Warning: Lots of Suicidal thoughts and intentions mentioned. If you aren't comfortable reading that, then turn back now.

Chris knew he should've been home a while ago, but he just couldn't bring himself to start the hour long drive before he got to settle his mind a little first. There was a cigarette between his lips, the smoke filling his lungs and calming his nerves. It didn't do anything for the guilt, not really. He knew Leon hated when he smoked like this. He was working on it, honestly, he was. He no longer felt the urge to buy a new pack every week nor did he have a need to. He really only smoked after missions and at least he had the curtesy to do it outside of the home.

"Fuck..." Chris let out a heavy sigh as he let the rest of the cigarette fall to the floor, crushing it with the toe of his shoe. It was a stupid excuse and he knew it. Smoking outside of his house didn't make it any better.

It wasn't a hard mission, all things considered. There weren't even any BOWs to take care of this time. Just a suspicious acting contact that, apparently, decided they no longer had the funds to donate to Blue Umbrella and didn't bother to tell them before withdrawing. It could've been easily avoided and Chris could've spent the night in Leon's arms, eating dinner and watching whatever movie they picked.

Shit. He still had an hour long car drive until he could see Leon again. Chris usually didn't consider himself clingy -despite what Claire thought- but when he got called away on stupid shit like this, he always ended up with a much stronger urge to cuddle than he'd ever had before he got married. Not that Leon had ever complained, though. If anything, the man was completely happy to wrap his arms around someone for an entire evening.

Now that the urge to kiss his husband was stronger than the urge to smoke, Chris got into his personal car and started the engine. He did a small sweep behind him before backing out of the parking lot and started on his way home. He turned on the radio ten minutes into the drive, wanting something other than his relentless thoughts.

Give me a second I. I need to get my story straight.

It wasn't a song Chris really knew, but the beat was faster and it held an energy he really needed. The lyrics were lost to him, he was far too old to get any references they might've been making -or maybe he was just oblivious- but it didn't sound too rasque. The thought made him chuckle at himself, remembering the time he showed Jill one of the songs he happened to take a liking to, only to be devastated when she pointed out that it was about sex the whole time. Not that he really minded it too much.

The pass of street lights and blurred red glows from the other cars around him made every minute feel longer. His patience dwindled the longer he had to drive, just so that he could get back home. Thoughts of Leon curled against him, that content smile on his face, pushed Chris to go a few extra miles faster. As he turned into the city, just five miles from home now, he could practically taste whatever Leon had decided on that night.

Would he get them Mexican? It'd been a while since they last had tacos. Or maybe Indian, since there was a new restaurant just south of them. Chinese sounded good too. Leon always got them the same thing when they got anything Asian. Something spicy for him and something more mild for Chris, because he was a baby and didn't grow up in the Midwest. Damn, was he hungry now.

Chris was caught off guard by the loud siren of a police car behind him, but he quickly pulled to the side, watching as it sped ahead of him. He was about to turn back into the street when another police car passed as well, followed by an ambulance. For a moment, Chris sighed at the interruption, but immediately felt the guilt that came with it. Someone was obviously in danger and he had no right to be irritated by the help they were receiving.

Turning back onto the street, Chris hoped that whoever it was would be okay.

Surprisingly, he ended up following the line of emergency vehicles for a little while and almost considered turning off to go around the block, just in case he would end up getting blocked by a crash or something, but his turn was just ahead. To his confusion, the first police car took his exact exit, the rest following along.

The worry didn't start until he saw them drive around the small neighborhood, going in the same direction he was. And that worry turned into actual fear once they slowed in front of his home.

Wait. No. That couldn't be right.

Chris pulled off on the opposite side of the road and quickly got out, barely remembering to take the key out of the ignition before he locked it up and crossed the street in hurried strides. His heart beat in his chest as he watched the police officers get out first. They didn't hesitate to go in through Chris's front door, leaving it open for the paramedics to bring a stretcher through as well.

"Hey!" Chris shouted, his legs pushing him to his porch just as another officer moved to step inside. "Hey, wait! What's..."

The officer turned to him, irritation obvious on his face as he looked Chris up and down. "Sir, this isn't drama for the neighbors, okay. I'm sure it's too late for you to be-"

"I live here!" Chris interrupted, trying to peek inside but he couldn't see anything past the blue dressed officers in his living room. His hands started to shake as Chris prayed it was a robber. If someone was trying to break in, just to get some cash off of them, then Leon would've taken them down in mere seconds and likely called an ambulance for whatever broken bones the person ended up with.

But something in his gut started to twist with doubt, because what if it was more than a petty thief? What if...

"Sir, I need you to stand back." The officer suddenly said, gripping at Chris's arm and pulling him aside. He resisted for a moment, wanting so badly to just walk in and make sure that Leon was okay. He had to be okay. But the officer continued to tug and he was just distressed enough to go willingly.

