Thicker than Water

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"They were bitten, not dead and buried." Wesker corrected. "I'm sorry Alex, we are not having this discussion."

Stever was wise enough not to even breathe Sherry's name, knowing she was safe so long as she was free. It was torture, but he hoped she believed he had simply walked out in her. Better that than have her come looking for him and herself locked away too.

The first person he would come face to face with was Leon Kennedy. They pulled Steve to a stop before him and the elder man nodded grimly. "Yes. That's him." He muttered, turning away from the group to head back into the plane.

"Hey!" Steve growled, struggling against the men who were holding him. "Who the fuck are you?!" He demanded. If he had known who the elder man was, it would certainly have jogged his memory, and he would have fought even harder.

"That guy is one tough mother fucker." The man shoving him up the stairs to the plane informed Steve. "Don't ever screw with Leon Kennedy. He'll kick your teeth in and then hand them to you."

"Leon..." Steve murmured the name as he was shoved forward. It was then that a memory he had thought long forgotten returned to him. Her bar was Claire... She was asking a guy named Leon for help.

Steve was tied to a chair in an elegant set up at the front of the plane. Across from him, Leon sat on the phone. He nodded in thanks to the men that passed him. "I love you too, Claire." He said softly. "I'll see you tonight, okay?"

Steve was frowning, his fists clenching despite the fact his wrists were bound. Claire... Leon... Why did the sound of those names fill him with jealousy, and bitter hatred? "Don't count on seeing your bitch tonight... I'm gonna kill you!" He hissed.

"how do you plan to do that?" Leon snorted as he hung up. "looks like your hands are a little tied there, dude."

"They won't always be tied, dude." Steve sneered. "And trust me... Whoever your bitch is... I'll make sure she screams real loud before I kill her!"

"You've tried to kill her before, Burnside." Leon shot back, almost smiling. "Why don't you tell me how that worked out for you?"

Steve narrowed his green eyes at Leon, not liking the thought that man seemed to know things about his past, the past he couldn't remember. "I've never tried to kill anyone... Yet." He snarled.

"Actually, that's not true. Albert Wesker tells me you killed more than one person in your time." Leon said matter of factly. "But mainly Claire. And why she still mourns you, I'll never understand." He paused and shook his head. "By the way. I like how you chose someone with the same hair color. Where did you pick up that little slut?"

"Shut your goddamn mouth! Sher... She is not a slut!" Steve realised he had almost let slip just who his lover truly was. "Why the fuck would I care enough before now to have tried to kill your stupid bitch anyway?" He didn't dare bring up the matter of why exactly this man knew Wesker...

"Sher?" Leon laughed at this. "With a name like Sher how could she not be?" He shook his head. "Looks like she'll have to work alot of amature nights to make up for the loss of you, won't she?"

Steve smiled darkly, his green eyes seeming something less then human as he looked across at Leon from beneath the hair that had fallen into his eyes. "You mean like Claire did? Did she tell you we fucked? Right on that crazy bitch Alexia's bed. Man... I thought only hookers knew how to do the things she did..." He had seen that in his dream, but he had always thought it just that; a dream, not a memory.

Leon laughed at this. "As I hear it, it wasn't really Alexia's bed. It was her brother. And besides, I thought you said you didn't remember who Claire was? Maybe if I brought Sher here...no. You don't care about a hooker, do you?"

"You're, right, I don't care." Steve replied coolly. "I don't remember who she was, but I remember sticking it to her while zombies were right outside the door." He sneered crudely. He loved Sherry enough to do everything he could to keep her far away from whatever mess he was in right now.

"You're just as crass as Wesker said you were." Leon muttered. He was looking away now, listening as the plane stared up. "I can't tell you the hoops I had to jump through to get to you. All he asked in return was that we gave back your hooker. Apparently, you two were running from something nasty."

Steve was fighting his restraints all over again, even managing to get one hand free. "You son of a bitch! Sherry deserves better!" He roared, finally letting her name slip.

"Sherry?" Leon snorted. "Well that's a bit better than Sher. But what's so special about her? Wesker told me she has something in her blood that he's interested in. "Did you give her that something, Steve?"

Steve snorted, looking at Leon as though he was stupid. "I'll bet you've put all sorts of disease in Claire's blood by now." He sneered.

"Really?" He shook his head as if Steve had confirmed how stupid he already thought he was. "All the cut downs in the world and that's the best one you could come up with?"
"Albert Wesker is on line two." The pilot shouted back as the plane shuddered into the air.

"I don't need to cut you down... Claire probably does it for me when she moans my name instead of yours." Steve purred, ceasing struggling when he heard that Wesker was waiting to speak with Leon.

Leon waved a hand at Steve as if he were little more than an annoyance. He picked up his phone and answered his, his eyes never leaving the other man. "Yes, we have her." He said after a moment. "We'll be dropping her off at your location in about an hour. How does that sound?"

"You certainly took your time." Wesker replied coolly. "However, you failed to explain the reason you want the reanimated body of a failed experiment. Still worried you'd precious Claire doesn't truly love you?"

"I want to personally make sure he's never a problem for me." Leon muttered. "I don't see why it matters to you since he was a failed whatever. Anyway, you have what you wanted. And you were right about that whole chameleon thing. She's been changing left and right since we put her in the cage."

"She will most likely try and seduce your men into freeing her. Keep female guards with her to minimise the risk." Wesker commented. "A word of advice, mr Kennedy. A woman has no need of a man who is jealous of her previous conquests. If your fear is so great that you would go to these lengths... Perhaps you should have claimed her as quickly as the boy did." That said, he hung up.

Leon snorted bitterly at this and returned the phone to its cradle. "If that were true, why are you alone?" He whispered to the dead air. "Steve...you have to know that I'm sorry about all this. I just...I can't afford to lose her to you. Not again."

"Like I even want her!" Steve roared. "I thought I loved her... But all she ever thought about was you!" the more he and Leon spoke, the more he remembered, and they were painful memories that he had no use for. "Sherry is different. Sherry loves me... And you send her back to that monster!"

"He's got a genuine use for her, Steve. What do you have for her?" Leon asked, raising his eyebrows. "What could you really offer her? You're more of a monster than she is."