Chapter 10: I'm listening

A/N: Hi everyone! How's everyone enjoying this nice summer day? With the new Resident Evil movie coming out next month I'd thought why not treat everyone to some more Leon/ Rachel goodness.

Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil; I just own my characters.

Enjoy!

/

Rachel numbly took the bag of ice Leon offered her and placed it on her wrist. She hadn't said anything since he took her to a nearby park to calm down. Now that the shock of what happened wore off she felt a mixture of things. Fear, confusion, embarrassment, they just all mixed together like a nasty concoction that made her feel sick.

If she wasn't weary enough about Jeremy, she sure was now. That was the first time she saw him snap like that. He always put on this act that he was nice and charming, but what she saw in the library and at the campus entrance was jarring. It was like his mask slipped off and she saw what he was really trying to hide.

She didn't know what was going to happen now. Everyone saw what went down at the entrance. She was sure everyone was going to talk about it tomorrow. They would wonder why Jeremy got angry, what did she do to set him off. Basically, they would blame her because there was no way someone as nice as Jeremy could do something so mean to a woman.

Forget about dealing with another year of classes, she wasn't going to be able to deal with the rest of the week.

Leon was getting worried that Rachel had just shut down after they left the school. She hadn't said one word after he took her hand. It was like she was hiding in a shell and refusing to come out.

"How's your wrist doing?"

Rachel removed the ice and looked at her wrist. Already there were bruises from where Jeremy grabbed her. As she looked closer she noticed nail marks where his nails dug into her skin.

"I won't be able to wear short sleeve shirts for a while" she said dully.

Leon's hand curled into a fist when he saw the bruises. When Nathan called him for help, he didn't expect this.

/

Flashback to earlier:

Leon looked at his phone when he saw Nathan was calling him. Not thinking much on it, he answered it thinking the boy was done with his classes for the day.

Before he could even utter a word, Nathan was already talking in a freaked-out tone.

"You need to come to the school entrance now!" he said urgently.

Leon was on full alert now. The president's son wasn't at this school for long and he was already in danger? Knowing it would take longer to start his car and get on the road, he hopped out of it and bolted down the sidewalk. He signaled the other bodyguards that something was up.

"What happened? Are you ok?" he asked.

"I'm fine. It's that Rachel girl I met the other day that needs help" Nathan said.

"Some crazy frat boy is trying to man handle her."

Leon felt himself run faster when he heard that. Why would anyone want to bug her?

He told Nathan he was almost there and ran as fast as he could to the campus. He rounded the corner and saw what was unfolding.

"Let go of me!" Rachel snapped as she tried to pull her arm away.

Jeremy glared at her and held her wrist tighter, causing her to flinch.

"I said let go of me!"

Leon could hear the panic in her voice. He didn't know what was going on but he was not going to let a woman get hurt. He stormed over to them, ready to smash Jeremy's head into the ground. The boy was oblivious to who was approaching him and yanked Rachel close to his face so he could scare her.

"You keep running off that mouth of yours and I'm going to-"

"You'll do what?" Leon finished.

"Please finish that sentence. I really want to know what you were going to say."

When Jeremy whipped around to see who talked, Leon realized this was the same punk that tried to force Rachel to drink that nasty beverage as a dare.

Oh, he was for sure going to smash his skull to the ground.

He looked dangerous as he eyed Jeremy's hand still on Rachel's wrist.

"I believe she told you to let her go, so do it. NOW"

Jeremy freaked out that a bunch of guards appeared out of nowhere and shoved Rachel out of the way so he could escape. If Leon hadn't caught her, she would have hit the pavement hard.

After that, Rachel ran off in embarrassment while he went after her. And the rest was history.

/

He was for sure going to look into this Jeremy's files once he got Rachel home. He knew that when Benford hears about this, he would want a background check on the little punk as well. But that could wait until later. He had more important business to deal with.

Rachel's phone buzzed in her pocket. Pulling it out, she saw that it was Isabella calling her. She didn't feel like telling her friend what had happened so she turned off her phone and put it away.

"You're not going to answer that?" Leon asked.

Rachel sighed as she leaned back on the bench.

"Nope"

Leon gave her a hard stare. He didn't like that she just completely shut down like this.

