Pugaliciousdish

The Rookie

Chapter 2

Leon hopped into the shower. He was excited but sort of intimidated. Where was he going to take Claire? He stood with the steaming water hitting his back, brainstorming ideas. The bakery down the street didn't sell great coffee but it met his standards. "Maybe I should message Marvin?" He thought. He turned off the faucet and reached for a towel to dry off. His apartment, while still lacking a couch, was beginning to feel like home. He walked over to his dresser with a towel around his waist and picked out clothes for the day. He grabbed a plain white tee, dark blue jeans, boxers, and some white ankle socks. After a quick change he headed into the kitchen and grabbed his notepad with all the phone numbers he knew so far. After finding his number, he quickly typed up a message for Marvin. Marvin, do you know of any good coffee places near my apartment I could take a girl? He hit send.

After about ten minutes of watching television from a dinning room chair, he received a reply. Leon, try that new place on 85th and western. It's called Frank's. One of the guys in HR said it was good.

Leon typed back a quick response. Thanks! He dialed the number Claire had given him.

After a few rings a voice picked up. "Hello?" Her voice sound drowsy.

He felt the nerves build up. "Hey Claire, it's Leon Kennedy. I'm calling to see if you're still up for coffee this morning?"

There was a faint yawn through the phone. "Oh, hey Leon, sure I'm still down. I'll message you my address, I just need to shower and get ready. Be here in an hour okay?"

"Okay I'll see you then." They both hung up the phone. He felt a little relief. Leon hadn't dated a girl in a year, so it was only natural he was feeling a little rusty. His last girlfriend had cheated on him with some fitness instructor of hers. Leon knew he could probably take the guy, but he decided it wasn't worth it.

Once forty minutes had passed, he grabbed a black jacket and was out the door. The hotel she was staying at wasn't too far, he arrived five minutes to nine. He sat in his jeep in the parking lot. He shot her a message saying he was there. After a minute she came out and looked around. Leon rolled down his window and poked through.

"Claire! Over here!" He shouted. She walked over to the passenger side door and got in.

"So where are we going?" She asked.

Leon started the car back up. "We're going to Frank's." He replied.

"Who's that?"

"It's a place my boss recommended. He said some guys at the station liked it, plus, it's new to the area like we are." He continued down the city streets.

"Sounds good to me." She smiled. After a few stop signs and street lights, they'd finally made it. Leon pulled into the parking lot of the small diner like place. Leon looked in the rear-view mirror and walking behind them was an older woman getting ready to cross the road with her purse. A man dressed in black walked up behind her and snatched the purse from her!

"Hey, give that back! Someone help!" She yelled.

Leon's instincts kicked in. "Claire quickly open the glove box."

She unlatched the glove box and reached inside. "Theirs's a gun inside. And some handcuffs."

Leon grabbed both and got out of the car. He wrapped the strap around his leg as quick as possible, put the cuffs into his jacket pocket, and took off in full sprint. "I'll be back Claire!" The man was fast, but Leon ran track in high school, he won state junior year. The man went down a dark alley way and Leon followed. With luck on his side, the guy tripped over a barrel of trash. Leon was now behind him. He unholstered his weapon, with the safety on still. He shouted. "Rpd! Freeze!"

"I Surrender! Don't shoot!" He lay on the ground, with hands in the air, he dropped the purse.

Leon walked over and began to cuff him. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say, can and will be used against you in the court of law. You have the right to speak to an attorney, and to have an attorney present during any questioning." After he finished reading him off his rights, he walked him back to the old lady and handed her purse over. "Are you okay ma'am?" He asked.

"Yes! Thank you so much officer." Some people around Frank's had watched it take place. A majority clapped. Leon walked him over and opened the rear door of his jeep.

"Hey Claire, sorry about this but we need to make a quick detour to the station real fast." Leon shoved the guy into the back and buckled his seat belt.

"No that's okay…" She seemed intimidated at first but laughed a little. "Craziest date I've ever been on."

At the sound of date, Leon blushed. "Ha I bet." He got into the jeep and pulled out of the parking lot onto the main road once more. They drove back to the station and pulled into the parking garage. Claire stayed in the car while Leon walked the mugger into the station.

After half an hour of explaining and processing, Leon walked out the door into the garage returning to the car. "Claire, I'm so sorry about the wait, it was just question after question." Claire had her seat reclined, half asleep.

"Huh, what? Oh, hey you're back." She yawned. "How long was I out?"

