A/N: I'd like to thank all the readers for always encouraging me to write and the reviewers, Juliet and Adela, for leaving their lovely reviews. It's always great to know that you all love this story, thanks a lot!

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

Chapter 56

(Leon's POV)

I woke up with a start having dreamt a nightmare and unlike every time, there was no Kate offering me water. It was morning and it seemed she was already up. I reached for the water jug sitting on her bedside table and emptied it to calm myself down. I moved to the bathroom and pushed open the door but there was no sound of Kate and I moved further siding the shower curtains, just to confirm that there was no Kate. I knew if she had been there, she had definitely yelled at me. I walked back to the bedroom and looked at the time, it was a little over 11:00 PM.

'She must be downstairs, putting her head in some novel or something', I thought and moved to get my clothes. I showered and headed downstairs and into the living room. I got a little worried not to find Kate even there, 'she must be in the kitchen, making lunch maybe', I thought and hurried to kitchen but she wasn't there, 'Study', I checked study next and then every room in the house for her but it seemed she was not at home. I walked back to the kitchen, Shadow was sitting quietly in his bed, his food bowl was untouched and then a note stuck to the fridge grabbed my attention.

My mom's sick, I am going there.

I sighed in relief knowing that she was at her mom's, so she'd be back latest by night, 'At least meeting twins would clear her head', I couldn't help but think. I decided to waste my time with TV but only half an hour into it I turned it off, since the moment I woke up something was really unsettling. It felt like the times when Kate was on some mission. I decided to go see her, after all it wasn't like I wasn't welcomed at her maiden home, plus I'd pick her from there when it's time to return. I climbed up the stairs, up to my bedroom and pulled open the wardrobe to get a jacket. I was closing it shut when I noticed something that I hadn't before, probably because I was half asleep. Most of Kate's clothes were missing from the wardrobe and the jacket slipped off from my hand as the realization hit me that she had left me, "Shadow!", I yelled at top of my lungs and he didn't come. I descended down the stairs, "She's gone!", he looked at me and settled back in his bed, as if telling me that he knows and that very much explained why he wasn't eating and his inactiveness. This all in turn confirmed that Kate was gone.

(Kate's POV)

I handed mom her medicines as she coughed a bit, "Take your meds", I said to her holding water for her.
"Kate dear, you don't have to be here, it's just a cold", my mother said taking the meds.
"Well I was a bit worried the way you were coughing on the phone", I told her, "also you have a terrible fever", I touched her forehead.
"Well I am fine, plus there are twins, your dad and Liza to look after me", Mom said with a smiling warmly at me.
"Liza has Kevin to take care of, twins can't take care of themselves and it would have been too much for dad", I made an excuse, "And can't I come see, how my mother is doing?"
"With a big bag?", Mom said laughing out a little.
"I decided to stay as long as you get better", I told her smiling and hoped that I was doing a good job faking that.
"But what about Leon?", Mom asked me concerned and his name made my body shiver with sharp pain in my heart.
"He doesn't need me", I told her in a monotone, "I mean he's old enough to take care of himself and besides I was missing you", I wrapped my arms around my mom and hugged her.
"My baby was feeling homesick", she said running a hand through my hair, rocking me a bit as I hummed in response. I closed my eyes, my mother's arms were the only source of comfort for me now.

I didn't know what made me leave that house and Leon behind, when I wanted it to be opposite. I guess it was just very painful for me to be by his side now, so I decided to distance myself from him, but now that I am away from him my heart longed for him and things were no different than before. But even so I felt staying away from him was a better choice, since it would give us time to bear the pain and heal, and we could eventually get back to the way we always were. I couldn't help but wonder if time could really undo the damage this time.

"Am I disturbing a mother-daughter moment", I pulled away from mom trying to hold my tears back, as dad spoke these words.
"No not at all, we were just reminiscing", I said to him smiling looking at my mother who was smiling too.
"And Kate told me she misses me", Mom told dad with an air of importance, maybe to make him jealous.
"You don't miss me?", he asked me in a dejected tone.
"Of course I miss you, I miss all of you", I said standing up giving him a hug too.
"We miss you too sweetheart!", dad said with a warm smile.
"Your dad misses you the most", mom told me.
"Oh really?", I said looking at him at that revelation.

