Z or El @imnotobsessedwfictionalchracters - Tumblr Blog

And All The Things That You Never Ever Told Me

Words: ~16.3k

Warnings: feelings of insecurities/not feeling good enough, talk of alcohol/alcohol consumption, lowkey mention of mommy issues at the VERY end, maybe ooc characters and probably bad writing

Resident Evil OC Masterlist Main Masterlist Can I Handle The Seasons of my Life? Masterlist

This also was written in an x-reader format on my account @youreobsessedwithtoomanyfandoms

Leon and Hunnigan might be OOC (as I suck at not being able to keep them from being OOC)

I also went on a deep dive for this chapter and found out the 9/11 literally fucking happened in the Resident Evil universe and found out so much information about that universes War on Terror as well as all of the other thing. I also learned some more facts about their presidents. Shout out the Resi Wiki Page!

Anyways, this is also posted onto my AO3 account s0m3kind0fmagic so you can check it out on there too!

Story title is from the song The Ghost of You by My Chemical Romance

Anywho, enjoy

Love Z <3

January 21 of 2009

Tiffany was going over the last of the information about her assignment with Hunnigan, set to leave in two hours. She had been dreading this since she found out she was leading a seven (six not including her) person hybrid team with the BSAA for an undisclosed amount of time in Northern Canada.

Each organization was sending three people (STRATCOM was actually sending four but she wasn’t counted in most of the line-ups). She knew two of the agents with her organization. She got along with Roberts, he was a few years older than her, a few younger than Leon, and they had trained together. She respected him and he respected her. She knew that there would be no issues with him having to answer her. The other one she knew was Stacey. Stacey was just over a decade older than her. He never approved that she was ranked higher than him, despite being so much younger and having started several years after. She knew it was misogyny, but she didn’t care too much about it, she was used to dealing with it. Misogyny and that he was one of the better agents until she came along and got immediately put as Leon’s permanent partner and got to save the President’s daughter with Leon. That being said, she knew he wouldn’t appreciate having to take orders from her. One, because she was young, two, because she was a girl, and three, because he thought he was better than everyone else.

As for the third and final STRATCOM agent, he was a rookie and she didn’t agree with him going on this mission. He was barely out of his training and had only been on one mission and everyone knew that the only reason it hadn’t gone sideways was because he had been partnered with an experienced agent. All she knew was that he was young (although a year older than her), inexperienced, but somehow good (for the most part) with a gun (but that was only far away). She was mad that he was being sent on this mission. She knew he would be a liability and that she would likely spend most of her time making sure he stayed alive.

Because like hell she wasn’t going to return with everyone from STRATCOM.

That being said, it wasn’t just STRATCOM sending a rookie, the BSAA were as well. When she got the list of the names that the BSAA were sending on the mission, she had contacted Chris, asking about each of them. He had told her that their rookie was a good kid, but agreed with her that it was reckless to send him on this mission. But he said that he would follow her command like a well-trained dog so she wouldn’t have to worry too much about him doing something that would get him killed (unless she told him what to do). But when it came to the other two BSAA agents, Chris had told her that they didn’t like listening to commands from anyone, as far as he knew, so getting them to listen to her was going to be a problem. He said that according to their records, while they didn’t listen to any of their male leaders on missions, they listened to them more than they ever did the females.

But even still, she was going to try to bring them back alive as well.

She also believed that the amount of personnel being sent was overkilled. Seven people being sent to an extremely small town past the Rockies out in Northern Canada, an area with little human inhabitants made no sense. A three or four person team, she could understand the logic, but not a seven-person. But they decided to send seven people out there to track down people who had gone missing before showing up dead after being infected with a strain of the T-Virus. Originally, it was just going to be a STRATCOM job, but the BSAA got involved after finding a base at some part of the Rockies (she thought it was somewhere between the U.S. and Canadian border) that was connected. The BSAA had recovered files from a Dr. Taylor Lewis, a former Umbrella scientist with their European branch, who had taken a plea deal to avoid jail time in 2006. She had been a member of one of the teams that were experimenting with the T-Virus before Umbrella “shut-down.” Now she was continuing her research in secluded areas in order to avoid detection.

Not that she was doing a good job at it since two separate organizations were able to figure out what she was doing.

But what Tiffany still didn’t understand was why this had to be a team up between the two organizations. They didn’t happen often because while they both dealt with bioterrorism, both organizations trained and led differently so team-ups rarely worked unless the agents knew one another. It also didn’t help that many members of both STRATCOM and the BSAA didn’t get along with one another. Sure, Tiffany and Leon (plus a handful of others) got along with Chris (as he was the BSAA’s golden boy) and a few other agents, otherwise, it was tense meetings and heads butting. So Tiffany wasn’t even sure how this team-up was going to pan out since Chris wasn’t even on the side for the BSAA as he was helping out with something else and couldn’t leave the country.

The only reason she had a small amount of hope that things would work out was because the BSAA sent two of their best agents (according to Chris after he was done listing their faults) and two of STRATCOMS (no matter how much it pained Tiffany to call Stacey a great agent) and herself.

But she already knew that the elder two BSAA agents were angry that she was leading the mission (and according to Hunnigan, higher ups at the BSAA were mad over it too). She knew that the only reason she might get any respect would be because the order for her to lead came from the President (afterall, that was who she answered to above everyone else). Of course, she was shocked that this new guy had made the order to put as leader, but she just assumed Graham had put in a good word for her. Either that or Vice President Benford told him to use her. Afterall, Benford knew her and Leon personally (she didn’t like him that well knowing he was part of the reason Leon got dragged into joining the “fight against bioterrorism” in ‘98).

Her mind drifted to Leon. She saw him maybe once in the past 20ish days since the break-up. Not that she had been avoiding him. He just hadn’t been in the office, on a solo assignment somewhere in Europe according to Hunnigan. He had been on the mission for exactly 17 days. Not that she had been keeping count, because she definitely hadn’t been. She was just good with math, good at counting and things.

Hunnigan closed the files and looked at Tiffany, “So, we have some time to spare before you have to head out and no one else is here, why don’t you tell me what the hell happened between you and Leon. Why did he put in a request to either go solo or receive a new partner? You scare him or something?” She heard the tease in Hunnigan’s voice. Tiffany knew that Hunnigan knew about her and Leon.

Tiffany sighed and picked up a blank sticky note that Hunnigan had had sitting on her desk, balling it up. “Honestly? I have no idea. Everything was going good, going great, and then suddenly it just...” She trailed off, unsure of what to say next. Well, not so much as unsure but as to what specific word to use.

“Wasn’t?”

She nodded at the word Hunnigan used, moved to lean against the desk, slightly sitting on the edge before tossing the balled up sticky note in the trash across from her. “Yeah. I don’t know what happened.”

She heard Hunnigan click her pen once, then twice. “Did someone find out?”

Tiffany cleared her throat, feigning innocence, “Find what out?” She glanced at the FOS Agent, who simply gave her a ‘don’t-lie-to-me’ look and Tiffany sighed again. “I knew that you knew. But genuinely? I don’t know. A few days before Christmas, we were training and he had knocked me down before pulling me back up. After he pulled me back up, I kissed him and used it as leverage, as a distraction to get him on the ground without realizing how tightly he was holding me so I fell down with him. It led to us making out. But we were the only ones in the training room! At that point we were hidden behind some equipment so we couldn’t be seen anyways. But at some point, we heard the door open and close, reminding us where we were, and that was that. We saw no one. Not in the room or the hall, Leon even said he was the only one in the locker room too.”

“What about cameras?”

Tiffany shook her head, “We were in one of the corners that isn’t covered by them, we’ve trained in that area since before we were together. Gives me the leverage to pass out without others seeing me if I can’t breathe.” She placed her head in her hand, “This wasn’t even the first time we did this, so I just don’t know why he pushed me away then pulled me in just to break up.” She grumbled, becoming annoyed over the situation again.

“That could be it then. Someone put two and two together and threatened to expose it.”

The slightly younger girl groaned and looked up at the dark ceiling of Hunnigan’s small office. “Why couldn’t he have just told me if that was the case? It’s not like I would have freaked out! Him doing what he did caused more damage anyways.” She looked back at Hunnigan and ran a hand through her hair, “Why is he even stuck in Europe by the way? The hell happened that led him there?”

Hunnigan shrugged, “His own mission. And I actually can’t tell you about it, since it’s a gray area on you two being partners.”

Tiffany nodded, understanding the questionable nature of them now. “Well...is he at least okay? It’s concerning that he’s been gone so long. Can you tell me that?”

