A/N: I am thankful to all the readers and the reviewers Shirahane Aikawa and Mercenary Nemesis for taking out time to review the last chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil or any of its characters; they all belong to Capcom.

Chapter 8

(Leon's POV)

"I am going", I yelled to Kate as I was stepping out to get to work.
"Leon, wait!", came in Kate's voice. It had been a week since the last murder and six days since she's been out of the hospital. Apparently she forgot what happened between me and her that night, Rebecca said brain sometimes erases stressful memories just to survive and that's what happened in her case. And she was back to being her cheery and stupid self, "Give me your wallet", she said stretching out her hand.
"Why?", I said not making a move to give her my wallet.
"I said give me your wallet", she said reaching to my back pocket pulling it out by herself, "Thank you!", she said smiling and took all the money except a 100$ bill, "Here", she handed me back the wallet.
"Hey! Hey! Hey, what are you going to do with all that much money and how am I suppose to go around in only a 100$?", I asked feeling that I had just been robbed.
"I had to pay the phone bill, electricity bill, newspaper bill, have to go grocery shopping, household shopping and I might as well buy something for myself", she said smiling happily like a cat.
"You're going to do that all by yourself", I asked doubtfully.
"No, your second wife will help me in it", she said rolling her eyes.

"I mean, why don't I get back early and we could go shopping together", I suggested. Actually according to my new orders and also because of the latest detecting equipment if she moved out on her own then a siren will go off at my work, it'd would also go off if somebody tried to intrude in the house and in past six days she had done that at least a thousand times that we were thinking to take this thing off.
"Oh okay, I'll need somebody to carry shopping bags", Kate agreed to it cheerfully.
"Good I'll be here at about 12:30 PM, what say?", I suggested looking at my watch.
"Perfect", she said smiling widely.
"Okay then, I am leaving", I said pulling open the front door.
"Bye take care and don't be late", she said as I stepped out on the porch.
"Yeah you too and don't leave the house without me", I said, because if I had to hear that deafening siren one more time than I don't know what I might do.

What happened to Ada? Well she fought with me and we're not talking, more correctly she's not talking to me and if at all she talks, she always tried to convince me that Kate is a BOW. As for my thoughts in the matter, I was still confused but I promised myself that I won't accuse Kate again, unless I had a very strong proof against her. It was very hard for me to go against my beliefs and now my reasoning was siding Kate as well, since I could not see how a fragile woman as her, who's scared of little things like dark, mouse, cockroach and all sort sorts of bugs, could be a bio-weapon. And with the lack of strong evidence, we all decided to give her the benefit of doubt, until she shows her true form as a BOW, or regains her memories.

"I am back", I yelled when I got back.
"I am in the bedroom", Kate yelled but I barely heard her, although when she started to babble she was worse than Ashley but at least her pitch was not as irritating as Ashley's. One could hear her talk all day long but she didn't talk, she babbled.
"What are you doing in here? You should be ready by now", I said pushing open the bedroom door.

"I was getting dressed", she said and I froze at spot closing my eyes not wanting to see anything I shouldn't be seeing, "You came at the right moment, help me out! Why did you close your eyes? Did something went in your eye?", she asked and I felt her grab my face, "Let me see!"
"No I am fine", I replied opening my eyes and were met with her dark blue ocean like eyes, that always mesmerized me and hold me prisoner.
"I've seen these eyes before", I was saying it before I realized it myself and didn't even know what I actually meant by that.
"Huh?", she said confused, "Of course it's my eyes, you see them everyday", she said innocently.
"Never mind, what I said", I said grabbing my head, her eyes triggered that odd familiar feeling again.

"Are you alright?", Kate asked me be concerned, "If you don't feel alright, I can go shopping on my own", she said and the sadness in her voice was evident.
"No, I am alright. We can go shopping", I told her smiling composing myself, "Why aren't you ready yet?", I asked her seeing that she was still in her home clothes.
"I couldn't decide, what to wear", she said looking very troubled as if it was a world issue, "Help me which one is better?", she held up two dresses in front of me as I sat down on the bed.
"That one", I said nodding my head to a white short dress with blue print.
"This one it is then", she said with a smile tossing the other one away, "I'll be back in a bit."
"Yeah", I said my mind was little distracted at the moment.
She moved to the bathroom with the dress and back tracked and kept her hand on my face making me look up at her, "You do want to go right?", she asked me again and I nodded in reply. She didn't say anything and headed inside the bathroom to change.

