A/N: Thanks for all the reads, favorites, follows and all the support that you all have been showing to this story. I am grateful to GrayFox786, hodhod2011danger and Adela for reviewing the last chapter. I am more than glad to know that you like this story; it just has 3 more chapters left.

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

Chapter 55

(Leon's POV)

I reached out to grab Kate in my sleep but all I got was the mattress. I half opened my one eye for confirmation and yeah she was not there on the bed. I sighed and decided to have a brief shuteye. It's been over a month since our relationship hit a high note and things have been pretty smooth between us. Of course there were still those arguments but it didn't really affect our relationship anymore, guess it would stay there forever. Once I was fully awake I looked back at the bathroom door thinking Kate would be there. But well there was only one way to find out. I got off the bed, dragged my feet to the bathroom and sure enough her voice filled the morning air, as I pushed open the door to step in the bathroom.

"Leon!", she said and I just smiled moving to get my toothbrush and get on with my morning business, "When would you learn to give me privacy?"
"What do you need privacy for?", I asked her thinking some things never change.
"Leon, it's called privacy for a reason. I mean you can't show everything to everybody", she explained from behind the shower curtains.
"Well but I've seen everything on you last night", I said putting toothpaste on the toothbrush, "and the night before that and also the night before that and the night before that…"
"Leon really?!", she said interrupting me.

"Well we are going on and on for some nights now and well yeah a couple of mornings too but it's a regular thing at night", I said teasing her and she just huffed but didn't reply, "So how was it last night?", I asked as Kate stepped out of the shower area. I looked at her waiting for the reply but she just ignored the question, "I asked you something", I said to her and again she didn't reply, "I am not arguing but asking and yeah I won't argue about it either", I told her but there was still no reply from her and she started walking out. I grabbed her hand pulled her to me, "Answer me."
"Leon, leave me!", she said and struggled a bit.
"First answer me", I said to her smiling.
"It was okay", she replied totally uninterested and unenthusiastically, looking to her side.
"Just okay", I jerked her body a little, so she'd look at me, "didn't seem that way though."
She rolled her eyes, "It was good! Okay now? I have to go I have lots of things to do", she pushed me away to release herself.

(Kate's POV)

"Just good?", Leon said again as I began to walk out.
"Tell me what you want me to say?", I said a bit irritated, "you were like a wild animal last night!"
"Animal?", he said a bit surprised letting out a laugh, "Funny of you to say that."
"Now what's funny about that?", I asked him annoyed, crossing my arms.
"You were digging your nails in me", he said showing me his back, "and I am the animal?!"
"You're an idiot!", I said to him storming out of the bathroom and out of the bedroom too, I didn't have any comeback for him.
"I love you too, sweetheart", he yelled at top of his lungs.
"Idiot! Complete idiot!", I muttered to myself descending the stairs smiling at the same time.

It was Saturday and I could put an extra effort in the breakfast. So, I cooked up everything as per Leon's liking. And while I was brewing coffee he came into kitchen, as expected he had work like every other weekend but it was unusual for him to walk into kitchen early in the morning. I just watched him as he searched for something, like always he must have misplaced something. I focused on setting plates for breakfast and pouring out coffee for him. I know he won't ask me for whatever he lost until it's a last resort because of course I'd lecture him about it.

"Kate", he called as I began taking his breakfast and coffee to the set them on dining table, "Have you seen my phone?"
"I don't know", I told him walking out; "Search wherever you last used it."
"I was reading a mail from Hunnigan and after that I went for a drink", he looked back at the refrigerator and found it his cell phone lying on top of it, "You're a genius!"
"I know, come have breakfast before it gets cold", I said calling him for the breakfast.

We had our breakfast together and in silence, not because we were angry at each other or didn't have anything to talk but because he was busy going through his schedule. I watched him frown at his schedule, as he sipped his coffee, and couldn't help but smile thinking that even though a lot of things had changed in this relationship still some things were still the same and I had a feeling that they will never change. After we had our breakfast, I saw Leon off to work like a good wife and got back to my housework.

(Kate's POV)

I changed the beddings and moved to set the clean laundry in the wardrobe. I set my clothes first since my part of wardrobe was organized unlike Leon's, his was a mess. Almost every day he manages to mess half of it up and almost every day I set and tidy it up for him. And as I was arranging his old clothes and keeping them properly in the wardrobe a rolled up lump of his clothes fell down on the floor. I bend to pick them up and when I lifted his clothes a small packet fell from within them. It looked like a small shopping bag. I picked it up and to my surprise it was shopping bag of the jewelry shop and it still had something within it, a tiny velvety box, "a ring box", I muttered to myself. A thousand thoughts crossed my mind as I took out the box and sat down on the loveseat in our room.

