"It's perfectly normal for you to still be feeling a little bit uneasy about what happened."

Ashley blinked upward at the ceiling. She had not looked at this new therapist since she had arrived. She answered automatically, without hardly thinking about it.

"The first therapist I spoke to told me I might never recover."

"He told you that you would never be the same." The woman corrected her. "There is a difference."

Was that really true? Ashley wondered, as she stared up at the ceiling. Ever since she had returned from Europe… ever since she had been returned to her parents… she had felt that her old life was strange and alien to her. Ever since she had come back, she had felt like a completely different person.

"What you went through would have been hard for anyone." The woman continued. "It's going to take a little time for you to readjust to normal life."

Ashley didn't respond. She had heard this before from her last couple of therapy sessions.

"The important thing is to think about what you want." The woman said. "What you goals are… where you see yourself a year from now."

Ashley's eyes flickered open.

"What I want…." She repeated. She sat up. "What I want… is Leon S. Kennedy."

Leon probably didn't anything of it, but to her it was one of the biggest fuck-ups of her life.

"So… uh, after you take me back to my place… how about we do some overtime?"

Even before the words were completely out of her mouth, Ashley knew it was never going to work. Like a middle school girl talking to her crush for the first time. It wasn't the worst pick-up line in the world… she tried to convince herself. Later that night her mind would come up with dozens of other, more terrible ones such as 'Ride me like this jet-ski Leon." But there was no denying that even in that very moment she had absolutely no shot.

She honestly didn't even remember his immediate response… other than the fact it was a rejection of her offer… so she quickly changed the subject.

"Who was that woman anyway?"

The thought had been on her mind ever since she had first seen Ada. She had initially assumed her to be another agent sent to deal with the Los Illuminados. The fact that her agent, Leon, seemed to know her very well seemed to point to that theory. But when she brought it up to him, he had dodged the question. To this day she didn't even know her name.

It wasn't long after that they landed on a beach in mainland Spain, crawling off the jetski blood soaked and dirty as shocked onlookers stared. Leon was quickly able to find a U.S. military base and able to arrange for their immediate extraction. They were both still in shock… when his superiors tried to tell them that Leon was free to leave her in their care he stubbornly refused, staying by her side until her Father personally flew in from Washington to retrieve her.

And the instant she was secured he was gone.

She had a breakdown on the plane ride back: Screaming and crying, demanding to know where Leon had gone and why he had left her. It took several reassurances from her Father that Leon was alive and well and that he was gone because his role was complete.

"But I need him, Daddy." She said, through tear soaked eyes. "I need him."

She was asked to see a therapist immediately once she had somewhat recovered. It had been deduced that the extreme physical and psychological stress of the events of being kidnapped, and her reliance on Leon to get her through it all, had led to a crippling fixation on him. To her, he was her knight in shining armor. He had gunned down hundreds of creeps who had all been trying to take her away, and all had been far too much for her to bear.

She wasn't allowed to see Leon: He Father assured her he was doing well, but the nature of his work meant that it was a matter of national security to keep them apart. She threw a fit, at first, but slowly began to realize that she was being childish. She began to become withdrawn and moody, and spent long hours staring out of the window of her room in the White House, wondering just what Leon could be doing that was more important than being with her. Despite her attempts at moving past the whole ordeal, she still struggled. A part of her felt a strange desire to be back in Spain, scared for her life, as Leon reassured her that everything would be alright.

It was such a disturbing fantasy that she had to mention it during her therapy session, and that led to more sessions. She was beginning to feel exhausted talking about her problems with other people. A part of her wished that she had never admitted this fantasy to anyone. But in her heart she knew that they were only trying to help.

She didn't get to go back to college that semester, or even the year after that. Her father wanted her very close, and perhaps for good reason. The operation she had conducted to remove the parasites had been done under extreme circumstances, and the doctors assigned to look after her were unsure of what the long term effects would be. She went in regularly, but every time she did she was told that she was in perfect health. It was her mind that was troubled, as well as her heart.

As time went on, she saw therapist after therapist, reiterated her problems over and over again. It got to the point where she was able to be judgmental towards each therapist based on where she went to school. None could help her, but there certainly more who were able to relate to her more than others.

"I think a part of you misses that rush of danger and excitement." One told her. "It's a primal feeling… one that we were all meant to have."

