Chapter 8: Nathan
A/N: Hey everyone! Thought you guys could do with a new update! As the title implies, a new character is going to be introduced! Just who is the new character going to be?
Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil; I just own my characters.
Enjoy!
/
There were tons of people who wished that they could walk the halls of the White House, but to Leon it was just another day at work. Being one of the special operatives that worked directly under the president, that meant he visited these halls very often. While some would marvel at the idea of stepping into the Oval Office, to him it was nothing.
That's why when he was suddenly called in to the White House one day, he didn't bat an eye.
Stepping into the Oval Office, he was greeted to the site of Adam Benford sitting at his desk going over documents. The two of them went way back before Benford became president. He was the one who recruited Leon into becoming a special agent. While Leon was a bit bitter about how his life turned after Racoon City, he couldn't hold it against Benford.
"You wished to see me, Sir?"
Benford looked up from his documents and smiled.
"Ah, Leon. You made it."
He stood up from his deck and shook the agent's hand.
"It's been a while, hasn't it? I've heard how well you've been doing on your most recent missions."
Leon bit the inside of his mouth to stop himself from saying anything. Of course, he would know all about those missions since he was the one who assigned them to him.
"Just doing my duty to my country" he said flatly.
If the President heard his sarcasm, he did well to ignore it. He walked back to his desk and sighed.
"The reason I called you here is because I have a special task for you. A personal one" he said.
"It's not urgent like stopping a terrorist attack…but it's important to me."
That caught Leon's interest.
"Oh?"
Benford picked up a picture that showed his family.
"I'm sure you remember my son?"
"Nathan? Yes, I've seen him a few times" Leon admitted.
"He's away at school, right?"
"He was" Benford corrected.
"He got himself into a bit of trouble at the University he was attending. Since he's one semester away from graduating and getting his bachelor's, I've told him he either needed to transfer closer to home or lose all of the credits he's earned. I'm sure you can figure out what he decided."
He set the photo down and looked back at Leon.
"I want you to keep an eye on him while he finishes his last semester. You don't have to watch him 24/7, but I just want to make sure he's ok and stays out of trouble" he said.
Leon was trying to make sure he heard the President correctly.
"You want me to babysit your son, sir?" he asked.
Benford laughed a little.
"I guess you could say that. I know it's not as exciting as when you saved Graham's daughter from Spain, but it'll put my mind at ease if you're in charge of this mission."
Leon sighed. While the mission wasn't dangerous, he didn't enjoy being on super long ones.
"I don't know if I'm the right person for the job" he said.
"Oh, nonsense! You're just the person I want to keep an eye on Nathan" Benford said.
He went up to him and grasped his shoulder.
"I picked you to be part of this special group for a reason. If anyone can handle this mission, it's you."
Translation: You work for me, so you have to do what I say.
Leon took a deep breath. He couldn't refuse this mission. Even if it was a simple mission, if the President told you to do something you did it. It didn't matter that he was good friends with the President, at the end of the day, Benford was still his superior.
"When do I start?" he asked.
Benford smiled, knowing that he had won.
"Nathan started classes the other day. I'll give you his class schedule, so you know when he gets out" he said.
"I knew I could trust you with this mission."
Leon gave a weak smile before leaving the office. Walking down the hallways, the smile fell from his face to be replaced with an emotionless mask. This job was taking a toll on him. Whether it be from stopping terrorists or babysitting someone's kid, he felt like he had no control over his life.
"Just know you're preventing things from going bad to worse."
Leon closed his eyes when he heard Rachel's voice in his head. She had told him that a few nights ago in the hopes of cheering him up. While it didn't cheer him up it did help him remember the big picture. He made sure things didn't get out of hand with the fight against Umbrella. He made sure the viruses didn't spread so other cities wouldn't suffer the same fate as Racoon did. He made sure families could go to bed at night feeling safe. That a certain med student could finish her classes so she could help save lives.
He let himself smile a tiny bit as he thought of the strawberry blonde.
"Already helping people and she hasn't gotten her license yet" he thought.
Fine. He would deal with this mission like he did with all the other ones. Least he wouldn't have to travel all over the world for half a year while he was on babysitting duty. And since this was a direct order from the President, he was going to be paid nicely.
Maybe he was going to enjoy this nice, boring mission.
/
With two minutes to spare, Rachel made it to her class before her professor locked the door to his class. He sighed when he saw her flop to her desk, clearly out of breath. Oh well, at least she made it on time.
