Chapter Text
“… with heavy cloud, the rainy weather doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon.”
Leon glanced over at Grace who was curled up on the sofa, hunched over her laptop and typing away ferociously as rain battered the windows outside. The TV was coming to the end of the last evening news broadcast, volume lowered to become background noise.
Claire had gone to tuck Emily into bed in their spare room a short while ago, and had probably been persuaded by, ‘Just one more story, please?’ several times over.
It was hard to resist her pleading eyes. Leon knew from experience.
“Grace.” He called from where he was sat in his armchair, mug of rapidly cooling tea in one hand and his phone in the other from where he’d been flicking through recent breaking news articles.
“Hm?” She replied, not once glancing up from her work.
It hadn’t been the plan to have the girls over that night- they had made it a point to meet up regularly between Grace’s work, Emily’s new school hours and Leon and Claire’s slightly scrambled schedules- but that night was going to be a quiet one. Or at least it was meant to be, until he’d gotten a call that the storm outside had taken out the power on Grace and Emily’s entire street, Emily was freaking out over the darkness and Grace had a report that she had to have turned in by the next morning or she’d be in for ‘disciplinary action’.
One of the many, many things on Leon’s to-do list was to visit her boss and give him some ‘disciplinary action’ for what he’d put Grace through, both on her first botched ‘field mission’ and in her day-to-day working life.
But that was for later, and for when she finally gave him the okay to do so.
“Your back not hurting sitting like that?” He tried, and watched as Grace very slightly straightened up so she slightly less resembled a shrimp.
“Mm, no. ‘s fine.” She mumbled, reaching for her own cup of coffee and taking a sip before just barely managing to get it back on the table without looking.
“Okay. If you say so.” His back was hurting just looking at her, her posture reminding him a little too much of when he’d caught his own reflection back in Raccoon City a few months back. It was much improved now, the feeling that his insides were slowly rotting had faded away incredibly quickly after Grace had administered the cure, although with his multiple back injuries throughout the years he would probably never have decent posture again. Too often he found himself slightly hunched over as if to protect a long-healed injury, even when he felt better than he had in years.
“That’s it for now, join us at 6am for the next weather report. Stay safe, and only go outside if necessary.” The ending chime of the news broadcast faded out as an advert for life insurance started to play in its stead.
Leon sighed, placing his phone on the arm of the chair and glancing out of the window. A few other blocks in the neighbourhood had been hit by the power outages too, and he downed the rest of his tea before standing to look for their flashlights.
Out of anyone in the city, they were probably the most prepared for something like this- the house was fortified in ways you wouldn’t see unless you looked closely, they had a backup generator in the basement in case of emergencies and more emergency rations and equipment than the local conspiracy theorist nutjob probably had. It was a constant in any property they’d bought, that they had backups for backups and could last through any kind of incident without much worry.
Checking that the flashlights he’d found had new batteries in them, Leon flashed them down the hallway for a second before checking that their home security system was backed up by the generator. It all looked fine, and he did a last sweep of the house to check all doors and windows were locked before returning to the front room where Grace was still consumed by her work.
“Hey, I’m going to bed. Don’t stay up too late, okay?” He rested a hand on her shoulder to make sure she heard, and was distantly proud that she didn’t even flinch at his approach like she’d used to.
“Okay. Night, mom.” She mumbled, not even glancing up at him as her fingers flew across the keyboard.
Leon paused. It (somehow) wasn’t the first time she’d called him that, the first time being whilst in the midst of a panic attack so severe that she’d fainted, but he hadn’t brought it up since and she didn’t seem to remember.
“… Night, kid.” He squeezed her shoulder before heading off, hearing the frantic typing pause for a second before he just about heard the whispered,
“Oh my god.” that followed.
A small smile appeared on Leon’s face as he entered his and Claire’s bedroom, pulling off his day clothes and rooting around in the wardrobe for something to sleep in.
A few minute later as he was settling into bed, Claire entered the room and raised an eyebrow at him.
“Any idea why Grace is having a crisis on the couch?” She said it in a teasing enough tone that he knew he didn’t have to go dig the girl out of her own worries, at least.
“How bad?” He asked anyway, just to be sure.
“Embarrassed, but not panicking. I went to say goodnight and she had her face buried in a cushion, I don’t think I’ve ever seen her cheeks so red.” His wife replied as she entered the en suite, the sound of running water following.
Leon waited until she’d come back, hair pulled back from her face in a low ponytail, and climbed onto the bed next to him.
“She called me mom when I told her to not stay up too late.” He lifted an arm for her to slot beneath, and she snorted.
“Well, if the shoe fits.” She reached over to turn the bedside lamp off before settling down, the only light coming from the streetlamp near the window. “I’d take it as a compliment.”
Leon considered what they’d been told about Alyssa- the files that Grace had seen of her interview with Spencer were gone with the collapse of ARK, along with any information about Grace’s true origins and the rest of Alyssa’s research. He knew that she’d been careful, moving from place to place a lot for her work and taking Grace with her- a daughter that she hadn’t planned for or asked for, but cared for and loved her all the same until the end. He knew that Grace had loved her, and her death- witnessing her death- had traumatised the girl deeply to this day, and likely for the rest of her life.
He knew how must Grace wanted to know more about her, and how much it hurt her that she likely never would.
“Oh, I do. I’m not complaining.”
~*~
The storm had let up by the next morning and the majority of the power in the city was back on, although the rain still fell in heavy sheets outside. At some point during the night, Emily had made her way out of her own bed and onto the couch with Grace, who’s laptop had ended up on the table and was curled almost into a ball around the small girl in her embrace.
“Does this make you a grandmother?” Claire whispered to him with a smile as she headed for the coffee maker, and Leon shook his head fondly.
It didn't come up again as they made breakfast, or as the girls got ready to leave when the rain finally started to let up. If Grace avoided his eyes a little more than usual, he didn't comment on it. She'd talk about it if she wanted to. And if it happened again, well.
He didn't mind.