A/N: I would like to thank all my readers and reviewers, Shirahane Aikawa and GrayFox786, for always encouraging me to write.

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

Chapter 42

(Kate's POV)

"Okay mom I will see you tonight", I spoke in the phone as I unlocked the door to my house.
"Can you ask Leon if he can make it? I'd really like it if he would come but I don't want to disturb him", Mom asked me from the other side.
Shadow came running down the stairs, "Leon had an off today so I don't think he'd have any trouble in showing up", I said over the phone patting Shadow.
"Oh that's great! I am looking forward to it then. Now I better go get stuff for dinner", she said excitedly, "See you later."
"Yeah", I said and she disconnected.

I couldn't hear the TV and Shadow ran down from the stair, so that meant that Leon was probably still sleeping. As he asked me last night, I didn't wake him up because he had an off and besides he needed this once in a while off more than anything. I climbed the stairs and pushed open the door and Leon looked up to see me. He seemed to be fresh out of bath, since he only had his pants on and his hair was still wet and messy, adding to his appeal. I tried not to be fazed too much by the view, after all it wasn't something new to me, so I moved further inside the room.

"Hey sweetheart!", he said pulling on his shirt, "I figured you are back when he ran downstairs."
"You just woke up?", I asked moving to get my clothes from the wardrobe.
"Yeah, just had a shower", he stated the obvious as I grabbed a towel, "I could have waited a bit if I knew you would be back so soon and we could have saved water."
"Idiot", I cursed him going red with embarrassment, hiding my face behind the wardrobe door and he let out a hearty laugh, "Mom called us on dinner tonight", I told him in hopes of changing the topic.
"Well I am ready", he replied buttoning his shirt.
"I'll go have a shower then we can go there", I said and moved to the bathroom.

I got in the bathroom, had a leisurely shower and when I got out Leon wasn't in the room. I blow dried my hair, brushed them and got ready to head to my parents home as quickly as possible. I descended the stairs and entered the living room, "I am ready let's go", I said hoping to find Leon watching TV but he wasn't there, "Now where did he go?", I muttered to myself walking to the kitchen.

"BOO!", Leon jumped in front of me as I entered the kitchen and I really froze for a fraction of a second.
"Stop being childish", I said hitting his arm, "What are you doing here?"
"I was super hungry, thought I could do with a bread and jam sandwich", he said taking a bite.
"Okay have your fill then we can go", I said sighing.
"Just one sandwich is enough", he said finishing it, "Besides we are going for dinner. Let's go!"

We walked to the car, got in and Leon drove it towards my maiden home. A bit into the drive I got bored staring out of my side window and I looked back at Leon. He seemed to be concentrated on driving as well as thinking something, "What are you thinking?", I asked before I knew myself.
His expression broke into a smile and he looked briefly at me, "Thinking about how to break the silence", he told me, "but I am glad you did it because nothing was coming in my mind."
"I see", I said and tried to read him more.

"Yeah I like hearing your voice", Leon told me, his eyes still on the road, "And besides I don't like it when there's that gloomy silence between us but since having a heated argument is even worse so I guess considering that I thought …"
"It's better to stay silent", I completed his sentence.
"Yeah it's not like I didn't want to talk, it was more like I didn't know what we could talk about that wouldn't lead to arguments", he said seriously.
"So you don't like to have arguments?", I asked him smiling.
"I love arguments, don't get me wrong", Leon looked at me briefly as he replied, "But I enjoy this current status of our relationship where we could chat normally and flirt with each other."
"Hmm", I hummed smiling in agreement. It sure was nice being able to talk without getting into argument and I just hoped it won't ever revert back to the way it was before.

"So you do like me flirting with you", Leon said with a smirk.
"What?! No, it's annoying", I denied looking away.
"Okay I won't flirt with you from now on", Leon said casually.
"That be a relief", I said it but there was a sinking feeling in my chest.
"Well if you hate it so much I won't", Leon said again in a more determined tone.
"Thank you, that will be really great", I said and I felt it was as if I was being sarcastic.
"Cool, there's always other women", he said pretty seriously.
"Fine!", I made a short reply, fuming up in rage.

(Leon's POV)

"We're here!", I said as I pulled up my car in front of Kate's parents house. Kate didn't say anything and got out and slammed the car door real hard, "Hey!"
"Sorry, I didn't realize the push was so hard", she said as I rounded off to her.
"Its fine", I said sighing, she seemed a bit furious, "Let's go inside", and she turned to head inside when I grabbed her by hand.
"Wait!", I said as she turned to look at me, "Aren't you forgetting something?"
"What?", she asked raising her brows.
"Happy couple act", I reminded her, "So smile."
She faked a smile and anyone could tell it was made up, "Happy? Let's go", she moved away so fast I couldn't stop her this time.
"What's with her?!", I couldn't help but mutter as I wondered what was she so furious about.