Isabella looked at her best friend in confusion. She had seen Rachel winded from running to class, but the girl looked drained this time around.
"What's up with you?" she asked.
Rachel groaned as she closed her eyes.
"I really fucked up this time" she whimpered.
"Marcus is going to be out for my blood after class."
Isabella's eyes widen a little.
"What did you do?" she slowly asked.
Rachel bit her lip as she avoided her friend's gaze.
"I might have worried that I was running late so when I passed the security booth I…pushed a trashcan in front of the door so he couldn't get out to chase me" she mumbled the last part.
Isabella looked at her for a few seconds then started snickering.
"Shut up!" Rachel snapped.
"Why are you so worried about him? The man is old" Isabella said.
"Don't let his age fool you. That old man can run. I heard he even killed two people at the last security job he had" Rachel said.
Isabella waved her hand.
"Oh please, those are just rumors. You should be more worried about if Prince Charming is going to sweep you away on his chariot again" she teased.
Rachel's response was to kick her under the table.
"Alright, settle down" their professor said.
Class soon started as their professor explained what they needed to learn today.
/
"Why does God hate me today?" Rachel whimpered.
"Come on, it's not that hard of an assignment" Isabella said.
Their midterm project was to pick someone and study their health history. It could have been a friend or family member, but they needed to know if they suffered a serious injury or some kind of illness in the past and they needed to explain how they would have treated it.
Should be easy, right?
"You just have to pick someone to study, no big deal" Isabella said.
Rachel glared at her.
"It is a big deal! I don't know anyone that well here and you already called dibs on your brother Carlos" she said.
"I have three other siblings! Just pick one!" Isabella snapped.
Rachel groaned.
"I can't. You heard our professor; we have to pick different people. Since you're doing your sibling that means I can't pick anyone else from your family"
"What about Ethan?" Isabella asked.
Rachel stopped in her tracks when she heard her brother's name. Isabella realized her mistake and flinched.
"Shit. I'm sorry! I know you're still not talking to him" she said weakly.
Rachel gripped her bag tightly. While she grew up with Isabella and her family, she also had an older brother. She and Ethan weren't always close. They didn't have a falling out; it was just how they were. Ethan was recently trying to mend things with her, but she just wasn't ready. Not after what happened.
"Let's go eat" she said quietly.
She walked past her best friend to head to the cafeteria. Isabella groaned at her stupidity. It was going to be hard getting Rachel out of this mood now.
/
Dropping her messenger bag to the floor, Rachel sat at an empty table and buried her face in her hands. She knew Isabella didn't mean anything bad by bringing her brother up. But hearing about her family always brought the dark memories out.
Another reason why she wasn't close with her brother was because he wasn't around to see what sort of hell she went through while growing up.
"It's all your fault!"
"How could he leave me with such a wretched thing?!"
"Why can't you be better?!"
She closed her eyes and focused on breathing. She was not going to let that voice get to her. Not today.
"Excuse me?"
Rachel looked up to see someone standing in front of her table. It was a guy close to her age, wearing glasses and held a bunch of books and papers in his hands. If there was one word to describe him, Rachel would say nerdy.
"Is it alright if I sit here? All the other tables seemed to be filled" he asked sheepishly.
"Yeah, sure" Rachel said quietly.
The nerdy student quickly dropped his books on the table and sighed as he stretched his arms.
"They make us spend all this money on textbooks and they can't figure out a way to make them feel lighter" he said.
Rachel chuckled a little.
"You could always get the PDF version of the textbooks that cost just as much" she joked.
"I tried but when I saw how they formatted the book I tried fixing it to make it better and I get chewed out for trying to plagiarize it" the guy said.
"You try to help someone do their job and you get labeled as a thief."
He quickly realized he was being rude and held out his hand.
"Sorry, where are my manners? I'm Nathan by the way. Nathan Benford"
Rachel accepted his hand and shook it.
"I'm Rachel. Rachel Wi- "
"Rach, I got you lunch as an apology" Isabella said.
She came over with a tray of food and plopped it on the table.
"They still haven't found a cure for stupidity, so you'll have to excuse mine until they come up with something" she said.
She noticed Nathan staring at her dumbfounded and raised an eyebrow.
"Who the fuck are you?"
"This is Nathan. All the other tables were full so I said he could sit here" Racel explained.
"Nathan, this is my friend Isabella."
