Two Years, Redfield.

"I'm in love with you..." Chris said, shortly after most of the combined team had exited the room. The only one to hear it, and the one the older Redfield had said it to, was Leon Kennedy; who stood there, files on the new mission in hand and frozen in his tracks. The blond looked at the older BSAA agent with wide eyes. His mind stuck between the urgency of the mission and what Chris Redfield had just said to him. As his mind tried to wrap itself around the situation, Leon's mouth moved on it's own accord.

"Uh... Cool." Leon said, still dumbfounded. But before either of them could add to the conversation, a BSAA agent came back to the room.

"Sirs? Is everything alright?" He questioned. Chris turned to the man and gave a nod.

"Yes, we're on our way now." He said in his 'captain voice'.

They prepared for their mission, and were quickly on a plane headed for Umbrellas most recent facility, where some inside sources had informed the BSAA of some new BOW's. The D.S.O. had been called due to their history with the strains origin, Las Plagas. It's like Spain and New York all over again, Leon thought. He glanced at Chris who wore a serious expression as he went over the layout of the facility, doing his best to remember all the nooks and crannies for when things went south. Operations like this had a reputation for going off script, often horribly so. The two had worked together a few times, the frequency increasing over the years. Missions were the longest interactions they had with each other, they never really talked much in casual settings, and were rarely ever by themselves without Claire or Jill hanging around. in that time Leon had grown fond of doing what he could to get under the older Redfields skin, and had settled with casual flirting... however somewhere in the past two and a half years he'd crossed the line between casual and serious attempts. He'd been watching Chris with earnest intent, and it was such a shame everything he said made him sound like an asshole, he couldn't turn down his sass even if he tried.

The mission went about as well as one would think when infiltrating a giant testing lab crawling with infected test subjects. The casualties never got any easier to deal with, Leon could see how much Chris was struggling with this, he'd tried so hard to get all of his team out, and only about half of them made it. Leon sighed and went up to Chris.

"Hey, Redfield" He called out to the elder. Chris turned to him, looking like he needed about 3 years of sleep, which didn't sound like a bad idea.

"Kennedy." He replied. Leon sucked on his teeth for a brief moment before giving the man a light pat on the shoulder.

"Don't blame yourself... We did our best" He said. Comforting people wasn't Leon's strength, it always came out dry and awkward. Chris let out a heavy sigh and gave Leon a nod in response.

"Thanks..." he said solemnly his eyes looking slightly wet and pained. Chris walked off with Jill, who had been waiting for him, she patted his back and he gave her a smile. Leon felt his chest tighten slightly, a mix of jealousy and anger rose within him. He swallowed it down and went to the parking garage.

Leon rode his motorcycle back to his apartment, which was small and slightly barren of personal touch, save for a few band posters on the walls and a music system which seemed to be the most used item in the living room, you don't need much when there was always a chance you were going to die within a week or two after the next phone call you received. He sat on his couch quietly, still smelling of sweat, blood, and gunpowder. He couldn't stop thinking of what Chris had said to him before they'd left, which seemed like forever ago, but realistically was only about three days maximum.

"I'm in love with you" Leon repeated in a whisper. He dropped his head into his hands defeatedly.

"I can't believe I said 'Cool'... I'm an idiot" He sighed heavily. He groaned and leaned back into his couch, the sound of leather sliding on leather was uncomfortable, causing Leon to give another, mostly annoyed groan. After a good 7 minutes of just moping, he stood and headed to the bathroom for a shower, dropping his clothes wherever they wanted to land as he walked.