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“Mrs Redfield?”
Claire glanced up from the magazine she’d been half-heartedly flicking through in the hospital waiting room to see the doctor she’d met a few hours ago.
“All finished?” She guessed, placing the magazine back on the low table before standing.
“We sure are!” The doctor- Hill, if she remembered correctly- smiled brightly, gesturing to a door that lead to a corridor. “Everything went great, no complications at all.”
‘Thank god.’ Claire thought to herself, relaxing slightly from where she hadn’t even realised she’d been tense.
It had been a week or so since Leon had returned from his latest ‘work trip’, and she’d almost immediately noticed that he was favouring his left hand more than usual. After a small amount of wheedling, she’d managed to get him to admit that he’d fallen badly on his left arm and it had been hurting ever since, and he’d just assumed it would go away soon.
A short trip to the hospital later and they’d found out that he’d fractured it and needed to have the bone reset to make sure it healed properly.
She hadn’t been very impressed with him for that one.
“I should warn you,” The doctor continued as they walked down the long corridor, glancing behind her with a slightly amused look in her eyes. “We had to use the maximum amount of anaesthetic as we found your husband is very tolerant to what we usually use for someone his size, so he may be a little… well, you’ll see.”
‘That’s… a little ominous.’ Claire thought as the doctor pushed the door open and she caught sight of her husband laid out on the hospital bed.
Leon was reclined on the slightly raised mattress, a glazed look in his eyes as he stared at the opposite wall blankly. He was still wearing a hospital gown, his clothes in a neat pile on the chair beside the bed and a nurse was scribbling something on the chart beside him.
“Mr Kennedy?” The doctor called, and Leon’s head slowly swivelled towards her.
“Hi.” He greeted a few seconds later, seemingly working on a slight delay already, before his eyes landed on Claire and visibly widened.
“Hey mister.” She greeted with a smile, approaching the bed. The stunned look on his face only grew as she reached him, and her grin dropped slightly as he didn’t respond. “… You feelin’ okay?”
The silence stretched for several seconds before he finally responded, looking for all the world like he’d been hit around the head.
“Did… did it hurt?”
“What?” She replied, a little confused before he managed to blurt out the rest of his sentence.
“When you fell from heaven?”
“… Oh my god.” Claire resisted the urge to face-palm in front of the doctor and nurse next to her, who were doing their very best attempts at pokerfaces. “Really? The first thing you say when you wake up is a pick-up line?”
“… Is it working?” Leon attempted again, eyes glued to her face. “Are you a doctor?”
“Another one? Really?” She replied fondly, brushing some of his hair out of his face.
“No, I… what’s your name?” He attempted to follow her hand as she drew it back slightly in surprise.
“What?” Claire was alarmed for a few moments before the nurse cut in,
“Oh, don’t worry.” He nodded towards her husband, seemingly very entertained by Leon’s words although the man had seemingly forgotten he was there. “Post-anaesthetic amnesia is pretty common, same with confusion and sleepiness. It’ll wear off in a few hours.”
“Ah, I see-” She began to reply when Leon shook his head, a very familiar grumpy look on his face.
“No.” He refused, clumsily trying to cross his arms over his chest, hindered by the arm in a brace and opting to just lay his arms over eachother instead. “I would never forget her.” He pointed a finger to Claire, although his aim was a little off and he was gesturing more at the window behind her instead.
“I’m sure you wouldn’t, Mr Kennedy.” The doctor handed Claire an envelope before gesturing to the pile of clothes next to the bed. “This is all of his post-op care information, if you need clarification or just want to check anything then please do call in. He’s cleared to leave now, but keep a close eye on him for the next few days and if you think anything may be off then let us know.”
“Will do, thanks.” She shook the doctor’s hand before she and the nurse left, when she turned back to Leon. “Any more lines you wanna try on me?”
“Do you wanna get dinner?” He replied immediately, staring at her intensely like he was trying to imprint her onto his brain. Maybe he was.
“Dinner, huh? What are you thinking?” Claire leaned against the raised side of the bed. She didn’t mind entertaining him- it was very cute how earnest he was being, it reminded her so much of when they’d first met so long ago.