I lied down on the bed and stared at the ceiling. Her dark blue oceanic eyes flashed in front of me again and I let that odd familiar feeling overtake me so I could understand what this feeling was. I closed my eyes trying to remember the first time I had this feeling, it when I saw her in normal clothes for the first time. When this feeling took over I always felt I was missing something very important and my heart started pounding in my chest, as if it was some vital thing that I was ignoring.

I opened my eyes just when I felt Kate's warm hand on my forehead, "Are you having a fever?", she asked again out of concern.
"No, I was just relaxing", I told her, rubbing my eyes a bit. I looked at her and couldn't take my eyes off her; she was really looking beautiful in that short white dress, almost sexy. This dress was a reminder that she really had a great body that would make any man's thoughts run wild, including mine.
"So shall we go then?", she asked me grabbing her bag.
"Yeah, yeah sure", I said getting up, leading her out.

After household shopping, we just walked on the sidewalk, with Kate checking out the things in the display. She would always look at me expectantly if she wanted to buy something and I kept nodding to all the things, she wanted to buy just to see her smile beautiful at me. Her smile was really contagious that it was making me smile, in turn making me feel happy inside and I was really enjoying her company for once. Guess when she didn't babble one could really enjoy her being next to them and I realized that I was starting to like this annoying amnesiac version of Kathleen as well.

"Leon, I want that", Kate said pointing through a window of a pet store to what seemed to be a snake.
"No, no, no you cannot have snakes", I said shaking my head in negative.
"Snakes? Leon I hate snakes, I am terribly afraid of them, "I am talking about that sweet little kitty over there."
"No you can't have that either", I said crossing my arms as if disagreeing with my five-year-old.
"Why? Are you allergic to cats?", she asked me pouting like a five-year-old.
"No, I am not…", I was saying.
"Then I am going to have one", she said stubbornly and walked inside the store.

I followed her inside and saw her asking the store owner to get her a cat, "Kate you can't have one", I repeated to her warningly.
"Why? You're not allergic to cats plus I promise I'll take good care of it", she pleaded to me.
"That's not the point…", I began as the store owner got Kate a snowball kitten.
"Oh c'mon just one please", she said taking the cat in her arms.
'How many was she planning to take home previously', I thought bewildered, "I said no Kate", I told her strictly.
"Just look at her, isn't she cute", she said holding the cat in front of my face and then hugging it softly, "Please!"
"Oh alright", I said giving up.

A couple of minutes later we were back on the street with a snowball kitten, sleeping soundly in Kate arms. She didn't say it but I knew she was grateful that I bought her pet but the smile on Kate's face was worth every penny I spent on the cat. She looked like the happiest person in the entire world.

"So you are out with her on a date", I turned back and saw an angry Ada. I looked at Kate, the smile on her face disappeared.
"We were just out for grocery and household shopping", Kate spoke timidly, even before I could say anything, as if defending me.
"So you are having cat for dinner, you monster", she said spotting the kitten.
"Ada!", I said warningly and the cat woke up from its nap and scowled at Ada and then tried to roll itself into the small ball of fur in Kate's arms.
"So siding with her are you, don't go developing feelings for a monster, Leon", Ada said looking from me to Kate, her gaze almost cold.
"Stop calling her that", I said anger bubbling inside of me but I tried to stay calm, "Look we'll talk about this later, I promise; don't… don't get this wrong", I said feeling a bit tired of all this perfect husband act, when my personal life was so much suffering, "Let's go Kate, I am tired", Kate didn't say anything and followed.

(3rd Person POV)

"What're you two doing here?!", Francheska asked surprised looking at the pair of prototypes.
"Sorry to disturb you ma'am but we have something important to tell to Mr. Wesker", Frank said with a little worry in his voice.
"What is it?", she barked, "He is busy at this time and you are supposed to keep any eye on the subject."
"We have a good news and a bad news", Tiera told her not sure whether to sound worried or happy.
"A bad news… hmm… might be interesting", Francheska said taking out her phone and dialing her Wesker's number, "Wesker, the duo have got us bad news", she said and then put the phone on loudspeaker mode, "Tell him."
"Subject's got a rival and it would be hard to get through this time", Frank told them.
"WHAT!? Then what are you two doing here? Go get her, kill her now! Kill her, she could prove to be dangerous for our plan", Wesker said in a cool calm tone, "Subject can't have a rival."
"But sir… it's the second one", Frank said.