“He called in yesterday saying everything was fine, he, however, said that he still wasn’t sure when he would return.” Hunnigan sighed, “That raised a flag of concern when he mentioned he wasn’t sure when he’d be able to call again.” She looked at Tiffany, “I told him that he has a week. After that he’s getting pulled out.”

“Doubt he took that well.”

“Actually, considering how he usually is, he took it surprisingly well.”

Tiffany raised a brow at that, but decided to not ask and went back to a previous topic, suddenly realizing what Hunnigan had said. “Back to that partner comment you made, what do you mean by ‘gray area’?”

“I just mean that his request hasn’t been confirmed yet.”

She nodded, trying to understand, “I just don’t get why he broke up with me and requested a new partner. All he had to do was one and I would have been just fine.” She laid her head back in her hand, “I honestly just wish there was a way that we could’ve stayed together and be partners. That would be my ideal situation.”

She heard Hunnigan make a noise before muttering: “I think, the keyword really is think, there might be a loophole.”

Tiffany perked up at that, “Whaddya mean?”

“Well I think there’s some rule that says you can stay partners in all ways if you meet certain requirements.” She shrugged, “I think I saw it once when I was looking through the handbook while you guys ghosted me when you dealt with that weird electronics guy.” Tiffany laughed at that comment, there were some people who would get infected and have the strangest powers afterwards. “But I can always look for you, it’ll give me something else to do than make sure my two favorite humans don’t die on different missions. Look up what you can do and maybe pull strings and keep his request from going through.”

Tiffany smiled softly, “Only if you want to, I think that I’ll be fine either way. Leon will do what Leon wants to do and I won’t stop him.”

“Whatever you say.” Hunnigan glanced at the clock on her computer before continuing, “Better let you get ready. Don’t want to keep the BSAA guys waiting.”

Tiffany rolled her eyes as she stood straight, “What can they do? The mission won’t start without me there.”

Hunnigan gave her a smile, “Yeah but considering we think that they already don’t want to respect you, don’t think you need to give them a reason to.” She sighed and stretched her arms, “But I’ll look that up for you and give you an update on what I find. Just as long as you don’t die before I get you an answer.”

Tiffany laughed, “I will never make the promise of not dying, not that much of an optimist.” She opened the door to leave, but before she exited she added, “And am I really your favorite?”

Hunnigan rolled her eyes, “Don’t let it go to your head.”

Tiffany sighed and skipped out of the door, “Too late!”

----

Tiffany stood in front of the other six agents, they had just landed and the helicopter was already leaving as she started to speak (or more so yell over the sounds of the frigid wind around them). “Listen, I know this situation sucks and I imagine how much you guys hate taking orders from a 23-year-old, but there isn’t anything that I can do about it so you better just shut up and listen. Our goal is to find and apprehend Dr. Taylor Lewis and stop her from spreading another virus. Keep what has happened in different cities in different countries around the world from happening again. You will do as I say or you will be left out in the fucking cold and use you as bait. I do not care. My mission is to do what I am told and to make sure you guys come back with me alive and with minimal injuries, am I understood?”

Roberts and the two rookies yelled out a “Yes ma’am” and she looked at Stacey and the other two BSAA agents. Waiting for them to acknowledge what she said.

“Listen here you three motherfuckers, I know you have no respect for me. But let me remind you that the fucking President was who chose me to lead this mission so clearly I have more experience in these situations than you three.”

“Or you’re just screwing STRATCOM’s golden boy.”

She looked at Stacey, “I meant it when I said Stacey. I will use you as bait in this cold. So I repeat the question, am I understood?” The two BSAA agents nodded and Stacey just stood there. She let out a breath before pulling out her PDA, “Our base of operations is essentially supposed to be a small shack around half a mile from here. There should be snow mobiles there for us to use to get around. But we need to head out now to beat this cold that’s coming in as the sun goes down.”

--------

February 18 of 2009

They had been out there for almost a month now and Tiffany was slowly feeling like it was never going to end and trying to capture Dr. Lewis was hopeless. The seven person team had already fallen to four. All that was left were the two rookies, Stacey, and her. The BSAA agents and Roberts died in an ambush that they had assumed Lewis had sent as it had been a mix of infected and B.O.W. 's that they had confirmed were infected with a version of the T-Virus. She felt bad for the rookie from the BSAA but she wouldn’t put him down in a situation like that, he was the main reason that they had made it out alive in the first place. His quick thinking kept them dying. That and the fact that he actually followed directions when they were given to him.

She shuddered, pulling the parka closer around her body and flexing her hands the best she could while holding her rifle so they didn't freeze in place. Even though as each day passed, more light was available, it wasn’t enough difference to get rid of the temperatures staying way below zero and the windchill alone leaving someone as an icicle. The only saving grace was when they were back at the small shack that was their base. It didn’t have heating but it had enough wood for them to start a fire to keep from freezing.

She breathed, looking through the scope again, searching for heat signatures anywhere in the small town she was above. Four fucking weeks and there was nothing. Four weeks of freezing their asses off with the only proof that Lewis was even there were from a few drone photos they had gotten and that ambush three weeks ago. So between that and the fact that Hunnigan had warned them of an incoming snow-storm, she hoped that they’d either capture the doctor within the next 48 hours or they’d call this off and bring them home. There was no way that they’d survive the storm with the little resources that they had left.

She was honestly just sure that the main reason they hadn’t been pulled out was because there was no proof that anyone was even in the town when they should be. Each time that she or any of the other agents staked out, they found nothing. No heat signatures, no one out and living. It had made no sense as it was considered a busy town with the laboratory in the middle, providing people with jobs.

She pulled from the scope to check her watch, it was just past 1 pm, she knew she had to start heading back to base soon since the sun was setting. Stacey and the STRATCOM rookie were set to do the night stake out. But she wanted to check one last time, just make sure that there was no proof of life. She moved closer to the east, it was darker over there, more cover to hide. She zoomed in and made sure her hand stayed steady in order to focus as she saw faint markings of heat signatures. She had to make sure that it was human and not another animal like it had been in the past. Once her hand steadied, she let out a short breath, noting three bodies exiting a building. She switched out of heat vision but it was still too far away to make out the faces.

She pulled her eye away from the scope and looked around, there was a rock formation about three yards from her that she thought might make it easier for her to make out who it was. She grabbed her gun and ran over, carefully climbing up before laying again. She found where she had been looking and zoomed again. One of the people was Dr. Lewis, she recognized the face from the hundreds of photos she had seen of the woman. She couldn’t recognize the other person, she assumed that they were another scientist or a doctor of some type but the third one she recognized. She wasn’t sure from where, she thought maybe a file or something, but she knew she had seen that disgusting Frankenstein-isc face before. She watched as they pulled people into a smaller building outside of the lab that she just assumed connected to the larger building (that she was sure had a basement area and was a million times larger than it appeared).

Tiffany grabbed her binoculars out and started to use them instead of the scope so she could grab her walkie from her side pocket and pressed the button to call for the team. “Come in Dream Team, this is Acolyte One. Over.” The original team name given by the BSAA and STRATCOM was “Snow Team” and everyone (outside of Stacey, of course) had hated it. One of the BSAA agents had suggested another name, she couldn’t remember what it was but she remembered it had their rookie saying “Dream Team” and it had stuck. That then led to Roberts jokingly calling them “Acolytes” which they had all also ironically liked, leading to them becoming the “Dream Team” and “Acolyte 1-7.”

Of course, when speaking to Hunnigan, she still defaulted to Condor Two. It had been her codename for four, going on five years at this point and was hard to not say when talking to her FOS agent.

She rolled her eyes as Stacey responded, “This is Flake Two. Flakes Six and Seven are with me. What do you need? Over.”

She kept her eye on the three as she spoke, “Lewis and two men are outside of a building near the lab. Around three clicks from my location. They’re talking and bringing people who don’t look infected into the lab for some reason. Over.”

“What do you want us to do, Flake One? Over.”

“This is proof that Lewis is here. We can move the actual plan into motion. You three start to head out, meet me just outside the town and we’ll move in together. Do not under any circumstance start anything unless you absolutely have to. Tell me when you’re a click out and I’ll head over then, before that I’ll keep an eye on Lewis. Am I understood? Over.”

“Is that a direct order, Flake One? Over.”

She breathed out, trying not to scream as she heard the annoyance in Stacey’s voice. She knew he would be a problem and he had been, the entire time. Not even the BSAA agents treated her this way. She just wished that he could get his head out of his fucking ass and do his damn job and listen to her without an argument.

“Yes, Flake Two. This is an order. Now am I understood from everyone? Acolyte Six and Seven, you hear me? Over.” She heard the two rookies saying they understood and after a moment, Stacey did as well. She nodded to herself, “Good. I’ll contact HQ, you three head out. This is Acolyte One over and out.”

