A/N: I don't own Resident Evil. Sadly.

Love and Other Drugs

Part Three:

Dependence

You meet thousands of people, and none of them really touch you. And then you meet one person, and your life is changed...forever.

― Love and Other Drugs

Baku, Azerbaijan - 2003

It was starting to turn cold, even here beyond the mountains and just a breath away from the Caspian Sea.

Jill stood with her hands tucked into her pockets, watching the gray light of the brewing dawn as it tried to surge above the fog and find the horizon. The cold would be worse in the mountains; she was sure of that. But they were prepared.

In a few short weeks, it might all be over.

The push to stop Umbrella had been an obsession for so long that she wasn't quite sure what came next. What would it mean for the rest of the world if they won here and destroyed them? We're they naive enough to think that the end of Umbrella meant the end of bio-terror?

She wasn't. She never would be. She knew, like Chris knew, that this was just a stop on a never-ending road. If they closed one door, it would simply open a dozen more. Until Albert Wesker was in the ground, the fight would go on and on and on.

What she couldn't begin to understand was that it went so much deeper than Wesker. He was just the tip of a terribly endless iceberg bound to sink more ships before it was done.

She was grateful for the tip-off about this region. She knew it was Kennedy who'd gone in and come out with control of the once neutral camp that had belonged to a former Russian defector. She'd offered sanctuary to any who sought it, including soldiers that had killed in the name of a war that had cost her her husband. The desperate push to shut her down had nearly cost them the toehold they had in the region.

Whoever had sent in Kennedy knew what they were doing.

It took him a month to infiltrate the sanctuary, gain her trust, and take her out. They were, even now, moving into her camp to take over and use it as a base of operations. Kennedy was rapidly becoming known as the guy you sent in when you needed it done quick, quiet, and with as little mess as possible.

Jill turned away from the view she had atop The Maiden Tower. The twelfth-century tower had once stood guard over the Old City. At one point, she was sure someone had told her that the walls had been impenetrable. Clearly, they'd never been scaled by Kennedy.

It was a curious thing to turn around the base of the tower on the stone steps and find herself face to face with the man she'd just the last few minutes thinking about.

He was standing in a heavy leather coat beside Chris and Barry. She might not have known it was him if it wasn't for the unforgettable cheekbones. He looked like a grown-up. The sock hat on his head was a pale tan. The collar of the coat he wore was fur-lined. He was nicely insulated against the chilly morning.

Chris caught her eye and waved her over. Chris had finally caught up to the muscle he'd been chasing since she'd met him. He was heavily built, looking a bit like a muscled wall beside the smaller frame of Kennedy. Although there was nary an inch between them in height, their builds were night and day. Barry, between them, was somewhere like the place he stood - straddling fit and huge.

Chris wore a heavy sweatshirt in pale gray. It was hiked up his forearms in that way he had that said he hated the constriction of winter clothing. Unlike the other two, he'd foregone the hat altogether, and his ears were pinked by morning chill.

He had a five o'clock shadow at six a.m., but that was just part of the Hungarian side of his heritage. It accompanied the thick eyebrows and the dense hair on his arms. Jill stepped beside him as he said, "-without even breaking a sweat, this one. She slit his throat and just kept going."

Jill rolled her eyes and laughed lightly, "You make it sound cooler than it was."

"No way to do that," Chris told her, looping an arm over her shoulders to squeeze her companionably, "It was pretty badass."

It was curious to notice that both she and Kennedy were very, very carefully avoiding looking at each other.

Barry tugged his cigar from his mouth and commented, "You're saying this about the same girl who got herself locked in a room that almost made her a sandwich."

Jill rolled her eyes again, "That joke is tired, Burton. Get some new material."

Barry chuckled heartily, and winked, "Chows on, kids. Stop standing around comparing dicks and get some grub." He shook hands with Kennedy and added, "You did good work, kid. Seriously. We'll take it from here."

