#teaser post

Leon’s mission in Hungary is a success, but the trade off for survivors isn’t free. Broken ribs are a bitch, but maybe it’s not so bad when you having a doting husband to help you recover.

He doesn’t remember the what or the why right now, but even in his foggy state, Leon vividly remembers the who.

He can’t remember the man’s name yet, but he remembers his daughter, a little girl named Reka who was only five and a half years old - the ‘half’ had been so important to her when they’d first met and she’d proudly told Leon her age - and he remembers that she’d felt so small in his arms as the world caught fire around them.

“Chris, please-“

Leon doesn’t get any further.

Chris muscles past both nurses easily and strides towards Leon, taking a gentle hold of his shoulder, partially to keep him from getting any further out of the bed but mostly to ground him in the way that only Chris’ touch can.

Pleading bleary blue eyes look up and meet warm, familiar brown.

“Hey, hey, hey. Stop, it’s okay, it’s okay. She’s okay,” Chris murmurs, “You saved her. She survived.”

The words sit, wonderful and almost unreal for a moment - but Chris would never lie to him about something like this.

Relief floods Leon’s body and he sags like a puppet with cut strings, leaning heavily on the hand that’s bracing him and dropping his head down to press gently at Chris’ stomach.

The warmth from the other man’s body is so comforting and Leon just basks in it for a moment as he tries to compose himself.

Not like Chris would ever think any less of him for getting emotional at such incredible news , but Leon doesn’t want to fall apart in front of strangers, even if the nurses do seem nice.

The niggling alarm in the background finally calms when Chris’ other hand comes up and curls behind the back of Leon’s neck, thick fingers winding into his dirty hair to just hold him as much as he can in the awkward half-hug.

“Her family?” Leon rasps after a moment, head still down and eyes still shut, relieved tears making his lashes sticky where they brim but don’t fall.

“All of them,” Chris voice is so quiet and gentle, it’s really not helping Leon’s efforts to not cry. “They’re all at a children’s hospital with Reka now. But I’m pretty sure Minister Szijjártó will be here as soon as you’re cleared for other visitors since he wants to thank you personally.”

The hand on his shoulder tightens, just a fraction, its grip a tiny I’m here and so are you that Leon’s so damn grateful for.

Chris has been an anchor for Leon for years, probably even longer than Leon himself is willing to admit, and that solid, steady presence is everything Leon needs while things still feel so off kilter.

He still genuinely can’t believe he’d succeeded.

For once, he didn’t have to accept saving one life and losing another. The whole family had survived. The Minister, his wife and all three of his daughters had all lived.

God, a few fucked ribs and a burning throat is hardly the worst he’s suffered and such a tiny price hardly even seems possible in return for the Reka and all of her family living through the BOW that had been sent to kill her father.

Yeah, the safe house they’d been in was burned down and someone’s probably going to bitch to the DSO about that, but Leon would let a hundred houses burn in exchange for saving even one person, let alone five.

After a few quiet moments, Leon lifts his head.

He cracks his wet eyes open again and stares at Chris’ beloved face, the older man’s expression so full of feeling it makes Leon a little shy, even after all this time. There’s grief and anger, but love and relief and pride, too.

Chris’ face has always said a thousand things, so open and earnest, especially compared to Leon’s closed nature, and it still makes Leon’s heart clench at the raw love that the other man shows him so easily.

Carefully, Chris unwinds the hand that was tangled in Leon’s hair. The one on his body stays, gently urging him to lie back and settle again and because it’s Chris, Leon let’s himself be moved, trusting him implicitly.

A calloused, familiar palm cups Leon’s cheek and Chris’ thumb softly swipes at the tear that’s managed to sneak out despite Leon’s best efforts.

Leon naturally shifts towards the touch like an affectionate cat not yet done with with being pet and Chris huffs out a breath, not quite a laugh, not quite a sigh, before he seems to gather himself.

Leon watches the well known transformation of Chris to Captain Redfield when he reluctantly pulls his hand away and straightens up. “I have some calls to make,” Chris says, voice impressively level. “But I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

The I love you isn’t spoken out loud, but Leon hears it all the same in the pause where the words would sit.

Chris takes another steadying breath, visibly steeling himself for the arduous task of having to leave Leon’s side again to start addressing the practicalities of who they are and informing the necessary parties that Leon’s awake. “Rest and be good, okay?”

Nobody else would pick up the tiny tremble in his voice and it makes Leon’s heart ache a little but he tries to smile to reassure the man.

“I’ll do my best, but no promises.”

Chris blinks tears of his own back and just nods sharply, once to Leon and then to the nurses before he strides out of the room, phone already in hand.

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