Black Friday

[governmentninja]

November 26th, 2005.

Attempting to keep an eye on the First Lady and her daughter while they go on a shopping spree when the malls and strips were at their most crowded? A complete pain in the ass. It's not like we could just call in advance and clear the stores out this time, either. This more of impulsive trip for them, so the good news was, no one knew we would be there. The bad news was that plenty of people would be around, too many to really keep an eye on all of them. I'm not sure which was worse, the extreme paranoia from considering that every person on the street was a possible major security risk, or being dragged from store to store to store to store while they tried on outfits, and debated about 15 different shades of blue. I swear, there were moments I felt like I was 8 years old again, being dragged around the mall by mom and my older sisters.

At the very least, they made the uniformed Secret Service Agents hold their bags and purses.

Shoe shopping... or zombies? I'm having trouble deciding which was more stressful.

I got to feel like a normal cop again, for a few moments. I stop 6 different pickpockets, and an actual purse snatcher. I chased him down three blocks before I finally tackled him, all so I could return the purse to a 40 year old mother of two. I got a few strange looks from the other guys for that, they even asked why I would chase down a random purse snatcher, as if it was beneath me. I just told them that if they can figure out the answer to that, then they'd know why I'm their boss, and they're stuck holding the bags.

If I know someone is in trouble, and I can help them, I'll help them. There's no such thing as a problem that's beneath me.

Still, I do regret that I'm about to be temporarily reassigned, pending how the review goes. For all it's problems, I love what I do, and I'll miss it while I help conduct exams and evaluations. In the meantime, I have to hide all evidence of the nexus. I'll probably have to leave a few things, including this journal, at Claire's place. I know that people conducting this investigation won't hesitate to rip my entire life apart to dig up any kind of dirt they can on me. The only safe place to keep a secret would be on another earth. This is going to be hell...

On the upside, though, I'll get more free time, which I could use.

I have a date with Claire tonight. Our first, real, official date, and I'm taking her to a nice steakhouse on the edge of town. Can't say I've been this excited in a long time. I never would've thought our relationship would take such a turn, and if not for the fear gas incident, it probably never would have. I can't say I regret this happening, though I do regret that it was that fear gas that got us to acknowledge these feelings for each other.

I do have one more regret... Ada. I should just forget about her, but I can't. I should just let her go, but I can't. Figures, I always sucked at letting things go. I'm not sure why I'm still holding on. As long as she's working for Wesker, there can't be anything between us, if I didn't already destroy any chance I had when I went off on her while fear gassed. More importantly than all of that, I'd never do anything to hurt Claire. She's my best friend and so much more... I wouldn't want to lose that. I need to just let go of that part of my life.

Now, to actually do it...

Back to Claire... in addition to us dating now, she wants to adopt Sherry. Can't say I blame her. Kate has been nothing more than a glorified babysitter to the kid. I thought placing Sherry with surviving family would be the best idea, but the more I hear about Kate, and particularly after Sherry's recent accident, the more I regret leaving her there. I couldn't keep her with me, and neither could Claire. I'm not entirely sure Claire is ready for such a responsibility, but it's not like she'll be on her own. She has me, she has Chris, she also has plenty of friends in the nexus. I think between all of us, we should do a decent job.

Sherry is a good kid anyway.

Strangely, so was Salazar.... I never thought I'd get so attached to him when he was a kid, but he was just a kid.... and Saddler took advantage of him. Salazar is back to be an adult now, and I have no idea how to react to him. It's hard to look at him, and not see the boy he was, the man he could've been, as well as of the monster he has become. He was given a second chance, and it got squandered. An entire multiverse, and none of us could save one boy...

Fuck...

I'll think about that later, right now, I have to get ready to see Claire.

Comments

[finalgirl.livejournal.com]

After frantically running around for two hours, Claire wound up feeling vaguely unlike herself as she waited for Leon.

Her hair was curled and combed and held up by pins, and for once in her life, she was wearing a skirt. It was a long peasant skirt made out of something vaguely like silk that rustled interestingly when she walked, with a red turtleneck sweater worn over it. She had her wallet and keys in the skirt's pockets... and, of course, a nine-millimeter pistol in a holster strapped to her thigh.

She was going out with Leon, after all.

[governmentninja]

Leon was on time, though he was more than a little nervous as he reached the door to Claire's apartment. A thousand different thoughts seemed to be creeping up in his head. Is my hair ok? Are my clothes ok? Am I over dressed for this? How's my breath? Should I have brought flowers? Would Claire have wanted me to bring flowers? Maybe I should have... Eventually they all just blended into a noise than he forced into the silence of the back of his mind. He couldn't remember being so nervous for a date since he was fourteen.

He did one final check of himself to make sure everything was in order. His hair was good, freshly washed, dried and combed neatly. He wore a dark blue button down shirt, with the top two buttons open, black pants, black boots, and a brown leather jacket. He also had his 9mm safely holstered in the back of his pants. Not that he wanted to bring it, but he was still Leon.

