cris

“She’ll put a special type of gauze in it every few hours and until it closes on its own basically.” She tore off a piece of what appeared to be cotton and began to morph into a thick, long piece like she was playing with putty. “You’ll just stuff it in there with tweezers preferably until you can't anymore and that’s it.”

Gabriella's stomach turned and her body flushed with heat. She thought about how it would feel and look to push the gauze inside of the wound. She almost gagged at the mental image.

“I can’t do that.” She murmured. Her body shook with a shiver and she shook her head.

Despite her line of work Gabriella was squeamish when it came to blood, or any type of gore. She rationalized killing zombies and other BOWs by telling herself it was for the best, but that didn’t stop her churning stomach and the rise of bile in her throat when she looked at it—really looked at it.

“I’ll help you.” Leon gave her a reassuring nod.

But Gabriella did not feel reassured. “Mm,” she groaned. “I can't.” She shifted her body away from the nurse and grimaced.

“Well, you're not going to feel it now. And later, it'll be more uncomfortable than anything, but it shouldn't hurt.”

She whined softly. “I’m gonna be sick.”

“You killed a licker and this makes you sick?” Amanda feigned a chastising tone and tutted.

Gabriella snorted. “You shouldn't make fun of your patients.” 

Leon strode across the room with such swiftness that Gabriella hadn’t noticed him beside her until he took her hand in his, squeezing it hard enough that for a brief moment she didn’t think about Amanda packing the wound. She nestled her face into his arm and squeezed her eyes shut. 

It was over quickly and while Gabriella should've been grateful, she wasn't. She thanked Amanda under her breath and let Leon help her out of the room.

“There's a car that'll take us to the hotel.” He told her. Leon had his arm around her waist and his other hand grasped hers tightly.

“I thought everyone was going for dinner.” She replied. She was looking up at him and noticed his slight frown at her insinuation of wanting to not go back to the hotel.

“Yes, but you're not really in a state to be out right now.” His frown deepened as he looked at her. His eyes darted around her face and he cupped it gently. “I’ll get us something and we’ll stay in.”

She gave him her own frown and whined pathetically. “I don't want to miss out.”

He sighed. “Gabby.”

“Leon.”

He pursed his lips and sighed again. “Fine. But we're not staying for long.”

They stayed longer than Leon wanted and Gabriella knew this by the way his mood darkened every time she brushed him off. Gabriella was too engrossed in conversation with Carlos and she didn't want to leave. It wasn't often she got to speak entirely in Spain and she didn't want it to end. Leon gave up after the fourth time and directed his attention to the cup of water in front of him and brief remarks to Chris and Jill. 

“It’s incredible you're so accomplished. When I was your age I was still fighting drug lords.” He laughed light heartedly and took a sip of his beer.

Gabriella considered his compliment and decided to shrug it away. “It was never that big of a deal for me, you know? I just wanted to make it worth it for my parents. They came from Mexico to make sure I did better than them—and I did.”

“You’re admirable, Gabriella.”

She blushed and ducked her head and took a sip of her water. Leon had blocked her order of a cocktail, reminding her with a lethal tone that she couldn't drink with the pain medication she had been prescribed.

“If you don't mind me asking,” Carlos started. He circled the rim of the cup with his finger, avoiding her gaze. “Do you have a boyfriend?”

The question took her by surprise. Partly because she hadn’t expected him to ask; it seemed as though they were just having a friendly conversation. And partly because, while it was a straightforward question, the answer was more complicated than Gabriella wanted to admit to herself or anyone else.

She wasn't exclusive with Leon by any means. But she also hadn't sought out to see or be with anyone else. Mentally, she had confined herself to him under the guise of wanting to keep the risk of STIs and STDs at a minimum. But deep down she knew it was because she didn't really want to be with anyone else.

Sometimes they acted exclusively. Sometimes when he came over they didn't have sex immediately; they'd have dinner either something Gabriella made or something Leon brought. They'd talk about their day and plans for the weekend. She’d gossip with him about something her friends had said or were doing that was interesting. 

Other times, he'd touch her. And not in the way that he was testing the waters to initiate sex. It'd be gentle and casual when he was walking by or when they were laying in bed together. He always stayed the night much to Gabriella’s dismay, but she never asked him to leave or acted like she wanted him to. In fact, she wanted him to stay and expected it. 

She liked when they laid in bed together, and when he held her close to him, and when he kissed her before turning off the light. Sometimes, they'd kiss for no reason. Making out before settling to watch something on the TV or before deciding to go to sleep. 

So, no, they were not exclusive. But she wouldn't deny that it appeared that they were without verbal confirmation. And she couldn’t deny that she was comfortable—to comfortable with their arrangement.

She considered his question quickly and then shook her head. “No, I don't.”

Leon stiffened beside her almost immediately but she brushed it off, assuming someone had said something to him or he was getting irritated again that they hadn’t left yet.

“Ah, it's a shame.” Carlos’ brown eyes met hers, partially obscured by his ruffled hair. “You're very beautiful.”

Gabriella was not equipped to handle compliments or any acts of affirmation. It made her extremely uncomfortable; she could feel her body flush with heat in a nauseating way and her first instinct was to shut it down and leave.

“Uh,” she chuckled awkwardly. “Thank you. You’re very kind”

“I take it that you don't hear it often.” He tilted his head and she could see it in his eyes that he was pushing his luck—that he was seeing if there was something more.

Carlos was wrong. She heard it often, almost every night even. Leon always made sure to say it to her when they were in bed. Even if he was behind her, his hands holding her hips where he wanted them—needed them, and couldn't see her face that was contorted in pleasure, he always said it and he said it like he meant it, too.

Gabriella shrugged, not willing to divulge further.

“Gabby.” Leon whispered to her. His breath was hot against her ear and his voice was slightly strained.

She turned and looked up at him through her lashes. She had sat beside him the entire night, using his body to make it easier to talk to Carlos, not to mention that he was very warm and his biceps, firm against her back, was comforting.

“We need to leave.” It wasn't a suggestion like before; this was a command and she knew better than to argue.

She nodded quickly in agreement even though it felt more like submission. Leon was not prone to moods—he was almost always composed and level headed, but she knew what made him tick and when something triggered him. And she knew that his plan for the night not being followed was brewing a fire inside that she did not want to feel.

Leon helped her up after they said their goodbyes. Alex, surprisingly, complimented her work at the facility. She waved his compliment away, feeling awkward under everyone’s stares.

Leon helped her out of the restaurant with his hand low and firm on her back, just above her tailbone. The presence of it and of Leon as they exited the restaurant, into the car, and up the elevator to their shared hotel room gave an aura of possessiveness. It wasn’t loud, the energy he was exuding was controlled, but just enough that she felt it.

Leon was not unusually quiet as moved around each other in the room. But the silence was different from what she knew. Normally it was calm with a shared understanding of one another, but now as they packed their bags for their flight the next morning, as he redressed her thigh, and as he helped her into bed, the silence was loud and thick with tension.

When Leon emerged from the bathroom he padded over to the empty bed beside Gabriella and she watched him with a confused expression on her face. She was so used to sharing a bed with him that she was genuinely dumbfounded to see him not with her. She had grown so used to the extra weight on the mattress; his hand fiddling with the hem of her shirt and occasionally drawing small circles on her waist. The nights that he didn’t stay she found herself restless and it took her longer than usual to fall asleep.

“You're not going to sleep with me?” Gabriella’s voice came out meeker than she had expected it to be. But she did feel meek and small at the perceived rejection.

He turned his head and looked at her. There was a reservation in his eyes and in his body language that she had never seen before.

“I wasn't planning on it. But…if you want me to, I will.”

She swallowed thickly, taking a deep breath through her nose. “No, it's–it's okay. I just…” She shook her head and lowered her gaze. “If you don't want to, then that's okay. I just…nevermind; I’m sorry.” Quickly, she turned the light off and laid down, folding her hands on her chest.

She was upset. More upset than she thought she would be at how out of reach he felt both emotionally and physically. She felt foolish for thinking he'd share the bed with her if they weren't having sex; she had just gotten so comfortable with his presence in her space that she had forgotten that their relationship was entirely transactional.

She forced her resolve to harden and to forget the feelings that had begun to take place in her heart. She ripped out them out by their roots and shaved them in a box in her mind, slamming it shut, she kicked it away into the darkest parts of her; if she couldn’t see it, then she couldn’t feel it.

Leon meant nothing to her now that the box was closed and locked; She forced herself to believe it. He was just someone that she had sex with, and that's all he could ever be. She was stupid for thinking otherwise—for thinking that she was worthy of having the kind of relationship that normal people, filled with joy and happiness—filled with love. She wasn't a good person; she was tainted with sin upon sin. He would never want that. She was only good for what she gave him: her body and mouth and a warm bed to sleep in for the night after he rolled off of her.

She set her jaw and flared her nostrils, forcing the tears that threatened to break through to still in their place in her eyes. She didn't allow them to fall. She didn't allow them to be proof that she liked him more than she should have.

Leon and Gabriella barely talked the next morning except niceties when they woke up and when he helped her redress her wound. And then they barely talked on the way to the airport except when Leon asked if she was hungry which Gabriella lied and said she wasn’t; Leon came back with a burger for her anyway which she promptly ate in silence after mumbling her thanks.

The only act that eased the tension between them was when the plane took off. Gabriella hated flying which was unfortunate given how often she traveled for work. It made her anxious beyond belief that something would be wrong with the plane and they would crash.

When the plane took off she tensed and grimaced at the pain in her leg as she planted her feet onto the carpeted floor to brace herself. The pit in her stomach grew and she shut her eyes to force herself to relax. Leon, much to her surprise given his attitude towards her since the night prior, grabbed her hand that was clenching the arm rest of her seat and rubbed his thumb on the skin between her thumb and pointer finger. Only then did Gabriella relax as the plane leveled itself in the sky. She rested her head on his shoulder and let out a breath that she had been holding. He held her hand the entire flight it seemed because when she woke up as the plane began to descend, his hand was still planted on top of hers. If he was uncomfortable by her closeness or wanted to pull away from her, he didn’t show it. In fact, he seemed relieved.

“You sure you’re going to be okay?” Leon asked. 

He stood in the middle of her room awkwardly with his hands in his pockets, watching as Gabriella limped to her dresser.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

The wooden floor creaked behind her and out of the corner of her eye she could see him approach her. “Do you need help cleaning your leg?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

She had tried to keep her distance since they had landed in D.C. Leon had made it clear, even if it was silently, that he didn’t want much to do with her besides sex. She respected his boundaries and kept her commentary towards him at a minimum; the only time she craved and accepted his affection was when the plane was in the air. But other than that, Gabriella didn’t want much to do with him either. Even if her heart screamed at her in protest.

“Um…okay.” Leon scratched the back of his head and blew out a breath. “I mean…if you want I don’t mind staying and helping with whatever you want.”

“No need.” She gave him a small, tight smile. She held the clothes she had pulled from the dresser—a shirt with the logo of the University of Virginia and a pair of shorts—close to her chest. She stepped towards him in an effort to make her way to the bathroom to change, but Leon didn’t move. Instead, he stood his ground and looked down at her.

“What?” She tilted her head at him. Gabriella studied his face and her stomach turned in on itself at how extremely anxious he looked.

“I just think I—someone should stay with you tonight. You know…in case you need help in the middle of the night or something.”

She pondered his suggestion and looked around the room. “I think I’ll be fine. The pain medication they gave me puts me to sleep anyway, so I probably won’t wake up.”

“What about in the morning? When you need to change your bandage?” 

Gabriella stiffened at the worry in his voice and the anxiety that flickered across his face. She straightened her posture and gave him a blank stare. “Chloe is coming in the morning after her shift at the hospital.”

“And after that?”

“What’s your deal?”

He seemed taken aback by her brashness because Leon flinched. He leaned away from her, blinking rapidly like his brain had short circuited.

“I just…I–I think I should stay with you tonight.” He added nervously. “If you want me to.”

She bit her lip and looked away. He looked genuine, and the sincerity in his voice made her ashamed that she had hated him for the past day. How could she dislike someone like him when he clearly cared about her? Her mood immediately shifted and she blushed at his request and at the way her heart swelled.

“You don’t have to,” she managed to say after a few moments of silence.

“I want to.”

“Okay,” she responded, nodding. She gave him a warmer, bigger smile than she did before and only then did Leon move out of the way to help her get dressed.

After getting dressed, she sat on the edge of the bed and watched Leon kneel before her. She hissed in pain as he removed the gauze from inside of the wound and began to swab the inside with the antibiotic ointment with a q-tip.

“Jesus Christ,” she gagged. “That is fucking disgusting.”

“It’s not too bad.” Leon leaned closer and peered at the gaping hold in her thigh.

“I’m gonna throw up.”

Leon looked at her in alarm and leaned back. “Don’t.”

“It’s gross.”

“Then stop looking at it.”

She groaned, but did look away. She admired the flat screen TV that was hanging on the wall to her right. It was encapsulated in a picture frame that made the TV.. Right now, though, it looked like a framed black picture but when it was turned on and in standby mode it flipped through Monet paintings, giving the illusion that it was a painting.

“Done.” Leon announced. He stood up, gathering the gauze and tube of ointment.

She frowned at her leg and crawled backwards on the bed until she reached her spot on the mattress. She flopped down onto the bed and sighed. She turned her head and watched Leon turn the bathroom light off and approached the bed. 

It seemed like he was going to get in bed, but he stopped short of the edge of the mattress and looked at what was usually his spot in bed and then at Gabriella.

“Do you want me to sleep with you?” He asked while gesturing to the bed.

Propping herself up and placing her head in her hand she said, “I would love to sleep with you, but I think I’m out of commission right now.” She grinned at him and it turned into a smile when Leon rolled his eyes and chuckled.

“You know what I mean.”

“Do you want to?”

Leon didn’t respond; he just pulled his shirt over his head and pulled his pants off, climbing into bed with just his briefs on. He crawled towards her and pressed a kiss to her lips, mumbling a “yes” before settling into the bed.

Gabriella hated that his wanting to stay and fleeting kiss made her smile and she despised the warmth that spread from within her chest to her cheeks.

“...Gabby…” 

Gabriella could faintly hear her name being called, but the voice was far enough away that she could ignore it.

“...Gabby…”

Her world shook and she whined; she tried to turn on her side, away from the noise, but she felt like she was strapped to the bed. She sighed in frustration, whining again.

“Fuck off,” she grumbled. She could feel herself frowning as she buried her face haphazardly into the pillow beneath her head. 

When she felt herself shake again, she cracked open her eyes to see a curtain of black hair clouding her vision. Thinking it was her own, she wiped her face roughly and closed her eyes again.

“Leon is half naked in your house. Are you guys fucking?”

This made Gabriella’s eyes spring open and when her vision adjusted, Chloe was on the bed next to her, her brown eyes staring at Gabriella with such intensity that she shrunk into the bed. She was in her pink scrubs, having just gotten off work from the hospital as a Labor and Delivery nurse. 

“What?” Gabriella asked groggily. She tried to get up, but her body felt incredibly heavy and she fell back against the mattress.

“Man, what did they give you?” Chloe laughed. Gabriella heard the sheets rustle and when she looked at Chloe again, she had gotten underneath the covers and was on her side, facing Gabriella. “So,” she started with a cheeky smile, “you and Leon, huh? You didn’t tell me.”

Gabriella knew she was still high from the mix of Percocet and Valium that she had been prescribed because she felt weightless, her head spinning even though she was laying down. She barely registered anything that Chloe was saying.

“Whatever.”

“Don’t whatever me,” Chloe chided her, now speaking in Spanish. “You didn’t tell me you guys were together.”

“We’re not together.”

“So, why is he shirtless in your living room?”

Gabriella’s frown deepened and she groaned. “Shut up. Leave me the fuck alone.”

Chloe shook her awake again. “Come on! Tell me!,” she dragged out the word. “When did it happen?” She asked, now speaking in English.

“He stayed the night, that’s it.”

“Maybe that was it last night, but I looked around your room before I woke you up and he’s got a lot of his clothes here. I found two pairs of his glasses too.” She spoke with a triumphant tone to her face. “No condoms though…”

Gabriella scowled and covered her face with her arms. “Chloe, please.” But even though she spoke in aggravation, she couldn’t stop the smile that spread across her lips.

Chloe laughed and Gabriella felt the bed dip as she shuffled closer to her.

“So, tell me. What’s going on?”

Gabriella wished she could turn on her side so she could properly face Chloe. She could only lay on her back which even that was difficult because any pressure on her thigh was excruciating.

“We’re having sex.”

“Clearly,” Chloe quipped sarcastically with a roll of her eyes.

“Since January.”

“Oh my God, why didn’t you tell me!”

“Stop being so loud, my God.”

Chloe giggled. “Is it good?”

“I wouldn’t keep fucking him if it wasn’t.”

“Wow…” Chloe shifted onto her back and put her head on Gabriella’s shoulder. Gabriella shifted closer to her and mirrored her posture. “What’s it like?”

“Good. When I’m not feeling like shit I can tell you more.”

“Fair.” Chloe shrugged and sighed. “Work was ass. Two stillborns and one in the NICU; we don’t think he’ll make it.”

Gabriella nestled her head further into Chloe’s skin. “I’m sorry.”

“Part of the job, I guess,” Chloe replied in a somber tone. “Delivered three healthy ones, though. One was twelve pounds; mom was only 5’1,” she laughed.

Gabriella watched her best friend fiddled with her fingers. She knew her work was hard, and sometimes Gabriella thought it was harder than hers. To witness the loss of life before it could even begin must be terrible to see day in and day out.