"Oh he always does but he never says", Mom said, "You remember when you were five and went camping with your uncle he couldn't sleep till you came back."
"No way he did that?", I said a bit shocked taking a seat by her feet.
"He did and there are more than one such incidents", mom said looking at me.
"Honey you're embarrassing me", Dad said taking a seat by her side, "Don't you remember, how much you were worried when she went away for that summer camp."
"It was nothing compared to you when she went out for that survival training thing", Mom said letting out a laugh.
"Oh tell me about it all", I said to them.

We spent hours talking about old times, and once my sisters joined us it was one of the finest family moments, but it wasn't enough for me to forget what happened last night. I donned the mask of happiness and tried to be together with my family but it just wasn't serving the purpose it was suppose to. It just made me feel alone in the crowd. I came here for a change of air, for some sort of distraction, making a pathetic excuse of looking after my mother, but it wasn't as effective as I thought it would be. On the contrary, it made me miss Leon's presence even more but then again it was just my first day being actually away from him, after all it's been almost 5 long years since we've been together. It wasn't easy but I knew I just have to give tomorrow a chance to heal me better.

Our talks were interrupted when somebody's phone rang and since the sound was coming where dad was, we all thought it was his phone, "Oh I totally forgot why I came here in the first place", he said getting my phone from his pocket, "Someone called Saunders called."
"You're getting old Hank", mom teased him as he handed me the phone.
"Oh he's my supervisor", I told them and took the call but I couldn't hear anything only a few words of speech, "I am sorry, I have to take this", I said and stepped outside to talk to Saunders, "Hello? Is my voice clear now?", I spoke in the phone.
"Cornor, what is this?", he said a bit angrily from the other end.
"It's what you see", I knew what he was talking about and I spent hours convincing Saunders to comply to my wish and in the end he had no option but to agree with it.

(Leon's POV)

My phone rang and I got it in the first ring, "Kennedy?", Hunnigan spoke from the other end in a confused tone, "Leon S. Kennedy?"
"Yes", I kept the reply brief.
"Oh I thought I got the wrong number", she told me, "since you got the phone in first ring and that too early in morning", she babbled on a bit.
"Why you called?", I asked her cutting to the point.
"Well to wake you up of course, you have to report to work earlier today", she reminded me, "that was the deal of taking Sunday off, remember?"
"Yeah", I replied sighing closing my strained eyes. I couldn't get myself to sleep the whole night and the time seemed to run really slow.
"I see you are up so get to White House quickly", she said to me.

Kate's face flashed in my mind, I really wanted to see her, "Wait", I called out to Hunnigan before she disconnected, "Can I do paper work today?", I asked her being hopeful about it, "I am not feeling that well really", I added.
"Well I don't know, there's no one to fill you up but if you are unwell I'd see what I can do but I don't make any promises", she said with a sigh, "But whatever's the case report to White House at your scheduled time, if we get another agent to substitute you, you can head back to HQ."
"Okay thanks!", I said to her and disconnected.

I got off the bed and moved to the wardrobe, just thinking about seeing Kate was making me feel a bit motivated to head to work. I took a shower descended down the steps and went in the kitchen to get Shadow, he had eaten a bit but not much, "C'mon eat your meal, you have to work", I said to him and he didn't move, "I'll leave you here then", I said decisively and moved to head out but just as I pulled open the door he was there with his leash in his mouth, as if saying he was ready to go to work. I put his leash on and took him to work.

(Leon's POV)

I tried to concentrate on my work and not look up too much to see Kate from my cabin, since it was still time for her to come to work. And I might as well do some work while she's not here, since it would keep me distracted, but paperwork only seemed to be making time go slow, but I was willing to wait if I'd get to see Kate. It's been 3 days that I hadn't seen her, but finally after asking Hunnigan for the 3rd time I was sent here to take care of paperwork. Now I could finally see her once she gets here. I just have to wait and my only time pass were these pending reports.

