Claire was apprehensive. Part of her thought this was how it was supposed to be. Like maybe, for once, she actually deserved a happy ending. Her luck had been… bad, to say the least. She wouldn't have made it off of Rockfort if it weren't for Wesker's attack on the island, and she was not ready to call any scale of outbreak 'good luck.'

She looked up at him, thoughts running through her head. She shut them all out after a moment, leaning forward and allowing her lips to hover just above his. She enjoyed the closeness for a moment, listening to the way that his breath hitched. When she finally closed the gap, his lips were rough against hers.

The kiss was awkward at first. Steve tensed, his heart skipping a beat. He'd fantasized about this so many times he couldn't count. He'd kissed girls – before, in school – but it was nothing like this. Her lips sent fireworks coursing through his body.

"Relax," She whispered between kisses, tips of her fingers brushing his neck. Her hand came to rest there, palm flat and fingers splayed against the bare skin that wasn't covered by his t-shirt.

He did so the best he could, letting his muscles relax. He touched her jaw lightly. He kissed back, slow, soft, small little kisses. His fingers twisted into her hair, feeling the strands slip between his fingers. It was even softer than he expected.

By the time they broke apart, his breaths came in soft pants that mingled with Claire's soft sigh. Warmth spread through his chest, his heart fluttering in his chest. It was hard to breathe.

"Wow."

"Wow." She agreed with a smile. She wasted no time, kissing him again. More passionately this time, tongues cautiously slipping past lips, withdrawing. Exploring each other, bit by bit. Heavy breathing quickly turned into quiet moans and short whimpers.

Claire finally drew away, staring at him for a moment as she gathered her thoughts. "….you don't know how long I've wanted to do that." She breathed.

Steve felt a little dizzy. "Y'shoulda done it sooner."

She couldn't help but laugh, despite the tears sparking at the corners of her eyes.

-x-

Claire slept well for the first time in recent memory. No nightmares – no dreams at all, really. She was thankful for that. She got out of bed refreshed and relaxed. She really felt like everything was falling into place.

She was surprised to find Steve still sleeping soundly, his chest rising and falling with each breath. She couldn't help but linger, watching him sleep. She had half of a thought to climb up in bed with him but figured that was not the wise decision to make at the moment.

She found herself in the kitchen, listless. She wasn't sure if a cup of coffee would make it worse or better, but opted for the comfort in a mug. It was a simple joy from her previous life and now that things were finally starting to return to normal, it was her first craving in the morning.

She poured her cup and fixed it the way she liked it, taking a seat at the dining room table after. It felt nice to sit and relax. She held the mug between both of her hands, bringing it to her face. She breathed in deeply, thankful that whoever had stocked the cabinets for her had the foresight to buy good coffee.

Claire felt peaceful. Hopeful. Not just relaxed, but like everything might end up okay. Like the first rays of sun after a stormy night. She was brought out of her thoughts as the phone rang in the other room.

She scrambled to her feet, answering it as quickly as she could so as not to wake Steve. She pressed the receiver to her ear, picking up the corded base of the phone and bringing it with her back into the kitchen.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Claire. It's Leon."

"Hey. It's good to hear your voice." She couldn't help but grin. She hadn't talked to Leon since she'd sent that short e-mail back on Rockfort with her co-ordinates, begging for help.

"You too. How are you holding up?" She could hear the smile in Leon's voice.

Claire twirled the cord around her finger. "…I'm okay. I slept for the first time in a few nights. No nightmares." She added after a moment.

"That's great. I'm glad to hear. How's… what's his name, is it Steve?"

"Steve's…. healing. Mostly I'm just trying to keep him comfortable. Did Chris fill you in on everything?"

"I mean…" Leon dropped his voice as if he were telling a secret. "He… died, right?"

"He died. ..I don't even know what Rebecca did, exactly, but she brought him back. Gave him a vaccine." Claire swallowed the last bit of rapidly cooling coffee in her mug. She still wasn't in a place she could give many details without bursting into tears. It would come with time. "He's sleeping right now."

"I'm glad Rebecca's on our side." Leon murmured. He didn't know what they would've done without her – she was the one that dug the bullet fragments from his (thankfully, all healed) bullet wound directly after Raccoon City. Ada had patched him up just enough to get him through the night, but Rebecca had made sure the wounds were clean and ready to heal. He still had the scar as his souvenir from that night, but he doubted it made much of a difference either way.

"Me too." She was silent for a moment before changing the subject. "….how are you holding up these days, Leon?"

"I'm good. I don't know if your brother had a chance to tell you, I got…. Uh, offered a job in the Division of Security Operations. The DSO." He conveniently left out the fact that he'd been forced into the position to help Sherry. He didn't want Claire feeling any guilt – he was sure she would've stayed to protect that little girl if it weren't for her brother.

"That's great, Leon." She smiled again, feeling a warmth start to spread through her as she thought of Leon helping people. Joining RPD, asking to go into Raccoon City to help…. Leon had a big heart. Working for the DSO would be great for him.

"Yeah, thanks, Claire. Uh, I gave you a call because I'm going to be in town. I wanted to see if it was okay if I swung by to see you?"