She reclipped the talkie and grabbed the device that only went out to Hunnigan. She looked back in her binoculars and cursed as she saw Lewis and the two men leaving the small building. She pulled the binoculars from her face, clipping the back and swung the rifle over her shoulder, moving to climb down the icy mountain she was on. There was a small path she could take, she had noticed it the previous week when scouting this place out.

She placed the earpiece that connected to the device for Hunnigan, pressed the button that called her agent and waited to hear the barely older girl's voice in her ear. “Hunnigan, Condor One is with me.”

She glanced down at the screen that showed her sort-of friend. She didn’t see Leon completely, but she saw his bicep in the corner of the frame. She held back a comment and nodded as she jumped around two feet down onto the icy snow in the back corner of the town. “Okay, I located Lewis. The rest of the team is meeting me at the small wooden gate that welcomes you in, then we’re gonna put the plan into motion.”

She muttered a curse as she saw a group of infected that she hadn’t noticed before stumbling around before she ducked behind a building. She barely heard Hunnigan acknowledge her as she walked around, cursing again as she saw a group of men who looked like they were military. How the hell had she missed this many people?

“Condor Two?”

She glanced down at the screen before angling it so Hunnigan could see her position without the device being seen. She pulled it back and mouthed that she couldn’t say anything before grabbing her Lightning Hawk from her side clip, checking how many bullets she had in there. It had a full seven rounds and she knew she had at least three more full clips in the pack on her thigh.

“I’ll update the brass on your situation.”

She nodded, and thought that she heard the line go dead as she snuck back over to a window that she had passed. She stuffed the device in its clip before carefully pushing the window up and open, silently celebrating it being unlocked as she climbed inside. It was a two-story, so she climbed up the stairs, trying not to make a sound. It was empty, as far as she could tell, but she still didn’t want to risk anything happening. When she made it to the second floor, she carefully snuck over to a window in the front, lifting it open as well and looked out.

There were about five military men that she could see, she could only imagine the amount that she couldn’t, and maybe ten infected all spread about. She watched as the infected just...stood there doing nothing and the military men looked around. Neither were attacking the other and she began to wonder if this was a plaga, not the T-Virus. If they had been wrong about what Lewis was using the entire time. She was about to pull her gun out to shoot the men when two of them looked exactly where she was and she had to quickly duck down. She let out a breath, sure that she wasn’t seen, trying to stay calm until there was a loud squawk that came from her walkie-talkie. She cursed as she heard one of the rookies' voices yelling mayday. She scrambled to grab it and turn the sound down, cursing to herself that she must have bumped the sound, but she knew it was too late.

Bullets already started to spray into the house she was in as she tried to listen to what the kid was saying. After a quick second, it finally registered what he was freaking about. He and the other two had been ambushed. She closed her eyes for a brief moment as she realized this had been a set-up. They knew she had been watching. They knew she had sent for them. They knew she had been in this building since she jumped in. The kid's screams didn’t set them off. They already knew.

It was as she heard the front door of the building being busted down that she finally realized why she had recognized the Frankenstein guy. He was the one who somehow could control electronics, hear radio chatter from hundreds of miles away. He had heard her and he had manipulated the sound on her talkie to be that loud. That was their go-sign. She and Leon had dealt with him on their last real-mission. They had gotten separated for three days because of him.

She tossed a grenade down on the men coming in before throwing the talkie on the ground and shooting it. She grabbed her machine from her side and made sure it was loaded before aiming it down at the stairs, waiting for someone to come up them.

She was so distracted by that and by the fear and guilt she was feeling over the fact that the rest of the team were going to die because she didn’t realize who was in front of her. Three people would be dead because of her. Because she was too stupid to recognize someone. She had been so distracted by those things that she didn’t hear the sound of something climbing inside behind her.

She screamed as she felt something grab her. She mindlessly grabbed behind her, feeling the frozen and decayed skin on her hands and flipped them over her. She pulled her magnum from her thigh and shot the thing in its head. She moved to look out the window and cursed as she saw a literal fucking hoard making its way towards her. She knew she didn’t have much time but she grabbed everything electronic from her and smashed it on the ground, not even noticing that Hunnigan and Leon had still been on the other side of the call, never disconnected until she shot it making sure it was dead.

She knew that she wasn’t thinking clearly as she ran (well more so jumped since there was a hole in the middle) down the stairs and ran out of the house she was in. She didn’t think as she just blindly used her machine gun on the hoard of infected around her, trying to figure out what the hell that she was going to do. The only device she had now was one that only emitted a quick signal for less than a second in order to give Hunnigan an update on her location. She had to figure out how to get around this hoard and to the lab and to find Lewis and bring her in.

“Why can’t we all just be friends?” She muttered as she heard some weird mutated B.O.W. scream out.

She narrowly dodged something that had been thrown at her as she ran out, trying not to have an asthma attack. This would be the worst time for her to have one. But she knew she had to get out of here. Get out of this situation and get somewhere semi-safe.

She ran into a building that looked like it was a cafe of some kind, locking the door behind her. She let out a heavy breath before stumbling back as the ceiling fell down and as the smoke and debris cleared she muttered (no she actually yelled) “What the fuck?!” Before unloading every bullet left in the mag of her machine gun on it. She tried to reload when it grabbed her and threw her through the wall. She groaned as she tried to stand, knowing just from the impact that her back was fucked and she had a concussion. She swayed as she stood tall, switching the machine gun to her shotgun, trying her best to aim it at the monster's head. By the fourth shot, it finally fell and she only let out a short breath before getting knocked again.

Her vision spun as she tried to stop whatever and whoever it was on top of her. But all that she could really do was basically flail her arms around, trying to shove them off her. She felt something cut her hand and it was just as her vision cleared that she saw the large dagger in the B.O.W. that had yelled before. She wasn’t sure what had happened when she saw it but she just laid there, suddenly motionless and everything went in slow motion. She watched as the monster stabbed into her sternum, jaggedly pulling down, slicing it open. She laid there motionless as she faintly heard a whistle blow and the B.O.W. threw the dagger and ran.

She laid there as she slowly (or was it quickly? She didn’t know) bled out on the snow. As she realized that there was a good chance that she wasn’t gonna make it out of here alive. That she was going to die in Northern Canada and that her siblings would have to bury her. She wondered if STRATCOM would extract her body once they knew she was dead or if they would leave her here to stay. Would they make her siblings greet her in a body bag or make them give her a funeral with an empty casket. As she thought about it, it wouldn’t be her siblings who greeted her if they did get her body. It would be Leon. If Hunnigan had been able to continue doing what she had been doing, then Leon was still her partner. It was common practice at their job that partners greeted the dead body. That they confirmed it before it was sent to the family to confirm again. She hated the idea of him having to confirm her body even. Hated the thought of him having to tell her siblings she was dead. Both of them had to do it for other agents enough times that she knew how much it killed him.

She could only imagine how hard it would be for him to do it to someone he had cared about.

It was as those thoughts faded that she began to realize how much she was bleeding. That she realized that she was still alive. That there was still a chance she could get out alive. She carefully pushed herself up, screaming in pain as she felt the cold air against her open skin. She gingerly pulled herself over to a nearby wall, laying against it as she pulled off the parka and the two layers under. All she had on was her compression shirt and as she looked down, she saw how large the dagger had gone. She knew if it hadn’t been for the layers, it would have gone through and killed her. She breathed shakily, trying to ignore the freezing air around her as she pulled the bandages from a pocket. There weren’t many but it was all she had. She had no herbs, no spray, no injector. Nothing to help. Nothing to numb the pain. She tried to pull the bandages around her body, to stop the bleeding, pull everything as tight as she could but it was hard.

Tears streamed down her face, heating it up from the cold as she pulled the final time, making sure it was tight enough that it would last a few days before she finally stood. She only grabbed the parka and tried her best to put it back on with her rifle and shotgun before she stumbled, falling against the wall again. She breathed shakily, she had to make it to the lab. That’s all that she had to do. She would force someone there to help her then kill them. She didn’t care. All that she had to do was survive this and make it home.

She stumbled, occasionally falling down or against a wall as she made her way through the once-again deserted town. The thought of where they went crossed her mind. The prayer that it would just be like this the whole time as she slowly stumbled through the fence and into the lab. She breathed heavily as Leon’s words from 2004 crossed her mind as she mumbled out:

“Maybe that was the whistle signalling bingo or chess time.”

----

Leon’s POV

The only reason Leon had been in the room with Hunnigan was because they were going over his report for the assignment he had just gotten back from. He had tried to ignore Hunnigan as she was on call with Tiffany, it wasn’t in his right to know what was happening on her own mission, not anymore at least. He had to remind himself that he really had no right to be concerned over her even as he could hear what was happening through Hunnigan’s earpiece with audio loud enough to be audible to even him.

