A/N: Thanks a lot guys for always reading this story and making it story this far. I am grateful to my reviewers Shirahane Aikawa and Mercenary Nemesis for their valuable reviews.

Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil or any of its characters appearing in the story, they all belong to Capcom.

Chapter 16

(Kate's POV)

"I want you two to sleep here tonight", Mom said, "Kate is hurt and we both can sleep in the hall."
"No need old lady, Leon and I, are fine with sleeping in the hall", I said to her.
"But…", she began.
"No buts", I said and Leon moved by my side and helped me up and into the bathroom where only god knows how I managed to change my clothes standing on one foot, I could barely move it now. When I opened the door Leon again supported me down to the living area the place where we were supposed to sleep.
"It's getting colder day by day", one of Brenda's friends said to her husband snuggling close.

(Leon's POV)

"Damn", I muttered under my breath and looked at Kate she was busy settling herself under the blanket.
"Do you want my blanket too?", I asked her.
"No", she replied as I too lied down beside her.
"It's getting colder", I told her.
"I don't want you getting sick, tomorrow we're going shopping besides I am alright, it never happened after that day", she said to me, "Now good night and sleep", with these words she closed her eyes.

I closed my eyes too and I don't remember when I drifted off to sleep. But I woke up with a start because of another nightmare and was hell lot of relieved to be in the hall with so many people, living people. I sighed in relief only after checking on Kate and that she was perfectly okay.

"Don't tell me you had nightmare again", she mumbled in sleep and I didn't reply thinking she was sleep talking, "This is the third time this week"; she opened her eyes and looked at me.
"I didn't want to wake you", I said as Shadow lied by my side to comfort me.
"What now?", she said sitting up yawning a bit, "Knowing you well, I know you're not sleeping and I can't sleep now. Its 3:00 in the morning", she said looking at the clock.
"We can't do anything…", I was saying.
"Let's go out", she said sharply but keeping her voice down.
"Huh?", I said confused.
"Let's take Shadow for a walk and I know a place where we can practice target shooting", she suggested.
"What about your leg?", I asked sitting up too.
"It's fine, I can't feel a thing", she replied, "So are you in?"
"I can do with a bit of exercise", I said stretching.
"Let's go then", she said pulling the blanket aside.

(Kate's POV)

"Any plans how are we supposed to get clothes from the room?", Leon asked and I couldn't help but smile.
"We're going to get clothes and even shower before we go out", I said standing up and walking to the stairs.
"How?", he asked again.
"Haven't you done these things in Academy before", I smiled at him.

(Leon's POV)

"I got you, to make it more interesting let's compete who gets ready before without waking your parents and your sister's kid, what say? The loser has to do whatever winner chooses", I said smirking.
"You're on", Kate said and rushed for the door.
"Wait whosoever disturbs their sleep, get 30 seconds added to their time", I said stopping her before she opened the door.
"Done", she said and we both turned the knob together.

(Kate's POV)

We peeked inside to confirm that mom and dad were asleep. We literally lunged for our bags and I heard Leon curse since he got the wrong bag and I was already pulling the bathroom door open and decided to brush my teeth later since if Leon got to the shower then I am totally losing this bet. I got in turned the faucet and yes the water was cold and I barely managed not to scream and just then Leon entered the bathroom and I could hear him brush his teeth and when I got out he was shaving.

(Leon's POV)

"You're lagging", Kate taunted and smiled smugly.
"Just wait Cornor", I smiled and went in the shower and I heard her dry her hair and she wasn't done even when I got out, "Now who's behind?", it was my turn to taunt.
"You", she said placing the hair dryer on the cabinet and running out and I followed her. I pulled my pants as she searched for her outerwear which gave me time to catch up.

I tugged in my shirt, buttoned it up while Kate pulled on her boots and warm overcoat and flipped her hair to get her clip but it fell and we both froze watching her parents, most importantly the baby sleeping between them but they didn't even move. The clip tumbled under the bed and I smirked in victory as she cursed bending to get her hair clip while I worked on my shoes.

"I can't reach it", she muttered.
"Good for me", I said working on my second shoe.
"Good boy, Shadow", she said kissing Shadow as she got her hair clip from under the bed.
"That's cheating", I said reaching for hairbrush but Kate got it first.
"Its not", she smiled and started working on her hair.
"I am gonna win", I said as I was almost done, I picked up another brush and combed my hair and speedily pocketed my things as she put her clip, "I won", I said even though we completed at the same instant.
"I… win", she smiled putting her brush down.
"What…", and before I could complete that sentence she picked up my jacket telling me I forgot that and I slapped my head.
"Now, now don't get disappointed, its not the first time", she said smiling one of her brightest smile that even sun looked fake in front of that.
"You win", I said pulling my jacket, "What should I do?"
"We'll keep that for later", she said and we walked out and stealthily made our way out of the house.

