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Claire picks Chris up from the airport. She and Leon have been in the States with the kids for a month already, and, from what Chris can tell, it's been hectic but good. Claire seems tired but chipper. She has a thousand stories from bonding with each one of the kids, and most of them are profoundly weird because the kids are profoundly weird.
Chris has spent the last few weeks studying the records that the BSAA and DSO have put together. He knows the names beside Ben's now. Although, he's of course spent the most time with Ben's file, as if he can discern something new from each read even though most of Ben's files are scans of his lungs.
He still doesn't know what to expect of this. It's one thing to know he's okay with Leon. It's another to try and step into what Leon and Claire have been hard at work building.
“Don't worry,” Claire says as she parks the car in front of the sprawling house. “They're going to love you.” She claps him on the shoulder and then pulls herself out of the car. Honestly, if it hadn't been for the recent rescue operation, Chris would have been able to say that he doesn't remember the last time he was this nervous.
Nervousness is not something he's used to. He's aware of the danger when he goes on missions, but he also knows how to handle himself. No amount of training can help him here.
“Claire!”
Two girls come careening across the lawn toward them. Claire lights up immediately at the sight of them, and she opens her arms for the first girl to rush into them. Claire swings her around before planting her on her hip. The second girl finishes her jog to arrive at Claire's side, takes her hand, and then goes shy at the sight of Chris.
“This is my brother,” Claire says warmly, squeezing her hand. “His name is Chris.”
Chris doesn't know if they recognize him from the rescue at the facility. He doesn't know if he wants them to or not. He figures that was probably more traumatic for little kids than feeling like a real rescue.
“This is Midnight,” Claire jostles the girl on her hip, “and Nikki.” She holds up the hand of the other little girl.
Midnight, wearing a very serious, holds a hand out for Chris.
Not bothering to repress his grin, Chris takes her tiny hand in his.
“Thank you for the welcome, Midnight,” Chris says, using a very serious tone to match her expression.
“Nik, you want to go tell your dad that Chris is here?” Claire asks. “Midnight and I will show him around.”
Nikki smiles a little shyly at Claire and then nods and takes off at a sprint back toward the house.
Chris trails after Claire as they head into the sprawling land that frames the house. The rest of the kids are outside playing some sort of game with a ball while under the watchful eye of a handful of BSAA folks stationed at the house. One of them is Piers Nivans – who is also the only one playing with the kids, deftly tossing the ball with a wide grin on his face. Chris forgets how young he is sometimes.
Ben is perhaps the most engaged in the game, so it isn't hard for Chris' eyes to be drawn to him. He's laughing wildly up at Piers and trying to wrap himself around Piers' leg in an attempt to wrestle the ball from him. He has all that wild, infectious energy of a toddler.
Chris can feel the weight of Claire's gaze and turns to look at her. She smiles at him, obviously knowing where he's looking.
“He's a real happy kid,” Claire says. Chris doesn't know what to say so he just nods.
Claire takes him through the rest of the house – the main floor looks almost like a normal house except for the fact that everything's massive, fitted for a community rather than a family. The downstairs is an entirely different matter, as the labs are all down there. The second floor is where the bedrooms are all lined together, feeling more like a dormitory.
They're just about at the end when Leon finds them, Nikki now hanging off one of his hands.
“Hey Redfield,” Leon says as he reaches them.
“Kennedy,” Chris answers. Nikki wrinkles her nose.
“Hope you weren't planning on taking any vacation here,” Leon says. Below, they can hear some of the kids pounding inside.
“Nah,” Chris answers, painfully aware that they're talking without saying anything.
“I'll leave you two to it,” Claire says, practically rolling her eyes as she extracts herself.
Chris clears his throat a little once she's gone. Leon, for all his easygoing charm and shield, seems a little uncertain too.
“I am glad to be here, Leon,” Chris offers, figuring that, in so many of their last encounters, Leon has chosen to be the one to be vulnerable first. Leon huffs out a breath, bangs fluttering, but then nods, and offers a smile like a peace offering.
“Have you told him?” Chris asks after a breath of a moment. He doesn't specify who, but Leon knows all the same. An expression pinches his face.
“No,” Leon admits. “I was hoping it would be easier when you were actually here. It's just … it's a such a bizarre thing to try and explain to them, and particularly him, and they don't always get normal human standards to begin with. I keep wanting to push it off until they're older,” Leon half scoffs. “But they already want to know.”