Leon laughed and got in. "I don't know, shall we head to Frank's?"

Claire readjusted her seat. "Sure, let's do it." They departed the parking garage and drove back the way they came.

"This is so good!" Claire took another bite of her breakfast sandwich. They sat inside near a window of Frank's. She followed with a sip of her coffee.

"Yeah, I was surprised too. Glad we checked this place out." He sipped his coffee.

"Hey Leon, what are your plans for the rest of the afternoon?"

Leon glanced up from his plate. "Well, I need to go and pick up my couch, but I was planning on doing that tomorrow. Why do you ask?"

"Well I could help you out, it does take two after all to lift something like that. I'm not scheduled to work until next week, so I don't have to leave anytime soon." She offered.

He nodded. "Sure, I could use the help. That reminds me, where do you work?"

"I do a lot of volunteer work, but mostly I'm a committee manager at city hall up in my hometown."

"Oh, wow so you get to help a lot of people then? That must be exciting, to say the least."

"It can be, but it can get boring or strenuous without a moment's notice." She replied.

"I feel you on that one." He laughed. There waiter quietly walked by. "Excuse me Ms. Can we get our check?"

She turned around to face them. "Don't worry it's on the house, we saw what you did out there earlier. Have a good one." She smiled and walked away.

They both turned to each other and then shrugged their shoulders, smiling.

They spent the rest of the day shopping at the furniture gallery for a couch, the original one Leon found wasn't as great as he thought it was the first time. After an hour, he finally found one just big enough, comfy enough, and with a frame just stern enough. It was red.

"This is the one!" He jumped onto the seat, Claire followed.

"Yeah, this is pretty nice. Mine at home isn't as nice as this one."

Leon looked up to the sales guy. "I'll take it." After about ten minutes of paying and figuring out who the delivery truck was going to follow, they drove back to his apartment. Leon and Claire stood outside as the delivery guys opened the back and dropped the couch onto the sidewalk. It was to Leon's relief it had a wrapping, so it wouldn't be stained by the city muck.

"Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy, do you two need help getting this up there?" One of the guys asked.

Leon and Claire both almost choked. Leon was the first to speak. "We're not- "

"We're not married." Claire finished. They both blushed.

The delivery guy scratched his head. "Oh, well sorry, my mistake. Do you still need help?"

"No, it's fine thank you!" Leon tipped the guy and walked over to an end of the couch. "Want to grab the other end Claire?" It was a little awkward after that. With some rotating and wiggling, followed by some heavy grunts and lifts, the couch was finally neatly set in front of the living room tv. "Wow, that's the last time I'm moving that." Leon wiped the sweat off his forehead.

"Oh my god, me too. Do you have any water?" Claire was out of breath.

"Course!" Leon ran into the kitchen and grabbed two glasses and filled them with water. "Here you go." He handed her one.

"Thank you." She took a huge swig.

Leon walked over and grabbed the tv remote, then slid onto to the couch and relaxed into a comfortable position. "Hey Claire, do you want to watch tv or something? We could find a movie?" He started flipping through channels. "It's only three."

Claire stared down at her watch. "I would but I have to be at my brother's in an hour, I promised I'd have dinner with him and Jill. I'm sorry. Today was great though, I had a lot of fun!" She laughed.

Leon felt a little disappointed but was understanding. "Oh, it's okay." He tried to reassure her. "I could probably nap now anyways!" They both laughed. "Do you need a ride home?"

"No, it's okay, I can catch a cab." She smiled and waived to him. "I'll- I'll see you later Leon." She seemed unsure of that.

"Okay, bye." He waived as she walked out, closing the door behind her. Leon turned off the tv and put his feet up on the couch in an effort to get even more comfortable. "This is comfort." He thought happily and closed his eyes. After a few minutes there was a knock on the door, he got up to answer it.

"Claire?" In front of him she stood looking a little embarrassed. "Did you forget- "

"Do you want to come with me? I know we only just met yesterday, but I mean it's just dinner with my brother and his girlfriend, so I thought maybe I could bring a plus one?" She gave out a shy laugh.

Leon was shocked and blushed like usual. "I- Sure!" He tried to sound confident. "There isn't much on anyway. Let me change real fast."

After fixing his hair and putting on a different shirt they departed to Claire's hotel. She changed as well and fixed her makeup. They were looking spiffed up as they were this morning, now it was hardly noticeable they moved a couch earlier.

"Anything I should know about your brother?" They walked up the stone steps to a small single-story house.

