Welcome everyone back to another chapter of Lobo! I appreciate everyone's comments so far, I hope to continue to add onto your enjoyment of the story.

Chapter III: Full Circle

"You're never going to believe this."

Leon had told Mikhael he needed to take the center focus on talking with bomb squad, it was best for him to stay away from talking to anyone. DSO told him to go on vacation, he was pretty sure the explanation 'I signed up for college courses' would fly if they saw him on TV or his name in any police report. So while he was talking to bomb squad he took the time to reflect on what had happened, searching his memories for anything he may have missed in the heat of the moment. Mikhael's plan was to use Leon as an ace in the hole, a perspective to finding the stalker that they wouldn't have expected. He went so far as to hide Leon's involvement from his own team just to make sure there were no leaks, supposedly. But Mikhael miscalculated, his entire plan was based on the idea they were dealing with some obsessed fan who was dedicated to claiming Ashley for themself. He never expected the escalation to a direct attempt on her life, nor that the person would camp out in advance to bypass all their security measures. It was smart, but only possible if they knew what was going to happen before. This furthered Leon's fear that there was a traitor in Ashley's secret service. Someone close to Ashley was seeking to put her in harms way, he had to find out who and stop them before it was too late. Now it was serious, an actual attempt on Ashley's life was made. It went from Leon being worried to heavily alarmed, he was no longer a consultant in his mind: he was now dedicated in finding out who was after her and why.

He shifted slightly in the car seat, waiting for Mikhael to return. Figuring his next step was to meet the rest of Ashley's team and have their backgrounds looked at by Hunnigan. Who probably had the information on Mikhael by now, but he didn't dare risk calling her now. He was in Mikhael's car and he had to be paranoid to assume he had listening devices in his own vehicle, Mikhael seemed to be the type that took extra steps, even if he underestimated his opponent. He would have to wait until he was away from everyone and out of relative earshot before learning about Ashley's lead bodyguard. Leon closed his eyes and imagined every possible scenario that could have happened today, which was a lot of time to do so because the entire ordeal took several hours. Enough that the sun was starting to set and Leon was pretty sure he had fallen asleep at some point. He must have because one minute he was in a car and the next he was on a beach and every woman he ever found attractive all emerged out of the water at the same time. He couldn't escape the damn beach even in his dreams. But one thing he did continue to come back to in his mind was her face, Ashley's expression when she saw him. When she actually saw him, not when he tackled her out of the way. No matter what he did he couldn't shake away her face. He had the image burned so tightly into his brain he could trace it with a pencil, in perfect detail with shading and little touches. He couldn't label her reaction in one emotion, it was a cocktail of shock, joy, sadness and fear. Shock understandable, joy okay, fear for everything going on…but sadness? He kept getting hung up over that one, why was she so sad to see him? There were a few reactions he imagined from Ashley, this was not one of them. In that moment he found himself regretting he didn't make more effort to talk to her after the Graham's left office.

The driver's side door suddenly unlocked and Leon was broken from his trance, Mikhael slid into his seat and gave a big sigh. He seemed tired, but what he didn't expect was annoyed. "You're never going to believe this."

Leon raised an eyebrow and that seemed to prompt Mikhael to continue, "Bomb squad confirmed the case contained no explosive devices of any form. They tested for every known explosive variation on the docket, once they were sure of what it was they showed me the X-Rays they took and the contents."

In a minute Leon was about to fully understand why there was annoyance on Mikhael's face: "It was a camera case."

Leon just stared at him blankly as Mikhael chuckled, "If you are curious to know, the inside of the case bore the Canon logo. If that helps smooths things over."

"Goddamnit." Leon cursed, rubbing his face with his hands. "We evacuated the building for nothing then."

"No you did the right thing." Mikhael reassured, "If you had ignored it or tried to open it and it was a bomb, well I mean, you wouldn't have lived to regret it but we'd be dealing with its aftermath."

He was right and he knew he was right, it was responsible to err on the side of caution when dealing with unknown objects. Had it actually been a bomb and they did their job they may have saved hundreds of lives, now at best it was a minor annoyance. He took solace in being grateful to be wrong than afraid to be right. But that did raise a whole different set of questions, what the hell was a camera case doing there? How was that related to the sandbag falling on Ashley's head? Was the stalker the type to capture photos of her? Did he have wall to wall photos of her in an obsessive fashion? The thought made him sick to his stomach, knowing some pervert was taking pictures of her in her most private moments. It motivated him to want to hurry back to her place and try to find gaps in her security. Keep the curtains closed on this damn pervert.