I was distracted from my work, not that I had my absolute attention on the file, by a slight knock on the glass of my cabin and I looked up to notice that people were finally starting to show up. I sat straight, any moment now Kate would pass by my cabin to be at her desk. I started recognizing the people while waiting for her. I saw John filling up his desk as he talked to his colleagues. It felt Kate was the only one not at work, rest every other agent were at their respective desks, possibly she was running late, 'C'mon, what's taking you so long?', I thought impatiently as John walked past my cabin.

A few moments later, John knocked at my cabin door, "Hey Leon! I didn't know you were here", he said walking to my desk. I didn't notice him walk back I was too concentrated on Kate, "It's so boring without you guys", he said taking a seat and putting up his legs on my table, "I thought you were on vacation or something."
"What made you think that?", I asked looking at the people passing by my cabin.
"Well the things between you and Kate are going great isn't it", John said grinning, "So I thought you guys took off on honeymoon or something."
"Yeah right!", I said sarcastically.
"Was that sarcasm?", he asked me seriously, "hey if you are not on vacation, then why isn't she showing up?", he looked back to the desk that I've been eyeing for so long.

"Possibly to avoid me", I said getting back to work; now that I was sure she was not showing up today.
"Is she doing fine?", he asked me, "She's hasn't been around for 2 days."
"I don't know", I told him, "but she possibly is", I added. I wanted to know that myself and that's why I wanted to see her.
"You're saying as if you don't live with her", John said and laughed a bit.
"I am not", I told him and he stopped laughing.
"Where is she?", he asked me seriously.
"At her mom's place", I told him and he slapped his face.
"Now you've really done it", he told me but I didn't need him telling me that, "Whatever you did, just get her, her favorite flowers, chocolates and apologize. Apologize like your life depended on it."

"Apology is not bringing her back", I told him sadly.
"What did you do?", John almost yelled standing up.
"Ada, showed up", I told him sighing relaxing on my chair.
"Oh", he sat back on his chair.

And just then my phone rang and I looked at it, it was from Shadow's handler, "Hello?", I answered.
"Leon, I am really sorry man! But you do know how hard it is to handle Shadow and he's a strong dog too", he spoke on the other end.
"It's fine, he's been troublesome lately and if he did something I'll take full responsibility", I said to him running a hand through my hair. Shadow was getting hard to deal with, with Kate not around and to top it off I yelled at him this morning for not eating properly and whining too much. I knew he missed Kate but I couldn't make him understand that he wasn't going to see her anytime soon. I wasn't even sure if I'd even get to see her now.
"No man, you don't understand", he said on the other end and took a deep breath as if preparing himself for something, "Shadow… he kinda, sorta ran away."
"What do you mean kinda, sorta ran away?!", I asked him as I felt my anger rising, getting the seriousness of the situation.
"Well we were out with a senator and he pulled on his leash very hard that it slipped off my hand and he ran away", he told me nervously, "I tried to find him but he got lost in crowd, but on a good note he has his leash and collar on, so someone would find him and bring him back."
"Just tell me if he comes back", I said to him, I felt very tired now.
"Yeah sure man", he said sighing in relief and disconnected.

I pressed the bridge of my nose in frustration before getting up, "hey where are you going?", John asked me.
"To find my dog", I answered him walking to the door, "he's all I have now", I added pulling open the door.

I walked to Hunnigan's cabin and requested her to give me off for the day, so I could go look for Shadow, but instead I got engaged in explaining why Shadow won't come back and why it was important for me to ditch work and find him because she just thought I was making an excuse to get away from work. I felt more frustrated by the seconds as I repeated things over and over to her about Shadow's importance to me. For her it was a mere dog but for me he was my best friend and much more than that. I just felt time slipping by and I knew with each passing moment it was getting harder to track Shadow.