“You think if I ask him to make a cup of coffee, he’ll do it?” Chloe asked after a few minutes.

Gabriella shrugged. “Maybe.”

She giggled and turned her head to look at Gabriella. “You should’ve seen it when I came in; I thought he was going to kill me.”

“What happened?”

“I used my key, and when I got in he basically tackled me; held me at gun point and everything. I’m surprised you didn’t hear me scream.”

Gabriella laughed and Chloe yelled at her, telling her that it wasn’t funny.

“I told him you were coming, but I didn’t tell him when I don’t think. He must’ve forgotten or wasn’t expecting it.”

“I’m not mad, I get it. It was just funny. I also wasn’t too mad to be held up by him either. I knew he was hot, but like…seeing the full picture was incredible. He’s very warm, too. But I’m sure you’ve noticed that.”

“Yeah, he runs hot.”

“Extremely.”

Gabriella giggled, her smile so wide her cheeks were starting to hurt.

After a few minutes of silence, Gabriella having nearly fallen back asleep, Chloe asked, “Do you like him?”

The question struck a chord within Gabriella and she stiffened. She opened her eyes to stare at the sheets that were loosely draped across her stomach. She finally replied with a short shrug.

“He’s nice. And a good lay.”

“But, do you like him?”

“I haven’t thought about it.” Which was a lie, but a lie that Gabriella was not ready to unpack. The truth made her chest hurt and her body flashed with cold and heat at the same time. The rush of conflicting temperatures made her nauseous; so she opted to not think about it. Ever. 

Chloe snorted and kissed her forehead. “My avoidant queen. Now, let me see your leg.”

“This is worse than getting a fucking pap smear.”

Chloe and Leon were kneeling before Gabriella. Leon had her leg suspended in the air while Chloe examined the wound.

“I’d wager this is the same as your pap smear given that we’ve both seen your vagina.”

Gabriella scowled at Chloe and without looking at her, Chloe smiled. Gabriella could see Leon blush, his neck and face turning a deep shade of pink.

“You packed it nicely,” Chloe murmured as she lifted Gabriella’s leg. 

Gabriella and Leon exchanged a look, seeing the opportunity for a joke and waiting for it, but Chloe didn’t finish it, but she did smirk.

“This bruise is awful, though. It’ll hurt, but it’ll be good for you to walk a little to keep the muscle strong and to prevent a clot. I brought a compression sock to help with the swelling.” Chloe got up and took off her gloves. “I’d say in about another week, you might want to let it breathe for a bit—encourage the healing process or whatever.”

“So doctorly,” Gabriella quipped with a breathless laugh.

“Well, good thing I’m not a doctor.” Chloe smiled and took the medical supplies from Leon and went to put them in the bathroom. 

Gabriella felt awkward with both of them there. Not only because now her secret with Leon wasn’t just between them, but also because they were both hovering over Gabriella, attending to her every need and doing things for her that she hadn’t asked them to do. She hated not being able to do anything on her own and having to rely on other people. The vulnerability that it brought—the potential for her strength to be questioned and lack thereof to be used against her terrified her more than anything. 

So she kept quiet. Kept herself small so as to not be noticed and fretted over, even if it was in her own house.

“I can’t stay; I’m having contractors at the house and Alex is still in surgery.”

Leon looked between Gabriella and Chloe, but didn’t say anything.

“Alex is my boyfriend and he’s a surgeon.”

“Ah,” was all he said.

“Yeah, I knew you wouldn’t give a shit.”

Gabriella barked out a laugh and Leon blushed.

“No, I–I just didn’t know what you were talking about.”

“I’m just messing with you.”

Gabriella stood to walk Chloe to the door and Leon held her by the elbow, his eyes trained on her every movement as though she would fall at any moment.

At the front door, Leon lingered behind Gabriella by the doorframe that led to the dining room.

“Wanna take your shirt off as payment for helping your girlfriend?” Chloe asked Leon with a wide, toothy grin.

“Chloe!” Gabriella yelled with a laugh.

Chloe swayed side to side, giving him an innocent look. “I had a bad day.”

Leon choked and his face immediately turned red and he turned halfway into the dining room before turning back around. 

“Don’t be bashful; I already saw you shirtless earlier.”

“Don’t you have a boyfriend?” Leon could barely speak and Gabriella tried not to laugh at his expense.

“Yes, but he’s not here right now.” She squinted at Leon and smiled. “Plus, if he saw you I think he’d be okay with it.”

“You have no shame, Chloe.” Gabriella muttered while she tried to suppress a laugh.

“Perhaps. Or perhaps I am simply a woman in need.” She feigned a dramatic sigh and shrugged her shoulders. “We’ll never know.”

“Get out before you’re late to meet the contractors.” Gabriella laughed and waved her hand dismissively at Chloe.

“Bye, I love you.” Chloe muttered as she hugged Gabriella. 

“I love you too.”

Gabriella could feel it for the rest of the day, the lingering tension in the air at the usage of the word girlfriend. The implication of it—the idea that what they were doing could be more or seemed to be more plagued Gabriella and she couldn’t pretend that it didn’t seem to be plaguing Leon as well.

Truth be told, she had never had an actual boyfriend before. She had seen people and had sex with them, and at times had been somewhat exclusive, but she had never put a label on any relationship she had had in the past. Everything with Leon was comfortable; their conversations were comfortable as were their silence, and their sex was comfortable too even the first time when they hadn’t known each other as they did now. She assumed that’s what a relationship was supposed to be like. But they weren’t in a relationship, and Gabriella wasn’t seeking that from him. The idea of a relationship made her feel trapped, constricted to a life that she knew she was not suited for. 

There were a multitude of reasons why she didn’t see the point in relationships and why she could never see herself in one. Her parents had a horrible relationship; her father was abusive and it had torn her mother and herself apart. She was also too carefree and independent to be tied down. And, years ago, she had sold herself to men who paid for pictures, videos, and phone calls from her. And out of all the reasons she didn’t want a relationship—didn’t crave it was because of that. Gabriella felt as though she was not worthy of anything good because of that. Not to mention, that growing up she was always made to feel like a mistake. So, the idea of anyone liking, let alone loving her, seemed inconceivable and implausible to her.

Gabriella and Leon acted like nothing was wrong. When Chloe had left they both meandered to the kitchen; Leon had made her a cup of coffee and he made himself his third cup of the morning. She made a comment about it giving him a heart attack and Leon shrugged the comment away with a slight upturn of his lips over the rim of the mug.

He didn’t leave, though. Not even when they both took a nap on the couch after they had lunch and when dinner time rolled around he went out to get pho from the Vietnamese restaurant near her house, and they ate it in almost complete, but comfortable, silence. He didn’t leave that night either; it seemed to be an unspoken agreement that he was going to stay and Gabriella had a sinking feeling that he would never leave. The idea was as comforting as it was terrifying.

A week and a half later, she and Leon were laying in bed watching a movie. They hadn’t really been watching it; it had just come on while they were kissing—making out rather. They laid on their side, the kisses slow and lazy.

“I don’t think…we should…” Leon rasped in between kisses.

“‘M fine,” Gabriella mumbled, turning her head to the side to deepen the kiss.

“I’m serious.” Leon moaned softly when she dragged her tongue across his jaw and down his neck, nipping the skin. “Your–fuck, your leg, Gabby.”

“Doesn’t hurt.” She was lying, of course. It felt like it was on fire the longer she laid on her side facing him, but she was too needy to care. 

She smiled as she sucked on his neck, hearing him moan and curse under his breath. She bucked her hips against him, trying desperately to grind them to relieve just a fraction of the pressure in between her thighs.

He cock was hard, the imprint of it showing clear as day through the fabric of his sweatpants. Leon bit his lip and his eyes fluttered close as she applied more pressure before undoing the strings with one finger. She pulled them down slightly to slide her hand beneath the waist band of his briefs, but Leon grabbed her wrist roughly and held it in the air.

His gaze was lethal and Gabriella’s grin grew as her heart rate quickened with anticipation. She guided their hands and let him cup her cheek and then slid his hand to grasp the upper part of her neck.

“I know you want to.” She placed her hand over his and pressed it further into her neck. “I know you miss fucking me…” His eyes widened but she kept going, taunting him. “...and how warm and tight my pussy feels around your cock as you—”

“—That’s enough, Gabriella.”

But she knew it wasn’t. His pupils were blown, only a sliver of blue visible in the lights in her bedroom. Leon would never admit that he liked this—the bold teasing that Gabriella had no shame in directing at him. He liked to be brought to the point that there was no doubt that Gabriella yearned for him in every way possible. That he was what she wanted even if her words were filthy and crude, her tone slightly condescending. 

Maybe it was his insecurity of not being good enough in bed given what he had shared with her all those months ago, but he seemed to enjoy it when Gabriella submitted to him and showed him without a doubt that she was there for him and was willing to do whatever he wanted—that she was prioritizing him because she wanted it to be him. Gabriella liked it too because no matter how it started, it always ended the same with a gentle kiss, their hands intertwined.

“Is it, Mr. Kennedy? Or do you want me to tell you just how needy I am for you? How much I’m throbbing right now just by thinking about you, and only you?”

A muscle feathered in his jaw and Gabriella knew she had him. Like always, Leon wouldn’t admit that he liked it when she called him that. She had done it once a month or so ago jokingly and when she had said it, his body twitched like a switch flipped in his brain and his face twisted into a look of realization, like he had an epiphany—an epiphany about himself; she knew it was just that, whatever kink or fetish she had unlocked within him. She had teased him about it and he blushed, telling her to stop which she did. But later that night when she was on top of him, her hips rutting against him, she said it again while looking at him and asking, “Am I doing a good job, Mr. Kennedy?” 

Now, Leon’s grip tightened slightly on her neck and he pulled her towards him. Gabriella's eyes fluttered and she let out a sigh.

“Turn around.” The command was firm, but gentle.

With a quiet sound of excitement, she smiled and turned around. She lifted her hips and slid her underwear down to her ankles and kicked them off beneath the covers. She felt Leon do the same, kicking the sheets down the bed, and then he pulled her towards him again by her waist so her back collided with his chest.

She was laying on the injured leg, but she didn’t care. It was just bruised at this point and she would rather deal with the pain later than let this opportunity go to waste.

Gabriella lifted her leg and held it by her thigh and turned her head to look at him. He was rubbing his tip between her folds, gathering her arousal and when he had enough he lined himself up with her entrance.

She watched him as he looked down at their bodies and she reached behind her and placed her hand just below the nape of his hair, scratching the skin lightly. Leon looked at her briefly, giving her a quick kiss before sliding himself inside of her.

They gasped together as they experienced their joint pleasure at the same time. It’d been nearly three weeks since they’d been together; between work and now her injury, they hadn’t had time and she missed him more than anything she had missed before.

He rolled his hips slowly, finding his rhythm and Gabriella moaned as she rolled hers along with him. Placing his hand on her stomach, he pressed her against him and thrust into her quickly. Gabriella moaned again and tightened her grip on his hair, keeping him as close to her as she could.

“My wicked girl,” he breathed into her ear. She whimpered and looked at him with wide eyes. He smirked at her, eyes scanning her face with a cocky look. “Is this what you wanted?”

Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped, but no sound came out. She bit her lip and arched her back against him to no avail; his grip was iron tight around her waist.

“Tell me, sweetheart; is this what you begged for?”

She squeezed her eyes closed as she fisted the pillow beneath her head and nodded profusely.

“Tell me.” His pace became harsher, moving in and out her with enough force that she could hear their skin connecting with each thrust. 

“Yes,” she finally replied through gritted teeth.  “I can’t hear you.”

“Yes, Leon I…oh God yes.” 

Involuntarily, she clenched around him; her orgasm was coming faster than she expected. She clawed at his neck in frenzied motions; she felt her skin grow tight, the lights in the room becoming brighter than they were before. She was close, so close that she needed to ground herself to the bed—to him before she exploded from the inside out.

She turned her head and he was close enough that she could kiss him quickly and easily. Their lips and tongues moved wildly, their teeth clacking together occasionally. It was uncoordinated and feral and it was exactly how she felt in that moment and ever since they had sex that first time. Their times together were easy, they knew each other immediately, but their need for each other was almost unnatural. She couldn’t get enough of him; every time was like the first even if they did the same thing each time. 

And she knew he felt the same because sometimes she didn’t invite him over for fear that he would say no, but if she didn’t say anything he always did. And he always took her like he was starving, having not eaten in days even if they had been together the day prior. His intensity never dwindled and maybe that’s why she had started to like him more. He was consistent in his search for her even when she pulled away.

Gabriella had never known consistency; her parents were inconsistent in their love for her; she was stupid, a burden, and a mistake, but also their pride and joy. She quickly learned that there was no safety in any relationship and that at some point in time everyone would see her for who she really was, and wouldn’t want her anymore. They would leave; everyone left eventually.

She waited for Leon to leave. To not want her anymore; to grow bored of what she was giving him. But he never indicated otherwise, not in their four months of seeing each other and whatever their relationship was.

A moan bubbled up from her throat and she pressed her forehead against his as her body stiffened and she came. She bit her lip, trying to suppress her whine but it was no use as an onslaught of mewls and whine spilled from her lips, filling the space in between their faces.

“Just like that, baby.” Leon whispered to her. He hummed in acknowledgement when Gabriella moaned in response.

“Oh, Leon, yes,” she whimpered as her body shuddered against his.

“Fuck, baby, I’m gonna cum,” he breathed out. And with a quiet whimper into her neck, he slammed into her and stilled as he came.

Her eyes rolled into the back of her head at the sound and she arched against him, tightening around him as she unexpectedly came again.

Their bodies loosened and fell slack into the mattress. They laid there for a while, panting with their eyes closed; Leon still held onto her waist and Gabriella removed her grip on the pillow to lay it atop of his.

“You okay?” He whispered from behind her.

She nodded and smiled to herself. “Yeah, I’m good.” She turned and looked at him. “You?”

He gave her his own smile and kissed her. “Yeah.”

The mattress shifted underneath Gabriella and she felt her body move with it. It was still dark; this she could discern by the way she couldn't see any light illuminating her eyelids. She opened her eyes slowly and rolled her head to the side. 

Leon was sitting on the edge of the bed, rubbing his face with both hands. He did this every morning: he woke up between 4:00AM and 4:15AM, sat on the bed for a few minutes before getting up and taking a quick shower to go to the gym; then he’d come back, start brewing coffee, shower again, and get ready for work.

She reached out and caressed his back softly. “Hello,” she whispered into the dark.

Leon’s body stiffened at her touch but relaxed once he recognized it was her. He didn't turn around but he did reach behind her and run his hand up her arm.

“Hey. Did I wake you?”

“Maybe,” she smiled sleepily to herself. “You leavin’?”

Leon got up and stretched and faced her, putting a knee on the bed and hovering over her and kissing her cheek. “Yeah, but I’ll be back in a bit.”

She grunted, discontent with his impending absence. “You know you don't need to go to the gym right? Having sex burns, like, a bunch of calories.” 

Leon rolled his eyes and got up. “You really are something.”

“I’m serious!” Gabriella laughed. “Look it up if you don't believe me.”

“Oh, I believe you, all right.” He chuckled as he meandered into the bathroom.

She flopped back onto the bed and rubbed her face. She whined as she stretched and grabbed her phone from the nightstand beside her, seeing just how early it was. It was still dark out with no indication that the sun would rise soon. She could never understand starting the day so early. She was lucky if she woke up two hours before she needed to be somewhere. But Leon was punctual. So much so that he’d snap at her if they were late, his hands gripping the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

When Leon emerged from the bathroom, a towel hanging low on his waist, Gabriella watched him carefully as he grabbed an assortment of clothes from a drawer on her dresser.

So many of his things had begun to accumulate in her house since they got back from Lithuania and it became second nature for him to come to her house after wherever he had been. She didn't mind it; she enjoyed his company and she liked the presence that he took up in her house. 

While her house was heavily decorated and looked like a home that someone lived in and spent a lot of their time in, part of it felt cold and empty because it was her that came to it and it was just her when company left. She’d never admit it but she was very lonely and Leon was starting to, or rather he was, filling that gaping hole inside of her.

Gabriella followed him into the kitchen and leaned against the counter as she watched him go through the cabinets to make a protein shake. It was her supplies: the bottles, protein powder, and creatine but she was bad about going to the gym consistently so the containers sat in her cabinets mostly for decoration. Leon was the first to touch them in months.

“My offer still stands, you know.” She stated, crossing her arms.

She watched him smile, a dimple deepening on his cheek and her heart fluttered at the sight. She swallowed the sensation and straightened her posture.

“I’m sure it does.” He replied. He continued to shake the bottle, mixing the milk and powders together until it was a thick slurry.

He drank it in almost one go and she cringed. “Did you even taste it?” She teased him when he began to rinse the bottle in the sink.

“Yeah. It was incredible.” He retorted as he grinned at her.

Letting out a humorless laugh, she rolled her eyes and followed him to the door.

As if he knew she needed the reassurance, Leon gave her a long, hard kiss on her lips and then pressed a kiss to her forehead.

“I’ll be back.”

She knew she was blushing and she felt awkward at the intense affection. As she stood in front of him, she felt small like a child—a scared child that was worried he wouldn't come back and he was lying. She fought the panic that was settling into her chest and averted her eyes.

She let out a dry cough and smiled. “Yeah, okay. I’ll see you later.”

Later that night, after playing house, Leon and Gabriella laid in bed watching reruns of Modern Family.

“I can’t believe you’ve never seen this show. It’s so fucking good.” She had her head on his chest and was absentmindedly playing with his fingers.

“I don’t really watch TV unless it’s the news,” he admitted.

“But you like the show right?”