He only moved his attention to the screen when he saw it go dark and hadn’t heard Hunnigan sign off.

He looked between the FOS agent and the computer, watching as she frantically started typing something. “What’s going on? Why did it go dark?” Ignoring the fear he heard in his own voice. Ignoring the small crack he heard.

“I don’t know. I was about to check on her when she threw the device on the ground and shot it. I think that both she and the members of her team were--” She looked up at him, “I cannot be telling you this Leon.”

He closed his eyes, he knew that she was right. He had no reason to know anything about Tiffany or the situation she was in. He had broken up with her. He had put in the request to switch partners (which he was shocked when he learned it hadn’t been approved yet). He was the reason that they likely wouldn’t even be friends again. Not that he would blame her if that was the case. He wouldn’t want to be friends with someone he treated her the way that he did.

But he couldn’t help but be worried. He had heard whispers when he had returned. People said that three members of her team were dead. He knew how it would affect her, but he also knew he wasn’t allowed to care, no matter how much he wanted to. But he didn’t stop him. He knew it never would. He just wished that she knew he really didn’t mean to hurt her like he did. Didn’t mean to break her heart then disappear for over a month. He had no idea he would be sent on a mission, let alone one that long. If he had known, he would have broken up with her sooner, not led her on or even not done it at all (but he wasn’t sure if that second one would have been a good idea). If he was an honest guy, which he knew he wasn’t, he would have done it sooner than he did. Actually, if he was honest, he would have told her the truth and they would have worked something out together.

No. Instead he led her on, made her think he cared (which he did), then broke up with her and disappeared. All when his plan was to break up, not do or say anything for a week, then explain to her. Pray that she’d forgive him. Pray everything would blow over. Pray that the request didn’t go through. He’d hoped that she’d still trust him (he knew she wouldn’t, not really).

But he had gotten called on an assignment and didn’t have time to tell her anything.

He knew from the missed calls from Claire and the voicemails that were with them that he had left Tiffany confused. That she thought that she had done something. That somehow Ada was involved. He hated the idea that she thought that Ada compared to her. But he also knew that he never did enough to prove otherwise. He could never let that woman go for some reason.

And then when he had returned, before he was even able to give Hunnigan his report for her to add her notes, she went off on him. Told him similar things to Claire. Called him inconsiderate, among other things. But also told him that she was working on something to help them.

He hated all of this. Hated that his first instinct was to lie. Was to run and hide. To allow her to think someone from his past that had a habit of turning up these last four years had weaseled their way in to make him break up with her. It had nothing to do with Tiffany, not really. Stacey had seen them. Apparently he had snuck into the training room, he knew that they were in there. He had taken a photo of Leon and Tiffany kissing, they hadn’t been as concealed as they had thought. He had purposefully closed the door loudly on purpose to startle them. Stacey had approached Leon in the locker room and threatened to out their relationship if he got passed up for a mission because of Tiffany again. And Leon wasn’t an idiot. He knew that Stacey would get passed up and that he would tell on them. Get them both in trouble. Likely get them suspended, even likely getting Tiffany fired or transferred to another branch. He wasn’t an idiot. He knew how she was treated and knew she would receive a worse punishment that he would.

He tried telling himself that he had done all of this for Tiffany’s sake, but he knew it was selfishly because he didn’t want to get in trouble. If it had been for her, he would have told her. Would have told her they needed to pretend they weren’t together. Take step after step to make sure no one would suspect they were together (he knew people were, anyways). He should have just been a grown adult and told her the truth. He knew she could have handled it.

He just couldn’t help that he was scared. Scared that even if they did everything they could to make people, make their superiors, believe that whatever Stacey said was false, that the picture was faked or the angle didn’t give the whole picture, that she would still get in trouble. He knew that the people who were between them and the President wanted her gone, even though they had been the ones to put them in this partnership.

He knew that everything they did to Tiffany was some type of humiliation ritual. That they thought one day she’d call it quits because she was a girl. He knew what they thought. He had heard them. It was why he made sure everyone knew when she saved his life, when she was the hero, not him. He always made sure that she looked better than him.

Leon thought back to New Years as Hunnigan tried to somehow get in contact with anyone that could tell her what was happening. He had been doing good, keeping his distance (he wondered if he had been doing it to make her break up with him instead), but he let the alcohol in his body control his actions. He allowed himself to kiss her. To try and make her feel better. Just to likely make her feel how he did with Ada sometimes. Confused on why they were led on and got hurt again.

He knew that he shouldn’t have treated her in a way that would make her feel like a used doll later on.

“I can’t find her. Something happened that made her go dark.”

He sighed, “Did she get any footage of Lewis?”

Hunnigan shook her head slightly, “Not as far as I know. She only said that she made contact.”

“Did she say that anyone else was with the doctor?”

She shook her head again, “No and Leon, I really can’t talk to you about this case.”

He breathed, “I don’t give a damn, Indgrid. This is Tiffany that we’re both fucking talking about. She wouldn’t go dark for just no reason. She knows better than to do that.”

She sighed, “I know, but--”

“Lie and say that I was consulting. Or tell the truth and I forced you. I’ll defend you. That won’t come down on you as hard. We both know this.”

She didn’t say anything and went back to typing something on her computer. He looked and saw that she was trying to get access to Tiffany’s camera that connected to binoculars. He started picking at the calluses on his hand. A nervous tick that he had had for years, even when he was a kid. That and holding his nails into the palms of his hands until they bled. Tiffany had noticed it when they were in Spain, it was at some point when Saddler had taken control of Ashley and she ran. She hadn’t said anything until they got back. Actually, it wasn’t until they were at the gala Graham had thrown for the two of them for bringing Ashley home. He had been doing it there, he had always hated events where all attention was on him like that. He remembered her bringing it up, taking his hand in hers to get him to stop. After that she always did when she saw him doing that.

He breathed, trying to imagine feeling her hands in his, trying to imagine her there and calming him down. The small things that she did that always helped him. Always grounded him. Small actions that had major results. But it didn’t work and he knew that he created a small scab as he grabbed a blank sticky note from Hunnigan’s desk. Folding it and unfolding it, focusing on anything but Hunnigan as she said Tiffany had broken her tracking device.

He tried to think of anything else. He knew he should have walked out of the room. Hunnigan was right. He had no business knowing what was happening with Tiffany and her team. The only thing he had the right to question at this moment was if he would have to confirm her body if she did die. If the system still saw them as partners, that was his job. His job was to go with the evac team when they would try and get the body and confirm if it was her or not before they sent her family the news.

Maybe that was why he closed his eyes tightly, trying not to cry about that. He couldn’t afford to think about it. Even as Hunnigan was on call with someone above them both. “Sir, are you telling me to assume that Agent Miller and the remaining members of her team are dead?” He hated it. Hated that that was the plan likely. Assume she’s dead because she went dark. Because of everything that happened before she went dark. He held his breath and looked up as Hunnigan continued: “Yes sir, of course. I will watch out and see if she pings and will inform Agent Kennedy of the situation.”

He looked over at Hunnigan, waiting until he knew no one else would hear when he asked: “Inform me of what?”

Hunnigan turned to look at him, “They said that she might have kept her PLB and to watch for the next 48 hours for her to ping a location. If she fails to do so, you will be deployed to finish the mission once the weather clears, they think that will be 96 to 120 hours from now. If that happens and you come into contact with her, call an evac for her immediately but...”

Hunnigan faded and Leon knew why. He knew what they told her he would have to do, but he had to hear it. “But what?” His voice wavered, he knew she heard it.

He watched as she breathed, he saw her body shake a small bit as she did. “But if she has been bitten or is possibly infected, you must shoot and kill her.”

He looked away from Hunnigan. Both of them knew that Leon wouldn’t be able to do it. That he would rather have her be infected and kill him than him having to put a bullet in her head. All romantic feelings aside, they had been partners, been friends, for four years now. She was part of the reason he made it out of Spain alive, the combined forces of Ashley and her making sure he got cured, and even from Ada helping them get out. He’d be dead. There were other missions where he would’ve been dead if she hadn’t been hanging from a tree or the rafters, killing whatever was after him.

He wouldn’t be able to do it. He’d rather get in trouble for desertion or for failing to comply than kill her.

“Leon? Do you understand?”

He looked at Hunnigan with a blank expression before nodding. He breathed out with a tight chest and muttered, “We can finish the report review tomorrow.” As he walked out of the small office that held the FOS agent.

