So slow to catch on

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Jill gave Leon a little push, then smiled. "Believe me, these things can last days." She assured him. "Besides, I want the chance to grill you myself."
"You doubt my suitability as a mother?" Claire asked thinly, folding her arms across her chest.

Claire was scared by her brothers reaction, but she had seen something a little hopeful in his outburst. "You just pushed yourself out of your chair." She told her brother calmly. "if you want to kick Jill's ass, go right ahead, by all accounts she handed yours to you last time." She added, wincing slightly as a pain that rippled across her swollen belly. "But I am not giving you this sample! Jill handed it over because she thought it was the only thing that could help you, and until you prove her otherwise... It is never leaving my sight!" Claire turned away, not wanting either man to see that she was deeply upset; she had had a lot of time to think about the way Jill had ended things. It just didn't add up.

"Bullshit!" Chris roared, this time trying to reach his sister. "You give that to Leon and you do it now! That's not a request, Claire Redfield."
Leon looked from Claire to Chris and back again. A part of him wished he'd ignored this and stayed in the shower, another part of him was glad that Chris was mad at someone else for a bit.

Claire turned back to her brother with angry gaze of her own. "I am not some child for you to order around, Chris!" She hissed. "And while were at it, Leon isn't the boss of me either! The two of you seem to think I am some silly little girl who can't do a thing for herself!" Chris had unfortunately just pulled Leon into Claire's circle of anger in that moment.

Leon's groan was drowned out by Chris' angry spluttering. "You...you didn't deal with it! You don't know what that damned thing is capable of! I don't even want you touching it! I don't want to lose another family member, damn it!"

"Carry on like this, and you'll lose me anyway!" Claire shouted back at her brother. "I lost people I love too, Chris! Don't think you have the monopoly on that one! Jill went missing, you didn't have to watch her die in your arms!" She added, then stormed back to the bedroom, taking the blood sample with her.

"That means she still doesn't love you." Chris hissed at Leon, just to hurt the other man as much as he was hurting right then.
"Why don't you go back to watching your porn?" Leon snapped, stomping toward another section of the house.

Both men were so concerned with theirnown anger that neither would know that Claire wasn't moving right then. She had found a hiding place for the sample, and then the pain had become too much. The young woman was lying on the bedroom floor unconscious, blood trickling from her head where it had struck the nightstand as she fell.

Leon would beat himself up for it later. Especially the thought that it had been at least two hours before he found her. He sat in the waiting room now, his cell phone in his hand. He couldn't tell Chris. He certainly didn't feel like being screamed at when he already blamed himself.

"Mr. Kennedy?" A middle aged female doctor was stood in front of Leon. "You're girlfriend, miss Redfield? Has she been under any kind of stress recently? Her blood pressure is alarmingly high, it is most likely the reason you found her like you did." She added, seating herself next to him. She wasn't as stern looking as some of the other doctors that had passed by, if not for the name tag proclaiming her to be Dr. Carson, she could simply have been a mother visiting a sick child.

"Her brother had an accident about six months ago." Leon whispered, running his fingers over his face. "He's been taking out his frustration on her. I haven't been helping anything to tell the truth." He admitted shamefully.

"Frustration? Was it a bad accident?" The doctor asked, her gaze lowering as she made note of Chris' accident in her pad. "Did he lash outbat her before this accident?"

"He doesn't like me. He didn't want her anywhere near me. She didn't tell him about us. It's a long story. Well...when he found out he went off yelling and screaming...Chris didn't used to be like this. I don't know what's happened. I'm not sure she does either."

"Perhaps his accident caused some psychological damage?" The doctor suggested gently. "Was it a terribly horrific accident?" She added. "If I can understand his sudden anger towards her, maybe it can be fixed, and your girlfriend can enjoy the rest of her pregnancy without all this stress. Unless... Is there no one else her brother can stay with?"

Leon shook his head. "He has no other family. His girlfriend broke up with him while he was in the ICU. He's no better off. Maybe...when I bring him to see her...you or someone could talk to him?"