He nodded. “Yeah, it’s funny.”

“I know right,” she giggled. She nestled her head further into his shoulder and sighed.

She was tired despite not doing anything during the day besides laundry and the dishes. Being in constant pain was not something she was used to and she didn’t realize just how draining it was.

Her phone buzzed beside her on the mattress and she picked it up and squinted at the bright screen. It was her mother. Gabriella sucked in a sharp breath and grimaced. She did not like speaking with her mother and dreaded every interaction with her.

Her mother was a complicated person. Sometimes she was a good person, and sometimes she wasn’t. Sometimes she was a good mother, and sometimes she wasn’t. For the most part, however, she was not a good mother. She could be mean, cruel, and harsh and even though it hurt every time, Gabriella couldn’t help but forgive her. She was sympathetic to her mother’s issues; her dreams of going to college were crushed because she got pregnant right before she graduated from high school, and because of the culture she grew up in—Catholic and strict—she had to marry Gabriella’s father and become a stay at home wife and mother. Her mother was smart, too smart, to have been diminished to just that and Gabriella had always felt sorry for her. So, she understood her disdain for Gabriella and her success, but that didn’t take away from the hurt she felt when her mother treated her like she was nothing.

mama 8:13PM

How are you? You’ve been quiet today.

Gabriella 8:13PM

good. i’m really tired i’ve been sleeping all day

mama 8:13PM

How is your leg? Did you get the lidocaine cream I sent you?

Gabriella 8:14PM

yes i feel a lot better after using it especially with the compression sock

mama 8:14PM

I’m glad. Go to sleep and rest. Call me sometime. I miss you

Gabriella winced at the message. She did not want to call her; she barely wanted to text her. Because no matter how innocent the conversation started, it almost always ended in disaster. 

Gabriella 8:15PM

i will. i love you

mama 8:15PM

I love you too.

Gabriella tossed the phone behind her, just out of reach and sighed. She tried to shake the feeling of impending doom in her chest. She didn’t want it to bother and ruin her night—ruin how good her day had been with Leon and how much she enjoyed laying in bed, laughing and talking. But her hands started to grow cold and she felt a lump in her throat. The conversation hadn’t even been bad, but her reaction was still the same as though it had been.

“You okay?” Leon inclined his head to look at her.

But she didn’t meet his gaze. Instead she nodded and licked her lips. “Yeah, I’m good. It was just my mom.”

Leon didn’t know much about her mother, let alone their relationship. Throughout the four years that they knew each other and the intimate conversations they’d shared, there were some things that they kept to themselves. And her insecurities that stemmed from her mother’s abuse was one of them.

“Is she okay?” Gabriella almost laughed because her mother was not okay because she was a volatile person. But she kept her cool and nodded. “Yeah. She was just checking on me.”

He hummed and began to rub his hand on her shoulder. It relaxed her enough that she sighed, her body loosening its defensive posture.

“That’s nice.”

“I guess.” She hadn’t meant for the response to be so dreary, but she couldn’t help but dismiss the idea that her mother was nice. Every time she talked to her mother, she would be transported to the times she would scream in her face. When her mother acted like she cared, Gabriella always doubted it.

“You don’t talk about your parents often.”

She huffed out a laugh. “Neither do you.”

“Well, mine were drug dealers and are dead. Not much else to say.”

“Hm.” She turned to face him and put her leg atop of his. There was something inside of her that suddenly felt open and the fear of vulnerability vanished and without thinking she said, “I can tell you about them if you want.”

“Yeah, I’d like to know.”

So, Gabriella shuffled up the bed so they were face to face and Leon turned his head to look at her. He was on top of the covers with just his sweatpants on and an arm beneath his head and the other wrapped around Gabriella’s shoulders.

“They’re Mexican, obviously, from Hermosillo. They met in high school and after like a year of dating, my mom got pregnant and had me at sixteen.”

“I didn’t know that.” Leon whispered.

“What? That I’m Mexican?” She laughed and propped her head up on her hand.

“No, I–I knew that. I just didn’t know they had you so young.”

“Oh, yeah; very tragic.” She waved her hand and rolled her eyes. “When they were eighteen they got married. My dad came to the United States to work and eventually decided to join the Army. They helped him get his citizenship, same with me and my mom and when I was around four we moved to Virginia where he was stationed. And—like many marriages—they divorced when I was twelve.”

“Oh, wow.”

She rolled onto her back and sighed, closing her eyes. “Tale as old as time.”

“Do you have a good relationship with them?”  

The question caught her off guard and she stilled. She considered his question; considered lying and saying yes and ending the conversation; she considered ending the conversation without even answering, snapping at him for prying. But she didn’t. She sighed again and shrugged.

“Not really.”

Leon didn’t respond; it was like he was waiting for her to continue.

“They’re relationship wasn’t the best, at least from what I saw. My family says they were crazy about each other before I was born, but I think having a kid when they weren’t planning to and being forced to be together and get married and grow up so fast…I think it put a strain on their relationship. Like, they had a resentment towards each other for getting in that situation. Especially when my dad left for the US because my mom had to take care of me by herself.”

She smiled weakly to herself as she stared at the ceiling. “They didn’t really want a kid and they kinda made that clear when I was growing up,” she admitted. Her voice cracked and she swallowed, clearing her throat.

“That wasn’t your fault, though.”

The tenderness in Leon’s voice forced her to look at him. His expression was somber, like he could tell the pain that hid underneath her words. His hand crept up from her shoulder to her face and he caressed her cheek softly.

“Oh, for sure. I know that. It’s just the truth.” She faked a laugh. “My dad was more into the parent thing. I remember him…liking me more, I guess. We were really close; he got me into soccer and was always into what I was doing and stuff. But as I got older and they divorced… we weren’t anymore.” 

She ran her tongue across her top teeth and looked back up at the ceiling, watching the blades of the ceiling fan spin. “His battalion or whatever were the first ones sent to Iraq and when he came back he was really different. He started drinking and hitting my mom, but she didn’t say anything. It’s kind of a cultural thing which is stupid but,” she sucked in a breath and continued. “He went back out and when he came back he was worse and…it was really bad.” She laughed again—an involuntary reflex. “He started hitting me, too.”

“You didn’t tell your mom?”

A genuine chuckle escaped her lips. “She beat the shit out of me, too, so it was whatever; I was used to it. But it’s not like she knew and let it happen, you know? It’d be when she was gone and I was bothering him as children do. I think it was because he couldn’t tell me to go to her and to leave him alone; like, he had to deal with me.”

“That’s his job. He’s your dad.”

“Oh, yeah. I know that. It’s just…looking back he was really struggling. And between masochism from our culture and the military culture…he wasn’t really getting the help he needed.”

“Doesn’t matter.” Leon’s tone was sharp.

Gabriella’s chest hurt to think about it all—to think of just how badly she was treated and how nobody cared. But Leon cared and it validated her disdain for her parents and what they put her through.

“Yeah, I know, but…” She shrugged her shoulders. “But anyway, one day I was with him and was trying to get him to play soccer with me and he got aggravated and hit me so hard he knocked a tooth out. My mom…I guess she heard me fall and cry and shit because she came up and he was…I don’t really remember, but it was bad. She got him off of me, called the police, and everything.” 

She sniffed, now realizing that she had started to cry. She wiped her face, furious with herself and cleared her throat. “He was dishonorably discharged and they divorced. She went for everything—alimony, child support, custody—and she got it all. She even got him to sign his parental rights away. Like, she was not playing games with him.” She chuckled as she remembered everything that had transpired during the divorce.

“You know, in Virginia when you file for divorce you have to wait a year before finalizing it if you have kids. They’ll make you do mediation and everything. But, my dad’s Commanding Officer came and with my mom’s lawyer they got the judge to grant the divorce immediately because of what he did to me.” Gabriella twisted her hands, pulling at her fingers and picking the skin beside her nails. “I was in the hospital for like a month, I think. Fractured skull, damaged windpipe, and my cheekbone was broken. They say he had smacked me, then thrown me, and tried to choke me out, but I don’t remember it. Looking back now…I think it was a PTSD episode, you know? Because before he was deployed…he was really fun; we did everything together.”

She took her bottom lip in between her teeth and shrugged. She looked at Leon and her eyes filled with tears at his expression. While she talked she hadn’t noticed that he had gotten up and was now sitting against the headboard with his arms crossed. He looked down at her with a perplexed look in his eyes; like he couldn’t believe everything she was saying to him.

She couldn’t get up. His stare was too intense and she felt its weight on her body, pinning her to the bed. She could only avert her gaze and stared at the ceiling again.

“I’m sorry for…that really just ruined the mood,” she breathlessly laughed. She hoped her fake smile and laugh would shift the mood and they could resume watching TV or talking about something else, but Leon didn’t falter.

He studied her face and asked, “Do you still talk to him?”

She chewed her lip and sniffed. “Sometimes. When I was like twenty-six he reached out. He’d been sober for like eight years at that point and was making his amends. We don’t talk often though; just a check up here and there and he lives in Alexandria so, sometimes we’ll have lunch.”

“And your mom?” His questions were borderline interrogative and it made her shudder.

“She doesn’t like me too much. She never wanted to have a kid; she wanted to be a career woman, but that was ruined because of me. So, she resented me as a kid and even now, too, I think.”

“Why?”

She shrugged and wiped her face, her hand wet with tears. “I got everything she wanted,” Gabriella replied, looking up at him.

The last three words are harsh but it’s true. I have always prided myself on my ability to maintain control of any and all situation. I like to think of myself as someone that is strong and assertive, and to put it in layman’s terms: I don’t take shit from anyone. And I certainly don’t get fucked.

But I am. And it’s great, but it’s also embarrassing. It's especially embarrassing when, afterwards, we lay in bed, cuddle, and he spends the night. We have breakfast together in the morning; normally a cup of coffee and toast, and then he leaves. But not before he kisses me and says he'll talk to me later.

It's still casual, of course. But how casual is this? I've done this before in college where there is some guy I call or he calls me when we're feeling stressed and need to let off some steam. But they never stayed the night; we never had breakfast the next morning; he certainly never kissed me goodbye. 

And I never smiled at him, or laughed, or waited for him to text me, looking forward to the confirmation that he'd be over soon.

So, now the question becomes: when does it stop being casual? Does it stop being casual when it's been more than once? Or when they spend the night? Or when they kiss you outside of sex? I’m wondering, I’m pondering, and I don't know because I've never done it like this before.

Because it's not just the aforementioned factors, but I wonder if the type of sex plays a factor in deciding the answer to the question. In my mind, casual sex is rough and meaningless. You both don’t kiss, and at times don’t even look at each other the entire time. Then, you roll over and get dressed with barely a word uttered. There's little to no tension in the air because what we came for happened.

With him though, it's not like that. I've tried before—to do it like how I know, but he redirected me with ease and after about three times I gave up. The sex is soft, so to speak. His touch is gentle but firm and we kiss almost the whole time. Lately, I've started smiling at him for some reason, and he smiles at me. Never once in my life did I think it was possible to smile during sex, or that I ever would.

I'm starting to get the feeling that it's not casual anymore, and frankly it worries me. Not even worry—it scares me. 

Intimacy has never been my strong suit. It makes me nauseous and my body alternates between hot and cold when confronted with it. It makes me feel naked—vulnerable and scared that I’m being perceived in a way that I cannot control. Sometimes I feel like a baby deer hiding in the grass to get away from predators; sometimes I feel like a wolf baring my teeth with my ears pinned back, ready to launch at a threat. 

I've always thought it was safer to skirt around people. To let them know me enough to stick around, but not enough so they don't have a reason to leave. I feel like if people know me, truly know me, then they'll leave. I feel a deep sense of shame of who and what I am and what I've done. The feeling cemented itself into my soul since before I was born, I think, and it has persisted my entire life. It has wreaked havoc on my relationship with myself, my family, and those around me. I can't shake it.

The blurred lines around this “casual” relationship makes my skin crawl and the warning signs in my nervous system are blaring at me to leave. To uproot my life and move someplace else where he's not there. There's something about him that makes my cheeks burn and my stomach twist into knots.

I've known him for so long and so intimately, but it's never been a problem. I've grown to care for him more than I expected to, but it's never impeded my life. I think I made a mistake letting him into my bed because now it's a problem; now it's impeding my life. He is doing something to me that no one has ever done before. He knows me.

Casual sex stops being casual when you start to notice the way your body reacts when they're around, in and out of the bedroom. It stops being casual when I sit here, at my desk, thinking about his smile and blue eyes, and the way his hands feel on my body. It stops being casual when you start to like them and begin to wonder which parts of yourself need to change in order for them to like you too.

I think it’s easier said than done to keep sex in a confined box of just sex; of just a physical connection for a short period of time, but what I think people forget—myself included—is that regardless of how disconnected you can be from the person emotionally, sex at the end of the time is still very intimate. You learn about each other, even if it’s just the physicality of it all. Sex is inherently vulnerable. You know what it takes to get the other there, what makes them shudder and twitch and let out a sigh or a moan. There’s no easy escape when you’re naked, arms wrapped around each other for support. 

As I’ve gotten older I’ve started to understand this more. You would think that as you age it would be the opposite; sex is more than it should be when you’re young, and nothing when you’re old. But, I think when you’re young it’s easy to be so wrapped up in yourself and what’s going on in your life that you’re not really in the moment during it. You’re too busy thinking about how you’re performing, what you’re going to tell your friends when it’s over, or what task needs to be done when you leave. When you’re older, those same worries are still there for sure, but it’s different because sex now becomes a genuine escape from the woes of life. Sex when you’re young is almost a right—an accomplishment; sex when you’re old is like a privilege that you have to work for after a long day, so it’s easy to take the moment for, maybe, more than what it is or what it should be.

Sex with him is something I look forward to almost each night after a long day at work, or after fight with my mother, or after consuming myself in thoughts about my insecurities. Personally, I feel like it’s a new beginning for me. I’ve abstained, willingly, for so long because of some things I’ve done when I was younger that I have desperately tried to atone for since and I think this whole situation is finally that atonement coming to fruition.

“Leon…” Gabriella moaned, arching her back off the bed. She fisted his hair tighter in an attempt to keep him as close as possible and bucked her hips into his mouth, whimpering when Leon moaned, the sound vibrating straight through her core.

Gabriella glanced at the clock and mentally groaned. It had been ten minutes of this and she had already finished once and she could feel a second orgasm building in the pit of her stomach. Despite the jerking of her hips and the sounds of pleasure falling from her lips, Leon had not let up from the slow, tortuous pace of his tongue on her clit or loosened the grip on her thighs. 

Suddenly, instead of circling her clit, Leon began to flick his tongue up and down quickly. She watched him bury his face deeper between her thighs and most likely sensing her heightened arousal, he moaned again. 

Gabriella whined and her eyes rolled into her head. “Don’t…oh, don’t stop.” She repeated herself once, and then twice, the pitch of her voice rising until she whined again and her body stiffened and she twitched away from him.

She couldn’t cry out or say anything substantial. Her orgasm released from within her quietly, the only indication of her arrival being her lifting herself off the bed and covering her mouth as her chest heaved up and down in quick successions.

Leon pulled away and Gabriella’s body fell limp onto the bed where she squeezed her thighs shut and turned on her side. She could hear him panting and felt his gaze burning through her, watching her as she reeled from the pleasure that was still sending shockwaves through her body.

“Oh, my God.” She sniffed, half of her face buried into the mattress.

“Good?” He asked quietly. Leon was still on his knees at the foot of her bed.

She glanced at him through half lidded eyes. She nodded, letting out a quiet “yes” before burying her face into the mattress again. Gabriella had learned early on that even if her body language indicated that she had finished and she felt good, she had to tell him. Otherwise, Leon would get antsy, a nervous look in his eyes as he scanned her face for affirmation.

Her body felt heavy and something buzzed beneath her skin so hard that she barely felt the kisses Leon left on her skin as he crawled onto the bed and settled beside her.

“Do you want to get on top?”

Her eyes shot open, registering the question that she was sure was asked incorrectly. She turned slowly to look at him, her lips pulled down into a frown.

His eyes were playful. There was a light in them that had not been there before, but had been making an appearance for the last few weeks, and it danced as he peered down at her. He kissed her shoulder gently and placed his chin on it.

“What?” Gabriella asked. Her eyes narrowed as she stared at him. Surely there was no way he was asking her this.

“Do you want to get on top?”

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”

She squinted at him and turned around, making a point to settle deep in the bed. “No.”

“Why not?”

“I’m tired.”

“Do you not want to have sex?” Leon asked as his fingers grazed the top of her thigh.

“I do, but I’m tired. I’m not doing that.”

“You like it, though.”

Gabriella did. It was, without a doubt, her favorite position. But it was her favorite position if it was the first thing that they did. It was not her favorite position if she had already came; the overstimulation was too much and it left her feeling nauseous and pathetic as Leon held her afterwards.

Leon nipped her earlobe gently and she felt him smile against her skin. He didn’t need to say anything to make her comply with his requests which she found to be annoying.

“There’s something wrong with you, you know.” She huffed as she turned around and draped a leg over his side. She faced him properly and looked at him again, her frown still prominent on her face.

Leon knew she wasn’t actually upset, and being confident in this knowledge he kissed her, letting his lips linger on her long enough to make Gabriella feel needy. She whined quietly and pushed her face upwards to catch his lips again. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she deepened the kiss, ignoring the taste of herself on his lips. She slid her tongue in his mouth and she arched into him when he moaned, relishing in how deep it sounded and how it felt as she swallowed it.