"So the stalker sneaks in," Mikhael continued, unaware of Leon's thoughts. "Brings a photo camera and cuts a sandbag over her head to…take a photo of the moment?"

"If they're related…then maybe their the type to stalk her from afar and record every interaction. But that's not enough for them anymore, they have to be directly involved."

Mikhael paused at that explanation, his expression skeptical. "Yes but…are we saying the stalker held a camera, a photo camera mind you not a cell phone, and was taking pictures of her while trying to run us off the road?"

Leon shook his head, "No it doesn't make sense, but I'm not a profiler so I can't even say for certain."

The two men sat in silence for a moment, each pondering the strange new information that came out before Mikhael declared. "I want a burger."

Leon had expected a few things, this was not one of them. He blinked in confusion as Mikhael started the car, "You want a burger?"

"No." Leon lied, he was starving. "I want to get to Ashley."

"We will, after a burger." Mikhael reassured, to which Leon resigned. This was his car after all, he was riding passenger.

"Okay, I uh, think I saw a McDonalds on the way up." Leon suggested, leaning back in his seat. But Mikhael gave a dissatisfied grunt.

"I had somewhere else in mind…"

Ashley had a few other homes in a couple states, but the one in DC was her favorite. It was a Tudor style home in a residential neighborhood about a half hour away from any major city. Dark gray, with patches of brown wood exposed alongside the house. There were some trees blocking the view of the place along the fence line, which hid the backyard area where there was an outdoor pool for the summer and a patio that she liked to sit at. Which when she was home was closely watched by members of Secret Service, since Ashley returned to this home a lot they mostly protected this area. Tonight was no different, the evening team was taking their shift as the members of the day team went home to bed. All except for two: Carter and Clara had remained at the house until they had heard from Mikhael, who had been filling them in with text updates as he learned.

"A camera case…" Carter shook his head as he and Clara walked through the first floor. "I almost had to replace my pants for a camera case."

"You did the right thing." Clara reassured, putting a hand on Carter's shoulder. "Both of you, don't beat yourself up for it."

The two agents pushed open the door to the kitchen where they were assaulted by the smell of cooking food, but not from the kitchen staff. Emma, Ashley's assistant, had been cooking for the past hour as the two of them could see her putting the finishing touches of a bright yellow dish that had a mixture of rice, chicken, and some other things that they would guess are green beans maybe. Carter took a big whiff and made a happy grunt as Emma portioned out the meal onto a plate.

"Damn girl, what is that and what do I have to do to have some of it?"

"Paella Valenciana." Emma answered without a beat, which she successfully deduced by the other two agents faces they had no idea what it was.

"If I ask what is in it…" Carter started, eyeing the bright yellow coloring of the dish as she put the plates on a tray.

"Worried it'll be too offensive for your American palette?" Emma teased, looking over at Carter with a knowing expression before she rolled her eyes. "Rice, chicken, ribs, green beans, butter beans, garlic, tomatoes, olive oil and paprika and saffron for flavoring. Happy?"

Carter blinked as his brain processed all the information which was delivered at lightning speed, when there was nothing that seemed to alarm him he nodded enthusiastically. To which Emma gestured toward the counter and walked past the two of them while Carter eagerly portioned himself some of the leftovers. Emma walked out of the kitchen and up two flights of stairs toward the bedroom at the top of the house. She balanced the tray on her hand, knocking a couple times.

"It's me, please say I can come in because I don't want to drop this tray of food I slaved over for the past hour or so."

"Come in."

Emma pushed the door open and walked in, placing the tray of two plates on the table of Ashley's bedroom. The latter in which was anxiously pacing about the room, her phone on her desk and she would check it every so often. She was changed out of her attire for the day into something a bit more casual, an old Backstreet Boys t-shirt and some shorts as Emma took her plate and sat down at the opposite of the room. She watched her pace a little bit more before she cleared her throat. "May I remind you, I slaved over this. Really put my all into it."

Ashley looked behind her for a moment and at the plate of food and nodded, if a bit automatically, and picked it up. Sitting on her desk that was on the opposite side of the room where Emma was she moved the food around to cool it. Recognizing the dish as it was made for her many times, she looked over to Emma with a warm smile. "Paella Valenciana?"

Emma nodded sagely, "Felt my mother needed to be here for the both of us." Emma took a couple of bites and made a small noise, "Though she would maybe have issues with my liberal use of Saffron."