"What happened? Is he okay?" Came Chris's almost desperate plea. "Please. I have to see-"

"Sir, is your name Chris Redfield?"

Chris's mind went blank for a moment. How did he know that? Chris was popular, but only in certain ranks and a simple cop surely wouldn't know about him. But he nodded when the officer repeated his question. "Y-Yes. Yeah, I'm Chris. Is Leon-"

A figure exited the house and Chris pushes forward, ignoring the protests. He recognized her dark brown hair and the strong jaw line, but Chris didn't think he'd ever seen Helena Harper look so scared without any anger to back it up. He barely held back the urge to grip her shoulders and shake an answer from her, but her eyes were unfocused as staring ahead, as if in disbelief. It made him nauseas with worry. "Helena? What are you doing here? Is Leon okay? I need-"

"I got called in by Hannigan." Her voice was soft, too calm to be in their current situation. "She said something was wrong. I thought it might've been a BOW or...I just didn't..." She gasped in a breath and began shaking her head.

"Helena! What happened?!" He couldn't take this anymore. The tension was building too much and he needed and answer now. Finally giving into that urge, Chris grabbed both of her shoulders and roughly pulled her to face him. Her eyes opened wide and she stared at his face, her mouth open slightly in awe. "What happened to Leon?!"

"He...He killed himself."

Cold. All Chris felt was cold. His body no longer moved and he could only stare back into Helena's brown eyes as he tried to process the words. He understood them individually. He understood that the word 'killed' was never good but when it mixed with the context of Leon and the ambulance outside...

Pushing past Helena, Chris marched into his own house, his shoulders tense but his eyes searching every corner. It didn't take long for him to see the entire scene played out. A knife on the floor, close to Chris's feet. It was red and left in a pool of blood. There were several trails of blood across the floor until they finally came to a stop at Leon. Medics were surrounding him on all sides. Chris couldn't get a good view of him, so he stepped closer.

He regretted it immediately.

Leon was in a pool of his own blood, similar to the knife. It was everywhere and he looked impossibly pale as he stayed motionless on the floor. Someone began lifting him up by his shoulders and the others helped until Leon was on the stretcher instead. The white sheets were already starting to turn red but they made quick work of raising it up and began wheeling him away. As they passed Chris in the doorway, he was able to see just how still Leon looked. It was like a punch in the gut, when the scene finally started to connect with what Helena said. He couldn't bring himself to chase after the ambulance as it drove away, the sirens turned off. He was trapped in a cloud of shock.

Only one question made it out of the fog. Why? Why had Leon done it? He knew that his husband used to struggle a lot with being alone, especially before they officially got together. He'd drink until he couldn't and once he woke up, he'd drink some more. When he wasn't drinking, he was either running away from bioweapons or shaming himself for all the ways he failed.

But they'd gotten him an effective therapist. They set him up with a system, in case he felt like he may hurt himself. He'd go to Chris first and if Chris wasn't available, then he had at least ten others to call for. Someone would always give an ear and although it took a while for Leon to finally trust that he wasn't burdening anyone with his issued, he did eventually warm up to the idea. And he used it often, even now. Leon was open and clear whenever he felt bad now. It'd been that way for more than three years now.

Was Chris really so dense that he didn't even realize his own husband was slipping again? He didn't see the signs or gave enough thought to the things Leon said? But even now, as he looked back through their more recent conservations, he couldn't find anything to even hint at his struggle.

"The cameras." Chris looked up and looked into the dark lens of their security camera. It was always on. He made sure of it. They set it up in case something were to happen. In case someone tried to kill them and wanted to get away with it.

Without another thought, Chris pulled out his phone and tapped on the security app that went with the camera. Four different screens came into view: the living room, the front porch, the backyard gate and the upstairs hall. They would've gotten more, but these things weren't too cheap and any more would just feel like an invitation of their privacy.

He tapped the living room camera and saw himself standing in the room. The room looked even worse in the black and white colors. He ignored himself in favor of checking through it's history. He scrolled through the footage until before the medics came in. Before the police lights came through the window. Before Leon was on the floor in his own blood.

He stopped once Leon was alone again, standing in the kitchen. The time on the footage showed that Chris had just barely started driving home when it happened. A part of him whispered that he could've gotten home sooner. Could've stopped whatever had happened if he didn't waste time smoking. But, again, he shoved that away in favor of satisfying something more sadistic inside of him. He wanted to see what exactly happened, even if Leon really did...do it himself.