He couldn’t breathe. He felt like his lungs were collapsing and his stomach was doing summersaults. He knew he was having a panic attack as he ran through the halls, as he ran down the stairs. He saw the looks people flashed at him as he ran past them. He knew that all of them were seeing past his facade. Past the image he had made of himself that this job didn’t affect him like it did others. That each mission slid off of his back. Each death didn’t affect him when it did. Fuck. It always did. For the first time Leon didn’t care if people thought he was soft. If he wasn’t made for this job.

He was just told that if the worst happens, that he would have to kill the woman he loved. The woman that he actually had thought of marrying. The woman he had bought a ring for a few months ago because he was going to do it before everything happened.

As he shoved open the side door that opened into an alley next to the building, Leon put his hands on his knees and leaned forward. The cold February air stung his burning skin. Gave him a reminder that this was real and wasn’t a fucked up nightmare like it had been before. He dry heaved, trying to either catch his breath or vomit, he wasn’t sure which at this point. He couldn’t do it. He wouldn’t do it. He loved her. He loved Tiffany with everything that he had and not once had he thought of what he’d do if he lost her.

Of course...he had lost her. He lost her 47 days ago. Almost seven weeks. A month and 16 days. All because he had been too stupid to tell her the truth.

But he couldn’t lose her forever. He couldn’t lose her and be the one to lay the bullet. He could do it for anyone else, even Claire, but not Tiffany.

He looked up at the sky, cursing God. He was raised Catholic but hadn’t been to mass or to church since before Raccoon City. He couldn’t do it. Couldn’t bare to go into a place where people worshipped a man who allowed innocent people to die every fucking day. Allow the people who caused those deaths to go on without punishment, not real punishment anyways. But even as he looked up, he prayed, something he hadn’t done in the same amount of time.

He prayed to God that she would be alive. That they would get a ping from her. Get something saying she was alive. Prayed that she would come out alive and clean. That when he would get sent (he knew he would, he knew their superiors didn’t trust her to do her damn job), that she would be fine and he would bring her back. That he’d be selfish and apologize. That he’d atone for his mistake.

Prayed that if anything had happened to her, that she would be dead when he got there.

Even though he wouldn’t be able to live with himself over breaking her heart before she died, he’d rather her already be dead than him doing it.

But if she was dead, he wasn’t sure if he wouldn’t finally bite the bullet and follow after her.

--------

February 28 of 2009

Ten days had passed since Tiffany had first gone dark. She had pinged her location 36 hours after, 12 hours before Leon would be sent. She was inside of the lab, and had been for the past eight or nine days. They didn’t know how she was doing, where she was in there, the PLB didn’t have the ability to give exactly where she was on the building but they were able to deduce a general area based on where the ping showed. They knew when she was in the basement or a side building versus the main, it was mostly that they had no clue if she was on the roof, ground floor, or one of the other 20.

Leon usually wasn’t sitting with Hunnigan, but they were getting closer to being 48 hours since her last ping and once they hit that threshold, he was going after her. Was going to find her, finish the mission, and bring her home.

If he wanted to be honest, he’d admit that he had wanted to be sent out several days ago. They didn’t have proof that the person using the PLB was even her. And of course he was telling himself that she was alright, that it was her using the PLB. That Lewis or someone else wasn’t using it, pretending to be her.

And it was just as he was about to leave the room, grab his bag to leave, that Hunnigan’s screen lit up and she looked at him. It was Tiffany. Pinging that she was alive. And a breath that he had been unknowingly holding in went out, although a new level of fear hit him like a truck.

“Hey Leon?”

His hand was still on the door when Hunnigan called his name. He looked over to her, “What?”

“You know how I told you I was searching for a way to help you and Tiffany?” He nodded, “There’s a section in the handbook that essentially says two members can be together and be partners if they are currently married or engaged.”

He gave her a look, “So...if we were engaged...then even if Stacey blabs about seeing us, it wouldn’t mean anything?”

She nodded, “Now...I don’t know if Tiffany will accept it, but I told her I would find something and I did.”

Leon nodded, offering a small smile. “Thank you, Ingrid.”

She nodded and turned back to her computer and he left the office. Being engaged and eventually married to Tiffany didn’t sound too bad. He knew that if he would get married, it would be with someone who knew the job. They hadn’t talked about marriage, though, just a small conversation that she didn’t want to end up like her parents. That was it. But he had a ring. He had thought about it, before Christmas. Thought about proposing, but he had wanted to talk to her about it first, see if she even would entertain the idea of getting married.

But now he wondered if she would so they could be together. But he also wondered if she even loved him enough to marry him. He knew that there was a lot that went into marriage, it was why he never really entertained the idea of it before. Most people don’t understand that he can’t really control certain things with their job. Most women expected to eventually have children and he wasn’t sure if he could do that.

When he was younger, before Raccoon City, he had wanted to get married and have kids one day. Be better than his parents were. But since that day, he never did (well...deep down he did want children, but he knew that it would be hard, especially if it happened with someone who didn’t know what he did). He had only started wondering again in 2006, when he and Tiffany officially got together. Actually, he had technically started before that as when he would allow himself to think of the future, she was always there.

It was weird. He never thought that he’d have someone that he couldn’t imagine himself without, but here came Tiffany, becoming that person. He found himself looking for her in rooms, even if she wouldn’t be there. Found himself going to her for comfort when he used to just rely on himself (even though he didn’t tell her most things that he felt). She was becoming the one person he searched for and couldn’t wait to see when he woke up each morning.

But then, if he really believed that she was his person, why did he lie and hurt her?

--------

March 2 of 2009

Leon looked out at the snow packed mountains as he was being flown to a mile outside of where the town was. The bright white reflecting the sun burned his eyes, but he ignored the feeling. It had barely been past four in the morning when he was woken up by Hunnigan telling him that he had to go. Get in the helicopter and fly out to somewhere past the Rockies in Northern Canada. Take the nearly six hour ride to finish the job and get Tiffany back. Although, Hunnigan had said that she was told that they shouldn’t hold any hope that Tiffany would be alive. It had been nearly three days since she had last given any indication that she was alive (actually, Leon was pretty sure that it had passed the 72 hour mark now). They believed that because of this, they shouldn’t hold out hope that Tiffany was even alive. Between the freezing conditions (even though she was likely inside) and the fact that she had been out there without any resources for over a month made them believe she was probably dead now.

But Leon didn’t want to listen to that. Listen that she could possibly be dead. He knew Tiffany. She was resourceful. She’d find a way to survive. Just because she didn’t give an update on her location for 72 hours, it didn’t mean she was dead.

He glanced over at the pilot as they said they were at the location and he would have to climb out. He held back an eye roll as he opened the door, the sound of the helicopter blades in the air were loud in his ears. He barely heard them say that they would stay in the area for two hours, after that they’d have to refuel and come back. He just climbed down the ladder that had been kicked out, jumping the foot or two that was left when the rope with bars ended.

He glanced down at his GPS as the helicopter flew away. He had to head north around a click and a half to make it to the small shack that Tiffany and her team had been staying in. Check for the bodies of Stacey and the two rookies, send Hunnigan a message if the bodies were there, then look if there was any evidence left behind. Of course, he knew that there would be no evidence, not any that wouldn’t have been planted there for him to find. And he was sure that he wouldn’t even find the bodies of the three agents. They’d either be covered in snow or something else. Honestly, he was sure that the only reason they were having him check the area out was because there could be a possibility Tiffany had traveled back there and was waiting, not to find evidence or bodies.

But even with that, he still was thankful when he saw the small shack not far. The wind was cold against his barely visible face. He might have been covered head to toe in multiple layers, but the frigid air around him still seeped through and was making him feel as though his bones were freezing where they were, even as he moved.

He had to shove the door open multiple times before it fell in. He looked at the frame and saw that the wooden door had been frozen shut. He looked through the small area, seeing the seven cots all around the room. No bodies and the only papers he saw were ones covered in writing from someone from the team. He folded each of them and shoved them in his pocket. There was no sign that someone had been there in weeks, the frozen door aside. He went back outside and looked around, finding three snow-mobiles left in the back. He stopped as he heard a weird crunch under his foot and leaned down to move the snow away. There was a hand, almost like from the Corpse Bride as it held a set of keys in its hand. He carefully took them and read the words on them, registering them as the keys to one of the snow-mobiles, he assumed the one that was right next to him.

The headphone was already in his ear, and had been since in the helicopter, as he pulled out the small phone-like device to call Hunnigan. He heard the crackle of the line going live and he looked down; “No evidence anyone has been here since the other three agents were killed.”

“No evidence of Condor Two being there?”

Leon shook his head, “No.” He looked down at the keys in his hand, “Was about to head to the town and lab. If she isn’t here then she has to be there.”

