A/N: new chappie! finally! yay! enjoy!
Chapter 13: What's in a Name?
Lily hummed and bobbed her head lightly to the music on her headphones as she examined her nails. She between the Kirill and an empty seat as she listened to a walkman she bought along with a tape of some random music in an airport shop next to their gate before they boarded. Kirill kept his eyes on the passengers instead of on the book Lily had bought as well. He jerked straight up in his seat when the plane hit a bit of turbulence, and Lily frowned at him when she caught the movement.
Smiling, she pulled off her headphones and set them on her lap before reaching for his book and closing it. His gaze shot to her and he frowned as she set the book her lap, taking his wrist and leaning toward him to wrap his arm around her shoulders and settle her head on his chest.
"Vy napryazheny, detka," (You're tense, babe) she sighed, adjusting to be comfortable and lifted the hand that rested on her shoulder to her head, his fingers threading through her hair. He still frowned down at her as she settled against him, but after a moment he realized what she was trying to do and slowly began running his fingers through her newly died, newly cut hair. Her smile grew as she slid her other hand toward his free one and entwined her fingers with his.
"I ne bez osnovaniĭ, lyubovnik," (With good reason, lover) he replied. "Ya dolzhen byt΄ napryazhennym, chtoby derzhat΄ vas bezopasnym." (I have to be tense to keep you safe)
"Net," Lily sighed, shaking her head. "You just don't know how to relax."
"Of course I do," he murmured, nuzzling into her hair to speak into her ear. "Ya prekrasno rasslabit΄sya posle prigotovleniya sladkih lyubvi k vam, Liliya." (I relax just fine after making sweet love to you, Liliya)
Lily breathed deeply, trying to hold back from turning on him and making everyone in their cabin uncomfortable.
"Be careful," she breathed, craning her neck back to look up at him as he smirked down at her. "Keep talking like that and I'll end up attacking you and making a scene in front of all these people."
"Well, we can't have tha-"
Kirill cut himself off when he caught movement ahead of them in the isle and looked up, drawing Lily's attention ahead as well. Bourne was glancing around as he approached them and Lily shot up to sit straight as he sat in the empty seat next to her.
"Dva ryada nazad, ostrov siden΄ya," (Two rows back, isle seat) he murmured so low the couple could barely hear him.
Lily frowned and attempted to turn around but Kirill instantly tightened his arm around her shoulders to pull her back against him, making her give a small squeak.
"Ne sois pas stupide," (Don't be stupid) he hissed at her in French, knowing there was a reason Bourne wasn't speaking English, then asked Bourne in Russian again, "Chto on vyglyadit?" (What's he look like?)
"Ona," (Her) Bourne corrected. "Krasnyĭ golovoĭ. Karie glaza. 5'2". Seredine dvadtsatyh godov. Amerikanskaya." (Red head. Brown eyes. 5'2". Mid-twenties. American)
"Penelope Hunter," Kirill ground out in hardly suppressed rage. He knew there was a reason he was so damn tense.
"You know her?" Lily hissed in a hushed tone, and all Kirill did was shove his hand over her mouth as he still looked to Kirill.
"Chto vy predlagaete?" (What do you suggest?) he asked as Lily struggled slightly to free her face from his hand, but e held her fast.
"My pochti u tseli," (We're almost there) Bourne murmured. "Ona ne sdelaet shag na ploskosti. My poteryaem yee v aeroportu." (She won't make a move on the plane. We'll lose her in the airport)
Kirill nodded and Bourne stood to head back to his seat when a voice from overhead instructed everyone to fasten their seatbelts and put their trays in the upright positions for landing. He lowered his hand from Lily's mouth and she sat up to glare at him.
"Listen to me," he instructed, looking her in the eye as he took her hand and held it up between them before speaking to her in French. He wasn't risking any of his urgency being lost in translation. She wasn't that good with Russian yet. "Ne lâchez pas de ma main lorsque nous quittons ce plan, compris?" (Do not let go of my hand when we leave this plane, understood?)
Lily stared at him for a moment before nodding, knowing he was serious and he nodded in return before lowering her hand and strapping his seat belt back on as they'd been instructed.
