A/N: Thanks for supporting this story so far and special thanks to Shirahane Aikawa and roseimagine for reviewing.

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

Chapter 19

(Leon's POV)

I unlocked the door and let Shadow inside the house. I walked to kitchen and filled his bowl and he got busy with his dinner. I headed to the shower because nothing's more soothing than a shower after a hard day's work. Well Kate's smile does a better work but well she's not here and even if she were I can't just visit her in the middle of the night. I showered till my heart's content and pulled on a pair of PJs to sleep and just when I lied down my phone rang disturbing my thoughts about Kate. I didn't even look before putting it against my ear, I knew it was Hunnigan.

"Hello?", I answered dully.
"Did I disturb your sleep?", I heard Kate's voice.
"No not at all, I just got back home", I told her with much more enthusiasm as compared to when I answered the phone initially. I was really happy to hear from her.
"How was your day?", she asked me.
"The usual tagging along with Ashley", I told her in a bored tone.
"Hmm… sounds tiring", she commented.
"It is very tiring", I told her, "wake up early in morning and work till late at night is very tiring."
"Why you work so much?", she asked sounding a little curious.
"I don't have anything else to do", I replied, "So anyways how was your flight, you're all settled now there?"
"Yep I am all settled here, conference starts tomorrow and I'll be a very busy with it but don't worry I'd call you everyday", she replied possibly with a smile.
"When are you coming back?", I asked her even though I knew.
"In a week, I told you right?", she asked.
"Yeah, it just slipped my mind. I am a bit tired you see", I tried to cover it up.
"I can see that", she said, "So you sleep now. I'll call you later. Goodnight and sweet dreams! Oh and take care!"
"Yeah you too take care", I replied and she disconnected the call. I looked at the phone I was already missing her and I wondered if she missed me or not and that thought was enough to put me to sleep.

(Kate's POV)

"That was tiring and boring", I commented as I got back from the medical seminar that I was here to attend.
"Tell me about it", Sophie, my current roommate and another colleague at work said. Unfortunately Linda had a different room allotted to her but well Sophie wasn't a stranger either so I didn't mind. "It your first time?", she asked drawing my attention back to her.
"No but I can't really get used to it. I mean we know we have to save lives and devise new methods and stuff but well sitting there talking about all that stuff won't help would it", I said to her.
"Yeah true but well at least these conferences gives us a chance to hook up with cute male doctors", she smiled wide.
"It's the first day and you got someone already", I asked sounding a little impressed of her talent for hunting men.
"Of course and I even fixed a date for you tonight", she said rummaging through her bag.

"Me? What?!", I couldn't help but be surprised, " I can't go on a date."
"Curses I forgot to ask you if you had any boyfriend", Sophie said slapping her head, "tell me you don't have any."
"No I don't have a boyfriend", I began but she cut me in between.
"Yes", she squealed in joy.
"But I can't go", I told her, plainly denying her invite.
"Why?", she asked me. I didn't have any answer to that, "Please come with me tonight. I won't fix any blind dates after that I promise."
"Okay if this is that much important to you", I said sighing.
"Yay! Thank you, you're the best!", she said hugging me, "Do you need a dress?", she asked picking clothes for her date.
"No I'll manage", I said to her, I was just going to accompany her it was not like I had to get laid tonight.

Next hour or so I tried to help Sophie ready for this so-called date as she kept me asking what would look good or not and if it would go well with whatever she picked. She seemed really excited about it, unlike me; I just felt really tired. I just got out of my formal clothes and pulled on some casual ones. It was just a date and not a black tie event, so I would fret too much about it. I sat on the end of my bed, waiting for Sophie, since I was already ready for it when my phone buzzed. I answered it immediately seeing it was from home.

"Hello", I said cheerfully.
"Hey Kiddo what's up?", Jill asked from the other end, "how was the conference?"
"The usual, my colleagues set me up on a blind date", I told her unenthusiastically, "Anyways how are you and bro?"
"We are good. He's taking me out on romantic lunch", she told me, giggling a little.
"I so wish I was there to tease him about that", I told her smiling.
"Yeah", she said laughing a bit, "Oh here's Chris talk to him."

"How's is it going kiddo?", Chris asked me.
"I am fine, by the way I heard you are taking Jill on a date", I tried to tease him.
He cleared his throat, "Ah well I thought we were bored because you two weren't around here so…", he was saying.
"You thought it be a good opportunity to go spend some private time with your wife, huh?", I teased.
"Here talk to Jill", he said avoiding my question which made me laugh and by the sounds of it Jill was laughing at the other end too.