“Understood, last time we got something, it showed she was where the lab was.” Hunnigan fell silent for a second before continuing, “Do you want me to have the evac prepared to take on a medical emergency?”

Leon sighed as he swung his leg over the small ski, he hated the feeling that had been setting in his stomach. “Yeah. I doubt it’ll take me less than two hours anyways. Tell them to come back with medical equipment. I don’t know what happened but if it led to her going dark and now has led to her not giving us an update on her location; I think we need to be prepared.”

“Understood. Anything else?”

“No. Condor One, signing off.”

He shoved the device in one of his pockets before putting the key in the ignition and starting the vehicle. He breathed out through his nose, he had actually never driven a snow-mobile before but he owned a motorcycle and had driven a jet-ski with someone else with him and it hadn’t been that difficult. And besides, snow-mobiles were just jet-ski’s for snow, it wouldn’t be too difficult. He kicked off and slowly gained speed as he made his way towards his next set of coordinates. The area that she had smashed her tracker.

It was a small house, the front door was smashed in. He turned off the snow-mobile and walked inside, his hand resting on his gun, ready to pull it out and use it if necessary. He saw several dead at the base of the stairs and then a large hole in the middle of them, he was sure it was from Tiffany throwing a grenade or something. That was always something she did. Get a bunch in a group then toss them a grenade (which, he wouldn’t lie, it was a good tactic from her). Gunshots littered the walls. He studied the distance quickly and determined he could likely just be able to step over it.

He made his way up the stairs, stepping largely over the area that was missing and looked for her smashed device. It was right next to a banister, both the device she used to call Hunnigan and her tracker. He saw the zombie next to it, its head blown off. He looked around the house more, trying to see if she had left anything explaining but he found nothing. Nothing but gunshot holes littering all around like it had downstairs. He exited the same way he came in and went to canvas the area.

There was nothing out. No monsters, no infected, no normal people. Nothing. It looked as if it was an abandoned ghost town. He sighed trying to figure out what was going on as he was stopped in tracks. The back of the building he was next to had been destroyed, as if someone had been thrown through the wall. He looked to where the bricks were and saw clothing next to it. He walked over and picked up the frozen fabric. He saw the almost invisible logo on the bottom corner. STRATCOM’s logo. This had been Tiffany’s. He saw the gash through the front, saw that the navy blue was tinted around it. Tinted how the color turned when it came into contact with blood.

He sucked in a breath as he realized that she was injured and that by the way the shirt looked, it was bad. He breathed out shakily, thankful he told Hunnigan to have the evac team to be prepared for a medical emergency.

He sat the shirt back down and walked back around the building, looking east, towards the lab. It was about half a mile away and he saw the fence around it, and knew he could easily scale it. There was no barbed wire; all he had to be worried about was it being electrified.

He grabbed a piece of the broken wall before moving as fast as he could towards the fenced building. When he was around a yard away, he threw the brick and breathed out, thankful that the fence was just a fence. No electricity on it, or at least it wasn’t on.

He ran up and grabbed the links, pulling himself up before vaulting over. He groaned as his knees hit the ground, but didn’t let the moment of pain distract him from the mission at hand. He looked around and saw that there were a few groups of infected around but they were just standing there. It was weird. It wasn’t like the infected would do before. Especially as he had unknowingly jumped down right next to one of the groups. There was no reaction, almost as if they had no idea that he was there.

It took it as a sign and quickly made his way towards the door, pulling it open with more force than he should have. The inside of the lab was similar to other Umbrella labs he had been in before. Bright and blinding white with red and black accents. Which was funny to him as this lab never belonged to Umbrella. It belonged to a man named Frank Langdon.

He creeped through the building, he remembered the ping showed she was on the south-most side of the lab. He went through each floor in that area, trying to find her, at some point pulling his jacket off as it was hot in the building. The only proof that she had been through the area were the dead all around. Was the fact that he hadn’t come into contact with a single thing that was infected the entire time he was in the building, well, not one that was still alive.

That gave him hope that it had been her and that she was okay.

He pushed open the door to a room on the tenth floor that had been labeled security. The light was off and he turned on his flashlight instead of flicking the switching. It was like the rest of the building, white with red and black accents. He cleared the room, opening each locker and cabinet to make sure nothing was hiding before he walked over to the wall filled with cameras. There was one computer in the middle of it all.

He looked through all of the screens, trying to find the movement of anyone. All he saw were cameras showing the dead on the ground. Showed no one moving. That was until he found one labeled “CAM201.” He looked at the computer and typed that number in, clicking it. It pulled up on the computer and he saw someone stumbling through the hall, he looked up and saw that 205 showed the same hall and would show the person's face. He looked back and pulled up 205.

He let out a breath of relief when he saw who it was, but the relief faded as he saw how she looked. Her hair was down and it was obvious that it was sticking to her skin. He saw that all she was in was her compression shirt. He saw the bandages shoddily wrapped around her middle. All she had was her magnum. Her handgun. He knew she wouldn’t make it longer, especially as she stumbled to the ground. He moved the mouse around, trying to find where she was, eventually finding that she was still on the south side, eight more floors up. He looked at everywhere that the hallway led and all that it led to one door that looked like it led to nothing. At least it led to nothing on paper.

He pulled out his device as he quickly made his way out of the room and back towards the staircase. The crinkle of the line going live barely echoed in his ear when he started to frantically speak: “She’s alive. I found her. I don’t know where the doctor is but I found Tiffany. I’m making my way towards her.” He didn’t even let Hunnigan say anything before he let the call end.

He ran up each flight of stairs, the lights getting dimmer with each floor until he realized it was on backup power with the red lights. His adrenaline guided his body. He found her. She was alive. He was going to bring her back to DC alive and he would get to apologize. Get to explain to her what happened. Let her yell and scream at him and for him to beg for her to take him back. Tell her that Hunnigan found a loophole. That they could be together without breaking the rules. That they could actually live together without fear of someone finding out.

He could find out if he had ruined any chance of being happy with her and loving her until he died.

He slammed open the door to the 18th floor and was about to run down the hall when he stopped in his tracks. Her shotgun was snapped in half right outside the door. He looked over and saw the bodies that littered the floor, leading up to one large one that had to be just passed where the camera was. He carefully passed the bodies on the floor, his own handgun aimed at the larger body. He was used to things getting back up after you think they’re gone. As he got closer, he saw the blood pooling around it and he saw the Frankenstein-isc face it had. He recognized it immediately and finally realized why she went dark.

They had dealt with this exact guy a few months ago. Somehow he could find people and use electronic and radio waves. They had shattered their own trackers and call machines then too when they realized and eventually got separated. Neither of them talked about it because he knew how much it had scared her.

He kneeled down to the body, seeing the inaccurate bullet holes all around. He knew Tiffany. She was a better shot than him sometimes. This couldn’t be her work. But then he remembered how she looked as she had run down this hall. She looked sick. But it was also as he had looked at the body that he realized it had to have been dead for a few days; she hadn’t just done this.

How long had she been on this floor?

He stood and just for an extra measure, placed one more bullet in its head. He looked down the hall, seeing a door on the left at the end of the hall. He walked down the hall and pushed the door open carefully, his gun drawn. He was ready to shoot if he had to. As he quickly moved it, hearing the door shut behind him, he felt the heat rise.

He looked around, the dark room was illuminated in red. There was nothing there except for a pile of something to the side. He walked over and saw that it was Tiffany’s jacket. He saw the bunched up pile of bandages that looked like they held an infected injury. He breathed shakily as the room only got hotter and he was scared he had lost her again. He saw her PLB next to the clothes and grabbed it to be safe. He pulled his mask off as the room warmed up, tossing it with hers.

He looked around the room more, trying to find something; anything that told him where she was. He turned his flashlight on, which helped a little in the room, but not enough to make his brain be able to figure out what he was looking at. He got close and scanned each wall carefully until saw a handprint of someone's blood on one of the tiles. He looked around there and realized that near it, it looked like someone had been trying to wedge something between two tiles. He put his hand next to the area and felt cooler air against it. There was a secret door somewhere. He put the flashlight in his mouth, moving his gun to his non-dominant hand, and grabbed his own knife from his thigh, pushing it in the small area that someone, he assumed Tiffany, had tried before. He moved up and down the wall until he found a weak spot that he then popped out, causing the door to open. He stood back as the door opened, putting the knife back where it went, switching the gun back to his dominant hand, the flashlight in the other.

He pointed his gun forward as the door stalled, not opening all the way. He slipped through the crack and carefully made his way through the new area. He had seen a map of the building a few weeks ago and he knew that he hadn’t seen this. Not that it really shocked him that there was some secret area in the lab of a bioterrorist. It was between him being somewhere he didn’t know existed and the fact that he hadn’t really run into anything while there that caused his senses to be on high-alert. Ready to be attacked at any moment.

