*This is where the smut is! If you're not down to clown, stop here cause the fic is over. But really, the smut is super tame. It didn't really feel right to go straight into the kinky shit in the storyline, so I kept it simple. It's more lovey-dovey than anything. I'm still trying to get better at writing smut, but here goes lol

Chapter 22:

Veronica sprinted through the bloody second-floor hallway of the R.P.D., legs feeling like they couldn't go fast enough. She turned in time to watch as a licker pounced at her, forcing her to hit the ground. She could feel its sharp claws tearing at her back as it flew over her, disappearing into the darkness behind her. She screamed as sharp pain surged up her back as she began to try crawling across the dirty wooden floor.

Footsteps from the other side of the hallway caught her attention then a familiar voice called out to her. Peering up she could see Leon running towards her to help when suddenly, Mr. X busted through the S.T.A.R.S. office wall and cut him off. He stumbled back as the giant cornered him against the wall.

"Le-on," she gasped as she tried to get up, but the pain in her back was too much to bear. Her legs felt like they weighed a thousand pounds as they dragged behind her while she tried to reach him. She watched helplessly as Leon's head was grasped by one of the Tyrant's giant hands before he was lifted off of the ground.

His screams of pain were unbearable as she tried to crawl closer, blood seeping out of her back. She could see those giant grey fingers sinking deeper and deeper into Leon's skin. It was turning red then it was turning purple. My god his head was about to pop!

"LEON!" Veronica cried, bolting upright in the bed. Gasping for breath, she looked around in fear and it took her a moment to realize where she was. Checking her surroundings, she remembered she was lying in bed at a dingy motel, hours away from Raccoon City. The horrors of a zombie apocalypse were far behind her. Turning to her side, she could see Leon's sleeping form lying next to her. His rhythmic breathing reassuring her that he was alive. That's right. He's safe. I'm safe.

"I'm safe," she whispered to herself, her hands reaching up to rub her face for comfort. She took a couple of deep breaths to ground herself as the dream replayed in her head. What a terrifying nightmare! Considering what she had been through, it was safe to say that this was expected to happen.

Blinking into the darkness surrounding her, she looked around to make sure the place was still secure. There were only a few cracks of light from the outside lamps peeking through the sides of the curtains on the window next to them, but it wasn't much. Nothing seemed to have changed except for the spot she was laying in had a thin layer of sweat on it. Her back ached a little and after feeling around on the bandages, found them to be a little damp. She sighed in relief knowing that there was no actual blood. Her body was already beginning to feel the soreness of everything she had put her body through.

Feeling a little overwhelmed by everything, especially of her nightmare, she began to cry quietly. She still couldn't believe that they had made it. They had not only survived the outbreak, but they had lived through multiple battles with Birkin, the Tyrant, sewer mutants, lickers, Ivys, and zombie dogs. They had watched people die in the goriest of ways, and the saddest. A part of her was proud of the resilience they showed and the courage they put in to get through it all. The other part wished they didn't have to do it at all.

Despite everything, one of the best things to come out of this entire situation was meeting Leon. Not to mention she was able to become friends with Claire and Sherry, as well. But Leon was something else. They had saved each other countless times, so much so she wasn't sure how she could possibly repay him. They bonded and shared stories of their lives in their downtime and grew to know each other. They became friends and in the end, maybe even something more. The thought that they could continue to do so made her feel a little better.

As she was beginning to calm down, a whimper from her side caught her attention. Looking over, she found Leon stirring in his sleep, but not in a regular manner. He began to cry out in fear and a sheen of sweat was forming on his face. Rubbing her eyes to pull herself together, she turned in the bed and gently patted Leon's arm.

"Leon," she whispered. "Leon! Wake up!" His eyes remained closed and his movements became more frantic. He must've been having a nightmare too. She shook his arm a little more, trying to wake him. "Leon! Hey! You're dreaming, wake up!" The young man gasped, his eyes flying open. He flinched when she reached out to touch him again, his breath coming out in pants.

"Ah!"

