They had nowhere to go, fugitives of the country where what they were called now. Tall Oaks was now gone, along with the president and 70,000 people because of that damn virus. They walked down the back roads slowly, their bodies ached tremendously but they had to go on. Hide. Somehow they both needed to get to China because of that bastard Simmons!

The two agents started making their way up to a house quietly. The lights were off which was unusual since a missile had just blew up into the city.

Maybe they were in Tall Oaks? Dead because of an insane man that was actually working for the United States Government.

The pair made their way to the garage and peeked in the window, there was fortunately a car inside.

"Perfect" he muttered under his breath. They needed an escape vehicle.

Leon held the muzzle of his gun and used the butt of it to break the glass gently, just in case the people were home. The two slipped inside and looked over the car, searching for unlocked doors. Unfortunately they were all locked with no key. Helena started to pat underneath the car looking for something, she tried both sides and then made a satisfying noise.

"Found it" she held up a tiny black box that made a small clunk as she shook it. Helena pulled out the key and unlocked the driver's door.

"I'll be driving this time."

Even Leon knew that he wasn't a great driver, he seemed to crash it better than driving it.

He scoffed and brushed his bangs out of his eyes before he moved to the passenger's door.

"Fine, but I choose where we're going." he got inside and buckled his seat belt.

Helena started up the car and adjusted the mirrors, "Ok, where to?" she hit the garage door button and started to back out slowly.

"New York City." he replied casually as he eyed the unlit house.

She shifted the car into drive and headed out into the road.

"Got it." no questions came from her as she started to drive. It would be a long and silent trip it seemed.

Being a member of TerraSave was very stressful at the beginning, but now Claire could say it was a piece of cake. She was naturally one to help people in a different way than her brother, Chris. She wanted to believe that she wasn't a fighter anymore (even though Sushestvovaine Island was a couple years ago) She could take out any zombie or monster that got in her way no problem, usually it ended with a rocket launcher to the face. Claire didn't learn from her brother how to use one of them, it seemed to come naturally when you're trying to survive and a huge monster was trying to kill you.

She had just found out a few days ago that Chris had been found alive in a small european country. Some guy named Piers had found him and brought him back to the BSAA, they said he had amnesia from hitting his head too hard.

The redhead made a small frown and sighed, Chris hadn't even called her because they thought talking to her might bring out too many painful memories at first. But then they go and ship him off to China, not even really remembering who he was. Claire had been listening on the radio earlier about the attacks that were happening over there right at this minute. If Jill wasn't out on a mission right now, she probably would have dragged him back home. Jill had searched for Chris for months and then finally went back to work and he shows up. At least Jill had the common courtesy to call Claire and talk to her when she had time. Leon called or showed up rarely anymore.

The frown on her face grew larger when she thought about that man. Always running off on the fly without even a text message. Sure he was a government agent but he wasn't always out on mission. Except when they go on vacation together and he gets forced out on a job in god-knows-where while they were supposed to be relaxing by the pool.

Claire's phone vibrated on the table and she picked it up, it was Jill.

"Hey Ji-" she was cut off by her friend suddenly who sounded desperate.

"Leon- Leon is dead. He was killed in the bioterrorism attack in Tall Oaks. The government told the BSAA."

The redhead's end of the line was silent for a few moments as she started to take in what Jill had just said.

"I see... Thanks for letting me know." she pressed the end call button on her phone and sat silently for a few minutes.

Leon was dead. Leon Kennedy was dead... He-

The younger Redfield stood up from her chair and started to pace. That couldn't be true, Leon would never die in the middle of a bioterrorism attack. Her hand quickly picked up her phone and scrolled through her contacts until she got to Leon's name.

Claire pressed call and waited, each beep from the phone felt like an eternity and then it went to voicemail. She ended the call and tried again and it did the same thing, it went to voicemail. She tried again and again and again and it just did the same thing.

