Chapter 14: Cut from the same cloth
A/N: Hi everyone! We're back with another chapter! Nothing too exciting but it's just a little filler to fill in the gap between some of the bigger things that will soon happen in the next few chapters.
Rachel finally gets to start working on her project and Leon learns a thing or two about her past. What is it about Rachel Winters that makes her the way she is?
Also what kind of filler chapter ideas would you guys like to see? Since we'll be talking about the main games there's got to be a few things that happen in between them. If you have any ideas leave them in the reviews! Those who mention something will get a special shoutout and a chapter dedicated to them!
Anyway let's get on with the story!
Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil; I just own my characters.
Enjoy!
/
Rachel gripped the folder that she was carrying a little too hard and caused it to crinkle. Realizing what she was doing, she stopped and quickly smoothed it out. Isabella managed to gather as much info about the crackhead that was by her apartment for her project.
Yeah, Leon agreed to help but it was good to have a backup plan.
Today was the day where she was going to meet up with him so they could work together on her project. She was finally glad she could get it done but she was also nervous. What if Leon made things difficult with what she could and couldn't talk about? She'd cross that bridge when she got there.
She made it to the diner that was popular in town. Leon thought it would be better to meet up in a public setting so she wouldn't feel awkward about being alone with him. What a gentleman. She found a booth near the back of the diner and sat down. It was starting to get colder out with it being fall so she bundled herself up with a jacket and scarf. Fall and winter were her favorite times of the year. She could layer up in comfy clothes and drink as much pumpkin spiced latte as she wanted. She dreaded summer time cause that meant it got really hot and she didn't like showing off her skin. She would wear a hoodie in 90 degree weather cause she didn't want to show off her pasty skin. There was another reason why she didn't show off her skin but no one needed to know that.
She shook her head. Now wasn't the time to be thinking about her body issues. She had a project to work on and she was going to complete it no matter what.
Leon entered not long after she did and spotted her. She waved a little as he approached her.
"If it isn't Dr. Sunshine" he teased.
"Here to brighten your day by telling you how you're slowly killing yourself" Rachel added.
Leon chuckled and sat across from her.
"Sorry I'm late. Had to turn in a report to the big man and he had a few questions" he said.
"Don't apologize for doing your job. I'm sure everyone would rather you take forever and get it right instead of rushing and making mistakes. I don't think America would appreciate a messy fuck up that could ruin our image for other countries" Rachel said.
'If only you knew' he thought.
It seemed whenever she talked about everyday things, he found himself saying that phrase to himself.
If only she knew what he had to deal with everyday. If only she knew what he did to make sure the world was safe. If only she knew the demons he had to fight within himself. If only she knew what Umbrella did. If only she knew about the viruses he fought to keep contained. If only she knew how he was slowly breaking inside and barely keeping together.
If only she knew.
But she couldn't. No one besides the government could know. He would have to continue to suffer in silence. That was the price he had to pay to stop Umbrella.
"Leon?"
Leon snapped out of his thoughts when he realized he hadn't said anything.
"Sorry, just tired from work" he lied.
Rachel looked sympathetic and gave him a gentle look.
"We can do this a different day if you want to go home" she offered.
"Nah, I'm fine. Once I eat something I'll be alright" Leon said.
"Yeah I could go for some food too. I forgot to eat breakfast this morning cause I was running late. Wasn't a good idea since I ran into Marcus again. Never run on an empty stomach" Rahcel said.
Leon had an odd look on his face.
"What did you do to have that man hate you so much?" he had to ask.
Rachel went red and fiddled with the folder in her hands.
"You don't want to know" she said quietly.
Leon tilted his head to read the folder she was holding.
"Who's 'Colin the crackhead'?" he slowly asked.
"O-oh, Isabella has this homeless guy near her apartment. She thought he would be a good subject for my project in case you changed your mind" Rachel said.
Leon's eyes bugged out in alarm.
"You were going to talk to a crackhead if I told you no?"
"I did say I was desperate. Besides, I was reading some of his files that Isabella managed to put together and it's quite fascinating. I'm surprised he's still alive"
Leon reached over the table and snatched the file from her hands.
"Give me that!" he snapped.
"Don't go near this guy! You're just asking to get killed or worse"
"I'll have to deal with patients who are in similar situations when I graduate" Rachel pointed out.
"Yeah but you'll be at a hospital where it's safe and there's security" Leon reasoned.
He pulled out his medical files from his bag and handed them to her.
