Leon? A Word, Please?

by Tani2

Leon and Claire help Chris and Jill move into their new home. Bothered by how his sister interacts with her best friend, Chris decides it's time to have a man-to-man. What he learns is more than he bargained for. L/C & C/J. Complete! For real this time!

8. Chapter 7: New Year's Resolutions

Leon? A Word, Please?

Author: Tani2

Genre: Romance

Rating: M for explicit sexual content, mature themes, violence, and language. You have been warned.

Timeline: Six months after the conclusion of the events of RE5

Synopsis: Leon and Claire help Chris and Jill move into their new home. Bothered by how his sister interacts with her best friend, Chris decides it's time to have a man-to-man. What he learns is more than he bargained for. Pairings are Leon/Claire and Chris/Jill

Disclaimer: I do not own Resident Evil or any of the characters in this story, nor did I profit from their use in this work of fiction. My purpose is one of philosophical fulfillment: I write, therefore, I am.

Author's Notes: We have reached the second half of the last of the five lemony fresh romantic encounters from Claire and Leon's past. If you haven't already guessed the fifth scenario I've yet to see in prior lemon fics is Leon reunites Claire and Sherry, and Claire shows him her . . . gratitude. Well, there's still a bit more gratitude to come, and we're also nearing the end of Chris and Leon's man-to-man.

Enjoy . . . again! After this, it's just the epilogue!

~ Tani

---

CHAPTER 7: New Year's Resolutions

Cumberland, Maryland: a quaint suburban household on the East Side

Claire and Leon arrived back to Cumberland in record time. And Sherry was absolutely right. They really needed to boink each other. More than once, they considered pulling over to the side of the road and taking care of it like on the night Leon first arrived to Cumberland, but there were a lot of state police cars out. Besides, it was still daytime.

Once they arrived at Claire's, she kissed him and whispered, "Last one to my bedroom gives the other one head."

He smirked. "You're on, Shorty." He was determined to beat her. After all, he had her beat on height by almost a foot. But he knew not to underestimate her. Claire tended to play dirty.

They ran into the house, stopping to take their shoes off in the doorway. Claire was slowed up by the fact that her bootlegs went all the way up her calves. Leon was slowed by his shoe laces. In the end, they both made it to her bedroom door at the same time.

They went inside and slammed the door.

She leaned into his arms and sighed. "Alone at last."

He smiled as he leaned down to kiss her throat. "Mm hm."

She moaned. "Just you . . . and me . . . ."

"CLAIRE? IS THAT YOU?"

". . . . and Chris?"

Leon leaned away from her. "What the hell?"

"I don't know."

"What's he doing here?"

"I don't know!" She sighed and closed her eyes. "Shit. Sorry, Leon. He must have just popped in and used his key."

He sighed. "No worries. Rain check, then?"

She shrugged in defeat. "I guess it'll have to be." She opened her eyes and looked up at him morosely. "So . . . you're leaving, then I take it?"

He smiled sadly. He hated disappointing her. "I'll have to leave tonight, but I can hang out for a little while."

She shook her head and avoided his gaze. "No, I don't want you to go too late. There'll be traffic. If you need to go now, you can."

He stole one last kiss before they left the room. "Claire, if we had sex right now, it would have taken me at least a few hours to leave. Don't be like that, Baby. You know I don't actually want to leave you."

She sighed. "Yeah. I know." She leaned up and kissed him. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry. I'm gonna miss you, too." He tilted his head toward the door. "Shall we?"

She groaned and sucked her teeth. "I guess."

They walked out of the room and down the stairs. Chris was coming out of the guest room where Sherry had stayed for the past week. He wore an Air Force Academy sweatshirt and a pair of jeans. His left arm was secured in a sling.

"There you are! Oh, hey Leon! How's it going?"

"Going good. Sorry we didn't say 'hello' when we came in. Didn't realize you were here."

"Yeah. I parked my truck around the corner. There was no space anywhere else. I was wondering why the Shelby and the Harley were on the street. My truck can't get up her narrow driveway, so if I can't park in front of her house I have to park elsewhere."

"Is it that ridiculous hummer from Austria?"

Chris chuckled. "No. But it is a hummer. Silver with black leather interior."

Leon smiled. "Nice."

"You still driving the Mazerati?"

"Yup. Brought the jeep this time, though."

Claire rolled her eyes. "If you two wanna be alone together, just let me know."

Chris grinned and walked over to pick her up with the arm that wasn't in a sling, and then swing her around. "Hi, Sis! Merry Belated Christmas! Happy Belated New Year!" Leon shook his head and meandered into the kitchen to get something to drink for all of them.

"PUT ME DOWN, YOU OAF!" Claire screamed at her brother.

He laughed out loud. "Is this the thanks I get for keeping my promise?"

"What promise?"

"What promise? Claire, you threatened me bodily harm if I didn't get here before Groundhog's Day!"

"SHE THREATENED YOU GENITAL HARM!" Leon yelled from the kitchen.

Chris chuckled. "There, you see? I have a witness."

She smiled. "Aww. You came to visit me like you promised. Thanks, Chris." She cocked her head. "You sober?"

He lowered his eyes and scratched the back of his head. "Last night, not so much. But I am now."

She sighed. "Well . . . I guess I'll take what I can get."

He nodded. "Thanks for understanding."

She smiled. "Thanks for being honest." She leaned into a hug. He wrapped his good arm tightly around her and rocked her back and forth.

Leon walked back into the living room with three large mugs of hot coffee. He smirked when he saw the siblings' embrace, and then sighed loudly. "It's a Kodak moment."

The Redfields chuckled and pulled back from each other. Chris took a mug for Claire and then one himself once his good hand was free. The three of them sat down on the couch, with Claire sitting between them. Chris sipped his coffee and then looked around the room, which was still decorated for Christmas.

He smirked. "I can't understand why you like those fake trees so much."

"Wait until you get nice carpets and trample pine needles in them and have to replace them all . . . then we'll see if you still like real trees."

"I would have thought you'd want to get a real tree for Sherry at least."

Claire rolled her eyes. "I didn't know Sherry was coming before I decorated, Genius."

Chris chuckled. At this point, he was really just trying to annoy her rather than to make a valid point. "Where is my niece?"

"Baltimore," Leon answered before sipping his coffee. "Loyola University."

Chris smiled at Leon. "So the President helped you out, after all?"

"Yup."

"Awesome. And she's at school fairly close to both of you. That must be a relief. And she has the homing device?" Claire and Leon both nodded. Chris smiled. "Too bad I missed her. I was hoping to see the little squirt. She called me a couple nights ago to say she was in town at a party with some boy. Said she just wanted me to know she was there in case she needed anything. She didn't call again until morning to tell me she had a nice time and was heading back to Cumberland. I was at work so I couldn't leave to see her without it being an emergency."

Claire's eyes widened. "Wait, the President helped you do what, Leon?"

He shrugged. "Rescue Sherry, get her into college, get me vacation time to spend the holidays with the two of you. Take your pick."

Claire smiled. "Then I guess I'm glad I voted for him a second time." Leon chuckled. "Say, how did you guys rescue Sherry?"

"Long story," they answered in unison.

"Am I going somewhere?" she asked with a quirk of her brow as she settled her head on Leon's shoulder in an attempt to make Chris uncomfortable.

Leon turned to Chris, who shrugged and said, "It was your idea. Why don't you start." Leon shook his head as he started absently stroking Claire's hair in a very deliberate way while talking directly to Chris.

"Yeah but it was your plan," Leon replied.

Chris pushed Leon's arm off Claire and pulled her away from her 'partner', and forcefully pushed her head onto his own shoulder. "No, really. I insist, Leon."

"Well, I'll start, and then you can pick it up later," Leon said with a chuckle as he picked up Claire's feet from the floor. He massaged them for a moment, and then chuckled when Claire made a blissful sound and slapped Chris on the chest to make him release her. She then moved her head right back over to Leon's shoulder. She wrapped his arm around herself, and began running her fingertips up and down the other arm. Chris rolled his eyes, and Leon chuckled before beginning his half of their story.

"I got a call from Barry about a month ago. He had been assigned to monitor for Umbrella activity in eastern Europe. He got some intel on an Umbrella facility posing as a farm in western Austria, just over the German border. He looked into it and discovered that Sherry was being held there. He never mentioned Steve."

"So you went to get her? And Chris went with you?"

Leon smiled. "Oh, it was more complicated than that. I needed the backing of the President to even go in there. I needed weapons, a team, exit strategies. It needed to be a legitimate mission or I'd likely just get captured going it alone."

"And President Graham decided to help you out? That's great."

Leon chuckled humorlessly. "Not as great as you think. He said 'no' at first. I argued with him for over half an hour. Do you know how precious a half-hour of the President's time is?" He shook his head. "Didn't think of it like that on that day, but I guess the amount of time he spent, even just arguing with me, is a testimony to how much he cares about what's important in my life." He sighed. "In any case, we were getting nowhere, and he was starting to check his watch. I decided that he was building up to telling me he had a meeting or something to go to, and if I let him leave without giving me a firm 'yes', I'd never get one. So, I played the guilt card, and a double-dose of it at that."

"What did you say?" Claire asked with wide eyes.

"I told him that when he wanted me to save his daughter, I didn't say 'no'."

"Ooo, snap!" Chris muttered before chuckling against the lip of his coffee mug.

Leon smiled. "Then I told him that my daughter was no less important than his, and that I was going after her, with or without his help. I said the intelligence from Barry Burton stated that a one-man rescue mission was nearly impossible, and that a team would be needed. I said, so I guess this is good-bye for good. I knew that the chance of bringing Sherry home without being captured myself was less than one percent, but my baby was worth the risk."

"And his response?" Claire asked.

"He begged me not to go. I told him I had to. He asked me why. Why would I go on a suicide mission for a hopeless cause? I told him that's the same thing they said about the mission to rescue Ashley, but he certainly didn't go with the odds when he sent me to my death then. If I remember correctly, I think he actually cringed. I told him that if I would go through all that to save a girl who I didn't even know, then why the hell would I not do the same for my own child? I tried to leave again, and he said he wouldn't let me do this. I told him he couldn't stop me. He threatened to fire me. I told him that if I made it out of this alive, I'd be happy to be around to stand on the unemployment line. I told him that it had been an honor serving under him and I gave him my dogtags. I asked that they be sent with my flag to my parents once Umbrella captured me so they could give me a proper military burial if any parts of my body were ever recovered. I saluted and I walked toward the door of the Oval Office. That's when he caved. He said I could have a team of my choosing and whatever equipment I needed. Just as long as the facility was destroyed once my objective was accomplished."

Chris laughed his head off. "You sure know how to make someone feel like shit, Rookie!"

Leon smirked. "It's a gift."

Claire rolled her eyes. "Yeah. He's a little too gifted with it."

Leon glanced down at her and asked her, "When did I make you feel guilty?"

"Too numerous to count."

He chuckled. "Well, if I did that to you, I'm sorry."

Claire quirked her brow. "No, you're not."

Leon laughed out loud. "No, I'm not." Chris laughed along with him.

"Jerks," Claire said with a giggle. "Alright, finish the story."

Chris picked it up from there, starting with how Leon had come to see him at Terry's Pub.

---

"You really have to leave, Bro?"

Leon nodded. "Yeah. Vay-cay's over. Gotta go to work in the morning. Believe me, I'd much rather just hang out here with the two of you." He looked at Claire pointedly, and she smiled into her coffee mug. "See you around, Chris. Thanks for my Fucking sign." Chris laughed loudly. The infamous sign had been stowed away in Chris's hummer for the next time he ran into Leon. Now, it was in the back of Leon's jeep. Leon smirked and said, "Hey, Claire. Be a gentleman and come walk me to my car."

"Hey, Leon. Be a whore and come blow me."

Chris laughed again and went into the guest bedroom to change for the night.

Once they were sure Chris wasn't watching, Claire took Leon's hand in hers and intertwined their fingers. They walked to the door. She swiped at her eyes. "I promised myself I wouldn't do this until you were gone and Chris was in bed."

He smiled down at her. "It's okay, Baby. I don't like making you cry, but I don't want you to hide your tears from me if you're upset, either." He wiped her eyes with his thumbs. She smiled into his eyes and then grinned with delight as she noticed something over his shoulder.

"Look, Sweetheart. We're under the mistletoe."

He looked up at the ceiling, and smiled. He turned back toward her and said, "Well, at least if Chris catches us, we have an explanation for mauling each other." He leaned down and kissed her forcefully. Chris never did come out to see it, but not for lack of Leon taking his time with the kiss.

When Claire's lips were swollen and Leon was having trouble catching his breath, they pulled apart. Claire hugged him tightly.

"I'll miss you so much," she whispered. "This holiday season has been wonderful because of you. We haven't been together this much since we escaped from Raccoon City. It's gonna be so hard not seeing you for so long."

He nodded and led her outside to his jeep. "I know. I promise to call everyday and I'll get back to see you as soon as I can."

She smiled. "Try not to make it two years again . . . but I'll understand if you do."

He pressed his lips to hers. "Believe me," he muttered into their kiss. "It was never my idea to be apart for so long. And by the way, I expect you to come visit me at some point, too." He caressed her breasts through her sweater. "My bed's still dying to meet you."

She smiled and caressed his cock through his jeans. "The feeling is mutual," she replied in a sultry whisper.

He smirked and looked from side to side. When he found the street empty, he pushed her sweater and bra up. She shivered and moaned as the cold air hit her naked breasts. Her nipples hardened instantly. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the sensation. Suddenly, she felt his warm fingertips glide across her chest. Her whole body shook and she gripped his arms. When he bent and suckled each cold hard nubbin into his coffee-warmed mouth, he had to hold her up so she didn't collapse to the ground. He smiled a smug little smirk, as he stood up straight and righted her clothes.

She opened her eyes then narrowed them at him. "How would you like it if I gave you half a blowjob then drove away? Tool."

He chuckled. "Yeah . . . I'll miss you, too, Baby." She rolled her eyes and smiled. She leaned into his arms. He held her close and stroked her hair. He kissed her crown and closed his eyes, engulfing himself in her natural scent as well as that new perfume. He smiled. "You do smell nice."

"Huh?"

"Your phone call, remember?"

"What phone call?"