"DAMMIT!" she shouted as she threw her phone at the couch. He was not dead, he was alive! She didn't care what the government had said, they've been wrong before! Just look at Chris and Jill, they were declared dead and they came back. Leon could come back too.

He HAD to.

She looked over at her phone and sighed, maybe he'd call her and say everything was under control. He knew she must be worried about him. He always used to call her after a mission to let her know he was ok. But as they got older the calls became fainter and fainter. She got one on her birthday and maybe holidays, sometimes after a really good mission so he could tell her all about it.

Claire made her way to the window and looked out at the New York City skyscape, she needed to calm down and relax.

She made her way to her bedroom and closed the door, she needed rest.

As her head hit the pillows all she could think about was Leon now. Of course her brother meant the world to her, but at least she knew he was alive now.

A deep sigh escaped her lips as she closed her eyes.

"Men."

She rolled over onto her side and fell asleep.

In her sleep she heard sometime, something shuffling slowly towards her. On instinct her hand slid under her pillows for her gun as she started to waken. She did a 'sleep turn' and rolled to her other set of pillows for the clip. As she heard more creaks along the floor she slowly inserted the clip into the gun and cocked the hammer. She wasn't stupid, someone was inside of her apartment. Suddenly her bedroom door knob started to turn and Claire cracked open her eyes slightly. She was a shadow enter the room and head towards her bed.

Rapist? Most likely.

She suddenly leapt up from the bed and pointed her gun to the silhouette that was near her.

"Ok asshole, freeze!"

She heard a deep chortle and the hand reached for the lamp that was next to him.

"Easy Red, it's just me."

The light flicked on and there was a very tired eyed Leon Kennedy standing next to her.

"Leon! You jerk!" she started hitting him in the arm as she held back tears, "I heard you were... dead..."

The government agent reached out and hugged his friend of many years.

"You know me Claire. I won't die that easily."

Claire dug her fingers into his leather jacket as she hugged him.

"Don't tell anyone that we're here."

Claire frowned. "We're?" was it Ada? Did he dragged that woman into her apartment?!

"Helena, my partner from Tall Oaks."

The redhead held in a sigh of relief and nodded slightly.

"I had her sleep in the guest room if that's ok."

Claire nodded slightly, she only had two bedrooms in her place.

"I'll sleep on the couch, Leon, you have my bed."

He smiled softly, which was strange for Leon now-a-days and hugged Claire again.

"Nope, we're sharing."

He pulled her back onto the bed with him and they laid there silently. It brought shivers up her spine.

"Makes me think of Raccoon..." Muttered Leon as he closed his eyes.

His fingers played with Claire's short hair softly as his breathing started to slow down. His face shifted into the crook of her neck, she felt his breath heat up her skin each time he exhaled.

"I like your hair short but I much prefer the classic ponytail."

He used to do this when they were on the run from Raccoon City. They'd stay in dirty cheap hotels with two beds, one for them and one for Sherry. Leon always played with Claire's pony tail until he'd pull it out. He always liked her hair down while she always liked it up.

A smile crossed her face as she felt his heavy weave through her short strands. He ran his hand through her hair a few times before he fell asleep against her.

She missed Leon. She loved Leon. Yet, Leon always has his mind on another it seemed like. Always running into Ada when he was out on missions. He cared about her, sure. He admitted to kissing her. Sure. But he never laid next to her, never hugged her, never smiled at her. Just Claire.

And she was fine with that, because she cared about him too much. Sure there were women that swooned all over him-there still are. But he never got with any of them, he was always a loner.

Leon shifted closer to Claire, his nose rubbed slightly against her throat. He was in a deep sleep but seemed very comfortable, he didn't even have any of his guns on him.

Claire closed her eyes and smiled before she too fell off into a deep sleep.

Morning came and Leon was still asleep in Claire's bed. She noticed the condition of his clothes and went out early for some morning shopping. She got him a pair of new clothes (surprisingly she remembered his size from when they used to go shopping together) and grabbed breakfast at the coffee shop for three people and made her way back to her place. Leon wasn't in her bed, Claire heard water running from the bathroom. She set the food down on the table and made her way over to where Leon was. Her knuckle rasped the closed door lightly and Leon grunted.