"Just look at these and work on your project"
Rachel perked up when she saw the files and opened them up. She read the first few lines then looked up at Leon.
"Can I have that back later so I can read the rest of it?"
"No"
Rachel pouted and went back to reading Leon's medical file. Leon opened the confiscated file just to see what was written down. He raised an eyebrow when he read a few things this Colin guy went through.
"Good god" he muttered.
/
It would have been awkward where two people were sitting in a booth not saying anything but for Rachel and Leon, it was actually relaxing. Rachel just focused on taking notes and comparing how things were treated to back when Leon was young to what hospitals did now and Leon was able to take a breather and not do anything after running around being an agent and keeping people safe.
"It astounds me that someone thought this was a proper way to treat a minor injury" Rachel muttered to herself.
"Keep in mind this was when the wheel was being invented so a lot of things have changed since then" Leon teased.
Rachel snorted and went back to writing a few notes down. She had a melancholy look on her face as she read his file. She noticed a familiar name when she read where he went to get treated.
"You were from Pembroke Village?" she asked.
Leon looked up when she suddenly talked.
"Not really. My mom was from there and we would usually go out there every summer to visit my grandparents. Unfortunately that one visit didn't have a happy ending"
He wouldn't tell her that was when his parents got killed due to a stint with the mafia. It seemed even as a child, luck was never on his side. He was always facing the ugliness of the world even as a child.
This was also the turning point that would lead to where he was now.
Rachel had a sad bittersweet look on her face.
"My dad was a firefighter for the Pembroke fire department" she said quietly.
It quickly dawned on Leon that he remembered seeing that on her files when he was looking into her. Her dad was firefighter for that town. She grew up in the same town his parents died.
What a small cruel world.
"Is that so? I remember you said you were planning to be one before you decided to become a doctor"
He wouldn't tell her that he knew about her history. He didn't want her thinking he was a creep.
"Yeah. I always admired my dad. I always thought he was so brave for trying to save people everyday. He was always willing to risk his life just so someone else could live. I wanted to be like that. To be able to make a difference in someone's life and help them" she said.
"So why go from firefighter to doctor?" Leon asked.
Her hand twitched a little. It might have been subtle but Leon noticed it right away. Something agitated her.
"My dad died when I was nine. He was trying to put out a fire in an apartment complex and the floor he was on caved in. He fell through three floors and suffered from internal bleeding. By the time they rushed him to the hospital, it was too late"
Leon felt his mouth go dry when he heard that.
"I'm sorry, I didn't-"
"It's ok. You didn't know" Rachel said.
Sadly he did know which was why he felt like an ass for bringing it up.
"But that's one of the reasons why I changed my career choice. Seeing what happened to my dad was a harsh reminder that life is fragile. I didn't want a child to go through the same pain as I did watching their parent die on a stretcher so I felt that I can say people by making sure they don't die horribly. When you experience something painful like that, you want to make sure no one feels that either"
Leon let out a bitter laugh. It amazed him that despite everything he had been through, there was still a few people who were cut from the same cloth as him. Both he and Rachel were dealt with a nasty hand and tired to figure out how to make sense of all the pain that they dealt with. He wanted to become a cop after losing his parents and wanted to become a doctor after losing her dad. The only difference between them was that he ended up having to work for the government and fight off the living dead. And he hoped to keep it that way. No need to drag someone else in the mess.
The waitress at the diner came up to them with her hands on her hips.
"You two have been here for over an hour and haven't ordered anything. Either you get something or leave so someone who is actually here to dine can have a spot"
Rachel and Leon completely forgot that they were in a diner and had just been doing their own thing this whole time without even getting any food. They had mentioned that they were hungry earlier too!
"S-sorry! We'll order something!" Rachel said.
The waitress rolled her eyes and walked away muttering 'college kids' under her breath.
Leon bit back a smirk when he saw Rachel buried her face in her hands to hide her blush. Her reddened face made her strawberry blonde hair pop out.
"Are you always this frazzled over stuff?" he asked.
"Cause if you are, you're going to have a rough time tending to cranky patients"
Rachel pulled her hands away and gave Leon a tired glare.
"I'm taking a class on it" she said dryly.
"It's been a weird day. I had to run away from Marcus and jump through a window to get away from him so I'm very jittery today"
"Wait, what?!"
Rachel went red when she realized she said too much.
"Uh nothing"
Leon wore a sly smile on his.
"No, no. You don't say you jump through a window and act like nothing happened" he said.
