"Fatherhood looks good on Leon."

Saturdays had become their favorite days of the week; when they all gathered together in the back garden of the Kennedy property to have BBQs and exchange news and gossip, like completely normal people. Had anyone told them they would ever get to live such a peaceful situation, they would have taken them for a madman.

Jill sipped her coffee in delight, sitting in an armchair on the porch next to Claire, and watching amused how the famous B.O.W. fighter Captain Chris Redfield and special government agent Leon Kennedy were having an imaginary cup of tea with Chris' daughter in her pink plastic princess castle. The two men wore princess tiaras on their heads and praised the delicious tea, much to the amusement of little Summer, who screamed in excitement every time her daddy pulled up the empty cup and made slurping sounds. Leon was, in the meantime, keeping Hannah busy playing peek-a-boo with her, and nobody could tell who of them was enjoying it more.

Claire chuckled.

"Yes, it does," she agreed with her friend. "Oh, by the way, I got news from Sherry. She called me yesterday to tell me how beautiful Japan is." She laughed.

"Hadn't she been there some years ago?" Jill looked back at Claire.

"Just for work. Travelling for work isn't the same, you know."

"Not the same as a honeymoon, no. Unless you're married to your job." The two women gave each other amused glances.

It had been eight months since Claire and Leon had recovered their little daughter from the farmhouse and things had found a certain stability in all their lives. Or whatever stability meant to them.

Leon had returned to the D.S.O., but had traded the active duty for the training of new recruits, a job he had only taken reluctantly, for the sake of his daughter, mostly. He had accepted a regular job with set schedules to spend more time with his family. Some presentations and theory, a lot of practical training and too much report writing were on his daily list of tasks, something he did so well he was already training the elite among the future agents.

Or what someone else had assigned as the elite.

Personally, Leon believed that the training had been much harder when he had started twenty years before.

Claire was still working for TerraSave's Supply Chain Management, feeling very comfortable in that department. However, she was only working part-time, so she could spend most of her time with Hannah.

As promised, Chris had taken the Blue Umbrella surveillance job O'Brien had chosen for him, which should have been a lot of observation, asking and questioning and report writing, helping him spend more time with his daughter. However, when the team had started investigating the case of a family in Louisiana who apparently had a mind-controlling B.O.W living with them he hadn't been able to take a step back and had led their operation.

Jill found it funny. She had sensed it wouldn't be easy to take Big Redfield away from the field. She herself had returned to the B.S.A.A. as well, mostly busy with the Investigation department and supervising of training of new recruits, but every now and then she still went on minor assignments in North and South America.

There was always someone available to look after the girls. Also, most Saturdays, they could get together and have lunch or dinner, talk about their most recent discoveries and adventures. Jake and Sherry used to join them whenever they could, but the young couple hadn't returned from their honeymoon yet.

Summer ran over the grass while Chris began placing steaks onto the grill. The grease sizzled loudly and soon filled the air with a delicious smell.

"How are you and Chris?"

Claire's question made Jill sigh in regret. She put her cup onto the table and laughed.

"We get along well. We're fine now, just like we were before." She shrugged. "He and Amanda are…well, he says they're keeping it friendly. But, honestly, I haven't seen him so happy in a long time."

Claire watched her friend as she spoke. Although reluctantly, they had decided to put an end to their marriage, and it seemed to be the best for their relationship. They lived together, like friends with a child, but that seemed to be all.

"He was happy with you," she whispered. "And I know how hard it was for him to let go of you." She reached for Jill's hand and just held it. "Aaand Rory?"

Jill chuckled blushing.

Once Chris and she had announced their divorce, Rory Williams had finally had the courage to ask her out. He was like a century younger than her and they had absolutely nothing in common besides their jobs, but Rory seemed to be exactly what Jill needed.

"Oh, he's awesome." Shrugging, she laughed. "He's full of energy, if you know what I mean, and Summer adores him. Also, he's not as complicated as your brother."

Claire rolled her eyes.

"After Chris, nothing is complicated anymore."

They laughed.

Leon waved to them from the grill and Claire got up.

"I will bring the salad before Chris gets the chance to burn the steaks."

"It's alright, I get it," Leon said rubbing a towel over his blonde locks while Claire and Hannah stared through the window into the now flooded garden. "Outbreaks, infections, rain. Someone up there doesn't want us to enjoy peaceful family dinners."

Jill laughed in the kitchen.

"At least the rain doesn't try to eat us alive."

"Eat laif." Summer repeated her mother's words, causing Chris to look seriously at his daughter and shake his head.

"You better start learning to say normal things like pie and candy or the other kids will fear you."

Claire giggled as she whispered to her daughter in her arms.

"You can be as feared as you want. I'm going to tell you the tale of Mr. X tonight."

Hannah made a bubbling sound as she leaned against Claire's shoulder and fell asleep. Leon watched them from the armchair he'd dropped into and smiled proudly at his girls.

"Alright, we better get going. Jill, Summer, come on. Claire, see you tomorrow then," Chris said nodding to his sister as they grabbed everything. Once Jill had dressed Summer in her orange summery raincoat, she took her into her arms and the three left the house.

"I'm going to take Hannah to bed," Claire murmured and kissed Leon on the cheek as she walked into the nursery. His eyes followed her until she disappeared, right before he decided to walk after her. He found her bent over the crib, singing to the girl.

"I thought it would be the tale of Mr. X," he said laughing as she turned and approached him slowly, letting him pull her into his grip. "So, what was that superimportant thing you needed to tell me this morning right before your brother showed up?"

Claire chuckled.

"Right. So, as you know I went to see my doctor this morning," she explained.

"Because of those headaches, yes." He frowned. "Everything alright?"

The redhead nodded.

"Yeah, he says it's just because of the weather." She laughed and kept nodding shyly. "And the pregnancy."

Leon felt his jaw drop open so wide he thought he'd dislocated it.

"Pregnancy." He repeated.

"Pregnancy," Claire confirmed chuckling.

"How long?" A smirk ran over his lips.

Claire tilted her head to the right and quirked an eyebrow.

"Five weeks."

Narrowed eyes tried to remember what special occasion they had honored so much.

"Sherry's wedding?"

She laughed shrilly and pushed her face into her palms.

"What a night, huh?" she laughed and kissed him softly on the mouth. "Happy?"

He looped his arms around her and pulled her closer.

"Couldn't be happier, Mommy."

Claire laughed.

"Congrats, daddy. Looks like the challenge has been completed."

A/N: That's it! As promised, this was the last chapter. Thanks a lot for all the patience you had with me and this story and thanks for shining your light into my life. Some special thanks to the people who made this possible:

Sofistinha, for always believing in me and helping me with the character shaping. Adonna2424, who spent so much of her time on editing and checking the chapters and making them so much better. Corpasite, for his support and good advice. The Lady Frost, for being such an inmense inspiration. Thebigticket21, for being there even when she wasn't. RNAi-L, for always understanding my stories better than I do. Raven SNG, for her endless patience and for making me believe in this story. Usamoonbunny, for not following my advice and reading this story despite everything.

And thanks to all those people who stepped by, who loved or hated this story, who let me know or not, who followed this from the beginning and those who jumped in later, to those who left (I get it, I left it too xD). Thanks for being part of this! You rock!

Happy holidays, 2019 and RE2make!

Love,

Xaori