"You found her! So this was the good news", Francheska said before their boss could say anything.
"Yes ma'am but it would be difficult to get her here. She knows everything about the subject plus I have a feeling she knows about us too", Tiera informed their masters.
"Get both of them here, it wouldn't be a problem for you two", Wesker said in his usual confident tone.
"We can't it would be very difficult, it's already hard to keep the subject out of the hands of other companies plus that agent or someone or the other are always keeping an eye on them", Frank explained.
"Is that so, this is really getting interesting", Wesker said in a tone of amusement, "Both are eternal rivals and have high class superiority"

"Isn't that the reason you chose those two to be the subjects, in the first place", Francheska asked in confirmation.
"You're so right but when one of them is a pawn and other is against, it is difficult situation. We were never able to figure it out which one is superior but we'll find out soon. Let's just sit back and enjoy the show and let's see who wins this time", Wesker spoke through the phone.
"She's going to infect someone soon if she's not given what she wants", Francheska said going through the papers.
"Frank and Tiera will kill them like before to cover it up", Wesker more of commanded them.
"Yes sir!", they both said obediently.
"And try to get those two without getting noticed too much, while you're at it", he again ordered them.
"As you say", Franks said agreeing to it, while Tiera just nodded in respect.
"Back to your jobs then", he said dismissing them and the two left, without a further word.

"Wesker, what if she knew that we're behind this", Francheska asked him concerned.
"She probably does", he replied with a playful smile on his face.
"What if she comes out with it", she asked him again, feeling a little tensed.
"Well they can't just go on taking actions just because she says so, can they? Plus she knows we like to play", Wesker told Francheska, "She might as well play this game and win."
"Shouldn't we kill her then", Francheska said feeling that the enemy should be eliminated.
"If we do that she'd definitely win", he pointed out the flaw in her plan..
"How?", she asked again.
"Obviously others would know which one is the real deal", Wesker explained, "Let's just play this game for a little while and see who is winning."

"David", John called before getting in his cabin with Claire.
"So did you find anything about Ada then?", David asked looking up from his paper.
"Uh… nothing", he said taking a seat by himself.
"What was that 'Uh…'?", David asked.
"Well its boring stalking her everywhere", John said, "Right Claire?"
"But there is something suspicious about her", Claire said a little doubtfully.
"Yeah plus what's the point of following her when she ditches us every time we follow her", John said being as lazy as always.
"She's a spy of course she can do that but keep an eye on her at least till the time we know who's killing those people and oh the killer killed once again", David said giving a file to them, you were busy following her and Leon was busy having lunch with Kate in a restaurant near the site of murder."

"How much near exactly?", Claire asked him being hopeful, that it was not that close.
"Very, very much close", David replied with a tired sigh and continued, "He reported that Kate wasn't with him at the time of murder, she said she was going to ladies room and of course he wasn't able to follow her there. She is again a major suspect."
"David, do you really believe that she's the major suspect; I mean maybe someone is trying to take the advantage that she was absent for a long time", Claire couldn't take the fact that Kate was being framed all the time.
"Yeah, I personally believe she has no hand in it", John said supporting her
"We don't know. Maybe she murders and then forgets what happened as if the BOW and her conscious minds are two different faces of her personality. I mean you have to admit that she isn't like what she used to be like before", David said making a point.
"Look as long as you don't have a hundred percent proof don't blame her", John said defending Kate.
"Yeah John I know and I am not blaming her", David said being practical.

"Well who's on the job of following Ada now?", Claire asked changing subjects.
"I requested the Chief of Secret Services to put two agents on her tail, so it'll be fine", David informed them, "And I want you to check out this place, Intel reports that there will be deal, regarding T-virus."

Both Claire and John nodded and took the file from David and left his office. They both got in John's car and set out to place where the deal was supposed to be held. They both didn't talk to each other and had lot on their mind.

"John, do you think, we should call Leon just in case", Claire asked a little worried, breaking the ice between them.
"I think he's wise enough not to do that again", John said keeping his eyes on the road, trusting Leon.
"Yeah I think so too", Claire agreed with him, "You know even though he loves Ada but something tells me that he has a certain liking to Kathleen", Claire spoke a little thoughtful about it.
"Who wouldn't have, I mean she's hot, sexy and cooks good food", John said in an obvious tone.
"And is also good and considerate and I prefer these qualities over the ones you've mentioned", Claire said rolling her eyes.
"Whatever Red", John said in carefree tone, "But yeah I agree with you that Leon likes Kathleen and I almost suspect that he loved her at some point", he added a little doubtfully.
"What do you mean?", Claire asked him back.
"Well if a guy is getting drunk over a woman, you can say that he loves her right?", John said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Leon got drunk over Kathleen?!", Claire exclaimed in surprise at the new information.
"Yeah, you were there too remember that night", he said trying to make her remember.
"Oh so that's what it was all about", Claire said in realization.
"Yeah didn't he mention it to you? I mean you're his emotional support and all", John asked looking at her briefly.
"No, he never mentioned Kathleen", Claire answered shaking her head, "But I just thought he was protective of her, given his basic trait."
"He is, he definitely is but there's more to it", John said smiling, "I feel he loves her but he hasn't realized it yet and besides its not easy to forget your past love, is it?"
"So you're saying he's having trouble choosing between Kate and Ada?", Claire asked him.
"Oh no, not at all. He has already chosen Ada over Kate", John replied but there was slight smile on his face, which told Claire that he had more to say on the subject, so she waited as he took a dramatic pause, "His conflict is choosing between love and happiness."
"What?!", Claire said confused, "What does that mean."
"I don't know", John replied with a shrug and laughed, "It was something I read in my girlfriend's crappy novels", and Claire joined in his laugh. They both knew that they could trust Leon to protect Kate.