(Kate's POV)

I sat on my window sill watching the setting sun, it could have been a beautiful view but it just didn't feel that way to me. It's been 3 days since I haven't seen him, heard from him or heard about him. I was worried for him, I wanted to call him but I didn't know what would I talk or say to him. Besides, I just knew it would be too painful to talk to him. I grabbed my locket out of habit and that involuntary action made me look down at it. I removed it off my neck and opened it to see his face. Mom was well and I could go back now, but I was still the same, as broken as I was when I came here. A tear dropped on Leon's picture and I realized I was crying.

"I knew there was something", I heard my dad's concerned voice and looked up at him.
"Dad, I was just…", I tried to make an excuse but my tears were speaking everything to him.
"You can lie to your mom but you cannot lie to me", he said taking a seat by my side, "I knew the moment you showed up with your bag. What I didn't know was that you were hiding so much pain inside", he reached and wiped my tears, "I know you like chocolate ice-cream more than strawberry; I know you like shooting guns more than shopping and I knew you liked Leon too."
Tears again streamed down my face, "Dad…", I said and hugged him and he comforted me.
"I am sorry I shouldn't have pushed this on you", he apologized sincerely.
"You don't have to be sorry", I said to him pulling away, "you did what you thought was best and…"

"Kate, here are your clothes", Mom said entering my room and I wiped my tears in a hurry, "What happened?", she noticed them none the less.
"Nothing I was just…", I looked at my hands falling short of words and my mother's gaze followed my gaze.
"Aww… you're missing Leon", Mom said smiling sweetly, "well sweetie, now I am all well, so you don't have to be away from him anymore", she added keeping my freshly laundered clothes on the bed.
"I want Kate to stay a few more days, if that's not a problem to you", Dad said before I could say anything.
"Sure", I said with a slight smile, thanking him mentally for rescuing me out of this uncomfortable situation.

"Hey Kate you should come see this", Jessica said really concerned and serious, as she hurried inside my bedroom.
"What happened?", I asked her getting up and following her.
"I can't really explain, you just come and see", she said leading the way.
"It better not be some silly joke", I said to her faking an annoyed tone.
"It's not", she said seriously, "I know when to be serious!"

And we stepped outside on to the porch, "Never seen him this hostile", Leslie said backing away and almost bumping into me. There was Shadow growling at her.
"Oh my god, Shadow! How did you get here?", I asked moving to him and he whined. He was so much in a bad shape that he couldn't even move anymore. His paws were bleeding and he seemed very weak, 'What the hell was Leon doing? Did Leon even know?', all these questions just popped in my mind. I released Shadow from his harness; it looked like he came here from White House, and straight away called Leon.

(Leon's POV)

I literally slammed shut my car door because I was super mad. I could stop myself from hitting the car's steering wheel out of frustration. Thanks to Hunnigan, I was kept back till evening and I couldn't go find Shadow. And now I had no idea where he must have gone. My rage level was somewhere near the top when my phone rang, which made me even more mad, because I knew it was Hunnigan calling, "WHAT?!", I almost yelled on the phone.

Initially there was no reply and I smacked myself when I heard the voice from the other end, "Shadow's with me", Kate said, her voice lacked any sort of emotion.
"Kate, I didn't mean to…", I tried to apologize.
"He's in bad shape, I am taking him to vet", she said cutting me in between and speaking really fast.
"I understand", I said sighing, "keep him with you for a few days, he's miserable here with me."
"Understood", she said and disconnected, before I could say or ask anything.

I wanted to call her back but all I did was bump my head on the cell phone. I rested my head at the back of driver seat and sighed out of relief, at least Shadow was safe and where he wanted to be. Kate would probably take care of him better than I could and with that thought, a feeling of loneliness dawned upon me and I started to miss Kate even more and all of a sudden my throat felt dry. If only I could see her somehow, even just for a few seconds.

A/N: Thanks for reading! I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and I apologize for any grammatical mistake or typos that caused an inconvenience. See you all next week, just 2 weeks to go before this story ends.