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Nothing left to fear

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Leon walked slowly to the kitchen. He was tired of staying in his room just watching television or reading books and the silence in the house just made everything more boring. Mariane told him that Claire had taken the kids to school in the morning and would not be back until the afternoon, so Leon was looking for someone to chat a bit.

As he approached the kitchen he heard some voices and realized that Mariane was not alone. Despite being the voice of a man, he knew it was not Mr. Colins' voice. Leon approached the door and saw a young boy with Mariane, he thought about going back to his bedroom, but Mariane saw him before he could.

"Leon sit down with us for a coffee."

Although a little embarrassed, Leon accepted the invitation.

"Leon, this is Vincent. Claire's ex-boyfriend.

Leon tried to hide his surprise by smiling and greeting the guy. They shook hands smiling. He looked younger than Leon and he had to admit that Vicent was a good-looking guy.

"Don't you even wanna wait to see Claire, Vincent? - Mariane said while serving Leon some coffee.

"I better not. Don't want her to feel that I'm pushing her. I just wanted to know the right way to act. Claire is a little box of secrets."

"Woman, she is just a woman Vicent."

Leon was deeply troubled to be sitting there listening to the boy's drama.

"Not that simple with Claire, Mariane. She is different from the other women. That's exactly what makes her so special, but it gets me lost at the same time, for not knowing what to do. I don't wanna lose her. All the people are so selfish, petty. Claire on the other hand, has such a big heart, big enough to fit all these kids. She gave up on an ordinary life, holidays, trips, just to to be with these children. How couldn't I admire a woman like that? Everyone thinks about themselves and Claire thinks about the world."

"She is really special, Vicent. And maybe that's why she doesn't want to get married, not to be forced to go live her own life and abandon her little ones here."

"It wouldn't be necessary. I would do everything and anything Claire wanted. In fact I do what she wants. I just don't want to be away for so long, I really miss her. I miss waking up with that smile by my side on weekends."

Leon rolled his eyes. He knew he would be very inelegant if he got up from the table at that time, but instead of feeling sorry for the boy, he was annoyed by hearing him talking about Claire so intimately.

"So nice to see you speak of her with so much love, Vicent. I hope you guys can have a happy ending, but otherwise don't lose hope, you will find a special woman someday."

"Not like her, Mariane. Believe me, it is very easy to find beautiful and intelligent women. But it is very hard to find a beautiful, intelligent woman and with such pure feelings. Claire's hotheaded, but she is noble and she has pure feelings. There is no woman like her."

Leon got the cup to his mouth and ended up spilling coffee on the table after he heard the last comment from Vincent. He wanted to say something about the little incident but he didn't know what to say. Better if the guy thought he was really clumsy.

Mariane took some fabric and began to wipe the table while Vicent headed towards the door.

"You really don't wanna wait for her?"

"Better not" Vicent said "I came here just to leave my contribution. I'd rather let her miss me a little. In a few weeks I will look for her again, Mariane. Hopefully I'll get good news."

"I hope" Mariane said hugging the boy friendly.

He left saying goodbye to Leon and Mariane. Leon was relieved, he didn't want to hear another word.

Once Vicent left, Marianne and Leon started talking about music and Leon tried to concentrate on the subject and distract himself a bit.

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Claire opened the door and closed it behind her, she felt exhausted. That was a long and tiring day. After a day of shopping, she spent the rest of the day helping the kids with chores and she even washed Leon's clothes. It was great to know that everyone was asleep and she could finally rest. She rolled across the bed trying to find some strength to get up.

When she finally managed to get up, Claire fell back sitting on the bed startled to see a man standing by the bedroom window. With her hand on her heart in shock, she held her back not to scream. Soon she realized who it was.

"Leon?" She whispered reproachfully.

"Hi Claire."

"What are you doing here?"

"I came to put an end to this silence."

"What you mean?" Claire shook her head "The kids are asleep."

"But we won't wake them up, or do you plan on screaming?"

"Stop kidding, Leon."

"Oh Claire! Mariane told me that you take care of my food, my clothes and my meds but you are still avoiding me. Stop it. I cannot stand this silence anymore."

"It's the best for us"

"Why?"

"I talk too much, you talk too much. We don't match. We are best friends and great partners, but at distance."

"That's not true, Claire." He said approaching her and limping. "How many times you spent the afternoon with me just chatting. We laughed and had fun. I'm the one who talks too much sometimes and the reason why we fight, it was my fault. Because for some reason I like to tease you, but forgive me. Let's cut off everything and start it all over again."

"You must be lying."

"I don't lie"

"I mean on your bed."

"Oh! Not anymore. I am able to walk now. But don't change the subject." Leon grabbed her wrist. "You say I like to play cat and mouse with Ada, but you have acted the same way."

"What are you talking about?" Claire got shocked "You are crazy. I'm not playing."

"So you are afraid."

"Afraid? What makes you think I'm afraid?"

"I can't think of another reason. You are afraid not to resist to the attraction we have."

"Leon, what are you doing? Listen to yourself."

"Tell me honestly, what meant to you that night that we had?"

"Leon, please, we can't talk about it."

"Answer that, I need to know the answer. What did that mean to you?"

"You wanna ruin our friendship?" Claire seemed troubled.

"What friendship, Claire? You don't even look at me anymore. We don't talk more. There is no friendship at risk in my understanding. There's nothing to lose."

"We're just away, we still have a friendship that we must preserve."

"And what do you think might ruin our friendship?" Leon pulled Claire closer, holding her by the waist. "Do you think this might ruin our friendship?"

Leon pulled her even closer and pressed his lips against her lips in a soft, romantic kiss.

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A/N:

NerdGirl4Life : ooh Ficfriend. Thank you very much my sweet sweet friend!

Agent of Chaos: Now things are changing :D lol

rose7845: Oh I write in portuguese first so I use google to make things faster, but it sucks I know, I have to correct it and I've probably been careless with HER/HIS, I'm sorry. About the chapter, its supposed to be short, because i plan to write this story in a slow pace. About Ada, she's gonna appear in the future, not for so long though. Thank you very much for your hints, I'lll pay attention to them ;)

Cleonakacloti: Aaaaw you made me so happy. It's not a main story with lots of drama and etc, it was just supposed to be cute and your words just made me soooo happy. Thank you very much.