The hall was like the one he had previously been in. Dark with a light red glow. He turned off his flashlight in order to have more secrecy as he walked down the hall. He made sure that each step was muted, as if he wasn’t there. The hall felt like it went on forever, no doors or windows gave him any sense to where he was. He wondered if anyone was even there now.

But as soon as he heard the gun shots ring out, he ran down the hall, eventually coming to a door that he slammed open that went into a large waiting-room like area. He held his gun up, ready to shoot even as he saw Dr. Lewis on the ground. He ran over and kicked her gun to a far corner as he saw her reaching for it. He kept his gun on her, as he looked around. Eyes falling on Tiffany right as she fell to the ground.

He had wanted to run over to her but he kept his gun on the doctor and looked back at her. He stared at her, dared her to do anything. All she did was laugh before coughing up blood. “You...you really think that this will...will change anything? You kill me, others will take my place.” She wheezed before laughing, “Killing me won’t bring that bitch of yours back.”

He breathed shakily. He was supposed to bring Lewis in alive in order for someone to question her. But he couldn’t. It was the way she spoke. The way she called Tiffany and bitch and assumed that she was dead. Lewis had been experimenting on children, had been for years. Tiffany had learned that information and sent it to Hunnigan at one point when she had canvassed another building outside of the town. So maybe Leon didn’t even do it for Tiffany. He did it for the kids. The kids who were innocent and hurt because of one person's sick and twisted mind. Afterall, he had joined STRATCOM back in 1998 to protect Sherry. To keep that terrified 12-year-old girl safe from more people like her father. People like everyone in Umbrella. And while she was grown and he didn’t have to protect her, he still wanted to protect the kids that didn’t have someone else to protect them.

So maybe that was why he pulled his trigger. As he watched the light go out of her eyes that were already basically lifeless. As the blood pooled around her head. He slowly lowered his gun before muttering: “It still puts a stop to you.”

He looked around as he heard the sound of an alarm going off, saying the building was going to self-destruct in ten minutes. He cursed to himself, he should have known that somehow killing Lewis would cause the whole fucking building to explode.

He grabbed his device and called Hunnigan, telling her she needed to get the evac team to the roof now. That the building was going to blow up in ten minutes. He heard her say something, he wasn’t really sure what though, as he ran over to Tiffany’s body. He saw her eyes fluttering open and close. He knew she was slipping in and out of consciousness. He kneeled next to her body and gently checked her pulse, it was faint, but there. He knew she should have checked if Lewis was transforming into something but he wasn’t. He just looked at Tiffany who looked so lifeless. He carefully moved her to her side, grimacing as he saw the gash on her sternum and the bullet-hole to her shoulder. He carefully lifted her, pulling her into his arms to get her out of there. He heard her whimper before she gagged. He looked down and saw blood dripping from her mouth. He stopped what he was doing and sat her down, making sure she stopped choking on her own blood. He looked at her, seeing how weak she looked.

He breathed shakily as he wrapped one of her arms around his shoulder. He grabbed her gun before pulling her up. She was basically dead-weight that he was dragging, but he didn’t care. He pulled her down the hall. Glancing at her as he heard her make small sounds. Hunnigan was talking into his ear but he didn’t listen. He just looked at her as he tried to bring them both out alive.

The gash was open to the world and he could tell it was infected. He breathed shakily as he pushed open the door to the stairs and started to drag her up. She cried as they walked up and he felt tears prick his eyes. He hated that she was in pain and he could do nothing about it. He glanced at her again when they reached a small stop.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry Tiff. I just want to get you out of here alive, sweetheart.”

She tried to open her eyes to look at him, barely opening them and he knew he would just be a blur to her. All he could hear was her trying to get his name out.

He breathed shakily and shushed her before bringing her up the next flight. They were so close. “Yeah, it’s me. Don’t say anything, alright? I’m gonna get you out. You’re gonna be okay. Evac is waiting for us.”

She whimpered and somehow got the words out: “Just let me go.”

He shook his head feverishly. He came all this way, he wasn’t going to just leave her here. “No. No way in hell. I’m not doing that. I am not letting you go. Not anytime soon. I just got you back, I’m not losing you again/”

She sobbed to her best ability, “Hurts.”

He looked down at her and saw her eyes were closing again. “I know, baby. I know it hurts. But I need you to keep your eyes open for me, alright? I know it’s gonna be hard, but I need you to do that.”

“But it feels better that way.”

He kicked a door open that opened to the roof, “I know it does Tiffy, I know. But I really need you to keep them open. Just until the evac gets here. Once they get us, you’ll be alright. You can close your eyes. Just keep them open till then.”

Tiffy. A nickname he came up with once when they were both drunk and abnormally clingy to one another. A nickname that he only used around her when he was close to breaking.

But she nodded, “Okay, I’ll try.”

He smiled down at her, “Good, try.”

He knew if she wasn’t injured and delirious, she would be yelling and screaming at him. So a selfish and fucked up part of him was happy that she was. But as he stood on that roof, he worried as the evac was nowhere to be seen. He breathed shakily as he gently sat her down, holding her head in his lap. He tried to put pressure against the bullet wound. She whimpered against him and he finally sobbed: “I know baby, I know it hurts.” He looked over as he saw the helicopter finally coming over. “You’re gonna be okay, baby. Stay with me. Come on, baby, please.” He pleaded for her to stay with him, stay alive.

As the helicopter landed, someone ran out, someone who hadn’t been in it before. They had a board that they quickly moved to put under Tiffany’s body. He helped them pull her body onto it before they both carried her over and onto the helicopter. They pushed the board in before he allowed himself to jump in and pull the door shut. He looked over to where the person he had assumed was a medic was strapping Tiffany up, trying to help her. He sat down as close as he could, looking at her life-less looking body and wiped the tears from his eyes, knowing he was getting blood on his face. Another medic came back and started to help after they got pushed forward, he knew it was from the blast of the building.

He leaned forward and gently brushed some of her hair, trying to help her. He knew that Hunnigan had let the line go dead sometime after they made it to the roof. He heard the click of it going dead. He heard a medic say something about Vancouver being the closest city that had a hospital that took care of STRATCOM agents like the two of them. He breathed shakily as laid a soft kiss to her temple, not caring that the medics were agents and could easily report this before they figured things out.

All Leon cared about was Tiffany making it to Vancouver alive. All he wanted was for her to stay.

--------

March 9 of 2009

Tiffany’s POV

Repeated beeping was all that Tiffany could hear. She tried to open her eyes, to see what the sound was. It wasn’t her alarm, it wasn’t as obnoxious as that was. She tried moving her hand, but it felt heavy. Her whole body did. She felt like she had been dropped from a building, something she couldn’t remember happening. She knew she got thrown through a wall, but she couldn’t remember getting dropped out of a building.

She breathed in, somehow was able to grip on what felt like a rough blanket under her and tried to open her eyes again. She groaned as she finally was able to blink them open. She squeezed them open and shut, hearing the beeping going speed up before going back to the beat it had before. The room was bright as she looked around. Blurredly, she saw the monitor that she knew was what she heard beeping, she saw the pulse ox on her hand; her hand finally lifted to feel around her face. Her mind was fuzzy, she didn’t know why she was in a hospital. She pulled the oxygen from her nose, panic started to run through her body. She pulled the pulse ox off and tried to pull out one of the IV’s when she felt someone grab her arms.

“Hey, hey, stop it. Stop it. You’re okay.”

She frantically looked around, until she felt someone put their hand on her face, pulling her towards them. Her fear fell when she saw it was Leon. She thought that she had been imagining it when he was there. That he was the one who got her out of the lab when she thought that she was going to die there. She thought that she had hallucinated him from the blood loss and the stab that she was sure had been infected. She looked into his face, she saw the concern in it, but she wanted to scream and shout at him. Tell him how she felt, had felt over him breaking her heart and never explaining himself. Wanted to scream at him for just...for being exactly who she had thought that he wasn’t.

But then he was here. He was looking at her with concern and she wondered...was it love? She didn’t know what it was. Leon had hurt her, hurt her in a way that only he could. But here he was, sitting with her in a hospital room. He had saved her when she knew most other agents would have thought her to be a lost cause, would have left her. But he brought her back. He was there with her in the hospital, she wondered how long it had been; had he been there the whole time? Did it mean he was sorry?

She wanted to say something but she heard a door slam open, she looked over and saw three nurses rushing in. She breathed shakily, suddenly realizing what she had done. That she had overreacted and tried to pull out her IV’s while in the hospital; something she always had done when under anesthetics.

