Chapter 1: Home
She never could quite understand why he fawned after her like he did. Truthfully, she wouldn't put up with the shit she puts him through (she'd like to think she has more self-respect than that). She's always thinking about ending this game of cat and mouse they've been playing for years and just ghosting him. It holds no real benefit for her. In fact, the most beneficial thing she could do would be just dropping him and having one less thing weighing on her mind, but then she remembers.
"Ada!"
She remembers him desperately shouting her name (her alias, anyway) as she plunged to what was surely her death back in Raccoon City. She remembers all the times she's caught him in some out-of-the-way, rural hellscape on a mission that was definitely "classified" levels of importance… and yet, he'd drop everything he was doing if he thought she was in danger. She remembers looking into his eyes-those sad, tired orbs-and seeing them light up just the tiniest amount whenever he laid eyes on her.
She liked to pretend that what they had was strictly professional, but she knew deep down that she was just as stricken by him as he was by her. Why else would she do what she's done all these years? The rocket launcher, the boat, the kiss. No, it was time to stop lying to herself. She wasn't an upstart spy trying to make a name for herself in the underworld anymore. Raccoon City alone had practically made her a legend in that regard.
No, who she was now was a maiden in love. Sappy as it sounds, it was probably the only constant in her ever-changing world of deceit, treachery, and horror. She was in too deep into all of it. She couldn't truly ever retire or settle down. All the things she's been exposed to have slowed her aging down to a crawl. She wasn't a true immortal, but she reckoned she was one of the closest living things walking the earth at the moment.
Because of that, she was also a drifter, someone subject to the whims of powerful madmen on any given day. Her longevity made her valuable, and value is something the underworld is all about. Her life, long as it will probably be, could end at any point during the dangerous missions she undertakes, though. That's why it's nice to have a rock-an anchor-out at sea. Something to come back to, something she could rely on even in her darkest hours.
"Ada!" she heard the telltale yell of her name as she stepped out of the shower. She smiled, drying herself off in preparation for the… "activities" they liked to participate in every now and then. Stepping out of the shower with only a towel wrapped around her body, she laid her eyes on her anchor. He was clearly aging, unlike herself, but he was still so delectable. She chuckled a bit; those were the thoughts of a wife in a healthy, long-term relationship.
"We're skipping the foreplay tonight." Her thoughts (and that silly grin on his face after she said that) had her in a good mood. For all of the uncertainty in her life, this was a tiny piece of heaven. She left the place she used to live in the dust years ago and could never return. Now, Leon was her sanctuary.
He was her home.