IX. Capitulation

He'd spent nearly six days searching for any signs of Sheva Alomar before something finally popped.

It wasn't even his police source that turned him on to it. It was getting in touch with Alyssa Ashcroft of the New York Times that tipped the scales. Kevin and Alyssa had made friends during the Raccoon City disaster and the reporter had her fingers in more pies then a fat man at an all you can eat buffet.

She'd faxed Sheva's picture to every major hub and information center she knew and finally got a pop in Paris. The French police had recently arrested a woman fitting Sheva's description on a public vagrancy charge.

They'd found her wandering around the Eiffel Tour disorientated and half dressed looking like she'd taken the beating of a lifetime. Apparently she'd been mum ever since she'd been taken in to custody and the French police were more then happy to hold her until she coughed up bail or started talking. Since she'd done neither, she was still sitting there.

A flash of his ID and a phone call to HQ later and he was being buzzed through central holding to the cells. Inspector Luc Girard was more then happy to get Sheva out of his custody when it was implied she was a foreign person of interest to the US government.

She was pacing the cell when he saw her. Filthy, caked with dried blood, she was still beautiful. Her hair was a wild mess around her head, her clothes torn and tattered around her body.

She heard the foot steps and said loudly, "You're wasting your time. I'm not telling you anything."

"What if I say please?"

Startled, she spun around.

Months of not seeing him didn't change her reaction. Dressed in a baby blue dress shirt, navy slacks, and a dark blue silky tie that brought out his eyes, he looked wonderful. He looked edible.

"I take it you know each other?" Girard queried.

"Vaguely." Leon replied. "This is Sheva Alomar. I'll be taking her with me."

"Please do." Girard buzzed the cell open. "She's nothing but a pain in the ass."

Sheva scowled at the inspector as she exited the cell. "You here to take me in?"

"Something like that." Leon wanted to gather her in his arms and hold her. It was an odd feeling for him. He hadn't expected to feel this over whelming urge to touch her. Weeks of worrying about her, months of missing her, and she was finally in front of him.

He wanted to feel her skin. Instead, he settled for taking her arm and leading her down the hallway.

Outside the station, she shook her arm free.

"I'm not going back."

Leon met her angry stare coolly. "I've rented a set of rooms for us. Lets just go there, you can shower, clean up and tell me what happened."

"No." Sheva shook her head. "I can't tell you what I don't know. I don't remember anything. Anything at all. I remember fighting with Ada and then…nothing. I woke up here, in Paris, and that's all I know. I'm not going back with you. They'll stick me in some think tank, poke and prod me like some animal to get to my memories. I won't have it."

"Is Ada dead?"

Sheva spun on him and then shoved him in the chest so hard he stumbled. "Is that all that matters? Of course it is. Why am I not surprised? I knew…know what she is to you. She was alive when I blacked out. Okay? That's all I know." Sheva took a step toward him. "Though not for lack of trying on my part, I promise you."

Leon grabbed her arm again, roughly, and drug her into step beside him. "You're making a scene."

Sheva shook her arm roughly. "So? Oh…I bet that just twists your panties, doesn't it, Iceman?"

Leon said nothing as he drug her into the elevator of the hotel. The front desk clerk lifted her brows as they passed. Leon smiled politely and said congenially. "What a bachelorette party! Entirely too much fun for this one."

The clerk giggled a little as the doors swished shut.

Sheva jerked her arm free again. "Your lady love was alive, last I saw her. Does that ease your soul? You can rest easy now. Although I can promise you, she wasn't nearly as pretty when I left her."

Again, saying nothing, Leon dragged her out of the elevator. The hallway of the hotel was pretty. It was done in shades of mauve and lavender with a plush white berber carpet lining the floors. A maid passed by pushing her cart of supplies for cleaning.

He keyed into the room, pushed open the door and shoved her inside. She stumbled a little and plopped down on the bed.

The room was white carpet with sea foam green walls. It was a suite with a full kitchen and a Jacuzzi tub next to a stand alone shower. The spread of the king sized bed was ornate gold with white embroidered flowers. A bay window opened to a balcony that over looked the whole of Paris.