From there, Chris let it play and watched the screen with shaky hands as he saw his husband pulling out some dinner. A quick glance to the kitchen counter showed that Leon got another container for Chris too. It was probably cold at this point. He looked back and saw Leon walking in an odd pace before falling back into the couch cushions. He put his feet up on the coffee table, something Chris probably would've lectured him about at any other time, but now, he would've welcomed it. Anything just to have Leon-

The footage looped. Chris watched it with eyes of a hawk, trying to find any differences, but there were none. Leon's foot bounced in the exact same way for a good three minutes. He never went to take a bite of his food. Nothing changed at all for another two but when it was just starting to reach five minutes in total, the image skipped. Suddenly, Leon wasn't on the couch at all. He was on the floor, bleeding and still. The knife was in his hand.

Chris stopped it there. His stomach twisted again, telling him that something wasn't right about that. Leon couldn't erase footage like this. Wouldn't. He wouldn't torture Chris with the question of whether or not Leon really did this himself. And he wouldn't make it out like an accident either. The man bought them food, was dancing along to whatever song was playing at the time. He wasn't even turned toward the now empty wine cabinet. He wasn't slumped or slow at all. This wasn't how Leon acted when he was feeling suicidal. Chris knew it well.

"Sir, we need you to step out of the scene so we can-"

"He didn't kill himself." Chris blurted to the officer. It was a different one from before and this one looked older. The guy kind of reminded Chris of Marvin, but it'd been so long that he could barely remember the details of his old lieutenant's face. It was probably just the short cut hair and aged look in his eyes. This man had been working for the force for a while.

"Uh...excuse me?" The officer looked Chris up and down but he didn't call anyone over to get him. "What do you mean?"

Chris talked as he walked to the couch. He saw the imprint of it's legs in the carpet. The couch was moved from it's original spot, but just slightly. "He didn't kill himself, officer. The footage...it was erased. And someone moved the couch. And he bought me dinner." There had to be another clue somewhere else too. Leon always left clues.

Helena. She'd know more! She got the call from Hannigan, which meant that Leon somehow got to them. She'd know-

"Sir, you don't have the authority to be messing with the scene. We'll get you a hotel somewhere for tonight, but we really need you to leave-"

He was already walking out the front door. It had been a while since Chris last felt this motivated. This angered by someone. He felt his own expression turn serious as he saw the woman talking to an officer, how sobbing openly as she told them something that likely wasn't true. This wasn't Leon's fault. It was someone else's and Chris would find them. He found Ada Wong in China, Arias in New York and he'd find this fucker in his own city. It was only a matter of time.

When Chris approached the pair, Helena looked at him. Her eyes were apologetic and he knew what she was just about to say, but he couldn't hear it. He couldn't let Leon rest until the person who did it was dead. "Helena, what did Hannigan tell you?" His tone came out as a near shout, but he wasn't worried about controlling himself anymore.

"What Hannigan-"

"What did she tell you before you got here? How did Leon contact her?"

Helena went silent for a moment and Chris waited very patiently for her. His fists were shaking with the effort it took not to lash out, but he still waited for her. "Leon didn't contact her. Not directly, at least." She paused for a moment. "Hannigan said that they lost his location. That only happens when you lose or break your DSO issued device."

Chris didn't wait for her to say any more. That's all he needed anyway. It was more proof that Leon couldn't have done this on his own. He wouldn't let Hannigan get a signal before he killed himself. He'd keep it secret, let someone unfamiliar come across him to help lessen the blow to his loved ones. At least, that's what Leon always talked about whenever Chris managed to get him to share his plans. It was a safety net for them and it came in use now.

"Wait!" Helena called after him and he barely stopped himself from just ignoring her and moving on. He had to find out who this was before they managed to escape the city, if not the country. "Are you telling me that Leon didn't...he didn't do this?"

For a long moment, they just looked at each other. Chris barely knew Helena past the few moments they met in China and even then those memories were fuzzy due to his amnesia. But he knew that she held Leon close to herself and deserved to join in on his revenge game. "He didn't do this, Helena." His voice was strikingly soft, almost gentle if it weren't for the burning determination behind it. "He was murdered and someone tried to make it look like they weren't there."

"Then let me help." Helena stepped forward again, a fire burning inside of her too. "If you're right, then I want to make whoever did this pay."

Chris couldn't bring himself to smile, not when his husband was gone like this. Not when someone already managed to take his life away, but he could promise one thing. "Well make them pay, no matter what it takes."

"Whatever it takes." Helena stood straight and despite her short frame, they were like tyrants next to each other. They'd make every past outbreak look like child's play.

Whoever did this was going to pay with more than just their blood. Chris would make sure of it.

Again, I'm not completely committed to writing this whole thing out, but I wanted to at least get this chapter out to show that this was intended to be a whole murder mystery. And no, the Chris from the first chapter wasn't the real Chris. Let's see if I wend up writing more.