Lili went about the room, slowly packing more of her things. She would be leaving back to Monaco in three days, and they were due to leave early. Sergei would becoming along for a night; her father clearly wanted to thank him in person for everything. She was quite pleased that he said that he would go to him first for any sorts of work; given how the military was very pleased with the amount of money he was funneling him-Lili tried not to think about this too much-he would likely end up back every so often.

She would have a busy holiday; heading back for all of the company Christmas parties, family Christmas parties, friends' Christmas parties and everything of that nature before going back to classes in January. She had no idea what things would bring then. She would be going back from an apparent expert at solving corporate intrigue to the socialite heiress of Rochefort Enterprises.

While she would be perfectly happy never seeing some of the stuff she had to put up with again, she admitted that life may be a bit boring for her these days. Boring, and deprived of something very special to her.

Or someone.

Sergei would be well back in his duties by then, and she wasn't sure when she would be seeing him. She suspected it wouldn't be too long, given the job he did, but she always hated these goodbyes since the past times it took some months. She thought it would likely be several weeks to months again. It was difficult for her, and she knew how difficult it was for him as well, though he hid it well and pushed it down, as he did.

He was busy packing things as well, though he had much less. Being a military man, he could bring what he needed in a couple of large packs. Lili didn't much care; she just brought whatever she needed, as she never had to carry any of it anyway.

She was trying to keep her mind occupied. She had done this whole thing before. They had to separate, and they did. It shouldn't have been any different than the last two times, but it was. They had been together so much longer this time, for one. Two, Sergei had helped the family get rid of someone who could have been a great danger if left unchecked. Maybe not next week or even next month, but down the line.

She still felt a bit strange still about ordering Sergei to kill him. She did not do it-she just wounded him, and even then, nothing to really speak of. But she gave Sergei the order, and he carried it out. She didn't know what happened, but she could piece it together. She had seen Sergei kill many, many times now. Her hands were still clean, and she liked them to remain that way...but was it still clean if you order someone else to press the button? It was something else that would enter her mind, but she tried to chase out. She still thought about it, even now-though she thought about it less.

They had grown so close over the past months-even more than they had before-and she did not want to leave. But duty called, for both of them. They both knew what they had, and what it had to be like. She had a hard time this past two weeks, now that it felt...so over, she knew she would have to say goodbye, and she hated that fact. She cried more than once, mostly angrily. She had snapped at Sergei once or twice, though she didn't mean anything by it. He knew this, and would only touch her face. Sometimes that frustrated her more, since he could stay so...neutralon everything, but she did not know what he was feeling on the inside.

On the inside, he was cursing the situation. He had considered once or twice-for only a few moments-breaking off from everything and going to live somewhere with her; anyone trying to tell him differently would be in serious trouble.

But he knew that was not who he was. And he knew that she understood that. She not only understood, that was one of the things that made her fall for him in the first place.

After a bit of time, she heard the soft knock, followed by the rattling key. She turned, these days knowing what his presence felt like from behind. She leaned back when she felt his hands wrap over her shoulders and his head slide next to hers as he leaned over her. After kissing her neck once, he stood back, smiling down.

"Three days. Well, I'll have one night at the manor. Luckily I won't have to leave until later on that evening."

"Don't talk about your leaving." She sighed. She knew it was better to face it than hide from it.

"I'm sorry," he said.

Lili shook her head. "No need to be." She got a wicked smirk. "Well, we'll have one more night to do something we shouldn't at the manor at least."

He smirked back, raising his eyebrow. "I will be back though. There is a deal. I will need to be in Russia for awhile, and I'm not sure when I'll be back...but I will."

"So it's not if, it's when."

"Barring a worst cas..."

Lili interrupted him. "I know you. That won't happen." This, she would be stubborn on.

He nodded, though there was the ghost of a smile on his lips. He went over to the balcony doors, looking at the cold sunset. He took out a cigarette, sliding it in his mouth as he took off his long sleeved shirt; his usual dark gray tank top was underneath of it. He lit the cigarette, standing there with his arm against the glass as he looked out. Lili sat on the edge of the bed and watched him the entire time.

He simply looked out over Berlin, having actually enjoyed his time here all told-especially being with Lili, and being able to finally destroy the man who had been causing them trouble. He suspected that there would be more...but so long as he could, he would help with them, too.

He quietly finished his cigarette before walking over to the bed to sit next to her. He absently kicked at one of the suitcases on the floor with his combat boot as he stretched his arms out. He looked over to her, smirking.

She smiled back...she knew that look. He was asking, in his usual silent manner, if maybe they ought to not waste these few days. She touched his face.

"It won't take me long to pack," she said, laying back.

He leaned over her to kiss her, his hand tracing down her.

On second thought, I'll just get the servants to help me pack.

Tomorrow.

I have more important things at the moment.


A/N: And thus ends the first arc to 'Reticent Watcher'. The series is not done, though! I plan on starting up the 2nd arc in the fall, and it'll be in a new area(the US and Japan, to be sure, and probably about three or four months later. We've been in Europe for a long time with these guys, even in my other series!)

I want to thank all for sticking with it so far. It's been a fun one seeing how they grow and adapt and everything, and how close they've gotten, while still not having too many massive changes to their characters. It's maybe a bit of a bittersweet ending; it's happy to be sure in the sense that this threat is dealt with and they know how close they are, but the fact they cannot be together in the way they want-yes, even Sergei now-is pretty sad. Still, they'll make do.

I'll probably do some PWP between now and then(Reunion series most like, since that's the easy one to do that with), but otherwise long epic stories are going on a bit of a hiatus until September to let me recharge.

Feel free to comment/note me/etc if you like what you see!