RE: Inclination

A/N: Only Leon could manage to get hurt the way he did on the mission I'm referencing here. I don't think the site has an appropriate category for what I'm writing. Technically this story is Romance-Action-Horror. But of course anytime you write something about Leon, you end up with at least some politics… which could make it R-A-H-Drama or R-A-H-Intrigue. Either way, we get to the "Adventure" in this chapter. (Again, I really wish the category was Action.)

A note about Leon's gun, as I've described it. I was using several conversations I'd had about the gun various places, and a wiki article about the weapons used in Degeneration. It was VERY early research. The H&K Sigma is meant to be a cross between the H&K USP and the S&W Sigma. Despite my love for the series, I'm not the gun bunny I should be. In retrospect, I'm going to say that I see Leon with the S&W Sigma chambered for the .357SIG cartridge. (Zombies likely require a few shots to do them under with a lesser bullet, and when tossing a handgun to one's partner, you're probably trying not to get them killed.)

May 2006

That, at least, would appease Hunnigan. He hung up the phone with Claire and turned to look back towards his coworker's office. Pushing the door to come in from the balcony, he crossed the hall to the offices and headed inside. His desk sat, mostly immaculate, with the small, state of the art laptop that he never used. Leon could use it, he just normally had better things to do with his time. There were various desks for the field operatives. Most of them were shared. Leon was one of the senior operatives, so even though he was rarely in the office, his desk was his own. It had a single old family picture on it that was covered in dust sitting next to a frame that was of the picture he'd had taken at Claire's graduation. The pictures were two of the only keepsakes he actually cared about. Sherry had given him one of the others. The pink leather was ridiculous, but it meant a lot, considering whose it was. He only had a strip of it tied around the lamp base, but it was there. He missed Sherry, but she had disappeared into government care before Umbrella had been taken down, and he hadn't, even with his new connections, been able to track the girl down. The second… he kept in a closed drawer. A locked, closed drawer that the younger operatives thought was where he kept his gun. That was a little naïve of them. He kept his gun on him.

Distracted and annoyed, he'd proved to some of the junior operatives exactly why there was a regulation quarantine period between missions. It was mostly Mack's fault for goading him into it, but he couldn't blame the other man. Sometimes… seeing Claire was like getting poisoned. Afterward he couldn't sit still, he felt an itch, and had to do something. This time it was taking Mack's place, and the bullet he likely would've gotten on the mission. Begrudgingly, Leon wished that just once he could get shot somewhere new. He had to be fished out of the water after he took the bullet, nearly drowning. Hunnigan was the leader of the chorus against his rash actions. Leon couldn't fault her or the rest of the chorus, it was a rookie sort of thing to do that he should have been over by that point.

But honestly, he'd needed to get out of Washington.

He still did.

Hunnigan was, as usual, in front of multiple monitors. Her fingers were working on various keyboards, but she didn't have her headset on. That was a good sign that she wasn't up as a mission contact.

"Yes, Leon?" she asked without turning from her screen.

"I thought you'd be glad to know that I'm taking time off," he said. "I'm on my way to DeKay's room to put in the sick request."

"About time," Hunnigan said. "How far away are we going?"

"Somewhere tropical," Leon said, "and a thousand miles away from a research center or small possessed town, or…"

"Or the president's daughter?" Hunnigan asked. "She called again, you know."

"I do now, should I care? She hasn't been abducted by crazed, plague-ridden cultists, has she?"

"Not that I'm aware of," Hunnigan said, "but if she thought she might see you if that were the case, I wouldn't entirely put it past her. So Leon S. Kennedy is going out of the country on pleasure rather than business. Should I alert the papers? Or the tabloids?"

"I'd rather you didn't, really."

"What about BSAA? Should I alert them now, or wait for you to call?" Hunnigan asked.

"Your teasing is still annoying, Ingrid," Leon said, frowning a bit. While it was a good idea, so far his faith in the BSAA was a little lacking. It was a rookie agent that had missed the zombie and shot him instead. "I'm just going on vacation. Where I go isn't much of anyone's concern. My cell phone will still work."

"Tropical vacations are rarely taken alone, Agent Kennedy. I had thought you and Officer Miller were over, but…" Hunnigan's voice sounded chiding.

"Don't get romantic on me about her, Hunnigan," Leon said. "Every time you get romantic about me and some girl, I end up with knife wounds. Angela might shoot me if you keep intervening in our relationship, and it's over already. The more bullet holes, the longer my leave, and I know you hate it when I'm gone."

"If you really believe that, Kennedy…"

"I don't," Leon said. "And I'm not going alone, but keep your nose out of it right now."