Ashley gave a small laugh and took a few bites as well, the second she did she then realized how absolutely hungry she was and within minutes had finished the whole plate. Nothing left on it she wiped her face with the napkin and set the plate on the tray, checking her phone as Emma slowly went through her own meal. Emma and Ashley had been friends for a few years, the former having heard of the latter not through her father but through her efforts in public speaking and sought a job as her assistant. Emma was a studying humanitarian herself, with her work near Ashley doubling as not only a paying job but as a sort of internship learning the ins and outs of pushing for a cause that people would pretend to pay attention to. The two of them became fast friends and had been together for the past few years, despite Emma being her junior of about 6 years.

"Mikhael will be fine." Emma reassured, trying to guess where her boss and friend's thoughts went to. "He always checks in only when he has something to say…"

She trailed off when Ashley didn't immediately agree with her and realized she had the wrong focus, "Unless…it's not Mikhael you're worried about?"

Ashley paused for a moment, glancing back at her phone before looking over to Emma. "It was him, Emma…it was Leon."

Emma had stopped mid-bite at the news and set the plate down, leaning forward with interest. "The…the man who saved you in Valedelobos? Leon Kennedy?"

Ashley nodded and Emma seemed to be distant, the story of Leon Kennedy was told eagerly once the two of them became friends as it was the pivotal moment of Ashley's life. It was a horrific time that also changed the entire path of her future career, if not for there she would have never found her passion in Humanities and be fighting for recognition for vulnerable countries to Bioterrorism. And of course at the center of it all was Leon Scott Kennedy, a special agent sent by her father to rescue her. Fought tooth and nail, blood and bone, threw himself at horrors that even trained military officers would run screaming from and managed to get them both home alive and well. The man who she had relied on, the man she had a crush on, the man whose friendship she thought she had, the man who she…wished had noticed her a little more. Leon Scott Kennedy, even the mention of his name sent a flood of feelings through her. Whenever she was scared or nervous, she would pull up Leon's name in her contact list and just stare at it. As if the very knowledge she could just call him and he would be there, ready to come in and save her from whatever horrors were beyond. Even if that horror was just her own anxiety.

"Why was he even there today?" Emma brought up, "Did you invite him?"

Ashley shook her head, "No I…I didn't even tell him this time where I was...you don't think that…that he is the consultant that Mikhael hired?"

Emma paused for a moment, "Mikhael wouldn't tell anyone who it was…and if you didn't tell him where you would be today then it stands to reason that its possible. Did you ever tell Mikhael about Leon?"

"I-I don't know, maybe?" Ashley frowned. "My kidnapping wasn't exactly a quiet affair, but the agent who saved me was kept out of most papers."

How did Mikhael know about Leon? Ashley gabbed to Emma about him, but was usually very quiet about the name of the agent who saved her life. Did Mikhael had some deeper connections than she realized? Or was it something as simple as spotting his name in her contact list and doing his own research? It frightened her a little that Mikhael did this without her knowing, the man who had been with her since her father finished his final term. Mikhael had been the head of Ashley's secret service detachment for years, but this was the first time she ever wondered what that man was truly capable of.

"Is…that who you are hoping is going to call?" Emma prodded.

"Yes, I mean no, I mean…" Ashley buried her head in her hands for a moment before she looked back at her. "You know what I felt when I saw him? Like I was back in Valdelobos."

"Scared?"

"No…happy." this raised an eyebrow from Emma, but she continued, "Valdelobos was horrible, but Leon was always there for me. In my worst moment he was there, fighting through everything for me. He was my rock. He got me through there and even now through my most quiet worries. The moment I saw him there I was…happy."

Emma remained unsure, "I sense a 'but'..."

"But he hasn't spoken to me in years, I mean he would send the occasional text, but we used to talk Emma. We would share what we had been through and how we cope through these things, he told me about some of the training he went through and things that happened in Valdelobos that I wasn't around to see. But after dad finished his last term, he would talk to me less and less."

"You think he was only talking to you because you were his boss's daughter?"

The very idea made Ashley feel angry, she hoped that wasn't the case but it looked more and more likely. "I thought we were friends…I thought we were partners, that we could understand each other…was I a fool, Emma?"

Emma didn't know how to answer the question, so she left it silent. Or perhaps she did know how to answer the question, but the answer wasn't the one Ashley wanted to hear.