I don't know if Leon bought it or if he was keeping it for someone else. If it was someone else it's no trouble but if Leon bought it then the question arises for whom? Is it for me or someone else? If it's for me why didn't he gave me this before? And if it's for someone else who is it for? Is he having an affair? I mean he just… this morning… what was it all about if he loves someone else?

'Calm down Kate', I took a deep breath and opened the box with shaky hands, and to my greatest surprise it was empty although I had guessed correctly it was a ring box since it had that slot where the ring goes. But now the big question was where the ring is? I checked the packet again, which had the box, thinking maybe the ring fell out of the box and is in the packet. But all I found was a purchase receipt and it had Leon's name on it as the purchaser of the ring. It was dated February, 14 of four years ago, just a few days before we were married, maybe he wanted to propose to someone or maybe he did propose to someone because the ring is already missing. He would have been married to her by now maybe had kids and all.

"You have a girlfriend", I had reminded him during the ceremony.
"Not anymore", he had replied, "broke up with her two months ago, she thought I was cheating."

The voices just rang in my mind. He said he broke up with his girlfriend, so there was no one he'd be buying this ring for, 'but why he…', I couldn't help but think as I looked at my own wedding ring. I needed to find this ring; I needed to know if the ring was for me or someone else. If it's for me it should be still there somewhere. I almost rushed to the wardrobe and threw all of Leon's clothes on the floor looking for the ring but I couldn't find it. There was no ring and it was getting me a bit frustrated now and as a habit I started fumbling with my necklace.

I again picked up the cash receipt of the ring and went through it calmly, feeling a little stupid for not spotting this packet earlier. It had been almost five years that it's been hiding right under my nose and I didn't see it. I shoved the receipt and box back inside packet since they didn't have any significant clue. The only thing I could do was ask Leon about it, when he gets back. I began picking up his clothes that I threw on the floor, when I tried to find ring, and carried on with my work trying not to think about the missing ring too much.

(Leon's POV)

I sighed deeply as I drove through the deserted streets to get back home. I was really tired and barely conscious enough to drive home safely. Kate would be really furious when she sees me tonight and I would probably get a lecture about it sooner or later. I parked the car on the driveway and got out. I used my keys to open the front door and the moment I set foot in my house I felt unsettling, so much so that I stood there one whole minute inspecting my surroundings for any abnormalities or some shift of things. I wasn't that much fond of order but something seemed more of felt out of place. Keeping aside that feeling I turned and closed the door making as less noise as possible because I didn't want to risk waking up Kate, well at least not now, 'maybe once I'd have dinner I'd wake her up', I thought smirking.

Just as I was about to turn somebody hugged me from behind, grabbing hold of my upper torso, "What the hell are you doing here?", I asked. It wasn't Kate; it didn't take me time to figure it out, since Kate's touch isn't as cold as hers.
"Missed me?", She almost whispered in my ear, trying to be seductive.
"Huh, you wish", I replied sardonically.
"Don't be mad, I'd make it up to you", she purred feeling my abs.
"Why are you here, Ada?", I asked her again cutting down to business, pulling her hands away from myself.

"You didn't came to see me so I thought to pay you a visit", she said as I turned to face her, "Nice place you have here", she said moving in the living room, "Although I had to go through a great deal of trouble to find where you live, your Secret Services Profile was tightly secured, it was as if it didn't exist, too many firewalls. My notebook got fired after I tried to hack it a couple of times, guess I underestimated the government digital security", her expressions turned from sly to annoyed; "I would have been here sooner if that wasn't the case."

I smiled at that, "So how you managed to find the place then?", I asked her and she looked at me sharply as if I had hit a soft spot.
"Of course I hacked your Secret Services Profile", Ada replied with an obvious tone.
"You're always the liar", I said shaking my head. I knew she possibly could hack into US Secret Service Database with some effort but I, for sure knew she couldn't get to my Personnel profile, because the firewalls she was talking about was probably setup by Kate to prevent people like her from getting to me.
"Are you mocking me?", she asked looking at me sharply, it didn't show on her face but her eyes were flaring in anger.
"I am guessing the old fashioned way? By asking people?" I more of stated than asked her with a smirk of disdain.
"Just the right people", she said smiling angrily now, "I guess her name was Rachel, your friend's girlfriend", I couldn't help but give her an angry look, "Don't worry she's alive."

"So what business you have with me?", I asked Ada.
She smiled widely, "I told you before. You didn't come so I came", she answered walking to me.
"What do you mean?", I asked her puzzled.
"The City", she said smiled smugly, "I didn't see you there and I was… a bit worried", she said throwing her arms around me and hooking them on my neck.
"You have a hand in that?", I asked her.
"No it's not my job to cause chaos", she replied smiling, "I just watched them do it and of course report its effects to them or whatever I am paid to do, as always."