"Well he likes to workout, he's overprotective, and your typical boy." She replied. "Don't try to hard to get him to like you, he never liked any of the guys I dated in school."

"Oh great. Well, there has to be a first time for everything at some point, right?" He stood behind Claire as she rang the doorbell.

Behind the door footsteps surrounded the entrance. The door opened. "Claire!" He turned his eyes to Leon. "And… friend?!" He didn't seem too thrilled about him being there.

"I hope you don't mind, we got coffee earlier and hung out. Don't worry too much." She smiled trying to play it off. "Where's Jill?"

"She's inside cooking, come on in." He stood out of the way and the two of them walked in. It was a small house but very warm and welcoming. They moved to the living room where the fire place and tv were on.

Leon stayed closed to Claire, somewhat nervous and regretting his decision. "Who invites a date to their brother's family get together." He thought. "Your guy's house is beautiful." He said.

"You like it? Jill planned a lot of the décor, I picked out most of the furniture." It was noticeable too. Leon could tell something like the couch was very masculine in style, he probably watched sports a lot. That and there was a football game on the tv. "That reminds me, what was your name again? I recall you in an officer uniform earlier at the station with Claire. But that was probably the first time I've seen you."

"Yes, I actually just transferred to the city recently. I'm Leon, Leon Kennedy. You're Chris, right? I've heard some of the guy's mention your name while I've been here, Claire did too."

He held out his hand to Leon. "Yeah, Chris Redfield." They shook. Chris walked into the kitchen where Jill popped up from the oven with a plate of turkey.

"Hey babe, the turkey is done." She set it down and turned to Leon and Claire. "Hey Claire! Hey… officer who works at the station? I'm sorry."

Leon laughed. "It's okay, I'm Leon. Claire invited me here tonight."

"Oh fun. Well more the merrier!" She smiled.

After the turkey had cooled a bit, they all sat down to eat. Chris took the first bite. "Oh, this is great! Be sure to save what we don't eat for this week. It would go great on a sandwich!"

Jill looked irritated but laughed. As if there was something funny that Leon nor Claire caught.

"Yeah this is good, thank you for this. I'm still getting situated in my apartment, so a home cooked meal is a great change of pace." He took another bite. Chris and Claire started to chat about their mother, she was thankfully in good health.

"So, Leon you're just a rookie then? Who are you working under?" Chris wiped his mouth.

"Technically yes, I was a cop for a week out in Miami but was then shipped out here. As of right now, my boss is Marvin."

"He's a good cop, we've worked with him before on a homicide case. Real gruesome stuff I tell ya."

"Oh, I can't imagine all the crazy stuff you two have seen, being in stars and all. I saw on the news a few months ago you guys stopped that crazy cannibal guy who lived up in that mansion in the woods? He did like human and animal testing? Crazy stuff."

"It was, the media overexaggerated a bit but the testing was true. He wasn't cannibalistic. But what a waste of money too, he spent all the fortune on equipment and research. Just to get busted by us." Jill stated.

Pretty soon, they were all stuffed to the brim. "Thanks again for coming Claire, least I could do after having you fly all the way out here." Chris plopped down onto the couch.

"It's alright Chris, I was meaning to come out here eventually but just never got around to it." She smiled and grabbed her purse of the back of her chair.

"I know it's getting a bit late, but did you guys want to stick around a little longer? We're just going to watch tv the rest of the night." He relaxed as Jill came over and sat down beside him.

She turned her head to him. "It's your turn for dishes." She smiled and relaxed, while Chris tensed up.

"You tell me this now!?" He cried as he got up from his loving couch towards the kitchen sink. "Never mind guys, stay here any longer and she might have you vacuum!" He laughed and waived as Leon and Claire headed for the door.

"It was good to meet you two, hope to see you around the station more." Said Leon.

"Yeah you too!" Jill and Chris replied. "Don't be a stranger Claire!" Chris added.

Leon and Claire left out the door and climbed back into the jeep. "You want to be dropped off at your hotel?" He asked. She nodded.

It was almost nine by the time they reached the hotel. "Thanks again Leon, tonight was fun! My whole day was really."

"Anytime! It was a lot of fun." She unbuckled her seatbelt and opened the door, before getting out she leaned over to the driver side and locked lips with Leon's. He was shocked but welcomed it enjoyingly. She pulled away and got out, closing the door.

"See ya around Leon." She smiled and walked into her hotel.