It was a fifteen minute drive to this place that Mikhael insisted on going, to say it was small was an understatement the place looked smaller than a gas station. It took about a corner of the parking lot that looked way too big to justify its existence for. Mikhael pulled the car over and the two men stepped out, he walked over to the side of the building where there were two outdoor tables and chairs and a small window up to the side. As soon as he approached the window it slid open, an Asian-American with a receding hairline and apron poked his head out of the small service window.

"Hey Mik, you came in just time I was about to shut the grill down."

"I knew you were." Mikhael smiled, gesturing over his shoulder. "I'm treating a friend tonight, you got enough for two patties and fries?"

The man behind the window nodded, "More than enough, it was a slow day…"

"No worries my friend, I will take my burger well done with American cheese, two slices of red onion and a generous helping of mustard." Mikhael turned over to Leon expectantly, to which he realized it was his turn to order.

"Medium rare, American cheese, lettuce and tomato, ketchup and…" he trailed off for a moment before he added, "And I'd like the buns toasted in butter."

The man wrote down all the orders with efficiency and Mikhael pulled out his wallet and laid down two twenties, which the man behind the window graciously took and closed it to go to his work. Leon raised an eyebrow at the exchange and the two men sat down at one of the outdoor tables. "The burgers here that good if its forty dollars?"

Mikhael shook his head, "He's a friend and its been rough since a Burger King opened just down the road. I support him when I can. This Leon, is the place to get a real burger, made by people who actually take their time with the craft. I guarantee you one bite of this you will be cursing fast food's existence."

Such high praise was the most enthusiastic he had ever seen this man and was hoping the food was worth it, because the wait time was not fast. Compared to most places they had waited for their food for quiet awhile in exchange, but soon plates were delivered to their tables with two bottles of water and what was given was surprising. The burgers were quiet generous, larger than the traditional square patties given and Leon's was stuffed with a huge patty a crisp green leaf of lettuce and a bright red tomato slice. The fries on his plate were a deep brown, to which suggested to him it was dirty frying oil. But as soon as he took a bite he realized he was mistaken, it was a double fry, where the fries are cooked once and them bathed again in oil to give it a crispy outer texture. He looked over at his burger and didn't know where to begin, glancing over at Mikhael whose patty was also as generous but very bare versus his.

"Your burger is looking pretty bare…" Leon commented.

"Yours is still mooing."

Leon scoffed and took a bite, everything came together in one chew. The lettuce was crisp, the tomato juicy and the patty itself was cooked to the medium rare he liked and the buns had a nice buttery edge to it from being heated with butter on the inside. It was a pretty damn good burger, it also made Leon realize how painfully hungry he was and continued the meal. The two men did not speak once while their food was out. They simply enjoyed the quiet of the evening outside the small burger joint, where the owner was shutting down for the night and there was no one around save for the occasional car that passed by. Not a single word was spoken until the last bit of crumb was off each man's plate, leaving nothing left but the grease stained paper plates and two empty bottles of water. The two men took a minute after to let the food sit in their once pained hungry stomachs before any of them spoke.

"Leon…this situation has gotten more dangerous than I predicted." Mikhael spoke, "I was so sure I could have ended this today, I took every measure I could and even then I had failed. Ashley is in danger and I need help, I need someone on the outside I can trust."

Leon narrowed his eyes slightly, while he already knew he was dedicated to Ashley's safety he didn't want Mikhael to know how eager he was. "And what makes you think that it's me?"

"Because you care for her." he answered confidently, "I saw as much when I spoke to you two nights ago. I knew then you would do what you could to keep her safe. I need someone like that in her corner, until we catch whoever is doing this."

Leon wasn't sure if he trusted Mikhael's intentions, he said all the right things but he was used to dealing with people who knew how to manipulate the good intentions of others. Twist them into their own desires and get what they wanted out of the situation. He had been a victim of one such manipulation before and wouldn't do so again, he had been burned too many times to just believe someone. Mikhael seemed to be very involved and his willingness to keep his own team in the dark was something to question as to what else he was hiding. Even now, was this an attempt to get to Leon's good graces or something genuine? Leon already knew he was one hundred percent in the moment an attempt for Ashley's life was taken, but he feared if he showed eagerness then it would be a sign that he could be controlled and pushed to some hidden agenda. Leon refused to be manipulated, never again.

"...if I am doing this what I said before stands, I need to be in the know about everything Ashley is doing and where she is going. No half measures, if I am in then I am in."

Mikhael nodded slowly, "Makes sense."

