A/N: new chappie! enjoy!

Chapter 4: Destination

Kirill held Lily tightly under his arm as Nikolai lad them through the loud, dark club. It was busier than usual, which made Kirill even more edgy than when he was usually there. He could never really relax when he was there, he just liked to think he was relaxing.

Lily pulled a little closer to him and he didn't need to ask her what was wrong. He could see all the men's eyes being drawn to her. She was a nice, foreign piece of ass. He pulled her a little closer, stepping closer to Nikolai as they parted through the dense crowd.

"Don't worry, malen´kaya," he murmured against her ear as she darted her glance around then back to him. "None of these ryvkami will touch you as long as I'm here. I promise."

"What's ryvkami?" she wondered, welcoming the distraction.

"Jerks," he replied.

"In here," Nikolai urged, opening a door for them as they all reached the back of the club. "Try not to make a mess, da?"

"Kusat´sya," Kirill spat as he passed by the other man and through the door to head down the stars past it.

"What did you tell him?" Lily wondered as he led her down the dimly lit stairs.

"Bite me," he answered and she looked up at him when they reached a door at the end of the stairs, not being able to help herself. She pulled one of his hands up to her face and very lightly bit his index finger, making him frown at her.

"You said 'bite me'," she replied with a sweet smile, obviously joking and he realized it, making him give a small smirk. "Not so tense anymore, are you?"

"Spasibo," he nodded, pulling away to open the door for her. "Hurry."

She went through the door and into the dark room as Kirill looked back up the stairs to make sure no one was following them before heading inside himself, shutting the door behind them.

"Hey, I can't see," Lily called from somewhere in the darkness.

"Hang on," he replied ad flipped a switch next to the door. A bear light bulb hung from the ceiling, swinging on its chain flickered on.

"Such hospitality," Lily muttered, kicking a pebble on the cracking cement floor under the rusting bed frame that held a dusty, lumpy old mattress, stained and dingy sheets spread over it.

"You've stayed here before?" she wondered, wrinkling her nose as she turned back to him.

"A few times," he replied, stepping around her and toward the bed, pulling the guns out of his pockets and slipping one under the flattened pillow on the pillow. "It may be shit, but it's free."

"Well, I'm sleeping fully clothed on that mattress," Lily said and turned to the wall opposite the bed to see another door. Wrinkling her nose again she muttered, "I hope the bathroom's usable."

"It is," Kirill assured her, stepping toward her with the second gun in his hand. "I cleaned it myself yesterday when I stayed here last night."

"Picky about your bathroom cleanliness?" she smirked as he stopped in front of her, but frowned in wonder when he took one of her hands.

"I know you don't like these," he began, pressing the gun into her hand as they both looked at what he was doing, "but if we get separated, it would be better if we're both armed."

Lily stared down at the gun in their hands for a moment before looking up at him again, their gazes locking.

"I never said I didn't like guns," she corrected. "I said I didn't wanna shoot anyone else again." She took the gun completely from him and shoved it into the deep pocket of her sweater under Kirill's jacket which she was still wore. "You're right, though."

Kirill nodded and walked toward the bathroom, standing in front of the sink and running the water as she turned to watch him, stripping off the jacket.

"We'll hide the guns to get through security," he explained, running his hands under the water and leaning over the sink to wash his face. "Or we could toss them and get new ones once we're gone."

"Where are we going?" Lily asked, stepping toward the bed, tossing the jacket onto the mattress before cautiously trying to sit on the mattress.

Kirill couldn't help but smirk as he watched her through the mirror when she jumped as the bed creaked loudly under her weight. She settled slowly on the edge of the bed, but only perched herself, ready to jump up if the bed fell apart.

"I hadn't thought about it, really," Kirill flatly lied, drying his face on his sweater sleeve as he walked out of the bathroom.

Of course he had thought of it, but after all this girl had gone through she'd probably want something familiar. He had every intention of splitting up at the airport if she wanted to go back to America, where she had come from. But first, he wanted to see what she would come up with. He couldn't go to America. He had too many enemies there, almost as many as he had in Russia. It would have been going from the frying pan into the fire.

"Oh, you're such a liar," Lily smiled as he stood in front of her and he turned his gaze to her as she looked up at him and smirked, "It hasn't taken me that long to figure out that you have a plan for everything. You're not the kind of guy to leave things to chance, Kirill."

