A/N: Hello my lovely readers! Thank you all so much for the faves, follows and of course, the reviews! It brings me so much joy knowing that you've all enjoyed the first chapter. I decided to turn this into a short story about Leon and Claire's relationship over the years. We'll be going back and forth. This chapter is 7 years post Raccoon and the next will be a continuation of the last chapter. Hope that makes sense.

I also apologise for dates/occurances that I got wrong. I haven't played the older games in a very long time so I just went with what I think is right. I also changed their story a little to suit the fanfic.

Hope you all enjoy!

Two

September 2005 – 7 Years Post Raccoon City

RPD Reunion Party & Remembrance Day

The Hay-Adams Hotel, Washington DC

Claire stood next to her brother Chris and his partner Jill Valentine as they greeted an ex S.T.A.R.S member, reminiscing about the good ol' days and laughing heartily at their inside jokes. They had arrived an hour ago and still, she couldn't relax. Her eyes scanned the vicinity over and over, the only thing on her mind was seeing Leon again after all these years. She wasn't even sure if he'd turn up and if he did she had no idea what she would say to him.

Seven whole years since Raccoon City... seven years since she fell the rookie cop and boy did she fall for him hard. She had been inexperienced at the time when it came to boys, even at nineteen she hadn't ever had a boyfriend. Yes, she'd gone on a couple of dates, but none of those guys held a candle to Mr. Kennedy. One look at his pretty face and she was done for, she knew it the minute he saved her life at the gas station.

So why hadn't she contacted him after she had been reunited with her brother? When did she become such a coward?

Chris had kept her in the loop regarding Leon's welfare and the last she'd heard was that he'd been sent to rescue The President's daughter Ashley Graham in Spain. As always, Chris hadn't given her much information but assured her that he had made it out safe and sound. Leon was a government agent now, a far cry from the rookie cop she had met on that faithful night.

"Isn't that right Claire?" Chris smiled as the others stared at her, awaiting her response.

What?

"Yeah... uh, I need to use the restroom. Sorry!"

She rushed out of the function room, holding her dress up so as she didn't step on it. After all, she was renting it for the night. It was beautiful maroon ballgown made of satin with triangle bust cups which accentuated her generous bosom and an extra deep waistband, the skirt flaring out at the hips. Although she hadn't wanted to admit to herself, she wore it for Leon.

Claire emerged into the grand hallway, scanning the area for the nearest exit. Unfamiliar faces surrounded her, laughter and chatter assaulting her ears. She just needed some peace and quiet. It was all too much for her.

Put off by the steady stream of ladies filtering in and out of the toilets, she decided to make a beeline for the wraparound balcony. The French doors wide open, beckoning her out into the cool night air.

It was chilly alright, but she didn't mind. There was nobody out there and that's exactly what she needed. Space.

She lost track of time as she stood leaning against the balustrade watching the ocean, wishing she was anywhere but at this reunion. It was a mistake, she knew she shouldn't have come, it was too much for her. Ever since Raccoon, everything was too much for Claire. Too many lives lost, too many regrets...

"Claire?"

That voice. His voice. It froze her to the spot and old feelings she had tried to bury came rushing back, straight from the heart and into her belly. It took every fibre in her being to turn around and face him, a fake smile plastered onto her flushed face.

"Leon? It's so nice to see your face after all this time," she says, her voice wobbly.

He stands before her, looking all dapper in a black tux and a maroon bowtie. His hair is still the same, maybe even lighter than the last time she saw him due to sun exposure and his face... god, his face. Those blue eyes twinkling in the moonlight and his pouty pink lips. She thought she would die right there.

No man came close to him. No man would ever.

"You look beautiful, Claire. Even after all this time, you don't look a day older than nineteen." He offers her a small smile, but it doesn't reach his eyes. "Seven whole years. Can you believe that?"

"I..." she starts, trying to think of something to say. Anything. "I can't, Leon. It's still so fresh in my mind. You're... a man now, but yet you're still as pretty as ever."

He moves closer to her, so that they stand just a foot apart from each other. The lack of physical contact felt wrong to Claire, surely after all this time they should've embraced each other like old friends?

But that's the thing. They weren't just old friends. They were more than that. Way more than that.

Once upon a time.

"I was starting to think that you'd forgotten all about me. To be honest, I was surprised you recognised my voice."

She blinks and she can feel her temperature rising. The burning shame she had shoved to the back of her mind emerging to the front once again. How could she have just walked away from them? A whole two months together and she just up and left to find her brother.

Her brother who she should've known could take care of himself no matter the circumstances.

And now, facing Leon when she should've faced him a long time ago. He was angry, that much was obvious. Maybe a little disgusted with her as well.

She couldn't blame him.

"Leon... how could I forget your voice?" Instinctively, she reaches for his hand but he snatches it away.