“Uh…” He clearly hadn’t thought that far ahead, and he considered it seriously for a few seconds. “You like Italian?”
She did, and even if she didn’t, she’d agree to anything to keep the puppy-dog-esque look on his face right now. He looked so much younger with his expression so open, and Sherry there she’d probably be on the floor laughing by now.
“I do like Italian.” Claire confirmed, fighting the urge to pinch his cheek. It wasn’t rare that she experience cuteness aggression but she could feel it creeping up on her.
“Yes!” He whispered, seemingly to himself. “Tonight?”
“Hmm, maybe not tonight.” She leaned forwards a little, resting her hands on the rail surrounding the bed. “I have babysitting plans tonight.” The ‘baby’ she would be sitting was Leon, but he didn’t have to know that right now. “Short raincheck?”
“Yes.” Leon nodded shortly, before he glanced down and his face visibly fell. “… Oh.”
“Leon?” Claire tried to catch his eye, but he ducked his head away. “What’s wrong?”
“… Nothin’.” He mumbled, and she glanced around to try and figure out what he’d seen-
‘Oh, Leon.’ She thought fondly as her eyes fell to her wedding ring, which had been in his line of sight when he’d suddenly deflated.
“Do you like my ring?” She decided to tease just a little bit, and bit back a slight smile when his eyes darted back for a second.
“… Sure.” Leon muttered, still refusing to meet her eyes.
‘I wish I was recording this.’ Was all Claire could think as she shook her head, reaching forward to extract Leon’s hand from where he’d tucked it under his arm.
“I really like it,” She continued, feeling maybe a little bit mean as her grown man actually nearly pouted. “My husband chose it for me.”
“Uhuh.” Leon finally let her take his hand, although he was still determinately staring at the wall.
“I chose his wedding ring too,” She reached into the small bag of belongings on top of his clothes, retrieving his ring and gently sliding it onto his finger. “Do you like it?”
That caught Leon’s attention and he turned to look at his hand, where she’d woven their fingers together. She could visibly see it processing in his brain for several seconds before his eyes widened and he looked up at her.
“We’re married?!” He whispered, sounding well and truly stunned.
“Sure am. Almost twelve years now.” She swayed their hands, watching as his eyes snapped back to them as if he was hypnotised.
“Wow.” Leon barely blinked as he watched their joined hands move before tearing his eyes away to look at her. “Man… that’s. Wow. I’m so lucky.”
To her surprise, he started tearing up and she immediately leaned forwards to cup his cheek in her spare hand.
“Hey, it’s okay.” She murmured, stroking her thumb over his cheek and smiling softly as he leaned his face into her hand. “What’s this for, huh?
“Huh?” He parroted, looking up at her, once again looking completely lost.
“Never mind. How about we get you dressed and out of here, hm?” She straightened up, reaching for his pile of clothes and placing the small bag containing his other belongings on the table. It didn’t hold much, mainly just the wallet that had been in his jeans and his keys, both of which she put into his inside jacket pocket before picking up the shirt he’d been wearing earlier.
She had never dressed a toddler before- she didn’t have any friends with small children, and all of her own (and she was including Ashley in that out of habit at this point) had been old enough to dress themselves when she’d met them. She did now imagine that it was similar to dressing Leon when he was seemingly running with lag and spent most of the time staring at her face instead of actually doing what she asked.
“Okay, now your other arm.” She reached for his braced arm, and he watched him process the instruction before raising it, pausing when he laid eyes on it.
“… What happened to my arm?” Leon asked, confused as he stared at it.
“You fractured it during a mission and it was healing badly,” Claire clarified patiently, giving him a few moments to process before gently guiding the arm through the large sleeve hole in the shirt. “They had to re-break it to set it properly, so you’ll be out of the field for a while while it heals right.”
“… Oh.” He stared at his hand for a few more seconds before quickly looking up at her, although he blinked a few times as if the movement made him dizzy. “We live together?”
“Yes?” She confirmed, a little confused at the sudden switch as she shrugged on his jacket- it would be too difficult to get his arm through it, she realised now, and too heavy to carry that and probably have to help him into the car on their way out.