Kate rang the door bell as I caught up to her and her mother opened the door for us, "Kate!", she said hugging her, "And Leon", she gave me a hug too, "It's so good to see you sweeties, come in, come in", she welcomed us inside.
"It's good to see you too mom", Kate said with a bright smile.
"Likewise", I kept it short as we entered their living area.
"There's time in dinner so please feel at home", her mother said.
"Where are the twins?", Kate asked.
"Upstairs playing with Liza's baby", her mother replied.
"You didn't say Liza was here", Kate said raising her brows in surprise.
"Well Liza wanted to keep it a surprise", her mom told her smiling.
"I'll go see them then", she said with a slight smile.
"Take Shadow with you", I said to her as Shadow had already decided to stay with her.
Kate turned back and gave me a death glare, "I know", she said with a sarcastic smile, "Come boy", she added to Shadow with a genuine one as she stormed off.

"Lover's spat?", her mother stated more than asked and I just shrugged and let her go with that assumption, "Come I'd show you where's Hank and Sam are", and she lead me to Kate's Dad's study cum recreation room where both her dad and Sam where playing a game of pool.
"Oh great! Leon's here", Kate's dad said spotting me and moved to shake hands with me.
"Been a while, huh?", Sam said as he shook hands with me, "You really do maintain yourself, Kate does take good care of you."
"She does", I told him.
"Well I'd leave you men now. I have a lot to do", her mom said and left us alone.

"How about a drink?", Kate's dad asked and I nodded. We both walked to his bar as Sam tried to figure out his next shot, "So how are things between you and Kate", he asked in a hushed voice.
"As usual", I replied out of reflex but since it were a bit better than usual I corrected myself, "actually it's a bit better", and then I remembered that maybe she was angry at me, "though she's mad at me for some reason."
"Well it's normal then, her being mad at you", her dad said sighing as he poured a drink in a glass, "You want a refill Sam?"
"Yeah, yeah sure", Sam replied looking at his empty glass.

"Here", Kate's dad handed me the glass. We walked back to Sam and Kate's dad refilled his glass and I joined their game, "So what is she mad at again?", he asked me in an undertone as Sam took a shot and cursed failing to make ball roll into the pit.
"No idea", I told him.
"About?", Sam asked me.
"It's not important", I said monotonously.
"Come on you can trust me", Sam said being friendly and I looked at Kate's dad.
"Kate's a bit mad at me" I told him, it wasn't that unusual between couples so I don't think he'd catch up on to our real situation, just with that information.

"Oh that's simple, just apologize, even it's her mistake apologize and she'd be back to loving you", he said casually, "Isn't that right father-in-law?", and laughed at his own joke.
'Back to loving me… yeah right!', I thought sarcastically.
"Yeah apologizing does do the trick", her dad said to me seriously, "by the way what were you talking about?"
"Trivial things, breaking silence, flir…", I stopped mid-sentence when I realized what she might be actually be furious, "I think I get it", I said in a tone of realization.
"What?", Sam asked.
"Ah… it's a bit personal", I told him rubbing the back of my head.
"That's fine, I understand. More?", he asked refilling his glass.
"No, I am driving", I told him and we continued our game.

When we went out about an hour later, twins were watching TV, Kate and Liza weren't with them, "Hey where's Liza?", Sam asked them.
"Upstairs in her room, trying to make the baby sleep", they replied and he went on his way.
"And Kate?", I asked taking the opportunity and thought to slip without getting noticed.
"In her room", Leslie replied not taking her eyes of the TV.
"Her room?", I questioned.
"It's the one down that hallway", her father told me pointing in the direction.
"Come on we'll take you there", Leslie said as they both dragged me along with them.

"You better apologize to her, she was pretty mad about something", Jessica told me as I followed them.
"Yeah and it was great fun teasing her today", Leslie said with a smile of amusement on her face, "By the way what was it about?"
"I guess me flirting with her", I told them since they understood the situation better than adults at this point.
"I don't think so, she enjoys you flirting with her", Jessica said casually, "It's something else."
"Well I won't know unless I ask", I said as they both stopped in the hallway.
"That's her room", Leslie pointed it out to me, "We'd leave you two to sort it out."