"Someone old or someone new?"

"Asking that doesn't classify as keeping your nose out of it, Hunnigan. You're worse than Founder," Leon said. He waved to her, even though she hadn't turned to look at him, and left the room. No sense staying where he didn't feel like talking.

Plus, he still had to submit his leave request to DeKay. Not that Joseph would deny him, given his physical condition, but… Leon shook his head and headed to his commanding officer's office. He knocked on the door, and after a moment, the man called for him to come in. Joseph DeKay was anything but what one expected for a higher up in the secret service, but he had been. He wasn't what normally suited Washington, but then neither was Leon. Not that either man couldn't make himself fit the mold when he needed to, but neither of them needed to very often.

Like the BSAA, DeKay and his subordinates were around because they were effective, not because they wore clean pressed suits and drove nice cars. Leon loved his Comanche, he didn't think that Washington felt the same about it. He knew that car chases didn't like it, which is why he'd gotten the BMW. Washington approved of that, even if he should wear a tie more often, it let him blend in a bit more.

Stepping into the office, DeKay put up his hand to hold him off from speaking. "I'm aware of the senator's demise, congressman. He was not under our jurisdiction at the time, and he was not in protective custody, as he resigned prior to his loss of life, and retired to his private condo immediately before he kicked the bucket. I'll thank you to keep that in mind before blaming my people of 'letting him get infected'. We don't let people do that, we clean it up when they've done it. But not with anthrax in their coffee. That'll be all today, thank you."

Leon waited for his boss to look up at him. DeKay was imposing, like Leon found he wasn't, at least not physically. A six and a half foot African-American, he rarely wore a tie, and even less often wore a suit to the office. Black pants and a button down shirt, certainly, but Leon never thought of his clothes as those of a supervisor, even though he was.

"Kennedy. Hunnigan says you finally decided to listen to the leave order?"

"I wasn't aware it was an order, sir."

"You wouldn't be," DeKay said. He looked up for the first time since I entered his office. "Jesus, you look like shit. Paler than you have a right to be, and… someone really did tear your stitches after China?"

Leon almost frowned at being asked that. The two months and the antibiotics hadn't exactly wonders for his healing cheek but… he thought a moment. No, he couldn't say he'd spoken to his commanding officer without the bandage in the time between when he'd been in the hospital after China and before his rash trip to Texas. It was a fair question. "Ex-girlfriend, sir. She was in SRT. Tore out my stitches in early March."

"Before you decided to go swimming, then." DeKay chuckled, a low sound that somehow never offended Leon, even when it was directed at him. Or about him, as the current case. "That the girl you picked up in Harvardville?"

"Yes… sir." Two dark chocolate eyes fixed on Leon, and he knew his boss was waiting for more of an answer than the one he'd just supplied. "I guess I picked the wrong one."

"There were two?" DeKay sounded surprised. Well, it wasn't out of the question. It wasn't like Leon had mentioned who the TerraSave employee who assisted him was in the report. He had probably left that information out of his report on purpose. It wasn't the best thing to do, outing your friends to you government bosses about their… unique pasts. Even DeKay, who was usually very level-headed in regards to such things, wasn't someone that Leon trusted with information about Claire and the rest of the Anti-Umbrella Movement.

"Claire Redfield, sir."

"I see. Her brother's BSAA."

Leon stood at ease, hands folded behind him, it didn't keep him from tensing in expectation of the accusation. He was waiting for DeKay to add something about an intra-organizational incident if there was a fight, or… he didn't care. He waited to see what would be added.

"How long are you taking?"

"Two weeks, sir."

"Take a month, and if you come back before three have passed I'll personally lock you in a padded room for a while." Leon was surprised, yet again, by his boss. He nodded in acceptance, and pressed his lips together. He had been pushing a bit harder since Harvardville, he admitted to himself. "Bergen was uncharacteristically rash and stupid for you, Kennedy. You're not authorized to die without two weeks' notice. Keep that in mind."

"I will, sir."

"Good, then get out of my office and go pack."

Leon nodded and turned to leave the room. He didn't understand his boss all the time, but he knew the man was very good at managing his assets. Leon was one of those, all of DeKay's employees were assets of his, and resources. The man knew his business, and Leon had to respect that. He also liked that DeKay had received Leon years ago with the same attitude, and it never faltered. It was comradely, but not friendly. There was still a boss and a subordinate. DeKay trusted his subordinates, but he definitely was in charge.

Checking his watch, Leon pondered. He headed for the elevator and checked on his phone the departure times of the flights he was thinking about… if he got up early enough, he could take I-95 all the way to Newark and pick Claire up in time to make the plane.