“Good. You’ll be there?” He confirmed, looking at her with a seriousness she rarely saw outside of their work.
“Yes, Leon. I will be at our house while you’re recovering.” Leaning forward, she pressed a kiss to his forehead and smiled at the little at the happy noise he made. She felt his uninjured arm come up around her waist, resting gently around her as the other laid on his lap.
“Yes. Good.” He nodded, looking over at the door as it opened again and Doctor Hill returned with a wheelchair.
“Ah, already dressed and ready to go?” She smiled at them, and Leon nodded again.
“Yes. With my wife.” He looked up at her. “What’s your name?”
Oh boy.
~*~
“Okay, in you go.” She managed to deposit him onto the passenger seat, a hand on his head to prevent him from hitting his head on the doorframe of the car. “Phew.” She’d left him with a nurse at the exit while pulling the car around, and whilst he hadn’t fought them trying to get him into the car, he hadn’t exactly helped much either.
Bidding goodbye to the nurse who had helped them out, she rounded the car and climbed into the drivers seat before glancing over at him.
“What do you want for dinner?” She asked as they pulled away from the pick-up point, the early afternoon traffic better than she’d hoped for. As he considered the question, her phone pinged a few times from it’s holder in the car and he was immediately distracted by it.
“That’ll be Sherry.” She noted, the notification noise pinging twice more before it fell silent.
“Who’s Sherry?” Leon asked, shifting slightly to look at her. It made her pause just for a second before she remembered the nurse saying that memory loss and confusion were common side-effects and she decided to roll with it for now.
“Our middle child.” She glanced over after a few seconds of quiet to see him staring at her with wide eyes.
“We have kids?” He whispered incredulously, and Claire really, really wished that they had a camera recording in the car just for this moment.
“Sure do.” She slowed to a stop at a red light, taking the moment to pull the wallet out of his jacket that she was still wearing and handing it to him. “Take a look.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him fumble the leather wallet open with one hand and stare at the photo he’d put in there the previous year.
“That’s Sherry next to me,” She directed his attention as the light turned green, the photo holding a special place in her memory. “Grace is next to you and you’re holding Emily, her daughter. Ashley’s on the other side, she couldn’t make that trip but you went to a gala with her a few weeks before.”
Leon was silent for a few seconds before he followed up his previous question just as quietly,
“We have a grandkid?” He sounded like he was about to cry, and Claire reached across the console to rub a hand over his knee comfortingly.
“You’re gonna be so embarrassed later.” She murmured, and he didn’t even respond.
The drive home didn’t take long, and as she killed the engine she looked over to see he was still staring at the picture as if trying to burn it into his memory. Allowing her just this one piece of evidence, she subtly opened the camera app on her phone and took a picture of him before slipping it into the jacket she wore. Reaching across the console, she squeezed his upper arm gently to get him to look up at her.
“We’re home, Leon.”
~*~
After a short struggle up the steps to their house- Leon wasn’t exactly unmanageable, just rather slow and a little un-coordinated- she managed to get them both inside and parked Leon on one of the kitchen chairs, patting him on the head before taking off both of their shoes.
“We have gotta get you some boots without laces, mister.” She squeezed his knee then looked up at him to see him looking at her with what could only be described as stars in his eyes.
“Okay.” He agreed easily, leaning his cheek on his uninjured arm propped up on the table.
“What do you want for dinner?” Claire tried instead, taking their shoes to the hallway and hanging up his jacket near the door. “What’s something easy to eat with one hand?” Considering that, she returned to the kitchen and poured them each a glass of water. “You liked the food from the Greek place last time we got that, maybe that would work.”
“Sure.” He replied, clearly not paying attention to her words.
“You’re feeling agreeable today.” She knocked their knees together under the table, smiling softly at him as he did it back a few seconds later.
The food arrived a short while later and she fetched it from the front door, collecting a handful of cutlery from the drawer and heading back to the table to place it down. As she passed Leon with her newly empty hands, he reached out with his uninjured arm and snagged her waist, pulling her onto his lap.