He stiffened when he noticed the red-head they'd been talking about earlier stand from her seat and slowly head toward them. Lily frowned at him as his gaze only followed the other woman until she reached their seats and for a moment, her amber eyes were locked with his hazel-greens. Both evaluating each other, and the situation.
"Hello, Master," she smirked, making Lily's frown deepen as she whipped her gaze to Kirill, but he didn't look at her, he only watched the red-head sit in the empty seat next to Lily who gave a slight jump and whirled her head around to look at the other woman again. "I see I've been replaced."
"Penny," Kirill ground out. "I didn't think you could stoop this low."
"Hard for you to grasp, isn't it?" Penny smirked in mock sympathy as she reached into the pocket of her sweater and revealed a small pistol to ram into Lily's side. Kirill moved to attack when Lily gasped but Penny stopped him. "Vy mozhete divgat΄sya bystryee, chem ya mogu nazhat΄ na kurok?" (Can you move faster than I can pull that trigger?)
Kirill froze in his place and realized he couldn't. He gritted his teeth and sat back slowly as Penny gave a mischievous smirk.
"Vy nizkoĭ," (You are low) he ground out. "Skol΄ko stoit Gretkov predlagaem Vam prinyat΄ menya?" (How much is Gretkov offering you to take me out?)
"Oh, quit with the drama, won't you, Kirill?" she grumbled, pulling the gun away from Lily's stomach, making the brunette give a sigh of relief. "I'm not here to help Gretkov, I'm here to help you."
Both Lily and Kirill couldn't help but shoot wide-eyed and frowning gazes at her.
"Help me?" Kirill asked back. "By threatening the woman I'm traveling with?"
"Well, you can't be too careful these days," Penny shrugged, concealing her pistol again. "She could be an undercover spy." She turned to Lily with a stern look. "Are you?"
Lily only shook her head, her eyes still wide in terror then Penny turned a tight smile to Kirill.
"See? A threat on one's life always brings out the truth."
"Why do you want to help me, Penny?" Kirill asked getting straight to the point as Lily chose to remain silent for this conversation.
"'We' want no part of this little escapade getting leaked in the American papers," Penny explained. "I'm here to make Gretkov is erased from the minds and hearts of the Russians. Stealing 'our' money, then using his stolen funds to have one little grunt killed will not be tolerated."
"Grunt?" Kirill echoed with a raised brow. "I always got the job done."
"Goa, Kirill," Penny nearly sang in reminder, making Kirill's eyes pop at her as she gave another devious smile.
"How…?"
"We've been watching you, love," she smirked, sitting back in her seat and buckling her seat belt, casually. "Ever since Kuwait."
"That was five years ago," Kirill recalled. "Haven't you gotten over that yet?"
"I have," Penny retorted. "It's the 'rest of the family' that hasn't."
"What happened in Kuwait?" Lily suddenly wondered and Kirill shot wide, green-hazel eyes at her in panic.
"Wait until we call a cab in Moscow, sweetheart," Penny smirked, leaning back as the plane started its descent. "It's a doozy."
"I'd rather be informed now, thank you very much," Lily retorted, no longer afraid of this woman, making Kirill snap a wide-eyed look of shock at her.
Penny lifted a brow at the brunette with a smirk before glancing to Kirill's expression, but he wasn't looking to the red-head and it made her smirk widen a little more. Lily ignored the feeling of Kirill's eyes boring into the back of her head and waited for an explanation, but what Penny finally said was unexpected.
"Well, you're a feisty one, aren't you?" Penny smirked, leaning her head back again as Lily only continued staring at her. "No wonder Master stuck with you so long."
"Why do you keep calling him that?" Lily nearly snapped, but before Penny could answer she turned to Kirill and asked again, "Why does she keep calling you that?"
"That's what my name means in English," he explained instantly, making Penny almost burst into a full, amused grin at the scene in front of her. "It's nothing special between her and I, if that's why you're so upset."
"I'm upset that she's not answering my question!" Lily retorted then turned back to Penny and asked again, "What the hell happened in Kuwait?"