"So, you think you know me, do you?" he retorted, bending down to lean in front of her, his hands supporting himself on either side of her legs, making the bed creak again and Lily shrank back a bit, her freckles disappearing in a blush at his face being so close. "Well, malen´kaya, if you know so much, what am I thinking right now?"

Lily opened her mouth but cast her gaze down to her lap, twiddling her fingers as she muttered, "Well, I never said I could read your mind."

Kirill gave a small chuckle at her embarrassment as he stood and she looked back up at him as he waved toward the opposite side of the bed, saying, "Sleep on the side of the bed."

She frowned and wondered, "What's the difference?"

"I can protect you more easily if I'm lying on the side closest to the door," he simply replied, making her shoot a wide-eyed gaze of wonder and disbelief at him. A slight frown twitched his brows at her stare as he said, "What?"

"Protect me?" she echoed breathlessly, still staring at him.

"Da," he nodded. "You don't want to have to use that gun, do you?" She shook her head, mutely. "Then you sleep on that side, and I will sleep on this side."

She nodded and stood up to move, but didn't realize how close they were now standing to each other until she took a chance and looked up at him, their noses brushing against the other's. She stepped back and almost fell back on the bed, but Kirill caught her hand and pulled her back to him, making her grunt as she rammed into his chest. He groaned at the pain in his side when she landed and she looked up at him with a gasp.

"Are you ok?" she breathed, stepping to the side this time. "Sit down." He did as she instructed and slowly sat on the bed. "I'll go get Nikolai."

She moved to walk away but his left hand clamped down on her wrist, stopping her before she looked at him in question.

"You can't leave this room without me," he ordered. "If you go up there without me, you'll turn out to be a piece of meat in a lion's den. All of those men will try to have a piece of you."

"And…what? You want me all to yourself, is that it?" she retorted with a smirk.

"Possibly," he replied instantly, making her stare at him in disbelief. "But that's not my point. Nikolai won't help if those ryvkami start groping at you. He'd leave you to fend for yourself, like he does the girls that work here. That's why you have to stay by my side while we're here more than anywhere else, da?"

Lily swallowed but nodded, replying, "Da."

Kirill nodded and let go of her wrist as he said, "I don't need Nikolai down here. He'll only call that doctor of his, and he won't do any good. I already know what's wrong with me."

"He can at least give you something for the pain, can't he?" Lily wondered, sitting next to him on the bed and jumping when it creaked again.

"Net," he shook his head. "I don't want anything he'd offer me."

"I thought this guy was your friend," Lily recalled. "Why are you so wary of him?"

"He's a lecherous, self-absorbed man whore," Kirill blurted. "He's a useful acquaintance. Not really a friend."

"I'd hate to hear how you talk about your friend," she muttered, turning away from him to do so.

"I have no friends," he replied, having heard her and she turned a wide-eyed gaze of disbelief at him as he continued, "I man in my profession doesn't make many friends. In my case, none."

"That's sad," she murmured, turning his full attention to her. "Don't you get lonely? Who do you talk to about things?"

"No one," he replied. "It would get people killed if I told them some of the things I knew."

"But, you don't have someone you hang out with, for fun?" she wondered and he only shook his head. "Wow. I'd be really…lonely."

"I have no time to feel lonely," he assured her. "My job keeps me going."

"Well, you just lost your job," Lily couldn't help but chuckle. Kirill looked at her then looked away in thought before slowly trying to stand. "Where're you going?"

"I need to talk to Nikolai," he groaned as he stood fully. "Stay here."

He was about to head toward the door when she gripped his hand, stopping him and making him look frown down at her.

"You never answered my question," she recalled. "Where are we going?"

Kirill stared at her for a moment and she only stared back, waiting for an answer. He took in a breath and pulled on the hand she had a hold of to stand her up again. She frowned in wonder but said nothing as he stepped closer to her.

"How many languages can you speak well?" he asked and she gave a small frown but answered him.

"Including English?" she wondered and he nodded. "Four: English, Spanish, French and Japanese." He lifted a brow in question at her and she shrugged, "I wanted to be an ambassador, but I guess that's gone down the drain."

"Why?" he asked, honestly interested.

"Well, mostly because I'm now on he run for my life with an ex-government assassin," she muttered, jokingly. Kirill gave a sigh of regret and nodded in understanding before she asked, "So, what do my linguistic skills have to do with where we're going?"