"Don't tease my hubby", Jill said to me laughing a bit as well.
"Well it is fun", I said to her in an obvious tone.
"I know", she said, "oh by the way the thing I called you for is that the digital prints of Claire's Wedding Photographs are here and I already mailed some to you. So check it out."
"Really, that's great. I am going to check it out right now", I said moving to my notebook and checking my mail.
"Yeah you do that. I'd run now, getting late and my date is waiting", she said and laughed.
"Have fun you two", I wished her, "take care!"
"Yeah you too", she said and disconnected.

I browsed Claire's Wedding pictures while Sophie took time with her makeup and whatever. Claire and Eric made a great couple and looked just cute together. Chris looked like a gentleman and Jill looked as elegant and gorgeous as ever, "You ready?", Sophie asked and I looked at her clicking for the next picture so it loads, "Oh you look cute together", Sophie said and I looked back to see a picture of me and Leon together, "You said you don't have a boyfriend."

"He's not my boyfriend", I told her closing the notebook, "Let's go."
"Then perhaps the reason why you don't want to go on the date. You have a crush on him, eh?", She asked as we got out of the room. And it made me wonder if what she saying was true.
"No", I replied to her, "I don't have a crush on him. He… he's just a friend."
"So then introduce me to him if this date doesn't work out", she said as we took the elevator down.
"NO!", I almost shouted out loud.
"Why?!", she asked bewildered.
"He… he has a girlfriend", I lied for some reason, I don't know myself.

"Aww that's sad", as we both stepped out of elevator, "I really wanted a chance with him…", her voice trailed off as I stood there wondering if I really have a crush on Leon. I never thought about this before, "Hey come on we are getting late", Sophie yelled to me.
"Yeah Kate", Linda yelled, from her side.
"Yeah", I said throwing the thought aside and walking to them, "You are coming too?", I asked Linda.
"Of course, those guys are hot", Linda said, "Not as hot as the guy on the airport though."
"Oh, oh tell me about it", Sophie asked interested, "Did he work at the airport? Who was it?"
"No he didn't work at the airport. He came to see off Kate", Linda said looking back at me and Sophie followed her gaze. Until now I didn't get the fact that she was talking about Leon, "You have to introduce him to me."
"And me too", Sophie said, "You have two hot guys in your circle and you didn't fell for them that's weird."
"Two who's the other one", Linda asked her.
"You two are talking about the same guy", I told them.
"Oh my god, you saw him live. Is he as handsome as he looks in picture", Sophie asked Linda and they began discussing Leon all the way to the club where we were supposed to have this blind group date. And for some reason I just wanted to seal their mouth with duct tapes.

'Why are you bothered?', my innerself asked me.
I am not bothered, I talked to myself.
'Are you jealous that they are talking about Leon …', the inner me said.
"We are here", Linda said and my inner voice died down as we all got out of the taxi.

"There they are", Sophie spotted the guys and waved at them. The three of them walked over to us, "Kate meet Daniel, Aaron and Liam", she introduced me to them. They didn't look half bad.
'But Leon looks better', my innerself screamed out loud as I shook hands with the three guys.
"Liam is your date", Sophie said and I just smiled.
"So let's head in shall we", Daniel said and we all went inside.

We divided but didn't go out of each other's sight and had our separate dates, "I don't believe in blind dates", Liam said.
"Me neither", I said to him.
"But it turned out quite nicely", he smiled which I mirrored; "I mean I didn't expect such a beautiful doctor."
"Thanks", I thanked him, "So what expertise you hold. I am a general doctor."
"Oh no no no, you are mistaken. I am not a doctor", he said, "I am actually a cop."
'Leon was a cop too right?', the inner voice spoke again.
"Oh I am sorry, my friends said that we are meeting up with doctors, so…", I apologized.
"Don't apologized besides Daniel and Aaron are doctors, you friend might have mistook me for one too", he cleared the thing out, "If you were expecting a doctor sorry to disappoint you."
"No it's nothing like that", I replied to him and he smiled.

"So what will you have?", Liam asked me opening the menu and suggesting a few dishes to me.
"Anything would do", I replied checking taking a sip of water.
"There's nothing like anything here", he said and began laughing at his own joke, "you get it?", he asked and I nodded faking a laugh.
'Lame! That's so lame. Leon has better sense of humor', I couldn't help but think, "What am I thinking", I muttered to myself.
"You said something?", Liam asked and I shook my head.