Mid day the view was awesome. The Eiffel tower stood in the distance jutting like a dancer above the heads of all the other buildings. The Louvre was visible from here as well, its distinctive architecture adding mystery to one of the most memorable sky lines in the world.

Neither of the two patrons of the Hotel De Chagny cared about the view at the moment. They were too wrapped up in their own heated debate.

Leon flipped on the shower, heating the distinctive sound of water on porcelain behind the crystal clear doors.

"Get in." He instructed. "I'm going to take care of food."

Sheva snarled at him. "I'm not your child." She rose. "And I have my own room, I'm assuming."

"This is your room." Leon eyed her as he moved toward her, "This is my room."

"You said we had two rooms."

"I lied."

Sheva jerked a little as he grabbed her filthy shirt and jerked it over her head. Her hands flew up to cover exposed bra. "Hey!"

Leon grabbed her arm and pulled her toward the shower. "You smell like filthy asshole. Get in that shower, wash off, then we'll talk."

"I don't want to share a room with you." Did it sound like she was pouting?

"Tough." Leon opened the shower door for her. "You get in. Or I force you in. Decide."

"I'll do it. Okay? Sheesh."

"Thank you." Leon left her to finish undressing and moved toward the kitchen. He pushed his shirt sleeves up and loosened his tie a little before he set about cooking.

The sound of running water coincided with the sizzle of food in pan. About the time Sheva finished rinsing off and emerged wrapped in a thick, terry cloth hotel robe Leon was putting two plates on the glass two seater dining table in the kitchen area.

Sheva had to admit it smelled fantastic.

"What are we having?"

"Putanesque." Leon pulled back her chair and then went around to sit in his own. "Sit. Eat. Talk."

Sheva sighed a little. "What's next? Lay down? Roll over? Fetch?"

Leon smirked. "Maybe. Sit. Please."

"Fine." She did and raked up a mouthful of the delicious pasta. "Intel told us Ada Wong and another unnamed associate were operating out of the compound in Tuscany. I went in, undercover. Things were going okay at first until Wong made me. I don't know how. I know we didn't meet at the wedding. I don't think she's ever seen me before. But somehow she made me. Things snow balled from there. I tried to take her out because I knew back up would arrive when I missed my check points. But she's tough." Sheva shifted and met Leon's eyes. "Really tough. We beat the hell out of each other. I had her down, fist around her throat and then…nothing. Blackness. I woke up here, in Paris, and was taken into custody."

Leon passed her his plate when she polished off her own. She was more then happy to eat his too. She was ravenous.

When she finished, she met his eyes. "Why are you here, Leon? I knew they'd send someone…but why you?"

Skirting the question, he responded. "They offered the job to Chris first."

Sheva tensed a little.

"He declined. Turns out he's making great progress with his wife and his life and not ready for field work yet. He suggested me."

Sheva nodded a little and rose from the table. "So you came to save the day?"

"I came to find you." Leon rose as well and took the plates to the sink to run under warm water. "The BSAA considers you a valuable asset. And Ada's always been on their most wanted list."

"Ah. They thought I'd know where she was."

"Something like that."

"Well I don't." Sheva turned and walked toward the window. "Sorry you wasted your time. I don't know where your girlfriend is."

Leon set the plates in the drainer and turned to face her. "She's not my girlfriend."

"You looked pretty chummy eating her face at the wedding."

Well…well indeed. The coldness in his gut turned warm around the edges. That's what had driven her away…jealousy? Really? It hadn't occurred to him. The idea that she was finished with him had. The idea that she wasn't interested anymore had. The idea that she was too wrapped up in Chris to want to watch him reconnect with his wife had. But not jealousy. Not for Leon anyway.

The coldness turned warm all over.

"Sheva," He took a step toward her, "What do you think you saw in that hallway?"

Sheva turned and faced him. "You. And the woman you love. Reunited."

Leon smiled a little. "No. You saw me and the woman I loved…saying goodbye."

Sheva jerked a little and then shook her head. "It doesn't matter. You never said we were…we never made any promises or anything to each other. I didn't leave because of that..not entirely anyway."

"Then why leave?"

"Me being there was hurting Chris. Hurting his chances of recovering. Hurting his family. I hadn't gone there to hurt him. I fucked up and slept with him. And I couldn't take that back. But I could leave. Because all that had happened since I stepped off that plane was hurt people." Sheva wrapped her arms around herself, comforting.

