Chapter Text
Having Chris back made everything feel easier. He could now raise their kid alongside him, and not have to worry about if he would ever come back in one piece. And that meant they could carry on with the tradition that they had started early on in their relationship.
Each year, everyone had made it a tradition to at least meet up and spend time together since their schedules had all become increasingly busy since the BSAA had been compromised. But in the time of doing that, the Hound Wolf Squad had joined their found family.
Leon was sitting down in a chair outside of where the kitchen window sat of their house while Chris and Jill laughed as they plated the food. Caroline and Rose were running around and playing together since K and Chris had managed to get Rose for the weekend, so Leon was just outside making sure they weren’t going to get hurt.
It had been the first time that Leon could actually claim he had caught a cold considering he had been feeling a little bit more fatigued than usual. More dehydrated, and sometimes a little dizzy. He assumed it had to be contagious since Claire and Sherry were exhibiting the symptoms too. He wished he knew what it was, but doing mundane things such as getting groceries or taking Rose and Caroline to school exposed him to a lot of people.
Chris walked out, leaning down to press a kiss to his lips and pushing a plate into his hands. “Hope you’re hungry.”
Leon returned the kiss, taking the plate and gripping the edges a little too tightly. “Always happy to have whatever you make me.”
“Actually, it’s what Jill made. So it’s even better.”
“Then I know I won’t get poisoned.” Leon teased, and Chris grinned as he took a seat beside Leon to eat his own food.
Leon picked up his fork, going to eat when he noticed his hand shaking a bit. “Huh.” He muttered as Chris looked over, his brows creasing.
“Hey, when the last time you ate?”
“Last night, I think.” Leon answered, and Chris scowled as he sat his own food down and grabbed Leon’s.
“I can handle feeding myself, Chris.”
“Yeah, well. You can let me deal with it.” He muttered in this grumpy tone, and Leon smirked at it. Chris had become more stern over the years he had noticed, so he knew better than to try to fight with him on it. He opened his mouth and Chris stabbed the chicken with the fork, a little too aggressively, before feeding it to him.
Leon chewed it, before reaching up to cover his mouth as he spoke. “You know it’s already dead, right?”
“It can never be too dead.”
Jill walked out right at that moment, eating her own food and wearing a shirt that she had snatched from Chris since they had started a food fight earlier. “I’d watch your statement. It can be too dead, and it is not on the menu to burn my food.”
Jill had some silver streaking into her hair, but not enough to change the fact that Wesker’s experimentation slowed down her aging process. Carlos had walked out beside her, throwing an arm over her shoulder. His hair had only gotten longer, but Leon couldn’t fault him. He also kept his long now in comparison to 28 years ago. “Don’t worry. They won’t be burning the food.”
Leon looked up, his brows furrowing whenever he noticed Claire not being out here. “Where’s Claire?”
The two of them looked at each other before back at Chris and Leon. “She’s been lying down in your bed. Something about not feeling well enough.”
That immediately concerned Leon, so he stood up, squeezing Chris’s shoulder. “I’m going to go check on her.”
Chris nodded, taking his hand and kissing it before Leon squeezed past Jill and Carlos. As he made his way to the hallway, he felt the dizziness hit him again, clenching his jaw as he leaned against the wall. “Jesus. I’m not in good shape.” He muttered, waiting for it to subside before he walked into the bedroom, pushing the door open. “Claire?”
She was lying on her side, wearing one of Leon’s jackets that was warmer. He took a seat on the bed, it creaking from his weight as he reached out to brush her hair out of her face. “Hey…you okay?”
She turned to look at him, offering a smile. “Just…really tired and cold.”
He frowned a little at that. “Well that’s not like the Redfield I know.” He said, helping her sit up, keeping an arm around her for support.
“You’re also a Redfield.” She pointed out, and he snorted softly.
“Kennedy-Redfield. I’m still both.”
“Right.” She said, and immediately coughing after which had him rubbing her back.
“You don’t sound good.”
“Been feeling about the same as you and Sherry.”
“There’s food. Want to try to eat?”
She nodded her head slightly and he helped her up, and when she turned her head to look at him, her brow furrowed. “Did you injure your neck?”
Leon looked confused, reaching up to touch it. “What do you mean?”
“It’s just…really dark bruising.”
Leon hummed in concern. “I haven’t done anything. Not to my knowledge.”
Claire stopped for a second, pulling down his collar and she gasped. “Leon…did you get bit?”
A sense of dread washed over Leon, so he walked over to his mirror with her and he froze. He had been investigating the bodies with the DSO, but he hadn’t fought any infected or anything. “Couldn’t have gotten bit. Haven’t been near infected.”
Claire chewed on her bottom lip before she grabbed a turtle neck out of his closet. “Might be best to wear for now.”