"Whoa, Leon! It's me, Vee! You're ok! You were just having a nightmare," she tried explaining. She quickly leaned over him to turn on the bedside lamp. The light was almost blinding for a second, but their eyes adjusted pretty quickly. That's when she noticed he had a hand out reaching for Matilda on the nightstand next to him. That bad, huh? She couldn't blame him. The magnum was waiting on the other stand near her side. Once he finally realized it was her and not a monster, he sighed in relief and relaxed.

"Veronica!" he breathed. "Fuck." He began to sit up in the bed, wincing at the pain in his shoulder as he did so. He shut his eyes as he tried to will the imagery of the dream away, rubbing at his face to ground himself.

"Hey, it's ok. We're safe. You're safe," she spoke gently, trying to reassure him. One of her hands gently rubbed his back while she pressed soft kisses to his bare shoulder. After about a minute, he began to calm down a bit and finally opened his eyes to look over at his companion.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. She shook her head.

"No! Don't apologize! You can wake me up anytime you need me," she reassured him. "Besides, I was already awake." He was about to ask why when he noticed her own puffy eyes.

"Were you crying? Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, Leon. I...You weren't the only one having bad dreams," she sighed. Her partner reached up to cup her cheek, which she instantly leaned into.

"I'm sorry. Do you want to talk about it?" She glanced up into his eyes and shook her head. Those deep ocean eyes were sad and full of worry. But the bags under his eyes really showed how tired he was.

"Not really...Not right now. It's too much for me right now." He nodded then pulled her close to kiss her forehead.

"We should...we should try and get some sleep," he suggested, even though he knew that it would be hard for both of them now. The clock on the nightstand read that it was 2 in the morning. They still had hours till the sun would rise.

"I'm not sure if I could. Can we just lie down and talk for a little bit?" she asked softly, her eyes pleading. She wasn't ready to fall back into that scary state. Seemingly relieved at her suggestion he nodded.

The two settled back into bed then turned the light off, leaving them in darkness. He laid back down onto his back and let Veronica curl up into his side. He let the arm he had under her reach up to rest over her waist to hold her close while her fingers danced idly against the skin of his chest.

"If you're ok with talking about it, what was your dream about? Maybe you'll feel better if you do," she asked, curiously. He hesitated. "You don't have to. We can talk about something else."

"You sure you want to know?" She affirmed with a hum. "I dreamt we were back in NEST and instead of holding up Ada from falling, it was you." She glanced up at him to make sure he was ok. It was kind of hard to tell in the darkness, but she could kind of see that he was scared at the thought. "I kept trying to pull you up, but the bridge kept breaking. There was also a horde of zombies coming from the other areas of the lab and they were heading right toward us. They just kept getting closer and closer and I couldn't-," he was stopped by a hand gently reaching up to turn his face so that a pair of lips could meet his.

He didn't fight it, if anything, he was glad she stopped him from spiraling. She pulled away and gently caressed his cheek soothingly with her thumb. Letting out a sigh, he took her hand and pressed the palm to his lips, giving it a sweet kiss before letting it go. Veronica let it fall back to his chest where she continued to let her fingers trace the skin.

"I'm sorry I asked," she whispered. "What a terrifying dream." She scooted a tad closer and tilted her head towards him. "But that's all it was, a dream. I'm alive and there are no more zombies." She pressed her lips against the side of his neck and began planting small kisses along the skin. His breath hitched at the feeling.

"V-Vee? What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to make you feel better," she replied before going back to doing so. "Is this ok?" With that reasoning, he hummed in approval at the action, easily melting into her touch. Her lips followed the arch up to dot along his jawline then finally meeting back at his lips. Their lips melded together, lazily at first, but that didn't last long. The heat was building between them as they tried to scoot as close as they possibly could in their position.

To make things easier on the both of them, Leon hooked his arm around her then rolled them over so that he hovered over her. Veronica squeaked in surprise by this before relaxing under him. She found she really enjoyed the feeling of his weight pinning her to the mattress. But the pleasure of it didn't last long. Not even seconds later, he suddenly pulled away and sat back hissing between his teeth in pain. He reached up and grasped at his bandaged shoulder.

"Fuck!"

"Are you ok?!" the brunette asked worriedly, sitting up to see what was the matter.

"I'm fine," he grunted. "I just put too much pressure on my shoulder."

"Jesus Leon," she sighed in relief before leaning forward to kiss at his bandages. "Are you sure you're ok?" He nodded.