"You never hurt me." Leon replied quietly.

"I did. I did. We…I came on to you. I'm the one who started things between us. Me. And then…Chris and I slept together. And I know that hurt you. I know it drove a wedge between us. And I hate myself for it. I hate myself for hurting you. So when I saw you kissing Ada…I figured…well…that's what I get."

Leon shook his head, stepped toward her and she held up a hand to keep him away. "Don't. Don't comfort me. Don't. Or I'll fall apart. I made such a mess of things. I went there to help Chris. And I met you. And I didn't mean to meet you. Wait…that doesn't make sense."

Sheva shook her head and started pacing. "I didn't mean to meet you and feel about you the way I felt. Chris…he was so much easier. You know? That sounds wrong too."

Leon couldn't help but smile a little. She was very cute in her internal ramblings.

"How I felt about Chris was easier, ya know?" Sheva mused aloud as she paced. "We'd been partners. We knew each other. We respected each other. And we were attracted. Natural really to fall into to bed with him. Wait…not natural. Shit. Ugh I'm fucking this up."

Leon bit his lip a little to hold back a grin. "Keep going."

Sheva signed loudly. "Easier to fall into bed with him. More logical. And then there was you. And you…you touched me. You touched me in this way I had no name for. It was chemical and emotional and sensual all at once. And you're this personality that is so self assured and complete and-"

"Full of shit."

Sheva stopped at his statement. "What?"

"I'm full of shit." Leon held his hands out in front of him and shrugged. "I'm full of shit. I act like I've got it all together because I'm walking this very narrow tight rope. If I slip too far one way, I fall. So I have to tell myself I know what I want, when I want it, and what I'm willing to do to get it. I figure if I say it enough, maybe I'll believe it."

"You sounded so sure in the café that morning." Sheva said quietly.

"Yeah. I do that. I'm good at sounding sure of things. I'm just really shitty at following through sometimes." Leon smiled slightly. "Sheva, I don't know what this is between us. But I came half way around the world to find you. I kinda feel like Chris chasing down Jill, ya know? Here I am. I didn't come for Ada. I came for you. That ought to mean something."

Sheva figured this was the moment of truth. One way or the other it all came out here and now.

"I'm in love with you." She said it, strongly, solidly and watched his face to see his reaction. The iceman flinched through the eyes a little but held his ground. "Scary right? To hear it? Imagine how it feels to say it. I don't expect you to say it back. I just wanted you to know it. I barely know you, really I don't know you at all. Not the way some people do. But I'm in love with you. In a very complicated, very real way. Being away from you all these months has just made it more real."

Leon shifted a little as she moved toward him. "I care about you, Sheva. A lot. Very much."

Sheva nodded and lifted her hands to loosen his tie. It slithered between her fingers as it fell to the floor like a freed indigo snake. She meticulously undid the buttons of his shirt until she could slip a hand inside to lay palm open over his chest and feel the unsteady, excited thump of his heart. "I know that. And I'm patient. I'll wait for you to love me. Forever if I have to."

Jesus, he didn't deserve a woman like this. Or maybe he did. Maybe he did. After Ada. After Chris. Maybe they deserved each other. Someone who cared enough to…wait.

He cupped her face in his hands, traced his thumbs over her cheekbones.

"You know how I knew you were different, Leon Kennedy?" She whispered, sliding his shirt off his shoulders. It fell to the floor with a whisper of silk.

"How?" He replied gruffly, sliding his hands down to loosen the tie of her robe.

"You kissed me." She traced her hands over his stomach, felt his abs contract and goosebumps pop of his skin. "You kissed me and you didn't take me in that damn barn. Even though I wanted you to."

"God," He shivered, parted the robe and traced her naked belly. "I wanted to. You have no idea how much I wanted to."

Sheva smiled and shivered with delight at the smoothness of his touch. "I know how much. Because I've thought about that night a thousand times since I saw you last. Imagined it. Went beyond what happened. I've done things to you in my head you can't even begin to imagine."

Leon grinned wolfishly. "Not nearly half as bad as the things I've done to you in mine."

"Want to bet on it?"