Chris doesn't envy Leon's position. He would even try to respect it if Leon rescinded his earlier decision to tell Ben that Chris is one of his parents. But, as Leon and Claire have both pointed out, there's really no ignoring that Ben looks too much like Chris to be coincidental.
Leon regains himself and nods, as if reaffirming his own decision.
“I'm going to tell him now, all right?” Leon says. “Aside from the other kids and before everyone sees the two of you together.”
“All right,” Chris agrees, his throat growing tight.
“Do you want to be there?” Leon asks. To Chris, there is something amazing about how almost clinical Leon can be in all this. He so obviously cares about this work, but it's the same as when he's in a fight: he can parse everything down to the minimum and set aside whatever emotion he's feeling.
Chris nods without hesitation. He's made the decision to be here. He's here – for all of it.
Downstairs, there's a thunder of footsteps and peals of laughter. Leon doesn't look away from Chris, and Chris feels utterly seen through.
“Ben,” Leon calls. “Come here.”
One pair of little feet breaks away from the herd and pounds up the steps. Ben is a sweaty mess, smeared with grass stains, and still grinning like anything – and, somehow, if possible, that grin gets wider when sees Leon. He drapes himself along Leon, half tugging.
“Dad!” he announces brightly. “I kicked the ball over Piers' head!”
“Did you?” Leon asks, diverting his attention away from Chris for the first time. Chris can see that softness again. Leon runs a hand through Ben's hair, and it's the same as when Leon had picked Ben up in the facility – the love that was blindingly obvious for everyone else to see.
“Yup!” Ben chirps. “Next time I'm going to kick it over your head!” Still half hanging off of Leon, Ben finally notices Chris in the hallway. He doesn't precisely go shy, but he does pull himself back in, tugging his body closer to Leon's and looking up Chris. His gaze is near analytical. Chris wonders what he sees.
“Do you remember Chris?” Leon asks. Ben purses his lips as if considering.
“He was one of the soldiers on the plane,” Ben says finally.
“That's right,” Leon says. “He's kind of like Piers' boss. He's Claire's big brother.”
Ben is still studying Chris, and his expression doesn't change at all at those modifiers.
Leon pauses.
“Do you remember how we had a discussion about how you all have two people who contributed to your DNA in addition to the virus?” Leon asks.
Ben looks up at him and nods.
“You're half of my DNA,” Ben supplies.
“Right,” Leon affirms. He looks from Ben to Chris. “Chris is the other half of your DNA.”
Ben scrunches up his nose and looks back over at Chris.
“So he's like another dad?” Ben asks. It's really strange to be a part of this conversation but to be primarily a third party right now. Chris isn't sure what to say, so he's quiet as Leon and Ben work through this for the time being.
“Yes,” Leon says.
“Why hasn't he been here?”
“You can ask him that.”
Ben's attention focuses entirely to Chris now.
“Why haven't you been here?”
Chris kneels to be at Ben's level.
“You know what Piers does?” Chris asks, deciding to base his explanation off of Ben's obvious interest with Piers.
Ben nods.
“He stops people who make the viruses that hurt people,” Ben supplies.
“That's right,” Chris says, nodding. “I've been busy doing that too. But now that I have a break, I'm going to stay with you for a little bit, just like Piers and Claire have been doing. I came here to meet you.”
“Chris is the one who was looking for us the whole time we were in the facility,” Leon supplies. “He made sure that people came to rescue us.” It's perhaps a bit of a stretch of the truth, but it's the easiest way to explain how much Chris was invested on a more personal level than most of the rest of the DSO and BSAA.
Ben still looks a little unsure of what they're telling him, but after a moment, he nods again, and Chris figures that's a start.
...
As it turns out, it's not a great start. While Ben seems to have accepted what Leon and Chris told him as truth, Ben still skirts around Chris. The kids love Piers and Claire, but they're shy around most of the other BSAA and DSO operatives who watch over them. Somehow, Chris has found himself lumped into that category. He's not entirely sure why.
Piers, bless him, tries to integrate Chris into the clique, and the whole thing feels too much like middle school. Claire, ironically, tells him to be patient.
He can't even keep figuring things out with Leon, because it's impossible to find a spare moment. The kids bump into each other to sit near Leon at dinner. Sharing a bed is something they can't consider – one kid or three is always climbing into bed after a nightmare, nesting together.
After a week, Chris has to admit to being frustrated.
Claire grins at him in amusement.