(Leon's POV)

"He totally robbed you", Kate scolded me a bit as we entered the shooting range.
"What are you saying?', I argued.
"That 60$ from Brenda's house to here is too much", she said furiously.
"Forget that its my money, I can do what I want with it", I tried to shrug it off.
"You're an idiot", she said as we entered the shooting range and everybody looked at us.

Kate didn't say a word after that and we looked at the military and police officials giving us curious looks, "This is no place for couples like you", the owner said coming out of nowhere.
"Now Mike they must have lost their way", one of the nice looking police officer said.
"No, we didn't", Kate said, "We both like to have a go", she said opening her purse.
"Look I don't want anyone getting hurt", the owner said.
"Well you build this place for target practice just face the consequences", Kate smiled at him playing with him.
"Okay", he said taking the money from Kate and counting them, "So you will be going two rounds right, 'cause you'd paid double."

"Yes we'll both go one round each", I said.
"She's gonna shoot", he looked at Kate from head to toe.
"Yeah", I said casually.
"Okay", he got that thing past his throat, "Come I'll give you guns." Once we were done choosing our guns the owner led us to the two shooting area, "If you destroy any property you have to pay for it."
"Okay", Kate agreed.

Both Kate and I took our position and just as I was about to shoot a pair of cops came and the male spoke, "Hey!"
"Hi", I just said and took my aim.
"Uh… is she your wife?", he asked nodding at Kate who was busy watching the targets.
"Yeah she is", I said and Kate looked at me.
"We were just thinking about a healthy competitions, what say", the male said.
"Uh… I am not sure", Kate said uninterested.
"Oh come on we'll go easy on you guys", the female said to her.
"Not only that you pick the rules", the male said.
"Bentleys these are no cops they can't compete with you", the old officer said.
"Look how about making quick money", the male said to me, "The loser pays 500$ to the winner for losing."
"What do you think honey", I said to Kate.
"Uh… I don't know", she said doubtfully.

"Oh c'mon you get to pick the rules and you know what lets bet a 1000$", the female said.
"Okay, you're on", Kate smiled; this smile said the cat is in the bag, from the beginning she was thinking to give them a healthy competition.
"Don't do this", the old policemen said to us warningly.
"Relax its just a game", I said to him smiling as the owner lead us to another area, "Rules are simple the team who gets more headshots win", I said readying my gun.
"Okay", the male cop said taking his position by my side, "But it's tough to make let's have some points for the body."
"No, just headshots count", I said shaking my head and the cops couple agreed shrugging.
"The rules are to make most headshots, I'll be monitoring the score", the owner said.
"Wish you luck", the woman cop said.
"You too", Kate said as the manager pushed the button which would make the targets appear, "Oh one more thing", Kate said looking at her, "Don't hold back 'cause we won't", she shot the first target without even looking at it and then I shot the second and we alternately took headshots after headshots leaving only the lower part of the body for our competitors.

(Kate's POV)

A loud siren ended the competition which only went 10 or so minutes, "The winner is team A, they shot 50 targets each that appeared and team B wasn't able to shoot any targets."
"You lose the bet", Leon said smirking to the cop couple.
"How did you do that", the male said in astonishment.
"Well with bit a practice of course", Leon said to him while I returned the guns to a more shocked owner.
"You owe them money Carl", the old man said to the guy.
"They cheated, Dad", the woman screamed.
"They did not, you two were the one making stupid bets, you have to go long way to judge people by their appearances", the man said.
"Relax old guy", I said, "It's not like you guessed that we would win. You can keep your money we don't want that we have plenty of money to ourselves. We were out for having fun and thanks to you guys we had that so you can have your money."
"But I'd really like to know how you guys did that", the woman didn't give up.
"Just three words", I told holding my three fingers in front of her, "Not ordinary Civilians", and this made me smile because c'mon I can't laugh can I?

I picked up my hand bag and Shadow got up and I patted him. Both Leon and I, headed for the exit, "Aahh… that was fun", Leon said sighing.
"You shouldn't have done that", I said to him, "Picking up fights like that."
"Me?", he exclaimed, "You were the one being mean to them."
"Look I tried to shrug them off and then that woman got my nerves", I told him.
"Oooh… she got on your nerves", Leon said faking a scary tone.
"Now you're getting on my nerves", I told him.

(Leon's POV)

"You are saying as if I like to do that", I said to her.
"Breaking news Leon doesn't like to start an argument", Kate said sarcastically glaring at me.
"You know what… actually you are right… I love to start an argument", I said a bit annoyed.
"There you go you said it yourself… you love to annoy me", Kate said silently clapping, "Let me tell you, you are the best at it."
"Yeah when I admit I always start the argument but who is the one making it. It's you", I said pointing at her.
"And tell me how many times have you ended our useless worthless and pointless arguments", she asked, "None, not one time. I always end these arguments and I don't want to hear anything from you now, this is the end."
"No its not", I said to her but she didn't reply like always and yeah that was ending to this argument. She gave me one chance to end the argument and I lost it.

A/N: Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed. I apologize for any inconvenience due to any mistakes in the text.