RE: Inclination

A/N: Thanks for the reviews, as usual. In regards to the rating, I put up M mostly to cover myself from having the story removed for someone stumbling into the wrong thing, but that doesn't mean it won't get actually M-worthy.

May 2006

"Either you're going into shock from the experience or this is blood loss related. And considering the source," Leon trailed off as he reached up to unzip her sweatshirt. Half her t-shirt was soaked in blood, the gauze obviously not having done much in the way of stopping her bleeding. He could kick himself. She had been the smell in the station, not the dead. Why hadn't he noticed? "Didn't you notice that you were still bleeding badly?"

"I just thought… you were making me weak in the knees," she joked in a soft voice.

Despite himself, he chuckled. He put his head on her shoulder for a moment, quietly, before he righted himself. He hunted around the car, seeing what there was to tie off her side with. It wouldn't be pretty, but… there was an old flannel shirt under the seat, hiding a first aide box.

He turned back, and Claire's eyes had drifted shut. Panic stabbed Leon more painfully than he ever thought possible. Claire's chest was still moving shallowly, but… not enough! As hard as the panic stabbed him, he grabbed her by the shoulder to shake her. "Don't close your eyes," he said in a firm voice. "Stay awake."

Claire's lids fluttered, but she didn't quite open them. Leon shook her by the shoulder, hard enough to make her grunt as her head hit the seat cushion. "Redfield," he snapped, leaning down to growl at her. "I said don't fall asleep!"

She made a soft noise, shifted a little, and opened an eye. The white was visible for a moment before she found him to look at. He was relieved to see the blue of her eye. The second one opened, and she blinked a few times. "Jeez… that hurts," she said.

"It's the only reason I'd do it to you," Leon replied, looking at her critically for a moment. "Keep your eyes on me."

"I hope you'll do it to me in another situation," she snickered weakly, but the sound reminded him more of her normal laugh. The sun beat down on the top of the off-duty cruiser and gave him more than enough light to see.

"You want me to hurt you?" he asked absently, flipping open the first aide kit.

"I didn't say that, I said I want you to do me."

Leon blinked at that, and turned to look at Claire. "Are you ok?" Claire's blue eyes laughed at him, and she nodded a little. "I don't know who taught you how to bandage, but you haven't gotten any better than you were four years ago."

"You never complained then," she said, sounding annoyed.

Annoyed, in this case, was good. If she was annoyed, she was alive and awake. He jerked the damp shirt off her, ripping it in a couple places to keep from moving her muscles. He cast an eye back to the fence every now and again. The mass of undead stayed milling in the sandy street that lead down towards the beach.

"You almost looked like you enjoyed that," Claire said softly. She shifted her arm over her head as he turned her on her side to inspect her wounds. It wasn't easy, crouching in the back of the car like that. "How long have you wanted to-"

"I much preferred our dinner date to this, Claire, and I'd rather you tease me when you're wearing a low cut dress and heels. Don't tease me while I'm stitching up your side."

"You said to stay awake, and to watch you. So I am."

Leon got out the needle and thread. If she got an infection… well the first thing for both of them when they got out was a healthy dose of inoculations. The t-vaccine to start, a few of the batteries they put him through when he got back… nothing permanent would get hold of her. Nothing.

"I can't help it if my mind wanders places like that sometimes. Doesn't yours?"

He started to deny it, but then he looked at her. As much as Claire was a motorcycle riding flag burner, she had very girly underwear. The bra was see through and had lace on it. "Claire, this isn't exactly the best…"

"Doesn't yours?" she asked again, shifting slightly. There was a challenge in her voice that he knew better than to try and shrug off.

"Of course it does," Leon said, turning his eyes back to the needle he had found, glancing out the door of the off-duty cruiser. "But right now, we have to get out alive."

She lay back gently on the seat, and stared at him. "You know we could do this faster if we had a knife and a lighter," she said.

Leon lifted his brows at that, pulling the thread and making a knot at the end. "This is going to hurt."

Her voice was low when she replied. "I know," she said. His lips pressed together and he glanced around. "Give me your gun? I dropped mine, I think. Just in case."

Leon took her hand and put it on the handle of his gun where it hung in his holster, helping her to curl her fingers around it. She pulled it out and rested it on her hip, flicking the safety off. "Do you want… something to bite down on?"

She nodded. Leon undid his belt and she opened her lips, taking the belt between her teeth and pressing them together. He reached up and flipped the safety back on, tipping his head a little before he put the needle to her skin. It was hard to do, knowing who he was stitching. Knowing that it was dear flesh that was bleeding on him. He did the best job he could, without daring to look up at her face through it. He knew it was tearing a hole in him to have to do it, he didn't want to know how much it hurt her. He could tell how hard she was gripping the handle of his gun, and that was more than enough information for his brain to fulfill the rest without looking at her face. He leaned down to bite through the thread, having no scissors in the terrible first aide kit. He kissed the bloody stitches before leaning back to find something to clean his hands with.

Claire spat the belt out. "Ok, tell me when we get out of this we're having sex." Blinking, Leon turned his head to look at her. "You may not admit you're thinking about it, but you touch me like you can't stop." A blush came to Leon's cheeks, and he ducked his head, hiding his eyes in his bangs. "And ever since… the other… I haven't been able to control my heartbeat around you… so I trust you, and I like you, and I want you."

"Claire… if you need a reason to survive…"

She snorted. "That's not a reason to survive, Leon, it's just a bonus."

Leon lifted the gauze pad and covered as much of her stitches as he could with it before he wound an ancient ace bandage around her torso. She looked pale, washed out in the sunlight, and as though she knew he could read too much from her eyes, she put her sunglasses on. He wished he had a pair as well, but only when he looked up and the sun caught his eyes.

"Flannel or the sweatshirt?" he asked her.

She glanced at the two shirts. "What was that you said earlier about sunstroke?" Leon glanced at the flannel and then the sweatshirt. "There a knife in here?"

"I don't… think so…"

"I'll just have to rip it then," Claire said. She sat up a little with a grunt, and Leon helped her to right herself. She shooed him out of the cruiser.

Dutifully, Leon went back for her weapons. They had indeed fallen on the ground when he'd snatched her up before she collapsed. The shotgun had some gunk on the end that she'd nailed it into what was left of the Doberman that had advanced on them. He'd wipe that off with her t-shirt, he decided as he gathered that and the Glock from the ground.

Once the weapons had been recovered, he turned back for the cruiser.

Claire's words seemed to echo in his head, making his heartbeat thump a little harder. Tell me when we get out of this we're having sex. That wasn't what he needed to think of, especially then, but the thought of her looking ahead… the knowledge that she did want him and that when they were safely out and recovering they would still be together…

A smile played on Leon's lips.

The cold voice in his mind assured him that they would make it.

Strangely, Leon thought that voice sounded as focused and possessive when thinking about being with Claire as it did about continuing to be a breathing, functioning human being instead of a zombie or plagued slave.

He paused, staring at the cruiser.

Claire was bent over her work on the flannel shirt, and he had to swallow a little. Very girly underwear. From this distance, even in the shadow case on the back seat of the cruiser, he could see the curve of her breasts in the see-through material, right on down to her…

Biting off his own thoughts, Leon pressed his lips together and made himself keep walking. It wasn't very gentlemanly of him, thinking about Claire like that. Even if she had been the one to bring up how much he seemed to desire her. Even if she was just as un-mannerly about desiring him…

He tried to suppress the memory of how her skin felt against his lips… of the noises she made when he was touching her, and how she tasted…

It wasn't really working.

Leon walked around the cruiser, fingering the key in his pocket, and opened the driver's side door.