"I have a better idea," Leon slid the robe off her shoulders. "Let me show you."

Naked she was beautiful. Tawny skin and lean muscle. She was built beautiful and athletic, a warrior goddess.

Sheva felt herself blush at his thorough perusal of her. She returned the favor, slipping the loops of his belt and freeing him from his pants.

They faced each other with nothing between them but feelings. He looked better then she'd imagined he would. Smooth and muscled with just a suggestion of hair in a happy trail down his lower abdomen to his groin.

He was perfect all over. Gleaming, gorgeous skin kissed golden from sun and good genes. He stood erect and ready for her, long and pink and perfect.

She laughed a little in her throat.

Leon lifted a brow. "What?"

"Even your dick is perfect." She smiled at the irony of it. "It just isn't fair to other men. God."

Leon gathered her into his arms, sighing in delight at the feel of their naked bodies pressing together. "Not god. Leon Kennedy."

Sheva chuckled. "One in the same in my book."

The thing about pleasure is that it was boundless. When coupled with the right pair, when cut across the canvas of their creation, it was orgasmic. It was organic. It was holy in a way that left the bearer worshiping at the altar of bliss.

His mouth in that barn had been merciless. The Iceman, they called him, but he wasn't cold. He was hot. His skin was feverish. It was flawless.

He spilled her back across the bed in a swift tumble of flesh and fervor. She opened her arms, the caramel canvas of her skin awaiting the first stroke of his brush to paint her with his need. She couldn't see anything but want on him. It echoed in the crisp blue of his eyes, in the glide of his hands across her belly, in the torture of his mouth as he tasted the hollow of her throat.

The contrast of their skin enthralled her. She watched the golden sun-kissed promise of his against the smooth creamy chocolate of hers. Like perfect compliments of sun and earth, they blended together as her thighs parted for the feel of him between her legs.

She was ready for the plunge of him but he didn't take her. He tortured her. As he'd done in that barn, he claimed her. His hands slid hers over head and bound them beneath the pillow there. She gripped it, holding on as he skimmed his palms from the muscle of her biceps to the valley of her breasts. His touch was electric, his gaze immersive, he left no path untrodden, no flesh unfelt.

Sheva watched him, her belly twisted in smooth spirals of greed. His hands skimmed down the insides of her taut thighs, parting her as he played at her body with a lover's careful discretion. His thumbs met cleverly at the apex of her body, delving deliciously into the needy heat of her until her breath fell out in a desperate pant.

Brow lifted, hands gifted, smile taunting – those hands skimmed down her knees and calves, torturing them both. She laughed, hoarsely, and begged a little, "Tease. Please?"

So different, she thought desperately, so different here. There was no guilt here. There was no regret. Just…him. Hadn't it always been that way? This draw she felt for him. It maddened her.

He slid back up her body and put his mouth to the pretty peaks of her breasts.

His tongue curved around one pouting nipple lazily, languishing it with wet like a coiling serpent against her aching breast. They were heavy with need long before he palmed them, weighed them, rolled them. He brought them to his mouth to taste them while she watched raptly.

Smooth he was…smooth like ice…yes. Here, in this moment, he was ice. Perfect and pale and cool against the fire that raged in her for him. He sparked against her, creating steam where they collided, craving each other.

When she made a small whine of desperation, his tongue joined hers in her mouth. He shifted between her legs. Her hands slid to take his face.

But he caught them and held them above her head. He rose over her, imprisoning her beneath him with his hands, with his hips, with his eyes. He shook his head, watching her face in the warm sunlight. It made her tawny skin glow. It made the whisky of her eyes his addiction. And he commanded, softly, "Let me show you, Sheva. Let me show you."

How could she say not to that?

She was in love with him.

Probably from that first meeting.

Maybe even the first time he spoke.

She'd wanted to believe it was something more with Chris. But it had been old feelings regurgitated and looking for their truth. This? It was chemical. It was basal. It was feral. It was fundamental and boundless and all based in FEELING.

Sheva gasped, watching his eyes above her, "…show me."

He slid inside of her in a smooth motion. She absorbed him. The wet heat of her fitted him like a glove. They both trembled. Their foreheads pressed together.

Sheva looped her legs about his flanks. "Oh god."