Claire found a bit of excitement welling up in her stomach. She'd missed Leon and thoroughly enjoyed the idea of seeing him. "Yeah. I'd like that a lot. I'm sure Steve would love to meet you, too."

"Sounds great. I'll be by in the late afternoon then."

"Yeah." She smiled. "We'll see you then, Leon."

They said their goodbyes and hung up the phone. Claire couldn't help but bask in the feelings that washed over her at the prospect of getting to see Leon, even just for a moment. She was brought out of her excitement as Steve called for her from the living room. Her enthusiasm was quickly replaced by a creeping feeling of guilt.

Just hearing Leon's voice and knowing he was thinking of had made her painfully aware of the feelings she had for the former cop. She somehow felt like she was cheating on Steve – despite the fact they'd done nothing but kiss. She started to wonder if she felt obligated to be with him.

She set the phone back in it's place beside the answering machine with as much of a smile as she could muster. "Morning. Did I wake you?"

Steve had managed to push himself into a sitting position, more or less. "No, just stiff." He saw the look on Claire's face and corrected himself quickly, "My muscles hurt."

She felt a second pang of guilt, convinced she'd asked too much of him yesterday. "I'll get you some ice and we'll get you comfortable again." She smiled at him over her shoulder as she pulled one of the dwindling packets of herbs out. "Start with this."

Back in the kitchen, Claire wrapped a bag of frozen peas in a clean dish towel. She hoped it would be enough to help ease his aches and pains – she hated seeing him like this. Was it pity that had lodged itself in her gut?

She sat on the edge of the mattress instead of in her usual spot, offering the impromptu ice pack to Steve. "Where does it hurt?"

"My ribs." Steve swallowed hard at her sudden closeness as she leaned forward and pressed the peas against his bruises. "T-thanks." It was like his brain was static when she was this close – his heart pounding in his ears.

Claire was silent for a moment. "My friend Leon is going to come by today." She stared at the side table beside Steve's bed, cluttered with empty packaging and soda cans.

"Oh, cool." Steve smiled. He hoped she didn't notice it was forced. It wasn't that he didn't like meeting Claire's friends – he did. He just wanted to spend time with her. Yesterday had left him full of more questions than answers.

"Yeah, I think you'll really like him."

-x-

After a quick breakfast for the both of them – cereal and orange juice – Claire got to tidying up. She cleaned off Steve's side table, organized the medical supplies, tucking away everything they didn't need immediately. She hadn't been the slightest bit concerned about the state of the safe house when Rebecca and Chris had visited, but wanted it to look nice when Leon turned up.

In her quest to make the temporary home feel more like home, she located a woefully under used CD player. She blew the top layer of dust off of it, perusing the small stack of CDs. She recognized some of the discs from Chris's collection – Queen, Pink Floyd, Guns N' Roses, The Police and some she didn't that she assumed belonged to Jill – Bryan Savage, The Beatles, Fleetwood Mac.

"What do you think, Queen or Guns N' Roses?" She asked, turning to Steve with each of the albums in her hand. Queen was a classic, one of her absolute favorites, but she wanted to give Steve the option. She didn't know what kind of music he liked.

Steve looked between the two and then flashed one of his goofy smiles. "Got any Jimmy Eat World or AFI?"

Claire blinked a few times, almost taken aback. Who didn't love Queen? "I...don't think so. Do you wanna see what we have?"

"Yeah. Do you mind?" He propped himself up a bit further, careful not to stress his broken bones.

Claire shrugged lightly, trying to not be disappointed. She could listen to music any time she wanted, she told herself. This time should be spent getting to know Steve – it might help her work through some of her feelings. She dusted off the small stack of CDs, bringing it over to Steve to inspect.

Steve ran his finger down the plastic spines of the cases, his finger leaving a line behind in the dust. He grimaced and wiped it on his blankets before deciding. He held up a CD with a dark blue background. "How about Nirvana?"

Claire contemplated for a moment but gave a nod. She wasn't into the modern era of music as much, but Nirvana was something she appreciated. Not as much about Queen, but she was glad that they had at least somewhat of the same music taste. "….Good choice."

She skimmed the back of the case as the guitar riffs signaled the start of the album. She was familiar with a handful of the songs – some more than others – and some she doubted she'd ever heard. She moved to the music for a moment, feeling a happiness begin to balloon inside her that she had not felt in a long time. Music was something that was incredibly special to her – all of those months without it had been hard on her.

"It's a little… harder than I'm used to." Claire admitted, turning back to Steve with a smile.

"Yeah, what do you usually listen to?" He handed the rest of the CDs back to her.

"Rock, classic rock." She mused. "I like a lot of the same music as my brother. I like a little bit of punk rock, too. Use to paint my nails black in high school."

"I like… grunge, and emotional hardcore." He flipped his hair lightly as if to punctuate his sentence. "Cold wave. Stuff like that." He smiled at her last statement and added a shy, "Me too."

"You used to paint your nails?"

"Yeah." He smiled but it faded quickly. It all seemed so far away now. "My Father hated it."

Claire saw the way he grimaced at the mention of his Dad. "…I'm sorry, Steve."