“You don't see it, do you?” she says.
“That I'm uncool to a bunch of toddlers?” Chris asks dryly.
“They're protecting Leon,” Claire supplies.
“What?” Chris asks dumbly.
Claire rolls her eyes.
“Think about it,” she says. “The last place they were in was full of adults who, I'm guessing, were dicks to Leon. Maybe hurt him in front of them. That's the main thing they've seen. I think that's just the expectation when a new soldier-type shows up, and you – you're in Leon's space all the time.”
“So, what?” Chris asks, “I have to ask for permission to date Leon?” The word “date” even sounds stupid when it comes to whatever is between him and Leon.
“I'm just saying,” Claire says, shrugging, “that they have a reason for the way they're acting. And it's not a bad reason, really.” She grins. “Just think of it like having 13 little gatekeepers instead of ever having to meet the parents.”
“I'm really glad you're so amused with this,” Chris says, tone still dry.
“They adore me,” Claire says, pressing a hand over her heart. “What's not to love?”
After that, Chris starts to notice exactly what Claire means. There's just so many kids all the goddamn time that it's hard to discern a pattern – but it is there when you know what to look for. Chris wonders if Leon has even noticed. They just never really allow him to be alone with anyone besides Claire – and sometimes, Piers. If there's ever a time when Leon's behind a closed door with someone else, two of the kids are planted outside the door – usually giving a good rendition of playing some game, but there all the same. Nikki and Ben are the two who are most often at Leon's side, but they all take their turns. They vary enough that Chris realizes they've organized it so that it's not always the same two faces, and that's the first time Chris really starts to get a handle on how the hive mind works and how beyond the thinking capacity of the kids really is.
For the time being, Chris accepts what's happening – mostly because he's not exactly sure how to fix it just yet. He focuses on the flow of the house. There's almost enough to learn and do that he can ignore the pull of Leon whenever he's around him.
Meals tend to be an affair, and perhaps none more so than dinner. Chris can't deny that he kind of likes it though. He and Claire have been a family unto themselves for a long, long time. It's part of why Chris has always enjoyed the familial feel of the BSAA, and this, with so many kids, is like that but amplified. He's feeling laidback and happy. He's seated next to Claire even if Leon is at the far end of the table.
Leon gestures for Claire to pass the rolls, but Chris is faster. Instead of moving the basket along the table, he just grabs the top roll.
“Head's up, Kennedy,” he says, grinning boyishly, as he lobs the bread at Leon.
Leon catches the roll like it's second nature and shoots Chris a look that's dry and is trying to convey that he's not amused but that he's definitely amused.
Belatedly, he realizes that, beside Claire, Nikki is making a face at Ben. Ben's face is an answering mask of concern.
“What's wrong?” Chris asks before he can stop himself. A few of the kids grow quiet, which means that Chris has tapped into some moment of them sharing a thought. None of them answer him.
“C'mon,” Chris says, deciding to press his luck tonight. “I can't fix it you don't let me know what's wrong.”
Unsurprisingly, it's Ben who finds his voice first, steeling himself in front of Chris as if he expects some retaliation.
“His name isn't Kennedy,” Ben says like a challenge.
It's a shockingly little thing. Something that seems just right for a kid to get hung up on – because Chris suddenly realizes that Wesker never would have called Leon by his first name. Everything would have been “Agent Kennedy” or “Kennedy.” If that at all. And by contrast, of course, Claire almost always calls Leon by his first name. Somehow, this has become a marker to the kids on who respects Leon and who doesn't. Chris unwittingly fell into the trap.
Across the table, Leon looks a little baffled too.
“Ben,” Leon starts to say, probably about to clarify what last names are.
“I can call him Leon if that's important to you,” Chris concedes instead. “What else can I fix?”
Ben stares Chris down, and it's almost amusing to be on the other end of his intimidating stare. But Chris doesn't flinch and after a minute, Ben shakes his head.
“All right,” Chris agrees. “Let me know.” He glances around the table at all of them so they know he's not just talking to Ben. Things will go a lot smoother if he can at least know the criteria the kids have. “I care about Leon too. And I'm here to help you guys protect him.”
It's maybe a little heavy-handed, particularly how smart the kids are, but it's the best he can do for now. Something seems to loosen around the table anyway, so Chris will take his victories when he can get them.
When he looks back at Leon, Leon is red with embarrassment. Chris shoves a roll in his mouth and winks at Leon.