The bonds of family

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Claire stared down at her ring, and realised she didn't want to contact Leon. She wanted him far away from Alex and any harm she could do him. "The last thing I remember is being put under for surgery. I don't know how i ended up here, or even how long I've been here." She confessed. Her secret fear, was that Leon would believe her dead.

Parker shook his head and rose to his feet. "I don't the help of some lovesick children!" He sneered. "I'll find Rebecca myself!"

"You think this is what she wanted?" Ada asked, purposefully not using Claire's name. She held no ill will towards the younger woman, but at the same time, she wished she could have Leon like she wanted. "Chris and Jill are in Montana, I have everything right here." She continued, pushing the file closer to him.

"Why? Afraid you may break a sweat, for once?" Wesker snorted as he began taking a blood sample from Sherry.

Leon frowned at this, though he tried hard to keep his face expressionless. He looked down at the envelope under Ada's hands, betrayal spreading through him like wildfire. Chris had set him up. He'd buried empty caskets thinking he was honoring Claire. He could nothing but shake his head.

Ramona couldn't help the soft laugh that escaped her. "I think I've shown I'm rather good at breaking a sweat." she teased. "I can do the dishes and sweep the floor as well as anyone."

"I don't know what you want to do with it, but... I'll go with you if you want to find them." Ada told Leon as she set her espresso cup down. "You were a part of their family, and they didn't trust you. You need to know why."

"Almost." Wesker breathed, trailing a kiss along Ramona's slender throat as he moved away to set the blood in storage.

Leon shook his head. "Claire is gone. Screw them and screw that family. Chris has always made it perfectly clear where I stand."

Ramona lifted her head to him, smiling ever so slightly. "What kind of sweat were you talking about?" She asked, trying to sound innocent.

Ada pressed her lips together and nodded her head. "I just thought you would want to know." She told Leon. "Claire was still infected when she gave Jill her liver. That's the official reason for the sudden cremation of her body."

Wesker was doing his best not to smile, and failing miserably. "I think maybe you should bring the Italian in." He told his lover, pretending to busy himself with something on the computed screen.

"She was creamated?" Leon asked, looking heartbroken. "No one told me. They just said she went missing. I spent months looking for her. Are you saying I shouldn't have?"

"Oh all right." Ramona said, getting to her feet and stretching lime a well fed house pet. "You just want to get off seeing me in action." She purred.

"I'm saying that's the official story." Ada repeated, the look in her eyes trying to silently tell Leon she couldn't really say more. Not here. "You did what you thought was right, as always."

"It happens so rarely." Wesker replied, somehow keeping a straight face.

"Let me guess...Chris did it all to get me away from her." Again he shoved his fingers through his hair. "What the hell is wrong with me? I must have leprosy or something. Everyone goes out of their way to get away from me."

"You getting off? I know, right?! Poor Albert. You'll get there one day." Ramona said as she grabbed a  bullet proof vest and headed for the door.

"Not everyone." Ada replied, watching Leon closely now. "You have so much freedom, Leon. Not all of us are quite so lucky."

Ramona wouldn't be as alone out there as she thought. Wesker was keeping a watchful eye on her, nothing would get close enough to even scratch her.

"You dont?" Leon asked her, once aging surprised to find her cared so much. "Why don'tyou have any?  I never took you for someone who'd let anyone take that from you,"

Ramona was nearing Parker, calling out to him in a voice he would find very familiar. It sounded exactly like Rebecca."

Ada smiled sadly and drank more of her coffee. "China taught you nothing?" She asked. "Simmons had a long reach, even in death."

Parker had been taking out all the undead he could when he turned, expecting to see his Rebecca. When he was greeted by eyes so much like his own, it stopped him dead in his tracks.

"Simmons is beyond dead. Don't give me that bullshit." Leon said, shaking his head as a cup of coffee was set in front of him. "You're working for someone else. Is that what you're getting at?"

"Hello there." Ramona purred. "What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"You're really still naive enough to believe Simmons was alone?" Ada asked quietly. "That the 'family' aren't still out there?"

Parker swallowed, then seemed to regain use of his arms to then level his gun at Ramona. "Who are you?!" He demanded.

Leon's jaw twitched. "Family? What kindo of family are we talking about? Ada...if you're in some kind of trouble...let me help you...you know I can." His hands rested gently over hers. 

"You don't recognize your own daughter?" Ramona asked, shoving the gun aside as if it were nothing more than paper weight. "Some parent you are. Its. No wonder I've never had faith in them."