"And one other thing." Leon added, half standing up and making sure Mikhael understood every word he was saying. "If you ever put Ashley as bait again for some 'plan' to catch this person, you will see exactly what I am capable of to keep her safe. Am I clear?"

Mikhael did not back down or turn his eyes away, in that moment Leon was wondering if he had ticked off some monster that was hiding beneath that skin and was preparing to have to shield himself from whatever came out. His response was even, but he could tell he didn't appreciate the tone of Leon's voice.

"Crystal."

Tension held in the air for a moment as the two men figured out where to head for them, but luckily for them Leon already knew where they needed to go. "Now that we're finished, I want to inspect the security on the house. If you have cameras I want to see the footage from the attempted break in. I also want to know who are the agents who are typical in Ashley's rotation, I met two of them yesterday: Carter and a woman."

"Clara." Mikhael filled in, "They're typically a part of Ashley's rotation and the closest to her next to her driver Cole, I'll make sure you are introduced to them. Is there anything else?"

"Yeah…you were right, this was one damn good burger."

It was as if some internal radar went off, alerting her that there was something different in the house. Ashley's eyes opened up, a little blearily, but they opened up. Her room was dark, curtains drawn so that only the faintest amount of light from the streetlights came into her room. She wasn't really sure as to what woke her up, she could just feel as if something was off in the house. She sat up from her bed and listened, straining her ears to the silence around her. It was late, around 1 am, the house should be quiet with only Secret Service taking positions outside the house or in the back patio. Did someone step inside to use the bathroom? No, she could hear voices, which sounded like low murmurs through the walls from downstairs. She froze, there shouldn't be anyone in the house: Emma went home for the night, Carter and Clara also changed out with the night shift. She grabbed her phone, a robe, and sneakers she held by the bed in case there was another break in. Ashley didn't sleep nude, but she pretty close to nude and the sneakers were advised after the last break in. With the robe secured around her tight she went to her phone and scrolled the contacts. She was scrolling to Mikhael when she saw Leon's name on the scroll. She hesitated, just because she saw him today didn't mean that he came there for her.

But what if he did? She took her thumb and pressed on Leon's name and the screen began to dial his number.

Bo-bo-bo-beep! Bo-bo-bo-beep!

She froze, that was from within the house, that was downstairs. Leon answered his phone and Ashley could hear his voice on the other line: "Ashley?"

Her breath was caught in her throat, she hung up her phone without a word and moved for the door. Opening and moving down the hallway to the steps. Which led toward the banister on the second floor. Not caring how much noise she was making she ran downstairs and saw the lights were on, she cleared the steps and was over the banister overlooking the entrance when she saw two men walk into the foyer. One of them was Mikhael Fedorov, her bodyguard since her father left office. The other was-

"Leon." she breathed, staring down at him as he looked at her with an alarmed expression.

"Are you okay?" Leon asked, looking around, his hand reaching for the holster he had strapped to his chest. Ashley didn't respond and ran to the otherside of the bannister, toward the steps that led downstairs. Leon's voice was more alarmed, "Ash, talk to me, are you o-"

The second she sprung down the steps she leapt toward Leon, who only had seconds to brace himself as she threw her arms around him and held onto him tight. He stumbled a bit from the sudden impact but managed to stay on his feet. She made a noise that Leon thought was fear, he began to look toward the banister where she stood as if expecting someone to pop out around the corner. "Is there someone here? Ash, are you okay?"

She said something he couldn't hear, he focused her attention on her and this time caught what she was trying to tell him. "You're here…you're actually here…"

Leon gave a sigh of relief, there was no danger. Mikhael relaxed himself as well and coughed, "I'll leave you two to catch up. When you're done Leon I'll be in the study…"

Leon was grateful that Mikhael left them be, he gently led Ashley away from the foyer and to the living room. Where she separated from him and walked ahead, Leon closed the door to the foyer behind him and made sure it clicked shut. The living room was definitely the heart of the house, he could tell because there were sofas and chairs and all sorts of places to sit. All around a beautiful round coffee table that had an abundance of coasters, complete with an actual fireplace that looked unused for the time of year and a wall mounted TV. Ashley had paced to the far end of the room, her back turned to him until she reached the far side of the room.

"I'm sorry," she blurted, turning around to face him. "I'm sorry I did that, I just…it was a long day and you were there and…what?"