"How low can you get?", I couldn't help but say as I pushed her away from me.
"How dare you?", she said annoyed, "I came here for your sake."
"Now go away for my sake", I said turning my back on her.
"You can't do this", she said furiously and I felt cold barrel of a gun against my back.
"You're always the one taking people down behind their back, such a coward", I said and with that I reached back to grab the gun.

But Ada moved fast and away from me, and I reached for my gun too, "Don't even think about it", she shook her head in a no, "Remove your guns and throw them away", I didn't make a move to comply to her wishes, "Do it, I say!", she yelled firing a shot at me purposely missing me. I reluctantly removed my holsters and threw it aside, "Good boy", she said and moved towards me, "I came here to give you one of the best nights of your life…", she was saying but I had my whole attention on the gun in her hand. I knew she could shoot me dead any moment and I needed to dodge it whenever it comes to that. I cannot afford to die just yet and definitely not by the hands of this woman. I needed to think of a plan for such a situation but I am not the person who is good with plans. I just had to go with my instinct that was telling me to lunge for the gun once she was close enough but I still had to get her guard down, "… this could have been a really special night for you, the one you'd cherish your whole life but…", she was saying.

"Oh it's special alright", I mocked her trying to get her guard down, "I won't forget it though cherishing it is a distant thought."
"Smart mouthing even when you know I can pull the trigger any moment", she threatened me, "You should be begging for your life, Leon."
"In your dreams", I said darkly and when she was at an arm's length I grabbed hold of her hand twisting it behind her back making her letting go of the gun.
"Bastard", she cursed and struggled to get lose.

I tucked the gun in my belt and let her go, pushing her a safe distance away from me and she gave me a nasty look, "Get going before I change my mind."
"You don't get to tell me when I can stay or leave", with that she threw a knife at me that I barely dodged in the nick of time. She lunged at me before I could recover from the dodging position, grabbing hold of the gun and knocking me down. I fell on my back losing my balance and she climbed on top of me, "I am going to kill you", she said venomously.

"Drop it and get off him", I heard a familiar voice and looked up to see Kate holding Ada at her gunpoint.
"I see you have company", Ada said backing away smiling again.
"Meet my wife", I said sitting up. I couldn't be any happier than this; I had totally forgotten that Kate lived here too, the moment I was faced with Ada.

Ada looked up and for the first time she spotted the only wedding picture we had that was sitting behind the couch facing her, "You got married?", she asked in a tone mixed with shock and anger.

(Kate's POV)

"What did you think I'd wait for you, grow up", Leon said to the woman, who he earlier referred to as Ada. I had been here all the time listening to their chat and watching them fight from the Shadows. I knew there was an intruder at the lower level but before I could act I was surprised to see the intruder, a woman, hugging Leon and I was shocked when he recognized her. I remembered her from the facility and from their conversation it seemed she was the one trying to hack Leon's personnel profile continuously and only stopped when I breached her firewalls firing up her computer but she somehow managed to get to get through to him using Rachel.

"Once I kill her you won't be married to her", Ada said lunging at me with another knife, which I wasn't expecting at all but just a moment was enough for me to duck down execute a low spin kick knocking Ada off her feet.

"Kate!", Leon yelled and I looked in the direction of his voice, and it all happened real fast. Leon grabbed my hand, taking control of the gun and shot the knife, which otherwise would have went through Ada's throat. I looked at him in disbelief, we were allowed to kill people in life threatening situations and this was a life threatening situation.

"Nice teamwork but how would you dodge this", Ada's voice drew our attention back to her; she managed to creep up to get a gun.
"I don't really like the sound of keeping her alive", I said to Leon as we both tried to read her next move.
"Me neither but she has a lot of answers about a lot of things", he replied vaguely, "we need to capture her alive."
"Minutes ago you were planning to let her go", I said referring to the time he told her to leave.
"I changed my mind!", he said throwing his hands in air.
"Look at you two bickering like a married couple", Ada commented.
"Because we are married!", we both said to her in unison.
"What they say, yeah right till death do us apart. I'll make sure even death won't stand in your way", Ada pointed her gun at us.

I acted on my instinct releasing myself from Leon and shot the gun off her, hand and she reacted fast already lunging for it. I moved forward trying to stop her by grabbing her by her arm and she threw a punch at me that I barely blocked with my other arm. She tried to reach for the gun in my hand but I threw it in air out of her reach as she grabbed my hair, "Long hair is a disadvantage", she said pulling on it harder.

