Welcome to Africa

Bonus Chapter: Letting Pain Go

After a week of returning back from Africa, Annabelle immediately returns home. She steps through the door, setting her bag to the side, she closes the door behind her and removes her jacket.

The weight off her shoulders left her light-headed, unable of what to think next. She walks through her home, passing the living room, then headed towards the bathroom where she found Leon, drying off his hair and wearing gray sweatpants. And just gray sweatpants, she steps over to him, pressing herself against his side, and wraps her arms around him. He stops and looks down at her. "Hey, when did you get home?" he asks her.

She lays her head against his shoulder-blade and took a deep breath, "Just a few seconds ago." she mutters. He just looks at her and knew something was wrong. "Was it the mission?" he asks her. She flutters her eyes open, "In a way, yeah." she mutters.

He nods at her, then places the towel on the hook then he pulls away, making her look at him, and he takes her by surprise and swipes her off her feet. Leon steps out of the bathroom, turning the light off as he went.

Then he steps into the master bedroom, crawls into the bed, places Annabelle on it, and lays next to her. "Come on, talk to me," he said, propping himself on his hand. She turns onto her side, facing him, and sighs. "You know what William, Annette did to me, right?" she asks him. "And how Wesker supervised the experiment," he adds in, she nods at him. "And I faced him today, a lot of unpleasant memories resurfaced as did old habits," she states.

He just looks at her and listens. "I've done a lot of horrible things, before and after Umbrella. And what he was doing, it reminded me too much of my time as the bloodhound." she states, he nods at her "And I thought taking down Wesker would put those memories to rest... but..." she states and he just looks at her. "It just got worse, didn't?" he asks. She looks up at him and nods, he stares down at her and brushed back her hair, looking into her dark forest green eyes. "Sometimes it can never be that easy. Thinking if we kill of what hurt us would help us heal, but the more we cling to the pain that was inflicted onto us that it becomes the only thing that matters," he said to her.

Making her roll onto her belly, cross her arms in front of her, and stares at him, "And what people really need is to let the pain go. It won't be easy at first and it will be hard, but... letting the pain go, it help you finally take that breath you've been holding back since clung to that pain." he states looking away from her, Annabelle couldn't help but smile at him. "How do you do it?" she asks.

He blinks and looks at her "Do what?" he asks, she looks away and shrugs at him. "Just... have these words ready, as you know just what to say," she states, he just chuckles at her as he ran his finger along her back. "Well, dad was a cop. So he has seen a thing or two cause he knows a thing or two. He was always brave in what he did, always knew what choice to make, helping others when they couldn't help themselves." he said with a smile.

Annabelle smiles at him, seeing the fond memory play through the gleam in his eyes, "He sounds like a wonderful man." she states, making him nod. "Yeah, yeah he is," he states and Annabelle snuggles against him. Leon smiles warmly as he wraps his arms around her and held her close to him. "Thank you, Leon. I really needed this talk," she states and he smiles. "Of course, you can always talk to me," he tells her.

She just smiles against him, "So... how was your time off?" she asks looking up at him, Leon chuckles as he ran his hand up and down her arm. "It was relaxing, actually. Jacob knows a good restaurant not far from here." he states "Oh, really?" she asks. He nods at her. "Yeah, coffee there is the best and their breakfast meals," he states, making her chuckle at him. "We should go sometime," she states, resting her head on his shoulder. He nods at her, "Yeah in the close future, we should." he agrees with her then snuggles close to him. "I'm happy you're back," he whispers to her, and she looks up at him, making him look down at her. "Me too. But I'm always going to come back to you, our promise. Remember?" he states.