He chuckled. "Never mind." He kissed her cheek and then her lips. "Just remember that you're on my mind everyday, Claire. And everyday that I can't be here, I'm hoping that tomorrow will be the next day that I can." He kissed her again. "I'll see you as soon as I can, Baby."

She smiled against his lips as she returned the kiss. "See you around, Agent Kennedy."

He smirked. "Sooner than you think, Ms. Redfield."

She looked at him strangely as he turned away and got into his jeep. 'What the hell did that mean? God! He's always saying something cryptic out of the blue!'

Leon buckled in, rolled down the window, and reached out to pull his girlfriend into one last kiss. He stared into her beautiful blue-gray eyes. He almost told her he loved her again. But he knew better. He wasn't putting himself through that heartbreak again. Claire didn't feel the same way, he got it, so there was no use burdening her with his feelings or himself with her rejection. That's probably what she meant when she said he sometimes made her feel guilty. It wasn't that he thought she didn't care at all. He knew she did. He knew Claire cared about him more than any other woman he'd ever been with. But without her love, they would never be able to progress their relationship beyond what it was. He leaned out the car window and kissed her passionately one more time, expressing his love for her in the only way he still could. She melted and held him tightly. Once they parted from each other, he smiled, stroked her cheek, and rolled up the window. Then he gunned the engine and pulled away.

Claire started to cry the moment he turned the corner. She went for a walk to get it out of her system before facing her brother again. By the time she got back inside the house, Chris assumed her eyes and nose were red and watery from the bitter cold she'd decided to stroll around in.

"Next time wear a coat, Dumbass," he said without looking up from the video game he'd started playing. His game character ran over a man that looked suspiciously like Albert Wesker. "Yeah! G.T.A., Motherfucker! Ten points!"

Claire rolled her eyes. At least now she knew where Sherry had gotten that from. To think Chris had influenced the girl that much when only in his company for about a week.

"Leon gone?"

Claire sighed, a barely noticeable sadness in her reply. "Yeah. He's gone." Chris smiled to himself, but didn't comment.

He finished his game in silence for the next hour, and then got up to stretch. Claire had started their dinner while he was playing Grand Theft Auto.

"Dinner smells incredible. What are we having?"

"I made some chicken and dumplings."

"Cool. Comfort food sounds perfect right about now. It's freezing out there."

Claire nodded in agreement. "Just give me a minute to toss the salad." Chris sputtered his coffee and started to laugh. Claire sighed and rolled her eyes. "What now?"

Once Chris got his laughter under control, he asked, "Did you toss Leon's salad?"

Claire had to laugh herself. "That's fucking disgusting. No, I didn't toss his salad, you filthy fucking pervert!"

Chris went into the kitchen and sat at the table. He watched Claire putter around the kitchen with what looked to him like nervous energy. "Dude, you need to get laid."

Claire shook her head. "Don't call me a dude, Chris."

He chuckled, but he didn't stop staring at Claire with that knowing big brother gaze. "You've still got the hots for him, don't you?"

"I still have the hots for who?"

"For Leon."

She rolled her eyes again. "Chris, must we keep going back to this? Leon is my friend. Get your head out of the gutter."

He grinned and nodded. "Uh huh. Right. So . . . you don't care that he's gone?"

She slammed her salad tongs down on the counter. "Of course I care! He's my best friend, and I never get to see him! I wish he could have stayed, but he can't. Now can we please drop it?"

Chris put his hands up in a defensive manner. "Alright! Touchy! Bite my head off, why don't you!" He didn't say another word, but he was starting to suspect something was going on between his sister and his 'Bro'. Either she wanted him or she was still mad at him over Harvardville. Or maybe both. Maybe Leon had rejected her. Claire finished making the salad in silence. Chris sighed and decided not to bait her anymore for one night. He would have to keep a closer eye on those two though . . . that was for sure.

Once Claire calmed down, she and Chris spent dinner talking and enjoying each other's company. They might have been good at annoying one another, but no one could ever deny that the Redfield siblings loved each other very much.

---

Claire got dressed for bed while Chris watched her Shaun of the Dead DVD. She finished watching the movie with him once she was changed, and then pecked him on the cheek.

"I'm going to bed, Big Brother. Thanks for visiting me."

"Of course. Love you, Claire-Bear."

"Love you, too . . . Muscle Head."

"You suck, Dude."

She frowned. "I'm not a dude!"

Chris laughed. "You're so easy to piss off, Tomboy. G'night."

She rolled her eyes. "Good night, Chris."

Claire went upstairs and got into bed. She smelled Leon's cologne in her pillow. She frowned and swiped at her eyes again. After smelling it for a few minutes, she had to get up for a while and sat on the chair by her closet to get her head on right.

Once she felt like she could handle 'eau de Leon', she got back into bed. She lay awake, missing her daughter and her boyfriend for a while. About ten minutes later, she heard Chris turn off the TV in the living room and then the guest room door closed a moment later.

She sighed and closed her eyes, finally giving herself over to sleep.

---

Claire awoke to a tapping sound. She sat up in bed and looked around. She didn't see where the sound was coming from. She was about to lie back down and return to sleep when it happened again. This time, she could tell for certain that it was coming from her balcony. Something . . . or someone . . . was rapping on her window. The blinds were drawn, so she couldn't see what was out there. Thankfully, whatever was out there also couldn't see in.

She sighed and pulled her Browning. She contemplated telling Chris, but she decided not to wake him just yet. It wasn't like she couldn't handle a stupid burglar anyway, and if it turned out to be something more, the noise would bring her brother running. The problem was, she only had one clip for her gun in her bedroom. She shrugged.

"Whatever," she whispered. She had a Bowie knife in the nightstand and a bat under the bed. "Average burglar's no match for me."

She tiptoed slowly to the balcony door, her gun held at the ready. Once she was closer, she could just make out a large male figure through the blinds outside her door. She took a deep breath, steadied her gun hand, quickly drew the blinds, and aimed at the man outside. When she saw who was out there, she frowned and snatched the door open.

"Leon!" she demanded in a shocked whisper. "What the hell are you doing out there?"

"Freezing my ass off," he answered while casually leaning against the side of the house. "And you pointing guns at me when I visit in the middle of the night is becoming a bit of a bad habit on your part."

She blinked in confusion a few times, and then shook her head to clear the cobwebs. She put the safety on and lowered her weapon. "I'm sorry. Get in here, quick."

He smiled and bent to remove his shoes before he walked inside, closing the door behind him. He placed his shoes on the hardwood floor in her closet.

"How the hell did you get up there?" she asked.

He smirked as he stood up from putting his shoes away. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

She stared at him in disbelief for a while then narrowed her eyes. "I thought you said you had to get back to D.C. so you could go to work in the morning."

He chuckled. "I lied. I never left Cumberland. I've been hanging out with Mrs. Steinbaugh and Pop-Tart at the inn chatting up Uncle Sean."

She frowned. "Why?"

He smiled. "Because they're awesome and my future aunt made me dinner again."

She shook her head and smirked at him. "No, why did you lie about leaving?"

He rolled his eyes. "I couldn't very well tell your brother that I was planning to stick around town so I could fuck your brains out tonight."

Her eyes widened. "Is that why you came back?"

He stroked her cheek. "Of course. We have unfinished business, you and I. I owe you a proper good-bye before I leave town." He kissed her softly, and sucked her top then bottom lip. He looked down at her nightgown. She was wearing a short black chemise with spaghetti straps. "You look hot in that. You'd look even hotter out of it."

She chuckled and shook her head vigorously. "Leon, Chris is still here."

"I know. I saw his humvee around the corner."

She looked shocked that he still wanted to go through with it knowing Chris was there. "We can't," she insisted.

He smiled and stroked her lips with his thumb. "Don't worry, Baby. We'll be quiet."

---

Leon and Claire stood at the foot of her bed. Her arms were up around his shoulders. His hands ran trails of heat up and down her back. She pulled away from him and smiled. "By the way, you look pretty hot, too. You changed your clothes." He had been in a sweater and jeans earlier. Now he was wearing a pair of gray slacks and a black button-down shirt that was tailored to fit his well-muscled torso.

"Thanks." He pulled her close again and kissed her. "You look super hot in this little negligee." He quirked a dirty blond brow. "Say, why are you sleeping in something so sexy if you thought I was leaving town?"

She rolled her eyes. "Sherry threw all my comfy pajamas in the garbage after she forced me to buy all this sexy lingerie. She left me a note in my pajama drawer that said if she ever finds another flannel anything in my dresser when she comes home, she's gonna keep throwing it away."

He chuckled as he placed his hands on her shoulders and lowered the straps of her nightgown. "I'll buy you some more flannel pajamas and then I'll have a talk with her. I love how sexy you look in this, but you'll catch your death when the weather is this cold. Now then, enough about anything else but how you moan for me."

As he bared her skin, he kissed his way down her neck and onto her collarbone. She shivered with anticipation as the silky material slowly slid down off her chest. He leaned down to take her left nipple into his mouth then uncovered the other one and licked the very tip. She tilted her head back and moaned, per his request, as both nipples hardened to little peaks. She took her arms out of the shoulder straps and the little nightgown fell to pool at her waist. Her full, round backside prevented it from dropping to the floor.

He gave her breasts a squeeze with both hands, and then bent to tease them again. She gripped the back of his hair then ran her hand over his back. Her lips parted in a quiet moan when he placed his hand over her black satin thong panties and rubbed her pussy. She pulled his head back up to hers and assaulted his lips with her own.

They kissed ferociously as she unbuttoned his shirt and he continued to rub her through her panties. They pulled away from each other and smiled. She pushed his shirt off his shoulders. He pulled her scrunchie off, freeing her locks in a spill of red silk layers. She tossed her hair over her shoulder. He grinned and kissed her throat where the hair was no longer hiding her porcelain skin. He kissed her lips once more, and bent to his knees. He kissed her breasts and grabbed both sides of her nightgown. He dragged it down, forcing it over her ass and hips. He pulled it off along with her panties, and slid them both down her thighs before letting them drop onto the floor. She stepped out of them and caressed his hair back off of his face so she could see the passion in his eyes as he looked at her in the nude.

He kissed her groin, her belly, between her breasts, and then suckled her left nipple again. She caressed his back and shoulders. He chuckled against her breast.

"What's so funny?"

"You're so fucking short, Baby."

"Fucker!" She smacked his shoulder. "Just for that, I shouldn't give you your final Christmas present."

He smiled and stretched out on her bed. He placed his hands behind his head. "You got me another gift? You shouldn't have done that, Sweetheart. You've already spent too much money on me."

She smirked. "I'll spend my money how I like, Dammit! Besides, I think you'll like this present best of all. Why don't you get comfortable? I'll go get your present." She walked over to her closet and put on her bathrobe. "I'll be right back." She grabbed a huge shoe box and a small black gift bag from the back of her closet and left the bedroom.

While she was gone, Leon took off his pants and got under her blanket in only his charcoal gray boxer-briefs. When Claire returned, he was in mid-yawn.

"You tired, Baby?" she asked from the doorway where she stood in a sexy pose.

"A little," he answered as he rubbed his eyes. When he finally looked at her with a smile, his smile quickly faded away. "Wow," he muttered. It's the same thing he'd said to her two years before. All the suave went out the window once again as she blew his mind with what she was wearing.

"You like?" she asked with a sly smile and a slow turn. He nodded as he looked her up and down, taking it all in.

While Leon was out of town between the two holidays, Claire and Sherry had made a special stop at a very unique lingerie shop near the mall. They specialized in biker themed intimates. Claire had asked them to make a lingerie knock-off of the outfit she had worn in Raccoon City the night she met Leon. Her outfit began with a black seamless bandeau-style bra-top that was supposed to represent the black t-shirt that she wore that night. Black boyshort panties represented the black biker shorts. A pair of pink brief cut panties with scalloped edges and a button and zipper over the front overlaid the black panties to represent her little pink shorts. The button was just for decoration, but the zipper went all the way underneath her to give the option of making the panties crotchless.

As sexy as that all was, the coup-de-grace of her outfit, the thing that delivered the one-two punch to Leon's libido, was the vest. Claire wore a short, fitted, midriff vest that was made of satiny hot pink material which tied across her breasts in the front, and pink leather in the back. What made it special was the perfect copy of the 'MADE IN HEAVEN' graphic that the lingerie shop's artist had put on the leather back of the tiny vest, using Sherry's hand-me-down vest as a guide.

Claire completed the look with a pair of biker boots and a pair of fingerless gloves, but not like the ones she wore in Raccoon City. The boots were black leather thigh high stiletto heels, and the gloves were fitted and made of black fishnet that went all the way up her arms and past the elbows.

And of course, her ponytail was back in place.

Leon smiled into her eyes once he'd committed her current sexiness to memory. "You look amazing, Claire. I can't believe you did all this for me."

She caressed her cleavage with her fingertips. "My pleasure."

He smirked. She'd said that with a lot of seduction in her voice. "Come here, Gorgeous."

She smiled and started to meander across the room toward the bed. She took her time getting there, putting more effort into sexing up her walk than clearing any real distance. When she finally made it to the foot of her bed, she placed a booted heel on the mattress, grabbed the nearest bedpost, and swung herself up onto the bed. She wrapped her leg around the post and gyrated her hips. He smirked and held up a hand, beckoning her. She smiled coyly and shook her head no. He raised a curious brow, and she giggled. She gripped the high bedpost with both hands and pulled herself up into the air while doing a sideways split. He raised his brows and treated her to a slow, seductive grin.

Claire teased him with the moves she'd learned during the pole dancing lessons that she and Jill had been pressured into taking with Rebecca, who hadn't wanted to go by herself. To her surprise, Claire had enjoyed the lessons. Their instructor was a classically trained ballerina and gymnast. As Claire and Jill were themselves well-versed in gymnastics, they had been the star pupils. Claire had always wanted to try her moves out on Leon.

After about five minutes, she slowly lowered herself to the bed, hanging upside down as she had ended her routine. She flipped herself onto her knees and crawled across the mattress toward him. When she reached his waist, she slowly pulled the blanket down to his mid-thigh. She reached over onto the nightstand and grabbed her iPod. She scrolled through the hip hop music list. There weren't many times that she listened to anything on that very short playlist, but in this case there were only three songs that she felt should be the soundtrack to what she was about to do to her man, and they were all rap songs. She copied them into a new playlist, which she titled 'Lapdance', and then hit play. She placed the iPod back on its speaker base, and lowered the volume as not to disturb Chris downstairs. After a few seconds, a woman's voice started to emanate from the speakers.