Leon's expression was uncomfortable, his eyes affixed to anywhere but at her. He grunted and pointed toward her, she looked down at herself and flushed. Her robe came a little undone when she did her flying leap to Leon, showing the bare skin underneath and lacy unmentionables she had on. She quickly retied her robe together and stood at an angle, lest the robe just spontaneously burst apart and let Leon see everything.

"Sorry-"

"No it's okay," Leon responded as quick.

"No I should have had more control-"

"I should have waited for the morning-"

"I just didn't know what to think-"

"I should have called you-"

"I was just so worried about you-"

"I was just so worried about you-"

The two of them stopped their individual tirades when they heard their own echo in the room, Ashley chuckled uncomfortably and Leon cleared his throat. The two of them stood around like teenagers at a formal waiting for the other to ask them to dance. But they weren't teenagers, they were in their thirties, they fought past that feeling of awkwardness and pressed on.

"How are you doing?"

Ashley sighed at the question, unconsciously moving some of her hair behind her head she nodded lamely. "Terribly, but I'm alive. I heard there was a bomb threat…"

"False alarm." Leon clarified, "No bombs."

Ashley looked relieved, it was already scary almost being killed but to know you were potentially in the blast radius of a bomb? That was nightmarish. Now all she had to deal with was her being almost killed, that was a plus. She turned over to Leon, he stood there behind one of the sofas in a button up shirt and dark pants. His shoulder holster filled with his pistol, his hair retaining that same cut…except he had more scruff than she remembered him having. He looked older now, even more hardened if that was even possible. What was he in…his late thirties? At least? He looked so much older though, the years were not kind to Leon Kennedy and it broke her heart to see it.

"Why um…why are you here?"

"I'm here to review the footage from the night of the break in, as well as all your security measures."

Ashley nodded, she was right it was Leon that Mikhael hired as a 'consultant'. But she wondered even further how did Mikhael know about Leon? She had tried to recall if she ever told him about Leon, but couldn't think of a single time where he would have come up. She only really confided into Emma about Leon, which wasn't much even then. Somehow he knew to approach him though and she was glad he did, if it wasn't for him she would have been dead on that stage. But if Leon was hired to be consultant…that means…

"So you're…you're going to be around, often?"

Leon studied her expression, it was posed as an innocent question but there was a hopeful quality about it that puzzled him. "Yes. I will be following you on your security detail."

Ashley raised her head and looked at him, "Like…a bodyguard?"

Leon nodded as he walked around the sofa, "Until the stalker is caught, yes, like a bodyguard."

"Oh." Ashley said, turning around and pretending to fiddle with an arrangement of glass cups on the table at the wall. Ten years ago she made the offer to have Leon assigned to her personal detail, she wanted him close to her and she wasn't ashamed to admit it that she crushed hard for her savior. He turned it down then and now ten years later things came around full circle. She turned her back to him so he couldn't see the smile that crept across her face. She tried to keep her voice even, "If…that's what has to happen. I suppose I could be fine with that…"

For seem reason, Leon felt himself flush when she said that. There was something…mischievous about it that set him off in such a way. He cleared his throat and took a few steps toward her. "You should head back to bed…we can talk in the morning, I'll be here to go over everything."

Ashley turned around and stepped toward him, the two of them were face to face for the first time in years. She looked up at him at this weary, tired eyes, searching for the Leon Kennedy that was there ten years ago. "Leon…were you ordered to come here…?"

The question surprised Leon, who wasn't sure how to answer. He didn't want to tell Ashley he was essentially on medical leave and shouldn't even be here at all. He saw her eyes, they held that same sad expression from earlier. It was then Leon realized that she didn't want to hear if he was commanded to be here, she wanted to know if he came here because he wanted to. While Mikhael approached him with the situation, it was Leon's choice to be here and not orders from some higher power. He smiled at her warmly and, in a motion that he felt was daring, put his hands on her shoulders. "No Ash, I'm here because you were in danger. So I came running here."

She looked like she was about to cry, but she held back those tears and instead nodded. Smiling back at him, he was here for her not because he was told to but because he wanted to. He was here, Leon Kennedy was here for her, during a horrible time in her life he was here to stand by her again.

He could be seen from his vantage point, the door opened to the house and the man from the campus walked out. He took two steps out of the door before he turned around, following his gaze there she was: Ashley Graham. She stepped outside to the front walk, she said something that couldn't be heard from his distance. He spoke back, she laughed and tucked her hair behind her ear. They had rapport together. She gave him a hug as the scope was steadied on the two of them and kept them in focus.

Click.