Gabriella slid herself on top of him with ease and broke the kiss to press her mouth on his neck, collarbone, and chest while she palmed Leon through his underwear. She smirked to herself as she felt his cock harden to its full size, and hearing Leon begin to pant she glanced up at him. She could have pulled his underwear down, lined him up to her entrance and slid down and took him in until he bottomed out, their hips connecting. But she didn’t; she waited a few moments before doing so because she liked to see him like this: his body relaxed onto the bed, lips parted and eyebrows furrowed as his chest rose and fell with pants and quiet moans.

Gabriella noticed that Leon didn’t take care of himself too well and he also didn’t have anyone to do it for him. He didn’t sleep or eat that often and she wondered if the only time he ate and slept was at her house. She had been to his house a few times since meeting him and each time was just as sad as the last. This past time, he had gotten new furniture. It was arranged like he had copied a display in Ikea and his fridge had beer, an array of condiments, and a ribeye that was marinating in a ziplock bag. But other than that, his home was barren. The only indication that he cared about his living space was that the furniture looked expensive. 

Leon was clearly embarrassed by it because he stood awkwardly in the middle of the room, aimlessly scratching the back of his head and avoiding eye contact with her. Gabriella acted like it didn’t bother her. In reality it did because it was sad. The house was lonely; it lacked the feeling of it being a home and that it was someone’s home. It seemed like an empty space which made sense, because Leon was an empty person. He seemed to live day by day because he needed to not because he wanted to. He had few hobbies, and fewer friends and Gabriella had an inkling that besides Sherry, she was the only person he saw on a regular basis.

By this point, Gabriella had taken his underwear off and tossed it somewhere behind her. His cock sprang free, flopping against his stomach before straightening. Leon lifted himself on his elbows and Gabriella watched him as he watched her spit in her hand, stroke him a few times, and then lowered herself onto him.

Leon cursed when Gabriella had lowered herself enough that the tip of cock just barely grazed her cervix. She whimpered, biting her lip as she flattened legs onto the mattress and took him in fully; it felt as though their bodies were merging as one as she began to rock herself onto him, her hips moving back and forth slowly as she adjusted to him.

“You okay?” Leon asked. He had his hands on her just tight enough that his grip didn’t falter, but loose enough that Gabriella had room to move at her own pace.

She nodded and tilted her head back slightly, letting out a breath. “Need a minute.”

“You always need a minute.” His tone was playful, jabbing at the fact that despite the many times they’ve been together she still needed to adjust to him.

She feigned a scowl, but she couldn’t hold it for long because she smiled and looked at him, shrugging. “So what?”

Leon gave her his own shrug and squeezed her hips once and then again, beckoning her to move faster. “Nice to see, is all.” His reply was breathless as Gabriella obliged to his silent request and began to move faster, just enough that she felt the bed rock beneath her.

Gabriella was forever grateful of the curve of Leon’s penis. It curved upwards slightly, not enough to look ridiculous, but just enough that no matter the position it hit exactly where she needed it to. Gabriella leaned back and put a hand on his leg to balance herself and intertwined her fingers with Leon’s and began to bounce up and down. 

It didn’t take long. In fact, much to Gabriella’s dismay and Leon’s enjoyment, it never took long. She placed her hands on his chest and squeezed her eyes shut, biting her lip as she suppressed the moans bubbling in her throat as she raised her hips up and down in continuous swift motions.

“There you go.” Leon’s hand was cupping her cheek and she didn’t need to open her eyes to see him looking up at her, his eyes darting around her face with his eyebrows furrowed and his jaw clenched as he let out quiet grunts. 

He was always looking for confirmation that she was enjoying it. Leon checked in constantly, asking how it felt and she had figured it out immediately that he was looking for reassurance because, surprisingly enough, Leon Kennedy was deeply insecure. Gabriella had always admired the quiet dominance he exuded; no matter where they were, people acknowledged him with some even taking the time to come up to him to introduce themselves. And no matter where Gabriella was, people talked about him; she heard them whisper about the work he’d done and how each assignment was executed with precision and rarely without failure, and they’d even come up to her to ask about him.

Leon never seemed to mind the attention and was always humble when congratulated about his service. But Gabriella could always see the tension in his shoulders and the twitch of the muscle of his jaw because Leon hated small talk and he especially hated being reminded of what he’d been through. Which is why, despite her academic background in studying bio-organic weapons, Raccoon City, and everything that came with it, she never once asked him about it. She didn’t need to test the waters to see that, despite decades passed, everything he’d been through still haunted him. The look in his eyes, distant and hollow, reminded her of her father’s when he came back from deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq and, like Leon, it never went away.

Gabriella sat up and cursed, forgoing the effort of moving up and down and instead rocked her hips back and forth, chasing her high that was brewing in her stomach. She moaned, the sound high pitched and bordered on a scream.

“Oh, fuck, fuck fuck.” She whispered. 

The sound of the bedframe hitting the wall with a consistent thump, thump, thump began to be drowned out as the roaring in her ears increased until all she could hear was ringing. The sound was deafening and the only reason she knew she was moaning was because she felt the vibration of the sound in her throat and chest. Her movements became sloppy and tired and Gabriella felt her own body grow limp and heavy; she felt weak as she collapsed on to Leon’s chest. She kissed him aimlessly and then moved her lips to his jaw and neck before hiding her face as he wrapped his arms around her back and thrusted into her.

The ringing in her ears subsided only to be filled again with the quiet pants and groans of Leon. He had one hand in her hair and the other on the middle of her back to keep her still and low on his body. She inclined her head upwards and marveled at the look on his face; Leon’s eyes were closed and his lips were slightly parted. It was evident that he had initially hidden his face in her shoulder, but he’d given up and let himself move in and out of her without much thought.

Leon was always too focused on Gabriella and she had noticed that when he couldn’t see her face he would relax a little, just enough that she could tell he was satisfied with the work he’d put in and was letting himself enjoy the fruits of his labor.

Leon had admitted his insecurity to Gabriella and she truly believed that would be the last confession she would hear from him because she was sure he would never admit to being turned on by encouragement. He would admit to liking that she reassured him, but Leon Kennedy would never say he liked being praised even if that was exactly what he liked.

This was Gabriella’s strong suit. She was used to being the vocal one, giving instructions and praise whether it be during her own intimate moments or on the phone with clients. She hadn’t had much experience with Leon because he was quick to take control, but she had learned how to take the reins back in moments like this with him beneath her where he couldn’t handle her as he normally could.

She dragged her hand from its position beside his head and cupped Leon’s face, swiping her thumb across his cheek. Her hips twitched and she moaned, “Don’t stop.”

Leon’s breath hitched in his throat and his rhythm faltered just slightly, but he recovered quickly and his thrusts became harder and more focused. He cursed under his breath and pressed his head into the mattress as she kissed his jaw and nipped at the skin gently.

Despite his reaction, Leon would not admit that he liked it when Gabriella’s hand slid from his cheek to the base of his neck and wrapped her hand around his throat; it wasn’t a firm grasp, but it was enough that her hand wouldn’t move easily. She pressed her forehead against his and kissed him. Although the sound of their skin connecting and their arousal mixing together was aggressive and loud in the room, it did not translate to their kiss which was gentle and slow. They took their time to taste and explore each other, their tongues meeting with a mutual understanding that they would share the space together.

Gabriella moaned into the kiss and turned her head to deepen it. There was a lot Gabriella would never confess, and one of them was that she really liked to kiss Leon. She liked the way his stubble scratched her face and how soft his lips were and that no matter what they were doing, he always held her face and took his time. Leon was never in a rush to finish and she was appreciative of it; he didn’t treat this or her as something he needed to check off his to-do list.

She broke away first, needing to catch her breath, but didn’t move away from him. She stayed there with their foreheads touching and the tips of their noses pressed against each other. Gabriella tightened the grip of her hand on his throat slightly and smiled when Leon groaned in response.

“God, you feel so fucking good, Leon.” 

And it was true. While Gabriella knew how to perform for men sexually and did what she knew they liked, she said it because, although he liked to hear it, it genuinely felt good. Heavenly even. The feeling of his cock just barely pulling out all the way before it slammed back into her, the tip hitting her cervix and his shaft rubbing on her g-spot; the pressure of Leon’s hands on her back and in her head, pressing her onto his chest so hard that she could feel every divet in his skin and his heartbeat brought her to the edge. And then he would moan, saying her name like one would when speaking to their savior.

Leon growled and tightened his grip on her hair. His pace became faster as his hips jerked beneath him, an indication of his orgasm drawing closer.

“Keep going.” She kissed him once and let her lips linger on his, savoring the endless quiet moans that were spilling from them.

Leon was losing control of himself with every thrust, every groan from himself, and mewling from Gabriella that when he finally came, shooting inside of her with an unrelenting vengeance, Leon whimpered into her shoulder. Gabriella didn’t mind, in fact she could hardly hear him because she was shuddering so hard on top of him that it felt like she was slipping from her own body and going someplace that was fuzzy and warm.

She let him turn their bodies on their side and Leon held Gabriella close, kissing her shoulder and rubbing his thumb on her wrist. She was sleepy, like she was every time, so she only acknowledged him by shuffling back closer to him until her body fit along the curve of his.

“I don’t know why they make us work with the BSAA guys,” Gabriella murmured as she pouted and toed the dirt with her shoe. “I don’t like them.”

“Well, they surely don’t like you.” Leon responded. He stood beside her, leaning against the car with his arms crossed.

Gabriella rolled her eyes and mirrored his posture. “I don’t know why they’re still holding on to that. What else was I supposed to do?”

“Listen to orders? Not hold them at gun point?” He gave Gabriella a look, his eyebrows raised as though he couldn’t believe she was being so dismissive.

“Oh, my God! I didn’t do that! I just pointed the gun at one guy and it wasn’t even for that long. Plus, that was last year. We’re adults; get over it.”

Leon shrugged. 

“You should be grateful, you know.” She tutted. “I did it for you. And almost got fired for it.”

“Forever grateful for you, Gabriella, for threatening the lives of international agents while they did their job.”

“Oh,” she scoffed, “you’re incredible, Leon. Next time you’re sitting in the dark with no way out and nobody coming to get you, good luck. I’ll just go the fuck home like I was supposed to.” She turned away from him and shook her head. “Fucking bootlicker.”

“You know I was very appreciative of your…persistence in my retrieval. Even if it was almost at the expense of others.”

She looked at him over her shoulder and scowled. “Whatever, I don’t care. Like I said: if you find yourself in that situation again, you’re SOL.”

Leon chuckled and she heard him move behind her, and suddenly he was standing beside her. “If I remember correctly, you said you would never take an assignment without me.” 

“Yeah, well.” Gabriella straightened and inched away from him. Her cheeks burned and she felt her heart skip a beat for some reason. “Then, I’ll find a way out for myself and you can just follow me.”

“Mm…okay.”

She huffed and inched away from him and watched as the rest of the BSAA agents rolled in to start the mission.

They were in a rural part of Lithuania—a small town called Zervynos. It looked like the classic European countryside with picturesque rolling green hills and quaint homes with shabby, wooden roofs and dirt roads. An underground facility had been uncovered by farmers that were looking for cattle that had gone missing. It was nestled deep into the forest, the entrance carved into the side of a stone cliff. Inside, the local police found a scene of chaos. There was blood everywhere, rooms and hallways barricaded in haste, and the carcasses of wildlife including cattle and deer. In some of the rooms that the police had been able to access were files on the testing of BOWs and to their horror there were a few still remaining in the facility that, unfortunately, had taken out a couple members of the National Police that had been sent in to investigate. It was the BSAA’s jurisdiction and the only reason the DSO was involved was because there were classified American documents on some of the computers, and a few of the deceased personnel inside were American nationals, a few on the DSO’s watchlist.

Chris Redfield emerged from one of the armored trucks and Gabriella groaned.

She and Chris had fought in Raccoon City during Leon’s evacuation. She had pulled a gun on a member of his team after he had refused to send a party to get Leon and Grace from beneath the city after the facility self-destructed. When Chris had heard of it, he had pulled Gabriella before she left and it didn’t take long before they were screaming in each other’s faces. They were both loyal to their work and to their partners; Chris was defending his teammate, and Gabriella was defending her partner. It had been reported back to the director of the DSO and she was placed on suspension that was ultimately lifted after two weeks for two reasons: she was their best field agent aside from Leon, and Chris had vouched for her much to her surprise.

She had never forgotten the incident and apparently neither had the BSAA agents. She had been angry about their refusal to enter the structure; their reasoning had made since because they were unsure about the stability of it, but at the time Gabriella had not cared because Leon had been MIA for hours and neither she nor Sherry knew where he was or what had happened to him aside from him entering the Umbrella facility after arriving to Raccoon City.

It wasn’t until after, when Leon had been medically cleared and was at home, that she sat with how she felt and how strongly she had reacted and it raised some red flags within her about how she felt about Leon. Colleagues were bound to grow to care about each other and their wellbeing especially in the type of work they did, but not like that. Not to the point where she was ready to get physical with anyone who tried to stop her from getting to him. But she had brushed it off like she did many other things that made her uncomfortable.

“I’m not talking to him,” she announced, turning to look at Leon.

Leon shrugged. “Figured.”

Leon, despite being Leon Kennedy, hated confrontation, so when Gabriella started a fight he always acted as a buffer and mediator.

She walked silently beside him until they reached Chris who was adjusting his bulletproof vest.

“Leon!” Chris greeted him with a smile and hugged him, clapping his hand on Leon’s back.

“How’ve you been?” Leon gave Chris his own smile, albeit it was more pulled back than Chris’.

“Good. Tired of this shit, but good.” Chris turned his attention to Gabriella and smiled, his eyes glinting with amusement. “Gabriella.”

“Christopher.” She replied curtly.

Chris chucked and put his headset on. “Alex is here if you feel like apologizing.”

Leon snorted and turned around to hide his laughter and Gabriella gasped.

“Fuck you! I’m not apologizing to anyone for shit.” She scoffed and turned around, but with nowhere to go she turned back and looked between Chris and Leon who had shared a quiet laugh at her expense. “Let’s go and do this shit; I want to go home.”

“Got someone to go home to?” Chris nudged her shoulder with a laugh.

Gabriella scowled and brushed her shoulder as though he left a physical mark. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“I would, actually. I’ve always wanted to take you out for dinner. Even if you’ve called me a fat loser.”

Gabriella’s face shifted to a look of disgust. “As if.” 

No longer sensing Leon’s presence beside her, Gabriella looked over her shoulder to see him trailing her and Chris by a few paces. He was looking around as he normally would, his head turning to look to each side of and behind him in a strict pattern of surveillance. The area had already been cleared by the local police and the first round of BSAA agents that had arrived the night prior, but Leon wasn’t prone to trusting the judgement of others and, at times, his own judgement.

“How’s he been?” Chris’ tone was genuine now and he whispered it as he stood in front of her.

Gabriella got Leon’s attention and waved him over, giving him an exasperated look. When Leon rolled his eyes and quickened his pace she turned around and responded to Chris.

“He’s fine. Same as before, just physically better, I guess. You know how he is.”

“Mm. That’s good then, I guess.”

“Have any concerns?” She raised an eyebrow at him, her lips turning down slightly.

“Not really…” Chris shrugged. “We haven’t talked much since last October. Claire says they haven’t talked much, either. Seems like the only people he talks to consistently are you and Sherry.”

Gabriella shrugged, and then sighed. “At least he’s talking to someone.” She offered him a small, sympathetic smile which Chris returned.

Their soft moment vanished when Leon caught up to them and Gabriella turned to him, hissing, “If I can’t stray, neither can you. You can’t leave me here alone with these freaks.”

“Heard that,” Chris grumbled.

She waved him away and drifted closer to Leon.

“The straying rule is exclusive to you, Gabby.” Leon’s lips were just barely upturned in a smile. “You’re the one who gets lost.”

She shrugged. “I always find my way back.”

“Uh, yeah, after getting into some shit you’re not supposed to be in.”

“Whatever.” 

It was her turn to fight a smile when Leon placed his hand on the small of her back as they approached the group of agents that were huddled by the front door of the facility.

Some of the agents she recognized from Raccoon City, but there were a few she didn’t. The ones that she knew gave her looks mixed with annoyance and anger. She gave them no reaction and remained in her position beside Leon who angled his own body towards her.

“How are you still working?” Alex, the agent that she had pulled the gun on, asked her. He basically yelled it in disbelief.

Gabriella, taken aback, blinked at him. And then she smiled and calmly replied. “Anything is possible when you don’t have a gag reflex, Lieutenant.”

There was an eruption of noises amongst the group, a mixture of laughs, gasps, and yelling at Chris about Gabriella’s inclusion in the assignment.

“You could’ve fucking killed me!” Alex shouted and he took a step towards her that Gabriella happily matched.

Leon grabbed her by the belt loop of her pants and yanked her back. “Don’t,” he whispered in warning.

“That’s enough!” Chris shouted and all sound, even the sounds of the forest around them, stopped. “Agent Muñez faced the rightful disciplinary action, and she is apologetic.” 

When Gabriella opened her mouth to protest, Chris shot her a look and Leon tightened his grip on her so much that she collided with his chest softly. She promptly shut her mouth and frowned.

“We’ve all reviewed our briefs…” Chris started, giving Alex and Gabriella a pointed glare, “so we know what we’re here for. We get in, complete the objectives, and get out.” 

Chris’ voice was completely different than what it had been before and Gabriella found herself straightening at his tone, loud and commandeering of the group and situation. Even Leon stood differently beside her.

When the briefing was over, Gabriella turned around to face Leon and he was looking over her at the group of BSAA agents. She knew that look: he was assessing the situation and recognizing potential threats.

“Hey.” She nudged him with her elbow and he looked down at her. “Was it funny? What I said?”