"I have some new clothes for you. Hopefully you still wear the same size."

She heard Leon shift in the shower laugh a little.

"I don't know, Red. Maybe I got fatter. Bring them in could you?"

Claire nodded and opened the door. Steam poured out from the room and Claire placed the new bag of clothes onto the counter.

"I hope you like what I got, if not oh well."

She chuckled and saw Leon shift against the curtain and pull it back a little to peek his head out.

"I'm sure it will be ok. Oh by the way, thanks for helping us out."

Claire smiled and nodded, "Oh by the way, how big is your partner, Helen? Helena? I didn't know her size so I didn't buy anything for her."

Leon's eyes scanned Claire up and down and nodded, "She's about your size actually, oh, hand me a towel?" he reached back and turned off the water.

The redhead reached over and grabbed a towel from the rack and tossed it to him.

Claire started to head out of the bathroom, "Oh I got breakfast for you guys too."

"Perfect, thanks Claire."

She closed the door and saw a woman look at her from the guest room.

"Hi, I'm Claire, it's nice to meet you."

"Helena. Thanks for letting us stay here."

Claire did her signature smile and nod as a nice gesture.

"After Leon is done is the shower you can go next. Did you want to pick out some clothes for you to wear?"

She moved her hand to her bedroom gently.

Helena nodded and made her way over to Claire's closet.

"Thank you again."

After they both cleaned up, dressed, and ate some food Leon went over to Claire.

"I need a favor, Red."

"What is it?" she replied as she was throwing away their dirty clothes from Tall Oaks. She refused to throw away the jacket though, it was another one she bought for him.

"I'll get this cleaned and repaired." she muttered as she sat it down.

"We need guns, ammo, and a way to get to China. Today."

"I'll check the Terrasave account, they'll just think it's for volunteer work or something. Guns and ammo I have as well."

She looked over at Leon's outfit and smiled.

"Looking suave Mr. Kennedy."

Leon looked down at his clothes and plucked his fingers against the vest he was wearing over the dark dress shirt.

"I feel like a grandpa."

"Well you are almost 40." Claire replied with a sing-song voice.

Leon stopped and looked over at her slowly, "You're two years younger than me."

Claire and Leon looked over at Helena after she emerged from Claire's room.

"Pink vest huh? So familiar." Leon nodded and smiled as he started to pack up his bag.

Helena rolled her eyes and started to sort through her own bag quickly.

The redhead watched and smiled softly.

"So I got you guys on a private flight to China on the Terrasave account. No passports, no questions."

"Thanks Red, I really appreciate what you're doing for us."

Leon gave a very small smile and patted Claire's shoulder before they headed for the door.

"Leon?" she asked very quietly.

"Yes?"

"Could you, you know, call me after your mission is over? To make sure you're ok I mean?..."

Leon nodded and brushed his bangs out of his blue eyes.

"You got it Claire. See you later."

With a wave he and Helena left Claire alone, and suddenly her apartment felt very big.

Chris visited Claire after he had gotten back from China, which was a pleasant surprise. What wasn't a surprise was that Leon hadn't called her yet, she was used to it sadly.

Weeks went by and no call yet. Claire was working hard deploying help to China from Terrasave. It was a grueling job, but someone had to run it., especially after Neil died and all.

Claire was in the middle of looking over charts and graphs about supplies and people being deployed that she hardly noticed the knock that was on her office door. The new receptionist was holding a garment bag and a cup from the coffee shop down the street.

"These are for you Miss Redfield, they were dropped off at the front desk. I didn't catch a name."

The redhead stood up and headed over to the door and grabbed the bag and the cup.

She noticed that someone had written on the cup with a marker.

"Thank you Naomi," with that she closed her door and walked back to her desk.

Claire sat down and began to read the text that was scrawled onto the cup.

