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Leon wakes to the sound of the phone ringing. He sits straight up in bed, shaking off a dream that is already fading as he reaches for the bedside lamp. A moment later the room glows with a warm light as he blinks to refocus. The buzzing continues, his hand hesitating over the phone that sits next to him. It's not the landline, he realizes.
He rolls to the side and grabs his cell from the other table. There's no issue with waking someone else up; the bed next to him is empty like always. Leon doesn't have time for such things these days, if he was even interested.
“Hello?” He clears his throat when he hears how scratchy his voice is. “Kennedy,” he tries again.
“Hi.” The voice on the other end is female and familiar. “Leon? Is that you?”
“Yeah?”
“Hi,” she says again. “Hi. It's me. Ashley.”
Oh. Leon rubs his forehead to brush away the last of the cobwebs. “Is everything alright?”
“Yeah. I just can't sleep.” Leon frowns and she hurries on, “I'm sorry. I know it's late, but you said to call anytime and—”
“No, no. It's okay.” He sighs and looks at the bedside clock. The numbers glow 2:17 for a second before switching to 2:18. “Everything's good?”
“I have a question for you.”
Leon clears his throat. “Okay?”
“You've done this before. Right?”
For a moment he's not sure what she means. Make a phone call in the middle of the night, scared and desperate for another voice? Not be able to sleep after getting back home, seeing the impossible when you close your eyes? Or save a girl who is then plagued by nightmares? The answer to all of those happens to be yes, so he leans back against the headboard, tugging briefly on the pillow against his back before relaxing as much as he’s able.
“Yeah,” he answers. “I have.”
“How did you do it?” Ashley's voice is small, too small for his liking. She had been nothing but a scared kid when he first found her, but by the time they escaped she had hardened enough to be a survivor. Leon thinks of another little girl that needed rescuing, one that also walked away seemingly easily with a cold light in her eyes.
But Sherry had been much younger, still able to feel her small hand in his as she skipped on their walk from Raccoon City, until FEMA had found them. Kids are resilient. That’s what everyone kept repeating, and what Leon let himself believe for her sake. She probably didn’t understand half of what had happened anyway.
Ashley is a young adult. She’ll have questions, she’ll remember clearly what happened. Of course she would be more affected.
Idiot , he chastises himself silently. “Do what?” Leon asks out loud.
Ashley sighs. ”Every time I close my eyes, I see... you know.“
”Yeah.“ Leon closes his eyes for a moment as if to prove it. ”Yeah, I get you.“
”I just need to know how you do it.“
Leon tucks the phone under his chin and folds his arms. ”It gets easier,“ he assures her. It's a lie, but all he can think of to say.
”I went outside today!“ Ashley's voice suddenly brightens, and he wonders if she is holding back tears. ”I haven't been since getting released from the hospital. My doctor says I need to try to so I went to the drug store.“
”That's good.“ Leon tries to sound reassuring. ”How did it go?“
”It uh...“ Ashley laughs. ”Someone slammed a door and I hit the deck. Pretty embarrassing.“
Leon smiles sadly. ”Happens to a lot of people.“
”I don't like the Secret Service. They all have guns.“
“It's for your protection,” he assures her.
“I know,” she says quickly. “Just don't like it, that's all.”
There is an awkward silence as Leon tries to find something else to say. He's the last person that should be reassuring her that things are fine, and he suspects if her father knew they were on the phone he'd hit the roof. It's also against about six protocols for him to even be taking this call; agents aren't supposed to stay in contact with anyone from previous assignments.
Again he thinks of Sherry, a weird twinge in his chest. “Just keep doing what the doctors tell you,” he says. “Just, you know, do your best. It'll get easier.”
“Can I see you?”
Leon winces.
“It's probably not a good idea—”
“I'm actually not in the city right now,” he replies. Another lie.
“Oh! Okay.” Does she sound relieved? Maybe. “That makes sense. You're probably swamped with work anyway. And I'm calling so late. You were sleeping, right? I'm sorry.”
The emotion is returning to her tone, and Leon tries to think of what to do. It's best to just end this call, but he's finding it harder than it should be. The irony of having another girl now dependent on him is bitter.
“Try to get some sleep if you can,” Leon finally says. “Maybe turn the TV on or something.”
“Yeah. Okay, I'll do that.”
His heart sinks to hear her voice so disappointed, but then Ashley asks, “Can I call you again? If I need to?”
“Yes,” he replies. “Whenever you need to, you can call me.”
“Okay.” She breathes a sigh that sounds like relief. “Bye, Leon. Thanks.”
The line clicks before he can give his own goodbye. He looks at the clock that now reads 2:33 with a huff. Leon gets up to run some water on his face, stopping to crack the window before he turns off the lamps and climbs back into bed.
He stares at the ceiling, knowing it will be impossible to sleep now.