A/N: I am grateful to all the readers for supporting this piece thus far; it feels like an accomplishment seeing many people are reading it. I'd also like to thank Shirahane Aikawa and lexzly for reviewing the last chapter.

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

Chapter 34

(Leon's POV)

"You go ahead, I'd go and park the car", I told Kate as I pulled up in front of agency building.
"Okay, then see you in a bit", she said getting out and walked to the agency as I turned to head to parking. I parked my car at the usual spot that was usually reserved for me and got out.

Just then another car stopped right by my side but what caught my attention was the owner, "Hey Kennedy I didn't know you worked here", he said getting out.
"If I had known you were coming Rivette then I had got myself transferred", I replied and walked away trying to ignore him.
"They transferred me here because of my good work", Rivette bragged.
"They never send me anywhere because of my excellent work", I kinda quipped back which definitely made Rivette grit his teeth.
"I'll be having my own cabin here", he said, possibly in an attempt to make me feel envious.
"Congratulations!", I said but didn't really mean it, as we both walked to the elevator.
"I bet you can't beat me here, Leon", Rivette said smugly, "You can't always beat me."
"We'll see about that", I replied casually, pushing the elevator button.
"Oh you'll see", Rivette said with pure despise in his tone, "I'll show you that I am not your old cousin."

Unfortunately and by default Rivette was… I mean is my cousin. A really annoying one at that, since the time we were kids he always used to challenge me to something or the other and always ended up losing it. He was the only one, whom I never wanted to lose to. I always do my best when it involves others but if it's Rivette on the opponent's corner than I only go for the win, no matter how impossible the challenge might be.

We both took the elevator and made our way to the office floor. Rivette showed me his cabin with proud smirk and I just smiled slightly before I moved to mine. I wanted to see the look on Rivette's face but I can't really help it because God didn't give me eyes on the back of my head. So to see that I had to first get in my cabin and yeah luckily he was staring at my cabin dumbfounded possibly hoping that it's just my boss's cabin, "Sorry dear cousin but its not like as you wished this would be", I couldn't help but mutter enjoying the look on Rivette's face.

I seated myself in my chair and saw Kate working on her desk. I don't know if it was coincidence or fate that her desk was in my direct view. There had been many days, which I spent just watching her do her work, talking to other people or just walking by my cabin. Just one look at her and I felt refreshed. My eyes followed her as she walked past my cabin and then soon enough she walked back to her desk. I smiled as she turned her head and looked in my direction as if she knew I was looking at her but my smile turned to frown as I spotted Rivette hurrying over to her. He said something to her and she smiled. They talked for a bit and it occurred to me as if Kate knew him. She put on her holster, maybe she was going to escort someone or going on a mission and then she said something to Rivette maybe goodbye as she walked away and this time I thought that she's going to pass by like before but she pushed open my cabin door.

(Kate's POV)

"We got called to escort the President for today", I told Leon from the door.
"Okay", he said seemingly a bad mood and I wondered what happened all of a sudden, since just a little while ago, he was completely normal, well normal for his standards
He walked past me and led the way without any further words, and I followed him, "Kate what about tomorrow?", I turned and saw it was Dan.
"Can't really say", I replied with a shrug.
"Well… see you around then", he said with a sigh.

I gave him a nod and turned to catch up with Leon and very much to my surprise, he stood a couple of steps away looking back at us. Usually he never cared, if I was walking with him or not but now it seemed he was waiting for me and then I felt that his bad mood just got worse somehow. His gaze shifted a little and I followed it. It seemed as if he was glaring at Rivette, who was returning that glare with the same intensity. It appeared as if they knew each other and had some issue

"Let's go", Leon said walking ahead and I followed him again. We waited for the elevator and when we stepped in we both said together, "You know Rivette?", we waited for each other to answer after we suffered a shock from this question and then we both answered together, "Yes. How?", and we both questioned together.

"He's an old friend", I told him and Leon gave me a surprised look.
"From High School?", Leon asked me and I shook my head, "I knew it was impossible."
"What? Us attending the same school?", I asked and he nodded, "Why is it impossible?"
"Well Rivette and I attended same High School and if you knew him from High School then you would have known me too", Leon explained, "I mean you wouldn't have escaped my eyes if we were in the same High School."
"So Rivette and you are High School friends?", I asked him as the elevator doors parted at the parking.
"I wouldn't say friends", Leon said walking ahead, "He's my older cousin, a few months older though."
"You don't like him very much do you?", I asked him as we opened the car doors to get in.
"Isn't it obvious", he said in an almost irritated tone, turning on the ignition. I avoided the topic thinking that it might lead to an argument, "So how do you know Rivette exactly?", Leon asked as he took the car off the parking area.
"He assisted me in one of my missions", I told him.