"Not even a phone call, Claire? I wasn't even worth a fucking phone call!" He hisses, leaning in now, his face hovering above hers. "I thought I knew you but I didn't."

Startled, she takes a step back from him. His words cutting deep. "Lee..." her petname for him fell from her lips as though she had been saying it her whole life.

"No, you don't get to walk away this time!" He grabs her upper arm, pulling her back to him. "And you don't get to call me that. How dare you. How dare you, Claire! Did you know she cried every night for you? Hmm? That you broke her little heart when you walked away? That you stole her spirit?"

Sherry. Her little Sherry.

She lets out a whimper, her throat constricting. "I didn't mean to hurt her... hurt you."

"Yeah? Well guess what, Redfield? You did," he sneers, both hands on her shoulders now, his mouth pulled back in disgust. "And you know what the worst part was? It wasn't you breaking the news to us out of the blue or how you left in the middle of the night, it was how easily you forgot about us. You contact me from fucking Rockford Island to relay a message to your brother and after that, nothing! Not once did you reach out. Not once!"

"Leon," she moans, reaching up to touch his face. He clenches his jaw and his eyes flutter closed for a second. And she remembers... she remembers touching his face, moaning his name, on cold lonely nights when they longed for each other. When the only thing that eased the pain was the temporary pleasure their bodies shared. To be as one, fully and completely. "I'm so sorry. Forgive me. Please. I would give anything to go back and never leave you both. I swear it."

He lets out a shaky breath. "Tell me why, Claire. Tell me right now why you never reached out."

"Because I was afraid."

"Elaborate."

"When I left to look for my brother, I carried the trauma that we went through and I also carried the guilt of leaving you both. It felt wrong, abandoning you and little Sherry, but Chris is my only family, he's more of a father to me than a brother. You know that, I had told you all about him. And I couldn't not look for him, I owed him that much, whether it was right or wrong of me to do so. I knew that if I had stayed, I wouldn't have been able to live with myself for not looking." She took his face into her hands, holding his gaze. "When myself and Chris escaped Antarctica, I longed to talk to to you, to seek comfort in your arms, but I had issues Leon. I was seeing a therapist, I couldn't eat, I was broken in so many ways and on top of that, I was ridden with guilt over leaving you both behind. I convinced myself that you probably hated me for it and that Sherry would never want to see my face again."

"Claire-"

"I'm not finished." Hands falling back to her sides, she turns around, staring off into the distance at the breathtaking view of the White House. "Weeks turned into months, and at the seven month mark, I felt a bit better, maybe it was the pills, I don't know, but I felt a bit more like my old self. I picked up the phone so many times with the intention of calling you, I wrote so many drafts, composed so many letters... but it was too late Leon. I left it too late. I didn't know what to say and I was so afraid of what you would say, that I just gave up."

Leon slid his arms around her waist from behind, burying his face in her beautiful auburn hair. The familiar smell of her driving his senses wild. He longed to hold her for so long. How bittersweet it was, under these circumstances.

"Leon, do you f-forgive me?" She stuttered, her shaky hands closing over his where they rested on her midsection.

He remained silent for a moment, not wanting the moment to end. Eventually he pulled away and turned her around to face him once again, his fingers brushing her flushed cheek. His eyes staring into hers, glistening with unshed tears.

She was so beautiful. The dress she wore complimented her feminine figure and he longed to worship her body once again. He was crazy about her, he'd always be crazy about her.

"Of course I do, Claire. I only wish that you had come to me, allowed me to share that burden with you." His thumb brushed her full lips, painted a deep red. "I would've taken care of you."

"Lee," she breathed, his touch awakening a burning desire within her. One she had pushed away for so long.

He moved in closer and pressed his forehead to hers, the same way he did in 1998 when they had spent those two months together. No matter how much time passed, he would cherish those days forever.

"I want you-" she began, but was a cut off by an unfamiliar voice.

"Leon? There you are!" He snatched his hand away from Claire's face as though it had burned him and turned to the beautiful blonde approaching the duo. "I've been looking all over for you."

Samantha. The gorgeous journalist he had met in February. She was bubbly and outgoing, she helped him forget the horrors he'd witnessed and fulfilled the aching loneliness that had consumed him when he had thought Claire had forgotten about him. He hadn't wanted a relationship, he wasn't even sure if that was what it was. But he'd climb into bed with her every night and when he was inside of her, it wasn't her face he was seeing.

The redhead was staring at them with wide eyes and he was truly at a loss for words.

"So... are you going to introduce me?" Samantha asked, a nervous smile on her face.

Leon cleared his throat, grabbed hold of her hand and introduced the two ladies to each other. One relieved, the other wounded.

Claire's last words would haunt him now. I want you, she'd began and he desperately wanted to know how that sentence ended.

And it was then that Leon realised that perhaps he should've been the one to phone Claire all those years ago.

Claire cried herself to sleep that night.

Leon had moved on.