One of the nurses moved to fix her IV’s, she hadn’t fully pulled them out, Leon had stopped her before she could. She moved so that they could reconnect her and put the oxygen back on her. The younger two nurses left as the older one, who Tiffany thought had to be around her grams’ age, adjusted one of the bags, it was clear, so Tiffany assumed it was liquids to keep her from being dehydrated.

She saw the woman glance between her and Leon, whose hand was in hers. “You know, you’re lucky that boy got you here when you did.” Tiffany looked at Leon and then back at the nurse, “Any later and you wouldn’t have made it.”

She tried to say anything but all that came out was a small whisper that no one, not even herself could understand. Her throat felt like it was on fire and she carefully placed her hand over her throat, realizing she had to have been out for a few days.

The nurse turned to Leon, handing him a piece of paper. “Why don’t you step out and get her some water at the nurses station?”

She felt Leon rub his thumb on the top of her hand before he agreed and gently let go of her hand after kissing it softly. She watched as he stepped out of the room, not sure how to feel. She loved him, she knew that, but she didn’t know much about anything else. She guessed that she hoped that he would explain to her what happened. She was gullible and would forgive him. Truthfully, she wasn’t even sure how mad at him she was; obviously she was hurt but she still loved him and if he promised to try, she thought that maybe they could. Of course, that was only if Hunnigan had found a loophole (or if his request had gone through).

The nurse smiled at her, “That boy’s a keeper. Didn’t leave except for the one time we forced him to go to the hotel STRATCOM provided.”

She shook her head and forced herself to speak, forced herself past the pain. “He’s just...my part--” She stopped, she wasn’t sure if he was her partner or not. “I don’t...know what he is to me.”

The nurse hummed, “Well, I will assume he did something, but I also will say that no matter what he did, he feels sorry for it. Or at the very least he still cares. He’s had multiple chances to go back to DC but he refused to leave. Said he wanted to be with you when you woke up.”

She nodded, she didn’t know what day it was when he got her. She didn’t know how many days she had been out. “Day?”

“It’s March 9th. You are in Vancouver. Do you know what year it is?”

Tiffany nodded, but had to think. It was early in the year. She hadn’t been in DC in almost two months. She thought about it until she remembered finally, “20...09?”

“Good.” She watched as the nurse wrote something down as Leon walked back in. “I’ll be back in a few minutes to check up on you again.”

Tiffany nodded as she walked out, she looked at Leon as he walked over to her. The water was in a cup, she saw the straw in it. She sighed as he held it up to her mouth. She sipped some of it, the cold water felt gentle on her throat, like it did whenever she would finally drink something after several hours in the heat when she was sick. She breathed out as she leaned back and looked at him. He sat the cup down on the small table next to her and she gently took his hand into hers. She looked down at his hand, she flipped it around so that she could see his palm. She saw the cuts from where she knew he had stabbed the skin with his nails. She ran her thumb over the scars. She looked back up at his face and saw it was an array of emotions.

She gave him a soft smile as she breathed in, “Hey Lee.”

He pulled the chair closer and moved a few strands of her hair from her face. “Hey beauti--Tiff.”

She tilted her head slightly, leaning into his palm that had moved to lay on her cheek. “You can call me beautiful, I don’t mind it. Besides, you got me out of there, other agents would’ve left me there to die after killing Lewis.”

He breathed shakily, “You know you scared me. I thought that I had lost you.” He sniffed, “They had told me to abandon hope and assume you were gone. And...and I did what I did before and I just--”

She shook her head and took his other hand into hers. She held them both and looked at him. Finally accepting what had happened. “Don’t. Please.” Her voice was firm but strained, “I don’t want to think about that.” She squeezed his hands to the best of her ability. “You’re here. You could have left, but you didn’t. I know you had to have risk something by staying, let alone you saving me.”

He gave a small, half smile. “I know, but I’m just sorry I didn’t tell you what happened. Tell you that we were right and someone had walked in. It had been Stacey. He threatened to expose us if he got passed up on something again because of you and I just...I guess I just freaked and I should have just told you. But I think I was just cared that something could happen to you; that your life would be ruined.”

She stared at him, confused why he was admitting to what happened. Stacey was dead now, it’s not like it meant anything. Nothing would happen now, but she wondered if him doing what he had done had been for no reason now.

She looked at him pointedly, head turned. “How could my life end up ruined?”

He sighed, “I gave Hunnigan a hypothetical about the situation. She knew I was talking about you and me. She said that they would separate us. That they’d rather lose you so they would transfer you somewhere random if they had ever found out. That or they would have put you with another department or fired you all together. Just to make sure we didn’t see each other.”

She nodded and closed her eyes for a moment before looking at him again. “And you knew I would fight you on it, say we’d figure something out, even if I got fired or displaced?”

“Yeah.”

She looked over to the other side, towards the door. “I hate when you’re right.”

She heard him chuckle, “At least it doesn’t happen often.” She looked back at him with a smile that lasted for a moment before she started to think again. He gave her a concerned look as her smile fell. “What’s wrong?”

“Why did you call for a new partner?”

This time he let out a big sigh, “Because I knew that after I did what I did, I wouldn’t be able to handle seeing your broken face everyday. Be right by you, pretending to be a supportive friend while you move on.”

She scoffed, “Yeah, me moving on would’ve taken a lot. Trust me. I even asked Hunnigan to find loopholes in the rules for us to be together.” She sighed, “I guess she never found one cause she never told me.”

He laughed awkwardly and she raised an eyebrow, “Well...that’s not necessarily true.”

“What?”

“She had found the loophole after you went dark, back when they first thought about sending me in.”

She nodded, “And what did she say?”

He breathed out heavily, “A lifetime commitment that neither of us really talked about.”

She raised a brow, “Kids?”

He snorted, “No. Not that.” He leaned back slightly, silently wishing he had grabbed the small box for whatever reason. “Marriage.”

She breathed out shakily and nodded, a small ‘oh’ leaving her lips as she thought about the idea. Marriage. To Leon. She had thought about it. Thought of marrying him, spending the rest of her life with him. She had liked the idea, but never told him. Scared of his reaction.

“What do you think?” He whispered.

She looked at him, “It’s not a bad idea. I think that I could live with spending the rest of my life with you.”

He chuckled slightly, “Well now I am happy I had gotten that ring a few months ago.”

She laughed slightly, “That was why you asked me what my ring size was, wasn’t it?”

“Perhaps.”

“But...we never talked about marriage before, why did...?”

He shrugged, “Thought about just going on a limb and asking you. Originally planned to do it on Christmas but...well, you know.”

She smiled and leaned over to him and kissed his lips softly. “Why don’t you ask me now.”

“What?”

Her voice was soft, “Just ask that four word question, we’ll see the ring when we get home.” She brushed some hair out of his face, “My answer won’t be dependent on it being the only way for us to be together and work together. I trust you.”

He smiled, “Tiffany Erin Miller, will you marry me?”

She smiled, “Yes.” She kissed him again, “Y’know, I would have said yes if you had asked me at Christmas.”

“Really, even with everything?”

She nodded, “Mhm, I think, despite everything that had happened, I knew that we could handle the commitment. Even with both of our issues. Which we need to work on. You need to talk more. But still, marriage might be a big commitment but I know we both could do it, at least with one another. We both know how to handle each other when no one else can. And I can’t really imagine my life without you.”

Now it was his turn to brush hair from her face, “So we could have avoided these past few months, years really, if we had just looked at the handbook for a loophole?”

She nodded, “Yeah, but I think it fits both of us to have never looked for there to be any way that we could stay together.”

He laughed, “You’re right.”

“So,” She whispered, leaning back again, “What does the ring look like?”

“I’m not going to spoil that for you.”

She tilted her head to the side, “You’re mean.”

“I know.” He looked at her with pure love in his eyes, “Do you know how much I love you?”

“I questioned it for a while, but yeah, I think I do now.”

He nodded and kissed her knuckles, “Good.”

They were silent for a few minutes until she looked him dead in the eye, “Can you just promise me one thing, Leon?”

He nodded, “What is it?”

“Never let me go, please? Promise me if you ever start to get insecure with anything in our relationship that you will tell me and we work on it. That you will talk about what you’re feeling and thinking.”

He smiled and kissed the top of her hand without any hesitation. “I promise.”

She smiled, “Good.”

She knew it would be hard. Both of them were stubborn. Both of them had trust issues. Their own vices that they would fall back on. But she was sure that they both were mature enough, and cared for one another enough that they would be able to work through it all. She loved him and she knew he loved her. She knew that they would be able to make it.

I do not consent to any of this story to be put into AI for any reason

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