Ada looked down at the hands resting over her's, then back up into Leon's face. "You shouldn't have to though." She breathed.

Parker narrowed his eyes, then shook his head. "I wont fall for your lies, no matter how well Wesker has taught you!"

"Despite how you feel about me, I still love you." Leon told her. "I want to help you."

"And you know so much about him?" Ramona asked. "What makes you such an expert, hmm?"

Ada certainly hadn't been expecting to hear that from Leon. Her dark eyes were scanning his face, hating how he could so easily lower her defenses. "Always trying to pick up the broken pieces." She breathed at last, offering Leon a smile. "I don't want to involve you in something like this, Leon. You've been through enough."

"Jake!" Parker shouted, though his eyes never left Ramona. The elder man would get no reply, Jake had already abandoned the airstrip in search of Sherry.

"What else do I have to do?" Leon smiled back, though the exhaustion was deep in his eyes. "Claire is gone. I have nothing left to fight for. At least not with her. But with you..."

"You are not trying to turn your back on me." Ramona hissed, kicking Parkers feet out from under him." I hate being ignored. It really pisses me off!"

"How about we start with me buying you dinner?" Ada asked, dropping some money onto the table to pay for their coffee. "And then, you'll sleep. We can discuss my situation in the morning."

Parker felt the air force from his lungs, leaving him gasping like a guppy as he fought to replace it. In the meantime, he tried to shoot Ramona, though even without Wesker snatching her out the way, the Italian still missed.

Leon shook his head. "Dinner. I fix your issue. And then I might sleep." He told her, refusing to let it go at that. "But I guess we need to talk first. Right?" 

Ramona clucked her tongue at him and shook her head. "You'd shoot your own daughter. You monster. And they say I'm bad. Seriously." She looked up at Wesker, making a face. " I could have handled myself you know."

Ada sighed quietly as she fixed Leon with her weary gaze. "I don't remember you being quite so hard headed." She remarked before rising to her feet.

Parked still refused to believe. He would have shot Ramona again, had Wesker not kicked him in the face. "Don't engage them, just disable them." Wesker growled.

"Yeah well...things change." Leon muttered, his tone rather bitter. "People change. People die." All at once he couldn't look at anything but the table. His insides were on fire. His heart felt like it was going to tear out of his chest.

"You're no fun." Ramona pouted. "Spencer always said it's about cultivating the terror."

"Not everyone." Ada pointed out, taking Leon's hands and pulling him to his feet. "Wishing changes nothing."

"Remind me again, where is the old man now?" Wesker snorted, lifting Parker up with little effort.

Leon sighed, glancing down at the envelope still on the table. "That doesn't mean I don't wish it did." He whispered. His thoughts were with Claire right then. Those few perfect nights they'd had together. Why hadn't she let him give Jill the organs? She'd be alive right now.

Ramona stepped over a puddle of blood, making a face. "Only because there was a monster out there that was bigger and scarier than the one in his mind."

"You loved her." Ada breathed, knowing that look on Leon's face right then all too well. "Carrying on with your life wont change that fact."

"Why thank you." Wesker practically purred as he follwed Ramona back in doors with Parker on his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"It worked pretty damn well with you." Leon muttered, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Story of my life I guess. I love and it gets thrown in my face. One day I'll learn."

Ramona shook her head, unable to keep from grinning. She really should hate this man but she didn't...couldnt... walking behind him, Patker's words came to her and she found herself wondering. Did Albert Western truly feel anything for her?

If possible, Ada almost looked offended. "I didn't what I thought you wanted." She told Leon curtly. "I saw the way she looked at you, even then."

Indoors, Wesker dumped Parker down, careful to make sure Rebecca saw the less than caring way he was treating her husband.

"Lot of good it did me. I probably would have gotten her killed sooner." Leon said bitterly. "Ada...just tell me what's going on so I can help you. Don't beat around the bush and get yourself killed. As you can tell, its a thing now."

"Captain, dont." Rebecca was on her feet inside the tiny cell she'd been placed in, her hands on the glass. "Leave him alone. I'll give you anything. I'll do anything you ask...just please..."

"Leon, I came to you with information I thought you wanted." Ada replied. "I know you, and I know you would want to find Chris and Jill eventually."

"You honestly think you still have anything I would want, mouse?" Wesker sneered hatefully.

Leon took the envelope and stuck it under his arm. "I need a good steak. I don't think I've eaten good in a while. Come on. No more talk of them for now."

"There has to be something." Rebecca pleaded, her knees shaking. Parker was her hope. Her love. If Wesker took him she would have nothing left.