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The thick heels of Ada's boots clacked upon the linoleum floors, arrhythmic due to her limp. Arms crossed, and sunglasses donned, she attempted to make herself look as small and insignificant as possible as she traversed several long hallways... nurses and patients passing her by occasionally.
Whatever happened, she couldn't attract attention.
Hospitals had always made her uncomfortable, suddenly grateful for the private care she'd received after her time in Raccoon City. At times, being an agent had its benefits.
The place was packed, as it was one of the nearer facilities to the now-destroyed city... but thankfully, not overrun. Several emergency medical stations had been placed, but those requiring surgeries or extended care were transferred to the hospital itself.
It hadn't been difficult to locate a certain Leon Kennedy, simple enough to view patient check-ins and records. Umbrella dealt in pharmaceuticals, after all, and any loose ends from Raccoon had to be tied up.
That was her excuse to find him, in any case. According to her digging, the young cop wasn't yet discharged.
Eyes scanning the numbered door labels as she walked past, Ada searched for the correct one.
213... 215... 217.
Inhaling deeply as she paused before Leon's door, Ada didn't knock. Merely cracked the door open and peeked her head inside.
She expected to find him sleeping, but Leon's head, resting back against his pillow, slowly turned to regard her.
If she was being honest, a part of her wanted to go booking right back down the hallway. Her heartbeat was instantly drumming in her ears, drowning out any other sound.
... it was stupid to come here.
"Ada?!"
The way he excitedly uttered her name had her heart fluttering wildly like butterfly wings.
Shutting the door behind her, Ada stepped inside as Leon was instantly sitting up, looking damned near ready to throw the covers back and greet her. Her cool tone concealed her own uncertainty.
"Easy, Rookie. You're in that bed for a reason."
Leon sat back again, though stiffly. She caught sight of the IV in his arm, and she wagered that he'd needed blood. Thick bandages covered his left shoulder, across his broad chest and down his muscled arm, as he was shirtless, the thin hospital sheets covering him from the hips down.
As she moved in closer, she could easily see that he was an artist's palette of bruises... blue, purple, freshly-healed green. She knew that she didn't look much better underneath her long, knitted turtleneck, but she also had makeup to conceal the visible ones. Leon bore the many injuries he'd sustained for all the world to see.
"You're sure it's not the drugs?" he asked, voice breaking somewhat. "You're... really here? It's really you?"
She could tell that his eyes were watery. God, those baby-blues...
"Either that or I've got one hell of a clone," she scoffed, detracting from the overwhelming emotion that she was suddenly drowning in.
She hated it.
"Well I mean, now that I know that zombies are real..." Leon gave a wide-eyed stare as he trailed off, partially for the joke not to fall flat, but also probably because he was high as hell on meds.
Ada crossed the distance between her and the bed, daring to sit at the edge of the mattress as she removed her sunglasses.
"I meant it when I said I wanted to see you again..."
Leon gave a self-assured nod. A little bit of cop peeking through.
"Well, it was worth every goddamned second."
"Don't say that..." Ada shook her head, eyes glancing over his beaten body. "How are you feeling? Bad infection, I bet."
Hair flopping into his eyes, Leon chuckled.
"Turns out that sewers aren't so sanitary with an open wound," he joked, "but it doesn't hurt so much."
"Sorry I couldn't clean it better," she lamented. "Did what I could."
"I'm grateful. I would have bled out if not for you."
"I wouldn't go that far... you're feistier than you give yourself credit for. Besides, I've never seen another man outrun a 3-ton alligator."
He gave a shrug, with the slightest of winces.
"Hey, didn't really have a choice. But... enough about me, how are you, Ada? How..."
She heard the unspoken words on his lips. The way he looked at her... as if she was a ghostly apparition before his tired eyes.
'How are you alive?'
Her answer came almost too quickly. Avoidance.
"I'm well enough."
Ada's slight shoulders rolled, and she scooted a bit closer to him on the bed, her hip against his leg. The words that escaped her lips sounded pathetic in her own ears. Lies... always with her lies.
As she sat, she glanced over to the bedside table, eyeing a hand-made Get-Well-Soon card, with a childish scribble of a man, woman and child holding hands together in stick-figure form, with what appeared to be an explosion erupting behind them.
Above the woman's head, was scrawled: 'Claire.'
"Looks like you've had some visitors. Who's Claire?" Ada ventured. "Girlfriend?"
Leon's eyes went wide as she watched him closely.
"What? Oh... no, she's just a friend from the City. Sherry is.... well, she was orphaned during the outbreak. They visited a couple days ago."
Ada assumed it must be nice to have friends. In any case, she wouldn't really know. Though, it did jog her memory.
"Oh, I almost forgot. I did get you this on the way in... I figured plants were a bad idea."
Leon winced, surely recalling their hellish journey through the NEST and the horrors they'd witnessed there. "Maybe just a bit."
Ada reached into her handbag to produce a tiny teddy bear keychain, its plush body and glassy-eyed stare dangling at her fingertips.
Smiling, he reached out to take it, holding it in his much larger palm. "I didn't know the lady liked such cute things."
"I don't, but you seem the type," she teased.
"Thanks, Ada..." They stared at each other for a few long moments, as Leon set the bear atop his lap. Ada was controlling her breathing, hoping he couldn't hear the slight hitch of her chest.
Leon's arm, despite the IV in the crook of his elbow, reached out to brush her knee with his fingertips. She stared, his pale fingers against black stockings. She wanted to bristle, but when his palm rested there, she dared to place her hand over his.
"Your hands are cold," he frowned, as usual, thinking selflessly as his opposite arm, the one battered and bandaged, stretched to cup her hand within both of his.
"Well," she scoffed, "guess they match the rest of me."
Leon shook his head. "Ada..."
At the sound of his voice uttering her name, again, she had that instinctual urge to run. Run, and never look back...
"Listen, I should get going. I hope you're back on your feet again soon."
When she moved to leave, Leon remained holding her hand, his grip surprisingly strong. His blue-eyed gaze was begging her.
Her heart shattered.
"Stay with me?" he pleaded gently.
"I've already overstayed my welcome."
She was amazed by how damned cold she could sound, when the inner-workings of her heart felt so uncharacteristically warm.
"Just a few minutes?" Leon wasn't about to give it up, or so it seemed.
With a deep sigh, she settled next to him once again, the curve of her hip nudging against his leg. "Move over. You're persistent, I'll give you that."
Leon carefully scooted, making more than enough space for her petite figure as she curled up on the bed beside him.
"Expect anything less from a Raccoon City cop?"
"Of exactly one day," she reminded, gently poking his thigh.
"Helluva day, though," he sighed, looking ready to contentedly go back to sleep. As he settled in, he dared to wrap an arm around her shoulders. He was surprisingly warm despite the cool air of the hospital room and the dreary autumn weather.
"Don't push it, Rookie," she said, smiling, but there was no shoving him away this time as she made sure she wasn't crushing his IV line.
Soon enough, Ada knew he'd be asleep, and she'd take her leave faster than she came... hiding in the shadows and refusing to acknowledge the young, handsome man who constantly tugged at her heartstrings.