A/N: The continuation of the 'Reticent Watcher' series! This series has graphic lemon in it, you have been warned!. I'll give a violence warning on the chapters that contain violence.
Lili grabbed another small sandwich from the plate, chuckling. She waved the waiter over to get a few more of the very expensive appetizers. They were rather excellent, all told. Sergei had one, and even he was impressed; he was usually not one to really care too much about what he ate.
It had been ages, but two of her friends from Monaco had came to visit for a few nights.
Well, maybe not ages, but it had been about four months she had seen them. Two girls, around her age. They sat and laughed over stories, a bit sad they missed Lili's nineteenth birthday a couple of weeks before, but she was busy with her family anyway that day, who had come over to Berlin to visit.
Sergei had kept her quite busy that night, as well.
Lili glanced over at him; he stood by the wall with his arms folded. He was on a higher alert since the past incidents, though nothing more happened. He was still trying to root out the potential mole, but he seemed to have disappeared from the Berlin headquarters; when Lili looked into it, he had ostensibly gone on a short business trip to meet with some others. Neither of them were too sure about that. Meet with someone, possibly.
She had to stop herself from looking too long since she did not want her friends to know; she had to keep it a secret even to them. Truth be told, she adored them, but she would not trust them with sensitive information, given how they liked gossip and also liked to drink wine on weekends. It was difficult, though.
Today, Sergei wore a gray-toned outfit; urban-camouflage trousers and a tight, dark gray t-shirt. This looked particularly good on him. He did have his heavier vest on, but as menacing as he looked, most at the place seemed to realize he was a bodyguard for Lili.
They still steered clear, though. Her friends would even eye him nervously from time to time.
They had been here for about three hours now, Sergei only going outside to smoke once before. He decided to have another, pulling his long fur-collared jacket on as the weather was hovering around freezing.
After lighting it, he kept his eyes out for anything odd, though he suspected today would be quite calm. Truth be told, he was happy she got to see a couple of her friends. He had absolutely no interest in them, but they seemed nice enough, though much less mature than Lili. Lili could act her age and even younger, for sure, though she had a maturity that followed her around; she was more like a young lady in her twenties.
Still, Lili lived a rather busy life and rarely got to see the people she cared about; she held up well, which he always respected. She would complain now and again, but he would just listen. He had long given up trying to stop himself from feeling anything for her-he simply had to be ready to detach himself completely if it came to it.
He finally figured that until that time hit-even if they had to keep it completely undercover-he could allow himself to feel. And so he did...quite deeply.
So far, he did not regret this fact.
He took the last drag of his smoke, kicking it out with the front of his combat boot before heading back in. He heard them chuckling again. They spoke English; Sergei discovered one of the girls was actually an exchange student friend of hers from London, and while she was decent with French, she found English easier, so they all spoke it.
He honestly had not paid too much attention to their banter, though he would occasionally pick something up. It mostly went in one ear and out the other for him. This was one of those times where he did sort of feel ten years older than Lili; it was not something he minded, but he was actually a bit amused on how generally he never even thought of her as ten years younger, but times like this it would come out.
He took his spot back by the wall, leaning against it. Lili glanced over at him a moment, keeping a neutral expression. The waiter offered him a refill on his coffee; he accepted, along with one more shot. It would only be his third, and that was nowhere near enough to slow his reflexes. He would probably pass on the fourth, though, just to be prudent.
As he listened in, he heard one of the girls mention something about her boyfriend. Before they had left, Lili had reassured both of them that Sergei would repeat nothing, so some of the things they were discussing did get a bit personal; this was of no concern to him.
When she mentioned something about her boyfriend's sexual habits, his expression did not change; though he saw Lili start to attempt to stifle laughter. She quickly turned her attention to the glass of water that was there, dabbing her mouth off with the napkin afterward and smoothing down her hair. Sergei watched her look at the others and apologize for taking too big a bite of her sandwich.
Gossip went on for awhile, Sergei simply doing rounds of the place or standing by the wall. When it was time, Lili motioned to him to call for the limo, which he did.
He helped all three into their jackets; the other two seemingly waiting for him to twist their heads off if they looked away too long, judging by their expressions. As the two left the coatroom first, Lili looked over her shoulder, the familiar look on her face inviting him to her flat after they dropped the others off.
He was sort of planning on it, anyway.
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A/N: Thought it would be cool to do an occasional chapter-or at least a part of a chapter-from Sergei's sort of PoV. I do swap between them and focus a bit more on Lili's 'side', so to speak, but this seemed like it fit. It's a very short chapter, but I don't really put a length max or minimum on there. It's whatever tells the story.