“Hey!” She protested with a laugh, turning to face him. “How are you gonna eat with no hands, huh?”
“Hm.” Leon considered the plate in front of him before looking up at her with a grin. “You could feed me?”
“We’ll be here forever if we tried that.” Claire tweaked his nose, smiling at his slightly offended expression. “Hang on, let me-” She turned so his free arm was in front of her instead, moving his plate of fries closer to him. “Eat your food, come on.”
“Hmph.” He huffed softly, although was almost immediately taken by the fries in front of him.
Claire reached over to pick up her own plate, considering him while he slowly ate his food with one hand.
“Good?” She checked, and he nodded softly.
“Good.” He parroted, shifting his braced arm slightly so his upper arm was softly resting against her back. His head found her shoulder a few moments later and she brushed a hand through his hair softly.
It wasn’t long after they’d eaten that Leon visibly started dozing off, his head nodding slightly before he’d jerk upright and blink a few times.
“Okay, let’s get you to bed.” Claire decided for them, standing and taking their plates to the sink before holding out her hand for him to take. He was definitely more co-ordinated than he had been at the hospital, she thought as he gently took his hand in hers and allowed her to lead him up the stairs to their room.
She wasn’t about to attempt wrangling him into pyjamas, so she instead helped him take his shirt and jeans off before fetching a fresh pair of boxers and a t-shirt she could just about get over him easily. When she returned from washing up in the bathroom, she found him somewhat sprawled on the bed, the bedsheets halfway up his legs as he visibly tried to not fall asleep while watching her.
“Tired?” She asked, rolling her eyes fondly as he stubbornly shook his head. It was still early evening, a few hours before either of them would normally go to sleep, but she wasn’t about to pass up a few quiet hours in bed with her husband. “Budge up a little, come on.” She nudged him over a little before drawing the bedsheets up over them both. He waited somewhat patiently before reaching out and nudging her up slightly, before sliding under her arm and resting his head on her shoulder.
“Mm, good.” He murmured before managing to pass out immediately, his braced arm over her waist and the other tucked under his own head.
“Oh Leon.” Claire whispered, pressing a kiss to his head before settling into the pillows contently. She picked her phone up from where it had been left on the nightstand, scrolling through her notifications before opening the chat she shared with Sherry, Grace and Ashley. The last girl wasn’t quite as present as the others but she was sure she’d want to be updated anyway, even if she wouldn’t reply for a short while.
The Girls
Sherry B: Soooooo how did it go?
Sherry B: Does he still have an arm?
Sherry B: I’m available for research if he needs a new one grown, I’m sure we can figure something out with my cells
Grace: what
Sherry B: omg how is there still stuff I haven’t told u, brb I’m gonna call <3
Claire smiled at the chat, running a hand over Leon’s hair as he breathed softly into her neck.
Claire R: Surgery went well, we got home an hour or so ago.
Both of their typing bubbles appeared immediately and Claire felt a wave of fondness for the two girls.
Grace A: I’m so glad!!! Emily’s made him like three different get well soon cards and two of them have glitter, I’m so sorry
Sherry B: Yay! How’s he feeling?
Considering her options for a moment, Claire bit back a smile as she found the photo she’d taken earlier.
Claire R: Well the first thing he said to me when he woke up was a pick-up line, followed by asking me to dinner because apparently post-op amnesia is a thing.
Sherry B: omg
Grace A: Is that common?
Claire R: Apparently yes, should wear off in a few hours
Sherry B: please please please tell me you got video evidence
Claire R: What do you take me for, filming my injured and vunerable husband in such a time?
Sherry B: :(
Claire R: I got a photo though
Sherry B: :D
Claire R: -image attached-
Claire R: This is after I told him we had kids and he nearly started crying in the car at his wallet photo
Sherry B: Awwwwwww
Sherry B: also HA
Grace A: That’s so sweet T.T
Claire R: He reminds me of when we first met, like looking after a puppy.
Sherry B: I am so annoyed I had to work today >:(
~*~
A few hours had passed by the time Leon woke up with a full-body twitch, groaning as his braced arm jerked slightly.