She thought about that a lot. Her fascination with Leon and their adventure together wasn't an event, or a part of her past. It was a part of her. In a way, it was her. She no longer felt as if she could relate to her friends, the ones that she had known she was a little girl. All of their problems with school and boys seemed almost petty and immature to her. And they too, although they retained a morbid fascination with what had happened to her, began to see her as kind of a bore to be around, and began distancing themselves from her.

Leon had never left her… even at her lowest points. He had made her laugh and encouraged her to keep going, throughout all of her kidnapping. Her heart panged: If he was here now, she was sure, he would placate her and encourage her to keep going.

"I want to go back to school."

Her father gave her a concerned look. "Ashley, it's too soon."

"I need to." She insisted. "I can't just stay at home for the rest of my life."

He looked at her. Rather sad and defeated. Her kidnapping had taken a huge toll on him: He hadn't been the same. In spite of his accomplishments during his one term as President, including driving pharmaceutical giant Umbrella into bankruptcy, he had made some notable fumbles in running the country. She felt terrible… if she had never been kidnapped, her Father likely would have gone on to become one of the greatest presidents of the modern era, but much like herself he was a shell of his former self.

She went back to school that year and for the first time was put into a position where she often would be gawked at in public. Her kidnapping, and her immediate mental breakdown upon returning home had been national news, and even now a whole host of questions were fired her way. She did her best to ignore all of it. She did not break down into tears until she was safe in her apartment, alone, where no one could hear her. She found herself wishing, with all of her heart, that Leon would be waiting for her when came home after a long day of class.

But he never did.

He had saved her so that she could live a normal life. She told herself, as she took her finals. He made so many sacrifices so that she could do this, she thought as she accepted her degree, to thunderous applause. He had saved her so that she could live her life as she wanted, she thought as she accepted her first internship after school. He cared about her more than anyone, she thought, as she stepped around the facility, examining the patients.

Her first job after her internship was at a high level medical facility that specialized in correcting all of Umbrella's research. Mutant monsters, zombies, and even Las Plagas was studied here. A fact that made her determined to be involved.

"Name, please?" She asked the woman, as she raised the clipboard to her face.

"Sherry." She answered. She was perhaps a little bit younger than Ashley herself, in her early twenties. Ashley wasn't sure what her story was: but she seemed perfectly normal.

"Ah." Ashley said, as she flipped through her clipboard. "You have a couple of visitors coming today…"

"They're family." Sherry said, smiling serenely. "They've never been allowed to visit until today."

"Really?" Ashley wasn't surprised to hear that. Whatever Sherry had, it seemed to be critical to the research conducted here.

"Uh huh." Sherry said, nodding. "I've wanted to see them again for years…" She looked a little distant. Ashley smiled at her.

"Well today's your lucky day." She said brightly. "Do you need anything before you go see them?"

"No thank you." The girl answered. Ashley moved on, feeling a strange sense of elatedness. She couldn't quite explain it, but something inside her said that very soon something wonderful would happen.

But the feeling slowly slipped away from her as she began her final rounds for the night. As she passed by Sherry's containment unit she stopped and asked her how her visit had been.

"Wonderful." She said brightly. "They still want to adopt me."

Ashley found herself wishing that she could find joy in something so small.

She began talking to Sherry a lot more after that. The girl, although a little bit odd because of her years of social isolation, warmed up to her quickly and began asking questions about her personal life. Ashley tended to oblige, but sometimes the conversation steered in odd directions. Sherry wanted to know about her family life, her childhood school, and her friends. Ashley struggled to keep the conversation pleasant and positive. She didn't wish to burden a patient with her own problems.

"You know, you don't need to be so formal." Sherry told her one day. "We're friends, aren't we?"

"I don't think a doctor should be friends with a patient." Ashley told her quietly.

"You tell me a lot of stories." Sherry said. "But you're not being real with me."

"…Real?"

"You're not telling me about your problems, your worries…"

"Your problems came before mine."

"Oh, forget all that." Sherry said immediately. "You're not like the others. I can tell."

"The others?"

"The other doctors." She said, waving her hand around. "I've watched you work… you're not just here for a paycheck. You actually care about what you're doing."

Ashley stared at her as Sherry smiled at through the window in her unit. It dawned on her suddenly that it rather looked like she was looking into a prison cell.

"I do care." Ashley said softly. "But I don't think I'm ever going to change the world."

Sherry raised her hand and placed it on the window.

