GLIMPSE:

A Resident Evil Short Story

Starring:

Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield

Guest Starring:

Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, Rebecca Chambers, Sherry Birkin, Albert Wesker and the Ghost of Ada Wong

Part Five:

Dichotomy

Raccoon City - 2006

His other self was a douche bag.

Whatever else was true, Leon Kennedy wasn't a douche bag. Somewhere, Chris Redfield did NOT agree with that assessment. But seeing as Chris, himself, was the ultimate douche...Leon didn't really care about his opinion.

He was mostly a good guy. Right?

He paused, considering that as he drove across town with the baby to her doctor appointment. She was in perfect healthy and adorable.

All the little nurses flirted with him and made him grit his teeth.

Maybe some people would call him a douche bag. He was betting Chris did, frequently to whom ever would listen, while probably farting on Leon's food. The thing was...he wasn't. He was, at the core, the guy who got things done. He didn't lie to girls to get them in bed. He didn't cheat. He didn't steal.

He saved the day and went home.

What had happened to his alternate universe self here to send him off the deep end?

He contemplated that as he arrived at the bowling alley with his stupid shirt on. The damn thing was tight, which pissed him off, and made his beer belly look about five months pregnant. But it didn't seem to bother the woman who flirted with him at the door.

She gave him big, gummy lashes that she batted and cooed.

Seriously? Was he poking this chic too? What kind of pathetic turd was he? He didn't know if he was really cheating at all. Not really. Or just flirting with anything with tits.

But he couldn't be sure, and that pissed him off.

Was he just a bad husband? How bad was he?

To his surprise, the answer wasn't one he liked at all, as he found himself in the bathroom after bowling a horrible game (the team was crushed and thought maybe he was drunk...it turned out he was just a terrible bowler) so that even in his fake life, he was a failure.

Wesker was sniffing around his woman. WESKER was sniffing around his woman. He was a cheater, maybe. He was a loser, clearly. He was a fat, stupid, lazy in the sack asshole who didn't deserve Claire Redfield.

And he had two fantastic kids.

That baby...she'd made him laugh all morning. She was adorable and guileless. She giggled and flirted and loved him. He must have been a pretty ok Dad. Which was the only goddamn redeeming thing about his other self.

A hand slid around his hip and had him jumping.

It was Mrs. Wesker...whose name he couldn't remember for the life of him.

She purred, "Albert...is working all night. Tonight? I'm all yours."

Yep. He was a real piece of shit alright. Wesker's old lady was trying to hook up with him while Wesker tried to bone Claire. A real fairy tale, this life he never asked for. A glimpse of what? How awful people could be? At least tyrants never tried to bone your wife before they killed you.

He mused, "Are we sleeping together?"

And Mrs. Wesker cooed, "Are we finally done playing games? You want the truth?"

"Absolutely."

"I don't ever wear low cut dresses for Albert. I don't slather on this perfume for anyone. I know it's your favorite. I started substitute teaching? Just to be close to you." She put her teeth by his ear from behind, meeting his eyes in the mirror, "I adore you."

Shaking his head, Leon pressed, "But we haven't ever done it?"

She gave him a weird look and purred, "Not yet. Tonights the night. I'm yours!"

Ok. So...he wasn't boning her. Not yet anyway. There was some relief in that. She spun him around and tried to throw herself on him at the urinal. He nearly fell over fending her off.

It was the first time Leon Kennedy was on the defensive from an opponent he couldn't kill. He parried, uselessly, slapping away her claw like clutches as she grabbed for him. She got a fistful of his butt had had him squeaking, "HEY! None of that now!"

"Your mouth says no, but your eyes say yes!"

Mrs. Wesker was a rapist. It was that simple. He couldn't kick her ass, not in the bathroom of a bowling alley, not without making life miserable for everyone around him. So he just had to...fend her off. Surely, he could do that. He'd once went hand to hand with a chainsaw man and eighteen angry villagers with parasites in their bodies. They'd chased him across the frozen Spanish countryside with no sleep, no time to shit, and ten bullets.

He'd won that battle with a pocket knife, two bricks from a construction zone, and a bad pun.

Surely, he could take one horny house wife trying to grab his dick.

Surely.

He ended up with a wet butt from half landing in the urinal cake in the porcelain, thanked god he'd FLUSHED before that at least, and turned his face away from her amorous kissing. She slathered on the spit, trying to suck his ears and eat his face or something. Apparently, there were monsters in this universe as well.