"Touch it, bring it, pay it, watch it, turn it, leave it, stop, format it.

Touch it, bring it, pay it, watch it, turn it, leave it, stop, format it."

The woman's voice was joined by a slow hip hop beat after she'd repeated her line a couple times. Leon smirked. He knew the song well. Unlike his sweetheart, he listened to hip hop all the time. Busta Rhymes's hit 'Touch It' was a personal favorite of his and Ark's when they carpooled to work.

Claire crawled closer to his face and leaned close as if she were about to kiss him, but instead, moved away with a playful little smirk. Then, in one graceful motion, she swung her left leg over his torso so that she was straddling his pelvis. She looked down at his very evident erection as it strained against the inside of his underwear. She smiled. Her pole dance had definitely affected him. She thought it was time to 'stimulate his interest' a little more.

A moment later, the voice of Swizz Beats said, "Get low, Bus," before Busta Rhymes's voice flowed out of her speakers. Claire immediately started to slowly gyrate her hips over Leon's crotch. After a few verses of slow, soft rapping, Swizz Beats shouted, "Turn it up!" and Busta Rhymes's rapping became fast paced and louder. She was glad she'd turned down the speakers. Any louder, and Chris would definitely hear.

As soon as the music got louder, Claire stopped gyrating her hips and leaned on Leon's chest for leverage so she could bounce her ass. After a few moments, she combined the bouncing with gyration. He chuckled and reached around her to give her a quick spank. She smirked as the music slowed again. This time, she worked her torso as well as her hips. He sighed and placed his hands on her thighs, running a light caress up each leg. He glided his hands gently over her skin, relishing the feel of her goosebumps as much as the feel of her rubbing her sex against him.

This continued for the duration of the song, with Claire alternating between slow bumping and grinding and fast booty bouncing. When the song started to wind down, she slid back off his lap and turned around. She slowly backed up. As soon as she started to inch backwards, the iPod played another rap song, 'Back that Thang Up'. Leon smiled and nodded his head a little to the beat of Juvenile's rap.

Claire took her time getting back onto his lap. Actually, she took the duration of the song. She stopped repeatedly to look at him over her shoulder and tease him by inching forward at times, or bouncing her ass at others. Claire's ass looked amazing in the lingerie, and she knew it. Leon's cock ached to have her grinding on top of him again, to get his hand on her ass, but she kept it just out of reach.

When the second song ended and she had her rear end hovering over Leon's lap, Snoop Dogg's 'Drop It Like It's Hot' started to play. Snoop and Farrell laid down the flow that guided Claire's hips. She lowered herself onto his lap and began a very slow gyration over his groin. She pressed herself tighter against him this time. He moaned and reached out to caress her ass.

They continued to stimulate each other, her with her hips and ass, him with his hand. They pressed their groins together, moaning occasionally as the slow grind increased their desire.

Close to the end of the song, he tugged at her two pairs of panties. He smiled. Underneath, she was wearing a black G-string, probably to represent the black thong she wore that night. He looked up at her vest and lifted the leather to peak underneath at the bandeau bra-top. Was she wearing something to represent her black bra from that night as well? He was intrigued and couldn't wait to see for himself.

He pulled the rear of both panties all the way off her ass so he could watch her gyrate with nothing but a G string to block his view.

When the last song ended, Leon slapped both of Claire's ass cheeks and leaned forward to kiss her over the two handprints. She giggled and moved away from him before turning around and settling on his lap again. She leaned towards him, only this time she actually did kiss him.

When they broke the kiss, he muttered against her lips, "That was so fucking hot, Claire."

"You ain't seen nothin' yet, Agent Kennedy."

She kissed him one more time and crawled backwards until her face was just over his groin. She pushed the blankets further down, and Leon helped by bringing his legs out from under the covers then stretched them out on either side of Claire. She licked his length from root to tip while it was still encased in his underwear, her eyes smiling, never once leaving his gaze. He gripped the bed linens tightly as her tongue made its journey to his waistband. She then reached under the waistband and pulled out his cock. She settled the top edge of his underwear just under his scrotum. She lifted his penis and stroked it a few times. He was already rock hard and ready for her, but she liked teasing him.

She ran the tip of her tongue slowly from the base of his shaft to the tip of his cock. He stiffened and then shivered as her tongue traveled up his length. She whispered a moan as she slowly took the head into her mouth. He groaned and clenched his teeth.

That night, Claire gave Leon probably the best oral sex he'd ever experienced. He reached out to remove her ponytail tie, and then stroked her hair out of her face, so he'd have an unobstructed view of what she was doing to him.

For the next ten minutes, she teased him, sucked him, licked him, stroked him, slurped him, and grazed him ever so lightly with her teeth. The intermittent sound of his quiet moans made Claire's sex tighten, but as anxious as she was to feel Leon inside her, she didn't want to rush things. Who knew when they'd see each other again after this? She wanted to make this night really count.

She continued to suck him slowly, crossing her feet at the ankles and swinging them back and forth. That delightfully immature action made him want her even more. The innocence of it reminded him that the last time she was dressed sort of like this, he actually did take her innocence.

Five minutes more, and he couldn't take it any longer. He got up to his knees with every intention of getting behind her and plowing her into the mattress, but before he could, she turned around and took him back into her mouth. He didn't need much coaxing on her part to convince him to continue to take things slow.

He stared down at her for the next couple minutes as she stroked his sacque while sucking him deeply.

"Look up at me, Baby." She obeyed immediately. He moaned a little louder this time, always a sucker for those stunning crystal blue-grey eyes. "That's right, Claire. Let me see that beautiful face."

She smiled around his cock and then released him with a loud pop.

"My turn," she ordered. "You're getting too close to cumming."

He chuckled and moved to kneel at the foot of the bed. "You're not wrong," he replied.

He dragged her toward him by her ankles, and then positioned her so that his head was at the meeting of her thighs. "Open your legs wide and hold them there."

She nodded and did as instructed. Leon unzipped the crotch of the outer pink panties. What he saw beneath made his cock twitch and dribble a little with need.

The black boyshorts were crotchless.

He took a hold of the G string, the only thing covering her sex, and ripped the crotch string apart. He then did the same to the string at her right hip. She gasped and then whispered a shuddering moan as he dragged the remains of the string panties out of her boyshorts before tossing them behind himself.

She leaned back on the mattress and smiled down at him. He grinned and moved closer to the edge of the bed. He pulled the hole of both pairs of crotchless panties wide apart and bent to lick her sex. She sighed and closed her eyes. He placed his fingertips at her nexus and slowly rubbed her in wide circles. Then he slid two fingers just as slowly inside her still holding open the crotches of the panties. He smirked when she cried out as he penetrated her with his fingers.

After a few minutes of gentle foreplay, Claire had her head thrown back, her pelvis lifted off the bed, her hands fisted in Leon's hair. He leaned back and looked at her trembling form. There was a light blush to her cheeks, chest, and sex. Her pelvis shivered as she lowered it to the mattress. He smiled. "Feeling good, Baby?"

She sighed. "Mm hm." She stretched and opened her eyes to smile at him. "Come lie down. I wanna tease you some more. I'm not done with you yet."

He stretched out along side her, his head near the foot of the bed and pulled her on top of him so that their heads were at each other's groins. "I'm not done with you yet, either," he explained. She lifted his cock and took the tip into her mouth as he lowered her hips to delve his tongue into her pussy.

"Mmmm!" they both groaned in unison.

As was per their usual when having oral sex in the sixty-nine position, it was an all-out battle of the sexes, no pun intended, to see who could drive the other one absolutely insane first. He moaned as she sucked him fast and deep, cupping and kneading his sacque, or caressing his six pack. She shivered and cried out every time he feathered his tongue over her clit or sucked it hard into his mouth, especially if he ran his hands up her arms and onto her breasts at the same time. When they made each other cry out and shiver all over, they decided to stop for the moment. Neither wanted the night to end with oral sex.

Claire moved off of Leon and helped him to sit up. He put his cock back into his boxer-briefs and pulled her closer to him. She sat beside him and caressed his chest and shoulders. He pecked her lips. She returned the kiss, and smiled against his lips before she deepened the lip-lock. Before either of them knew it, they were making out like teenagers. Soft, gentle caresses, slow glides of slippery tongue against slippery tongue, heaving breaths, and mutterings of words of desire drove them both close to the brink of orgasm more than once over the next several minutes.

Leon untied the little satin strings that held the vest closed in the front of Claire's bosom. He broke their kiss to look down at her. "I almost don't wanna take it off you," he said. "It's so fucking sexy."

She smiled. "You can leave it on if you want. I don't mind."

He smirked. "Nah. I'd rather see you naked. That's sexier than any outfit."

She grinned and kissed him again as he slid the vest off her shoulders. He caressed her breasts through the bandeau top . . . and he could feel that there was definitely some sort of bra underneath. His curiosity outweighing his patience, he quickly pulled the bandeau up and over her head. Underneath, he found something that made his cock twitch.

"How is that thing staying on you?" he asked, sounding perplexed and aroused at the same time.

"It's a stick on bra." Claire was wearing a black, front-clasp, stick on pair of bra cups, which cradled and lifted her ample, natural D cups in a way that made Leon's mouth water to taste the nipples beneath. "Why don't you take it off me?"

He quickly obeyed, unclasping the front, and then peeling the bra off her breasts. He moaned as the cups slowly pulled away from her skin, revealing hardened little pinkish-beige peaks. He placed the bra cups on her nightstand and bent to taste her nipples. The adhesive didn't leave any trace of glue flavor, not that it would have stopped him if it had.

As he caressed her nipples with his tongue, Leon caressed her body with his hands. Eventually, he pushed her legs apart and glided his hand down to tease her through the absent crotch of her two remaining pairs of panties.

Claire couldn't take the stimulation. It was too much. She gently pulled his head up to kiss her lips again, and moved away from the seeking fingers of the hand at her sex. Leon took the hint and used both hands to caress her hair back off her face as he continued to deepen their kiss.

"Take off your underwear," she sighed into their kiss. While Claire darted her tongue in and out of his mouth, Leon's hands were shaking while taking his boxer-briefs off. Once he was totally naked, Claire lifted herself to her knees then straddled his lap. He placed a pillow behind his back and neck, then leaned back against the wall. He caressed her ass as she slowly ground her sex against his cock. He sat up to suckle her left nipple, then lifted his head to kiss her. She licked his tongue then tossed her hair back. He kissed her throat and then returned his attentions to her breasts.

Claire continued a slow grind on Leon's lap as she savored the feel of his tongue on her nipples and his fingers on her sex. He had slid his hand down the crack of her ass to rub her through the opening in her panties. She moaned, her head still thrown back, her hair tickling his thighs as they moved against each other.

When his cock started to ooze a bit at the tip, Leon knew that he was no longer capable of waiting to be inside her. He moved her to the mattress, where she bent over on all fours. He got up to his knees behind her and took his cock in his hand. He spread the crotches of her panties and rubbed the head up and down her slit. He rubbed his palm across her back in a loving gesture of affection, and then pushed himself deep inside her.

Claire's eyes widened and then fluttered closed as she moaned, probably a little louder than she would have liked with Chris in the house. Leon leaned over her shoulder and kissed her cheek. "Shhhh," he whispered against her ear before nibbling on her lobe. She turned her head slightly and placed her lips against his, the gesture almost, but not quite an actual kiss. He pulled his hips back very slowly, then slowly plunged back into her heat. "Mmmm," he moaned low in his throat.

"Ohhhhh," she whispered against his lips.

Slow, sensual withdrawals followed by even slower deep penetrations . . . that was how Leon took Claire from behind for a good five minutes. They whispered moans across each other's lips with every plunge of his cock. When she shuddered and extended her tongue to lick the circumference of his lips, he sucked her tongue into his mouth and increased the speed of his hip movements.

"Ooooo . . . yeah. Like that, Baby. Just like that," she whispered. He groaned and sped up even more. "Oh, my God!" she exclaimed in a quiet little shriek. "You're gonna make me fucking cum!"

He certainly didn't want that happening so soon, so he got back up to his knees, changing the angle of penetration so that he wasn't hitting her G spot so hard. She trembled and sighed, lowering her face to the mattress to enjoy the ride.

Leon continued to fuck Claire from behind for a while, not too hard, so as not to push her over the edge she was so clearly skimming along side. And then, he started to feel it. He definitely wasn't going to allow himself to cum. If she came, they could maybe continue, but if he did, the night's pleasure would be over.

He dragged her hips in close and repositioned them both onto their sides, with him still behind and inside of her. He started to move his hips again, holding her top leg in the air. She sighed and rested her head on her arm, enjoying the feel of his gentle thrusts. She slid her hand back across his chest and then up behind his head. She turned to look at him. Their eyes locked and they both parted their lips. Each one felt that the look on the other's face in the throes of passion was the sexiest thing they'd ever seen. Her moans got a little louder, but at this point neither of them cared if Chris heard. Claire caressed Leon's hair at his nape and then slid her hand forward to tease his lips with her thumb. He sucked her thumb into his mouth. They never broke eye contact.

After another few minutes, Leon pulled Claire, still impaled by his length, into his lap facing away from him. She secured herself on her high heeled boots, her hands pressed into the mattress on either side of Leon's torso, and then she leaned her back against his hands. He held her up securely as she began to bounce up and down on his cock. Her moans got even louder, and he moaned a quiet reply. He lifted his hips rhythmically, meeting her thrust for thrust. Finally, he just grabbed her thighs to still her movements, and began rapidly lifting and lowering his hips, his hard rod pistoning easily in and out of the wet, pink heat of Claire's pussy.

She trembled and wheezed out a high pitched noise before her breathing stopped entirely. When she was able to speak again, she whispered, "I'm cumming."

He moaned. "I feel it."

"Not yet," she whispered. "Please, Baby. Not yet."

He sighed and stopped thrusting up into her. He pulled out and engulfed her in his arms. She trembled almost continuously as she tried to mentally calm her body down. Finally, she closed her eyes, and with one last shuddering breath, she knew she'd pushed her orgasm back for the moment. However, she knew she'd never be able to hold it off again if she let him put his cock right back in her, so she moved to place her face at his pelvis.