He let out a humorless laugh. “It’s not a good look, I can tell you that.”

“But it was funny.” She nodded at him slowly in expectation.

“Yeah, sure.” He pursed his lips and shook his head. “Not everything is a fight, Gabriella.” The tone of his voice, low and defeated, made her pause. He almost never said her full name. 

“What would you have done, then?” She waited a few moments and when he didn’t respond she nodded. “Yeah, I thought so.”

From the position of their bodies no one could see that Leon had his hand on her stomach, his fingers moving around her shirt aimlessly. He looked at her, deep in thought; the blue of his eyes were nearly transparent in the sun but she could see what appeared to be sadness simmering just beneath the surface. Why he was sad, she wasn’t sure, but she let him have his moment without pestering him for answers to unspoken questions. She reached for his hand and grabbed his fingers tightly, loosening a breath as she tilted her head further to look up at him.

No one must have been looking because Leon bent down and gave her a swift kiss, and then pressed his lips to her forehead, his lips lingering for a moment too long, and she had a feeling that he was trying to tell her something without actually saying it.

“Come on, let’s go,” was all he said when he pulled away, jerking his head behind her to where the agents were lining up on either side of the door.

The facility had been a research lab, focusing primarily on experimenting on lickers to make them more conscious and efficient in killing which, if successful, makes sense why the local farmers had been reporting that they had been losing cattle in higher quantities than usual. Some of the cows had been found deep in the woods, their skulls crushed and bodies almost entirely consumed; some of the cows had never been recovered and were assumed to be inside the facility.

Gabriella could deal with a lot, but she could not deal with lickers. They made her skin crawl and her stomach turn in the worst way. And it wasn’t because she couldn’t handle them, but they looked scary enough that she always hesitated before engaging them. The entire time the team moved through the facility, clearing rooms and gathering data from the operational computers, Gabriella kept her head on a swivel.

“You okay?” Carlos appeared beside Gabriella, speaking in Spanish.

Carlos had introduced himself shortly before they had gone in, first telling her that her quip to Alex was “badass” and then introducing himself formally. They both didn’t need to explain their background to know they were both Latin and had since communicated in Spanish.

“Yeah. I’m not a fan of lickers.”

Carlos laughed. “Who is?” When silence settled between them, Carlos spoke again. “How long have you and Kennedy been together?”

At the mention of his name, Leon turned around, darted his eyes between the two and quickly turned back around.

“Since I started working there four years ago. We have a mutual friend who recommended me for the job and she said we’d work well together.”

“Do you?”

Gabriella laughed and smiled to herself. “Not at first. We would fight all the time, but it got better after…maybe two years? We just have different approaches to how we do things, you know?”

“Yeah, I can tell by the way you almost bit the Lieutenant’s head off.”

Gabriella rolled her eyes and sighed. Every mention of him made her blood boil.

“He’s a jackass then, and he’s a jackass now.”

“It’s…admirable that you did that, though. Shows how strong your connection is.”

Gabriella almost laughed at that. Their partnership, friendship—whatever it was had been strong prior to January. They worked well together, coexisted well together, but now it was so much more now that they were spending almost every night together.

“He would’ve done the same for me.” She shrugged the compliment away. “He’s a good guy.”

“You think he’d threaten someone like you did, though? I mean…that’s some next level shit.”

Gabriella smiled and shrugged. “Depends if I pissed him off that day, I think.”

Carlos laughed and she followed him into an office that had been cleared by Jill, one of the BSAA agents. 

“I get the feeling you do that a lot.” 

His voice followed her as she headed towards the desk. She sat at the desk and stuck the USB drive into the side of the monitor. 

“Oh, for sure. One time, I said something to him and he didn’t talk to me for a whole day. And not only did we have to share a room, but there was only one bed, so it was super awkward.”

“What did you say?”

She shrugged and threw up a hand. “Who knows. I say a lot of shit.” She pressed a few keys on the keyboard and when the desktop finally loaded, she clicked on all the folders and began to download them onto the drive. “We only talked because he woke up in the middle of the night to me going through his jacket for his wallet and car keys so I could get something to eat; he was pissed.”

Carlos let out a loud laugh. “You’re incredible.”

She grinned, but didn’t say anything further. 

“Gabby.” Leon appeared in the doorway and he glanced between Gabriella, who was sitting in the desk chair, and Carlos, who was perched on the desk beside her. “Just…checking on the file download.” He spoke cautiously, lingering in the doorway.

“Seventy-eight percent complete.” Gabriella beamed at him and she could have sworn his shoulders dropped just a little.

“Good.” He walked in slowly and positioned himself beside Gabriella.

She did not miss how close he got to her and the way his hand almost overlapped hers when he leaned down to look at the computer. She didn’t move; she let him lean over her shoulder.

“What does it say?”

She leaned back in her seat and shrugged. “Same thing that we know. They started experimenting with the DNA, mixing wolf DNA with it, which is insane. But a few trials here and there and now they have this thing.” She clicked on an image of a juvenile licker. She tilted her head and puckered her lips as she studied the image. “Kinda looks like a Xenomorph.” She looked up at Leon. “You know…from the movie Alien with Sigourney Wea—”

“I’ve seen it, Gabby,” Leon replied dryly. Despite his tone, he gave her a small smile.

“Right.”

The mutated licker had the same body shape as the normal lickers but they had a long tail that was thin with spines along the top of it. Their faces were akin to a dog’s with a blunt nose and canines that protruded from beneath its lips.

“Their vision is still shitty like the others, so they rely on their hearing, but they can see movement. They hunt in packs, too, which is annoying.”

“Your commentary on something that can kill us without a second thought is incredible, Gabriella.” Carlos piped up from his seat on the desk. He was grinning down at her.

She chuckled and shrugged. “It is what it is. Might as well have a laugh about it.” She yanked the USB drive out of its slot and shoved it in a pocket on her vest. “We’re good here,” she announced, standing up.

She bumped into Leon, who hadn’t had time to step away from behind her, and he quickly placed his hands on her waist to steady her. His hands lingered for a minute too long and the moment grew awkward, especially with the knowledge that Carlos was in the room. Maybe he hadn’t seen it, having gotten up when she did. Gabriella gave Leon a tight smile and stepped away from him and stalked towards the door where Carlos was waiting, pointedly staring out into the hallway while leaning on the doorframe, his hand resting on his rifle.

Leon wasn’t normally touchy in public. He reserved his graze on her arm when he passed by or the placement of his hand, ever so casual, in her hair as he twirled her curls around his fingers for when they were alone. It warmed her heart to think that maybe, just maybe, the reason why he was risking touching her in public was because he was jealous.

Gabriella had a habit of wandering when on an assignment. She was not fond of how slow everything took from checking rooms and the blueprint of the area or waiting for backup if needed. She preferred to go on her own and find what she needed and leave; she didn’t want to wait for anyone or follow protocol that extended her stay by more than she thought was necessary.

So, she had hung at the back of the convoy of agents and when there was a hallway that was seemingly blocked by furniture that, according to the map she had, was a shortcut to the main laboratory they were heading towards, she slipped through it unseen and unheard.

It was only the doorway that was haphazardly blocked by desks and cabinets; the rest of the hallway was clear from debris save from dust, broken glass, and trails of blood here and there. It was as though whoever had blocked the doorway had been trying to keep something out. But it occurred to Gabriella that if they were trying to keep the lickers out, why wasn’t the furniture disturbed? Why haven’t they bursted through when they were more than capable to do so?

She didn’t think about it too much as she scoured the offices, finding lab reports and personal testimonies from the scientists and technicians. Some of the personal reports were optimistic about the work they were “accomplishing”; the purpose of their work, like many other deranged scientists these days, was to create a killing machine. The original lickers were uncontrollable and unpredictable; they only killed what was a nuisance to them—anything that was in their way or made too much noise. Other than that they were “docile.”

The “new and improved” lickers had more autonomy to be trained and learn how to hunt; but, unbeknownst to the scientists, their newfound DNA also meant that they were extremely intelligent on their own accord.

And that was the downfall of the entire facility. Having formed their own pack through brief interactions with one another and communication between them in their enclosures, the six lickers they had “raised” started to recognize patterns like when they would be fed, when training started and ended, and, most importantly, when the shift change was for the guards.

Gabriella watched security footage from three months prior of the lickers communicating through clicks and snarls when the guard on duty stepped away and in the ten seconds he was gone and before the next guard took their post, the larger licker, the leader of the pack Gabriella could only assume, started to throw itself at the glass window until it shattered and in the other five enclosures, holding one licker each, they did the same until they had all escaped. And the scene that came before her eyes on the small computer in a windowless room at the end of the hall showed the facility erupt in chaos of red lights, smoke, and gunfire. Nobody stood a chance; everyone was killed and the few that escaped were killed as well and their bodies dragged back inside to be consumed. That explained why they had yet to find a whole human body.

“Jesus Christ,” she muttered to herself.

She downloaded the video to her USB drive and went on her way deeper into the facility. Their main objective was to get as much information as she could about the facility, who was funding it, who worked here, and what they were doing here; as well as collect information about the work they were doing about the BOWs and intel about the BOWs themselves, on top of terminating all BOWs they encountered. So she headed towards the main laboratory where she was sure she would meet up with everyone else. 

The question was when they would encounter the lickers. As of right now, there had been no sign of them except for pools of fresh blood in random rooms and saliva that stuck to their shoes. If they were like wolves as much as the scientists had insisted they were, they had to be deep inside the facility in an area that was easy to protect. And surely, given that there had been no sightings of them yet, they were all together which was both a blessing and a curse; it was easy to take them out all at once, but it was also easy to be ambushed. There were eight skilled agents and six lickers; the odds should’ve been in favor of the agents, but nothing was certain when dealing with BOWs.

The further she went towards the laboratory, the darker it got. There were no windows, the majority of the facility being underground, so it was already dark but the few lights that were kept on from the backup generator were broken here with some of the fluorescent bulbs hanging from the ceiling. Knowing how sensitive their hearing was, Gabriella meandered down the hall with her flashlight shining on the floor as she attempted to avoid anything that could make noise.

She descended another set of stairs and was met with a set of double metal doors. Through the small window on each door, she could see that inside was the laboratory they were looking for. Once she went through the door, she would walk across a metal landing and then down two flights of metal stairs where she would finally make it to the main floor of the laboratory. 

The room was massive. On each side of the room were what used to be tables with computers on top and screens on the walls. The metal tables had massive dents in it and the computers and screens had been shattered beyond repair and recognition. In between each wall were six glass enclosures, three on one side and three on another. They were barely enclosures at this point; the glass walls were nonexistent and all evidence of it being a wall were in pieces on the floor, the majority of it red from blood, both new and old. On the far side of the room was a door that led into a small room with what Gabriella assumed to be a double sided window. Her eyes narrowed onto it, knowing that it held what she was here to retrieve.

As Gabriella made her way into the room and down the stairs, her nose scrunched up in disgust at the smell. It was indescribable, but the closest thing she could compare it to was the smell of rotten meat.

Still careful to avoid the glass on the floor and tables that had been overturned in the walkway, she approached the door with her gun in one hand and her knife in the other. Pressing her ear to the door and confirming there were no sounds that she could discern, she turned the handle and opened the door slowly. She cringed as it opened; the sound of metal squeaking, that would have not been a big deal in normal circumstances, sounded like an alarm begging to be investigated. She flashed her light around the room and stepped inside, leaving the door propped open for an easy escape.

It was dark, but with a few passes of the light Gabriella knew it was exactly where she needed to be. Thankfully, the backup generators kept the refrigerator running so none of the samples had expired. Gabriella plucked the various vials of blood samples from the acrylic racks and placed them gently in a medical transport box that she found tucked away in a cabinet.

She wasn’t too engrossed in her task to miss the creak of metal and the crunch of glass behind her. Gabriella closed the lid of the box and turned around slowly and held her breath as she watched one licker crawl on the floor at least ten feet away from her, and another licker silently descend from a vent in the ceiling, carrying the body of a small calf in its mouth. It made Gabriella’s skin crawl to know that they were using the vents to travel, but it made sense since barely any of the barricades around the facility had been disturbed.

The smaller of the two lickers crawled towards the stairs that Gabriella had come down from as though scouting the room for something; the larger licker dragged the calf by its leg towards the room that Gabriella was in. She stayed still, her hand still wrapped around the handle of the box, and slowed her breathing to avoid moving as much as possible; she wasn’t sure if even the smallest movement, such as the rise and fall of her chest, could be sensed. Instead of entering the room, the licker made a right turn. Gabriella watched it head towards a dark corner and with the minimal light in the room, she could make out the rotten bodies of calves and various bones.

She did not use the opportunity to sigh a breath of relief. Instead, she watched the licker begin to eat the calf and watched as the other licker, satisfied that there was nothing of interest in the room, crawled towards where the other licker now sat. 

Shit, she thought to herself. She honestly couldn’t say how she was going to get out as the stairs were metal and had made some creaking noises as she had descended them earlier. She made the realization that she was not going to be able to get out if she did not kill them, and she also made the realization that there was a chance that she was not going to get out at all. 

She let go of the box, and instead picked up a two scalpels that were laying loose on the table, and threw one towards the opposite side of the room. Both lickers reacted to the noise, making wet snarling noises and one of them, the smaller one, got up and made its way towards the sound.

Gabriella mentally sighed in relief and mirrored the licker’s movements as it crawled towards where the scalpel had landed. As it sniffed the piece of metal and the floor around it, she threw another scalpel at her feet, making sure that it landed just quietly enough that only it could hear it. The licker made a clicking noise and Gabriella moved out of the way as it crawled right in front of her, its head at her feet. She looked at the larger licker, engrossed in its meal, and fisted the handle of the knife with two hands and plunged it into the licker’s head.

It made what seemed to be a sound of surprise and then it flattened onto the ground with a thump. The other licker paused, looked in Gabriella’s direction, and got up slowly. She knew that they could only see movement, but she had a sinking feeling like it could see her because it grew to its full height, in a defensive posture, and crawled towards her with its tail raised in the air like a scorpion.

Gabriella didn’t move; he stayed utterly still, only her eyes moving as it watched the licker advance towards her. It jumped onto an examining table in front of her and snarled as it sniffed the air. Its short snout twitched and she could hear the huffs of breath as it exhaled.

Slowly, Gabriella lifted one hand and lowered it to the floor and picked the scalpel up with two fingers. Still with her eyes on the licker, she threw it to her left, where it collided with a metal cabinet. At the same time that the licker roared and leapt towards the sound, Gabriella yanked the knife out of its position and stood up. She wasn’t sure how to go about this; this licker was clearly more intelligent than the smaller one which gave Gabriella the idea that it was younger. The licker in front of her had to be older, more mature, and, unless there was one larger than it, was the leader of their so-called pack.

While it sniffed the area where the scalpel had fallen, Gabriella crept towards it with the hilt of the knife grasped firmly in her hand. So focused on watching the licker, Gabriella did not see the piece of glass until she stepped on it. The shard twisted on the ground beneath her boot, making a nauseating scrapping noise against the concrete floor. She paused and held her breath and it felt like minutes, the scene before her unfolding in slow motion as the licker snapped its head towards her, made a sound akin to a scream, and, in one swift, sharp movement raised its tail and pointed it right at her. 

Lickers moved too fast; she couldn’t hesitate and wait to see what it would do. Gabriella lunged at it and tackled it to the ground. She placed her forearm on its neck, limiting the movement of its head and jammed her knife into its neck. The licker screamed, the sound becoming muffled as it started to choke on its own blood. She pulled the knife out and plunged the knife into its head;, hearing the crunch of bone as the blade penetrated its skull. The body fell limp and Gabriella went with it, falling onto its chest. She laid there for a minute, panting. Although she was terrified, she was relieved more than anything that her plan had worked.

She heaved herself up and was surprised to let out an involuntary hiss as pain shot up her body. She gritted her teeth, trying to not make any more noise than she needed to. Thinking she had just fallen on her knees too hard, Gabriella tried to stand and immediately fell back onto her knees and let out a strangled whine. She turned around and looked down and bit her lip, suppressing a curse.

In her tussle with the licker, it had penetrated her right thigh with its tail and deep enough that it had gone straight through, the tip of the tail now visible as she looked down at the front of her thigh. Running her tongue along her teeth, she took a deep breath and shuffled forward. The pain was unbearable and Gabriella felt nauseous and dizzy as she kept shuffling forward, the tail withdrawing more and more from her thigh until she fell forward on her hands and knees when it finally came out. She couldn’t help it; Gabriella let out a whimper and squeezed her eyes shut. But she couldn’t cry for too long; they had what they needed, so she just needed to find the others and leave. Part of her dreaded doing so because she knew Leon would be angry at her for abandoning the team and going out on her own. He hated her wandering tendencies and while she rarely got into too much trouble, he never let her live it down if she got hurt.

Gabriella staggered to her feet and limped towards the small room she had been in earlier. She fell against the edge of the table with a gasp, bracing against it as she rummaged through the cabinets and drawers for supplies. She found topical alcohol first and she poured it on the front and back of her thigh, groaning in the process. She searched for gauze as her leg stung in pain and Gabriella finally found it through pain induced blurry vision. She wrapped the gauze tightly around her leg until none was left, and while some blood seeped through the front and back of it, the white bandage turning run, it contained the majority of the bleeding. For now at least.

She wiped her forehead and let out a heavy breath. She had lost more blood than she thought she would have and it pooled at her shoes and it left a thick trail from where the licker’s body lay to the room she was in now. It worried her because she knew the mutated lickers had an incredible sense of smell and if they smelled fresh blood, they would find her very soon. But she tried not to think about it; instead, she shuffled out of the room with the box gripped tightly in her hand.

