Work Text:
Leon S. Kennedy had been dealt many bad hands in his life. A police officers had saved him when his family was massacred. All he wanted to do was help people, to save them. And yet, he’d seen so many people suffer from viruses and B.O.W.s. Raccoon City changed the way he saw the world, and yet he still tried to save people. The government had sent him to Spain to rescue Ashley Graham from Los Illuminados.
That’s where he’d met Luis, a former Umbrella scientist. And he couldn’t save him. He died thinking he wasn’t a good person, that he hadn’t saved anyone like he’d hoped. Leon knew otherwise. It was because of Luis that he and Ashley were cured from Las Plagas. It was because of Luis that he was currently in the hospital cursing the fact no one told him that labor was a bitch.
Leon had been shot, stabbed, and infected, and none of those compared to the pain of giving birth. But everything melted away when he heard the cries of his daughter. Pure joy bloomed in his chest and he cried as he held the small bundle of joy. She was perfect, her little grayish brown eyes reminding him for Luis.
More tears slid down his cheeks when his daughter smiled up at him, reaching for him. “My baby,” he murmured, holding her closer. “You’re so beautiful,” he whispered in awe. The part of him before the Raccoon City incident coming out. Luis would have loved her dearly. Leon had enough love for both of them to give her.
“Sir,” Leon tore his gaze away from his daughter to see a blonde woman in nurse scrubs. “We have to do some testing and a blood draw to make sure your baby is healthy.” Leon didn’t want to let go of his child, something screaming at him not to trust this nurse.
The nurse sighed exasperated. “Sir, it won’t be long. This is standard procedure.” She reached for the baby girl, Leon reluctantly letting her go. Something about the nurse’s eyes felt wrong. They gleamed triumphantly as she walked out of the room, and Leon’s heart froze.
“Wait!” Leon shouted, struggling to get up despite the lingering pain. The nurse didn’t stop walking down the hall with his daughter. “Stop!” A couple other nurses came into the room. “She took her!” he shouted.
“Sir, calm down,” a nurse said firmly, pushing him back down. “Your baby will be back shortly.”
Leon’s instincts were never wrong. That nurse wasn’t a nurse. “Please, get my baby! That woman’s not a nurse!” He tried to get off the bed, his head spinning. Nurses tried to keep him calm and in bed to recover, but all he could think about was his daughter. He knew she wasn’t coming back unless he tried to get her.
“Sir! We will sedate you,” another nurse snapped. “Calm down. Call security and the emergency contact. Perhaps someone close with help keep him calm,” she told one of the younger nurses. She turned back to Leon, pushing a sedative through an IV.
“No! Please!” Leon was sobbing now. “Please, get my child!” His sobs quieted down as the sedative kicked in. His struggles weakened and he cried into the uncomfortable hospital pillow. His daughter was gone. He’d failed once again.
Chris Redfield raced to the hospital once he got the call about Leon. He’d been nearby in case anything happened, and when he got to the room Leon was a mess. He kept mumbling ‘she’s gone’ and ‘my baby is gone’.
“What happened?” Chris demanded, eyes narrowed.
“A nurse came to take the baby to testing,” the charge nurse explained. “The baby should be back in a few minutes.” She glanced at Leon. “Some people just tend to overreact. She was getting violent and we had to sedate her.”
“Him,” Chris snapped.
“Oh, right, I’m sorry,” the nurse apologized, but Chris knew she didn’t mean it. “It would be wise for you to stick around until the baby is returned. Sh—He might calm down if he sees someone he knows. Now, I have other mothers to check on. Press the red button if anything happens.” The nurse walked passed Chris.
“Leon?” Chris asked softly, sitting next to Leon. “What’s wrong?”
Leon looked at him with hazy eyes. “She took my baby. She’s…she’s not a nurse, Chris.” He weakly grabbed Chris’ arm. “Go get her. Please, find her,” he begged desperately. “Please.”
Chris had never seen Leon like this. Leon didn’t break down crying. He didn’t attack nurses. And he certainly didn’t accuse a nurse of kidnapping a baby. Should he go chase down a nurse or stay with Leon to keep him from accidentally hurting himself? Was this all just the stress of undergoing labor alone? He grabbed Leon’s hand.
“If she’s not back within ten minutes, I’ll go look for her,” he promised, giving himself enough time to think and Leon time to calm down. Leon looked like he wanted to protest. “Leon, I promise. I’ll look for her. Why don’t you tell me about her?”
Leon took a deep, shuddering breath. “She’s perfect, Chris. Small, but she has her father’s eyes. And her smile. She smiled at me, you know.” He stared at his hands. He could still feel her in his arms. “I want to name her Luisa after her father.” A tear slid down his cheek. “She cried, but it was beautiful. I thought babies screamed. But she didn’t scream. Just cried.”
Chris listened to Leon gush about Luisa, a smile on his face.
Ten minutes passed, and the nurse didn’t return. Keeping his promise, Chris went looking. “Excuse me, have you seen a blonde nurse with a baby? She was supposed to do some testing?” he asked one of the nurses at the nurse’s station.
“What room is the baby from?” the nurse asked, typing on her keyboard.
“Uhh,” Chris looked behind him to read the room number. “Room 306.”
The nurse entered the number and frowned. “Huh, that’s weird. Testing isn’t scheduled yet.” She looked up at Chris. “Are you sure you have the right room?”
“I’m sure,” Chris replied firmly, a sinking feeling in his gut. Had Leon been right?
“Testing isn’t scheduled for another hour,” the nurse explained. “We like to let the mother bond with the child first before we take them for tests and blood draws. It’s often traumatic for mothers to be separated from their babies right after labor.”
Chris grit his teeth. “Then why the hell is my friend sedated and distressed because his baby was taken for testing right after birth?” His voice raised slightly, anger growing.
“I…We’ll look into this,” the nurse stammered.
Chris didn’t bother listening to the nurse as she stammered apologies. Apologies didn’t bring a baby back. He stormed through the labor wing, looking for the blonde nurse. Maybe she hadn’t made it out of the hospital yet. Five minutes turned into ten, and ten minutes turned into an hour. No nurse and no Luisa.
Leon was right. Chris grit his teeth. Luisa had been taken right under the hospital’s nose.
Maria carried the baby outside to a black SUV. She got inside, the baby babbling and looking up at her with innocent eyes. If Maria had a heart, she would’ve felt a twinge of guilt, a feeling of regret. But, she had a mission to do to help her father and Glenn Arias. This was just a means to an end.
“I have the package,” she told the driver.
“Good job,” the man spoke. “Umbrella will appreciate the package.”
Maria kept Luisa on her lap.