"You don't have to." She said gently.

Ashley almost cried herself to sleep that night. It was unusual… odd even… how for the first time since she had met Leon that she found someone who seemed to understand her on some level. It was a surreal feeling… they had never met before, but some unseen thread seemed to bind them together.

"Birkin's guests are arriving today."

"Sherry?" She raised her head from her notes.

"She's fond of you." The doctor informed her. "Could you perhaps escort them to see her?"

She agreed. She made her way to the guest chamber, and was surprised to see a lone woman standing there. With long brown hair tied into a ponytail, she rather struck an intimidating figure. She was the only woman waiting, but Ashley had been told there were two guests.

"Oh, my husband is running a bit late." She explained, as Ashley inquired about it. "If it's not too much of a bother I'll go on ahead."

"That's against our policy." Ashley said formally. Upon receiving an intense glare she elaborated. "We need to protect the specimens."

"She's just a specimen to you?"

Ashley was appalled. "Of course not! But she isn't the only subject being studied here, and-"

The woman turned away from her, unimpressed, as she stared intently at the door into the back.

"1998." She said to herself. "Until this year we haven't seen her since 1998. It was your policies that kept us from her."

"Ma'am I don't make the policies."

She glared at Ashley again, and she shied away. There was some kind of intense aura emanating from her.

"I'm sorry, but I need to escort you." Ashley said, trying to pacify the situation. "Look: I can take you to see her now, and then we'll come back when your husband arrives. Alright?"

The woman looked at her, and for the first time her eyes softened.

"Alright." She said softly.

She followed Ashley through the halls of the facility and came to a stop outside of the door to her unit. She opened it, and they stepped inside.

"Oh, Claire!"

Sherry stepped forward and hugged her. To Ashley's surprise, once she was finished she turned and hugged her too.

"Sorry." She said quietly, ignoring Claire's surprised look. "I'm a little bit touch starved in here."

"No, it's fine." Ashley said quickly, as she took a seat across from the bed. "I only wish I could do more for you."

Sherry smiled at her as she went for the bed and sat down on it. Claire followed suit.

"Where is he?" Sherry asked Claire anxiously. "Did something happen?"

"No, not to my knowledge." Claire said quietly. "He was well when I last spoke to him. He was flying in out of the country when he agreed to come here today. We wanted to come together, but-"

She sighed, shaking her head.

"It's not always possible."

Sherry nodded, but Ashley knew her well enough by now to know that she was very upset.

"I'm glad that you could come see me, at least." Sherry said quietly. "After so long…"

She fell silent. Ashley felt an intense wave of pity for her.

The conversation continued: Ashley was required to listen on in the conversation and report anything unusual, but she found herself put off by how often Sherry's answers to Claire's questions mirrored her own. Sherry was struggling a great deal to her social isolation and loneliness, but told Claire that she was fine to stop her from worrying. Claire asked her about things that had happened years before because she had not been there to witness them first hand, and Sherry told her the same kind of story that she often told her therapists to get them off her back.

She checked her communicator.

'Oh, the other guest has arrived." She said, as she got to her feet. "Claire, if you'll come with me please. We'll come right back after we fetch your husband."

"Oh…' Claire gave Sherry an anxious glance. "I don't want to leave you alone."

Ashley made an on the spot decision. "She can come with us."

Claire gave her a surprised look. "Wouldn't that go against your policy?"

"Forget the policy."

Claire stared at her for a moment, and then smiled. She wrapped her arm around Sherry and helped her to her feet.

'Come on." She said gently. "We're going to give your father a surprise."

Sherry nodded, and despite her strong feeling of apprehension stepped cautiously forward into the hallway and followed them to the front.

Ashley turned around.

"Now I'm not supposed to be doing this." She reminded them, as they stepped through the door to the front. "But this is a favor to you, Sherry, and I-"

"Leon!"

Ashley felt her heart stop. She turned around, her mouth wide, as Leon S. Kennedy held his arms wide. She stepped forward, almost instinctively, but before she could reach him Sherry darted past her and threw herself into his arms.

Leon lifted her off the ground, laughing, as Claire joined them. Ashley stood and watched as they wrapped their arms around each other and, in hushed tones, began telling each other how happy they were to see each other. Leon did not look her way at all.

During her time with him she had grown to believe that she had known him quite well. But in that moment, when he was surrounded by his family, she realized that she had barely known him at all.