There is no meaning in this life but love Part1

A/N Hello everyone! We are back with our second Cleon fanfic! This one will be the prequel to "Watching You" and here we will know how Leon and Claire got married and how Chris reacted after hearing the news
We hope you will enjoy reading this story as much as we enjoyed writing it! Thank you very much for all your comments for "Watching You". It means a lot to us, guys! We hope this fanfic will give you a good time and you will leave your reviews! *wink*

THERE IS NO MEANING IN THIS LIFE BUT LOVE


PART 1



There was a party at the White House and lots of politicians and other important guests were invited. Leon and Ark were in the list too. They stood in the far end of the hall, drinking some whisky with ice and discussing how boring the event was. They reminded of Alexander Pushkin's Eugene Onegin who had always had that listless look whenever he was invited to a ball.
There was nothing to do and Leon caught himself on a thought that he made a big mistake by coming to this party. He had more interesting things in his life to entertain himself than attending some boring event.
Ark, on the contrary, was enjoying himself. Maybe he drank too much whisky or maybe he really liked the boring atmosphere, but his mood got higher than it was several hours ago.
"You know, Leon, all those guys in tuxedos remind me of pompous turkeys. Just look at them," Ark pointed to a random politician who was smiling at someone like an idiot. "Argh, what a disgusting view!" the brown-haired man pulled a face and drank his whisky in one gulp. "But the spirits are cool here!" he announced audibly, sending his friend a pleased smile. "Why don't you drink some? There is nothing to do here after all, so let your brain have some relaxation. Who knows, maybe we will be able to find some hot political chick here, heh?"
"Shut up, Ark. It seems alcohol has attacked your common sense. You are babbling like the last drunkard. And I thought that you were a decent father to your children".
"Oh common, Leon," Ark rolled his eyes. "Our work is too dangerous and stressful, I need to chill out sometimes. And I advise you to follow my example, my friend. And besides," the expression on the man's face became serious and concentrated, "I am a decent father to my children and I never give up on opportunity to find a good woman who would acknowledge my kids as her own."
Kennedy just sighed in response, but the next moment he received an elbow in his ribs.
"Whoa! Look there!" Ark pointed his index finger to a crowd of men.
"I don't see anything unusual, Ark," Kennedy uttered. He was too tired to look around, but the other man didn't give him a chance to even think about the boredom.
"Then you are absolutely blind, Leon. How can't you see her?" Ark demanded, grabbing Leon's neck and forcing him to look in the direction of his pointed finger.
Leon didn't expect to be treated so roughly by his slightly drunken friend, but his gaze fell on the crowd of those men again. There was a woman in a pink knee-length dress that embraced her body like a second skin. She was standing in the middle of that little crowd of men. It seemed that they were enjoying her company so much that they even forgot where they were.
"Just look at her. She is such a beautiful and luxury woman. I'm ready to give up on my bachelor's life just by looking at her," Thompson spoke with admiration, there was not a single sign that he was drunken just some minutes ago. "I have to get to know who she is. Maybe she would become a perfect mother for my children!"
Leon was looking at the woman's back, since she was facing one of those politicians. She indeed was beautiful. Her long mahogany hair flowed down her back freely. She had a fantastic body, judging by all the curves her dress accentuated.
"She is absolutely in my taste," Kennedy thought appraisingly.
Two friends stood in the corner of the hall like paralyzed. They couldn't tear off their eyes from a mysterious woman in pink dress. She was talking to a famous politician and then they both started to laugh as if their conversation was one of some good old friends'. The man took her hand in his and kissed it favorably.  
The next moment a brown-haired woman walked to her and whispered something in her ear. Soon after that, they both left the hall. Leon recognized the other woman. It was Jill Valentine. A suspicion crept in his mind, somehow he wasn't that sure anymore that he didn't know the woman with those long mahogany hair. But Leon decided to keep his doubts to himself and not telling Ark about them. He didn't know why it suddenly became distressing to listen to his exclamations of utter adoration towards her. Kennedy couldn't understand what was happening to him. He decided to leave his friend and make sure that it was indeed her in person.    
It wasn't hard to find her among another crowd of men. He noticed lascivious glint in their eyes as if they were undressing the lady in their dirty fantasies. Leon's blood started to boil in his veins and he didn't know the reason why.