Chris squeezed Jill's shoulders once more and declared, "I better get in there before I miss out on the bagels. Last time that goddamn Jackass ate every last one." He slapped Kennedy on the shoulder and told him, "You look like shit. For the life of me, I can't figure out why Claire always harps on your looks. If I had a dog like you, I'd shave its ass and teach it to walk backwards."

And Kennedy told him, "My ass is still prettier than you're ugly mug, so at least I've got that going for me."

"I guess," Chris patted him hard enough that Leon winced, "Maybe the pretty face compensates for the puny frame. For god's sake, eat breakfast before a stiff wind blows you away."

"Well, at the least, wind can get stiff. Sources tell me it's the only thing that can around you."

Chris chuckled, gave him the finger, and moved toward the swirl of a chimney across the cobbled street.

A handful of seconds passed before they both realized they were still standing there, silent and staring ahead at the building full of laughter and light. Finally, Jill glanced over at him and said, "...he thinks anyone who doesn't polish their guns a half dozen times a day is a wimp."

Leon snorted and turned his gaze to her, "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"You think I should bulk up like Redfield? Scarf down some creatine and turn my arms into a second set of thighs?"

Her eyes twinkled as she said, "Hard to say without seeing the thighs."

They kept staring at each other and grinning until Jill cleared her throat. "Hah. Shit."

Amused, Leon reached up to tug his sock hat off and scratch his head. In fairness, she knew he'd been undercover the last month in that camp, but it didn't stop her disappointment to see his once beautiful hair cut down to military short.

Without thinking, Jill reached up to rub the inch-long dark of it. "...what a shame."

His mouth twitched up at the corner, "Yeah? Maybe I'm too old for that long shit."

"You kidding? You kill it."

"You don't like my face without it?"

Her hand lingered and finally slid down to trail over his ear before she drew it back and murmured, "Maybe it's a good face."

"Yeah?"

They both laughed a little, and Jill asked, "You still stalking me?"

He slid his sock hat back on and scoffed, but he hitched a shoulder at her to follow him, and she fell into step as they started walking. They went right passed the chow hall and veered into the Old City.

Companionably, he told her, "The Old City used to be the main gate, actually."

Interested, Jill responded, "Really?"

"Yeah. Your useless knowledge for the day but for about a thousand years, this place saw a pretty steady stream of traffic. The walls were rebuilt after countless wars, but the structure held on that outside wall."

Jill paused to look up at the wall and the tower beyond it, "Do I wanna know why you know so much?"

He laughed lightly and shrugged, "I read a lot. I never forget any of it. The perils of photographic memory." He glanced up with her at the tower beyond the wall, "You always go up it like that?"

She nodded, "In the morning. I like the view. It's incredible."

"It's called the Maiden Tower because it's never been taken. It's a virgin tower. All the wars, all the times the city faced invasion, and the tower was never breached. Never forced to submit."

With a kind of respect, Jill answered, "Like Elizabeth is the virgin queen."

"Yeah. It's always a curiosity to me that such strength is often given a feminine edge when they name it."

Jill chuckled as they eased down the base of the steps toward the bottom level of the tower, "Girl, power."

"You aren't kidding. Women have been at the heart of power for a long time, just overshadowed by men with big arms, I guess."

She paused in the narrow passage to look at him. He'd offered her a hand down the jagged steps out of habit instead of chivalry; she was sure of that. Quietly, she queried, "I really wish I knew if you said that honestly or just because you're fucking clever. You don't think girls are better soft and outside the fight?"

He glanced at her and looked confused for a moment. That brief flash of confusion told her he'd meant it. Whatever else was true, he respected women. In their business, women were often viewed as something to fuck or something to protect. It was refreshing to hear someone refer to them as the power eclipsed by a man.

Leon told her, "You don't have to punch boulders to be strong, Jill. I would never, in a hundred years, underestimate a woman."

Without missing a beat, she teased, "Women? Or just me?"

And he floored her with, "Half the time, you're the only woman I can think of anyway. So I might be biased."

