Polo, Girleh and... A peanut. :)

"Maybe not..." Leon admitted grudgingly, "But I'm not going to be until you tell me what's going on." He added, a slightly impish smile curving his lips. "Honestly, the anticipation is killing me!" He concluded with a vague grin. It resided on his face a moment, then faltered and faded. "Bad choice of words..." He muttered to himself, glancing away again, his momentary cheer starting to sap away from him again.

"What?!" Leon roared furiously - the action causing him to break down into a violent fit of coughing. The coughs ripped painfully from his throat, and a faint haze of blood left his lips with each one. When the fit finally subsided, he slumped backward against the wall, feeling suddenly weak and feeble. He didn't have the strength to rage about this, much as he wanted to. "I've officially lost all respect for that jerk." Leon stated simply, "Sorry, but it's true. He's worthless trash, he is!" Leon muttered angrily, shaking his head in cold disappointment. "No, you won't be homeless." Leon stated firmly, "That is ridiculous. My family has plenty of rooms in that mansion that they aren't using - you can stay in one of those. Think of it as a rental agreement... You get use of the room, in return for looking out for Kimmie after I'm gone." Leon concluded simply, "Well, that's my offer anyway." He added with a shrug, "But even if you decline, I'm certainly not going to leave you out on the streets you know." He concluded firmly.

"I'm calm." Leon insisted bitterly, turning his head to glare in the opposite direction. However, at her next words, his head jerked around so fast that his neck cricked. She was declining?! Leon raised his eyebrows in cool disbelief. "Okay, Anna, you're confusing me here, so let's get one thing straight... You ask me to trust you, yet when I offer to entrust to you the one thing that means the most to me in this world, that thing being Kimmie's wellbeing, you refuse to take it?" He watched her for a moment, then sighed - dropping his head and abandoning all traces of bitterness. Okay, so he didn't like feeling vulnerable, but that was no reason to get short with Anna. "Kimmie is worth all the money in the world to me." Leon said simply, "But all that money is no good if I don't know I can trust the person who will be looking after her. It would not be you relying on me, Anna... It would be the other way around." He explained quietly, his hands slowly clenching into shaking fists upon the pale covers.

Leon nodded, doing his best to remain calm and patient. "I know... I understand that..." He murmured quietly, "Then think on it this way: I'll pay you to look after Kimmie, and then I'll charge you the exact same amount to use the room. Only we'll be skipping the pointless transactions in between..." He trailed off with a vague shrug. "And it's not just about protecting her." Leon added in a slightly stern tone, "There will be no need to put your life on the line. I just want you to make sure that she's happy... Happy, and comfortable, while it lasts..." He trailed off with a sad sigh - then did something completely unexpected. In a rare display of vulnerability, Leon pressed his palms to his face for a moment, pressing a curtain of darkness over his eyes, then he slowly slid them upwards and ran them through his hair - looking for all the world like a forgotten toy... Weak, pathetic, dejected, broken, defeated... Kimmie... Oh, Kimmie...

"No, no, you're right... I should have explained already - I forgot I hadn't." Leon admitted, managing a faint smile as he glanced at her. "I suppose you could say it's a... A compound illness." He began hesitantly, pausing for a moment before going on - resigning himself to simply telling her what was wrong with him, despite the fact that she would probably only be able to look at him with repulsion from then on... "I have had tuberculosis since I can remember. Only before, the doctors had me on medication that made it manageable, and kept me going... But then I, uh... I got HIV... And since then everything pretty much went downhill, and now all that's left for me to do if lose the fight to TB, which is happening rather fast despite the doctors' best efforts to stall it..." He trailed off with a sigh, shrugging slightly and forcing a vague smile, which ended up looking more like a grimace.

Leon gulped and nodded, not quite trusting himself to speak with the lump that was forming in his throat. Instead, he examined his fingers as he entangled, disentangled and re-entangled them in his lap. Finally, he glanced up at Anna. "That's why I want you there for her." He stated softly, "You'll understand, and you can ease her pain..." He trailed off with a soft sigh, glancing away again. "Sorry..." He murmured quietly, "I'm being selfish... What of you? What would make you happy?" He asked gently, glancing up at her with a slightly unfocused expression. "If there's anything I can do to make your burden easier to bear..." He mumbled quietly, "Please let me help you, whilst I still have the life to do so."

"It's always like that, isn't it...?" Leon asked quietly, a soft mirthless chuckle escaping his lips - though it was so drenched in bitterness that it was barely recognisable as laughter at all. He shook his head, dismissing the thoughts. "I really am sorry." He informed her quietly. "I-" He broke off as a soft cough escaped his lips, and suddenly Leon felt as weak and weary as though he'd spent 80 years breaking rocks with other rocks...

Leon chuckled softly. "You're alive, right?" He asked quietly, his eyes slowly drifting shut as he slipped down into the bed again. "You might have lost a lot, but at least you get to wake up each morning... You've still got the sun... The sky..." Eventually, Leon's nearly incoherent mumbling trailed into nothingness as sleep claimed him in mid-speech. He was exhausted, and he was always tired out very quickly when he was recovering from one of his 'attacks'.

"'s Never too late..." Leon mumbled sleepily in response, his lips barely parting to release the words. He could no longer cling to awareness now, and was drifting in and out of a light slumber - unable to wake himself, yet unable to fall asleep. He wanted to keep talking to Anna... Try comfort her... But his options were limited. Besides, he doubted there was anything he could do... And what he could do would be useless anyway...

Leon slept then, drifting away from the present to remain silent and motionless for a few hours to follow. The machines beside his bed that monitored his health now declared him to be fit, though that had yet to be seen.

Leon's eyes flickered open and he glanced around briefly, seeming somewhat perkier than before. He glanced over at Anna and offered a faint smile, then pressed the button beside his bed to summon a nurse. She soon appeared, and Leon explained to her that he was feeling much better. After briefly checking his breathing, pulse and temperature, she pronounced him fit to leave. She left the room then, and Leon stretched and yawned widely, then turned his attention to Anna. "Seems I'm finally ready to go." He announced with a smile, "Thank again for staying with me... It was actually nice to have some company for once." He admitted with a slightly timid smile. "Anyway, give me a moment to get myself presentable, and we can bust this joint." Leon concluded with a grin - clearly extremely grateful to have been given the chance to leave the hospital at all, and eager to do what he could with the time he had managed to buy.

Once Anna had left the room, Leon dragged himself out of bed. He had a quick showed, dressed in his usual wardrobe, then assaulted his reflection in the mirror - staring irritably at himself. For the next 30 minutes or so he attacked his hair - attempting to style it correctly. Once he was content that it looked like his usual trademark style, he applied the usual thin layer of eye make-up that he wore - leaving his face seeming far less friendly than before, which suited him perfectly. When he had done everything that needed doing, Leon left the room in a dignified fashion - glad to have his independence returned to him. He hated feeling vulnerable... He absolutely hated it.
Letting the door slam shut behind him, Leon turned to Anna. "Are you ready?" He asked, raising his eyebrows slightly, "I've got a lie to live..." He explained, a slightly sad smile curving his lips, "So I'll apologise now for any suffering my actions might cause you... Just know that I don't mean it." He concluded, glancing away slightly awkwardly. Wow, that sounded pathetic and ungrateful even to him... But what could he do?

Leon shrugged slightly. "Nothing that dramatic..." He replied with an awkward chuckle, "I just can't be nice, that's all." He explained with a slight shrug. "Not in front of people, that is... I mean, you remember how I was, right...?" He scratched his head awkwardly, his stylishly gelled hair springing instantly back into place as his fingers ceased to violate it.