OooooO

Claire was standing at the balcony while watching the stars and humming some sweet melody. She was utterly glad that her cell-phone rang and she could escape that bedlam in the main hall. It was unbearable! Why did all those politicians follow her every step?  Yes, she was representing her brother at the party, but she wasn't ready to answer their stupid questions that were far from a political theme. The girl promised herself to thank her dear brother physically when he returned from an urgent trip.
She didn't notice someone's approaching. Only when she heard a deep voice calling her by her name did she turn around to face the intruder who dared to ruin her moment of peace.
"Leon?" her eyes widened in surprise meeting his stern gaze.
It was her, he knew it! His 6th sense didn't betray him after all.
"What were you thinking, Claire, by seducing those politicians?" he started his accusations right from the threshold. "It was nauseating to look!"
Claire straitened herself and froze in bewilderment.
"What are you talking about? When did I seduce anyone?!" she objected, rising her voice.
"Don't try to pretend that you are all innocent, dear. I saw everything!" Leon crossed his arms on his chest and arched his eyebrow reprehensibly. "They clustered to you like moths to a flame! And it seems that you were having fun by making those respectful men, who rule our country, look like a flock of sheep."
Claire gritted her teeth in anger. She had never expected her dear friend would ever talk to her in such a rude manner! He humiliated her as if she was some whore! She didn't recognize the Leon she had always knew in this mad man who was standing before her.
"So, this is how you think of me, Kennedy." Claire uttered, offence could be clearly heard in her broken voice. "I suppose that you have always esteemed me that way…from the very first time we met. Yeah, of course it's shameful to you to be a friend to such a dissolute woman as you consider me to be." Claire sighed in tension. "I release you of this burden. We are not friends anymore…and judging by your daring statement, we have never been them in the first place."
She was about to walk past him and hide her unshed tears from his sight, but his next words stopped her on her tracks.
"You are a wonderful actress, Claire. But I won't fall a victim to your lies".
Claire's head snapped up as she threw him a glare full of hatred.
He was about to add some spicy comments but a sudden pain in his cheek stopped him from doing so. Leon pressed his palm to the burning skin. She had just slapped him, and her hand felt really heavy. The young man shifted his astonished gaze to her face and noticed the tears that were running down her cheeks. She was looking at him loathingly but there was something else in her sparkling blue eyes. Something, that caused his heart to tighten in pain.
"I don't want to know you anymore!" she shouted in his face and swept past him, never turning back.

OooooO

The tears in her eyes were blurring her vision, but she managed to find a way to leave the White House. Claire went to the parking lot, sat on her motorbike and sped off. She didn't care where she was riding. It didn't matter anyway. She just wanted to soothe the pain in her dying heart. Leon's words hurt her. They stabbed deep in her heart without a mercy. And she didn't know why he had done that. She had never thought that her friend could treat her like that. Was she his friend in the first place? She didn't know what to believe anymore.
Absorbed with those mournful thoughts, Claire didn't notice some animal crossing the road. It was a miracle she didn't run it over or else there could be two victims of her carelessness. She could get in an accident and she was sure that it would have been her sorrowful end.
Claire decided to stop in the middle of a highway. It was dangerous to ride a bike or any other vehicle in her current depressed state. She couldn't control her raging and grieving emotions. Her best friend's words hurt her so much, that she couldn't even remember being so furious and hurt for the last time. And even in the past she had never let her mind and instincts go off.
Claire took her cell-phone out of her deco purse and dialed Jill's number. She wasn't that crazy to not informing her brother's wife where she was. Jill was concerned, but Claire soothed her by telling the older woman that she had just went for a ride. The party was too boring so she decided to escape that event. Jill believed her lame story, or maybe she didn't, but she told Claire to come back to the hotel when she was done.
Of course the red-haired beauty hated herself for lying to her family, but she hadn't any right to make them worry about her.  
It was a beautiful starry night. Claire breathed in fresh air and started to pull off the road. She found a perfect place to think about her life. The girl parked her motorbike not far from her and lay on a soft cool grass, preparing to watch the stars on the black sky. The night was cold, and it wasn't a surprise. It was the end of October after all, but even the chillness didn't stop young Redfield from admiring the view above her. The stars looked gorgeous that night but they couldn't distract her mind from the awful quarrel she had faced that evening. But Claire struggled to clear her thoughts, even if it made her hold back unwelcomed tears. After all the things Leon had told her at the party, she was sure that their friendship died and would never revive. It was not that she wanted it to after hearing how he really thought about her. But still, it was too painful to remember, and even if she tried to block her mind from recalling that encounter and its ill-fated end, her brain didn't give up and kept on playing their conversation again and again in her head.
Some time had passed before Claire forgot herself in an anxious sleep.

To be continued...