Jill turned. Her hands fisted in the collar of his coat as she backed up against the wall and dragged him to her. Shaking her head, she breathed, "Who talks like that? What am I supposed to do with that?"

He hitched a shoulder in a shrug. His palms flattened on either side of her face on the wall, and he answered, "Whatever you want. I don't waste time with lies. They're boring. And I could be dead tomorrow. I think about you all the time. I don't know why I'd bother to lie about that."

Jill zipped her eyes over his face and laughed hoarsely, "...yeah...fucking clever is what you are. We spent one night together almost five years ago. How can you still feel that way?"

His left brow winged up. He scanned her features and finally told her, "You kidding? There's no one else in the world like you, Jill. It's that simple. It's not complicated. I've been with other women. More than I should have probably. It doesn't matter. Because half the time, I still see you."

Shit.

Her belly dropped. Her eyes flashed brightly in the dark. And she murmured, "...somebody told me you were practically a genius. I really, really, really should listen better. It's really fucking annoying that that should sound a little obsessive, but it really just sounds like the greatest compliment ever uttered."

He shrugged again, looking content with it, "Lifes a gamble anyway. What's the worst that happens here? You don't feel the same, and there's no hard feelings? I'm willing to take that risk."

She shook her head and sighed, "I don't want anything complicated here, Kennedy. I don't want a great love story."

"Alright. What do you want?"

She licked her lips and took a page from his book to go with honesty, "Sex. Uncomplicated Unpretentious. Unpredictable sex. Don't hold me. Don't make it personal..just..." She trailed off, feeling bad about it.

But he laughed softly and finished, "Just fuck you and get out."

He didn't look upset. He didn't even look hurt. He just looked amused. So Jill said, "Yeah. I don't have room in my life for anything else. Is that ok?"

His mouth twitched, and he consented, "...as the lady commands."

Jill dragged him down. He met her halfway. His hands stayed right where he'd planted them. The kisses seemed loud in the silent tunnel. She skimmed her hands down his belly to grab for his belt as they parted to take heavy breaths.

And she told him, "Maybe I think about you too sometimes."

His eyes flashed happily as she licked the seam of her lips and murmured, "That's against the rules to talk that way, Ms. Valentine. No soft stuff allowed."

"...right. Sorry. Shit."

He thought she was adorable. He let her jerk at the zipper of his coat to get inside and touch him. She didn't even go right for his dick, he thought with a flicker of amusement; she put her hands under his shirt and stroked around his chest and stomach.

When they parted for air again, he asked her, "Whatcha doin there? You're too far north."

She was flushed and beautiful. The big blue eyes he loved about her were heavy with lust as she told him, "...just checking to see if you were skinny. I had to make sure."

"Yeah? What's the verdict?"

Her nails scraped against the washboard of his belly. She curled them around to fall along with his delts and back. She tucked her fingers into his sleeves to touch his biceps and declared, "...not skinny. Good. It's good."

"Good?"

"Yeah..." she whispered, almost conspiratorial, "You have fifteen abs or something. Is that even humanly possible?"

He laughed and ducked his head to kiss her again.

Her hands finally reached his ass to grip and drag him closer. He was too tall, so his groin brushed her belly, and she let go of his mouth to command, "Pick me up. Ok? Just...you know...hike me up there."

Yep. She was adorable.

Drolly, he inquired, "Is that allowed? I don't want to break the rules."

"Shut up...idiot." Her hands grabbed at his shoulders, and she leaped around his front. He had no choice but to catch her. He was still laughing as she kissed him again.

However, he wasn't when her hand made its way over his hip to loop around his dick.

He grunted, and she gasped, "See? Shut up."

And swallowed his next laugh with her mouth.

In the narrow hallway of the tower, there wasn't much room. But apparently, that didn't really matter.

She grabbed at his zipper as he caught the back of her neck with one hand and put his hand in her pants with the other. And there they were, days away from a huge battle with monsters and death, groping each other in a dark hallway beneath a maiden tower.

He gasped for air as he let go of her lips and wondered, "Is it still a virgin if we fuck in it?"