"I see", Leon just said and I couldn't make out the emotion in his tone, "The one mission in which you were gone for more than a month."
"Yeah that's the one", I replied nodding.
"The one in which you got hurt and hospitalized for a month", Leon asked again.
"Yes", I replied and there were fine lines of frown on his face.
"What sort of support was he, letting you get hurt like that?", Leon said with a tone of contempt.
"Not everyone's like you, you know", I couldn't help but say, "And he helped me a lot, it would have taken me even longer to complete that mission if he wasn't with me."
"He was probably the reason it took you so long", Leon commented in an undertone, "How you got hurt by the way?", he asked me.
"We were investigating an illegal group of people, involved in smuggling drugs and weapons. So as a wrap up when we got enough proof we led a team of local police to their base but they knew we were coming and we were ambushed. I got hurt while dealing with it but we upper handed them eventually when police called for backup. They were caught and I was sent home", I told him the long story short.
"That's the last you saw Rivette?", Leon asked me.
"Yeah I was hurt so they immediately send me to hospital, where after a few days I told them to transfer me here, where I had my family and they did", I replied.
"He didn't come to see you?", Leon asked, "at the hospital?"
"I don't know, I was in emergency room so even if he did, he probably wasn't allowed since he was not my family", I told him casually.

"Good that they didn't allow him", Leon said in an undertone again.
"Why do you hate him so much?", I couldn't help but ask.
"I never liked him actually", he replied casually as we stopped at a red light.
"So you hate me because you don't like me?", I asked out of curiosity
"I hate you because you're annoying", he replied and I wondered whether he indirectly said that he liked me or used to like me some point in the time, "Why do you like him so much?", he asked me.
"He was a good friend", I told him.
"Was?", he questioned.
"Yeah it's been quite a while since we last saw each other. It's been 2 years I guess", I told him.

"You must like him a lot to remember him still", Leon said not looking at me as the lights turned green.
"Actually I didn't remember him at all", I told Leon looking at him intently trying to read him.
"Really?", he said with a tone of surprise.
"Really", I replied with conviction in my tone, "I wouldn't have recognized him if he hadn't told me about that mission and its details when we were talking earlier. Guess I am easy to remember."

"It's more like you're hard to forget", Leon said with a smile.
"Is that so? How come you forget me then", I asked him smiling myself.
"I never forget you", he replied seriously and looked briefly at me before giving his all attention to driving, "I just have trouble remembering things you say."

(Leon's POV)

"And why is that?", Kate asked me.
"Maybe because I am busy admiring you", I flirted with her.
"So what exactly you admire the most about me", she flirted back, it was the first time ever, there was no sarcasm in it, she was genuinely flirting.
"Did you just flirt back with me", I asked her applying the brakes all of a sudden in the middle of the road.
"Do you think you're the only one who can flirt, Kennedy?", she replied with a smile.
"Okay", I took whatever she said in slowly as I drove my car again, "I like your legs, I like your hair, I like your lips, your smile, your eyes and almost everything", I answered her question; "I admire all of you."
"I think you said you were not interested", Kate said raising one of her brows.
"There is no such man on earth, who wouldn't be interested in you", I told her, "except gays, even gay men would want to turn straight when they see you."
"That was too much, I guess", she said clearly taken aback.
"There's more where it came from", I told her smiling.
"You really love flirting", Kate said looking outside her window.

"Sure do", I replied, "but there's one thing I love more than that", I said and she again turned to look at me.
"What?", she questioned as we stopped at the White House gates. We showed our ID's and authorization and I drove further in, "You didn't answer my question", Kate asked again.
"Which one?", I asked her.
"The thing you like more than flirting?", she said with an impatient tone.
"Oh that", I said parking my car and undoing my seat belt, "let's keep that a secret shall we?"
"Why mention it in the first place", Kate said releasing her seatbelt as well and we both got out.
"It was a slip of tongue", I told her as we headed towards the President's office.
"Yeah right!", Kate stated sarcastically, it was evident she was annoyed.

(Kate's POV)

We both walked in silence, occasionally greeting other agents as we passed by and the realization just hit me that Leon and I talked all the way from agency to White House and not ended up arguing. I looked sideways at Leon, he seemed to be thinking something and I wondered if he was having the same thoughts as me. This silence between us never felt so odd before and I wanted to break it. I tried to think of something to talk to him but before I could say anything we reached the President's office, after that we got split up as Leon was suppose to monitor the security preparation and I was suppose to escort the President.

A/N: Thanks for reading and I hope you liked the chapter. I apologize for any mistakes and typos that might have caused an inconvenience for you. You can tell me your views, if you like and also check out my collaborative piece with my sister-like best friend Shirahane Aikawa, its called Undercover and tell us what you think about it.