's reasonable. What's her new alias?"
He heard Hunnigan let out an amused chuckle. Hunnigan was laughing; in all his years, he had never heard her laugh during a debriefing.
"What's so funny?"
"Oh, nothing. I just hope you don't mind doing some acting as well."
"Acting? Why?"
"Because, from today on until this business is resolved, you are happily married to Mrs. Clara Driscoll…"
Leon almost dropped the phone. Married? What was that supposed to mean?
"What?"
"That's her new alias. Clara Kennedy nee Driscoll. A welsh biologist and your wife. "
Leon was in shock. That was certainly something he hadn't expected; if Chris loved the idea of him and Claire living together, now he was going to explode. The blonde agent pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to organize his thoughts.
"Ok, let me see if I get this…" he mumbled, "I am supposed to pose as Claire's husband? How's that supposed to work? Everyone in the office knows I am not married…"
"We already took care of that. Documents are in order, and agent Harper and I already spread the rumor that you are on your honeymoon in Wales, visiting your wife's relatives." Hunnigan said in an amused voice.
"Why do I feel like you're having fun with this?"
"It's something different from what you usually do, but it seemed like a perfect alibi."
"Couldn't you invent something else? I don't know...like we were family or something?"
"Your familiar registry is in the database, Leon, and since you would be living together, the best excuse we could use was marriage."
Claire was going to be pissed.
"You'll receive a package in a few hours. We already hacked the Welsh registry and registered Clara's data. Inside the package, you should find her new ID, passport, birth certificate, and college titles. Also her new bank account and, of course, your marriage certificate. It is legally registered in the USA system."
"So we're, technically, legally married?"
"According to law, yes. Don't worry, once the matters are fixed, we'll take care of the registry...unless, of course, you don't want to."
"What?"
This wasn't what he had meant when he had thought about having a family someday. Leon took a deep breath. The marriage was fake, it wasn't like he was marrying Claire for real, at least not sentimentally speaking. They just had to pretend in front of the public, but how the hell was he going to explain it to Claire?
"It's for her safety."
"Ok, I get it."
"Agent Harper is already securing the apartment where you'll live. I'm sending the blueprints to your phone so that you can review them. She will meet with you at the airport when you return."
"Yeah, right…" he said, absently, as he was trying to figure a tactful way to tell Claire about their new arrangement. She might have been able to accept him as her bodyguard, but how would she take the news that not only she had to change her name, but she was now apparently married to him.
"Leon?"
"Yeah? I got it. I'll make the proper preparations for our departure, then."
"Very well. Good luck, Leon…"
Luck. Yes, that was what he needed if he was going to survive the fury of two Redfields.