"I will be. I'm sorry. I kinda ruined the moment," he muttered tiredly.

"No. It's fine!" She paused as she thought about what to do. "How about we do this instead." She pulled him by his good arm to lay back down onto his back then climbed on top of him by straddling his waist. The young officer bit his lip at the sight as his hands reached up to grasp onto her thighs. "Better?"

"Much better," he sighed. She giggled then leaned down to kiss him again. Continuing where they left off, they let themselves go against each other. The kiss became more heated with each second as the desperation for each other finally hit them. Leon let his hands slide up to gently squeeze at Veronica's backside, causing her to hum against his lips in pleasure. She pressed her self against him more and she could feel him growing hard against her heat.

Deciding to take some initiative, she traced her tongue on his bottom lip, pleading for entrance, which he gave without hesitation. Their tongues danced around one another playfully before battling for dominance. Surprisingly, she easily took control and to her, fuck it felt good being even just a little bit in charge. He seemed to agree as he let out a pleasured sigh. She took his bottom lip between her lips and tugged at it gently before pulling away. Instead of moving away, however, she dove back in to leave open-mouthed kisses along his jawline and neck.

Hearing his little hums of pleasure, she went back to the sensitive spot she had found before and began to suck a nice purple splotch there. He shivered at the feeling and tilted his head back to give her more room to keep going. She was happy to oblige. As she was leaving her many marks, the dull ache between her legs began to become more of an issue. To relieve some of the pressure, she pressed herself down onto his groin and found him to already be very hard. Oh! He's bigger than I thought!

Leon hissed at the feeling of her heat against him and reached up to grasp at her hips. He wasn't sure if he was trying to stop her or to keep her going. She, on the other hand, wanted desperately to keep going. How far? She wasn't sure she cared at the moment. She moaned softly against his ear and pulled away from his neck so that she could focus on grinding back against him.

"W-wait! Hold on-mm~" Leon stuttered out. His partner pulled away a little breathless but stopped what she was doing.

"What's wrong?"

"Should...should we be doing this? Aren't we going a little too fast?" She blinked down at him then smiled softly at his gentlemanly nature.

"I'm sorry. Is this too much?"

"Um…Well, I would be lying if I said yes, but…"

"But?"

"I don't want you to think you have to do this, or that I don't want want to take whatever we are slow-." He was cut off by Veronica kissing him silly again. After leaving him breathless, she pulled away.

"You're too cute, Leon. I really love that you care so much. It's definitely one the aspects of you that I fell for. But, honestly, I'm ok with whatever we do. We can just keep making out and dry humping against each other like we're teenagers if it makes you comfortable." It seemed like he liked that idea coming from the pulsing from his groin against her.

"If...if you're ok that," he muttered, slightly embarrassed. So Mr. Smooth Kennedy here is a little more innocent than I thought too. She leaned back in and kissed the tip of his nose.

"I'm more than ok with that. Maybe taking it slow is best for now," she replied. "You can take me on a movie date when this is all over." They both chuckled at that but it made them feel giddy inside. Despite acting like two horny teenagers, they really liked the idea of going on a proper date.

"I can't wait," he sighed. "Ok. Sorry, shall we continue?"

"Absolutely," she purred before diving back in to kiss him. His hands traveled back to her rear then he lifted his hips to press their lower bodies together. She whimpered against his lips and rolled her hips to grind back against his groin. She was already so wet, she wondered if she had soaked through her panties yet or if he could feel it. After all, the only physical things keeping them from actually having sex were two pairs of underwear.

Quiet groans and soft whimpers escaped their mouths as their bodies continuously rolled against each other. Hands reached wherever they could to touch and through this, Veronica found that Leon's nipples were sensitive to the touch. After dragging her hands down his chest, her thumb accidentally flicked one of them and he let out a gasp. At first, she thought she had hurt him on accident, but the blush on his face said otherwise. He seemed to like it when she touched them and it felt like he got impossibly harder because of it.

With this in mind, they continued to grind against each other desperately, doing anything to add to the pleasure was a plus. A thin sheen of sweat had begun to cling to their skin, hair matting to their foreheads. The air was thick with tension and hot. The pleasure was building up more and more in their cores as they began to move faster. Any thought about the dangers they previously fought were out the window.