Nathan quickly closed his mouth and held his hand out for Isabella to shake.
"N-nice to meet you" he said.
Isabella dully shook his hand.
"Yeah, whatever" she muttered.
She sat next to Rachel and eyeballed their guest.
"I don't think I've seen you here before. You new?"
"Yeah, it's actually my week here" Nathan admitted.
"I was at one of the Universities in California, but I had to transfer due to a few issues there. And since my dad is paying for my school, I had to go to the one he picked which was closer to home."
"What are you studying?" Rachel asked.
"Computer Science" Nathan said.
"I just have one more semester to get my bachelor's and a few more courses that tackle electrical engineering. If you ever have issues with your phone or computer, I'm your guy."
"So, the nerdy guy is studying nerdy things, how original" Isabella said.
Rachel kicked her under the table.
"That's pretty impressive. Not everyone knows how to deal with computers" Rachel said nicely.
"Y-yeah. I understand coding better than I do people. My dad wanted me to get into politics but there's just too much drama with that line of work. What about you two? What are you studying?"
"Surgeon" Isabella said.
"Doctor" Rachel said.
"We understand how the human body works-sometimes a little too much."
"So, if I ever get sick, I can always go to one of you guys?" Nathan joked.
"As long as you have insurance, sure" Isabella said.
The rest of their lunch was spent talking about their classes and learning more about each other's majors.
/
Leon ignored the stares that a few of the students gave him as they walked by. Since he was 'working' that meant he had to wear his suit while he waited for Nathan to be done with his classes. He didn't care much for dressing up, but he knew it was part of the job. While he was out on a mission, he could wear all the leather jackets that he could get his hands on, but when he was doing bodyguard stuff it had to be the suit and tie.
He felt kind of stupid for having to pick up a grown adult from campus but at least he had a break from fighting zombies and B.O.W's.
This was going to be a slow, boring six months.
"Thanks for showing me around campus" Nathan said.
"It's no problem. This place is like a maze. Once you're here for another week you'll know where everything is" Rachel said.
Leon's head whipped around when he heard Rachel's voice. Sure enough, he saw her walking with Nathan as they left campus. It never dawned on him that Nathan would be going to the same University as Rachel. What a small world he lived in.
"Would you ladies like me to give you a ride home? I heard about the campus lockdown that went into place" Nathan offered.
"We just met your ass, why would we get in a car with you?" Isabella asked.
"What Issy meant was that we're fine. Our dorms aren't that far. Thank you for the offer though" Rachel said.
"I don't mind. My dad has security with me so you guys would be safe" Nathan offered.
"Don't offer my services for free Nathan" Leon said.
Rachel was shocked when she saw Leon walk up to them. What was he doing here?
"Hey, Leon! Dad mentioned you would be guarding me" Nathan said.
Leon made a face when he saw students were looking at them.
"Try not to broadcast that I'm your bodyguard. Your dad wants you to keep a low profile, remember?"
Isabella looked at Leon and Nathan in confusion.
"Ok what the hell is going on? Why do you have a bodyguard, four eyes?"
Nathan laughed nervously and rubbed his neck.
"My dad's the president. I'm Adam Benford's son" he said.
That freaked the two girls out. They were hanging out with the President's son all day?! That kinda explained why Leon was here but it still freaked Rachel out. She didn't know she was helping someone who was related to the most important man in the country. She quickly composed herself and smiled gently. She was sure Nathan was just like anyone else. He didn't need them to freak out.
"I guess that explains why your last name sounded familiar" she joked.
"But it's no big deal."
"No big deal?! His dad is running our country, yeah, it's a big deal!" Isabella snapped.
"Why don't you say that a little louder, I don't think those students back there heard you" Leon said dryly.
"Piss off, dude" Isabella snapped.
She grabbed Rachel and pulled her away. She looked over at where the guys were and suddenly spoke in Spanish so they wouldn't hear.
"No, me dijiste que el principe azul trabajaba para el presidente!"
Rachel rolled her eyes but spoke back in Spanish.
"Yo tampoco tenia idea por que esta estas enloqueciendo?"
"Porque eso significa que puede informarle y nosotros podriamos estar en la lista nergra!" Isabella snapped.
"El no va a hacer eso. Has estado viendo demasiados programas sobre crimenes" Rachel sighed.
"Este hijo de puta es una mala noticia. Es major que te alejes de el" Isabella warned.
Leon came up behind Isabella and got close to her.