I punched her face real hard making her let go off my hair and caught the falling gun just in time and aimed it her face, "Kate no!", Leon yelled as I was about to pull the trigger and slapped my hand making me miss my target. Ada took that chance and released a smoke bomb and we heard crashing of a window glass through which she probably escaped. Leon dragged me out of smoke as I coughed hard, "Are you okay?"
"What is wrong with you?", I couldn't help but yell at him. It was the third time he saved her.

(Leon's POV)

"You can't kill her", I couldn't help but say with a voice of reason.
"I could have if you would have let me to", she told me and I had no doubts about it.
"Of course you can, I am not doubting your ability but it's important that she stays alive", I cleared her doubts.
"Why? She didn't really care whether you live or die", Kate asked trying to reason with me too.
"She's valuable to us", I answered.
"How?", she asked me.
"She's...", I began but then again the realization hit me and I stopped midway between my speech.

"She's what, Leon?", Kate asked me, "Who is she? How does she know you? How do you know her?"
"I can't tell you that", I just said to her, looking away from her face.
"What is she to you?", Kate asked me looking at me trying to read me, "Is she that important to you?"
I couldn't reply to her questions without pulling her in to this hell, "I am sorry, I can't answer that", I just said still trying to avoid her gaze.
"Leon…", Kate began and grabbed my collar making me look at her, "stop hiding things from me, god damn it", her eyes were welling up with tears, "Look I beg you alright, please tell me! Please, I need to know."
"You don't", I told her shaking my head in a no.
"Look what it's doing to us!", she almost yelled.

(Kate's POV)

Leon didn't reply, he was just looking down at me, giving me the silent treatment and building those walls again. It was hurting like hell, no physical pain was compared to this pain that I felt emotionally. He was in pain too, I knew it by instinct but he just won't speak up and clear things out with me. These walls made me recede every time and it kept us apart for almost five years. I felt if I gave him enough time he would build a door in that wall and call me in but it was nothing more than a wishful thinking on my part because here we were, standing on the opposite side of the imaginary wall feeling miserable by the moments. I tried to read his eyes, but the tears in mine were clouding my vision, 'Say something please', I begged him mentally.

I just wanted to know why Ada mattered to him so much, I wanted to know anything and everything about her. I knew he wasn't having an affair with her, but I wanted him to say it, to confirm it because his silence was breeding a sense of insecurity within me. Was the ring that I found about earlier for her? My rational mind was trying to corrupt my emotional heart that believed in him. But my heart was breaking into a million pieces now by the hammer of his silence. It was just getting unbearable to stand it anymore, even if it would be by means of an argument I wanted this silence to be broken.

(Leon's POV)

Kate let go off my collar and wiped her tears that finally streamed down her face, "I am really tired", she was saying the words I feared the most. She closed her eyes as more tears streamed down her face, "Let's just sleep", she added after a pause opening her eyes to look at me.

And before I could reach to wipe her tears, Kate turned and walked away. I wanted to stop her, hold her in my arms but all I did was punch the dining table next to me. I cursed my luck; the thing I tried to keep away from Kate all these years, that same thing followed me back home in form of Ada. Ada, the woman I couldn't find when I searched for her after Raccoon, stepped in my house a whole seven years later when I wasn't even looking for her anymore. She was the last person I wanted Kate to meet. It was too naïve of me to think that the shadows of my past won't be cast on her. But even if it kills me, I'd do just about anything in my power to keep Kate safe and far away from this brutal reality.

We've been in this situation before and some part of me hoped that we'd sail through, even though I knew that things weren't exactly like this but still I dragged my feet upstairs and pushed open the bedroom door. Kate was lying on bed and she didn't even look at me as I entered the bedroom. I walked to the wardrobe got my clothes and changed into them before joining Kate. I faced her but she wasn't facing me and was literally at the edge of the bed, as if she wanted to be as far away from me as possible. I didn't even remember the last time I stared at her back like this; it felt we were thrown back to that time when we were this distant that we didn't want to even look at each other whilst sleeping.

(Kate's POV)

"Kate", Leon called out my name and I closed my eyes pretending to be asleep, "I have an off tomorrow", he said after sometime and the silence enveloped us once again.

I don't know why I didn't reply but as if a valve had been opened my tears started flowing down like a stream. I felt a weight shift on the bed and hoped that Leon would throw his arm around me like everyday but I waited for it and it didn't happen. I turned to look at him but all I got was his back. I lifted a hand to reach out to him but pulled it back turning my back on him closing my eyes tight shut hoping the sleep to take over because I really felt too much tired to be awake right now.

A/N: Thanks for reading! I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and I apologize for any grammatical mistakes or typos and for making Ada out of character. It was essential for this story and I hadn't played RE6 otherwise this might have been a little different. So well, see you guys next week.