"Are you just going to stay quiet for the rest of the day?"

"I just want to forget what happened. It's over and done with so why bother bringing it back up?" Rachel said.

"Because you're obviously not okay" Leon said.

"You haven't said a word since we left your school. I can tell that you're freaked out over what happened. You need to talk about this."

Rachel scoffed and gave Leon a hard glare.

"What is talking going to do about it? I'll tell you what it'll do: nothing. I can tell the deans of the campus what Jeremy did but they'll just turn a blind eye because 'he's a hardworking student with a bright future' or 'he didn't hit you so why should we punish him?'. If I told the cops about this they wouldn't do anything about it. They'd just tell me to be more careful and to just stay away from him, not caring that Jeremy tries to find me every time I'm on campus."

She looked at the bruises on her wrist. Everyone could see it but they would just turn a blind eye to it because they didn't want to see it. They would just pretend that the brusies weren't there. Just like how they always did when she was younger.

"There's no point in talking about because I know no one will listen to me." she said quietly.

"I'm listening to you right now, Rach" Leon said softly.

"I didn't turn a blind eye to what happened. I don't give two shits about that guy's future. I'm not telling you to be careful next time."

"But I'm sure you're going to say there are worse things out there, right?" Rachel said tartly.

She turned to Leon and gave him a tired, angry look.

"You've told me a few times that there are worse things out in the world so my problems are easy compared to that. Now that I know what you do for a living, I get where you're coming from. You've obviously seen a lot of scary stuff. Fair enough. Of course, you'd think a student's problems are nothing compared to what you've dealt with. But I think you've forgotten everyone's version of worse case scenarios are very different from person to person. They may not seem like a big deal to you but they are to me because I have to deal with them not you."

"I never said that they were-"

"You didn't but you implied it, even if you didn't mean it" Rachel interrupted.

She stood up and put her bag over her shoulder. She just looked tired and defeated as she looked at Leon.

"I know you were trying to make me feel better but you just don't get it. There are worse things out there but most of the time, people act like they don't exist. Like when a guy tries to force you to drink something nasty when you don't want to, or they won't leave you alone when you tell them that you're not interested and won't take no for an answer. People see it but half the time they won't do anything to help because they don't want to be involved."

She walked away and threw the bag of ice in the garbage when she past it. She was pulled back as Leon gently grabbed the strap of her bag. Looking over her shoulder, she saw he had a sad, tired look on his face as well.

"Not everyone looks away because they don't want to get involved. Sometimes they're focused on one issue that they don't see what's going on around them" he said.

"Like an overworked agent who has seen way too much stuff and forgot regular problems are sometimes way worse than government ones."

Rachel gave him a dull look.

"Is this supposed to make me feel better?"

"Just a little reminder that not everyone ignores you like you think they do" Leon said.

"For me or you?" Rachel asked.

"Both actually" Leon said.

"It's been a long time since I've dealt with normal issues that I forgot that they can be just as stressful. Well, I hadn't dealt with creepy college guys but you know where I'm going with this."

Rachel just looked at Leon. She didn't expect their brief encounter at that bar would lead to this. She was a stranger to him and yet every time they ran into each other he was always helping her.

"Why are you being so nice to me like this? I'm pretty much a stranger to you. You don't have to go out of your way helping me" she said.

"I'd say at this point we're anything but strangers to each other, Sunshine" Leon said softly.

They didn't know what they were considered by each other but it was obvious that they were more than just acquaintances.

Nothing was said as they just looked at each other. They didn't know what to say. Sky blue eyes simply looked at hazel eyes.

The moment was interrupted when Leon's phone went off. Pulling the device out of his pocket, he scowled when he saw the message.

"And that would be my boss wondering what happened today" he said.

Seemed like the other security team got Nathan home safely and informed Benford what had happened. This was going to be fun to explain.

"I'm afraid it's time to head back, Sunshine. I gotta report back."

"That's ok. It's getting late and I don't want to be caught being out past curfew" Rachel said.

"Because you're still a kid?" Leon teased.

"No. A few students have gone missing and the whole campus is on lockdown until they're found" Rachel said bluntly.

That caught Leon off guard.