"What did you do?"
Rachel dropped her head and groaned. No way she was getting out of this.
"How much time you got?"
/
"Seriously? You literally went through your classroom window?"
Rachel chucked a fry at him when he chuckled at her story.
"My instructor has been getting harsh with his no tardy rule and started locking the door when class starts. Since this classroom faces the gardens on campus it was a no brainer to use the window. He said a student couldn't enter class when the door was shut but he never said anything about the windows. Although after today I'm sure he's going to be adding that to his rules"
Leon chuckled picturing Rachel running across the campus grounds and jumping through an open window to get to class. If she couldn't make it as a doctor, there was always the chance she could be a stunt double.
"Did Marcus try to jump through the window to go after you?"
"No. He couldn't reach it but he spent the rest of the class just staring me down like a hawk. I have a feeling he's just going to wait for me outside of my classrooms to get me ones of these days" Rachel sighed.
"I would have paid big money to see that scene unfold" Leon said.
"I'm sure if you ask Nathan he could try to get the security camera footage. He mentioned he's good at hacking software" Rachel said.
Leon made a mental note to have a talk with Nathan and his habits. This was one of the reasons he was kicked out of his old college for hacking in the schools files.
The waitress from before came over and handed them their bill.
"I should charge you for how long you've been here"
Leon gave the waitress a hard stare.
"Sounds like someone doesn't want a tip. Good thing you're getting paid by the hour and not by customer"
The waitress scoffed and walked away.
Rachel went to grab the bill but Leon beat her to it.
"You got us dinner that one night so it's my turn" he said.
"Well what do you know? Chivalry isn't dead after all" Rachel teased.
Leon went up to the counter to pay for their meal. Rachel thought about how their afternoon went. Even though it was mostly just her putting her project together, she really enjoyed their day. She was a little surprised that she was alright with talking a bit about her past. She hated thinking about her past yet when she told Leon about her dad, she felt at ease. It was like he got her.
Leon came back quickly.
"Ready to go, Sunshine? That waitress is glaring at us from the other end of the place"
Rachel got up and gathered her stuff. She had enough material to put her thesis together. Now she just had to write it out and check it over with Leon to make sure he was fine with what she talked about in class.
They made it outside where the crisp fall air hit them like a ton of bricks. It was crazy with how cold it could suddenly get from one season to another.
"Here you go. Don't want to accidentally walk off with these" she said as she handed him his files.
"And I'll just take that back"
She went to reach for Colin's files but of course Leon held them over his head.
"Nice try, Sunshine. After reading some of the stuff that was on here I'm for sure not giving this back. You need to tell your friend to stop going near crack heads"
"Come on! I want to see what else was on there! It was starting to become a good read" she whined.
She went to jump for it but of course with Leon being taller than her, she couldn't reach the folder.
"Give it back! I want to see what this guy has been through"
"I don't think your college brain can handle what is in this file, Rach" Leon dead panned.
"I could always go see Isabella and ask her for another copy of this"
"And I can always take away the notes you just wrote up so you won't have anything for your project"
Rachel crossed her arms and made a face. Once again, Leon got a kick seeing her face scrunch up when she was annoyed by something.
"Try to stay out of trouble until we meet up again…and tell your friend to stop talking to crackheads"
"I'll try but I make no promise. Isabella tends to do her own thing"
"Well if she gets stabbed by a homeless person that's on her"
Rachel rolled her eyes but smiled.
"Try not to work to hard. I know you're keeping our country safe but we could use a little excitement here and there"
"I'll be sure to tell the big man that when he wonders why I didn't stop a terrorist attack" Leon joked.
Rachel waved him off and started heading back home. When she was far enough away, Leon quickly pulled out his phone and called someone.
"Yeah, we might have a shady looking guy hanging around a couple of the apartment complexes in town"
Rachel sighed as she walked home. She got quite a bit of info to put her paper together. There were a few things from Leon's file that she was confused about but she figured if she read them one more time, she would get it. She did promise she wouldn't ask him about his past. Despite this being just a meet up for her project, she enjoyed their little get together.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket suddenly. Puzzled, she pulled it out wondering who was calling her.
When she read the name on the screen her face froze.
Ethan
/
A/N: Oh boy, Ethan just entered the chat! Why would he suddenly call Rachel out of nowhere?
Hope this chapter was alright. I know Leon's past before Resident Evil 2 is pretty mysterious since we really don't know a lot about it.
Please tell me what you thought of this chapter!
Take care!