Will you go out to dinner with me tonight? I figured you still wore the same dress size. I'll pick you up at 6. -LSK

The cup was still steaming and Claire could smell the aroma of chai latte filling the room.

"Leon, King of Suave." she took a sip of her drink and smiled, it was just the way she liked it.

Her eyes looked over at the dress bag that was draped over the back of her chair and became interested. What type of dress would it be? She wasn't going to find out until she was going to put it on tonight.

Leon walked up to Claire's apartment door and waited for a few seconds before he knocked. He liked to be there on the dot, not a second early, not a second late. He had a terrible time in China, and just needed to relax with someone he actually cared about. Leon didn't want to call her, he wanted to see her in person, he knew Chris would tell her that he was alive. His bruises had finally disappeared from his body so he thought it was a better time than any. Bruises, cuts, even scrapes seemed to worry Claire when she saw him. He could tell what she was thinking about by just looking at her clear blue eyes. He remembered the way they looked when she was happy, sad, mad, crying- especially crying. Her eyes would become clouded, like a dulled crystal, and then fill up with great big tears.

The watch on his wrist beeped once, telling him it was six and he knocked onto the door.

There was shifting and footsteps, in what sounded like heels from behind the closed door. There was a turn of a lock and there emerged the Claire Redfield in a stunning blue dress, the same color as her eyes.

"I like what you chose," she chuckled "Much better than the grandpa vest."

Her lips were shiney as she smiled against her perfect white teeth.

But the thing he noticed the most was that her hair was a little bit longer than what it was last time.

"Hey beautiful," he genuinely smiled at her and touched a strand of hair that was on her shoulder. "I like the hair much more now."

"Thanks, even though the back of my neck feels like it's in a sauna." she smiled sweetly and grabbed her clutch purse before she closed the door shut. "Where were we going to dinner?"

"Where did you want to go?" he replied, still smiling. It made her think of twenty-one year old Leon; that rookie cop that had a smile on his face even after what they went through in Raccoon City.

"I don't know," she said with a shrug, "diner?"

Leon let out a laugh and nodded, "Ok, Claire, let's go to the diner."

"We'll be the fanciest ones there." She nodded towards the suit he was wearing and poked his shoulder.

Claire walked towards the elevator and looked at Leon sweetly, "Oh Leon? I like it best when you smile."

She stepped inside the elevator and waited with him before the doors closed.

Leon turned towards her and tilted his head to the side.

"Claire?"

"Yeah, Leon?"

"I like it best when you smile." he reached over and touched her cheek before the door to the main floor opened.

A light pink crossed her nose as they made their way outside and strolled to the diner that was on the corner.

After a long overdue dinner with one another, that consisted of cheeseburgers, onion rings, fries, and buffalo wings, the two Raccoon City survivors made their way back to the apartment of Claire Redfield. Claire was generous enough to let Leon stay at her place instead of the set up that the government had planned for him downtown. As they entered Claire's home, she kicked off her heels and sighed as she stretched and popped her toes.

"Heels are a sin." she walked barefooted to the kitchen and pulled out a couple beers she had in her fridge that she probably had when she moved into her place two years prior.

"Here," she said as she tossed the bottle to the agent.

"Thanks." Leon sighed softly as he eased his body onto the couch.

"Suits are a sin, I feel like I'm in a wedding." he took a long sip and popped his shoulder slightly.

Claire sat down beside him and rested her feet on the coffee table.

"Yeah, but you look really good in a suit, so I'm fine with it." she twisted the cap off her beer and tossed it into the trash can that was nearby.

"You look good in heels, so I guess I'm fine with that." Leon winked and chuckled softly into his beer bottle as he sipped.

"I'm not the best looking person in heels." she stopped for a second and sighed. Ada kept appearing in her thoughts during the evening, which was undoubtedly an uncomfortable subject. Claire stood up and walked over to the sink and poured her beer down the drain, she wasn't feeling like it at the moment.