"I-I...I think I'm gonna-," Leon stuttered out. Veronica took this as a cue to grind down against him a little harder and boy was she rewarded. Leon suddenly tightened his grasp around her hips and his head tilted back. His eyes were shut tight as his orgasm rippled through his body, his muscles contracting with each pleasurable sensation. His hips stuttered upward and she could feel his clothed erection pulse beneath her as he came. The husky moan he released shot straight to her core and the absolute bliss on his face alone could almost make her come too.

After a few more seconds, he relaxed back against the mattress feeling like he was high in the clouds. His lover leaned back down to kiss him, and although she was trying to let him enjoy the blissed-out feeling, she was still hungry. He kissed her back and sighed happily at the girl in his arms.

"Did you…?" he asked.

"No, but I can finish myself off," she told him, sliding a hand down into her panties. But, to her surprise, he reached for her arm to stop her.

"Let me. Please," he pleaded. The sound of his voice asking made her heart thump excitedly.

"Ok," she whispered while biting her lip. They got into a more comfortable position with Leon sitting back against the bed frame while she stayed where she was on his lap. Then she took his right hand and led it towards her panties. At first, he let his fingers gently rub against the fabric and found them to be soaked.

"Fuck. You're so wet," he groaned. He had to be careful. He could get hard again if he didn't focus. Then he pushed the fabric to the side and dipped a finger between her dripping folds.

"Oh!" she whimpered with her eyes shut. She reached down and helped navigate his hand towards the sensitive bud at the top. Once he found it, she gasped and nodded for him to continue. Taking the initiative, he gently rubbed his finger against it, watching as her thighs quaked against him. She mewled in pleasure and leaned forward to nestle her head against his neck as he did all the work. After a few minutes of this, he felt bold enough to slide his finger lower till it caught onto her entrance. Feeling this, she froze for a second, but mostly in excitement.

"Can I...?" he began, receiving a vigorous nod against his shoulder in return. With her consent, he gently prodded his finger inside her velvety warmth. It was tight and wet and it almost made him regret not going all the way. But he knew he could wait a little longer. She gasped at the intrusion, but the thickness of his finger felt good. But it also wasn't enough.

"More," she sighed. Her wish was his command as he added another finger and curled them against her inner walls. She moaned and began to move her hips, signaling for him to follow. With that, he began thrusting and curling the fingers repeatedly inside her core. He wanted dearly to repay her for everything and he wanted her to feel as good as he did. He leaned down as he picked up the pace to suck gently at her exposed neck, trying to leave a mark of his own.

Her body drowned in the pleasure he gave as the heat tightened in her core with every thrust of his fingers. She didn't want it to stop, but she was already so close. Then to her surprise, Leon reached down with his other hand to rub at the bundle of nerves at the same time and that tipped her over the edge. She jerked against him intensely as she moaned breathily against his shoulder, waves of pleasure coursing over her. After about a minute, she sagged against him breathing heavily.

Leon pulled his hands out and found his fingers drenched in her juices. Feeling emboldened by that, he brought them up to his lips to lick clean in front of her, causing her to groan. She shook her head in disbelief.

"Mr. Kennedy, if you don't stop, I'm going to go to town on you. Movie date or not," she warned with a small smirk. He chuckled at that then wiped the rest of his hands off with the sheets beneath him.

"Was it good?" he asked, slightly nervous at her response. But his nervousness was unfounded by the enthusiastic nod he was given.

"Very good. I'm a little excited now for next time," she sighed blissfully. He was too. They both got back under the sheets and settled back into bed. Veronica lay splayed out across his chest with his arms wrapped around her lovingly. Their legs intertwined happily beneath the sheets.

"I think I'm ready to sleep now," he muttered totally blissed out and content.

"Me too. Hopefully with better dreams this time."

"Yeah. Hey, Vee?"

"Hm?"

"I'm glad you're my partner."

"Me too, rookie. Me too."

"New Game [2nd Run]" has been unlocked.

*That's it! I hope you enjoyed this fic! If you liked it and also like Claire, visit my other works to find the counter story. There is also a sequel of sorts dealing with the aftermath if you want to see what happened after this story. Just check my works if you're interested. Thanks for reading!