Afternoon Coffee

Author's note: This is my first time writing a one-shot that isn't a lemon, and it's also my first time writing for Leon and Helena. I've read very little stories that revolve around this pairing, so if it seems similar to others on here, my apologies. I really wouldn't know. But nonetheless, I do hope you enjoy. Read on!

-Sarai

First there was Ada Wong, next Claire Redfield, and then Angela Miller. Of course there were a few women in between them. Okay, there were a lot of women in between all of them. But hey, Leon S. Kennedy was a man of many needs, and if it was dating or sleeping with all these women that filled these needs, so be it. He was never one to judge people by what they did in their free time.

The cloudy sky illuminated the small diner poorly, making everything look slightly drab and grey. Even the waitress, who looked young and considerably chipper, looked tired and worn-out by the dull lighting. Speaking of the young devil, the waitress came by to his table once more with a bright smile that failed to lighten the grey sky.

"Refill?" she inquired, holding up a coffee pot of the caffeinated beverage. After Leon nodded, the waitress who had bleached blonde hair and dark brown eyes leaned over to fill his mug up with coffee. By the way she was leaning, Leon could see she was trying to show off her cleavage. He looked away and held back the need to roll his eyes. This waitress was far too young for him and he was in no mood to deal with a young woman hitting on him.

She stood straight and smiled down at him, "Are you still waiting on your date?"

"It's not a date," he replied in a low voice, "And yes, I am."

"Gotcha," she said, giving him a wink and snapping her chewing gum between her teeth. Leon could hear the clack of her two inch heels on the linoleum as she walked off, tending to another customer.

Where are you? he question in his mind, looking down at his dark silver Rolex watch. He had been waiting here for nearly 30 minutes and Helena had yet to show up. After letting out a quiet sigh, he took a drink from his full cup of coffee and laid a ten dollar bill on the table. He was about to stand when the entrance of the diner flew open, a fairly tall woman closing it behind her and combing her hair smooth with her fingers.

Helena Harper smiled when she caught sight of Leon at a booth and once walking over to his table, she slid into the cushion seat across from him. "I'm sorry I'm late," she apologized, offering him a pat on his hand that was going to grab the American bill from the table. "I'm still getting used to New York."

Leon stuffed the ten dollars back into his pocket and nodded, "It's alright. How do you like the Big Apple?"

"It's…big."

Leon let out a chuckle at her synopsis of the huge city. "I agree," he murmured, stirring cream into his coffee.

The waitress came by again, but not with the regular smile she had just moments before. She held a pad and pen, taking Helena's order. "Are you sure that's all you want?" the blonde waitress asked with a way too dark arched eyebrow, "You look hungry."

Helena's expression was deadpan, unaffected by the girl's comment, "Coffee will be fine, thank you."

As she walked away with the clacking heals, Leon scrutinized Helena's face, looking for any form of anger. When he found none, he leaned back in his booth with a smirk, "You did good."

She rolled her eyes, "You sound like a parent. But thank you, consoling has actually helped."

For the past three months, Helena had been going to therapy twice a week, ordered by the government. Her therapist had first asked about her relationship with her sister and how her death affected her. At first, Helena refused to talk about any of it. She didn't know this person who was bombarding her with questions like, "How does that make you feel?" and "What did you take from that experience?" But as the weeks went on, she found herself opening up and actually talking about her difficulties, fears, goals, and the few people she cared for. She had even got to the point where she could really control her anger, which had screwed her over so many times in the past. Even though it was hard to open up to a complete stranger about her feelings, in the end it helped her emotionally and mentally.

"That's good, Helena," Leon said softly, staring at his hands on the table, "I'm proud of you."

"Thanks dad," she muttered with humor obviously laced in her voice.

Ouch. He wasn't too sure why being called dad stung him the way it did. He knew she said it with sarcasm, but it still stung him in a way he didn't like it. He looked to the woman across from him, studying her features. He gasped when she took his drink and sipped his coffee. "Hey, that's mine," he exclaimed.

She took another sip of his coffee, looking at him over the lip of the cup. She rested her chin in her hand and set his mug back down, "Sorry, but I don't think the waitress is going to bring me mine. Unless it's to refill yours."

"Whatever," he muttered, pushing the cup over to her, "You can have it."

"Oh jeez," she scoffed, "I didn't spit in it."

"You drank from it. Same thing."

Her eyes narrowed at him, her finger tapping her chin. She gave him a smug smirk, "Leon Kennedy is scared of cooties."

"I am not," he claimed.

She stuck her tongue out at him, "Yes you are. Afraid you might turn into a girl? Or that you'll fall in love with me? Afraid you'll catch a disease like a monthly menstrual cycle?"

No. Yes. No. He shook his head and combed a hand through his perfect hair, blowing off her sarcasm. Before she could tease him more, the waitress came by noticing his half empty mug.

"Another refill?" she asked with a wide smile, looking directly at him.

"No," he replied, looking at Helena, "But you can get her, her coffee."

The waitress pouted but nodded. She was back the next minute, placing a full coffee mug in front of Helena and walking off with a slight stomp to her step.

"She's in love with you," Helena stated, putting cream in her coffee and adding two packets of sugar.

"She must have drunken my cooties," he joked, watching her hands as the worked on making a concoction in the coffee mug. He didn't stop the smile when she giggled at his comment. It was rare when she laughed. She had gotten better about smiling, and he was grateful that she felt comfortable enough around him to be happy or at least show happiness.

Ever since they had gotten back from Lanshiang, they had made days to have lunch or coffee together. It was a surprise that Leon actually would show up to their 'dates'. She would joke, calling these 'dates for friends'. He rarely showed up to casual meetings with friends, for the fact that one—there weren't many people he could call his friends, due to his type of work and his seemingly cold personality. Two—he never wanted to go out with people, for he never found them interesting enough to sit through an entire meal with them.