"No god. Still…just Leon." They kissed, all wet lips and rolling hips. He slid out and in again and her body was snug and warm and ready. Her hands curled up, fingers slipping together.

Sheva gasped, "Still the same. Still the same."

And he stopped being gentle.

The want of it was poison. It infected where it touched. Each branding brush of skin inflamed, engorged. Her hands lifted to grip muscle on his back.

And he stopped trying to seduce her. His hands bracketed her head, his hips drove down, down, harder and faster. Her body took his wetly, slickly, sucking him in with each plunge between her legs. Their eyes held, desperate and excited. The flushed skin and dilated pupils. The inability to look away. It aroused even as it enraptured.

She grabbed his face with a slap on skin that rocketed in his groin like wild fire.

And she started to keen.

The sound was high and forceful. Hid body responded, thrusting into the wet of her with a mindless rhythm. Still, he thought desperately, they didn't look away. The intimacy of that propelled him to rise enough to grip the headboard behind her, to curl her into his body with the effort.

The angle was sharp, the promise of that elicited a mewl from her mouth that made him insane. He stopped trying to make love to her. Her hands dug into his biceps and jerked. Their mouths crushed and slid.

And he started to hammer her so hard into the bed that her keening was punctuated by the squeal of springs. Her hands slid down his back and gripped his ass. She shoved him into her harder, fast, faster, desperate now and hurrying. She began to grunt like an animal.

It was the hottest thing he'd ever heard.

Somehow.

The sweat stuck their flesh together. It squelched loudly as they peeled apart with each thrust. And he ground out, low and painful, "Kiss me. Now."

"Now?"

"Now, Sheva." Iceman, she thought wildly, the look on his face? All determination and raw power. Jesus.

GOD.

She craned her neck to take the plunge of his tongue. They dueled. She screamed into his mouth as he tried to crush her pelvis with each perfectly punishing plummet into her needy body and she came, bucking, bucking, flopping like a fish beneath him.

His hands gripped into her hair, he held her face still for his taking tongue. His hips held her down for the punishment of his body. It was insane. Her hands grabbed on to him as she seized in his arms and her body sucked him in.

Christ, he thought, she was the wildest thing he'd ever touched.

He pinned her down with his mouth and his hands and his hungry plowing. Her body surged up to take more.

His hand grabbed her throat, tilted her head back for the taste of him, and he wouldn't let her eyes look away as he ground himself inside of her hard, hard, needy. She mewled a little in pain and want, bucked up toward him for more, and he quivered.

And spilled in the heat of her in a throbbing, rolling, pumping burst of sticky release.

Sheva made a small sound of surprise and arched her hips up into him to take it all.

Yep.

The wildest thing he'd ever touched.

Her body twitched in his arms, jerking a little like she'd touched a live wire. He held her down while he came in her, finishing with a small grunt of pleasure.

And she gasped, "Oh my god…"

He laughed, hoarsely, licking her mouth. "Nice guy right? Friendly?"

"…holy hell…"

"Yeah. See? I lied. Imagine what you would have said if I'd done this in that barn."

Her eyes flashed, excited and somehow sad at the same time. "I think I would have said thank you. Or…again. Or don't stop. Or marry me. I'm not sure. Maybe all of those."

His hoarse laughter delighted her. She gripped handfuls of his ass. "You are so dirty. You always bare back girls you barely know?"

He dropped his mouth to lick hers. "Only if I plan to keep them. Say it again, Sheva."

Their eyes held, their breathing ragged, "I love you."

Their lips kissed, lazy and long. She sucked his bottom lip, exciting him. "Yeah. Can I keep you, Sheva Alomar?"

Her hips lifted, rolling the feel of him inside of her where she was throbbing, used, and HIS. "You kidding? I'm YOURS. You came across the country for a guy who treated you like shit, out of devotion to a girl that clearly thinks the world of you. You chased me across the world to save me. I felt it the moment we met…I love you. I do. I can't do anything but love you. You brought me to life, Leon Kennedy. You can keep me forever."

His thumbs swept her cheeks. His eyes scanned her face.

What a mystery she was.

What a creature.

He laughed a little, enthralled with her. "….women."

And she was laughing as he dropped his mouth to claim her.