"Wait, what?!"

Rachel shrugged, clearly not bothered by this.

"Didn't Nathan's dad inform you about that when he transferred to our school? This has been going on for a few weeks now" she said.

"This is news to me" Leon said seriously.

"I wouldn't worry about it if I were you. I doubt anyone would be crazy enough to do anything to the President's son. And its mostly women who are being targeted" Rachel said.

"That's not what I'm worried about. If this has been going on for weeks why didn't you said anything before? You know what? That doesn't really matter right now. Where's your phone?" Leon asked.

Rachel raised an eyebrow and pulled out her phone. Leon held his hand out for her to give it to him. When she slowly gave it to him, he opened it up and went to her contacts. He put in a number and gave it back to her and showed it.

"If it's late out or if you're in a situation, give me a call. I'll help you or if I'm not here one of Nathan's guards will" he explained.

Rachel freaked out at that and quickly shook her head.

"You don't have to do that! I didn't bring any of this up for pity!" she insisted.

"I know you didn't but it'll put my mind at ease. You seem to be a magnet for trouble after what I saw today" Leon said.

Rachel scowled at the remark. She didn't not attract trouble… trouble just seemed to gravitate towards her.

She looked at her phone with a tiny blush dusting her cheeks. It had been a long time since she got anyone's number.

"I-I suppose you'll want my number since you gave me yours, huh?" she said.

Leon smirked at little seeing Rachel get all embarrassed. This look suited her better than that hollowed look from earlier.

"That's up to you, Sunshine. Although if you call me I'll get it anyway so that'll defeat the whole purpose" he teased.

Rachel blushed some more when she realized he had a point. Taking one last look at her phone, she put it away.

"Let's head back before we both get chewed out by our bosses" she said.

"Are you talking about that crazy friend of yours that keeps calling me an asshole?" Leon asked.

"If Isabella called you an asshole then that means you're ok in her books" Rachel explained.

"Normally if she doesn't like someone she'll insult them in Spanish so they won't know. But if she insults you in English that's considered a compliment coming from her. It's messed up but that's just how she is."

"I'm so honored" Leon said sarcastically.

Rachel just laughed as they walked.

"She's rough around the edges but once you're around her a lot, she grows on you"

"Yeah, I have a feeling that'll never happen" Leon deadpanned.

/

After Leon dropped Rachel off at her home, he went straight to the White House. He already knew why the President summoned him and he wanted to get this taken care of right away.

He wanted to make it clear nothing happened to Nathan but he also wanted to make sure Rachel was cleared. Since she was right by Nathan when Jeremy caused a scene at the campus, that meant she might be considered dangerous to Nathan. While she didn't do anything, Leon was sure that Benford was going to say that Rachel attracted trouble and that he wanted her away from his son.

He couldn't let that happen. Rachel already believed no one would be on her side with this situation. He wanted to prove that there was someone on her side and that they weren't going to turn a blind eye on her.

Reaching the Oval Office, he knocked on the door.

"Enter" Benford said.

Entering the office, he was greeted to the sight of President Benford and Nathan sitting near the desk.

"Perfect timing, Leon. Nathan was explaining to me what happened earlier at his school"

Leon sighed when he heard the tone in Benford's voice. He was not a happy camper. And when he was not a happy camper that meant he wouldn't listen to what anyone would say.

"Sir, I can tell you that-"

Another knock at the door interrupted him. The door opened and in stepped Derek C. Simmons; the national head security advisor.

"Oh perfect. Now everyone is here" Benford said.

Derek looked annoyed that he was summoned but kept quiet. Leon was confused that Simmons would be called in for what happened at Nathan's school.

Nathan was just as confused and looked at his father.

"Why is he here, dad?" he asked.

"I was just about to ask the same thing" Simmons scoffed.

"Now tell me. What's this I hear that my nephew had caused a scene on campus?"

/

A/N: I bet you guys weren't expecting that surprise. If Jeremy is related to Simmons then you know for a fact he's up to no good. Wonder how Leon is going to get Rachel out of this one.

Things are slowly starting to get spicy. It looks like Rachel is getting more involved with everything without her even realizing it.

Please review and tell me what you think!

Take care!