“You mean hide it from everyone?”
“No, just…not draw attention to it. Don’t need everyone losing it.” She tried to tease, and he sighed, grabbing the turtle neck and turning around to pull his shirt off, before pulling the turtle neck on.
“Better?”
Claire snorted at the question. “You know…I would think you had grown as muscular as my brother. But then I forget that he’s ungodly.”
“He’s godly alright. Have you seen those muscles in action?”
Claire fake gagged, scrunching her nose up. “I don’t want to hear about what you guys do.”
Leon raised an eyebrow at her reaction. “You helped pick out lingerie for me to wear to have sex with him. Now it disgusts you?”
Claire groaned, covering her face, and Leon finally got it, grinning. “Ah. It’s because we’re in our late 40s and early 50s.”
“That’s exactly the problem.”
Leon nudged her, rolling his eyes. “We already had a kid. I can live with you being disgusted by it.” He said as he wrapped an arm around her waist, helping her walk out of the bedroom where Sherry immediately ran over to help, frowning.
“Are you still not feeling well, Claire?”
“Unfortunately not. I think the three of us should have not gotten ice cream at that gas station.” She teased, trying to be playful, and Leon and Sherry both grimaced.
“That tasted like something that should have never seen the light of day.” Sherry groaned, shivering, and Leon gave her a look.
“Guess everybody needs a taste of a zombie inspired ice cream. Can’t say I did, though.”
“Well, Halloween is coming up, what did Caroline and Rose choose for outfits?”
“Well, Caroline is now understanding that Chris and I are agents, so she wants to be a spy. Rose wants to be…” He trailed off, trying to remember as Chris appeared in front of them, helping Claire out of their arms to sit at the table.
“A sorceress. That’s what she wants to be.”
“You let her watch a lot of Marvel. No surprise that she would want to be a badass woman with powers.” Claire teased, and Chris shook his head in amusement, pressing a kiss to her temple before taking notice of the jacket that was engulfing her.
“Wow, haven’t seen that jacket in a while.” He whistled, looking over at Leon.
“Oh, that one? You mean the one I was wearing when you stole my vacation?”
Chris sighed, his lips curving up into a smile at that. “Still bitter about that, huh?”
“Very.” Leon retorted, but his tone held no true fire. He pulled the ponytail holder off of his wrist and helped Claire tie her hair up since she had it down while she was lying in bed for comfort purposes.
She reached up to touch it, grinning. “Hey, you’ve gotten good at this.”
Leon shrugged, but he took the compliment, smiling. “What can I say, wanted to make sure my kids would never have to struggle with their hair.”
Chris scoffed at the comment, grabbing him by the waist and pulling him into his side. “Before you get cocky, sit down and finish eating.”
Leon saluted with two fingers, giving a shit-eating grin. “Yes, alpha.”
———
Everybody was staying in guest rooms, the kids were in bed, everything was going well, for the most part.
Except for the fact that Leon had bruising on his neck that looked abnormal, and upon further inspection, bruising on his ribs, his hand, even some on his side. And he still didn’t know how to tell Chris.
Leon and Chris were lazily making out in bed, Chris laying on top of him. One thing he loved is despite Chris becoming slightly cynical due to the mission, he still acted like he was in his 30s, besides the punching boulder part.
Leon reached up to grip onto his back, groaning into his mouth as Chris pulled away, grabbing the collar of his turtleneck and pulling it down before Leon could even get the “wait” out of his mouth. The shift from lust to shock, and then fear was displayed on Chris’s face.
“Leon…you’re infected. Why would you not tell me that?”
“I didn’t know.” Leon admitted truthfully. “I still don’t. I’ve not been near anything that could infect me.”
“Chris! Leon!” They heard Sherry shout, and they both looked at each other before they were both up and running. Chris reached the door first, not caring if he was shirtless and in shorts. Sherry’s eyes were wide with worry. “Something is wrong with Claire. We were talking and she just—“
“I need to check something.” Chris stated firmly, moving to her side where she was coughing, searching for the same markings until he found them, and the rate his head snapped back towards Leon, his eyes were narrowed. “Still don’t think it’s infection?”
Leon frowned, trying to speak but Chris cut him off, curtly speaking. “I need to get her to Rebecca.” Helping her up, she automatically winced in pain and his brows furrowed, his face twisting into concern and irritation. So, he bent down to help her onto his back, before standing back up and holding her legs. “You two stay here, I’ll be right back.” He stated, reaching the door of the guest room, before looking back at Leon. “And Leon? We’ll talk about this later.” He bluntly mentioned, not bothering to mince his words or tone.
Sherry looked over to him in apology, and Leon sighed, listening to the door click
He should have told him, but he didn’t want to concern him with it. Now, Chris was pissed off, and leaving with Claire without another word.