With everything set, he knocked on her door.

[finalgirl.livejournal.com]

Claire opened it shortly thereafter, looking as nervous as he felt.

She hadn't been on a for-real let's-go-somewhere date date for years, and then she was sixteen and neither she or he had had any idea what they were doing. Now, she was theoretically an adult.

To hell with it. She put her smile on. It was Leon; they could handle dinner.

"Hey! You made it... you look good!"

[governmentninja]

Leon almost didn't recognize Claire at first, as this was a very different look for her. "wow... Look at you, you look great!", and he really meant every word of that.

He leaned in to give her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Wouldn't miss this for the world. Ready?"

[finalgirl.livejournal.com]

"'Wow' is good. I can live with 'wow.'" She smiled.

Claire hesitated briefly before letting him kiss her--the makeup and all--but then mentally shrugged and kissed him on the lips.

"Sure thing. I can't wait to see where you're taking me."

[governmentninja]

"Then I best not keep you waiting."

It was just a short trip back to Leon's earth, and a short drive in his black sedan, filled with the usual pleasant idle chit chat (including several compliments on Claire's new look), from his place to Ruby's Steakhouse, just outside of town. The place itself was a fairly nice bar and grill, decorated in a light country-western motif, with country music playing in the background. It was fairly crowded, but it wasn't long before they wre seated and situated.

"So what do you think? I ended up stumbling upon this place a few months ago. Best steaks for miles."

[finalgirl.livejournal.com]

She's starting to feel that bizarre blend of self-consciousness and pride that you get when you're dressed well enough to draw compliments. On top of that, she's noticing the women in the bar stealing occasional looks at Leon. Hee. She sticks her tongue out at one when she figures Leon isn't looking.

"I..." Claire starts looking for appropriate responses. "I'll make up my mind about the steaks when I have one, I didn't know you liked country music, and I think the waitress likes you."

It would appear she opted for "all of them."

[governmentninja]

With all his training, there really wasn't much that got by Leon, though his only response was a very subtle grin.

"Can't say I'm a big fan of country music. I usually listen to rock or jazz, but it's a nice change of pace." He really wasn't sure how to respond to the remark about the waitress, so he just brushed it off, and changed the subject.

"Oh, before I forget... I need to ask a small favor from you."

[finalgirl.livejournal.com]

Claire took a sip from the cola she'd ordered, then grinned around the straw.

"Name it."

[governmentninja]

"I need to store some things at your place, if you don't mind." He knew she wouldn't mind, but it'd be rude not to ask. "Nothing much, just a handful of stuff, it's not like I'm moving in or anything.

"With all the time I've spent running back and forth through the nexus, without telling anyone about the nexus, I've managed to raise a few red flags. I got a heads up that I'll be pulled for review on Monday, and I'm betting 'Nexus LOL' won't pass for an excuse, so I need to put a few things in the only place it's safe to hide them, an alternate earth."

[finalgirl.livejournal.com]

"Oh, no problem. I've got my pinpoint thingy with me, so we can go back to your place at the end of the night, or whenever, and I'll just 'port to my place from your bathroom with whatever the stuff is."

Claire grins. "I was kinda hoping it'd be a more interesting favor."

[governmentninja]

Inside Leon, part of him smiled when he heard Claire say 'go back to your place at the end of the night'. He had to ignore that for the moment, though, as the waitress returned with the food they ordered.

"Trust me, you're still saving my ass, big time, with this..." He grinned at her "Though in the future, I'll make sure it involves inflicting massive amounts of property damage and breaking as many laws as possible, and all for a good cause, mind you."

[finalgirl.livejournal.com]

Claire paused in cutting her steak. "I wasn't even talking about property damage. I was kinda trying to flirt with you."

She went back to it, and ate a bite--mmm--before continuing. "Hey, this is pretty good! Anyway, happy to help. How much trouble are you in?"

[governmentninja]

Leon mentally kicked himself, Idiot. When it came to women, Leon's ability to pick on subtle hints failed miserably. Hell, he'd probably still be oblivious to Ashley's crush on him if she hadn't hinted at it with the subtlety of a sledgehammer.

"Right now, I'm not sure. So far, the worst thing they have on me is that I met with Ada a little over a month ago. Other than that, there's been some suspicious behavior, my leaving with classified info, and returning with bruises and scars, among other things, and not explaining why.

"I'm lucky enough, and I've built up enough trust that I'll be granted a certain amount of leeway with the non-answers. So long as they don't find anything else suspicious, and my physical and psych tests come back normal, I'll be fine. Probably temporarily reassigned, or forced to take a few weeks for vacation.

"Can't say I'm looking forward to having my whole life torn open, though."

[finalgirl.livejournal.com]

"That really sucks. Want me to stick around here for a while, maybe rent an apartment? Otherwise, it's going to look kinda weird that I don't really... you know, exist officially. I could even take the blame for some of your bruises and scars, since they are kind of my fault."