There was a door to her left, right across from the stairs that she had originally descended from. If she remembered the map correctly, that’s where Leon and the rest of the BSAA agents would be coming from. She inhaled sharply, squared her shoulders, and marched towards it.

It was the sound of gunfire and something falling that drew Gabriella to where the rest of the team was. As she rounded the corner, there was everyone she had abandoned at least an hour or so prior. One of the men whirled around at the sound of her footsteps and raised his rifle, the light attached to the bottom of it shining on and blinding her.

She raised her hand to cover her eyes, and raised the box in her other hand as though it was a white flag and she was surrendering. When the light lowered slightly, she lowered her own hand and waved as though nothing had happened.

“I found the samples,” she whispered as she limped towards them. “I got all of them, too. Plus some other stuff I found in this office.”

It was hard to make out everyone’s faces in the dark, but she knew, for the most part, that everyone was staring at her. She approached them as quickly as she could manage and stopped in front of Mark, the agent that she now realized was the one that had pointed his gun at her.

“What did you guys find? I got two lickers; how many did you guys get?”

Nobody responded. Alex raised his gun and flashed the light in her face again.

“Can we cut it out with the fucking lights?” She spat, covering her face.

“What happened to your leg?” He asked. He stepped forward, his run raised.

“I fell. Put the gun down, you freak.”

Leon emerged from within the group and without a word he stood beside Alex, using his body as a buffer between Gabriella and Alex.

“Let me see your eyes.” Alex growled.

“Oh, give me a fucking break.” She groaned and shifted her weight on her feet, nearly crying in pain. “Lickers can’t pass infection.”

“We don’t know about these kinds.”

Leon let out an annoyed sigh and grabbed Gabriella gently by the chin and shined his own flashlight in her eyes back and forth quickly. She squinted and jerked away from him and he let her go.

“She’s fine. Now, lets get the fuck out of here,” he grumbled and grabbed her by the arm.

The walk out of the facility was quiet, everyone still on high alert in case there were other threats they weren’t aware of. Gabriella and Leon walked in the middle of the group to protect the asset they had come to retrieve and Gabriella; she couldn’t walk well and the longer it took to leave and get medical attention, the more she bled and the more tired she got.

When they emerged from the facility, the sun had started to set and Leon guided Gabriella to one of the armored trucks. Carlos opened the trunk and Leon made a move to grab her to place her inside.

“I can do it.” Gabriella grumbled and swatted at him.

Leon gave her a knowing look and motioned for her to get in before crossing his arms. She knew she couldn’t, but she was too prideful to have anyone do anything for her. She placed her hands behind her on the bed of the truck and pushed herself up, but between the ache in her bones and the excruciating pain in her leg she wobbled and collapsed.

“I didn’t have a good grip.” She mumbled in an attempt to defend herself.

She tried again and whimpered and then yelped in protest when Leon picked her up and plopped her inside with a thud. She collided with the metal and gritted her teeth, groaning as she pushed Leon away.

“I had it, you fuck.”

“Yeah, I’m so fucking sure.” Leon turned and nearly snatched the medical kit that Carlos handed him. “Take your pants off.”

“What?”

“You pants, Gabriella. Take them off.”

She paused and blinked at him. Then she smirked. “Are you going to buy me dinner that’s not on the dollar menu?”

Leon scowled. “Do it yourself, or I will.”

Gabriella’s smirk grew into a grin. “If you do it, I will accept a dollar menu dinner. I’m a little easy like that.” 

Leon closed his eyes and it appeared as those he was praying for the will to not throttle her. “You’re unbelievable,” he muttered as he pushed her back onto her elbows to begin to take her pants off.

Carlos blushed and turned around, heading back towards Chris and Jill who were going through the contents of the transport box. Had he stayed he would’ve seen that Leon had no issue taking her pants off, as if he’d done it before. Which Leon had—this exact pair in fact. A few times even.

“I’m very excited for our dollar menu dinner tonight. What are you going to get?”

“Knock it off. I’m not in the mood.” He tugged her pants down to her ankles and with antiseptic wipes, he began to clean her thigh. Despite his negative mood, his touch was gentle and he was careful to avoid putting too much pressure on her skin as he wiped the blood away and lifted her thigh to clean the back of it.

“You mad?” Gabriella tilted her head down at him and watched him as he unraveled clean gauze.

“I am not particularly pleased right now.” He said dryly.

“I told you guys it would be faster.”

“If you were paying attention you would’ve heard the plan. We would cover more ground by going the long way. We were going to circle back through that hallway, anyway. But, like always, you don’t fucking listen.”

He looked up at her from his place on his knees beneath her. Something in his eyes shifted and instead of rage filled, icy blue eyes they had turned into something soft and muddled with an emotion she could not name.

“I didn’t think it would be a big deal.” She shrugged and looked away. Gabriella suddenly felt ashamed.

“It’s always a big deal when you don’t follow the plan or rules. You put yourself at risk, as well as everyone else.” While his tone had a chastising edge to it, Leon said it as though he was talking to himself and not at her.

“Is everyone else mad?” She asked Leon when he returned from the car they had arrived in with an extra pair of pants.

Kneeling before her again, he bunched up the pant legs and started to pull it up each of her legs. When he got to her thighs and after beckoning her to lift herself so he could pull it over her hips did he finally respond.

“I covered for you—said you had been assigned another task and were authorized to go alone.”

“Oh…” Gabriella said softly. “Thank you.”

“Mhm.” He stepped back and looked down at her. “How do you feel?”

“Tired and in pain.” She also looked down at herself and studied the pants he had put on her. “Are these yours?”

“Yeah. Your pants are too tight; it’ll aggravate the wound.”

“I keep telling you: they’re my size. I just have a fat ass.”

This made Leon laugh and she could see a dimple pop out on his cheek. 

He shook his head and patted her back. “Let’s get to the car. BSAA HQ is in the city; they have a medical team there and they’ll look you over to make sure you’re good.”

“M’kay, Mr. Kennedy.” She gave him a big smile, showing off her own dimples.

He rolled his eyes and pushed her ahead of him, making sure to keep his hand on her back as he guided her towards the car, scratching the spot in between her shoulder blades. And on the hour and a half drive to Vilnius, he kept his hand on her good thigh, rubbing it through the fabric of the pants with his thumb. And, later that night in their shared hotel room, he disregarded his bed and crawled into hers and held her close, playing with her hair as she fell asleep with her head on his shoulder.

He looked good as he always did. The glow of the porch light cascaded over him in a warm, golden light that threw matching flecks of gold into his blue eyes, and his brown hair blew aimlessly over his face, covering his forehead.

“Woah,” she laughed and leaned onto the door. “What are you—”

“Let me in, it’s cold.”

Gabriella barked out a laugh and stepped to the side, obliging to his request. “Always the gentleman, you are,” she mumbled as he hastily stepped inside.

“You were just standing there, what was I supposed to do?”

“I’m cross faded to the max and you’re here uninvited. What do you expect me to do?”

“Let me in?” He questioned as though it was obvious and threw his hands up.

The plastic wrap around the flowers crinkled with the movement and with her dark amber eyes, she followed the motion. Gabriella hummed and then shrugged. She dragged her eyes lazily from the flowers and then to him, giving him an even lazier smile.

“What are you doing here?”

“It’s your birthday and you didn’t come in to work, so I couldn’t give this to you,” Leon replied. He thrusted the flowers towards her and jerked his chin at the card. “There’s a card, too.”

With an amused smile she accepted the gift that she had received for the past four years. A bouquet of flowers from the grocery store by his apartment and a card with one sentence, his signature, and a Visa gift card. Despite the mundanity of the gift, it always made her smile.

“Thank you.” She whispered as she hugged him and, when she pulled away, she smirked up at him. “I love people your age; they stick to one gift and never switch it up.”

He huffed out a laugh and scanned the foyer and the hallway leading to the living room. “Yeah?”

Humming, she nodded her head. “Yeah, my dad does the same thing, too. I told him I liked Chili’s when I was like fourteen and now it’s the only place he’ll take me.” When Leon gave her a look, she grinned.

“Gabs, is the food here?” Someone shouted from the living room.

“No,” she shouted back and put the card back in the envelope. “It’s just Leon!”

“Hey Leon!” Sherry shouted.

The same voice as before replied, practically speaking over Sherry. “I don’t really like dessert before dinner, but I’ll make an exception since it’s your birthday!”

There was a howl of laughter from down the hall and Gabriella laughed with them.

“You can stay if you want.” Gabriella offered after settling back down. “We’re having Chinese and just hanging out, drinking and what not.”

Leon clicked his tongue and shook his head. “I’m not in the mood to be sexually harassed by your friends. I’m still recovering from last time.”

“One friend,” Gabriella corrected him. She giggled at his look of exasperation and then shrugged. “And given by your constant brooding demeanor I think it’s the only sexual thing you have going on in your life.”

Leon blushed and looked away, but Gabriella could see that he was trying hard not to smile.

“Come on.” She nudged him and jerked her head towards where the rest of the group sat. “Just until dinner. And,” she dragged the word out and smiled, “Sherry is here, too, so you have at least one ally.”

Leon gave her a reluctant look and then glanced at the front door. Sighing, he took his shoes off without a word and she grinned at him over her shoulder as he followed her down the hall.

“It won’t be that bad,” she whispered to him. “Just like an hour at most. Plus we have liquor.”

“Thank God,” was his only response as he sat on the couch next to Sherry.

“Mr. Kennedy, it’s good to see you again.” Sara smiled at him over the rim of her wine glass. 

She sat across from him in a loveseat. Her pale cheeks were red from the alcohol and from looking at Leon; she had a shameless crush on him that he had made very clear was unrequited, but that never stopped her from trying.

Gabriella snorted at Leon’s face, twisted in disdain and he shifted his body away from her.

“Hello, Sara.”

“Miss me?”

“No.”

“Bummer…” She sighed. “I missed you.”

“Sara, stop.” Gabriella swatted her leg as she stepped between them and handed Leon a short glass filled almost to the brim with Bourbon.

“Thanks.” Leon murmured and took a quick, short swig.

While he swallowed, Gabriella nudged him with her foot and he and Sherry both shifted down the couch so Gabriella could sit beside them. Settling into the cushions, she drew her knees to her chest and leaned back against the arm rest. Reaching behind her to the end table, she picked up her glass of wine and took a sip and watched the room. 

To her right sat Sara who dismissed Leon after he ignored another attempt by her to engage in conversation. Destiny and Chloe sat adjacent to Sherry on the opposite end of the L-shaped leather couch. They gave Leon small smiles and much more innocent greetings before turning back to finish their conversation with Sherry.

Leon leaned back in his spot and spread his legs slightly, resting his glass on his thigh. She almost smiled, thinking about how good of a sport he was agreeing to stay. Leon hated gatherings no matter how small it was. He preferred being at home or by himself; sometimes he barely wanted to have lunch with Gabriella if she offered. 

She offered him another drink when he finished his but he waved her off, muttering that he had to drive and had an early morning.

He didn’t. This she knew because he never did anything. She was sure he would wake up early in the morning and most likely lounge around his apartment, maybe doing something here and there but never anything substantive. He had no social life and barely any friends aside from perhaps Sherry, Chris and Claire Redfield.

Sometimes Gabriella felt sorry for him; sorry that he lived such a life of solitary, but to a degree it seemed like he enjoyed the quiet and arguably the peace that came with it. Gabriella could never understand it; she couldn’t be without her friends and the prospect of going out even if it was just to the grocery store. She was much more social than Leon and she knew it aggravated him. But she also knew that sometimes he was grateful for it during work events where they were approached by other agents and department heads of other federal agencies. Gabriella was always the front man in these situations with Leon lingering behind her with a look in his eyes that begged for the interaction to be over even if he contributed nothing to the conversation.

The doorbell rang almost a half hour later and she handed Leon the money for the food and jerked her head to the door. Leon rolled his eyes and got up with a huff, but she didn’t miss the slight upturn of the corner of his mouth at her frown.

She followed his movement out of the room and down the hall to the front door. Like any good soldier, he approached the door slowly and barely cracked open the door and after confirming that it was the delivery driver, he opened it wider. Assuring herself that he was fine, she left him to his devices and faced the group again.

“After dinner, I’m gonna have to go. I have a sitter and I don’t want her to be there too late.” Destiny ran her fingers through her thick, straight black hair and sighed. “These fucking kids man,” she mumbled with a laugh.

“When does Craig come back from deployment?” Gabriella asked. She shifted to sit in Leon’s spot and crossed her legs.

“Next Thursday.” Destiny groaned and tilted her head back on to the cushion behind her. “Can’t come soon enough, though. It’s not easy without him here.”

“That’s what you get for having three under three.” Sara muttered.

Everyone but Destiny snickered and she frowned at Sara.

“Oh, fuck off.” She grumbled and finished the wine in her glass. 

Sara shrugged innocently and then looked up at the doorway where Leon emerged from the kitchen. He jerked his thumb behind him and said, “Food’s here.”

Sara looked like she was going to say something, but thought better of it and just smiled at him as she got up.

“Good choice,” Gabriella whispered to her as they walked into the kitchen.

Leon pressed himself into the doorframe, seemingly in an attempt to create as much space between him and Sara. Gabriella just shook her head and gestured for him to follow her.

“You’re so weird.” She said to him. She handed him a plate and looked at him over her shoulder.

“I’m not. I want to leave.”

She scoffed. “Then leave.”

“It’s your birthday.”

“I’ll have other birthdays. Maybe you can spend the next year growing enough balls to act normal in public for my next party.”

He made a sound between a laugh and offense and nudged her. “That’s not funny, Gabby.”

She just shrugged at him and piled rice and beef and broccoli onto her plate. Knowing that it was his favorite dish, she passed him the container of orange chicken.

“Am I wrong?” 

“Extremely.”

She shrugged again and handed him a fork and then a beer from the fridge. He took it silently and then almost like a dog followed her back into the living room.

After dinner, Gabriella and Chloe stood opposite each other in the doorway of the double doors of her balcony. Chloe passed the joint to Gabriella who took it in between her pointer and middle finger and took a deep drag. Holding it, she turned around and blew it into the evening air. The sun had set already, the sky now a mix of indigo and slivers of orange and pink. She tried to pass the joint back to Chloe but she shook her hand, waving it back to Gabriella. She shrugged and took another drag.

Conversation had flowed nonstop since dinner and after a third beer, Leon had loosened up enough that he was replying to everyone without having to be prompted. Gabriella eyed him specifically; he was entirely relaxed against the leather cushions and he had one arm draped across the back of the couch and the other on his lap, his hand holding the neck of the beer bottle between his spread legs.

Leon Kennedy was a very attractive man. Gabriella had noticed that the first time she had met him four years ago. He was, and still is, broad in the shoulders with toned muscles that indicate years of work and dedication but not too much that he seemed like he tried too hard. Over the years, his brunette hair had lightened with a few blonde strands that turned into grey seemingly overnight. With a slight movement of his head, his hair would swoop across his forehead and cater to the profile of his face, tickling his ears and jaw. 

Gabriella continued watching him from her post across the room and studied the way his blue eyes bounced from person to person, taking in whatever they were saying. If he drifted from the conversation he would look around the living room and shamelessly check the clock on the wall, and occasionally, they would meet hers.

Blue eyes that put the Mediterranean Sea to shame is how she would describe Leon’s eyes. They were bright blue with specks of green akin to sea foam and despite their softness in color and description, they were piercing. Leon had a consistent critical, almost skeptical gaze, and despite her confidence Gabriella staggered sometimes when he looked at her for too long.

“You're staring.” 

Chloe’s voice was unexpected in Gabriella's ear and she jumped. She flicked the ash that had built up at the end of the joint and watched it fall onto the tiled floor.

“What?” She put it back in between her lips and inhaled.

“Don't bullshit me.” Chloe teased and rolled her eyes. Turning her back to the room, she leaned against the doorway and caught Gabriella’s gaze. “Are you going to fuck him?”

Gabriella choked on the smoke that she had almost fully exhaled and covered her mouth and walked further into the balcony. It was still snowing and well below freezing, but the heat in her cheeks kept her warm while she tried to compose herself.

“What are you talking about?” She sputtered.

“Oh, come on,” Chloe stepped into the balcony and tilted her head. “Look at me and tell me you haven't thought about it.”

Gabriella nervously laughed because she knew she could not say that she had not thought about having sex with Leon. He was not only conventionally attractive, but very attractive to her specifically. And after working together so closely for so long and sharing hotel rooms and living spaces, it was hard to not think about what Leon was and could be after hours.

It also had been years since she had been physical with someone and as the days trickled by unfulfilled, the more Gabriella had thought about exploring and expanding her relationship with Leon. They both had difficult jobs and a demanding workload, so she knew he could benefit from such an arrangement just as much as she would.

“Yeah, sure.” Gabriella waved her hand in dismissal.

“Oh, dude.” Chloe laughed. “I think he likes you, so it could definitely work.”

Gabriella rolled her eyes and approached her friend. “It's not like I’m looking to marry him. But,” Gabriella shrugged and inhaled the rest of the joint, “it would be nice to fuck.”

Chloe snickered. “Dating in D.C. sucks. I matched with this guy the other day and immediately he started mansplaining socialist theory to me. He was like, ‘I just think that the only way to truly get out of capitalistic induced poverty is to privatize everything.’ Like, what the fuck?”

While laughing, Gabriella smushed the joint into the ashtray and shut the balcony doors behind her. “What next? Anyone who doesn't like it gets sent to the gulag?”

“I think that's where he was going because he started bringing up China and once I saw that I blocked him.”