But with Helena, he actually made an effort to meet up with her. The first time was hard, he didn't really want to, but because it was her, he forced himself to. After that, he looked forward to meeting and seeing her. She could talk about anything—such as cooties—and he would never grow bored of her nor would he want to change the subject. Even if it was a moment when both grew silent, it was never awkward. Leon appreciated her presence and he hoped she felt the same way.

"How's Ada?" Helena asked out of the blue.

Leon thought for a minute, recovering by the sudden query from her and thinking about his relationship with the spy, Ada Wong. "I don't know," he said with a shrug, "I haven't talked to her since Lanshiang."

She nodded, staring at her coffee, "Do you miss her?"

He wasn't sure why she was asking about Ada now. She rarely brought her up, and Leon never did. He was appreciative that she never judged his relationship with Ada and in some ways she was supportive of the bumpy relationship they shared.

"That's hard to answer," he admitted, staring off into the grey sky. The clouds were just daring to drop heavy raindrops, waiting for the best time to fall when it was most inconvenient for the people in the city. "I've known her so long, and I've seen her so little times. It's hard to miss someone who disappears on a whim, but comes back into your life at the most unsuspected times."

Helena listened as she studied his profile, "Has she contacted you at all?"

He rubbed his neck and sighed inwardly, "No. If you don't mind, I don't really feel like talking about Ada."

She nodded quickly, ashamed that she brought it up. "I'm sorry. I just thought you might want to talk about her."

He leaned forward and placed his hand atop hers, "I'm here with you, and I want to talk about something to get my mind off of her. These are the few times that I don't even think about her. Let's talk about you."

"Not much to talk about," she claimed with a humorless laugh.

Leon wrapped his fingers around her palm and stroked small circles on the back of her hand with his thumb, "Sure there is. There's always something to talk about, Helena."

She gazed at their linked hands, the corner of her lips curving up a little. "Like what?"

He wondered if he should pull his hand away, maybe it was inappropriate for their relationship. But what was their relationship? They had survived Tall Oaks and Lanshiang together. He was there for her when she lost her sister for good. She was there for him when Ada showed up. And when she told him to go after her, he declined and stayed with her. That meant something, right? Before he could even realize what his mind was asking her, the words spilled from his lips, "Helena, are you with anyone?"

Her silence scared him. He worried that she was offended by the question, or that maybe she found him ridiculous to ask her such a private thing. His shoulder's relaxed when she finally responded.

"Me? No. No, no, no," she repeated, shaking her head. "No one would want to be with me right now."

"That's not true," he said quickly, again not realizing what he was saying.

Helena blushed, but she tried to get a good look at his face. She intertwined her fingers with his and gave his hand a soft squeeze, "Maybe it's not. But no, I'm not with anyone right now."

They talked for quite a long while, sipping on coffee and having a small talk to deep conversation. After a small while, they let go of each other's hand, neither really the type to show much affection easily. When Helena finished her second cup of coffee, they stood, ready to leave. Leon paid, claiming it was his turn. She argued that he paid last time, but he threw the money on the table and led her out of the small diner.

"Don't worry about it," he assured her as he slipped his leather jacket on. He held her cardigan up for her as she slid one arm in and then the other.

She pulled her hair out of the collar and turned to him, "Fine, but I get next time. And no fighting it, I'm paying."

He held his hands up in surrender and nodded, "Alright, alright. You pay next time, I got it."

He gasped silently when she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into a gentle hug. He did the same, but wrapped his arms around her waist, rubbing his hand up and down her lower back.

"Thank you, Leon," she whispered into his ear.

"You don't have to thank me," he said, getting a whiff of her tuberose scented shampoo, "It was just coffee."

She snorted, pulling back a little to look into his gray blue eyes, "I mean for everything. You've been there for me when no one else has. Thank you for that. And it's really hard for me to accept help and say thank you, so I want you to know that I really mean it."

He tucked a brown lock of hair behind her ear, "Anything for you."

She gave him a meek smile, a slight rosy shade staining her cheeks. Her brown eyes looked into his, shifting from one to the other. Her gaze lingered to his lips, and subconsciously, she started to lean to him. She sighed when her lips met his, having an overwhelming happiness feeling overtake her.

Leon responded to her quickly, tilting his head to the right to deepen the kiss. It was a surprise that she would do such a thing, but deep down, he was hoping she was going to do that. One of his hands moved up to the middle of her shoulder blades, holding her closer, while his other hand held her tight by her lower back.

She pulled away to take a breath. Helena smiled at him when he finally opened his eyes to look at her. She placed a soft kiss on his lips and then left his embrace. She caressed his arm and turned, walking in the other direction. Before she was out of earshot, she looked over her shoulder and winked at him, "I'll see you on Sunday."

Author's note: Tada, there we go. I had a lot of fun writing this and I actually found it really enjoyable writing for these two characters. Let me know what you guys thought with a review? I'd really love to hear your feedback.

Just want to say some stuff in this A/N and I'll try to make it quick. I don't know when I'll be able to post my next story due to some personal things in my life right now. I'm going to try to type up a one-shot that I have in mind that will be about Jake and Wesker. Don't know when that'll happen, but hopefully soon. My Jill/Josh story is in the works, but will be pushed back. I've been trying (trying being the keyword) to write a different one and it's going alright right now. But that will be my next longer/big story, and I'm excited for it. I've been working on non-RE stuff too, so that's why I'll be a little absent from these stories. I hope you all understand and I look forward to when I can get back to really writing again. If you have any questions, suggestions, or just want to talk, feel free to PM me. Alright, thanks for reading.

-Sarai