His phone began ringing and he looked at the caller ID, locking eye contact with her as he picked up. He had to put his guilt away for now, especially when the DSO was calling.
Taking a deep breath, he shook his hands out a bit, Sherry giving him a concerned look for it before he answered. “Hey, Hughes. Find something?”
He could hear the DSO investigator shuffling his papers around, before speaking into the phone. “Yeah. Found another body. Dead from the same unknown infection.”
“Yeah…about that, what’s the symptoms again?” He asked, feeling the dread wash over him.
“You seriously don’t remember? Necrosis…it’s horrific, Kennedy. Might be best to get down here. Seems to be another Raccoon City survivor.”
Leon and Sherry held eye contact at that, starting to notice where this was going. “Alright…thank you. I’ll go look into it.” He hung up the phone, and Sherry frowned.
“Are you sure it’s best to leave? You’re sick…I am too. Claire is in bad condition.”
“Don’t really have much of a choice. Not if we don’t want to end up dead.”
Sherry sighed, but nodded. “I’ll go wake up Jill and Carlos and ask them to watch the girls. Will you go say bye to Rose and Caroline, and at least call Chris so he knows where you’re going?”
“Yeah, I can do that.” He said gently, turning to go check on the kids. He pushed open the door quietly, noticing Caroline and Rose asleep side by side, chuckling at how Caroline had seemed to become protective of Rose.
He gently sat on the bed, and Caroline barely opened her eyes, stretching as she tried to wake up. “Daddy? Isn’t it night time?”
“It is, Princess. But I have to go for work.”
“Where’s Papa?” She asked with a yawn.
Leon sighed, reaching forward to fix the covers on her. “He had to take Aunt Claire to see Aunt Rebecca. He’ll be back soon. Aunt Jill and Uncle Carlos are here.” He reassured, and by that time, Rose started to wake up, rubbing her eyes.
“Uncle Leon? Where are you going?” She asked, and he offered a soft smile.
“Have to go to work. Can you be good until Papa gets back?”
They both nodded, seeming to understand. He was always proud of how smart they were. He held out his arms for a hug, and they immediately moved forward to hug him as he pressed a kiss to both of their heads. “Alright. I love you both, try to get some sleep, okay?” He said, and they both gave thumbs up, before he tucked them back in and got up, walking to the door and shutting it behind him.
Jill and Carlos were already up, staring at Leon in concern. “Awfully late to be doing biddings for the DSO.” Jill pointed out, crossing her arms and he shrugged.
“DSO Agents never sleep. Are you fine to watch them?”
Carlos nodded with a grin, reaching up to ruffle Jill’s hair, who scowled at him. “Don’t worry, they won’t even know you’re gone with how much fun they’re having.” He reassured, and Leon nodded, relaxing a little.
“Thank you.”
Jill reached out, squeezing his shoulder. “Take care, Leon.”
Leon reached up to squeeze her hand, nodding. “I will.”
———
After he and Sherry were changed, he dropped her off at the DSO office, he was sitting in his Porsche outside of the building, taking a deep breath as he typed on the screen of his car, calling Chris.
Normally, Chris would pick up immediately. But between him being irritated when he left, and worrying about Claire, he went straight to voicemail.
“This is Chris Redfield. Leave a message and I’ll try to get back to you.”
The moment the long beep was heard, he sighed, speaking into it.
“Hey Chris…I know you’re upset at me for not telling you, and I want to have a conversation whenever you’re willing to. I have to go investigate something, hopefully should be back by morning time. Sorry. I love you.” He muttered, hesitating because he wanted to say more—give him a location, detail-for-detail so that he wouldn’t worry about him—but ultimately decided to hang up the phone. Better to not worry him worse than he already was about Claire. It wasn’t long until Sherry called him, her voice coming through.
“Alright, I got an address from Andrew. Ready to go investigate?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be.” He said, grabbing the gear shift and putting it into drive, slamming his foot on the gas as his wheels spun out, before the car launched forward.
“Make sure to watch for pedestrians. Can’t afford any more casualties.”
“I assure you, nobody will run out in front of my car.”
“I don’t know Leon…they just might with it being a luxury car. Big pay out.” Sherry giggled, and Leon rolled his eyes.
“We’ll see. I’ll let you know if I have to push out any paychecks.”
Sherry laughed as he shifted gears to start reaching 6,000 RPM, and she snorted.
“Speeding already? It’s only 30 minutes away. Would hate for you to blow the transmission.”
“I think I can afford a new transmission. I’ll let you know when I get there.”
“Okay. Talk to you in the next 5 minutes.” She said before hanging up, and when he realized why she said that, he gripped the steering wheel with his gloved hand, chuckling.
“Right. Make it 3.” He mumbled to himself.