"Well, if you'd let me get in a word in edgewise," Penny smirked back, making the younger girl glare at her as Kirill glanced between the two. "See, Kirill and I were undercover in Kuwait and things got…shall we say heated?"
Lily's eyes widened and she turned them to Kirill as he instantly looked away to gaze out the window on the other side of him. This was the longest landing he'd had to endure…ever.
"Kirill," Lily breathed, trying to draw his attention to her and it worked.
He looked to her and felt his heart clench so tightly he almost couldn't breathe. Her emerald eyes were glowing with hurt. Pure, potent, hurt. Not quite betrayal. He knew she wasn't that naïve to think she was his first and only, but it still struck her hard, he could see it.
"Wow, I never thought I'd see it," Penny murmured. "Kirill Molotov actually falling for a cute little thing like you."
"You said your name was Ivanovich!" Lily breathed, the hurt in her eyes glowing even brighter, and his heart clenched even tighter.
"Come on, sweetheart," Penny retorted and Kirill shot a glare to the red head. "You really think he was gonna give you his real name, even if you did help him out?"
"Zatknis΄ i vernut΄sya obratno na svoe mesto, Penny," (Shut up and go back to your seat, Penny) Kirill snarled, making both girls turn wide-eyed gazes of surprise at the man as he only continued to glare at Penny.
"Kirill-?"
Lily's question was cut off when Kirill lifted a hand to silence her, not looking at her and she swallowed, hearing his tone and sitting back to leave it to him.
"My ne nuzhdaemsya v vashyeĭ pomoshchi, Miss Hanter," (We don't need your help, Miss Hunter) he continued, lowering his hand to rest it on one of Lily's where it sat on the armrest. "Teper΄, pozhaluĭsta, ostav΄te nas v pokoe, prezhde chem ya zastavit΄ vas obratno na svoe mesto." (Now please, leave us alone before I force you back to your seat.)
Lily swallowed again, chancing to look away from her lap to catch Penny's reaction to his words and to her surprise, she didn't seem affected at all. She knew then that she was a true spy. The real ones were always cold, calm and collected no matter what the circumstances. The trick was figuring out if that demeanor would last, or snap. This would have been a perfect stressor for the snap if the red head had any feelings for the former Secret Service agent. That possibility frightened Lily over everything else.
Penny only stared back at Kirill for a moment before slowly standing, and Lily felt Kirill's hand tighten on hers as they both watched her stand.
"Alright, then," she smirked before walking back to her seat, a flight attendant stepping after her to tell her she shouldn't have been up.
Kirill sat back to face forward completely, his grip on Lily's hand loosening, but it still rested on her hand as they both looked forward. She looked up at him after a moment, his expression stoic and thoughtful as he didn't look back at her, but she couldn't help herself. She had to ask.
"What's your name?" she whispered, finally catching his attention.
He looked to her, his expression unchanged and they only stared at each other for a moment before he looked back at the hands and gently grasped hers to lift it to his face, leaving a gentle kiss to the center of her palm. She only watched him as he closed his eyes, his lips lingering on her palm and she swallowed. His lips were so warm and gentle on her palm that it was sending electricity through her every nerve. She held back a moan of disappointment when he pulled her hand down and when he opened his eyes, his gaze was warm when it met hers.
"Menya zovut Kirill Mihail Ivanovich," (My name is Kirill Mikhail Ivanovich) he murmured and Lily couldn't help but shiver, feeling his breath fan her palm before he lowered her hand. "S togo momenta, kak my vstretilis΄, ya nikogda ne mog lgat΄ vam, Liliya." (From the moment we met, I could never lie to you, Liliya)
Lily tried to blink away the tears of joy starting to form in her eyes before looking away from him and he only patted her hand as he turned ahead again. It was just a name, but he knew how important it was to her, and he couldn't deny her anything. He realized then that he loved this woman. She'd stuck by him until now, and he'd be damned if she would be hurt by anything or anyone, including himself.
He knew she would want to help him when they reached Moscow, but he wouldn't let her. Even if he had to drag her to this safe place Bourne had mentioned, at least she would be safe. All he had to worry about now was confronting the man that was currently making his life a living hell.
A/N: aw! sweet! anyway. reviews?