They were the kind married to Albert Wesker.

Leon shoved her away finally, grabbing her arms to remove her from him. "Hah...hah...oy. Ok. So here's the thing. Whatever you think this is? You're wrong."

She looked shell shocked, flushed and excited, "What?"

"Uh...Annie?"

Her eyes flared, "ANITA."

"Right. Hah. Right. Anita...listen...I love my wife. She's also jealous by nature. She doesn't like to share."

Anita Wesker gave him a dirty look. "She's spreading her legs for my husband. Everyone knows it. He uses everything at that place. He's known for it. He preys on lonely little housewives whose husbands are getting it on the side. It's his M.O."

Lord.

The flicker of anger had him setting her further away, "Maybe so. But she's not touching him. She's only sleeping with me."

"I heard you never touch her."

He gave Anita a dirty look. "You heard wrong. What the hell would I want with another woman when she's waiting for me at home?"

"A good question..." Anita narrowed her eyes, "Why are you here with me if she's so wonderful?"

And that was one too. He shook his head, stepping away, "I don't know. But I'm about to fix that. For the record...you deserve better than that sniveling sack of shit. Divorce him and find a man who appreciates you."

He left the bathroom, moving to the lanes. He was hailed with beers and laughter. His wife was there in support apparently, though he didn't know when she'd shown up.

Did it matter that she had?

Yeah. Yeah, it did.

He crossed by a group of laughing kids playing air hockey and moved toward her. She was in conversation with Rebecca and Jill. There was a loud raucous shout of joy and Leon glanced over to see Redfield get his second strike in a row.

Asshole. He was even better at bowling.

But there was one thing he wasn't better at...it was time to reclaim his title. It was enough being the limp dick laughing stock of Raccoon City. His pride absolutely would not stand for his wife to have an emotional affair with a known predator of lonely housewives.

He was "The Executioner"; he struck down his enemies and smote himself upon their ruin. He wasn't a pathetic mess. He wasn't. It wasn't his problem that his other self was. It was just time to cleave that little assholes legacy in half and make room for the real Leon Kennedy.

Jill waved happily when she saw him, remarking, "Can you believe this Leon? Number four for us. You're losing ground. Time to adopt those kids you two were always talking about."

Gross. Chris Redfield even had more kids than him. He was even better at knocking up his wife. Four!? Four kids. For the guy who'd never even sniffed Jill Valentine's panties in the real world. Mr. Eunuch, the laughingstock of bio-terror because he never touched girls. Or boys. Or himself.

He had four kids.

He was at the top of his career.

He was still a crack shot - in the bedroom and on the range.

Damn Chris Redfield. Leon was going to blast ass on his nachos the next time he saw him eating. It was that simple. It was also long over due, based on the amount of shit he'd shoveled for Redfield over the years in the other dimension. Who cared? Four kids...un-freaking-believeable.

Leon shook his head. He said nothing. He just kept moving toward them. Claire smiled at him, looking still a little uncomfortable with what had gone down that morning, he was sure of that. "Hey you! Having an off night?"

"More like an off life." He scooped his arm around her to drag her in. Rebecca whistled, Jill laughed, and he kissed her like she'd just come home from war.

Her leg popped up, tossing her foot back like in a movie, and Claire clutched at his hair to hold him as he dipped her back. She made a little sound of excited need and someone whooped to encourage him.

It probably was NOT Albert Wesker. That lemon faced turd was likely at the bar chewing his rage at having his latest prey snapped away from him.

Redfield shouted, "GET A ROOM! GROSS!"

And Leon did just that. He grabbed Claire's hand and tugged. She ran with him, laughing and flushed. Everyone cheered. It felt like when he'd won the championship game in highschool. He'd claimed the head cheerleader and marched off the field in victory that night.

This time he grabbed his wife and felt even better.

He put her against the side of the bowling alley in the cold to kiss her. She groped him, desperately, making little hmm hmm sounds as he laid claim to her. When they broke to breathe, she gasped, "I thought you'd be mad at me still."

He shook his head, "Not mad. Claire...I think I wanted you the first time I saw you. I was stupid, a boy...a fucking fool. But I'm not anymore."

"My body...it's not what it was, Leon. I stopped working out. I'm kinda soft all over. I can't really blame you. It's ok. It's not your fault."