Leon noticed the tension and frowned as he made his way over to his friend.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she replied quickly as she sat the bottle on the counter "Nothing is wrong, I'm just tired."

Leon sat his half empty bottle down and looked at her in her eyes.

"I know something is wrong, I can see it in your eyes."

She felt her blue eyes shift away from him as he asked her.

"No, I'm gonna go to bed."

Claire rushed off to her bedroom and closed the door shut.

Leon loosened his tie and popped the top button before he made his way over to Claire's room and open the door.

He saw her standing by her bed with her back towards him, attempting to unzip her dress. Claire's mind was in deep thought, not even knowing or hearing Leon enter the room.

A sharp gasp came out as she felt his cold hands touch her back and began unzipping her dress slowly.

"Why are your hands always so cold?" she asked quietly as she turned around to look at Leon. His eyes were on hers and looking as cold as ever.

"You reflect your eyes, cold and like a storm."

"Is that what you see when you look at them?" Leon asked quietly.

"No. I can see past that to how you really are. You're not a stone wall Leon Scott Kennedy. You're a warm and caring person on the inside. I know it, I've seen and experienced it. Why do you do that to yourself? Why do you keep shutting yourself out from me and running after her?"

The room became quiet for a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity.

"I don't know. I guess I like the illusion of her, the thought of her, the part that I know I could never have her."

Claire closed her eyes tightly and swallowed hard.

"What about me? Am I your kid sister or something? Do you only think of me as family?"

She took a step back and made sure she was holding up the front of her dress. The redhead looked like she was pained and kept her eyes closed.

"Claire. You know I care about you on a higher level than anyone else. You and Sherry mean a-"

"So sister then. You could have said that, it would have been easier. Could you leave please? I need to change my clothes."

Leon looked at her and shook his head no.

"No Claire. You're someone I want to protect with everything I am. I fight these wars so that you don't have you. I want you to be safe and out of harm's way. Sure I love the thought of Ada, of protecting her, saving her, but I love you. Not the thought of you, just you Claire Redfield."

Claire stopped and looked up slowly, her eyes looking confused and puzzled.

"What did you say?" she asked softly.

"You only get to hear it once, Red."

He stepped over and ran his hand through her soft red hair and stroked it.

"Leon, you don't know what you're saying, you don't have to feel sorry for me and say such a thing."

Leon's hand cupped her cheek and ran his thumb across the skin lightly.

"But I'm a stone wall, I don't show my emotions unless I really feel them, right?"

"Leon."

"I mean it. I love you."

"I thought you weren't going to repeat it?"

"I decided that this is now something I definitely want you to hear and know. I love you, but I might not always be here with you. I might not always be there by your side when you need me, but knowing how I feel about you will always put your mind at ease. I'm not Neil, and you're not Ada. We're Leon and Claire and we'll always be a team. No matter what. I was born to love you."

"Leon…"

The redhead turned her gaze away, not knowing what to say. Her throat was paralyzed, it burned as she tried to swallow; trying so hard to hold back with a response that she was trying to come up with.

Leon sighed and took a step back, his eyes never leaving her form as they both stood there in silence.

"Why…"

"Why what, Red?"

"Why did it take you so long to realize it? Why did you make me wait so long?" her voice was soft and somewhat trembling, "Why?"

"Because I'm an idiot."

"I know you are, but I love you anyway."

Leon moved back in close again and placed his thumb on the bottom of her chin, tipping her face up to his. His breath tickled her pale skin and gave her goosebumps as he moved their lips towards one another.

"Say it again, Claire." he whispered softly; his lips mere centimeters away from hers.

"You only get to hear it once, remember?"

"It sounds like you're the one with the stone wall of emotions Redfield. I liked you better when you had a pony tail."
"Shut up and kiss me already, Leon."

"Demanding too. Is it too late to get out of this?"

"Not on your life."

Claire broke the small space that separated them and kissed Leon; they laid on her bed all night laying against each other and giving small kisses to each other here and there. It was new beginning for the pair and that was exciting and terrifying at the same time.