•Thicker Than Blood•

•Chapter 23•

Soon enough, everyone had eaten their dinner. Leon and Claire cooked a half decent meal together. It was most likely the best they could do after enduring such trauma. They were too tired to do anything fancy, so they settled on spaghetti. Leon boiled the noodles in a pot while Claire made the sauce in a pan. Side by side, they made dinner. Happily chatting amongst themselves while Chris hung out and chatted with the kids.

For dinner, they all sat down together at the table. Leon and Claire sat side by side. Sherry sat next to Claire. Genevieve was between Chris and Sherry. Chris was on the opposite side of Leon. They all talked amongst themselves while they ate their pasta dinner. Chris talked about the things he had done while he went off to infiltrate another Umbrella based in Europe.

He had nearly been caught when he was there, but he managed to do some vital damage. Not only this, but he had gone to another facility in the Antarctic to handle a situation with a different virus strain. Another mutant situation. He seemed to have multitudes of stories when it came to going to facilities. Helping people. Destroying the bad guys. He had been through quite a bit while he was gone.

Despite all of this, Claire went on and talked about all the things she did while she was searching for Chris. She talked about how she met Leon, the rookie cop,  in Raccoon City. She talked about how they survived together and found Sherry through the Umbrella Corporation. She spared the details about Sherry's parents of course. Then she went in about how they drove to Oklahoma and fixed up the place.

The conversation lasted about an hour or two before the children had grown tired. They decided they wanted to hang out with Chris for the night, calling it a sleepover. The girls went and pulled the pillows and blankets from Sherry's room and they made a makeshift bed on the floor of the living room. Right in front of the couch where Chris had been stationed to sleep for the night.

Chris had gone and laid back on the couch. Claire moved back and grabbed a pillow and two blankets. Then, as the loving sister she was, chucked both right at him. The pillow smacked him in the gut and the blankets draped over his face. With a laugh, he grabbed each item and made the couch into a cozy little sleeping spot. As cozy as a couch could get, that is.

Sherry and Genevieve laid down in their blanket nest on the floor. Each one of them had their respective pillow and blanket while they laid on top of the biggest blanket they substituted for a mattress. Leon chuckled a bit, going and making sure Sherry was tucked in up to his standard, considering that had been their routine for quite some time now. Once she was set, he made sure Genevieve was in the clear as well.

Soon enough, after everyone bid each other a good night, they would fall asleep. At least,  Chris, Sherry, and Genevieve had fallen asleep in the living room. Leon and Claire were still wide awake. They sat in the kitchen, talking together about everything that happened. It was insane how far they had come since the entire incident. However, Claire did end up going quiet at some point. A tell-tale sign that something was on her mind.

"Red? You okay?" Leon questioned.

Claire hesitated for just a moment, looking at her lap before him. "Do you maybe want to go for a walk?"

"In the dark?"

"Yes, where else?"

"Fair enough."

Leon got up from his seat, heading to the closet where they put their coats and such. He grabbed both his and her jackets. Then, he went back to her and handed her her coat. Then, he also went and grabbed the flashlights from the drawer in the kitchen. Once they were both dressed for the not super cold, but colder than usual weather, they headed out the back door.

They headed down the hill and passed the barn. Walking out into the open land, they headed out into the woods behind their home. Behind their barn. It seemed there were some overgrown paths that were once used either for leisure or... maybe horse riding. Hard to say, since time wouldn't have the story be fully told before nature retook what was rightfully its own.