Work Text:
“Leon, let me help you!”
The man was bumbling through the front doorway, holding heavy-looking plastic bags that were being stretched into cylindrical shapes. Leon had been gone for a few hours in the morning, off to a hardware store, leaving a very swollen Claire Redfield behind to look after the house.
“No!” Leon immediately called out, slightly stepping back as Claire got up from the couch, presumably reaching out to help her husband.
“You remember what the doctor said, right?” He spoke deliberately, in almost a scolding tone.
Claire rolled her eyes at that, lowering her head in defeat and making mocking hand gestures.
“She said that you can’t put a lot of stress on your body,” the man smiled sincerely at his wife. “Let me handle this, okay?”
“Fine…” Frowning slightly, she began toying with the ends of her silky ponytail.
“Thank you, love.”
Claire was in her third trimester and it was noticeable to anyone just how pregnant she was; it almost looked as though she would pop at any given moment. The prospect of being a mother and the mere act of gestation itself was a blessing, and of course, she was no exception to this. But, this period of her life had been particularly difficult for her.
TerraSave HR had resorted to sending Claire a personal email to her a few weeks ago, practically pleading with her to take time away from work to rest since she was so hellbent on completing her assignments. Burdening one of her coworkers with all her work was the last thing she wanted to do. She was convinced that, in fact, she was in perfect condition to work. Claire and whatever underpaid representative at TerraSave encumbered with reaching out to her spent the entire afternoon exchanging strongly worded emails back and forth.
On top of that, she wasn’t used to having so much attention on her at home. From the minute the pregnancy test came back positive, Leon was dedicated to tending to his wife at any moment he could. Of course, not consistently as he was still spending a lot of time away from the house with the D.S.O. Regardless, it proved almost impossible for Claire to convince him that he didn’t need to cook dinner or sweep the house for a second time that week. To that, Leon would just continue to take on most of the household chores, repeating “stress was bad for the baby” and “take it easy” like they were his new mantras. That is to say, it's not like he thought she wasn't capable of handling things on her own. If anything, Claire was the most capable person he'd had ever met in his life. He was just all too aware of the fact that if nobody was forcing her to take it slow, she'd insist on carrying the weight of the world on her back all while growing a tiny human inside of her.
If stubbornness was a crime, Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield were both guilty on all accounts.
“What’re you gonna do today?” Claire followed closely behind Leon as he walked down the hallway, stopping in front of a smaller room that was next to their bedroom. She was almost like a puppy, desperate for something, anything, to keep her mind and idle hands occupied.
“Just some final touches, nothing crazy… and before you ask Red…” With a soft gaze, Leon looked over his shoulder. “No, you can’t help.”
“Ugh!” A loud, exaggerated whine filled the corridor. “Why?”
“It’s a surprise! Besides, you’re doing the most important thing of all.”
Leon lowered the plastic bags in front of the door and steadily, he leaned down to place a gentle kiss on Claire’s stomach before peppering several more along her cheeks and forehead, lovingly cupping her soft, round face in his palms.
For a while now, Leon had been working on a so-called “surprise” for Claire. Miraculously, he’d done a pretty bang-up job at keeping it a secret from her. Typically he’d retreat into the small, mostly abandoned, room for hours at a time. That was mostly on his free days and after he’d finish up taking care of the chores. Elusive as ever, he was; only emerging to go to bed at night or to use the bathroom. Today was no exception to this. They exchanged hushed “I love you’s” and more delicate kisses before Leon disappeared inside the room, deliberately ushering his wife away from the door. That was a preliminary measure, mostly to withhold her from taking peeks at what he was doing.
It hurt Claire to do so, but she was beginning to feel a little fatigued, although she’d never admit it aloud. So, head hanging low, she inched her way over to the living room.
…
The afternoon had passed when Leon came lurking behind the couch…
“Oh, Claire bear…” Placing his hands on his wife’s shoulders, Leon spoke cheekily. “I have something to show you…”
“...Is it what I think it is?”
“Oh yeah. Come.”
In a few brief moments, Leon placed his hands over Claire’s eyes, carefully guiding her down the hallway. Twisting the silver door knob, the door to the room he’d previously spent countless hours in opened with an elongated creak. Even more cautiously now, the two stepped inside.
“Can I see now? Your hands smell really weird.”
“‘Weird?’ It’s probably just the paint.”
“What do you mean paint?—“
Leon removed his hands from Claire’s face.
“Oh my god… I- It’s- Wow…” The girl’s eyes widened.
Warm, orange sunlight streamed in through a large window, partially obstructed by sheer white curtains, and illuminated the space. The once vacant and bare-bones spare room was now completely transformed into a fully furnished nursery. Pale rose paint colored the walls and in the center of the room was an ornate wooden crib. A changing station, a dresser, a toy box, plushies, a rocking chair; everything Claire could’ve dreamed of in a perfect nursery for their future baby girl was there, right before her. Her hands went to her mouth, covering it as her jaw dropped. Her large eyes began to fill with water. Leon leaned against the doorway and grinned as she walked through the room, running her hand over the crib he’d assembled himself in secret, picking up the plushies he’d picked out months prior, eyes glossing over all his hard work. He wasn’t one to cry, but even his eyes couldn’t refrain from getting a little misty too.
“This is amazing, baby.” Claire barely managed to choke out between elated sobs. “I love it so much...”
“I knew you would... look,” he stepped closer to his wife, pointing his index finger to the dresser, on which stood a wooden nameplate with an engraving.
Laine.
There it was; the name the pair had picked out for their daughter, hand-carved into a slab of walnut wood with miniature lily designs rung around it. The detail on it was a bit amateurish, but still impressive for someone with a complete lack of woodcarving skills.
“Did- did you make that?” Claire gazed up at her husband, his eyes still focused on the nameplate, his lips pulled in a smile that even he wasn’t aware he had.
“Yeah, I’m sorry it’s not that pretty. I’m not an artisan,” he chuckled dryly and rubbed the back of his neck, fluffing the ends of his dirty blonde hair. Claire planted a kiss on Leon’s rugged cheek.
“It’s beautiful… I love it and so does she.” She smiled sweetly, brushing a hand over her stomach.
Cautious to not squeeze her abdomen, Leon pulled Claire in for a tight embrace, dotting the top of her head with kisses and pressing his face into hers. A big dopey smile was plastered across his face as he sang praises into her ears, lively giggles filling the room with even more sunlight.
“If I knew you were doing all this, I would’ve helped you!” Claire broke away from Leon’s embrace for a moment, pushing him away with both hands.
He snickered, “Hell no. Consider it an early birthday gift to Laine.”
“Oh wow, such an awesome dad, already thinking of birthday gifts.” Sarcasm dripped from Claire’s voice, her slender finger poking into the man’s side.
“You’re the awesome one here, Claire bear.” He chortled, pulling the girl closer to him until she was pressed against his chest. Resting his chin on her head, he ran a hand through her long, auburn hair.
“You’re gonna be an amazing mom.”
Claire lovingly gazed up at him, batting her eyelashes before burying her face deeper within his torso. She wrapped her arms around him, treasuring and basking in his warm sandalwood aroma.
“I love you, Leon.”
“I love you too, Claire.”