Claire put a bit of butter on her baked potato. "Or maybe I do exist here... I wonder what I'd be up to right about now, if not for all this random stuff.

"Anything else I can do for you, though, I'd be happy to."

[governmentninja]

Leon smiled at her as he took another bite of his nearly finished steak, but shook his head. "No, you don't have to do that. It's going to look just as weird if you suddenly appear out of nowhere.

"You're still free to come around whenever you want while all of this is going on, though, and stay for as long as you'd like."

The subject of the Claire from his timeline didn't quite make him flinch, but it was a bit uncomfortable for him. Ever since he had learned that this Claire wasn't the one from his world, he had been ok with it, but he did wonder what the Claure from this timeline was up to. He never tracked her down, though. Everytime he started to, he just felt weird about it, especially as he grew closer and closer to this Claire.

He would have to seek her out, though, one day. He owed her that. For now, he just avoided the subject.

"So how soon is Sherry going to get out of the hospital?"

[finalgirl.livejournal.com]

((I've been resisting the idea because I know if I do, Claire'll turn out to be in RE5... but when Leon goes looking for her, I could play Future!Claire.))

"She's supposed to get out tomorrow morning. They were just keeping her overnight for observation, to make sure nothing got infected. She's gonna be on antibiotics for a little while, but she should be fine."

Claire took a bite of her potato, then put some pepper on it. "When she feels better, she and Kate and I are probably going to sit down and yell at each other for a while. Sherry's interested in staying with me for a while... the question is whether Kate will go for it or not. I may wind up renting an apartment somewhere just to keep up appearances..."

Unlike Leon, Claire's inner monologue was fairly peaceful. She was worried about Sherry, and her ability to actually do better than Kate had done, but for the most part... she was ridiculously happy, moreso than she'd been in years. Chris was actually around (for as long as that lasted), and she was on an actual, for-real date with Leon. She couldn't seem to stop smiling, even though she was starting to feel slightly self-conscious about it.

[governmentninja]

((That would be an interesting story to play out.))

"I don't expect Kate to give Sherry up easily, but after this, it'd be hard pressed for her not to realize what a poor job she's done thus far."

Leon looked Claire in the eyes, and said, with all honesty "You'll do great with Sherry. I know it." He smiled at her.

"Besides, it'd be good to have her around; another reason for you to keep smiling... and you're so very beautiful when you smile."

There was just something about the way that Claire was smiling tonight that calmed him. Sure, they each had stuff on the horizon to worry about, but he could worry about that later. For tonight, they were together, and could enjoy themselves.

[finalgirl.livejournal.com]

Claire, as usual, started blushing a bit when he complimented her. Then, delicately, she put down her fork and patted her mouth with her napkin.

She came around the table and patted Leon's mouth with the napkin, and, ignoring the crowded restaurant around them, kissed him as thoroughly as she could manage.

"...and you're so very handsome. All the time," she said quietly.

Someone behind them wolf-whistled. She ignored him.

[governmentninja]

It seemed that Claire never ran out of ways to surprise him; he always loved that about her. Once he could find his voice again, there were only two words he could follow that up with.

"...check, please."

[finalgirl.livejournal.com]

She couldn't help it. Every time he called her beautiful, she wanted to kiss him. It was sort of Pavlovian, really.

"I was going to suggest we take a walk, then maybe find someplace to go dancing," Claire whispered, both arms around his neck, "but can you maybe think of something better?"

[governmentninja]

Leon had both of his arms wraped around her waist, and ti just felt so right to hold her like that. He grinned for a moment, then kissed her, completely ignoring the world around them.

"Well, we could just go back to my place. I can think of plenty of things we can do there to entertain ourselves all night long."

[finalgirl.livejournal.com]

"I do kinda want to give some of those things a try when I'm in my right mind," Claire said against his mouth. "You sure you don't want to do anything else?" she asked, smiling.

[governmentninja]

Leon probably couldn't think of anything else if he tried. "All I want is to be with you."

[finalgirl.livejournal.com]

"You are with me," Claire said, and kissed him again.

She looked up, and around, at a sea of faces, some disapproving, some approving, one or two who were jealous or applauding.

"...I'm starting to think you should be with me somewhere else, though," she said, and laughed a little.

[governmentninja]

Leon looked around as well, suddenly very aware of where he was. Some guy was giving him a 'thumbs up' causing Leon to grin a little embarrassed. "Yeah, we might want to get out of here."

Leon pulled out his wallet, and left enough money on the table to take care of the bill, and left a rather generous tip, partly to make up for the little scene they caused.

"Ready whenever you are."

[finalgirl.livejournal.com]

Claire silently decided that next time, she'd be the one to pay for dinner, and moved back so Leon could get up. When he stood, she put her arm around his waist and started tugging him in the direction of the door.

Her grin promised things.