"Solo para que sepas, este hijo de puta entiende espanol" he said flatly.
Isabella paled when she heard that while Rachel groaned. This is why she always told her to be careful when suddenly speaking in a different language because you never knew who was listening.
Leon enjoyed seeing the shocked, horrified look on Isabella's face. That's what she got for trying to be sneaky. He then turned to Rachel with a raised eyebrow.
"Didn't take you to be bilingual, Sunshine. I'm impressed"
Rachel laughed nervously. She felt embarrassed that she got caught even though she wasn't saying anything bad about Leon.
"Figured it would help with work or get myself in trouble in this case" she said.
Leon just smirked. It seemed every time he ran into this girl, she kept surprising him.
"So, Nathan said you might need a ride?" he asked.
Rachel blushed and quickly shook her head.
"No, we're fine! I'm sure you don't want to spend the rest of your day driving everyone around. Besides, I still have some things to take care of here."
"WINTERS!"
Rachel felt the blood drain from her face. Whipping her head around, she saw Marcus the security guard running for her.
"Hey, he actually got out" Isabella teased.
Leon was beyond confused.
"Who the hell is that?"
Rachel ignored everyone. She tossed her messenger bag to Isabella and ran off.
"You know the drill!" she yelled.
Marcus slid to a stop when he reached the group and ran after Rachel.
"Get back here you little brat!" he yelled.
Rachel panicked and ran faster as Marcus caught up.
"I said I was sorry!" she cried.
"Sorry isn't going to take down those video posts of me trying to get out of my booth!" Marcus snapped.
The trio watched as Rachel reached a brick wall and skillfully scaled it before jumping down to the other side. Marcus tried to climb over the edge but fell flat on his ass when he didn't have the strength to do so.
"Ummm, what just happened?" Nathan asked.
Isabella cackled as she video tapped Marcus making an idiot out of himself.
"That's Marcus the head security guard. He and Rachel have long love hate relationship" she explained.
"Should we make sure she's ok?" Nathan asked.
Isabella put her phone away when she got her video.
"Nah, she's fine. That old geezer will get tired fast and just pick up where they left off tomorrow. Been going on like this for almost five years now."
She flung Rachel's messenger bag over her shoulder and gave the guys a dull wave.
"Well four-eyes, asshole, it's been real."
She left without so much as a glance back. Leon felt his eye twitch when he looked at Isabella. How was someone so shy and sweet like Rachel friends with a foul mouth, rude person like her?
Oh well, it wasn't his job to understand the human mind. Right now, his job was to get Nathan home.
"This university is way crazier than the one in LA" Nathan said.
"Sure, it is" Leon said.
He ushered Nathan back to the car before anything could happen to the President's son. As he walked, he looked over to where Rachel had run off.
/
When she reached twelve blocks away from campus did Rachel finally stop running. Hunched over, she tried catching her breath.
"God damn that guy runs fast for an old man" she panted.
She knew Marcus was going to be mad at her little stunt from this morning, but it couldn't be helped. She needed to pass this class and she wasn't going to let being late stop her. She just needed to set her alarm even earlier so she wouldn't have this problem again.
She saw a black car slowly drive nearby with tinted windows. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck go up in alarm. Not wanting to look nervous, she acted like she was bending down to fix her shoe. When the car pulled over to a stop next to her, she acted fast.
Jumping up, she ran in the direction she came from so the car wouldn't be able to chase her.
The driver quickly jumped out of the car to reveal it was Leon.
"It's just me!" he called out.
Rachel skid to a stop when she heard Leon's voice. She let out a sign of relief.
"You almost gave me a heart attack" she said.
She slowly walked over to him.
"Weren't you taking Nathan back home?" she asked.
"He went with the other security team. He's not a fan of my driving" Leon explained.
He looked at where they were and saw how far they were from the school.
"Did you seriously run all the way here?"
"I used to run track in High School. This is nothing" Rachel said.
"Gotta hand it to Marcus for lasting as long as he did though"
"What exactly did you do to piss that guy off?" Leon had to ask.
Rachel made a face at that.
"Don't ask" was all she would say.
The two of them looked odd as they stood near the street. Leon with his suit while Rachel wore her faded jeans and University hoodie. They didn't seem to care though.
"So, if you weren't taking Nathan home, why are you here?" Rachel asked.
Leon bit the inside of his cheeks. He didn't want to admit that he was looking around the campus area trying to find her. He wasn't trying to be a creep; he was just worried. That's all.