The whole evening was good but numerous times I found myself comparing Liam to Leon. It was as if my standards were set to Leon and I couldn't help but think about him over every small detail, 'Liam is a good guy but Leon is better', my inner voice answered.

"Excuse us for a bit", I looked up, there was Linda and Sophie at our table.
"Yeah sure", Liam said smiling and both of the women dragged me with them to the ladies room.
"How's the date going?", they both chorused, "Awesome", they both replied together and began describing their date simultaneously which hardly made any sense to me. Just then my phone buzzed and I looked at it, it was Claire calling.

"Hey", I replied taking the call, "How's your honeymoon going?"
"It's great!", she replied, " How's your date going?", she asked a bit excited.
"How did you know?", I asked her surprised.
"Jill told me of course", she replied probably smiling, "So how's the guy?"
"Good. Average. I don't know", I gave her doubtful reply not being able to decide on it.
"Kate, what happened?", Claire asked a bit concerned.
"I don't know what's happening I keep comparing him to…", I stopped abruptly, I didn't know if I should tell Claire. Well I never hide anything from her but I didn't know how she would react to this.
"To?", Claire asked when I took too long to reply.
"To my other dates", I covered it up; for some reason deciding not to tell her my recently discovered inexplicable feelings for Leon, which I wasn't so sure about myself.
"Ah that's natural Kiddo", Claire said to me, "It's probably you being nervous because it's a blind date."
"Yeah I guess that's it. I am all nervous because it's a blind date. Thanks sis", I thanked her.
"That's what sisters are for", she said warmly, "Enjoy your date and tell me how it was because now I have to run now."
"Yeah sure", I said disconnecting the call. I turned and came face to face with my two colleagues, which literally made me jump, "What?", I asked them, keeping my phone back.

"We are taking off with our dates", Sophie said with a wide smile.
"Really?", I asked them and they nodded.
"So what about you?", Linda asked me.
"I'd just head back to hotel, what else?", I replied in an obvious tone.
"You didn't hit it off with Liam", Sophie asked with a bit of shock.
"He's nice but not really my type", I replied to him.
"Aww… what would you say to him then?", Linda asked both looking and sounding concerned, it seemed she was already pitying Liam.
"I am going home", I replied shrugging.
"That would break his heart", Sophie said, having very much the same reaction as Linda.
"I don't think so", I replied care freely as we all got out of the ladies room.

"Something serious?", Liam asked as I got back to him.
"No they said they will be going home with their dates", I told him.
"And what about you?", he asked hopefully.
'Leon is a better flirt', I caught myself comparing Liam to Leon again. I shook my head, "I'd head back to hotel now", I replied and he seemed a bit disappointed, "I am sorry but blind dates are not really my thing."
"Oh its fine but can I know what went wrong?", he asked me.
"Nothing, nothing went wrong", I replied and then his eyes shone with hope but I didn't wanted to give any false hopes, "it's just that… I… I have a boyfriend back home", I lied.
"Oh a boyfriend!", he said surprised.
"Yeah Sophie didn't ask me before fixing this…", I tried to explain.
"Oh its fine, I understand. I too have a girlfriend and she's out of town for some time so… you know…", he said and my whole perception about him changed.
'What a loser', I thought, "I see", I couldn't help but say.
"But you know what no one has to know about our one night stand", Liam said and I couldn't believe his guts for saying that, "Plus you are from DC and I am from London and we won't be crossing paths again."
"I guess I should be going", I stood up and I just wanted to run away from the creep.

"You don't have a boyfriend, do you?", Liam asked following me and I wondered what gave me away.
"I do have a boyfriend", I replied stopping to answer him
"How does he look like?", he asked me.
"Blond hair, blue eyes, muscular not that buff", I said the first description that came in my mind and realized a moment later it was Leon's description.
"What does he do?", he asked again once I was finished with first answer.
"Works for government", I replied walking out, without giving too much thought about it.
"What's his name?", he asked me one more time.
"Leon S. Kennedy", my tongue worked faster than my brain and I said Leon's name before I realized it was his name.
"This Leon would never know", Liam said smiling smugly.
"You know what? You are sick!", I couldn't help but say that out loud and he grabbed my hand, "Leave me!"
"I know this Leon dude doesn't exist", he said to me.
"He does", I said jerking my hand off his grip and that's when my phone buzzed. I looked at it, "And that's him calling", I told him smiling at my phone. I couldn't be thankful enough to Leon about his right timing. I was so happy that accidentally I put the phone on speaker mode.

