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.

"Leon... You have to go to Claire, she has to know you're okay!" Jill insisted, cold dread rising in the out of her stomach.

Leon gave a bitter snort at this and shook his head. He was beginning to shake violently and it was clear he wouldn't be on his feet much longer. "She doesn't give a shit. She'd probably glad that me and whatever burden I left her with is gone."

"That isn't true, and you damn well know it!" Jill shouted angrily. "Claire has barely moved since they told her she couldn't see you! She loves you, and I'm starting to think maybe you don't feel the same way!"

"I'm starting to think that maybe it was her who didn't think the same!" Leon shouted, having to grasp for the railing on the wall to keep himself from falling. "She shut down when I needed her the most. Don't think I don't know that it was you looking for me and not her."

"What did you want from her, Leon?!" Jill demanded. "She had just given birth, had her babies stolen before she could even hold them, and then wesker turns up and shoots you!" she moved around Leon so he was forced to look at her when she spoke. "Claire's loves you." She repeated firmly. "She has no control over her body simply shutting down with all the stress she was out under!"

"Ada managed to make it past the guards." Leon said as if it were something so simple. "You know...I break my back for all of you and she can't even stay with me when I need her. I ask for so little from her...from Chris...from anyone...and that's exactly what I fucking get."

The mention of Ada's name sent a cold Jill down Jill's spine, though she wouldn't tell Leon that. "If that's how you truly feel... Then go. I won't stop you again." She whispered, stepping aside. "If being with Ada will make you happy..." She couldn't even finish that sentence. "Be the coward and leave someone else to tell Claire your leaving her for the very woman she's been jealous of all these years."

"I was just telling you about Ada. I thought I'd blow off some steam and you of all people would understand...but I see that you don't. If you see Claire...tell her where I am. I'm not going anywhere...I just..." He leaned hard against the wall and slid down it. His strength was gone. "I need her..."

Jill leaned down and helped Leon back up, pulling his arm around her as she shouldered more than her share of his weight. Saying little else she helped the government agent back to his room and into bed. Ada Wong had been here, and she didn't like it. That woman only ever came when there was a job involved. "Chris isn't here, so I'll say it instead... Break Claire's heart, and that bullet will seem like a splinter compared to what I'll do to you." She warned firmly.

"I love Claire, Jill. And you know that. I would die for her. But sometimes...just sometimes...I feel that I'm still competing with Steve Burnside. Does that make any sense?" Leon asked, reaching for the button to call the nurse.

Jill shook her head. "Claire got up and carried on right after Steve died... She fell to pieces when she thought she had lost you." She replied. "Besides... You don't think Claire feels the same about your past with Ada?"

"Claire doesn't talk to me." Leon sighed, laying back on the pillows and closing his eyes. "She never even tries. I...Jill, Ada said alot of shit to me and I can't help wondering if some of it..." He paused, pushing the nurses' button again. "If some of it wasn't true..."

Jill's eyes were on Leon's finger that was jabbing the nurses button. "What did she say to you?" She asked uncertainly, worried what the answer would mean for Claire and Leon's future together.

"I don't want to talk about it anymore." Leon grunted, closing his eyes and beginning to shake violently. "Go back to Claire. Make sure she's okay."

"How can I go back to her, knowing you're keeping secrets between yourself and that vile Wong woman!" Jill snapped.

"There's nothing secret." Leon breathed, proving that the pain was beginning to get the better of him. "Just leave. Don't say anything at all. It's not like she'll care anyway."

Jill finally moved to the doorway, intending to call a nurse on her way out. "If that's what you believe... Maybe you don't really love her after all." She replied sadly, then left Leon alone with his thoughts, and his pain,

Leon simply lay in the dark, no longer caring that a nurse wasn't coming. All he could do was think of how for the first time in his life he had failed those he cared for. He didn't even know how to fix it.

"Chris... Can I talk to you outside?" Jill asked quietly when she returned to Claire's room.

A nurse did finally come, thou only when Jill was far away. Leon would most likely instantly recognise her familiar peony scent, even if he wasn't looking at Ada Wong. "I can't believe you let her talk to you like that." She remarked, aiding Leon by administering a strong painkiller.

Chris jerked, almost asleep. He nodded his head after a moment and got up, pulling the blanket up to Claire's chin as he passed her. "What's wrong?"

"She's family." Leon whispered, feeling himself begin to give in to the cool relief. "It's just her way."

Only once they were outside did Jill even look at Chris. "Leon is awake." She whispered, the heavy way her shoulders slumped betraying the weight she carried upon them.

"Even so... She has no right." Ada replied, sitting down on the edge of Leon's bed once the drug was administered. "You out yourself through hell for them. You were right, not a damn one of them appreciates you."

"That's great!" Chris said with a widening grin. "Is he on the way to see her?" He asked, now looking around for him.

"Maybe there's a reason for that." Leon sighed. "Maybe they shouldn't. It's not like I did a very good job of keeping anyone safe."

Jill shook her head. "Chris... He won't be coming to see her." Jill breathed, the smile her lover wore heartbreaking. "He says Claire doesn't love him, and... That it's because she's still in love with Steve."

"You kept me safe, didn't you?" Ada asked with an almost mocking smile. "That redhead always was more trouble than she was worth. You were wise not to stick with her in Raccoon City, she'd have gotten you killed."

"Good." Chris nodded as if he'd been hoping for this answer for a long while. "Then we can find those babies and get on with our lives. Sans Leon, of course."

"Claire never really needed me and neither did you." Leon sighed, glad that he felt little more than weightless now. "Ada...why are you here?"

Jill didn't share his optimism. "And what about Claire? You think she can just 'get over' the father of her missing children ignoring her, while accepting visits from Ada Wong?"

Ada smiled at Leon and attend his arm gently. "Claire hid from her feelings for you, I never did." Ada replied, then seemed to take a great interest in the bed sheet. "Don't you get it, Leon? I'm always close by, when it comes to you."

"I'm willing to bet Leon isn't accepting anything from Ada Wong." Chris said, not sure who to be angrier at. Leon certainly got near the top but not nearly as high as Ada Wong. That woman had nearly ruined everything for the good guys more times than he could count.

Jill shook her head In response. "Chris... Leon spoke like he had completely lost his faith in Claire. He was bitter and angry that it was me who had tried to get into his room... And not her. He just doesn't understand how bad her mental state is right now."

"That's not like Leon to be bitter and angry." Chris commented, now rubbing at his unshaven chin. "Ada's been getting to him. That bitch is going to poison him. All she needed was time to do it."

Once again, Jill didn't share her partners thoughts on this matter. "If she really has been there to pour poison in his ear... Wouldn't these doubts about him and Claire have already been there? Ada could have just brought them to his attention."

"Or she could have just made him see something that wasn't there. She's always been good at that." Chris countered. "She's wanted him since the first moment she sunk her claws into him. She hates that he's been faithful to Claire."