"I was heading back to the office when I saw you and wanted to see if you were ok" he lied.
Rachel raised an eyebrow at him.
"Isn't the White House the other way though?"
Leon cleared his throat and fixed his tie.
"I took the longer way in case anyone was trying to follow. Can't have a bunch of cars going in the same direction" he said.
"Uh-huh" Rachel said dully.
"Anyway, since I ran into you, did you need me to give you a ride home?" Leon asked.
Rachel raised an eyebrow at him. She smirked a little and shook her head.
"That's sweet of you but I remember you said you don't offer your services for free and sadly my wallet is in my bag that Isabella has" she teased.
"I'll let it slide this one time. Just don't tell that friend of yours" Leon joked.
Rachel smirked and walked away from him.
"I don't think your boss would be happy that you're giving college students free rides in a government car" she said.
Leon looked as she walked away before a sneaky smirk appeared on his face.
/
"You don't have to sit still like that. It's just a car" Leon said.
"Yeah, a car that belongs to the President!" Rachel snapped.
"He doesn't own this exact car. It's just one of the cars he uses when he wants to go somewhere" Leon teased.
Rachel grumbled and made herself as small as possible. She made the mistake of letting her guard down when she walked past him earlier. She figured he wouldn't have done anything but boy was she wrong. Leon simply walked up to her and picked her up before he dropped her inside the car. He was lucky no one was nearby when it happened otherwise they would have thought he was kidnapping her.
"So, your last name is Winters?" Leon said.
Rachel looked confused then remembered she never told him her last name.
"Oh yeah, Isabella interrupted us when I was introducing myself that day. Yeah, it's Winters. Rachel Winters"
"So, Miss. Sunshine is named after the coldest season of the year. Kinda ironic" Leon teased.
"No more ironic than being named after one of the President's and not being related to them" Rachel fired back.
The two of them chuckled a little. Rachel's smile dimmed a little as she thought of something.
"I guess I can see why you said your work was stressful. Never realized when you said you worked for the government, you meant the president" she said.
"Now you know why I can't talk about it" Leon said.
Rachel fiddled with the hem of her hoodie as she looked at the scenery.
"Am I going to get in trouble for talking with the President's son?" she asked.
"You haven't done anything wrong so you're fine. Your friend on the other hand, that's a different story" Leon said.
"Yeah, she's a force to be reckoned with" Rachel agreed.
"So, if your Nathan's bodyguard, does that mean you have to be on campus grounds while he's studying?"
"Not always. There's a handful of us that'll take turns. But I'm his head bodyguard so I'll be there most of the time" Leon said.
Rachel nodded in understanding.
"Oh, here's Issy's complex" she said.
Leon pulled the car over and parked it so she could get out.
"My apartment is literally half a block away so I can walk from here" she said.
"Thanks for the ride. I'll be sure to tip you the next time I see you."
"Just don't tell anyone I did it for free this time otherwise I'll get a line of people" Leon teased.
Rachel chuckled a little.
"Have a safe drive back. I guess I'll see you tomorrow then" she said.
"Oh, and I won't bug you while you're there since you'll be working. Bye!"
She hurried to where Isabella was waiting for her. The young surgeon freaked out when she saw Leon.
"Great now he knows where I live!" she snapped.
Leon rolled up the window when he saw the two of them starting to bicker. He found it very amusing seeing Rachel suddenly get fierce when she was usually shy and timid.
"You're not a bother to me, Sunshine" he said to himself.
He pulled away and drove back to the White House where he needed to report back to Benford.
This mission wasn't going to be boring after all.
/
A/N: There we go! So not only do we have a new character but another plot to the story! Now that Leon has to guard Nathan that means he'll get to see Rachel even more. What could possibly go wrong?
Yep, Rachel is related to Ethan Winters so that means she's going to play a big role in 7 and Village.
Also, I'm not fluent in Spanish so if what I wrote doesn't sound right, please let me know lol.
Here is what they all said:
Isabella (You didn't tell me Prince Charming worked for the President!)
Rachel (I had no idea either. Why are you freaking out?)
Isabella (because that means he can report back to him, and we could be blacklisted!)
Rachel (He's not going to do that. You've been watching too many crime shows)
Isabella (This fucker is bad news. You better stay away from him)
Leon (just so you know, this fucker understands Spanish)
Hope you all enjoyed the chapter! Please tell me what you think!
Take care!