“Fuck.” He whispered, sounded much more like his normal self.
“How you feeling, bud?” Claire murmured, running a hand through his hair as she reached for the small bottle of painkillers on the nightstand.
“Not… bad.” He replied, blinking heavily as he looked up at her. “… When did we get home?”
Home.
Claire smiled, the last worry that his amnesia may not be temporary leaving her as she unscrewed the bottle and tipped two into her hand.
“A few hours ago.” She handed them to him with a cup of water that had a straw in it, watching as he slipped them into his mouth and took a sip. “Do you remember any of it?”
“Last thing I remember was counting down from ten, twice.” He sat up slightly, rubbing his free hand over his face and looking around, disorientated. “Did it go okay?”
“Perfectly. Doctor Hill said there were no complications.” She sat up properly, making a grabby hand to get him closer before gently guiding his head onto her lap. He had the tight look on his face that usually meant a headache that he didn’t want to admit to, and he closed his eyes as she gently ran a hand through his hair again.
“Good.” He murmured, wincing as her phone went off and she murmured an apology. “Sherry?”
“Sherry.” She glanced at the notifications, biting back a smile. “And Ashley, actually. They’re all happy to hear it went well.”
“Mm, good.” The phone went off again before she silenced it, and they sat quietly for a few minutes before he spoke again. “So… how did we get home?”
“There was a lot of manoeuvring you. A little like trying to direct a drunk toddler, but we got there in the end.” She watched as an unsure expression crossed his face before he continued.
“Did I do anything?”
“Like what?” She asked innocently, smiling as he turned his head to frown at her.
“You’re being weird. What did I do?”
A few seconds passed before she broke.
“Okay first off, it was very cute-”
“Oh god.” He his his face in her lap and Claire laughed, patting him on the head.
“So apparently post-operation amnesia is a thing.”
“Okay.”
“So first you asked me if it hurt.”
“… What-”
“When I fell from heaven.”
“… Okay, that’s not too bad.” He looked up as she scoffed slightly, a grin on his face. “Come on, as the first thing I said when I woke up? You can’t blame a guy for trying.”
“You keep telling yourself that, mister. Let’s see…” She tapped a finger to her chin playfully in thought. “You then asked me on a date-”
“Smooth.”
“Don’t interrupt me. We decided on Italian, and then you saw my wedding ring and got upset-”
“Christ.” He muttered, before pausing. “Actually, fair.”
“Then you nearly cried when I told you that I was married to you, and then I got the experience of dressing an oversized toddler.”
“Honestly this is better than I expected.” Leon rolled onto his back, looking up at her and slowly reaching out to cup her cheek. “I would be pretty upset if I thought you were married to someone else.”
“Mm, true. Then I showed you the pictures in your wallet on the way home and you nearly cried again, and then you asked me to feed you dinner-”
“Changed my mind.”
“And then I put you to bed.” She finished, brushing his hair out of his eyes. “Again: Very cute.”
“You’re the only person who thinks that about me.” He replied, looking up at her softly.
‘Not true.’ She thought to herself- anyone who truly knew Leon knew how sweet and genuine he was, although his resting stern face scared most people off at first.
“What time is it?” He asked a few seconds later, rubbing a hand over his face.
“Hm… just before nine.” Claire checked the clock on the nightstand, going to stand up but immediately being grabbed and dragged back onto the bed. “Leon!”
“Mm, no.” He murmured, pulling her down before blanketing her body with his as she laughed at him. “Bedtime.”
“Wow, you are getting old.” She teased fondly, bringing her hands up to smooth over his back as he buried his face in her neck.
“Mmhmm.” A few seconds passed before he lifted his head to meet her eyes. “Thank-you for looking after me.”
She smiled softly as he ducked his head to kiss her. It occurred to her that he hadn’t had this for very long- the almost twenty years between when they met and when they reunited properly, he’d been almost entirely alone. How many times had he been sick and injured by himself, left to deal with it without anyone else to help him?
“Always.” She whispered, pressing a soft kiss to his lips before pressing their foreheads together. He wouldn't be alone again, not if she and their girls could help it.
“I promise.”