The doctor was frowning heavily as she listened to Leon. "His girlfriend broke up with him while I fought for his life? Forgive me for saying so, but she really must be heartless." She replied. "If you are bringing him here, I will certainly talk to him, but if he causes Miss Redfield any stress, I'm afraid I will gave no choice but to have him removed."

"Make sure you tell him I said so." Leon snorted, obvious bitterness in his voice. "Can I see her now? Or...would she be better off without me too?"

The doctor rose to her feet once again, but continued to frown as she did so. "Her brother is abusing her, and you wish to abandon her? My, how lucky she is to have such love." She remarked before moving on the attend to her next patient.

Again Leon rubbed his forehead. "I swear to everything holy that if this day gets any worse..." He didn't finish that. He knew better. Things could always be worse. He knew that first hand.

"She's right, and you know it." Jill watched her 'family' closely, and had arrived at the hospital not long after Leon had. "You really think she would be better without you, the way Chris is right now?"

"Sometimes I have this terrible feeling that this is all my fault." Leon confessed, lifting his eyes to where Jill stood. "It worked for you. Didn't it?"

"You really think so?" Jill asked, sitting down in the seat the doctor had vacated. Her blonde hair was again back to it's natural brown, or perhaps she had merely dyed it. Either way, she looked just as she had all those years ago. "If it works so well... Why am I little more than a stalker?" She asked softly. "Leon... You really think I wanted to walk away from the only man I ever loved?

Leon shook his head. He knew full well she hadn't. "I don't know why you did though." He admitted. "I've been trying to think it over all this time. I just don't think the fact that you guys can't have kids is enough. Not after everything the two of you..." He closed his mouth, reminded of something the doctor had said. "You think whatever's going on with you is effecting Chris, don't you?"

Jill didn't say anything for a long moment, seeming to be struggling with finding the right words. "It wasn't the kid thing." She finally breathed. "People were going to find out about me, about what I am now... I didn't want Chris dealing with that. He has been constantly looking over his shoulder for too many years already. I just..." She sighed, the decision having clearly weighed heavily on her slender shoulders. "I wanted him to have the perfect life he had always described to me, and I knew I couldn't give it to him. He deserves so much better, I just didn't count on that dumb blonde shooting him."

"Despite everything he says, I don't think he was planning on that either." Leon told her. "He's trying so hard to get back on his feet, Jill. He's convinced that he still needs to save the world. I just...I don't think he'll be able to do it if you're not with him. Despite what he says." He got to his feet and headed toward Claire's room. "I do love her, you know. I just...I worry that Chris may be right about me after all."

"Chris is a father to Claire, not a brother... No one will ever be good enough." Jill replied sadly. She was staring at her hands in her lap, as recently she couldn't help but think how different life would have been had they been normal people and simply settled down and gotten married. "I love him Leon, and that's why I know he will never understand, or forgive, the way I left things."

"Maybe you should give him a chance." Leon whispered back, pushing open the door to Claire's room without another word.
He was glad for the quiet darkness that surrounded him. For a moment there was peace. Silently he pressed his lips to the swell of her belly and then her forehead. "I'm so sorry, honey." He breathed.

Jill knew Leon was right. The worst Chris could do was say no... Right? Before she had chance to talk herself out of it, Jill was back at Leon's house, letting herself in as she had done when speaking to Claire. For a long few moments she simply watched Chris where he was again in front of the tv. "You know... That crap will rot your brain."

Claire stirred slightly, Leon's name on her lips as her eyes fluttered open. "Sorry for what?" She breathed, not yet realising she was in the hospital.

Chris closed his eyes at the sound of Jill's voice, his heart jerking in his chest. Suddenly there was no other sound. Nothing to keep him from continuing to wish for her to come closer. "Doesn't entertainment usually involve that?" He whispered.

"Not the way we used to entertain each other." Jill replied with a wry smile as she moved closer. "Wesker used to get so mad at us..."

"He never really showed it." Chris agreed. "But we could always see this little tick in his jaw. Remember? That and the way he narrowed his eyes." He laughed softly at the memory, keeping his own eyes closed.