A/N: Thanks for all the reads, follow, favorites and all the support that you have shown for my story so far, I am really grateful for that; a special mention to Shirahane Aikawa, who always takes time to leave me a review.

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

Chapter 30

(Kate's POV)

I sighed looking at the café. I wasn't expecting a second trip to here, but now I was standing here and it was all because of Chris. When he got home last night and noticed that Jill and I had cake and didn't leave any for him, he threw a tantrum like a 4-year-old. He treated us as if we were national traitors, for enjoying all sorts of cakes and pastries all by ourselves. It was funny for most of the part but he nagged me to the point that I had to promise him that I would get him some cakes today. I sighed once again moving to the counter. The place was as crowded as yesterday; well I just have a five minute business so it doesn't really matter if the café was too much crowded. But as I was making my way to the counter I bumped into someone.

"Hey what are you doing here?", I heard a familiar voice as I rubbed my head and looked up to the person I crashed into.
"I am here to bomb this place", I said sarcastically annoyed at his dumb question.
Mike gave a hearty laugh, "You and your sense of humor", he said between the laughs.
"What do you mean why I am here? It's a bakery and a café; I am here to buy cake, what else?", I said to him in an obvious tone.
"Oh well, if you were coming here, you should have told me", Mike said with a fake smile, "I mean we could have come together."
"I didn't know you were going here", I stated the evident fact with a shrug.
"Well now that we both are here, let's have a cup of coffee together?", Mike suggested.
"Yeah sure, why not", I said with a smile since I had no reason to decline his offer.

Mike and I made our way to an empty table, which we luckily came by as the occupants of that one decided to leave. The waitress came and took our order and got us coffee pretty quick and we enjoyed it leisurely as we chatted. Mike told me a bunch of stuff about work, asking me a question or two occasionally and I too had a thing or two to share with him. But apparently he had more things to share with me than I had to share with him, and also apparently even though we talked about almost everything from home to work, from news to weather; the conversation didn't really seem to flow, it felt forced and we were barely maintaining it.

"… and I was like how could I miss such a place and I had to bring Kate here", Mike said telling me how he discovered the café, "and look here we are sitting together and enjoying a cup of coffee."
"Hmm true", I said sipping my coffee.
"Do you come here often?", he asked me sipping his coffee and looking at me over his cup.
"Not now", I replied shaking my head in no.
"So you used to?", he asked making a conclusion.
"Yeah Leon and I used to hang out here often", I answered, it was no point hiding the truth and knowing Mike it would bother him if he came to know about it from someone else.

"Leon, your friend?", Mike again asked in confirmation.
"Yeah, the one and only", I said letting out a laugh, remembering Leon and our times together.
"He seems an interesting guy, tell me about him", Mike said curiously and I thought it was no harm in telling him about Leon.
"Leon", I said out his name, "I don't know where to begin from?"
"Maybe from how you met him or know him?", Mike suggested shrugging.
"We had a run in a shop I guess", I told him remembering, "But our first proper meet was at Claire's birthday party. He's one of Claire's and Chris's friends as well."
"So he's more of a family friend and you're not that close to him?", Mike asked hopefully.
"Yes and no. He's a family friend but he's also a really good friend of mine", I told him clearing his doubts.

"Oh I see", Mike said thinking about it, "So what kind of guy is he?"
"The most weirdest kind", I told him smiling.
"Yeah I felt that too, when I met him", Mike said smiling.
"Yeah he's a workaholic and even works on weekends", I told Mike.
"Oh really?!", Mike said in tone of surprise but his eyes told me he thought it was bull, "that's weird!"
"Yeah but he's really a sweet and nice person. He has helped me out of a lot of tight situations", I told him remembering all the times I was so screwed if it weren't for Leon.
"Like?", Mike asked me to elaborate.
"Like during Claire's wedding I was left behind with no money and dead cell phone, can you believe it?!", I said quoting an example.
"It seems like scene from a movie", Mike said with a fake smile.
"Yeah but it's true, it happened. I was all alone and fortunately Leon was there and he got me back to my family", I told him cutting the unnecessary details of Leon and I sharing the room, because that would really get Mike at the edge of insecurity.
"I see", Mike said immersed deep in thought stirring his coffee, "He seems to be a really good friend of yours, how about you introduce us next time? I mean I am your boyfriend and it's natural that I become friends with your friends."
"Yeah sure, next time when Leon and you are together, I'd definitely introduce you to him", I assured him and then again our chats turned to more trivial issues.

When it was time to leave, I sent Mike ahead to get his car while I paid the bill and collected the pastries, which were the reason I was here in the first place. If I showed up without pastries I had no clue how much drama Chris would throw on to me today, not to mention hanging out with Mike had gotten me a bit late. I walked out of the café adjusting the bags in my hands, which were kind of full with my handbag and packet of pastries. And as I was managing that my phone rang and I somehow got it out.

"Hello?", I answered swinging my handbag on my left shoulder, holding the packet in my right hand and the phone in my left.
"Kiddo, where are you? Jill said that you're home by now", Chris asked me concerned.
"I am at the bakery, getting you cakes", I told him as I spotted Mike on the other side of the road; holding my phone between my ear and shoulder as I signaled him to stay there and that I'm coming there.
"Oh what's taking you so long?", the concern in his voice vanished as I waited for the walk signal to go green, holding back my phone in my hand.
"I was with Mike, but I am heading for home and will be there in few minutes", I told him as the lights turned green and the crowd started to cross the road.
"Well hurry up home I am waiting", Chris said impatiently, not even bothered that I was with Mike and that's when someone slightly bumped into me, and the strap of my handbag slipped off my shoulder.
"Yeah see you in bit", I said again holding the phone between my shoulder and ear again, as I tried to adjust the handbag strap.
"You've got the…", Chris was saying when the phone slipped and came down crashing on the road.
"Oh crap!", I cursed bending down to pick up my phone which had scattered on the road in pieces.