"Hey sweetheart!", Leon voice sounded from the phone.
"Hey", I replied switching it back to handset mode, moving away from Liam, who finally decided to back off, probably after listening to Leon's voice.
"You okay?", he asked concerned and I saw a taxi.
"Taxi", I yelled to stop it and rushed to it, "I am fine", I replied to Leon.
"You don't sound fine", he said as I got in taxi and told him the destination.
"I had a terrible date", I told him.
"So are you crying about that?", he asked and laughed.
"Shut up! It was not a good experience alright?", I said annoyed at him, "The guy was creep. He had girlfriend and still he wanted a one night stand."
"Oh so you punched him?", he asked me.
"No, of course not. I am not Claire", I replied.
"So told Chris about it yet?", he asked again.
"No, he over-reacts to such things", I told him.
"So I am your gay friend now, except I am straight", he joked bringing a smile to my face.

"My boyfriend", I said but my words got suppressed by cab driver's words telling me we reached our destination.
"What?!", Leon asked in surprise as I got out and paid the driver his cab fare, "Last time I checked there was nothing like that."
"Well he was following me and so I lied that you are my boyfriend because you called just at that moment", I tried to cover up my slip of tongue, "You took me as your girlfriend at that party."
"Ah yeah right, so guess we're even now", he said agreeing with me and maybe probably smiling.
"By the way, why did you call? You don't ever call me", I asked him as I entered the elevator.
"I called…", he was saying and his voice died down.
"Leon? Hello?", I said and looked at my phone. The call got disconnected, because there was no network, "Shit!"

I felt really bad now, because Leon must have had some important work with me and all I did was talk about my troublesome experiences with stupid people. All the time I spent inside the elevator I just stared at my phone hoping it shows even a single bar, so I could call Leon and ask why he called me. The elevator door parted and I stepped out the elevator. The moment the bar showed up on my cell phone, I got Leon's call again.

I picked it up and before I could say anything Leon asked, "Are you okay?"
"I am fine", I replied heading for my room.
"I thought you got abducted", he said jokingly.
"You wish", I replied, "By the way, why you called?"
"Ashley's sick so I am stuck with paper work. I was so bored, so I thought why not talk to Kate, who probably would be stuck at some boring conference too", he replied, "that way be both could have some sort of entertainment."
"Are you forgetting we are like 5 hours apart Mr. Kennedy", I asked him unlocking my room door and stepping inside, "Its around 9:00 pm here."
"Oh yeah I totally forgot", he replied sarcastically.
"So why you called then?", I asked him because it was obvious from his previous response that he didn't call to just have a chat.

Leon sighed, "I felt like calling you", he replied, "I can't really explain it but I wanted to talk to you, hear your voice", he laughed nervously and I knew I was smiling, "you must be thinking this is crazy…"
"No I understand", I told him sitting on my bed, "I am glad you called. I am actually happy you called."
"Your call came at the right moment and helped me to get away from that creep ", I told him, "Even when you are there, you still find a way to help me out."
"Will always do, sweetheart", he said to me and I smiled.
"Leon", I called out to him after a moment of silence and he hummed in acknowledgement, "I wish for you to be here."
"And I wish you to be here", he said with the same seriousness.
"Yeah it's really fun when we are together", I told him sighing, "Guess we both have to make it without each other through this week."
"It's going to be a long week without you", Leon said sighing himself.
"Tell me about it", I said rolling my eyes huffing a bit. I heard someone call Leon's name.
"Hey babe have to go but you take care", he said in a bit of hurry.
"Yeah you too take care", I wished him too and then we disconnected.

I stared at the phone I wanted to talk to him more. I kept my phone aside and got up to change my clothes. After changing into my nightwear and settling myself into bed, I couldn't fall asleep. And being in hotel reminded me of the time I was with Leon in hotel. It was the so weird, since the time I came here I find myself thinking about Leon a lot. There's Chris, Jill and Claire in my family but I hadn't thought about them this much as I am thinking about Leon now. Do I really have a crush on Leon? Is it just a crush or an attraction or something more? I don't know what to call this feeling that I get when I think about him or see him. All these thoughts about Leon put me to sleep.

A/N: Thanks for taking out time to read. I hope you all are enjoying the story. I apologize for any mistakes that caused any inconvenience in reading.