Gabriella grunted. “Dumbass.” She started to pick up some of the empty bottles on the end table next to the couch on her way to the kitchen. “You can commend the Chinese state for some of their progressive policies, but you can't say that they're the solution to end stage capitalism.”

“Yeah, I know. But give white men an inch, they're colonizing the whole fucking thing. It was so annoying.”

Gabriella howled in laughter and passed Chloe an empty bottle of Cayman Jack and together they meandered into the kitchen, tossing everything either into the trash can or the sink.

“So?” Chloe’s brown eyes looked at Gabriella expectantly when she turned around.

Leaning against the counter, Gabriella cocked her head to the side. “What?”

Chloe gestured to the doorway that led into the living room and her face contorted into an exaggerating look of expectation.

“Oh, please, Chloe.” Gabriella groaned. “It’s—no! It—I won’t. It’s not good for work and it'll get weird and complicated.”

Chloe shrugged, causing her long brown hair to shift around her shoulders. She ran her hand through her hair and then readjusted her bangs.

Gabriella did not move from her spot and instead admired her best friend. They had been friends for almost fourteen years, having met during their freshman year in college as randomly assigned roommates and their friendship clicked almost immediately. And now, over a decade later, their friendship was still as strong as it was before and without a doubt, Gabriella was closer to her than the rest of the friend group.

They had all met during their undergraduate programs, whether it was from being in the same class or club, except Sherry. Sherry was only part of the group because she signed up to live in their college house when she was in her undergraduate program and everyone else—Chloe, Destiny, Sara, and Gabriella—had either graduated or were in their respective graduate programs. It was hard not to exclude the girl; she was so shy and timid and very young and the group had no choice but to seemingly adopt and take care of her until she graduated.

“Hey.” Destiny appeared in the doorway and waved shyly. “I’m gonna go. The sitter called and Jason got sick.”

“Aw,” Gabriella pouted and hugged her. “That's fine. I’ll see you later, yeah?”

Destiny nodded reassuringly and then hugged Chloe. She left quickly and when Gabriella and Chloe emerged back into the living room it was quiet.

“In three days time,” Gabriella announced rather ominously with three fingers in the air, “we will all get sick with hand, foot, and mouth disease.”

“Oh, stop!” Sherry was the only dissenter as the room erupted into laughter.

Conversation ebbed and flowed between the group until Sara announced her departure, then Sherry, until it was just Chloe, Gabriella, and Leon. Gabriella was surprised to see that Leon had stayed for much longer than he had said he would and it was even more surprising to see that he appeared to be enjoying himself. Gabriella could not, however, acknowledge this fact without acknowledging that Leon had consumed another glass of Bourbon and was on his fifth bottle of beer.

Chloe passed their shared second joint to Gabriella and waved the smoke away from her face. “I’m gonna go too, I think. I have that stupid fucking pilates class tomorrow.” She rubbed her face and groaned.

“I don't know why you still go. You hate it,” Gabriella said while giggling. She put the stick in her mouth and inhaled, watching Chloe get up and stretch.

Chloe laughed and shrugged lightheartedly. “Because it makes my ass look so fucking good.”

Gabriella barely snorted at her response and got up slowly, stumbling just slightly on her feet. “You good to drive?”

“Oh, yeah,” Chloe laughed. “I've driven in worse conditions.” When Leon shot her a look, she shrugged again. “What are you going to do? Arrest me?”

Leon stuck his tongue in his cheek to keep himself from laughing and raised his hands up in surrender. “I would never tell a woman what to do.”

She pointed at him and laughed. “I know that's right!” Then she waved goodbye and headed out of the room in a much steadier, sober fashion than Gabriella.

Chloe stopped short of the threshold and looked back at Gabriella. Her grin was wide and wicked, and her eyes were wild. “If you,” she started, “have sex with him. Please let me know in the gravest of details possible.”

Gabriella laughed and threw her head back. “Please, get the fuck out of my house.”

“I’m serious!” Chloe shouted as she walked down the steps and towards her car. “I’m just as touch starved as you are!”

“Whatever,” Gabriella mumbled to herself and waved. When she could no longer see Chloe’s car, she shut the door and watched back to the living room.

Leon was upright, gathering the trash that was strewn across the various tables in the room. She marveled at him for a moment, admiring how tight his button up shirt fit across his back. 

“You don't have to do that.” She said after a few moments. “I’ll get it.” 

She approached him with open hands and Leon shook his head, picking up the last napkin on the coffee table.

“It’s fine. It’s not a lot, anyway.”

“Yeah, well, you know.” She laughed nervously and with nothing else to do, she tidied up the couch and chairs, putting pillows and blankets back in their place.

She followed him into the kitchen, placing the joint in between her lips and inhaling. She blew the smoke towards the ground and without looking up at him, she spoke.

“If you're too fucked up to drive, I have a spare room. I won't mind you crashing here for the night.”

She saw Leon smile and to her surprise, Gabriella smiled too.

“I’m fine, actually.”

She snorted and flicked some ash into the sink. “I’m not gonna lie, Leon, you look drunk.”

“Don't doubt it, but,” he turned to face her and leaned against the fridge adjacent to her. “I can handle myself pretty well.”

“Oh…” Gabriella laughed lowly and sucked on the stick. “Is that so?”

Leon shrugged. She had expected him to move, to leave like everyone else but he did not. He remained leaning against the fridge and looking at her with a mild, unreadable expression.

She felt the energy in the room shift and the tension rising from her feet to her face, but she didn't waver and instead looked right back at him with a small smirk even as she wrapped her lips around the bud.

“Have you ever smoked before, Leon?”

The question, random and out of the blue, seemed to surprise Leon because his eyes widened slightly and he raised his eyebrows.

“No,” he replied while shaking his head. “Those things will kill you.”

Gabriella shrugged and blew smoke out of the side of her mouth. “I don't think weed counts.”

He gave her a look and shook his head in disbelief.

“Do you want to?” She asked quietly, tilting her head. Before he could respond, she spoke again saying, “If you think it'll be too strong from this,” she raised her hand to show the joint, “I can shotgun it.”

With a furrowed brow, Leon also tilted his head. “What's that?”

Gabriella looked down while crossing one ankle over the other. “I blow it into your mouth.”

Leon stilled so rigidly that Gabriella felt the need to hold her breath. 

“You won't get as high, and you might not even get high at all,” Gabriella explained rather breathlessly. She attempted to quell the tension in the room with a careless shrug. “I was just offering since you're here.”

She watched him consider her and then he looked towards the lit foyer to his right. He looked at her again with glassy eyes and grinned. “Sure, why not?”

Gabriella almost giggled at his nonchalant response, but instead she took a long drag and put the small bud into one of the glasses still filled with liquid. She didn't say anything as she turned around and went to the coffee table in the living room and kneeled before it.

She heard Leon follow her and huff as he sat back down on the couch.

She opened a drawer and pulled out a small container of grinded weed and a piece of rolling paper. While expertly assembling the joint, she peered up at him.

“Have you seriously never smoked before?” She asked him.

He settled into the couch and leaned his head back as he undid the first three buttons of his shirt. She looked away quickly when the light hit the sprawling hairs across his cheeks and she felt an intense heat pool in her cheeks and in between her thighs.

“I never saw the…hype, I guess. It smells like shit and it will legitimately give you cancer.”

“If the smell bothers you, you should've said something. I would've put it out.”

From her peripheral vision she saw him wave her comment away. “It’s not a big deal. Just not for me, I think.”

She packed the weed and rolled the paper, twisting the end. “You didn't have to say yes. We don't have to smoke if you don't want to.”

She shuffled on her knees to face him and put her hands in her lap, shifting the joint in between her fingers.

“I’m fine.” He reassured her.

There was another pause before Gabriella moved and spoke. The tension in the air returned and it returned with a vengeance. It was thick and weighed heavily on her shoulders, pushing into her chest and she found it difficult to breathe or move from her position on the floor. She fought against it and even though her heart was pounding in her chest, she rose and fisted the joint and lighter in her hand.

She sat beside Leon and turned away to light it and after a few puffs she inhaled sharply and held her breath, letting the smoke settle in her mouth and lungs. Gabriella felt as though she’d need a good, big hit to calm herself before facing him properly.

“How do we do this?” He asked softly.

Gabriella was now barely a few inches away from Leon as she sat facing him with one leg tucked underneath herself. She blew smoke out of the corner of her mouth and shrugged.

“I blow it into your mouth and you hold it and then blow it out.”

“Huh. Okay…”

She grinned at him. “Ready?”

“Sure.”

Gabriella rolled her eyes and sat up straighter and leaned towards him. When he didn't move, she rolled her eyes again.

“Come here,” she whispered.

With arms crossed and an overall apprehensive demeanor, Leon leaned towards her. She took a short bit and then jerked her head towards him. Leon opened his mouth just barely and she blew the smoke slowly into his mouth.

“Okay, now hold it for a minute and then let it out.”

He leaned back and relaxed into the couch and she watched smoke shoot out of his mouth in a controlled wave of steam. Gabriella laughed and Leon’s shoulders shook with a chuckle. 

“No coughing?” She asked in surprise.

Leon turned to face her and clasped his hands in his lap. “I’m an adult, Gabriella.” He said, still chuckling.

“Yeah, okay,” she replied. “Wanna do it again?”

Leon scratched the back of his head and nodded.

“Did you like it?” She asked, giggling. She sat up on her knees and shuffled towards him until her knees connected with the fabric of his pants.

“It wasn't bad,” he replied coolly. He turned his body towards her and again, an unreadable expression clouded his face, and there was a shift in his gaze as he looked at her. “Think I need more.”

The tone of his voice, dark and borderline gravely caught her attention and Gabriella stilled with the joint barely grazing her lips. It suddenly felt heavy in her grasp and she licked her lips and looked at him.

“Yeah?”

Leon looked past the bud in her hand and looked straight into her eyes, and then his gaze slid lazily to her lips and down her body. She squeezed her thighs and swallowed thickly when he nodded.

“Yeah.”

In any other circumstance, this situation would not phase Gabriella. She normally took the lead and was overall a dominant sexual partner, but with Leon Kennedy she was nervous and slow to act.

She had told him that blowing the smoke into his mouth in a downward motion would guarantee he would get more than if they sat next to each other. He agreed and put his hands flat on the couch cushion as she swung a leg over him so she was straddling him, making sure to keep herself slightly suspended above his crotch.

“Ready?” She asked quietly. 

When he nodded, she turned her head to the side and took a longer drag than before. When she was done, she turned back to him and leaned in until her nose brushed against his and their lips barely touched as she blew the smoke into his mouth. 

She sucked in a breath and with it some of the smoke when Leon grabbed her hips and in order to steady herself against the surprise of contact, she put a hand beside his head and gripped the cushion. Leon blew the smoke downwards where it had nowhere to go, so it formed a makeshift wall in the small space between their bodies.

“More?” She asked softly against his lips.

Leon’s hands drifted down to her thighs and he palmed them through the fabric of her leggings. He nodded and then pulled her down on top of him.

She swallowed a groan and forced her eyes to stay in place. The contact was needed, but now she craved more and she fought the urge to rock her hips against his. Maintaining her composure, she took another drag of the joint and as blew it into his mouth, she leaned in, closing the gap between them and pressed her lips against his.

Leon accepted her with the hunger of a thousand men and Gabriella moaned into his mouth as their lips started to move wildly against each other. She slid her tongue into his mouth and swept across it, her hips twitching in response to how good he tasted and felt beneath her.

With every break, smoke spilled out from their mouths but it didn't stop either of them from kissing and tasting each other, or Leon rocking her hips against his. With one hand still guiding her hips back and forth, the other cupped the side of her face and he held her there, like he was basking in her moans of pleasure.

She tried to fight against his hold, to put his hand above his head and free themselves of their clothes and get to what they both were here for, but Leon wouldn't budge and in fact he started to move her faster against him.

“Oh…oh, what the fuck.” Gabriella groaned and tilted her head back and started to grind against him on her own.

“Fuck, just like that.” He whispered.

Gabriella looked down at him and almost cried out. Leon laid beneath her, his head thrown back against the cushion without care and he was looking up at her through half lidded eyes. But despite his demeanor, his gaze was sharp and commanding with a glint of arrogance.

She leaned back and crushed the joint onto the ashtray and faced him again, working on undoing the buttons of his shirt. Her movements were frantic, too uncoordinated for her liking but she was operating on primal instinct to have Leon in every possible way.

Sliding his hands up her back, he unhook her bra and when it fell, the straps pooling at her elbows, he palmed her breast gently, rolling her nipple between his fingers. She gasped and grounded her hips harder in his lap, her head falling back slightly. Leon let out a distinct moan and Gabriella watched as his head fell further into the cushion and he took his bottom lip in between his teeth.

Seizing the moment, Gabriella pushed open his shirt and ran her hands greedily up and down his chest. He was beautiful beyond reason and she paused to admire the definition of his muscles, the scars that protruded from the soft spot on his right collarbone and beneath his left ribs, and the hair that covered the expanse of his chest. Despite the scars and coarse brown and grey hairs, his skin was soft and she reveled in the way its warmth spread from her hands, up to her arms, and cascaded throughout the rest of her body.

Leaning forward, she placed a hand beside his head and lifted herself just enough to place her hand between their bodies and began to firmly palm Leon through his pants. He was already hard and Gabriella swallowed a groan as she felt up and down the imprint of his cock, taking note of how thick and long it was and mentally imagining how it would look slamming into her.

Gabriella’s daydream, and hopeful reality, was cut short when Leon moaned, the sound guttural and desperate and it reverberated through the room and shot through Gabriella like a bullet. She did not want him to see how easy she was unraveling, how he was bringing her so close to the edge that she was finding it difficult to breathe, so she kissed down his neck until his hips bucked hard into her hand. Gabriella grinned as she pulled the skin beneath his ear between her teeth and sucked on it slowly and after letting it go, she swirled her tongue around it and repeated the process, cementing a mark on his skin.

“Fuck, baby.” Leon whispered. He had his hands on her hips and his grip hardened as he tried to push them down, desperate for more contact.

“You like that?” Gabriella breathed in his ear as she started to undo his belt.

To her surprise, Leon grabbed her wrist and groaned. She pulled away from him, sitting upright, and cocked her head to the side. Before she could speak, she took a moment to admire him. Leon Kennedy had always been a well composed man; he never raised his voice or acted out of order even if the moment called for it. He spoke with confidence and clarity, choosing his words carefully to convey his message clearly and every plan was well thought out and nothing was ever missed; he had a solution for everything. But right now, she did not see that man; Leon Kennedy looked a mess with flushed cheeks and disheveled hair and his blue eyes, normally so focused, were glassy and wild.

Gabriella watched Leon close his eyes and then open them again; his gaze narrowed on her face with such renewed clarity that Gabriella stiffened and the hand that she had begun to place on his chest froze, suspended in the air.

“What’s wrong?” She asked carefully. 

With his initiative, Gabriella lowered herself fully back on Leon’s lap and his eyes flicked from their connection and to her face. The way he looked at her was primal and while Gabriella had never been the submissive type, she found herself shrinking beneath his stare as he sat up and pulled her towards him roughly.

“Keep going. Like before,” was all he said, his voice deep and steady. 

She nodded dumbly and reached beneath them and looped her finger through the belt and lifted it, releasing the pin from its notch. She dared to sneak a glance up at him and Leon angled his head down to look up at her and Gabriella blushed and looked back down, focusing on the metal button and zipper, still trapped and untouched.

Clambering off him, she yanked his pants down to his knees and went to do the same to his underwear, but Leon sat up and grabbed her wrist again, sitting up and leaning towards her until their noses barely brushed.

“Leon…?”

“Sit back down like before until you finish, and then I’ll take you to your room.”

“What…” was all Gabriella could manage to say. The command in his voice, the crystal clear determination in his eyes made her pant and she squeezed her thighs together but it was useless because the fire that burned within her was too great to be put out.

Leon gently pulled her towards him and against her better judgement, she obliged to his silent request. She straddled him cautiously, letting him position her and lower her where he wanted her. This dynamic was unusual for Gabriella, but her mind was too muddled with need that she started to not know where up, down, left, and right were; she only knew what Leon was telling her.

“You—you don’t want to have sex?” She asked after settling in his lap.

“We will.” He murmured, tucking some of her hair behind her ear and cupped her jaw. He squeezed her hips gently and began to rock her slowly.

Gabriella watched Leon as he admired her face, his eyes slowly moving from each of her features, from each of her eyes to her nose and to her cheekbones. Leon’s expression was unreadable and Gabriella could not decipher what he was thinking or what he was going to do—wanted to do. 

Sex was not supposed to be like this; she had figured it would have been over by now and he would be long gone to his home and they would probably not speak of it until one of them wanted to have sex again. Gabriella knew that that is how these types of situations unfolded, but Leon was not following the rule book she went by and she struggled to regain control of him and, most importantly, herself.

Gabriella felt exposed, vulnerable, but she felt especially lost because she did not feel like herself. She heard herself and watched her body move against him and none of it seemed familiar. She had had enough sex to know herself and what she liked and based on her experiences she liked it fast and rough. But this time it was different; she was quiet, whimpering into his neck as she chased her high on his lap slowly, dragging out the pleasure and feeling it crawl and settle into the growing mound in the pit of her stomach.

Beneath it all, Gabriella felt humiliated as Leon whispered praises into her ear and she mewled in response. She worked with him, saw him every day, and before he knew Gabriella Muñez as his partner and someone who was educated and strong willed, but now he was knowing her as someone who could be subdued. Gabriella desperately wanted out of this situation and a small part of her regretted initiating this with Leon because now he would only see her as this when in reality this was not even who she normally was during sex. Tonight was an anomaly and she was not sure why Leon had been the catalyst for it. But despite her racing thoughts, the feelings of shame and guilt coursing through her veins, she didn’t move. Gabriella stayed where Leon held her and grinded on him until her breaths came out ragged and uneven.