"Ohhhhh, Claire," he moaned in anticipation. He really couldn't get enough of her mouth on him.

She kissed his sacque, staring up into his eyes. She slowly licked his cock, stopping midway up his shaft to kiss it. Her tongue glided up the rest of his length then circled the head before she took it into her mouth. She caressed his face and pushed her fingers into his mouth. He moaned as she increased the pressure and speed with which she sucked him. She moaned in response to every sound he made. Finally, she entwined her fingers with his as she stroked him with her other hand to take up the slack of what couldn't comfortably fit into her mouth.

"Lick the underside again, Baby."

She did as he asked, teasing him with rapid little licks. He shivered and sat up. She had to release his hand because his grip was becoming a little painful as his pleasure built. When she feathered her tongue against the underside of the head of his cock, he pulled quickly away from her mouth.

"Problem?" she asked with a seductive little giggle.

"She-Devil! You know what the problem was. You were trying to make me lose it."

She smiled. "Me? Never."

He laughed quietly and sat up to kiss her. He then flipped her over onto her back. "Yes, you. We'll just see how you like being teased without mercy."

He bent to kiss each of her inner thighs then shoved his tongue between her labia. He feathered his tongue in little licks up her slit and then teased her clit, as promised, without mercy. She cried out and tried to pull away, but he put his arms under her hips, and used both hands to hold her in place in front of his mouth.

He tortured her clit until she was shaking continuously. Her moans were loud and her voice was getting hoarse. "Ohhh! Please, Baby! Please stop! You're gonna make me cum!"

He smiled up at her then kissed her slit. She shivered a little, but this time she smiled at him, too. It was a sweet gesture on his part. She felt a little flutter in her chest when he did it one more time.

He was about to turn her on her back, but she stopped him. "Let me get on top."

"Wanna go for another ride, Baby?"

"Yippee-kayay, Motherfucker."

He smirked and moved to his back. "That's my cowgirl."

She straddled his lap again, this time facing towards him. He held his cock up for her and she impaled herself on it. "Christ, Leon. You are so fucking big."

He chuckled. "Thank you."

She started to move up and down his length. "You better thank me. I'm not the kind of woman who likes to stroke a man's ego, but that thing is a monster. I can't help but kowtow a little." He chuckled again. "Now, shut up. I'm trying to fuck you, here."

He grinned and bent forward to suckle her nipple. 'If she doesn't want me to talk, I can always find something else to do with my mouth.' She smiled down at him, then turned and looked down to watch over her shoulder into the mirror as his cock appeared and disappeared from under her ass as she bounced on it.

He released her nipple and pushed her hair back off her face so he could see her in profile. She turned to face him. They smiled at each other. She reached back and caressed his scrotum as she bounced faster. He moaned and squeezed her breasts. She grinned at him as she made him cry out. He narrowed his eyes at her and crossed his hands behind his head. "You can rub your own tits if you're gonna be cocky about it."

She laughed. "I'd rather just let them bounce, thanks."

He moaned and said, "So would I." He braced his feet on the mattress so he could thrust up into her as she bounced on top of him. The deeper penetrations wiped the smile off her face. He smirked a little as he saw her cheeks flush with renewed passion. She smirked and leaned forward to kiss him.

"Yeah, yeah. You're fucking the shit out of me. Down, ego, down."

He chuckled. "Want me to take over for a while?"

"Sure . . . you can be on top. Promise not to crush me with your swelled head?"

He smirked. "Which one?" She laughed out loud then clamped her hands over her mouth. Leon shook his head. "Forget it. If Chris didn't hear us already, then he didn't hear that either."

Claire chuckled more quietly and then moved to lie on her back. He moved to kneel between her thighs. He paused for a moment and tilted his head. "Baby? Would you be offended if I remove the panties? I mean, they're super sexy and all, but like I said, your naked body is sexier. I dig the outfit, it brings back great memories, but now I just wanna see my Claire."

She smiled and caressed his cheek. "I swear, Kennedy. You're the only man that gives me butterflies. I almost feel like a girl around you."

He grinned. "Almost?"

She shrugged. "As long as I can out-drink you, you're the chick in this relationship."

He shook his head. "Uh . . . do I really need to remind you how drunk you got New Year's Eve?"

She closed her eyes and laughed. "Fine. You're the man . . . for now, anyway."

He smiled as he pulled both pairs of panties down her legs. "Well, if I'm not man enough for you, maybe I should just get dressed and leave. I mean, you've got a couple vibrators. What the hell do you need me for?"

Claire's smiled disappeared. "Oh, Sweetheart . . . did I cross the line again? If I did, I'm sorry. I was only joking."

He looked at her with a little confusion, but he didn't stop smiling. "So was I."

She closed her eyes and sighed in relief. "Jesus. I thought you were serious."

He leaned down to kiss her. "Nope. Just being a smartass. I wouldn't leave you unsatisfied. I care too much about you to ever be that cruel."

She smiled again. "Thanks, Baby. Thank you for sticking around and coming back to make me feel good. I know you're probably gonna be tired tomorrow because you did this for me, and I just want you to know how much I appreciate it."

He grinned and kissed her again. "It's as much for me as it is for you, Claire." His face got serious as he kissed her again. "I needed you tonight."

"I needed you, too."

He placed his cock between her labia. "I could tell." He pushed his hips forward, and entered her in one slow thrust. "Ohhh God, Baby. You look so good when I'm fucking you." He grabbed one of her hands and one of her legs. "Especially in these gloves and boots." He ran a hand over her hips then up her waist and onto her breasts. "You have such amazing curves. You're the hottest woman I've ever been attracted to. The fact that you love sports, guns, Harleys, and booze just makes my cock that much harder."

She moaned as he started to move deep inside her. "You look so sexy when you're on top of me, Leon. So fucking muscular." She caressed his cheek. "And ridiculously handsome. Seriously, you should be arrested for how good-looking you are. It's a crime against womankind."

He kissed her. "Thank you. Since we're doling out complements, I suppose I should let you know, I'm gonna kick the shit out of the next man who stares at your tits for more than five seconds."

She giggled. "Okay, Chris." He gave her a very disturbed look. She returned the look. "Sorry. I was just trying to make the point that you were being as overbearing about men as he always is, but that probably wasn't the right thing to say while you're balls deep inside me."

"Not so much, no." They both chuckled then kissed. "Now, shut up. I'm trying to fuck you, here."

She laughed out loud when he threw her words back at her. She reached around him to slap his ass. "You're the most fun boyfriend ever, Leon."

He smiled. "How's this for fun?" He moved faster inside her.

"That's nice, Sweetheart," she answered. She reached down to rub her clit while he moved inside her. She smiled up into his eyes. He caressed her inner thighs. She shivered and moaned. He watched her breasts jiggle with the force of his thrusts.

'God, I love those things,' he thought. "Play with your tits for me, Baby." She moved her hand from her clit to tease her nipples. She kneaded her breasts then tweaked their peaks. "That's right. Like that. That's nice. Your breasts are so perfect, Claire."

She sighed and closed her eyes. "That feels so incredible."

He pulled her legs up to his shoulders and leaned over her. He kissed her. "How does it feel now?" he muttered across her lips.

She ground her teeth as he moved inside her, clenching his hair at the back of his head. "It's so deep like that."

He moved slowly inside her, but he penetrated her completely on every thrust. "Feels so good deep inside you, Sweetheart."

She moved her hands to grip his arms. "God! You are so fucking big!" she gritted out.

He slowed to a stop. "Claire, am I hurting you?"

She looked up into his eyes and shrugged. "Maybe a little."

He smiled and kissed her before withdrawing. "Wanna stop?"

She shook her head. "No, Baby. Just sometimes that position is a little uncomfortable."

"Okay. How can we do it so it doesn't hurt you?" She bit her bottom lip and thought for a moment. He smiled. "Think fast. That look is a little too sexy to ignore."

She giggled. "How about we lie on our sides and you take me from behind? It never hurts like that."

"Okay." She moved to her side and he stretched out behind her. She lifted her leg and he held it up for her. He pushed his other arm under her neck then bent his arm to grip her breast before he plunged back inside her. He kept his thrusts gentle and shallow, and he teased her breasts to increase her pleasure in the hopes that would decrease her pain. "Better?" She moaned unintelligibly. He smiled and kissed her cheek. "I'll take that as a 'yes'."

She dropped her head back on his arm. He kissed her throat and told her how good she felt. She caressed the hand he used to toy with her breasts. He studied her face. Her eyes were closed and her lips were parted. 'So sexy,' he thought.

They continued to make love at a leisurely pace for a few minutes. Claire finally opened her eyes. "Leon?"

"Yeah, Baby?"

"I'm close."

He nodded. "I'm not, but I'll stop whenever you're ready."

"We can keep going after, but I need to cum now. Harder?"

"Okay. Hang on. Let me get up." He moved to his feet and dragged her to the edge of the bed. He stroked his cock a few times and then rubbed it up and down her pussy before he pushed it inside her.

"Oh God, Baby."

"Feels good?"

"Mm hm."

"Hurting you?"

"Uh unh."

"Okay." He moved inside her for about a minute. When she moaned loudly and spread her legs into a split, he leaned down to kiss her and plunged all the way inside her.

"Yeah! Hard, Baby! Hard like that!"

"Shit, Claire. You just got so tight."

"Fuck!"

"Come on. Cum for me, Baby."

"Ahhh . . . GOD!"

Leon plunged all the way inside her and stopped moving. Claire's entire body shook violently as she came hard. It took her over a minute to get her breathing right even once it was over. She was feeling pretty lightheaded, but her pussy felt oh so good.

"That was amazing, Claire."

She nodded and pulled him into a tight hug. "You didn't cum."

He shrugged and leaned back to stroke her face. "It's not important."

"It is to me. Are you close?"

He smiled. "Closer now that I felt that orgasm."

She smiled. "You're not close at all?"

He shook his head. "Sorry."

She chuckled. "Don't apologize." She stretched and got up from the bed. "Be right back. I gotta pee."

"Too much information."

"You should talk."

He grinned and moved to lie on his stomach. He sighed and closed his eyes. He knew he shouldn't get too comfortable. He still had a long drive home. When Claire came back, he told her that he could stay for maybe another hour.

"I need to get back to D.C. after that, but I want to hold you for as long as I can."

She stretched out beside him and placed her head on his chest. "Honey, can I ask you a question?"

"Of course."

"Do you know why I chose to buy that outfit?"

He shook his head 'no'. "I assumed to make me crazy with wanting you, like that wasn't already the case."

She giggled. "Yeah. That's part of it. But there was another reason." She took a deep breath, exhaled, and said, "Leon . . . Sweetheart . . . I'm ready to give my last virginity to you. And I thought it would only be fitting that I wear an homage to the outfit I wore when I gave you my first one."

He stared down at her for a moment. "Are you telling me you want me to have anal sex with you?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Still wanna just cuddle?"

His face was serious for a moment, and then he kissed her hard. When he broke the kiss, he rolled over and started digging through her nightstand drawer. "Lube. We need lots of lube." He found the pink leopard vibrator he'd given her. He pulled it out. "To get you started. If you can't take this, you can't take me. I've hurt you enough for one night. I won't do it again." He finally found a bottle of massage oil. He quirked a brow. "Are you sure no man has been in this bed but me?"

She laughed. "I bought that for you, in case you ever came here after a mission and needed a little TLC. I've also replenished my condoms. You should wear one while you're in the back door. Otherwise, the front door's off limits for the rest of the night."

He nodded. "Fair enough." Leon reached into the nightstand and pulled a condom. He checked the expiration date, and then put it on. "I'll buy you some more oil, but for your first time having anal sex, we need to use a lot."

She shrugged. "Like I said, I bought it for you. If this is how you want to use it, that's fine by me."

Leon smiled and opened the bottle of oil and poured a little on his cock, wetting the condom. "You know, Claire, even with everything I do to keep you comfortable, this may still hurt. I mean, it could hurt a lot. If you want to stop at any point, just tell me."

"You sound like a man who knows what he's talking about. You've done this before?" He nodded. "With how many girls?"

He did some mental arithmetic for a moment. Finally, he answered, "Eight."

"How many said it hurt a lot?"

"All but three. The rest said I was too big and asked to stop. If it hurts, I expect you to tell me to stop, too. With the last three, I used a ton of lube, so they said it only hurt a little in the beginning. And for the record, all of them had done it before."

She swallowed. Now, she was a little scared. She took a shaky breath and shook her head. "Well, we'll just have to see how it works out."

He leaned down to give her a kiss, then picked up the vibrator. He turned it on full force and rubbed it against her clit. She closed her eyes and laid back on the bed. When she spread her pussy open, he pushed the vibrator inside. She moaned and rubbed her clit.

After a few minutes of building her passion back up, Claire snatched the vibrator out of Leon's hand and started fucking herself with it. She got up onto her knees and bent forward on the mattress, until she was in a doggy style position. After another minute or so, she took the vibrator out and turned it off. She dropped it on the nightstand. She gave Leon a 'come hither' look, and rubbed her pussy. "I don't want another vibrator in my ass. I know how that feels. I want you."

He nodded and stepped up onto the bed and bent down behind her, opting to stay on his feet and just balance with one hand on her backside.

"Bend your upper body down onto the mattress so you lift your ass." She did as he instructed. "Okay. That's good. Now, try to relax. I'm gonna put it back into your pussy first to get it nice and wet."

She nodded. "Whatever you think is best."

He positioned himself at her opening and pushed inside her. He fucked her for a few seconds, then said, "Wow. You feel good even through a condom."

She smiled against her arm, where she was resting her head. "Glad you think so."

After another minute, Leon withdrew and stood up straight. He looked down at her ass in the air, and shivered. He grabbed the oil, popped it open, and poured a pool of it into his hand. He rubbed his cock with his very oily hand, getting it drenched. Claire looked up and watched him preparing. She moved her legs further apart so she was lying on her stomach instead of up on her knees. She kept her back arched.

Leon poured a little oil onto his fingertips and bent to rub her anus. She sighed and closed her eyes. She really did love that feeling. She hoped she could take him that way. If she could, she knew it would be amazing.