And Jill laughed, tried to grab a handful of his hair, and came up empty with a grunt of anger, "See? Grow the hair back."

"Yeah?"

"Yes. Now."

His hoarse laugh made her warm...and then his fingers found her.

He barely got them in her twice before she came. Her thighs cinched around him, he groaned and surged against her fist, and she humped crudely against his hand as she begged, "Don't stop. Ok? Don't stop."

So he didn't. His fingers plunged, her fist kept on pumping, and he could hear Redfield somewhere on street level calling for her.

Gasping, Jill keened and groaned, "Ignore him. Ignore him. Don't stop."

Bossy.

It was his favorite type of woman. Who was he kidding? There was nothing that flipped his switch more than a take-charge type. So he bumped her hard into the wall, rolling her hips into the relentless thrust of his hand, and did what she wanted. He fingered her until she whined a little, her thighs clenched him again, her body sucked his digits, and he came all over her jerking fist.

It was almost unexpected. He hadn't thought he was that close. But one minute, humping into her hand, the next coming all over it. She went right after him, bucking as they sealed lips to quiet the sound of it. She gasped against his mouth, desperately, "shit..shitshitshit..." as her body released.

The ragged breathing punctuated their release. He let her go so she could slide down the wall. Her mouth pressed to the underside of his jaw, and she murmured, "Sorry for the sticky mess."

He couldn't help it; he just laughed.

Her hand traced over his belly and wiped delicately on her pants. She turned her mouth up, and his came down so they could kiss wetly until Redfield's bellow drew them apart. Gasping, she muttered, "...ok. Yeah. Work. Right...thanks...for the orgasms...and the...you know the making out and stuff."

She paused at the entrance to the tunnel and added, "And the spying...was it bad?"

It was.

But it wasn't the time to tell her about it.

He gave her a soft smile instead, "It was the job. It's done. That's all that matters."

Jill gave him a shrewd look and hesitated, "Do you wanna talk about it?"

He reminded, "Can't. It's against the rules."

Chris called for her again, and she hesitated again on the steps. "...so maybe we can talk. A little. Sometimes."

"...ok. Whatever you want."

Nobody could be that perfect. Eventually? The other shoe would drop. She was sure of it.

But she didn't care. She was going to ride that high for as long as she could before the crash. "Are you ok?"

He laughed, a little breathily, "My balls are throbbing a little, but it's not a bad thing. I'm better now than I was ten minutes ago."

Jill grinned, "Shit. Me too. I should keep you around to raise camp morale."

"I don't think Redfield would be nearly as thrilled if I put my hand in his pants."

She laughed, eyes twinkling, "That's his loss."

"I don't know. I do ok by myself - jerking off someone else? I don't think I could find the right angle."

He was something else. His good humor made her adore him, "Most likely. Although they say those that work together, jerk together."

And his eyes twinkled, "Frightening. And a good thing I don't work with him then."

Jill didn't stop the soft giggle. She bit her lower lip, backed up one set of steps, paused, and told him, " I'm really glad I got to see you again."

Leon winked at her, "Good to see you too, kid."

She turned and fled up the steps. He lingered in the tunnel leveling his breathing off. He couldn't think of anything better than her after the shit he'd seen in the last month. Talking or no talking, watching her face while she came apart almost erased the images of burning bodies in a pile at dusk.

Almost.

But not quite.

He was pretty sure he needed another hit to make that happen. Hell, he needed a continuous drip of Jill Valentine to thwart the nightmares. Instead? He just leaned back on the wall and craved her.

At the top of the stairs, Jill turned back to look down once more. She gnawed her lip. She thought, just for a moment, about running back down them to finish what they'd started.

But the world wasn't going to wait for her to fuck before it forced reality back on her like waking up after a long dream.

The only thing she knew? Right at that moment, she'd have traded all the fighting in all the world for five more seconds of the taste of him. And she wasn't sure she liked that kind of feeling at all.

Sadly? It didn't stop her from knowing damn well she'd keep on chasing it.