“Leon,” she whined into his neck. Gabriella gripped the leather cushion in one hand, and the other twisted itself in the hair at the nape of his neck. “I’m…oh, God.” She cried.

Her movements had become sloppy and it was Leon’s steadfast hold that kept her in a consistent rhythm. He hummed in her ear and snaked his hand up her back where he wrapped her hair around his fist and pulled back enough so Gabriella was looking at him.

“Feel good?” He asked breathlessly.

Gabriella pouted and nodded, closing her eyes. She could not bear to look at him and see him as he witnessed her unraveling.

“You gonna come for me?”

Gabriella’s head fell back with a loud moan and she fisted his hair tighter in her hand. She would have never thought this was Leon during sex. He seemed so quiet and put together, and she had always imagined him as someone more on the vanilla side, someone who did missionary more than anything else and was not into anything rough. So this—the quiet dominance that made her quiver in her seat on his lap and his commanding direction of how and when to climax—was an unexpected, although pleasant, discovery.

Running his hand up her chest, Leon cupped her breast and massaged it roughly and purred, “You feel so fucking good, Gabriella.”

Something within her snapped and her body froze and relaxed at the same time as all her defenses came crashing down at once, unleashing a relentless tidal wave of pleasure that was too big for her body and overwhelmed her senses. Gabriella’s skin tightened in on itself and she stiffened in Leon’s lap as the wave ebbed and flowed in her face, then chest and arms, abdomen and legs, until it accumulated between her spread thighs, pulsing and begging to be released.

Leon was relentless as he kept moving her on his lap harder than before. “Come on, baby, that’s it. Let me hear you.”

Whatever was holding her orgasm back, faltered and then cracked entirely and Gabriella did not have time to prepare before she screamed. Her eyes rolled back into her head and her back arched into Leon’s body as her head fell back farther than before. Gabriella grabbed her face and lips, trying to keep quiet, but her moans were seemingly never ending, especially with Leon still rocking her, softer now, back and forth. 

The pleasure was excruciating, almost painful, but she welcomed it anyway and with it another orgasm that forced her to fall forward into Leon’s chest. She clutched at his skin and shirt aimlessly in an attempt to ground herself; she felt like she was growing big and small at the same time and as though she was simply going to implode. Gabriella whimpered indiscriminately as her body twitched, jerked, and convulsed, her body’s physical reaction to coming down from her highs.

There was a vibration that rippled through her chest, but she paid it no mind as she fell slack against Leon. Then there was a shaking sensation on her back that she ignored, opting to nuzzle further into Leon’s neck. Gabriella’s ears rang and the ringing had been so constant and loud that it morphed into a low hum that, surprisingly, was calming and Gabriella's eyes grew heavier by the second.

“Gabby.”

Gabriella hummed in response, but didn’t move. The voice was muffled and sounded too far away to give her any sense of urgency.

“Gabby.”

This time her body shook and Gabriella stirred enough to sit up slightly. Her vision was blurry and unfocused, but she could make out a face, a handsome face, looking at her.

“Where’s your room?”

“Hm?” Gabriella blinked and tilted her head. Her vision focused enough to make out Leon grinning.

“Your room, Gabby. Where is it?”

She hummed and sat up straighter. Leon sat before her and she could feel his arms around her back and he looked up at her expectantly, a glimmer of something she could not name shining in his eyes. She rubbed her eyes and then ran her fingers through her hair, fluffing it out behind her. She took this time to gather her surroundings and remind herself where she was, who she was with, and what she was doing and about to do.

She jerked her chin across the room and spoke as she shuffled off of his lap. “Down the hall; last door on the left.”

Gabriella swayed on her feet and stumbled back when she stood up and Leon had to hold on to her waist to prevent her from falling backwards. She let him catch her and then, in an attempt to regain some internal credibility, she grabbed his hand and led him to her room. She turned around and gave him a sleepy smile that Leon returned without hesitation. He pulled her towards him and grabbed her face before she could collide with his body and kissed her. It was deep and consuming, and he devoured her like he had not done so before.

Gabriella moaned and leaned into him, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulled him closer into her space. Taking advantage of their proximity, Leon lifted her and she wrapped her legs around his waist and kissed him again loosely and then peppered kisses to his neck as he meandered down the dark hall.

Gabriella fell onto the bed with a quiet yelp and wasted no time in discarding her clothes as Leon did the same before her. In between throwing different articles of clothing around the room, Gabriella peeked at Leon and a wave of nausea rocked her.

Leon Kennedy was magnificent. His shoulders were broad enough to block the doorframe from Gabriella’s vision and the muscles, round and chiseled, that lined the tops of his shoulders and circled his biceps were nothing short of a visual blessing. Her eyes traveled down the expanse of his body and her gaze locked onto the trail of hair that led to his naval and her mouth watered as she looked down even further. It looked better than she had imagined and her body flushed with heat as she stared at it, admiring the two veins that encircled the shaft and the sheen of precum on the tip. 

She shuffled backwards on the bed at Leon’s request, a gentle pat on her calf and a jerk of his chin towards the headboard. He crawled after her and the sight of him on his knees, placing a gentle kiss to her shin and caressing her calf sent a shiver down Gabriella’s spine that only got worse when she watched him pump himself as he kneeled before her and stroked his tip between her folds, gathering her arousal onto himself.

Leon hovered over Gabriella, their faces not even an inch apart as he shifted himself between her legs. She could feel him pressing against and she inhaled deeply and closed her eyes, rolling her hips to meet him.

“Ready?” He asked quietly.

Gabriella looked at him and nodded with a small smile. She swiped her thumb across a vein on his arm and leaned up to kiss him, but Leon did not move.

“Say yes.”

She paused and stared at him in confusion. “What?”

“I want you to say it—say you want this.” Leon grazed her jaw with his nose, prompting her to lift her chin so he could place a kiss on her neck,

Gabriella twitched beneath him and left out a breath. It was a simple command, but she found it difficult to cooperate and find the one word he was asking for. Part of her was surprised by his request for verbal consent, and maybe it was a play for dominance, but it, nevertheless, felt good to be asked before he pushed himself inside. Another part of her was too overcome with desire to think properly. The last part of her was too prideful to admit that she was desperate to feel his cock deep inside while he fucked her senseless.

She licked her lips and repositioned herself beneath him and caught his lips. Gabriella hoped this would be enough for him to give her what they both needed, but although he kissed her back Leon asked her to say it again, but this time he gripped her chin in his hand and forced her to look at him.

Letting out a ragged breath, she smirked and nodded. “Yes,” she mumbled against his lips.

She felt his lips twitched upwards against hers before kissing her again. Gabriella reached between them and fisted his cock and guided it towards her entrance. Leon did not move from where Gabriella had put him; instead, he stayed there, hovering hesitantly with his forehead pressed heavily against Gabriella’s.

“You okay…?” Gabriella pushed him back gently and looked up at him. She frowned at his expression. Leon looked worried, tortured even.

“I just want to make sure you’re okay with this.”

“We’re going to have sex, not sign off on a mortgage.” She let out a breathless laugh that quickly died when Leon’s expression remained the same.

He pursed his lips and sat up on his knees. The rejection panged through Gabriella’s chest like a drum and she clenched her jaw, holding back tears while she sat up and drew her knees to her chest.

“Fuck, I’m sorry.” Leon rubbed his face with both hands and then ran them through his hair. “It’s just—”

“It’s fine.” Gabriella replied curtly, cutting him off. Peering over the edge of the bed, she looked for her shirt until she saw it. “It’s not a big deal.” She mumbled as she leaned over the edge and grabbed it.

“It’s not you, I—”

“Like I said, dude, it’s not a big deal.” 

Gabriella could not face him as she put her shirt back on because she had started to cry. Despite the stability in her voice, she was anything but. Gabriella had not been with anyone in almost five years; she had found it difficult to meet people and hook up or date since she graduated and started working at the DSO. She had met people, but nobody was interesting enough or seemed worth her while for a quick release. At first she thought it was just the dating pool in D.C. was not to her standards and preferences and that nothing was wrong with her, but now, with Leon having just acted like having sex with her was nothing short of a nightmare, she was starting to have doubts that maybe she was the undesirable one.

“It’s been a while…since I’ve been with someone,” Leon admitted quietly.

When Gabriella turned around, he had his back to her and was buttoning up his shirt. She did not know what to say. Part of her wanted to sympathize and tell him that it had been years since she had been with anyone too, but another part of her felt as though he did not deserve her honesty after humiliating her in her own home, on her birthday. She almost laughed because it was still her birthday; it was only ten.

“It’s not you. I just got nervous, you know?”

The defeat in his voice made Gabriella pause and she stared at Leon.

“I haven’t had sex in five years.”

Leon turned around with a surprised expression, but it did not phase Gabriella as she continued putting her leggings back on.

“I was really busy with my dissertation and then I started working and haven’t really had time.” She explained as she adjusted her shirt over her pants.

“I had this girlfriend a couple of years ago, back when I still had the T-Virus infection, and after a few months she started distancing herself. For no reason, really. And after a bit, she said it was because of the infection. That it was hard to see and handle and all that and she just didn’t know how to tell me.”

The room stilled, both Gabriella and Leon frozen in their spots, and the confession hung heavy in the air, seemingly sucking it right out of the room. Gabriella swallowed thickly and all of the rage that had been simmering in her blood dissipated and in its place, sympathy took root in her heart. 

Gabriella had assumed it was a power move or Leon was really enthusiastic about consent, but now it made more sense. He wanted to hear it for himself, to confirm her own desires to him so that it did not seem she was just going with whatever he wanted—that she was doing this because she wanted to. She thought about how devastating it would feel to find out that someone you were with really did not like you, or want you in the same way you did and that the relationship had been nothing but a facade. 

“I’m really sorry, Leon,” was all that she could manage to say. 

Leon shrugged and pulled his pants up, but said nothing else.

“If you, uh, wanted to…you can stay.” When Leon looked at her, she gave him an awkward smile. “We can just talk, or—or hang out. And if you want, we can try again.” When he still did not respond, Gabriella shifted her weight on her feet and said, “It’s still my birthday, so…”

This made Leon laugh, the sound airy and unsure, but a laugh nonetheless. Gabrielle took it as an invitation to walk towards him and sit in front of him.

“You sure?” Leon looked down at her, his eyes darting across her face looking for, what she could only assume was, genuinity.

Gabriella nodded. “Yes, I’m sure.”

Leon’s throat bobbed and she reached out and touched his leg, swiping her thumb across the fabric and then tugged it gently, beckoning him to her. Leon took a step and then another until his knees connected to the bed and Gabriella leaned back slightly and spread her legs just wide enough so he could stand in between them. She slid her hand further up his leg to his hand and intertwined their fingers.

Gabriella had a gift for comforting people, men specifically. She had learned it early on in her life, taking care of her mother through her episodes of emotional and mental instability. And then, when the time came, she used everything she had learned to be someone she was not for the sake of surviving. She smiled and laughed through the receiver of her phone when the men who paid for her time said something that was supposed to be endearing or funny, and sympathized when they complained about their ordinary, easy life whether it be their high paying job or nuclear family.

So in that moment Gabriella used all the tactics she had taught herself over the years and with doe eyes that looked up at him through her lashes, she tugged on his hand and pulled him towards her, and when Leon bent down and placed his hands on either side of her she whispered in his ear, running her hands through his hair, and gave him his options for the night and that she would be agreeable to anything he chose to do. She pulled back and let him look at her, her full lips pulled into a kind smile.

The only difference between then and now was that Gabriella was not faking any of it.

Leon Kennedy was a beast in bed and there were moments that Gabriella thought she was going to die, her heart giving out at the ripe age of thirty two. She wondered if his performance had been altered by the T-Virus infection and if that was a point of contention in his previous relationship, or relationships. Regardless of it, whomever he was with before was missing out.

“Leon, please I can’t take it,” she begged him through gritted teeth.

“But you’ve been doing so good.” Leon purred the praise, his breath hot in her ear.

Gabriella let out a strangled cry and squeezed her legs tighter around his waist and raked her nails across his shoulder. Her other hand was trapped beside her head, Leon having held it there minutes prior. She had stared at their interlocked fingers and then at him with wide eyes; something within her, akin to fear, twisted in her stomach and made it flip onto itself.

She was not scared, but she was at the same time. This was different than she was used to and Leon was a type of man that she had not encountered before, especially now with him on top of her and buried so deep she kept having to lift her hips to alleviate the pressure he was putting on her cervix. He was attentive and made sure, above else, that she felt good. Despite the harsh momentum of their bodies, his touches and kisses were kind and Gabriella struggled to experience all aspects of her predicament at once without feeling a sense of whiplash.

Leon’s hips twitched and his rhythm faltered and he dropped his head onto her shoulder, cursing against her skin. Without looking up, he reached down and hooked her leg around his arm and pressed himself further into her until their skin connected. Leon circled his hips and Gabriella felt him grin against her skin when she moaned loudly and arched her back.

“Feel good, baby?”

Words failed her because her brain had turned entirely into mush, so Gabriella groaned and bit her lip, and nodded.

“Tell me.”

She whined pathetically and dug her heel into his lower back. He was asking too much of her. She knew that he knew that it was good; she knew that he could feel her walls spasm around him with each of her orgasms and hear her cries when he filled her to the brim. The only thing Leon did not know was that this was the best sex that Gabriella had ever had.

“Yes,” she finally managed to say. She turned her head and looked at Leon when she felt him lift his head from her shoulder.

“Yeah?”

She bit her lip and nodded, tears pricking her eyes. “S’good. I—I swear. It’s the best…ah…I’ve never had it so good.”

Leon grinned knowingly and it made Gabriella’s core pulse and she gasped at the sensation, throwing her head into the mattress. She pressed herself even further into the mattress when Leon quickened his pace and she could hear their skin, slick with both sweat and their arousal, slapping against each other. Gabriella was overwhelmed, overstimulated with it all and she felt her body start to quiver uncontrollably and she began to pant, her breaths coming out in quick, short uneven bursts of air.

“Leon, I’m…oh.” 

Leon hit a spot, sensitive and raw inside of her that made her jolt and the tears that had been threatening to spill finally came falling down her cheeks. She listened to Leon chuckle when he thrusted, hitting the spot again.

“Look at me.” Leon urged her by cupping her face and tilting her head down. 

When Gabriella opened her eyes she could see him looking at her with a hazy gaze and he licked his lips while admiring her features that were contorted in pleasure. They looked at each other for a few minutes in silence and Gabriella found it excruciating to maintain eye contact while he led her to ruin. She also found it to be too intimate, a recurring theme with Leon; she was unsure of how to proceed with him, when he kissed her and touched her, looked at her and asked her to tell him how it felt when he was fucking her. She had never experienced kindness, and she was not kind either, but Leon was and while Gabriella was very adaptable, she found it difficult to adapt to this. The only reason she could not stop feeding into him was because of how good it felt, how good he was making her feel. She had a brief thought that maybe she did not like what she did before, and instead liked being taken care of even if it was just sex.

Like before, something in Gabriella snapped when Leon grounded his hips into her, grazing the sweet spot inside of her. Her walls tightened and she could not move as he did it again.

“You’re taking me so good, Gabriella. Did you know that?”

She gasped and a wave of nausea mixed with pleasure rocked through her and she stared at Leon in disbelief. He looked at her expectantly, waiting for an answer and all she could muster was a weak nod.

“Yeah…” He pressed a kiss on her check and let his lips linger. “You’re doing so good.”

She choked out a sob and shook her head. She could feel every muscle in her body tighten and it was starting to hurt, her climax bubbling beneath her skin and deep inside of her begging to be released.

“Leon…” She whimpered and looked at him in desperation.

He did not falter. In fact, it seemed like her mewls and incoherent blabbering egged him on because he rolled his hips faster against her, his cock pumping in and out of her with renewed force, like it had something to prove.

“God, you’re so fucking beautiful. So pretty taking me, coming like such a good girl—”

Gabriella’s orgasm unleashed itself onto her, Leon, and the bed so unexpectedly and without warning that she could not conceive of what was happening as her body stiffened and she arched herself into Leon, her heels digging into the mattress. 

“Oh my God, Leon!” Her scream was cut short by a sob and she gripped Leon’s hair and pulled him into her so she could bury her head into his shoulder. Her body shook with sobs as her climax tore through her, and her body convulsed with each wave of ecstasy. She felt Leon still and through the ringing in her ears, she could hear him moan her name as he spilled inside of her.

They laid there for a few minutes, their breaths coming out in unsynchronized pants with the occasional sniffle from Gabriella. Leon tried to move off of her, but she held him close and shook her head.

“Give me a minute.” She whispered, stroking his hair.

Leon nodded and kissed her cheek, rubbing small circles with his thumb on her waist gently. She held him for a few more minutes and let him go only after she stopped twitching and crying. Leon did not get off the bed like she had assumed he would, getting dressed and leaving as quickly as he had arrived. Instead he rolled on to his back and pulled her towards him. Gabriella, instinctively, despite it not being her instinct at all, curled into his side and threw her leg on top of his.

After a few minutes Leon spoke, asking, “Was it really the best you’ve had or were you just saying that?”

His voice pulled Gabriella from sinking into unconsciousness and she nodded sleepily against his chest.

“Really?”

Gabriella angled her head upwards, gazing at him with red eyes from exhaustion and her tears from earlier. 

Sighing, she replied. “Not every woman is fortunate enough to meet a nice man.”