I nodded and moved towards the room, the door was open and she was lounging on the bed reading something. I looked around the room and realized I had been here before but I didn't came in through door, "Hey", I said and she looked in my direction, the smile on her face faded a bit, "What are you doing?", I asked moving further in the room.
"Nothing", she replied keeping aside the book she was reading, "What do you want?", she asked still annoyed.
"I want to apologize", I said walking further in the room, "I don't like this furious version of you", and her expression changed but she was still furious, "That's the one I like."
"Leon", she said and smiled beautifully opening her book again.

"So what are you reading?", I asked her.
"An old novel", she showed me the cover of her romance novel as she pulled up to read it again, "I saw it just now and realized I never finished it."
"The woman ends up with the neighbor", I told her and Kate sharply looked at me.
"Leon, what the...", she said in disbelief.
"You can check it if you don't believe me", I said taking a seat near her legs, "Isn't it the one with silent neighbor and adventurous co-worker?"
"Yes it is", she said a bit annoyed, "I can't believe you know this one, let alone read it."
"Well this ex of mine was a huge romance novel fanatic and this one was her favorite, so she told me that story just around a thousand times", I told her, "It's really boring you have to thank me for saving you from reading that."
"Thanks a lot Leon, you saved me!", Kate said in a sarcastic tone.
"You're Welcome!", I said smiling and she hit me with the book.
"That was sarcasm", she said furiously.
"This… this is the furiousness that suits you", I told her enjoying this sort of interaction between us.
"Idiot", she said with a smile getting back to her novel again.

(Kate's POV)

"You say you hate me flirting and then you smile like that", Leon said confused, "Do you hate it or do you like it?"
"I don't hate it Leon", I told him smiling.
"So you like it, right?", he asked again, raising his brows in confusion.
"You're an idiot", I couldn't help but say opening the novel again, avoiding his questioning gaze.
"Okay, I'll take that as you love it then", he said after some time smiling and I was taken aback by him reading me like that, "Even if you don't, I don't care I am going to flirt with you all I want."
'He really is an idiot!', I couldn't help but sigh in distress.
"And if you want to keep me from flirting with you, you have to seal my lips with a kiss", he leaned really close within fraction of a second again stealing a kiss.
"Idiot!", I hit him blushing as he backed away laughing a bit and couldn't help but hit him a bit more.

"That's a new development", we both looked in the direction of sound it was dad and he was smiling ear to ear.
"What?", Leon asked him straightening his jacket and clearing his throat.
"You two getting along so well, when no one's around", dad said entering the room.
"It took me five years but I finally did it", Leon said proudly, "It's really hard to put up with your daughter."
"You're the one to talk", I said defensively, "It's not easy to figure you out either."
"Well it's not as hard as it is with you", Leon said with a weight on his voice and looked at dad, "And your dad will agree with me on this one."
"Oh please I don't want to argue about this", I said really furiously.
"Oh then pick out a topic, we'd argue about that", he said with a smile and I just gave him a death glare.

Dad laughed and we both looked at him, "this really is a development!", he exclaimed unbelievingly, "I've never seen you two argue like that."
"What you do mean?", I said confused.
"Yeah it's the same", Leon said in agreement with me, "I start it and she ends it."
"And then you don't want to be in a same room, let alone sit next to each other", he smiled widely looking at us.
I looked at Leon and he too turned to look at me, 'Did you felt this change?', I asked him mentally and as if he heard me, he slightly shook his head in no and we both smiled.

"Hey I asked you to call them for dinner", this time it was mom.
"Sorry honey, we began discussing some work", he looked back at us for support.
"Sorry mom", I said covering him up.
"Oh that's fine, come on now let's hurry up for dinner", she beckoned us and we all went to have dinner.

We all walked back to the dining area, with my parents walking ahead and me walking next to Leon. Once every one was seated on the dining table, I helped mom serve the dinner before taking my seat next to Leon. The dinner was very usual, nothing short for a big family dinner with great food, interesting conversations and amusing laughter. The only difference was that Leon and I didn't have to fake our happiness. Dad was right there was development, the ones we noticed and the ones we did not but it was all there.

From the corner of my eyes I noticed Leon looking at me, so I turned my head to ask, if he wanted anything and he shook his head in negative. We both smiled at each other, caught in a brief moment but since I didn't want to give twins a reason to tease me, I looked away hoping Leon wouldn't mind and we continued enjoying out night with my family.

A/N: Thanks for taking out time to read and I hope you all enjoyed it. I apologize for any mistakes in the text that might have caused inconvenience to you all. It would be great if you could check my collab with Shirahane Aikawa, called Undercover, and give us your feedback.