He poured more oil on his fingers and rubbed her anus again, this time pushing his middle finger all the way inside her. He closed the oil and dropped it onto the bed beside Claire, just in case he needed more. She lifted herself back up onto her knees.

"You ready, Beautiful?"

She nodded. "And waiting."

Leon got down on his knees, looked at her ass, and then got back to his feet. He needed to enter from above, not behind, even with how short she was. He spread his legs apart until he was able to place his hands on her ass. "Okay," he breathed, sounding a little nervous. He really didn't want to hurt her. "Here we go, Baby." She closed her eyes tightly and bit her lower lip. He noticed. "Don't do that. If you need to do something to brace yourself, grip the sheets or purse your lips. If you bite them, you may draw blood when I put it in." He took one of her hands and kissed the back. "Baby . . . this will probably hurt more than when we did it in your vagina for the first time. I'm so sorry."

She nodded. And then she cried out in pain.

He had barely put it in. It was really just the head of his cock stretching her ass open, but Leon was thick. It hurt so much more than she'd expected.

He withdrew. "Try to relax your ass, Baby. It will hurt more if you clench."

She nodded and did the best she could to do as he'd instructed, just as she did when he bust her cherry in Raccoon City. "Okay. Try again."

He bent over again and placed his cock against her smaller orifice. He pushed the head in again. She took a breath and exhaled, but she didn't clench. He started to move, very slowly and very shallowly. She didn't cry out again.

"You okay, Baby?"

She nodded. "I'm okay."

"Feel good? Bad?"

She sighed. "Good, I think. I don't know yet. It feels . . . weird."

"Like you have to go to the bathroom?" She nodded. He smiled. "Everyone says that at first. It will feel better if I put it in further. You wanna try?"

"Yeah. Just be gentle."

He smiled. "Always." Leon slowly penetrated her deeper. "Rub your clit, Sweetheart. It'll help." She did as she was told, and sighed in relief. It actually did help. And after a little while of getting used to the feeling, she realized that it felt wonderful. Leon was thick and long and hard, and his cock felt so much bigger in such a tight orifice. He fucked her slowly, but he plunged it deep on every thrust.

"Ohhhhh."

Leon smiled. "It feels good, Baby?"

"Ohhhh. Oh, Sweetheart . . . it's so good. It's different than anything I ever felt, but it's so nice. Don't stop." He moaned and moved a little faster. "Fuck!"

"Jesus, Claire!"

"Oh!"

She continued to moan, a high-pitched little shriek that drove him insane. He gradually increased the rate of his thrusts until the bedposts were hitting the wall.

"You feel so fucking good, Claire! I fucking love your ass, Baby!"

"Mmmmm!"

"You can't even talk, it feels so good!" He slowed down but pressed his cock deeper inside her.

"Oh! Oh! Oh, yes! Oh, right there! Ohhh, it feels so good!"

"You're so sexy." He slapped her ass and pulled out. "Get on your back. I wanna see your breasts bounce while I'm inside you."

She smiled and did as he said. "I can't believe how good that feels."

"Doesn't hurt?"

"Oh, it smarts, alright. But it feels so much better than it hurts." She saw the worried look on his face. "Dammit, if you even suggest that we stop, I'll kick your ass." She rubbed her clit and spanked her sex. "Now get over here and do me some more." She jiggled her tits. "Come on, you know you want to."

He chuckled. "You're a naughty woman, Claire Redfield."

She wiggled her eyebrows. He grinned and knelt between her legs. He tilted her legs back and pushed his cock back into her anus.

Leon's moans were quiet. Claire's were loud. He moved deep inside her, hard and fast. She cried out.

"Oh fuck! You feel so fucking good!" she yelled.

He bent to kiss her. "Shhh. Seriously, I like Chris, but I don't want him seeing me naked."

She giggled. "Sorry."

"No worries."

He continued to pound away at her. Suddenly, she pulled his hips against hers and then held him in place. She leaned up and kissed him. "If I can't yell," she whispered. "You can't put holes in my walls with my bedposts."

He chuckled. "Sorry."

She smiled. "No worries, Baby." She used his favorite expression and then kissed him again. "Besides, I think we should stop. Much more of this and I'll be walking all day tomorrow like a cowboy who spent his life riding a horse."

Leon laughed. "Front door then?"

"If you want it."

He pulled out and took off the condom. He wrapped it in a tissue and dropped it in her wastebasket. "I want it." Leon stripped Claire out of the rest of her outfit. He tossed the boots and gloves on the floor. The boots made a loud thud.

"Shhh," she said.

"My bad." He flipped her over. "Get down low and arch your back. That was sexy when you did it before."

Claire positioned herself as he'd asked. "Cum inside?"

"That was the plan." Leon sank back inside her pussy. "Fucking shit, Claire."

She moaned and lowered her face to her arms as he immediately started to pound her hard. "Fuck me harder," she whispered.

He did as she said again, and then smacked her ass. He fucked her for five minutes like that. He suddenly withdrew and turned her onto her back. She lifted her legs onto his shoulders. He leaned forward, bending her almost in half. He stroked his cock and then put it back inside her. He moved his hips fast. She moaned and caressed the backs of his thighs. He shivered and fucked her harder and faster. She gripped his thighs and tossed her head back. He leaned up and grabbed her by the waist. He pounded her again. He gritted his teeth.

"I'm gonna cum, Baby."

She moaned. "Oh, God! Inside! Do it inside!"

He lifted her torso and she arched her back. "So close!" he gritted out. "Ohhhhh, God! It's so tight!" he groaned. "I'm gonna cum so hard in you!"

"Baby!"

"Claire!"

"I'm cumming too!"

"FUCK!"

"SHIT!"

He stiffened as he climaxed. She did the opposite. She couldn't stop trembling.

Once he was able to move again, Leon slid his hand up onto her breast and rubbed her nipple with his fingertip.

She wrapped her legs around his back and pulled him down on top of her. She sighed and smiled against his neck.

"Thank you for coming back tonight, Leon."

He smiled and kissed her. "Anything for you, Claire."

She smiled. "Hold me for a little while?"

He nodded. "I'll give you another hour."

She kissed him. "I don't wanna make you late."

He shrugged and moved to lie beside her. "Too drained to drive right now anyway." He pulled her into his arms and covered them both with the comforter they'd thrown on the floor. "Too wired from sex to sleep though."

"Pillow talk?"

He nodded. "Pillow talk it is."

They spent the next hour just catching up. The conversation turned to sex a few times, mostly with them telling the other how incredible a lover they were. Leon kissed her head and thanked her for letting him do anal with her.

"Oh, my pleasure."

"Sore?"

She chuckled. "Extremely. I think I'll take a shower when you leave."

He smiled. "Probably a good idea. It'll get rid of the oil too."

She nodded and tucked her head into the crook of his arm. She hugged his torso and sighed. "I'm gonna miss you, Stretch."

He sighed in return. "I'm gonna miss you, too. But I promise that it won't be two years before you see me again."

She smiled. "Relationships are a two way street. If it took two years for us to see each other, that's half my fault."

He kissed her forehead. "Yeah, but at least you never made a promise you weren't sure you could keep."

She caressed his abs. "No, I just broke up with you and then cheated on you."

He chuckled. "You didn't cheat. If you cheated, I cheated."

She shook her head. "You wanted to stay together. I messed it up. I broke us. I blamed you for something that wasn't even your fault and made you feel like you needed to make it right. And you did. You found Sherry and Steve. You brought our daughter home to make me forgive you. But you didn't do anything that needed forgiving."

He smiled. "I still say you didn't cheat on me."

She kissed her way across his chest. "You should have been my one and only. I'm so sorry I did it with anyone else."

"Claire . . . I don't want to talk about it. Not after we had such a wonderful holiday. Now, you didn't cheat on me, and that's final." He couldn't take talking about this. Especially since she really did cheat on him . . . but not after they broke up. She cheated on him with Steve when she was supposed to be trying to get home to him.

She sighed and caressed his chest. "I guess we'll just agree to disagree. But I can tell you this much . . . I was faithful to you this time." She kissed his cheek. "And I understand if you weren't."

He chuckled and kissed her head again. "Of course I was faithful, Baby. Why do you think I've been fucking you six ways from Sunday?"

"You did that after a four month dry spell. Doesn't mean you weren't gettin' busy at some point over the past two years."

He laughed. "I swear! I haven't been with anyone but you!"

She smiled and kissed him. She changed the subject. She wasn't sure that she believed him, and she didn't want to ruin a beautiful night with petty jealousy. "I'm so tired, Baby. I'm gonna take a little nap. Please don't leave without waking me."

"I won't." He pulled the comforter up over her shoulders and wrapped his arms more securely around her.

---

Leon held her until the hour was up, then he woke Claire and got up to get dressed. As he put on his clothes, she watched him, hugging her pillow underneath her chest.

"Stay tonight with me, Leon. You can leave before dawn. Chris will never know."

He smiled and bent down to kiss her before going to her closet to grab his shoes. "I can't. I have to go to work too early to stay any longer than now."

She lowered her gaze to the blanket. "I understand." She sounded so disappointed. Leon sighed. He hated saying good-bye to her.

He walked over to the balcony door. She watched him put his shoes on, sitting on her changing stool. "Are you going back out the window?" He nodded. "Why aren't you just gonna use the front door like you left after Harvardville?"

"Because your older brother wasn't sleeping in the guest bedroom downstairs the last time I came here to have sex with you."

She chuckled, got up, kissed him, and told him that she understood that his work comes first, but she will always be waiting for him.

He placed his forehead against hers, and then closed his eyes and sighed. "I promise you that one day I'll make things right for us too, Claire . . . for our relationship."

She smiled and told him to drive safely. She didn't comment on his promise because she didn't believe a word of it. She didn't think he'd ever be a constant in her daily life. What mattered was that she knew he wished that he could be.

He hugged her, kissed her one more time, and then left the way he came. "Good night, Claire," he whispered before doing a back-flip off her balcony.

She shook her head, muttered, "Show off," and then closed and locked the door.

She went back to bed. She hugged her pillow. She could smell his cologne even better than before, in the sheets, in the pillow, in the comforter, on her skin.

She smiled. "Until next time," she whispered. She laid down, covering herself. Engulfed in his scent, she fell asleep. As slumber took her, two tears fell from her eyes. "Be safe, my love," she whispered.

---

At that moment, Claire was the only one asleep in her house. In the bedroom beneath her own, Chris was laying in bed with a pillow over his head, growling in frustration after the sounds of some random dude plowing his sister upstairs finally stopped.

---

Leon and Chris sat on the couch in equal parts shock.

"I can't believe that you were the guy who fucked Claire that night."

"I can't believe you heard us."

"I can't believe she was able to keep that from me for two whole years."

"I can't believe you heard us."

"I can't believe I didn't even consider that it might be you."

"I can't believe you heard us."

Chris looked at Leon, finally registering his friend's shock. Chris frowned darkly. "You were loud. You didn't even try to be quiet while you were fucking my sister, knowing that I was in the house. Do you think I'm deaf or did you just not care how I'd feel about that?"

Leon did not like the look on Chris's face. He looked like he might seriously be contemplating killing him. "Hey, don't give me that look. I told you the last time had to do with you."

"I thought you meant because I helped you find Sherry, not that I was physically there!" Chris gritted out from between his teeth.

The younger man shrugged. "That, too." Leon looked at Chris critically for a while, wondering if he should run for it. Instead, he asked him a question. "In all honesty, since you never came rushing into the room to see what all the noise was about, I just assumed you were still sleeping. I mean, if you heard some guy fucking your sister, why didn't you bust into the room and chase him . . ."

"You."

Leon sighed. "Fine. Why didn't you chase me out of the house bare-assed naked?"

"Because it wasn't my house. It was Claire's house. And despite what you seem to think, I do respect the fact that she's an adult."

Leon sighed. "I know you do. And I did care how you might feel about what happened. I didn't mean for us to be so loud. It's just she kind of makes me lose my shit. And I hadn't had sex in two years before I brought Sherry to her house."

Chris nodded and took a final gulp of his bottled water. Two years . . . as in the last time Leon was with Claire. His friend had been faithful to his sister. No wonder he needed the sex so badly. Chris could understand that. He remembered the way he and Jill made the walls shake when he got her back to his place after Africa. Especially with that new long, blonde hair. He smirked and looked at his friend. This time he was the one studying Leon critically. His poor friend looked absolutely drained. It couldn't have been easy to unload all that emotional baggage about Claire in the first place, let alone to Claire's older brother. He smiled and clapped his friend on the back. "So that was number five, huh?"

Leon nodded. "Yeah. Sorry you heard it all."

Chris waved a dismissive hand and chuckled. "I would have done the same thing to you if I was banging your sister."

Leon's face turned red and he frowned darkly at Chris. A moment later, Leon blasted him in the gut with a lightning-fast fist. "Come near my baby sister, and I'll break your knees!"

Chris grabbed his middle and immediately cracked up, despite how much it hurt. "You've got a lot of fucking nerve! And the last time I checked, I wasn't into fifteen-year-olds!"

Leon smiled, and then laughed with him. "Sorry. Reflex."

"It's cool. And by the way, that wasn't five times, that was like six times . . . no wait, it was even more times than that the two of you had sex."

"No, it wasn't."

"Yes, it was. You just told me that you had sex with Claire like three times the night before New Year's Eve while Sherry was out on her first date with Kenny."

"Yeah, but I only had one orgasm, so that was just one encounter in three parts . . . Like The Lord of the Rings!"

"It's sex, not a trilogy. And even if I was generous and called all that one time, you were together in the hotel on New Year's Eve and that night after I got to Claire's place. That's a total of seven, not five."

"Oh, that. I was grouping all that together, too. I mean, it was one holiday."

Chris looked at him like he was insane. "Dude! It was two holidays!"

"One holiday season. Besides, we couldn't have sex at Christmas. It was her period."

Chris had opened his mouth to say something, but after Leon's ridiculous response, he just started laughing. "I don't wanna hear about her period!" Leon laughed when he saw the look of disgust on Chris's face. "And look here, you can't just group together all the sex that happens in one week as one sexual encounter!"

Leon looked at him, blinked a few times and then asked, "You can't?"

The two men laughed their asses off. Finally Chris gasped out, "You're so fucking stupid!"

