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It’s been a year since the last traces of Umbrella or its mutations were wiped off the face of the Earth. The remnants of STARS and their allies have kept in touch sporadically since then, with many focused on trying to achieve a sense of normalcy. Leon Kennedy in particular had become a kind of sheriff in his new town, a place relatively secure from frequent biohazards. Assistance from the president didn’t hurt matters, and his reputation inspired the community to feel safer and more confident in rebuilding society.
All the comforts, however relative they may be, weren’t enough to sate him. He didn’t care much about things if they weren’t for survival. No, it was someone missing in his life. Someone who made his heart race with excitement and mystery. Yet someone who made him protected when things went under. But after so much time had passed, he learned to push those memories aside.
A day had gone by in a flash, calm and uneventful. He never felt ungrateful, but he felt older and bored. The dating scene didn’t help much, with many of his suitors either idealizing him or not understanding what he went through. Or in one case attempted to manipulate him with a phony nice act. Loneliness settled in like a roommate, and he read a book about Spain as the sunset painted the sky in a cascade of orange and violet lakes. The silence broke when he heard soft knocks on the door. He ambled listlessly to it, expecting a neighbor needing help with a pest. Being so used to comfort, he opened the door without asking who was on the other side.
His eyes widened and he rocked back from the shock, unsure if he was dreaming to see a smirking woman with short black hair.
“You really know how to roll out the red carpet, pretty boy.” She wore a comfortable brown coat over a red shirt and black pants to further signal Leon’s brain who this person was. “When your remember how to talk, I’d like to know if I can come in or freeze my butt out here.”
“Oh,” Leon came back to reality and stood back. “Sure thing, Ada. But how’d you even find me?”
“It’s surprisingly easy to track someone who has a vocal fan club and a friend of the president's daughter.”
“Jeez…”
Leon went to the kitchen to make some drinks as if this was a habit as Ada situated herself to the house. The last traces of yellow sunlight bled through the windows as she sat in the radiant warmth. For a place surviving a zombie apocalypse, he did hell of a job making this feel like home and making it smell like fresh lemons from still-surviving cleaners. A few heirlooms from 19th century figures, blue and red pillows, a roughed up teddy bear, and a small library of modern and old books with some being dusted off. She wondered how much of these belonged to someone else prior to the outbreaks, but she didn’t want to dwell on that subject. Not for this moment.
“Here you go,” he smiled as he handed her a glass of red wine. “Always kept this close to me since I got here.”
“Thank you, Leon,” she sipped the strongly sweet grape drink with a shiver of pleasure. “Oh, I needed this.”
“So what brings you here? Going to need me for another mission?” He asked with a sarcastic chuckle.
Ada swirled her glass with a frown. “It felt important.”
“I can’t imagine someone like you planning something in this place.”
“It’s not that,” she sighed. She took a longer swig and looked at him. “Leon… It hasn’t been the same. With Wesker dead and Umbrella gone, there hasn’t been anything meaningful to do in my time. It’s become bureaucrat work.”
Leon felt there was something missing in her words. “So how’s this more important?”
“Because… There were so many things I did to you I wish I could take back. In those awful times, objectives were the end goal. As long as you weren’t dead, it would be justified. But with everything going well, I thought more about what you’ve been through and it was eating at me.”
She rested her face on her hand, with a staring expression that looked genuine to Leon. He wasn’t the best with words, but he had to do something. He took her hand and pressed it against his stomach. Ada’s confusion was visible.
“I got a nasty bruise from that big guy with the hat.” He then slid the hand to his hip, with Ada raising an eyebrow before easing up. “This I got back in Spain. None of these were from you.”
“Yes, but-”
“If I really thought you were a threat, one of us would’ve been dead already. Yeah, it pissed me off. But I knew that you’d keep me on my toes. And if I was ever in too deep, you’d help me out. I still kept that rocket launcher back in Spain.”
Ada laughed without holding back. “Shut up, you did not!”
Leon shrugged, pleased to see her smiling. “I always liked you Ada. Ever since we met, you’ve been on my mind. You’re fascinating and I always wanted to know the real you.”
“Leon...” she paused with a low, gentle tone.
“I don’t know what we are. Like, what you’d call us. But I’d really like you to stay tonight, and every other night.”
Ada stifled tearing up, and coughed to clear her throat to come off as composed. She caressed his arm and looked at him with lovely brown eyes.
“I’d like that, Leon. We don’t have to decide just yet what we are for tonight. Let’s just see if you can still handle me after my long absence in your life.”
He smiled softly. “I’d like that. It’s good to see a familiar face after so long.”
He took Ada’s hand and kissed it. “Ma’am~”
She smiled with rolling eyes. “Men...”
The dusk turned to night as they spent their time catching up while watching reruns of pre-pandemic television and movies. Time was divided between discussing their scars and eating chocolate ice cream that still tasted cool and sweet. That natural human touch of heat and softness carried on as they held hands out of instinct, simply enjoying needed rest and company. The night winded down as the two slept on the couch, with the television still going. Ada woke up briefly in a groggy daze and was about to return to her slumber until she looked down. Leon went and instinctively turned her lap into a pillow. She smiled at how peaceful he looked, and without much thought she brushed his hair. It felt warm and soft, something desperately needed in those apocalyptic years. She still wasn’t sure what their future would be, but she knew they were free to decide without the heartbreak of possible death. A free love to live for the moment and the future.