Lord. She was making excuses for him being blind to her. It was too much. He shook his head again. "It is. It's done now. Your body? Your body...your body..." He scooped her around him and she went, leaping up to wrap her legs at his waist.

They made it to the Jeep and he spilled her back in it. She was shaking by the time he whipped the Jeep around the alley and under the quiet dark of some trees. She didn't wait, she just crawled on his lap to kiss him.

Popping buttons and groping hands. Kissing and gasping. He filled her full of his fingers and grunted, "Your body, Claire...it's incredible. I know mine isn't. I know that. But I'll fix it."

She grabbed his face, humping all over his hand, and cried out, "You're perfect, Leon. You're perfect! Oh, god!"

She came all over him. She loved him. She loved his stupid Dad bod and his lazy shitty attitude. She was too good for him. Either him. Either one. She'd always been too good for the one who killed for a living. She was definitely too good for the one that might as well be dead for all the use he served.

They didn't even go back to the bowling alley. They just went home. Claire left her car there and he drove.

They held hands in the Jeep on the shifter until he rolled into the driveway - and Ben ran down to greet them.

There's a moment in any situation where you have to just...accept it. Was this his? He opened his car down and Ben whooped, "Gigi pooped on the dog!"

And there it was.

His life was poop on a dog. It made no sense. It was madness and delight and narcisstic self imposed denial. It was hugging and fucking and laughing with a woman he'd coveted for nearly as long as he'd known her.

It was Albert Wesker, waiting for the moment when Leon fed him a fist full of long over due rage.

So Leon didn't even object when Sherry took off to her room to piss and moan about hating her duty as a babysitter and Claire took the baby for a bath - sticking him with dog bathing duty. He washed the husky in the garage with Ben beside him, giggling.

Ben sprayed him with soap and got tickled until he squealed.

He was filling a small tub with water and Ben put the hose down the back of his pants and soaked his ass. The garage just...rolled with laughter.

He found out the dog's name was Whisper. She was beautiful, white and perfect - like she'd been all his life. First when he saw her as a boy in the mountains outside of Colorado Springs. Next when she was there the night he drove into Raccoon - waiting on the side of the road in the dark as he roared by in his Jeep. And then in Spain to save his life after he spared her from that bear trap.

And watching him die in the mountains before he'd woken up here.

She was always there.

He petted her, gently, watching her biocolored eyes like sea and snow watching him. She licked his wrist and seemed to smile. Ben mused, "You like dogs?"

"I do." Leon glanced at the boy, considering him, "You like me?"

"I think you'll do. Is my Dad coming back?"

Leon considered this too. "Maybe. He's pretty busy. What if I stayed with you forever?"

Ben twisted his lips, laughed, and shrugged, "You don't really stink. Gigi likes you. Whisper does too. I think you can stay."

Leon ruffled his hair, glancing down at the mess they'd made. "What do you think? Leave it for tomorrow?"

"Yep. Bed time." Ben jumped down and headed toward the stairs. Whisper circled twice and laid down in her bed by the garage door to dry. As they reached the foot of the stairs, Ben added, "You want to read me a story?"

"Were we reading one?"

Ben nodded...and put his hand in Leon's to lead him toward his room. It was a nice feeling, holding hands with the boy. Leon liked the shift in his chest at the warmth of it.

He liked how Ben settled beside him on the bed, lifted his arm and looped it around his narrow shoulders, and started reading from the book he spread over both their laps.

Eventually, Claire brought the baby, clean and happy. Gigi reached for him and settled against his other side, putting her head on his shoulder as Ben read - an incredible tale about A Stinky Cheese Man. The Stinky Cheese Man was always running - from everyone and everything in his life that mattered. He was the guy who never stayed. He was a rambling man. A gypsy.

A Kennedy.

Run run as fast as you can...you can't catch me, I'm the stinky cheese man.

Claire put her hand on the back of his neck, rubbed, and kissed his temple. She left him with the kids to finish the story. Gigi gummed her fist and babbled, adding her own twist on the story.

Ben cuddled against his side and dozed off, halfway into the story.

For a moment, as the quiet settled around him, he wondered if he was the Stinky Cheese Man. Would he run if he could? He was in a world that wasn't his, with a life that wasn't his...would he run if he had the option? What was he running back to?

What was he running from?

He settled the baby in bed and tucked Ben in. The boy sighed and remarked, sleepily, "I'm glad you're here."

Surprised, Leon asked, softly, "Why?"