Leon chuckled. "Back at ya, Bro. And fine. Seven it is, then."

"Damn right, it's seven . . . minimum! You mathematically-challenged feeb."

Both men chuckled then Leon finished drinking his water.

"Hello! Where are you guys?" Jill's voice carried from inside the house.

"Come help with the groceries, lazy shits!" Claire added.

"Alright, Godammit!" Chris shouted back.

"Hurry up!" his sister hollered in reply.

He frowned. "We'll be right there! Christ!" He turned to Leon with a smile. "You've got strange taste in women, my friend. That one just might be the death of you."

Leon chuckled. "Maybe . . . but what a way to go."

Chris smirked. "Good answer." He clapped Leon on the back. "Thank you for sharing all that with me, Bro. You letting me into yours and Claire's inner sanctum has reassured me that my sister has picked well for herself in the romance department. I know you love her, Leon. I know how far you'd go to be there for her, to protect her, to make her happy. I'm sorry I doubted you, and I'm even sorrier that I didn't talk to you first instead of just taking Claire's side of things while she was still angry." As per her usual, once Claire wasn't angry anymore, she had never gone back to Chris to say, 'Hey, by the way! Leon's not the dick I made him out to be!' or gone to Leon to say, 'Hey, Leon! I never fucked Burnside! April Fools!' He sighed and shook his head. His sister needed to work on that cruel streak, and especially her inability to go back and set things straight.

Leon smiled. "Thanks, man. That means a lot."

"Not a problem. And by the way, if you ever decide to make her a Kennedy, you have my blessing, but only once you've been cleared by a shrink, because if you propose to her, you've clearly lost your mind." Chris stood up and stretched while Leon laughed. "Oh! And if you happen to want to rock her world while you two are staying here with us this week, well . . . that's okay, too. Just try to keep it down. I need my beauty sleep, you know."

"You sure do, you ugly son of a bitch."

Chris smiled and gave Leon the finger before going inside. Leon watched him go with a look of peace on his face. Finally, he got up to follow his brother-in-arms, perhaps someday brother-in-law, into the house.

---

The rest of the night went smoothly. The girls had their hair and nails done for the wedding while they were out, and then went to the supermarket. That's why they took so long. Claire and Jill cooked Chris's favorite meal from childhood, Beef Stroganoff with buttered egg noodles and sour cream. They ate well, and Jill cried when Chris said dinner was just like his mom used to make. The men did the dishes, then Chris and Jill went upstairs to get ready for bed while Leon sat outside on the patio relaxing.

Claire came out and joined him. She found him with his eyes closed and his head on the back of the sofa. He looked tranquil. She smiled.

"Hi, Sweetheart."

He smiled at the sound of her voice but didn't open his eyes. "Hi, yourself," he answered.

"Mind some company?"

He shook his head and extended his arm to her. "Not at all."

She moved across the couch to snuggle up beside him. She leaned her head down onto his chest and wrapped his arm around herself. He sighed and began to caress her back.

"Did you guys have a nice afternoon?"

He nodded. "We did. Plenty of male bonding."

She smirked. "I'll bet."

He chuckled then opened his eyes to look down at her. "You look beautiful." The mid-autumn weather was cool at night in northern Virginia, so Claire had changed into a pair of jeans and a purple and lavender striped sweater. She kissed his cheek as a thank you. "How about you?" he asked. "You and Jill were gone a long time. I see you both got your hair and nails done. Did you enjoy yourself? I know how much you hate beauty rituals."

She sighed. "It was nice actually. Sometimes, acting like a girl makes for some good female bonding." He closed his eyes and nodded. She stared at him for a while, unspeaking. Finally she said, "Leon . . . ." She sighed a little anxiously. "Honey, I need to talk to you about something."

He opened his eyes and gazed down at her. "What's up, Baby?"

"I . . . um . . . I told Jill . . . about us."

He nodded. "Did you?"

She sighed and closed her eyes. "Yeah. We were at the beauty parlor. She asked me flat out if I'd ever had sex with you, and I said 'yes'.

He smiled. "You look upset about it."

She shook her head. "Well, I mean . . . I'm not upset unless I've upset you."

He shook his head. "I'm not upset. As a matter of fact, I owe you an explanation of my own. Chris kind of cornered me today and made me tell him about us. He asked me the same question, and I also said 'yes'."

"You told my brother you've been fucking me?" He nodded. She quirked a brow. "Wow. And you're still alive." He laughed. "So, how did he drag that out of you? I know you wouldn't have told him without good reason . . . considering how afraid you are of him." She finished her comment with a playfully taunting smirk.

Leon made a rude sound. "I'm not scared of your brother, Claire. But he's like a brother to me, too. I thought that telling him would end our friendship. That was what scared me."

"I was only teasing. I know that." She grinned and kissed his cheek. "So why did you tell him?"

Leon sighed. "Sherry."

"What about her?"

"When I asked Chris to help me find her, it was the day I went to check on him for you."

"I remember. You guys told me that the day he visited me after we took her to college."

"Right. So Chris was wallowing in self-pity and contemplating quitting the BSAA when I found him at Terry's Pub, trying to drink his grief away. He was really in no condition to be going on a mission, but he did it anyway . . . for you and for me. I was so grateful to him, Claire. I couldn't have gotten her home without him. He even knew the area because he'd been stationed in Germany and visited Fucking while he was in the Air Force. That's when he stole the road signs. After it was all over, I told him that I owed him big time, and that if there was ever anything I could do for him, he just had to ask."

"Okay. So?"

"So, at first when he asked me about you today, I refused to tell him. Then he reminded me of my promise and said this was what he wanted me to do as repayment."

Claire frowned. She knew how much of a blow that must have been to his integrity. He must have felt like Chris was putting him in a position to either betray him or betray her. "That's awful, Sweetheart. Want me to go upstairs and beat him up for you?"

Leon chuckled. "Nah. He and I are cool. He gave his blessing for our relationship."

She smiled. "He better have."

Leon pulled her into a kiss. "It was actually cathartic. I've only ever told Ark about us, a lot of help talking to Ark ever is, and then Ark told Bruce, which meant he was one more person for me to talk to about our relationship, but no one has ever given me the good advice that your brother did today. I'm actually grateful to him for pressuring me into this man-to-man. It didn't turn out to be as bad as I thought it would be. I think it actually made my friendship with Chris a lot stronger."

"Yeah? Well, that's what Kenny always says about talking to you. He looks up to you, you know."

Leon smiled. "I know. He's a great kid. Love that boy like a son these days, despite our rocky beginning. I'd do anything for him just like I'd do anything for Sherry."

Claire smiled. "Likewise."

Leon stared into her eyes. "So . . . what did you tell the girls at the salon about me?"

She quirked a scarlet brow again. "You really wanna know?"

He nodded and kissed her cheek. "Come on, Baby. Spill."

---

"Come on, Claire. Spill," Jill insisted from the neighboring shampoo sink. "I know you've at least been fooling around with Leon, if not knocking boots with him."

"Oooo! Gossip!" one of the other hair salon patrons exclaimed. "Who's Leon?"

Claire started to say her best friend, but Jill cut her off. "He's this really hot guy who's been friends with Claire for like a decade, and I happen to think she's fucking him."

Claire rolled her eyes. "Fine. So I'm fucking him. Your point is?"

Jill's eyes widened and she sat up and stared at Claire, then she suddenly started laughing and got up and hugged her, practically strangling her future sister-in-law, and completely wetting both of their clothes. "Oh, Claire! Oh, I'm sorry about the t-shirt. But that's so awesome! Is it a casual thing or is it serious?"

"It's . . . complicated."

"No shit," Jill answered with a laugh. "Have you two been dating long?"

"On and off since we met."

One of the other women asked, "Is he good in bed?"

Claire blushed hotly and trembled a little. "You better believe it."

Jill bust out laughing. "Claire Elizabeth Redfield! Did you just fucking shiver thinking about having sex with Leon Scott Kennedy?"

Claire laughed. "So what if I did? The man is gifted."

"Gifted with skill, or gifted with size?" one of the younger patrons asked. All the women in the salon started to laugh.

Claire smirked. "Both. Dear, sweet Jesus . . . both!" The women all laughed even harder.

One of the older ladies asked, "Will there be wedding bells in the future?"

Claire's smile fell. She sighed and answered, "Probably not any time soon."

"Why not?" Jill asked.

"Jill, come on now. We live three hours apart, and you know why we can't move closer together. A long distance relationship is hard enough when we're just dating. Being married and only seeing him every couple years would just drive us both insane."

"You only see each other every couple years?" Nina, one of the stylists, asked.

"Well, not most recently. Leon and I have only actually had sex a handful of times." She thought about it for a moment, then began ticking off each encounter on her fingers. "Let's see. He took my virginity the night that we met, after . . . uh, that incident in New Hampshire . . . ." She looked at Jill pointedly to let her know that she meant Raccoon City. "That was like ten years ago. We had sex in a hotel room about two weeks after that. He went into training with the government and so we didn't hook up again until four months after that. And then that day we had a falling out after we made love, and we didn't see each other again for another five or six years, when we, um . . . reconnected. Then there was the winter holiday season that Leon brought Sherry home. And then we visited his family about six months ago, which he better not ever tell Chris. I also tried visiting him about eight months after we had been together over the winter holiday two years ago, but he wasn't home. He was off on a mission and he didn't get back until after I had to go back to work." She smiled. "His cat likes me."

Jill smirked. "Well, it's not hard to get on Honey's good side. She loves everybody." Claire chuckled. "And by the way, when you stopped speaking for like five years, was that about your daughter?"

"Yeah."

"You have a daughter together?" Mimi, the salon owner asked.

Claire nodded. "Sherry's our adopted daughter. She's in college now."

Jill smiled. "Is Sherry coming to my wedding?"

Claire nodded. "And she's bringing her boyfriend Kenny."

Jill beamed. "I've been dying to meet them both."

Claire smiled. "You'll get your chance. Be ready, Sherry's a handful."

Jill nodded and smiled, but she was quick to get back on the topic of Claire and Leon. "And, was the Harvardville incident when you and Leon . . . reconnected?"

Claire nodded. "After that, we were officially boyfriend and girlfriend again. We couldn't see each other very often, but we talk just about everyday by phone."

"Yeah. So I've noticed. When's the last time you two got together again?"

"Six months ago at his parents' house."

"Really? They let you into Ohio without an armed guard?"

Claire chuckled and gave Jill the finger. "Yeah. Before that we hadn't seen each other in about a year and a half, when he and Chris brought Sherry home. But don't ever tell Chris. He cracks under pressure easily when he's talking to Leon's dad because he's like a war hero. Chris turns into a fucking groupie with Poppa Kennedy. He'd blab in no time that I had sex in the man's house if Poppa Kennedy just asked him about the weather."

Jill smirked and nodded. It was definitely true. "Why would it matter to Leon's father?"

"Because the last time we were intimate was in Leon's old bedroom. We didn't tell them we were even together romantically. We felt it was too much to hit them with all at once since they'd only just met me. We slept in separate rooms, and then he snuck into my room in the middle of the night."

Jill smiled. "Details, Dollface."

Claire shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

Unlike her boyfriend, Claire had zero reservations about telling an entire room full of strangers, let alone Jill, about how, when, where, and in what positions she fucked Leon every time she fucked Leon. This went on for a good hour, with Claire telling all the salon patrons and employees about Leon's prowess as a lover in vivid detail.

Finally, fanning herself after hearing about their first ever anal, Jill asked Claire, "What about the time at his folks' place in Ohio? How'd that go?"

Claire took a swig of mineral water and continued. "Well, Leon was sleeping in the TV lounge on the pullout couch. He's such a gentleman, he gave up his childhood room for me. I kind of got a little nosy and started going through his old stuff."

"Looking for dirt on old girlfriends?" Jill asked knowingly.

Claire laughed. "Stop telling all my secrets. Anyway, I found a bunch of photos, a few pictures of his high school sweetheart, and finally, his yearbook." She swigged her water again. "Did you know Leon was a jock in high school?" Jill shook her head. "Neither did I. He looked so cute with his tight buns in that tight baseball uniform." She smiled a distant smile and rubbed her thumb absently across her bottom lip. Jill let that continue for all of about thirty seconds before she snapped her fingers in front of the redhead's face.

"Earth to Claire."

Claire chuckled. "Sorry. That's how I got into trouble that night, too. Daydreaming about Leon's buns."

Jill laughed. "Yeah? What happened?"

Claire grinned and shook her head. What a crazy memory. "He caught me masturbating to his picture in the middle of the night." Claire chuckled. 'You'd think I'd learn to stop doing that after the whole Kenny business,' she thought.

"What?" Jill demanded. "Oh my God, Claire!" she laughed. "You are out of control!"

Claire smiled. "Maybe so, but the sex was fantastic."

"You little tramp, you!" Jill said with a chuckle. "And how the hell did he catch you if it was so late?"

"He had to pee. He walked past the room and heard me moaning his name. He peeked inside, saw what I was doing, and went on to the bathroom to pee and he said to laugh at me. He went to the kitchen for a snack next. When he finished eating and washing his dish, he came back and peeked inside the room again. He found me sleeping that time. So, he came in and closed and locked the door." Claire smiled. "God, that was a hot night."

"What does he look like?" one of the other women asked.

Claire pulled out her wallet. She had a few pictures of him, including one she'd taken of him walking into her room after a shower, the morning after their rekindling due to the Harvardville incident. That was the one she showed to the women in the salon.

"Holy mother of God!" Sheila, one of the hair stylists muttered. "That man's body should be illegal!"

Claire laughed. "That's what I always say!"

One of the customers commented. "Your friend was right, Claire. He is ridiculously handsome. And look how confident he looks. He doesn't even care that you took this picture."

"Forget all that!" Doreen, the nail stylist said. "Look at those baby blue eyes, and that grin." She turned to Claire. "You poor baby. He must be able to talk you into anything."

Claire laughed even harder. "See? You feel my pain! Do you know how easy it would be for that man to convince me to buy the Brooklyn Bridge from him with just a smile?"

Jill shook her head in amusement. "I'll bet. But truth be told, you could easily get him to buy it back from you by wearing any of the wide assortment of daisy duke shorts and tight low-cut t-shirts you seem to own."