(Leon's POV)

I looked up at the cloudless star-lit sky thinking about the incident at the restaurant. If only I could have been more cautious but then again I couldn't really tag along with Kate to ladies room. I sighed, I really wanted to believe that Kate was innocent but the more whenever I was convinced of it, something is bound to happen that would make me question that conviction. And then Ada's accusations and hostile attitude towards Kate wasn't really helping either, if only she could have been more understanding and supportive about my role as Kate's fake husband than things would have been a lot better.

"Hey what are you doing out here, I was searching for you", I turned sideways and saw Kate taking the place by my side.
"Did something happen?", I asked her concerned.
"No", she replied looking up at the sky too, "Why you ask?"
"Well you were looking for me", I said giving her a reason.
"Do I always have to have a reason to look for you?", she said looking at me and her expressions were unreadable, "Should I look for you when I need you? Can't I… just look for you because I want to be with you?", I gave her confused look, "I can't explain it better than just telling you that I want to you to be by side because I want to."
"You're repeating the same thing and it's not making any sense", I said trying to figure out what she meant.
"Leave it you won't get it; you're too dumb", she said softly looking away.
'Like you're the one to talk", I thought ironically.

"Do you love that woman?", Kate asked all of a sudden and I turned to look at her but didn't turn to look at me.
"Who?", I played dumb I knew she was talking about Ada.
"The woman we met on street today", she said and before I could say anything she spoke again, "You know you can tell me if you love her, I mean she loves you too."
"What makes you think that?", I asked thinking what I said or did to make her feel this way.

"She seemed to just hate me for maybe just being by your side and when she's around you don't want to be with me as if I am non-existing to you. The way you look at her I sometimes wonder if you'll ever look at me the same way. Countless times I have seen love for her in your eyes that I wished you had for me. And I can see you get irritated when I try and ask you about stuff but honestly I can't stop myself from asking stuff", she smiled sadly, "I really want to know you . And you think I don't know but I saw you two… having fun during that movie and you seemed happy with her… much more happy than you are with me", she said taking her cat on her lap and caressing it; looking down at it so that her hair clouded her face, "I mean I don't remember anything about our past life, so it'll be easy to divorce you right now."

"Look Kate; Ada and I had a history and we both are finding it hard to get out of it", I said and I knew it didn't sound convincing.

"You don't have to worry about me", she cut me in between before I could say anything more to handle the situation, "I don't want anything, so you don't have to worry about alimony and also I'll leave this place find myself a job or something. You don't have to be nice just because I am an amnesia patient. I don't know what happened and why it didn't work out between us but I don't want you to be suffering because of me. I don't know how it was between us before, was I good or bad; chances are that I wasn't that good and probably bad", she said forcing a laugh, "but whatever it was, I promise I won't bother you once we get divorced and I'll be independent", she said not looking at me and her voice made my heart ache. She was literally radiating sadness I knew. I somehow knew it was hard for her to say all this, even if I tell her that she isn't my wife it was too late she was already in love with me to say something like that, she must truly be in love with me that too very deeply.

"Listen Kate", I said grabbing hold of her shoulders making her look at me and she was crying, tears were streaming down her beautiful face and it showed she must have been in really great pain when she said this, "I love you okay. Ada is a past memory I can't get rid of", I said pulling her to my chest.
"But you still love her and she loves you too", she said crying on my chest.
"I love you too and I think you love me too, don't you", I said holding her tight.
"But you'll be happy with her", she said and I couldn't say anything to counter that because inwardly I knew she was right.
"It doesn't matter anymore and I don't want to hear anything more on this", I said it more to myself than to her because, more than anything, I just wanted her to stop crying.

A/N: Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed the story. I apologize for any typos or mistakes in the context that might have caused an inconvenience. Feel free to share your views about the story.