Ben answered, quietly, "My Mom is laughing again. She never laughs."

And there it was. The truth. His other self was a failure at even that. Even the laughter had left him in this life. When all else failed, he couldn't even bring his wife any joy.

Leon kissed Ben's forehead and left him to snore, heading down the hallyway to his room.

Sherry was lingering in the hallway and hissed, "You wanna?" She raised the joint and wiggled her brows at him.

This was the type of guy his other self was. The type who secretly smoked dope with his adopted kid to get his kicks -and maybe cheated on his wife. Lord.

Leon shook his head, "Nope. The warden is waiting for me."

She made a face and laughed, "Bummer. Next time." She closed her room door.

She seemed ok. Her parents hadn't made her a B.O.W. She was a girl fixing to graduate and start her life. Just a kid turning to an adult. She seemed...normal.

At least that part was good here. Sherry? She seemed to be doing ok. He'd seen brochures for Dartmouth lying on the counter downstairs. Which meant she was also brilliant.

There was a swell of pride in him at the idea of her growing up and having a normal life - where she became something she wanted, instead of something the world made her.

Claire wasn't in the bedroom as he rolled in, tossing his soggy clothes in the corner hamper and scratching his belly. He was just flipping on The Late Show with Letterman when the bathroom door opened...and out came a siren.

She was in something black and slutty. It was all boobs and lacy delight. She giggled, "It still fits."

He wished he could remember the night the other Leon had given it to her. He REALLY did. Because she looked delectable. He was jealous of himself, literally, and what the other version of him had enjoyed with her.

Leon shook his head, putting his hand out to her. "Come here."

She did, swaying cutely as she moved. She poked a hand on her hip and purred, playfully, "Do I make you horny, baby?" In a bad Austin Powers impersonation that made him adore.

He tugged her close, sliding his hand down her butt to grip her. She made a small sound of excitement and echoed it, gripping his buns in her hands and laughing.

And he said, softly, "I love you, Claire."

She would never, ever, know the significance of that. Ever. She'd never understand it. Because she'd loved him all this time and thought they were married and had shared a life and a past.

They shared a past, but she'd never been his. Not ever.

And he'd always loved her.

She smiled, stroking his hair back from his face, "Yeah?"

"Always." He slipped his hands under that nightgown to touch her naked butt, "Always. From the second I met you."

Surprised, Claire melted in his arms, "...Leon..." She breathed it, softly, "What's happened to you?"

He shook his head, holding on to her, "I don't know. I think I'm awake. I think I've been asleep for a long time. I think I'm awake now."

She nodded, stroking the dip in his chin with her thumb, "I'm so happy. After your Dad died...I didn't think you'd ever come back from that. I didn't think..." She trailed off, getting a little misty eyed, "I didn't think you'd ever really want me again. I know...Gigi...she wasn't what you wanted. I know you were drunk that night...I know that. And then the complications...the mess of it afterward. I'm sorry I leaned on you so heavily then."

He shook his head, throbbing with hate for his other self, "I want Gigi. I love Gigi." Jesus, that was true. He loved a baby he'd known for two days. "I was a fucking idiot. I wish..." He trailed off.

Claire tilted her head, holding his face, "What? You wish...?"

"I wish I could get you pregnant again. I wish I could see you pregnant. I wish I could...be there when you pop and hold you...and..." He lost his voice, shaking his head, "Sorry. Stupid. I know that's stupid."

Teary eyed, she shook her head too. "You kidding? That's..." She kissed him, eyes and nose, mouth and chin. "I love you. Leon? I love you."

Lord.

Someone else had lived the life he should have had. That's what this was. It was to show him what he'd never really have. He'd never see her pregnant or in white while he married her. He'd never hold their baby or watch Ben grow into the amazing kid he was. This glimpse was more painful than he'd even begun to imagine.

Because he could never go back and live the life he should have had.

He could just figure out how to make the most of the one he did.

He stroked his hands all over her, hiked her around his front, and shoved her against the wall to kiss her. He couldn't keep her, he knew that. He couldn't keep the kids. He couldn't keep the life.

The life he'd panicked and fought against now felt more real to him than the one he'd left behind. He'd been almost numb there. He'd been almost lost.

He was still a man who lived in the moment. In this one? He pinned her to the wall and took her, drowning in the smell and feel of her.

He'd woken up to find the world in his hands.

This was all they had. He just had to figure out how to hold on to it...before he fell asleep again.