Claire smirked and shrugged. "I guess you're right. And you should see the picture I gave him of me. I took it on his bed with his cat."

"Uh huh. So I take it there's two pussies in the photo," Jill replied. Claire laughed and said no. "Well, maybe not, but I'm sure it's still intended for mature audiences."

Claire nodded. "Mature audiences that don't contain my brother or his parents."

"Well, my future husband goes without saying, Sis. But do his parents at least know that you're dating, now?" Claire shook her head no. Jill sighed. "Aren't they coming to my wedding?"

Claire nodded. "Yeah. They're bringing his uncle. Sean and my neighbor Mrs. Steinbaugh have been writing each other for two years. We figured it was time they meet."

"And are you gonna tell them about your relationship when they come?" Claire shrugged. Jill shook her head and sighed. "Claire, tell me the truth here, Baby-Girl. Are you serious about him or not?"

"Of course I am. Leon is my heart."

"And do you want to have with him what Chris and I are about to have?"

Claire's eyes welled up. "More than anything, Jill."

"Then Honey, you need to talk to your man. Straighten out your relationship once and for all. I mean, take it from me, Claire. Tomorrow isn't promised to any of us. You have to at least try to make the most of today."

---

Leon was serious as he listened to Claire tell him about the salon.

"Jill said that?"

"Yeah." She sighed. "I happen to agree with her. I want more than this, Leon. More than being your pen pal and occasional lover. I want what Chris and Jill have. We deserve to be as happy as they are."

Leon narrowed his eyes. "And what about Steve?"

Claire looked confused. "What about him?"

Leon stared into her eyes, his own suddenly appearing hollow. "Can you finally let him go, because if you can't, there's no hope for our future. I'm willing to visit you on every day off I have from now until we're old and gray. I've already given you a key to my condo so you can feel like you're able to be in my home whenever you want, that my home is your home, and that can be how it is for the rest of our lives. But I can't be the man you settled for if you ever want us to be more than we are. I deserve better than that."

Claire was silent as she stared at him for a long while. Finally, she responded. "Leon . . . . what the fuck are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Claire. Geniuses aren't very good at it."

She frowned. "Are you seriously starting a fucking argument with me right after I told you I want us to take our relationship to the next level?"

He sighed. "I'm not trying to start an argument, but considering how you've always made me feel about Steve, I don't think it's too much to ask for you to tell me where I stand with you now, before we take any next step."

"Where you . . . Leon, what the hell does where you stand in my heart have to do with Steve Burnside?"

Now it was his turn to frown. She really intended to play stupid about this. "Oh, I don't know . . . perhaps the fact that I've always stood behind him in your heart might have a little something to do with it!"

Claire stared at him. "Are you accusing me of having had feelings for Steve?"

His frown darkened. "No . . . I'm reminding you that you already told me you were in love with him!"

"What? When?"

"Claire . . . ."

"Leon, really. I'm being serious here. I know you're mad at me, but I really don't understand why you think I'm in love with Steve!" She pleaded with him, desperation, not anger coloring her tone. She was losing him, and she didn't even know why. Her eyes welled up. "Baby, are you breaking up with me? Is that what came out of your conversation with my brother? That you don't . . . you don't want me anymore?"

His heart broke at the sight of the glistening tears that filled her eyes. "No . . . no, Claire. That's not what I'm trying to say." He stared at her for a moment. "You honestly don't remember?"

"Remember what?"

"Telling me that you were in love with Steve . . . that you had sex with Steve."

"What?"

"Claire, don't you remember our argument when we found out Wesker took Sherry?" She shook her head 'no'. "Are you fucking kidding me?" She shook her head again. "Jesus Christ, Claire! I haven't forgotten a single fucking word! Everything you said to me . . . everything I said to you . . . it all still hurts to this day! How can you not remember?"

"I was angry! I don't know what I said! I thought we put all that behind us!"

"Oh sure. Just let it go, right? After I dreamed of nothing but you for four months while Jack Krauser made me his own personal punching bag! But because I couldn't get away from the training facility, my prison, to come save you without being shot on sight, you told me I failed you so you fucked the first ready dick available! And then fell in love with him! And when I told you I loved you, you just didn't say anything!"

"Oh, God," she whispered. "I think I remember some of that." She looked at her boyfriend. He looked so defeated. "Oh, Sweetheart . . . Sweetheart, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean any of that. It was all a lie."

"Sure it was."

"Oh, no! Please, Baby! You have to believe me! I was just upset about Sherry! I should never have said that! I never loved Steve! And I certainly never had sex with him!" Leon just shook his head and sat up, gently pushing her off his chest. That's when the first of her tears fell. "Oh, God! I am losing you, aren't I?"

He looked at her again. "I . . . I don't know. I didn't think so earlier." He looked down at his hands. "But, I don't appreciate you trying to fix this . . . this pain I've been carrying for so long with a pretty lie. I accepted the ugly truth a long time ago. For you to try to make this right by telling me what I want to hear . . . it's immature and insulting. I know I didn't go to Harvard, but I'm not stupid."

She threw her hands up. "Here we go again with this Harvard bullshit! I told you before that I think you're one of the smartest men I know. I don't care where you went to college, or what degree you got. Hell, I never even got to finish college!"

"Because of an outbreak. Chris told me how smart you were in school. You were high school valedictorian. You would have graduated with honors if Umbrella hadn't ruined your chances to finish your education."

"So? So, I went to an ivy league school and you went to a community college. So what? You graduated top of your class at the police academy! And you got honors with your associate degree! Your mom showed me! You were salutatorian! And who cares anyway? Does any of that matter? Does where we went to school mean you and I can't be together? Can't love each other?"

Leon's frown returned. "You go too far, Claire! Don't mock my pain! I know you could never love me! You love Steve!"

She bit her bottom lip as not to join him in a shouting match. "Leon . . . I'm not the one who loved Steve. I'm not the one who had sex with him." She took a breath. She hated breaking this promise not to tell, but she was losing her man. She knew the one she promised would understand, and encourage her to break her vow of secrecy. "Leon, Sherry is the one who loved Steve."

Leon stood up. "That's a fucking lie!"

"No, it isn't. Sherry was in love with Steve. He loved her, too. They were prisoners together after Wesker reanimated Steve. They grew into adulthood together. They fell in love over the years, and then lost their virginities together on Sherry's eighteenth birthday. See? He was still a virgin when he died the first time. it's like I said, I never touched him."

"Whatever."

Claire finally lost her temper. "Don't you fucking mock my daughter's pain! Wesker found out about them, you know! He found out and he . . . ." Claire's eyes began to leak as she cried for Sherry and Steve. "Leon, he tortured him . . . he tortured him and he made her watch. When he finally died, she was grateful. Can you imagine wishing the person you love the most would die just so someone would stop hurting them?"

Leon remembered the pain on Steve's face when he found his body. He remembered the way the young man was cut open. His organs, his genitals, all in jars. 'Wesker probably took his penis first, just so they could never make love again.' He looked into his beloved's eyes. He knew it was true. "Okay. Okay, I'm sorry. I was wrong to make light of it." He closed his eyes and groaned. "God, I talked about blowing up his body right in front of her. No wonder she was so angry with me in quarantine."

Claire sighed and nodded. "Yeah. She told me about that. She felt like she couldn't even tell you why she was upset with you. Then you started accusing her of loving me better, and she stopped being so hard on you. But the damage was done. I can tell you that she eventually saw things my way, but it wasn't easy. Eventually though, I got her to understand that it was better for Steve's body not to be used by any of the evil pharmaceutical companies anymore. Not Umbrella, not TriCell, not WilPharma."

He sighed and nodded. "I guess I gave his necklace to the wrong girl."

"Yeah. Don't worry, though. I gave it to her when we got home from New York."

Leon sighed in relief. "Thanks." He closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He was getting a headache. 'Too much booze and drama.'

Claire stared at him for a while. He could feel her gaze on his face. He finally turned to face her. She reached out tentatively and caressed his cheek.

"Have you been carrying what I said to you all this time? Thinking I didn't care about you? That I loved Steve, and resented you for not being him? For not saving us both so he wouldn't be dead?"

He nodded. She shocked him when she burst into tears. He sat in stunned disbelief for several seconds, and then finally sighed in defeat and reached over to pull her into his arms. "Come on, Claire. Don't cry."

"I'm so sorry!" she sobbed into his shirt. "I can't believe I did that to you! I'm a terrible person! And now, I've lost you forever!"

He smiled, elated beyond belief. "You're really not in love with Steve, are you? You don't wish I'd died instead of him?"

She cried even harder. "Oh, God! Did I say that to you?"

He shook his head. "No. Not in so many words . . . but it was written all over your face. Especially when I told you how we found him at the facility in Fucking. I saw two things in your expression at that moment: you wished I'd been the one who died, and you hated me for blowing him up."

She caressed his cheek again and kissed him. "Leon, I was sad that Steve's body had been so desecrated by Wesker. I wasn't upset that you'd blown it up. It was an empty shell after he died. But it was disrespectful to his memory for those . . . monsters to keep using him for experiments. I wasn't angry with you, Baby . . . well, I mean maybe a little at first, but it was a gut reaction, and my common sense pushed away the visceral response right away." He nodded. "Because I was grateful to you for destroying his body so it couldn't be used as a T-Veronica virus Petri dish anymore. I told you that!" Suddenly, she sat up and glared at him angrily. "I can't believe you said I wished you dead! I have never wished you the slightest bit of harm! I've never wished you anything but happiness! Hell, I would die in your place! How could you say you love me and think that I want you dead?"

"I didn't say you wanted me dead. You just seemed to prefer Steve were alive if one of us had to die."

She stared at him for a moment. She then broke eye contact and stared at her hands in her lap. Finally, she grabbed his head with both of her hands, forcing him to look her in the eyes.

"Leon, Sweetheart, you have got to be the stupidest man I've ever met, and college has nothing to do with it. I won't deny that what I said all those years ago was hurtful, how I acted was terrible, and the fact that I never took it back was wrong. But after all we've been through since then, together and apart, after all the moments, the kisses, the caresses, the tender words we've shared, if you could think that of me, that I could ever wish you harm, then when you said you loved me you lied to me."

He shook his head. "Claire, I've never loved any woman but you, but I can't pretend you didn't tell me you were in love with Steve and I would never be equal to him in your eyes. Your words. And you said he was better in bed."

She closed her eyes, too late to stop two tears from falling. "Leon, I never had sex with Steve. I can be . . . cruel when I'm that upset. In truth, I thought of him like a little brother, if anything. I regretted not being able to save him. I couldn't have been in love with him, Leon. He was a kid, only sixteen when we met. I was twenty. I had been with you, with a real man. I wouldn't have been satisfied with a child. And even though I know I left the hotel in Atlantic City in a bad way, I still considered myself to be your girlfriend when I met him. I'd always thought we were together for four and a half months and then broke up over Sherry."

He sighed. "Claire, it's not necessary to lie to me to make me feel better. I know I was just the back up plan. It's okay. I'm just happy that you weren't in love with him . . . I've accepted the fact that you were intimate. I'm okay with it, really."

Her jaw dropped in disbelief. She then frowned . . . and punched him in the face. "You bastard!"

"Ow! Dammit! What the hell is wrong with you Redfields?"

"What the hell is wrong with you? How dare you accuse me of lying about something like that!"

"Look, you're either lying now or you lied then, so you shouldn't be pissed with me!"

She welled up. "I never slept with Steve!"

"Yes, you did! Now, I'm not mad that you did it, but I won't be lied to about it! And it's not like you only told me once! I mean, you told me again that you did it after we met up in Harvardville!"

"What? When?"

"When you asked me about whether we should use a condom! I said I always wore one with every girl so I was clean! You said I didn't wear one with you! I said you were a virgin when we had sex, and you said not the second time!"

She blinked a few times, completely perplexed. "So? I wasn't."

"Yeah, because you'd been fucking Steve."

She frowned. "No, because I'd been fucking you, you fucking retard!"

His eyes widened. "Wait . . . you meant me?"

"Yes! Who the fuck else would I mean?"

"Then why would it matter the second time whether I wore a condom or not if the only person you were talking about was me?"

"I wasn't throwing Steve in your face, Asshole! I was just making an observation!"

Leon looked at her with complete shock for almost a full minute. "I can't believe this shit. We must have the worst communication of any couple on the planet."

"No shit!"

They both just stared off into the yard again. Neither said anything for a few minutes. Finally, Leon broke the silence.

"I'm sorry."

Claire wiped away tears. "I'm sorry, too."

"I misunderstood and then I kept drawing the wrong conclusions."

"Is that what Sherry meant? When she told me two years ago that she thought you didn't believe I loved you?"

"I never told her about Steve, but yeah, she said that you were gonna miss me when I left because you loved me so much, and . . . ."

"You implied that I didn't," Claire finished his statement for him with a dejected sigh. She looked over at her boyfriend . . . at least, she hoped he stayed her boyfriend. His expression was full of pain, confusion, and loss. Maybe if he'd believed she loved him, he might have tried a little harder to be together more frequently. How much must it have hurt to love her so much and think she didn't feel the same way. Why did he even stay with her? Why torture himself like that? Then she thought about what she would have done if he'd told her that he loved and had sex with Ada Wong but was willing to settle for her since Ada was dead. Her eyes immediately welled up. It would have hurt like hell, but she would have done the same thing. She loved him so much, she would have taken whatever he was willing to give her. She reached out and grabbed his hand, interlocking her fingers with his. "Leon . . . please don't take it that I'm blaming you. I mean, I recognize that this all stems from me walking out on you and then saying hurtful things to you that I didn't really mean and never took back because I didn't even remember later. But didn't you believe anything Chris told you today about what I told him the morning after you and I were together two years ago?"

"He didn't say anything about it."

She looked at him in shock; "Did you tell him you think I don't love you? And about what I told you about Steve?" He nodded. Claire frowned darkly in the direction of the upstairs window that opened off of Chris and Jill's bedroom. "I can't believe he pressured you into talking to him and then didn't tell you the most important proof he had about how I feel about you! Granted, at the time I said it he thought I was talking about another man, but after your talk he knew it was you!"

"What do you mean?"

She sighed and turned to him, forcing a sad little smile. "When Chris got up in the morning, I found out that he'd heard us. He was being a general pain in the ass as usual so I told him how I felt about the man I'd had sex with that night."