"Kate!", I heard Mike yell my name and I looked up at him mid way between picking up my phone, "Move!", he yelled again and my first response was to look at the walk signal. It had already turned red and I was still in the middle of a 4-lane. I looked at the opposite end, the cars had already started to move but since they were picking pace, I still had some time to move out of the way. I hurriedly picked up the pieces of my phone just to hear people scream as a car from the back overtook the slow moving cars so it could pass the signal while it was green and probably didn't spot me, as I was crouching down. I had no time to move now, so I just closed my eyes bracing myself for the impact.

I felt something hard collide against my body and my feet left the solid ground as I was thrown off to a considerable distance but it wasn't hot metal of a car. I didn't feel too much pain either, was I dead? And if I am, why is my heart still beating so loud and I realized that there were two heartbeats I was hearing. I couldn't make out the difference because it was like they were in perfect sync, "Are you okay?", someone asked me between the pants. I opened my eyes and found myself face to face with Leon, "Kate?", he called out to me concerned.

"I am fine", I replied to him and he backed away a bit relieved, grabbing his arm.
"Kate!", Mike came running, "Thank god you're okay", he said hugging me but all my attention was on Leon who seemed to be in pain and then I noticed blood at his wrist.
"You're hurt!", I said moving to him concerned pushing Mike away from me.
"I am fine!", he said to me moving away and pulling the sleeve of his jacket to hide it.
"No, you're not. You're bleeding", I argued with him as I felt my eyes well up with tears, "Let me have a look, I'll fix it", I took hold of his jacket, so as to pull it away to have look at his injury.
"Kate, I am fine!", Leon said grabbing my hand, looking me straight in the eyes, "I don't need your help", he added letting go off my hands and his eyes briefly shifted to Mike.
"Thanks man!", Mike thanked Leon, "It's good that you were close, I never would have reached her in time."
"Its fine", Leon said modestly even though I knew he was farther away from Mike because he was panting when he saved me, "Take care of her. I have to go", he added standing up still clutching on to his arm.
"Yeah thanks again", Mike said gratefully and I watched Leon walk away and disappear into the crowd, "Kate, are you okay? Can you stand?", Mike asked me and I nodded in reply, "the cakes are saved", he tried to joke as I stood up, "Let's go home then."

Mike led me to his car, very careful about the traffic rules now. He tried to cheer me up but I just couldn't be in good spirits or even pretend to be happy when I knew Leon was in pain. He was always there, saving me and always getting hurt in the process, and now he doesn't even want me to help him. I felt really restless and wanted to get home as soon as possible, so I asked Mike to drive as fast as he could because I didn't feel right.

(Leon's POV)

I watched Kate's friend lead her to his car and them driving away, as I sat waiting for Hunnigan in a restaurant. She had called me here to meet her regarding some work. Running into Kate today was as unexpected as, it was yesterday. I had no idea about Kate being here when I started for here or even when I reached here. It was when I had parked my car, I heard someone yell out her name, although there must be many Kate(s) here in DC but somehow my heart knew that it was my Kate and she was in trouble. I ran as fast as I could in the direction where the voice came from, just to find that she was about to be hit by a crazy driver. I didn't think twice about running in to save her, even if it meant getting hit myself in the process, but luckily we both got off without getting hit.

Shadow whined and I looked at him, "She's fine", I said petting him but he raised his head to my injured arm, "I am fine too", I told him and he rested his head on one of my knees.

And then I spotted Hunnigan entering the restaurant and looking around to spot me. I waved a hand so she could find me, "I am really sorry for being late", Hunnigan said hurrying over to me.
"It's no problem, I am always late", I said to her as she took a seat opposite to me.
"Yeah that you're", she said putting her briefcase on the table and opening it, "But thanks for coming here on such a short notice. I am looking after my nephew and I have to be home early and it would take too much time if I'd go to you or you'd come to me at our respective work places, so I thought it be better if we meet somewhere in between", she explained speaking really fast going through the papers in her briefcase.
"I understand", I just said and as she finally got the papers she was looking for.
"These are the forms you have to fill", she said handing me the papers, "It's nothing much, but employee personal records, feedback, suggestions as such. You must be aware of it, right?", she asked me and I gave her a nod looking at the papers, "It's a trivial thing, but these paper are important, so make sure you fill it and hand it over to me within next two weeks."
"Yeah will do", I said keeping the paper aside.
"So that's it then", she said shutting her briefcase, sighing a bit, "and I have to go now. I am sorry about it again", she added standing up.
"Its fine", I said following the suit.
"So talk to you tomorrow", she said as we walked out of the restaurant.

I walked to my car and let Shadow in before getting in myself. I removed my jacket to have a look at wound that had been hurting all the while but since only Kate was the only one reading through my expression, no one had any clue about it. The bandage was already soaked wet and blood was trailing down my arm. I had definitely ripped some of the stitches for sure. I took out a handkerchief and tied it real tight around my arm to keep the pressure on it. It was time to visit my most 'favorite' place of all, the hospital; because this wasn't something I could fix on my own. I put the keys in the ignition and headed straight for the said place.

A/N: Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I apologize for any grammatical mistakes and typos that caused an inconvenience. Good day!