The jet ski shot through the waves, carrying its two passengers far, far away from the peril behind them. Ripples and wavelets reached them even as the scene of destruction faded from view, as the Island roared and grumbled as though it were alive in its death throes, sinking forever into the ocean, carrying with it the tale of death and destruction, and the resident evil within it.

Soon, the Island was no longer visible, and the girl, finally safe, clinging to the man before her, breathed a sigh of relief. It was finally over. There was only one order of business that remained before the two went home, and she was about to deal with it.

"So…Leon. When we get back to my place…how about doing some…overtime?"

The man barely gave her a glance.

"Heh. Sorry."

The girl shrugged.

"Oh well. I had a feeling you might say that. Still, it doesn't hurt to ask."

There was a brief pause until she next spoke.

"So…who was that woman back there?"

There was another pause before the man replied, launching them into a series of conversations that lasted them until they reached the shore, only interrupted by a brief radio transmission with the man's superiors. They were soon after picked up by helicopter on the Spanish mainland and returned home, safe and sound. And they lived happily ever…

Ashley awoke and shot up bolt upright, covered in a freezing cold sheen of sweat. She quickly ran her hands over her body, checking herself. Good…she was all there. Then it was just a nightmare.

Beside her, Leon made a few grumbling noises as he awoke.

"Mmmph? Ashley?" he queried, probably still half-asleep even as he sat up.

"Oh…Leon…I'm sorry I woke you up."

"Mmm…'salright. What's up? It's four in the morning."

Ashley decided it was best not to try and conceal anything, and leaned over and buried her face in the agent's chest.

"Oh, Leon…it was terrible! There was this machine…and then Saddler…and Ada…she was there…and you had this big red rocket launcher…and…and…"

Leon, caught by surprise by this sudden outburst, tried to calm the sobbing girl in his arms.

"Ashley…calm down. It's okay…Were you dreaming about the incident in Spain again?"

Leon's eyes were still half-shut and crusted over with sleep, but he was pretty sure that the movement against his chest was a nod.

For her part, Ashley tried her very hardest to stop crying and to be coherent. She wanted so badly for Leon to comfort her, to make one of his smart-aleck comments like he always did, to make it all better, and some small part of her mind reminded her that he wouldn't be able to do that if all she did was sob and rant.

"What was it about now?"

"Oh…well…there was this helicopter…Mike was in it…he helped you get through that huge fortress…but then Saddler came with a Ganado, and they shot him down…you were really mad, but you kept going and rescued me from that chamber."

"Okay…sounds good so far."

If Ashley was talking about the set of three walls and guard towers equipped with machine gun turrets that had guarded Saddler's inner sanctum, then Leon was pretty sure what part of that mission Ashley had been dreaming about. He didn't remember anything about a helicopter or Mike being there (God, that would have helped though…) but it was in Ashley's dream, so he supposed it was possible. So…was she upset because Mike had died in her dream? He supposed she would be sad if one of their friends died, but that didn't explain just how hysterical she'd been a moment ago. Leon waited a few seconds and she continued.

"So we ran out the door and Ada slowed Saddler down with the barrels and everything…and we kept running and running…"

Leon nodded, rubbing his eyes clear of crust. Still not entirely accurate, but he'd better let Ashley finish.

"Then…there was this machine. I think Luis built it."

"Wait…Luis was there?"

"No…but he built the machine."

Leon nodded sagely. Sometimes in dreams you just…knew things, even if it didn't make any sense. He supposed that was what was going on here. In her dream, Ashley had seen this machine and just knew that Luis had built it.

"And then…you sat in the machine…and it shot these…laser…things at you. Then you were okay. It killed the parasite. Then I sat in the chair, and it killed my parasite."

Hmm…yes, the removal of a Plagas parasite was a painful process. Had Ashley dreamed about that? Leon could understand why that might give her nightmares…

Ashley wasn't done speaking however.

"Then…then you went up on that construction grate place…and Saddler was there. He said something about Hollywood movies and then you fought him. Ada was there. She gave you a big red rocket launcher and you shot Saddler. Ada ran off with the sample and started blowing up the Island and you and me escaped on a jet ski…and…then…I don't remember any more."

Good. The nightmare was already fading then. The less she remembered of it, the easier it would be to comfort her. But as far as he could tell the dream had ended well…so what was bothering Ashley in the first place?

"So we got away? So what was so bad about the dream? Was it just that Mike died?"

Ashley apparently still remembered that, because her eyes almost immediately filled with tears. She shook her head about Mike, then spoke.

"The machine…it killed the parasites, Leon. So…when we talked on the jet ski…"

Suddenly Leon got it, just as Ashley finished her sentence.

"I didn't have a parasite. So I didn't realize you were lying to me…about…you know."

Leon nodded. He understood now. It kind of made him pleased in a perverse way that the idea of being separated from him, despite avoiding a lot of trouble in the process, could turn a potentially nice dream about escaping from a very bad situation into a terrifying nightmare for Ashley. He ran his hand through her blond hair (noting that it was indeed very, very wet with sweat), trying to comfort her as her ragged breath threatened to turn back into sobs.

"Ashley… it's okay. It was just a nightmare. Most of that never actually happened."

Leon reached behind Ashley's back with his free hand and gripped one of the long, fleshy, razor-tipped tentacles that grew there.

"See? It's right here. Your parasite didn't go anywhere. You're all here. You can feel my hand right?" he smiled and held the tentacle before Ashley's face, demonstrating his point.

Ashley flexed the tentacle a bit, making sure it was really there, then brought the rest of the myriad of tentacles that also grew from her back in front of herself, making sure they were there too. As Leon let go of the one, she gripped all of them and held them to her body, hugging the appendages as if they were a long lost friend, a relieved expression on her face. Okay, so normal girls didn't have masses of dangerous parasitic tentacles growing out of their backs, and that wasn't really one of Ashley's most fetching traits. Leon had to admit, though--she looked really cute hugging her tentacles like that. At least…he thought so. Maybe that was just the Plagas in his own head talking, but that wasn't much of an issue for him anyway. He waited until she released the mass and stretched them out behind her (only stopping when they had all reached their maximum length and touched the wall behind her) to speak again.

"Besides…if you didn't have those, think of all the trouble we could have avoided. That period after the mission would have been so much easier."

The smile on Ashley's face disappeared immediately.

"But Leon…without the Plagas…we wouldn't be here right now. I don't care that we had to go through another few months of hell to get to where we are…it was worth it. If it meant that I'd have to give you up…I don't think I would have chosen to bypass the hell."

Okay. Leon admitted it. Hearing that made him feel really good. It really did.

"I guess I see what you mean. Still…it would have been nice to not been shoved into boxes the moment other Americans showed up on the scene."

Ashley flashed Leon a grin.

"But, Leon…if I lost my parasite…I'd miss having these a lot." She waved a couple of tentacles in front of herself. "They're helpful."

"Well…I have to give you that…makes me wish MY parasite could do something like that sometimes."

"Mmm." Ashley agreed, smiling.

Leon gave his wife a quick peck on the lips (okay…so it ended up as a bit more than a peck) and smiled back.

"We have things we need to do tomorrow. You think you can go back to sleep now?"

She nodded.

"Alright. Good night, Ashley."

"Good night, Leon."