---

The next morning after Leon left, Chris teased Claire about late-night visitors.

She smirked and asked, "How'd you know I got my period last night?" He pulled a very disgusted face and she cracked up. "God, Christopher! You're such a pansy about the menstrual cycle. I was only fucking kidding!"

He frowned at the insult, and then smirked at the chance to wipe the grin off her face. "That's not the kind of visitor I meant. I was thinking more along the lines of a visitor of the male persuasion."

Claire's face paled. She wasn't ready to tell Chris about her and Leon yet. Especially since Chris had just lost Jill.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she hedged.

He chuckled. "Of course you don't. But maybe Leon does."

Her eyes widened and she swallowed past a lump in her throat. "Leon doesn't know anything."

Chris nodded. "That's right. And what are you gonna give me to keep it that way?"

She looked confused. "What?"

His grin broadened. "Oh, come off it, Claire. You and Leon were at war for the longest time about God only knows what, although I imagine it was probably about Sherry's kidnapping, and now you've been speaking again since Harvardville."

She frowned. "So? What of it?"

He laughed. "Ooo! Touchy!" He laughed even harder when she gave him the finger. "Hey, don't shoot the messenger, Claire-Bear. I'm just saying . . . it's obvious that you still want to ride the 'Kennedy Express'. And I bet you think maybe some day you will, but He doesn't know about your little boy-toy who snuck into the house last night to fuck you silly. And if you want it to stay that way, you'll make with the bacon and pancakes this morning."

Claire realized that Chris had no idea that Leon was the man she was with. She smiled. "Fuck your breakfast! There's cereal in the pantry. Tell Leon whatever you want. He's my best friend. He won't care. And besides, I happen to love the man I was with last night. I love him with all my heart and soul . . . I always have. And I'm never giving him up for anything."

---

Leon appeared to be in shock as he listened to her recount what she told Chris. "Claire."

"No, please . . . just let me finish." He stopped talking and waited patiently for her to continue. "Leon . . . there is only one man I have ever loved." She moved closer to him and took his right hand in both of hers. "He's the man I trusted my life and my virginity to in Raccoon City without doubt or remorse. He's the man I gave my soul to almost ten years ago, the man who met me one second and then saved my life a moment later." He shook his head in disagreement. "Yes, Leon. It's always been you. I told Mrs. Steinbaugh that two years ago right in front of you. I thought you understood. But despite everything we've been to each other over the years, one stupid thing I said in the heat of anger like a lifetime ago was all you remembered." She looked out into the yard. "I don't know which one of us I'm angrier with."

"That's not fair. You can't put that on me. You also told her that Sherry was away at boarding school before she came to visit you. I thought you were just trying to give her an uncomplicated back story." He shook his head to clear it. All those beers were definitely making him sick now. "Claire, other than that one time, when have you ever told anyone that you loved me? I've told you that I love you one time in the past, and you made me feel ill at ease with ever saying it out loud again. Why did you never say it back? Why did you never say it at all?"

She had a brief flashback of a conversation with Sherry about calling him before getting wasted because she missed him so much. She was supposed to tell him she loved him, but instead she said something stupid like he smelled good or some such nonsense because she was so drunk. She sighed. 'I have more of Chris in me than I sometimes like to admit.' She kissed his cheek. "Because I'm a bad girlfriend, that's why I never said it back. You're right. I remember you told me. It shouldn't have taken ten years for me to tell you the same, especially considering how the day you told me ended. But when I told Mrs. Steinbaugh that we were in love, I meant it. And I've told Sherry."

He looked down at where their hands were locked together. He extricated his hand from her grip. "Then why, Claire? When I told you that I loved you that day four months after our first separation, why didn't you say it back? You looked . . . uncomfortable with the fact that I was in love with you. It made it easier for me to believe you about Steve later that day."

She welled up again. "God, I never realized how all that must have looked to you, but when you put it all together, I can see how you'd think this way for so long." She couldn't even face him now. "I know I made what should have been a major milestone in our lives together just an absolutely awkward moment, but the only reason I got so quiet was because it brought back bad memories. You see, Steve had told me he loved me right before he died. I felt guilty about that for so many reasons. I didn't feel the same way, I didn't save his life, I couldn't keep my promise to bring him home. I felt responsible for him, and I'd failed him. Hearing you say those words, if it weren't for what happened with Steve, I would have told you the same. And then I started thinking what if you died because you told me you loved me." She wiped her eyes, which welled up again at the prospect of losing her beloved. "I never even considered the fact that it would seem to you like I was rejecting you, Baby. I'm so sorry."

He sighed and dropped his head back onto the top of the couch. "Can we stop talking for a while . . . maybe pick it up again tomorrow? I mean, I get your explanation, and I believe you never had sex with Steve, but all this heady emotional stuff is giving me a bit of a migraine. I think I'm too drunk to have this conversation."

She smiled, and then she laughed. She leaned over and kissed him. "Yeah, I noticed." She kissed him again. "It's fine, Sweetheart. We can take a break from our talk. But, since I made you wait so long to hear it, let me clarify for you, once and for all, how I feel about you." She kissed him again. "I, Claire Elizabeth Redfield, am madly, truly, deeply, completely, and hopelessly in love with you, Leon Scott Kennedy . . . and I have been ever since I asked you to make me a woman, your woman in Raccoon City." She kissed him again. "And I am so, so sorry that I ever gave you reason to doubt that. I thank you so much for never giving up on me."

Chris's voice carried outside from somewhere on the second floor inside the house. "And Claire thanks her older brother for forcing the Rookie to talk about it so you two would finally cut the shit!"

The couple laughed. Claire yelled back, "And I thank my nosy-ass, lunkhead, overbearing, juiced-up older brother for pressuring my poor, unsuspecting, amazing-in- bed boyfriend into talking about our relationship against his will! Despite being a big, dumb muscle-brain with a drinking problem, he has his moments of usefulness!"

Chris chuckled. "Brat! Did you have to add that 'amazing-in-bed' part?"

"As long as it made you uncomfortable, Peeping Tom, then yes!" Claire replied.

"Isn't it called a 'Peeping Kenny'?"

"Hey! Don't talk shit about Sherry's boyfriend or I'll tell Jill where you're really going for your bachelor party!"

"Why, you little . . . ."

"CHRIS!" Jill's voice drowned him out. "GET YOUR ASS AWAY FROM THAT WINDOW AND LEAVE THEM THE HELL ALONE!"

Chris opened the window and whispered outside, "You win this round, Pipsqueak. But I shall have my revenge."

"NOW!"

He sighed. "Married life is gonna be awesome!" he said sarcastically before pulling his head back inside and shutting the window.

"'I shall have my revenge'. Wow. Didn't you once tell me he accused you having a nefarious plot or something?" Leon nodded. "What a tool."

Leon and Claire smiled at each other, and then moved closer together. He leaned down to kiss her. "You really do look beautiful, not that you didn't earlier."

"Thanks."

He smirked at her playfully.

She let it go on for a moment and then she quirked her brow and demanded, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Did you really show the women in that salon a half-naked picture of me?"

She laughed out loud. "It was the upper half!"

He laughed with her and pulled her into a hug. "I'm flattered, Baby."

She smirked. "Like you never showed anyone that picture of me!"

"Never!" he laughed.

She frowned, gasped, and slapped his chest. "Why not?"

He chuckled. "Because you corrupted my poor cat."

She giggled. "Do you still have it?"

"Hell yeah, I still have it."

"Can I see?"

"Sure."

He pulled the photo out of his wallet and handed it to her. She smiled at the memory it called up. She had been so disappointed that Leon wasn't home when she visited his condo, but they had each other's keys, and she called him to tell him she was letting herself in. He told her to make herself at home and to feed his cat. She chuckled and said Leon had left enough food and water to feed an army of cats, but she'd happily change the litter box and pet his little furry roommate whenever she wanted.

Leon's cat had taken immediately to Claire, following her around the house and waiting for her at the door whenever Claire went out. So when Claire decided to have Rebecca bring over her camera and take some racy shots for Leon, Honey refused to get off the bed. So, Claire made her a part of the picture.

In the final photo, Claire was sprawled out across the foot of Leon's bed, the covers all tossed on the floor, save for the lone white sheet that was draped low across Claire's hips. She had one arm straight out under the pillow she nestled her head upon, her long red locks spilling over one side of the pillow to pool on the mattress. Her other arm was draped across her bare breasts, just barely hiding the center of both from view. The smirk on her face was naughty and her makeup was natural. She looked like she'd just finished fucking him. Honey the cat was stretched out in front of Claire's groin. She was blocking the view of Claire's goods, which was why there was only one 'pussy' in the photo, as opposed to Jill's suggestion.

Claire chuckled and returned the picture to her lover, and he returned it to his wallet. He pulled her into his arms again. They just sat together holding each other. She caressed his hand as he caressed her abdomen through her sweater. Then all of a sudden, looked at her with a perplexed expression.

"What now?" she asked.

He smirked at her. "What's under this thing?"

She smiled seductively. "Why don't you take a look and find out?"

He lifted her sweater and then smiled. "Black leather tube top. Claire, you spoil me."

She took the sweater off and kissed him forcefully. He wasted no time in rubbing her breasts through the leather before breaking their kiss. He moved down to lick her collarbone, and then dragged the leather top down off her right breast. He teased her nipple with his tongue. She sighed and unzipped the side of the tube top. It fell away from her body, giving her boyfriend free access to both breasts. When her upper half was bared to him, he was shocked by what he saw. On Claire's left breast was a tattoo of his initials. There was an 'LSK' inked right over where Claire's heart would be.

"Baby?"

She smiled, blushing sweetly, a rarity for the badass TerraSave agent unless she was in the company of the man seated beside her. "I got it done after our last visit together, at your parents' house. I . . . I wanted you to know that I belong to you."

He smiled and kissed her gently. "I love you, Claire." He kissed the tattoo and then licked her nipples, mouthing them gently so she would shiver with delight for him. Then he sat up and kissed her, their tongues swirling around each other, as he lightly rubbed her nipples with his fingertips. She moaned into their kiss.

He pulled away from her and smiled. "Take your clothes off," he whispered.

She got up and obeyed immediately, only sitting down again when she was nude. She was a little cold, but she knew her lover would warm her up in no time.

Leon got down onto the ground. He rubbed her wetness a few times before tasting her deeply. She moaned quietly as he pleasured her. 'Six months,' she thought. 'We really can't keep being apart for this long.'

For the next five minutes, Leon licked her pussy, sucked her clit, and rubbed her opening. He was gentler than he'd ever been before. Clearly, he was about to make love to her. 'There will be no fucking tonight,' he thought. 'She deserves to know how much I love her. Besides, it's been way too long since she was under me.'

When she was trembling almost continuously, he stopped. He sat up and leaned forward to kiss her. While he did that, he unbuttoned his shirt and took it off. She helped him to remove the rest of his clothing. When they were both naked, he sat down on the sofa. She knelt beside him and bent over his lap to stroke him before putting him into her mouth.

He caressed her back and smoothed her hair off her face. When she worked her hand up and down his shaft then rubbed his sacque, he moaned and leaned over her back to get his hand between her legs. She sucked him a little harder and moaned a little louder as he fingered her while planting kisses up and down her spine.

When he couldn't take it anymore, he lifted her head gently away from his cock. He kissed her tenderly and then turned her onto her side. He settled himself behind her and entered her.

'Six months,' he thought with a sigh. 'The end of another drought.'

He kept his pace gentle. He kissed her cheek and nuzzled her throat. She extended her leg straight up into the air. He stopped supporting it to caress her from the tips of her toes down to her inner thigh, and then he slid his hand over to rub her clit, giving her more stimulation as he glided gently in and out of her.

"That's so nice, Leon," she whispered. She kissed him as gently as he had done to her. "You want me to get under you?"

He nodded. "On your back, Baby."

She complied. A moment later he was deep inside her again, pounding her hard while he held himself up on his fists, watching her breasts as they bounced.

It was too good. Claire gripped his arms and threw her left leg up over the top of the couch. He was driving her insane, grinding his hips, pushing it deep. She grabbed his ass, and she could feel the muscles contract and release every time he buried his cock inside her. She threw her head back and made a gasping sound before shrieking, "Oh, God!" into the night.

Leon and Claire made love on the sofa for the next five minutes, but when their moaning got a little louder, they were interrupted by another shouted commentary from Chris's bedroom window.

"Hey! Stop scaring my new neighbors with your naked perversion!"

Claire and Leon started to laugh. Claire yelled up at the window, "Mind your damn business!"

"Free porn shows on my back patio are my business! Especially when I haven't been given the option of charging admission!"

Leon laughed as he pulled out of Claire and rubbed her leg as he answered her brother. "Chris, does Jill know you're bugging us again?"

Claire smiled and reached out to caress his chest. "Yeah!" she yelled up to Chris. "Because I can tell her if you like!"

Jill's voice responded this time. "Yes, Jill knows! Now, bring your slutty asses inside before someone sees you and thinks you're us! Do it within the next minute, and I won't call the Arlington Police Department." Her next statement made Chris groan loudly in disgust. "It's your choice, Leon. You can spend the night in jail or in Claire. But you're not spending it naked on my new patio furniture!"

Leon stood up and stretched. "Only one clear course of action given those choices." He helped Claire to her feet, handed her their clothes, then threw her over his shoulder. He slapped both her ass cheeks and walked inside.

She frowned and shouted. "I swear to God, Leon! If you keep throwing me over your shoulder, you're gonna wear my puke!"

"Yeah, yeah."

---

Ten minutes later, Chris and Jill were lying in bed together, trying to fall asleep, but having trouble doing so because of the cacophony of the headboard of Jill's old bed rhythmically banging against a wall down the hallway.

"It's about fucking time," Jill mumbled against Chris's chest as she turned the television volume up again. "I thought those two would never admit they were in love."

Chris sighed. "Babe . . . do you have an ice pick I can use to gouge out my ear drums? I mean, I'm all for them being together, but I didn't ask for a private performance."

Jill laughed her ass off. "Claire's right, Honey. This is what you get for being so goddamn nosy about her sex life."

---

Author's Notes (cont'd): Just the epilogue left, now! Thanks for hanging in there with me! ~ T.