Rubbing the crust out of her eyes, Claire turned the tap on and splashed her face with the ice cold water a couple of times.

It was February 14th, Valentine's Day. She knew Jill was at Chris' house, taking care of him while he was sick. 'At least they have each other...' she told herself, almost bitterly. Claire had a problem. She liked Leon. Leon didnt like her. Not the most original of problems, she'd admit, but a quite common one at that. Claire knew Jill had problems expressing her feelings, which was why she figured her and her brother werent in the sack yet.

As she slipped on her clothes, sporting her trendy biker jacket, she couldn't help but feel miserable. Today, millions of couples around the world would be celebrating the fact that they're together. Meanwhile, millions more singles, including herself, would self-loathingly plop down onto the coach and watch porno till it's 3 in the morning. But maybe today would be different. Maybe Leon would give her a tiny kiss on the cheek, and wish her a happy V-Day. Or maybe Leon would confess his love for her. Or maybe Leon would stop being such a duntz and just...

Dismissing the thought, Claire checked her hair. It was put into ten seperate buns with a tuft of hair springing out from each one, a carbon copy of Mandy's hairstyle on Temptation Island. It looked stupid, no doubt about that, but she didnt care.

Half an hour later, Claire arrived at Leon's apartment. Leon was awake, and making breakfast, while Sherry was asleep on the couch.

"Hey Kennedy," said Claire. Leon looked up at her from the stove, then grimaced.

"What the hell did you do to your hair?" he exclaimed.

"Buh... excuse me?"

"You look like Medusa, or something..." Leon said.

Claire just smiled coyly to herself. Leon would always comment harshly on her hair. First, her pony tail looked too plain to him. Then, when Claire died her hair pink, Leon said it was too "wild". Now this.

"...I think I'll call em the Ten Buns of Ugly. How about that?" Leon continued, as he brought two plates of eggs, bacon and toast onto the dining table.

"I could use some breakfast too, KENNEDY."

"Then make some yourself, REDFIELD."

Leon knew Claire couldn't cook... at all. He just gave her a smug smile, and shoved some eggs into his mouth.

"You and Sherry gonna be ready for the fireworks?" Claire squeaked, as she took a seat next to Leon. The town they were living in, Scarborough, held an annual fireworks display in celebration of Valentine's. Claire figured it'd be corny, but she loved fireworks, nonetheless.

"Sure. That is, if Sherry ever wakes up." said Leon, gulping down some coffee.

As if on cue, Sherry's eyes fluttered open. She sat up, stretching, getting the morning kinks out of her body. The 12 year old yawned, brushing the strands of dirty blonde hair out of her eyes.

"Mornin..." she harrumphed, trudging over to the bathroom.

Claire just giggled quietly, "Not much of a morning person, is she?" Leon just shook his head, took a bite out some toast, and asked Claire nonchalantly, "You haven't even brushed your teeth yet, have you?"

An awkward pause.

"You know me too well, Kennedy."

"Either that or the Ten Buns of Ugly are hypnotizing me."

"Shut up."

"YOU shut up."

"NO YOU SHUT UP!

~~~

At that very moment, Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine had just finished their first-ever-official kiss. They were standing in the middle of his living room, holding each other. Jill's pale skin turned into a noticeable rosey pink.

"Wow..." she remarked, giving Chris a smile.

Chris just stood in awe, replaying what just happened in his head... over... and over... and over... still not believing any of it. To him, he was just in some fanciful wonderworld where everything was perfect and Jill... hot DAMN...

"I... I..."

Within moments, they were on each other again, this time, like two dogs fighting over a piece of meat.

'Perfect... this is perfect...' Chris thought, 'Nothing can spoil this moment... nothing BETTER spoil this moment...' The phone rang... of course.

"Dont get it" Jill was able to mutter between smooches. Chris didnt.

~~~

Claire threw the phone down in frustration. "They're not there!" Leon just grinned, "Oh yes they are... they're probably going at it like jackrabbits." Claire threw a hair pin at Leon and made a face.

"Vomitrocious!**" she exclaimed.

"What?"

"Vomitrocious! It's a saying I picked up from Sherry. It means, 'Ick! I'm not touching that with a forty foot pole!"

Leon squinted, "Then why dont you say that instead?"

"Cuz vomitrocious is easier!"

Leon rolled his eyes, watching Sherry stalk into the kitchen.

"Of course."

The man couldn't help but be at ease with Claire. She was young, she was fiesty, but she had an awesome sense of maturity in her, too. Leon saw Claire display that in spades during their trek through Raccoon City. He respected her, but Claire would always surprise him (no… wait, she never surprised him) with her goofish, spunky attitude.

"Claire?"

"Hmm?" she looked up from reading a 'fascinating' article about who the winner of Survivor 2 will be in the morning paper.

"You'll be my date for the Valentine's Fireworks, right?" he asked, his large eyes twinkling.

"Duh!" Claire grinned, then went back to reading.

'Good…' Leon thought to himself.

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Oh, and all RE characters and related events are owned by Capcom, don't sue me, I have no money, bley blah bling.