"Have you been anywhere outside America besides here?" he asked instead of answering her.

"No," she replied. "This is the first time I've actually come to a country to study the language."

Kirill nodded and thought a little longer. He hadn't pulled many jobs in France, Japan, Spain or Mexico. None that had left enemies for him there anyway. Making a decision he looked back at her and asked, "What do you think of France?"

Lily stared at him with wide eyes and sputtered, "Y-You're taking me with you?"

"Da," he frowned with a nod.

"But…I thought…" she trailed off and he frowned deeper, still looking at her.

"Thought what?" he asked when she didn't finish.

She shot her gaze to his, their eyes locking just for a split-second before she lowered her gaze to their hands as she placed her other hand on his to fiddle with his long fingers. She still said nothing as she stroked the tip of her finger down one of his and he only stared at her, trying to resist the chill threatening to crawl up his spine at this girl's touch.

"I thought you'd ditch me at the airport," she finally murmured, startling him out of his trance. "You know? You buy your ticket to wherever you wanna go, I buy my ticket to wherever I wanna go and we go our separate ways."

They were silent for a moment as she kept her gaze on his hand, still stroking his fingers one at a time as he still stared at her. Of course he had thought of leaving her at the airport, but if they had separated then, what would happen between the time they left each other until they arrived at their destinations? Even on the airplane there was a risk of an ambush. He wasn't sure he'd be able to forgive himself if anything happened to her once she left his side, whether it was because of her brief association with him or not.

"What do you want to do?" he asked, and that shot her gaze back to his as he continued, "Do you want to part at the airport?"

Lily opened her mouth but no sound came out as she shook her head and shot her gaze down again to fiddle with his fingers again. Kirill only stared at the top of her head as her hair fell in front of her face, hiding her blush.

"I-I don't know," she muttered with a small, slow shrug. "I think I've gotten used to having my own body guard. Especially one who's so handsome."

Kirill tilted his head to catch her gaze and when she didn't look up at him he brought his free hand up to her chin and pulled her gaze to his.

"Ya privyk k zashchitit´ krasivuyu devushka tozhe," (I've gotten used to protecting a beautiful girl, too) he admitted, his voice low and breathy as she gave a small frown but didn't look away from his eyes.

"W-What did you say?" she wondered, his hand never leaving her chin.

"Nothing important," he lied with a small shake of his head. "I take it by that response you'd rather not part at the airport?"

Lily swallowed and her gaze lowered to his lips before she breathed, "Yeah. I-I mean, I don't want to split up at the airport. I'd be too scared on my own, even on the plane."

"Da," Kirill nodded in understanding, lowering his hand from her chin but holding her gaze. "I'll tell Nikolai to take care of our tickets."

He tried again to walk toward the door but she wouldn't let go of his hand or stop staring at him. He frowned at her in wonder but she said nothing as she tugged on his hand to pull him back toward her to stand directly in front of him. She lowered the hand she was holding to his side as she stepped closer still, so close that their visible steams of breath mingled in the chilly underground room. Lily's eyes darted around his face before she cleared her throat and remembering herself she stepped away.

"Sorry," she murmured, letting go of his hands as she stepped toward the foot of the bed to step around it to the other side.

"I'm not usually like that. I haven't been with a guy in ages," she chuckled. "I mean, I forgot how to act around guys. The last boyfriend I had was my freshman year in high school."

"There is no reason for you to apologize," he choked on the last word and cleared his throat to continue. "You're…afraid, da?"

She stopped at the foot of the bed and nodded, biting her lip before continuing to step around the bed and sat on the edge. Kirill stood in his spot, forgetting what he was going to do for a moment before he remembered and was about to head to the door yet again but stopped. Lily shivered as she sat on the edge of the bed and he picked up his coat that she'd been wearing and leaned over the bed to place it on her shoulders.

"You can sleep in that tonight," he offered, walking away and opening the door to head up the stairs.

"Spaibo, Kiriil," Lily smiled, turning to face his back and his steps faltered steps as his heart jumped.

He never thought that his native language, coupled with his name, would sound so good coming from a foreigner, but as he stepped up one of the stairs and shut the door behind him without a word, he realized he wanted her with him. For how long, he didn't care, but at least until they got to France, he wanted her with him, and he would protect his 'malen´kaya.'

A/N: kind of adorable, no? lol! i hope all this is still making sense. reviews?