Russia frowned, "What's wrong?" he went to look behind him and I quickly pulled him back to look at me. His eyes narrowed and he asked suspiciously, "What are you doing?" I had no idea what to do. My boss would be caught red-handed if I didn't act fast. I then got an idea, a horrible idea… but it'd work.

"Um… Russia, I-," I gave up on words and wrapped my arms around his neck and quickly kissed him. I had half expected him to shove me back, but he didn't, and when I went to pull back he pulled me in closer, tightly. I thought I might have heard a rib crack. However that didn't stop him. I felt like I was suffocating. The smell, and taste, of vodka was nauseating. He put his fingers into my hair I really hadn't expected for him to just- do that so quickly! I wanted out, and quickly. That was when I heard my boss cough.

"Umm, excuse me… but would you mind releasing my employee." He said in a tight, clipped tone, this time the door was closed behind him. No signs of trespass, just a right place right time air. He gave me a look that made me think he was glaring. Why the hell is he mad? He's the one who didn't leave the damn room! Russia smiled and let go of me.

"Da, of course, if I had known you were there I wouldn't have kissed her so suddenly," he said with an air of insincerity.

"Whatever," he grabbed my wrist and pulled her over towards him, all the time he and Russia never broke eye contact. "I was getting worried Kat might have shacked up with you for the night, but I needed her to do some filing and the like so I came to get her." Russia laughed and I turned scarlet.

"I'd never-THIS WAS OUR FIRST DATE!" I shouted red as one of Antonio's tomatoes, "You know I'm not like that! You can't just-"

"Tic-tock Kat, it's not going to get done by itself!" he interrupted impatiently. I was surprised; I had NEVER seen him like this before.

"You could try to be a bit nicer to such a sweet girl." Russia smiled mockingly; I thought I saw him briefly run his tongue over his lips. I deleted it from my mind.

"I would but she has to get to work. I'll just take that file you wanted to give me and we'll be on our way." Russia smiled and disappeared into the door and for a few brief moments.

I turned and whispered angrily, "Your welcome for saving your sorry ass!" he scoffed.

"Yeah, gee thanks, you just wanted an excuse to kiss that ex-soviet son of a-!"

"YA vernulsya!" Russia reappeared and handed me a file.

"Thanks Russia, I'll see you tomorrow at the dance."

He smiled, "Da, definitely. Do svidaniya, Kat." He kissed my cheek and gave my boss a look. "Alfred."

"Russia," my boss replied tersely. Russia closed the door and my boss dragged me to the elevator, when we walked into our room is when all hell broke loose. "WHAT THE HELL KAT!" He shook me violently by the shoulders.

"I was just trying to keep him from seeing you!" I replied tensely.

"There were a million other ways to do that! YOU JUST WANTED TO KISS HIM!"

I pushed him away, "First off, I DON'T LIKE THIS SIDE OF YOU! And secondly, I PANICKED! I didn't want you to get hurt, my mistake!" I started to go through the file. Just stuff about radiation around Chernobyl.

He pulled me back to the present argument by spinning my deckchair away from my work, "Admit it, you like the Russian!" I lost it.

"No, as a matter of fact, HE CREEPS THE SHIT OUT OF ME!" I stood and even though I was shorter, he started to back up, recognizing a woman's scorn before him. "Because YOU didn't listen to the directions I had to give MY FIRST KISS to a guy who's trying to kill me!" I said as I angrily marched towards the bathroom. He grabbed my arm.

"That was you first kiss?" He asked in a shocked tone.

"Yeah, though it doesn't really matter to you," I tore my arm out of his grip and went to the bathroom. Once the door was closed I immediately turned on the shower. I didn't want him to hear me cry. Damn you Alfred. Damn you… it was supposed to be you… why didn't you just-I shook the thoughts out of my head and hopped into the shower. Calm down, you can't do anything about it now, what's done is done… and if you think about it that kiss was given to the boss, it just was to protect him… not to tell him that you- It's better like this, you don't want to get involved with a country. Especially the one you work for… I banished the thought from my mind and focused back onto showering. I finished quicker than I would have liked. Regardless I got dressed and got ready to go back out. It felt good to get all the gunk that France had put into my hair to hold it in place, but I still had to scrub off all of the makeup. What had compelled him to use water proof eye-liner is beyond me. I tiredly walked back out and silently walked past my boss. I had work I had to do, and I didn't want to be reprimanded anymore for saving his ass. He followed me into the suite's bedroom. I bit my tongue and just barely stopped myself from verbally slapping him.

He gently turned me to face him. He said quietly as he leaned in close to me, "I'm sorry Kat." I was in awe of how sincere his sky-blue eyes were, and how close they were to my own. "I realized two things," he started, slowly his hands down to my waist. I felt a slight burn over my cheek bones as a light blush painted my cheeks. He smiled and leaned in a bit closer. "First I realized I owed you an apology, and a thank you." He leaned in closer. Our foreheads touched. He swallowed, "Then I realized, I should have done this a very long time ago." Before I ask he closed the space between our lips. I closed my eyes, and put my arms around his neck. He pulled me in closer and leaned me backwards onto the bed. He ran his hands up my back and a shiver went down my spine.

"Umm, Al…" I said a little nervously. He pulled away, with a small smile.

"Sorry Kat, I got a bit carried away." He sat up and went to the door, "I'll take the couch."

I stood, "No." I blushed redder. I mentally swore at myself for mutinying me and revealing my emotions. "What if I, umm... you need to be here... in case I get nightmares… Remember?" he smiled and leaned in the doorway. I stuttered, "I mean, after finding out that I have a bounty on my head I-I'm sure they'll be coming back." He moved a bit closer, "And um… I don't want another water bottle on my head…"

He stood in front of me, smiling, arms crossed, "Fine, I'll stay. I just have one condition."

I asked tightly, "I have my condition first, if you try anything you go out the window." He laughed, and his eyes twinkled.

"Yeah, I figured. I was just hoping you wouldn't mind it if we did that again."

I smiled, "I wouldn't mind at all." He plopped down onto the bed and beckoned for me to come right next to him. I rolled my eyes and went to the opposite side.

"Baby steps, boss… baby steps." I said as I pulled up the covers. He sighed and turned off the light.

"For now, Kat… for now…"

Russia was laughing over a bottle of vodka into the phone. "Da, she saw him behind me. I wanted to see what she would do, and she kissed me! Ha-ha! I made quite a show of it. Oh, Vlad, look… I want to do this in the best way possible… I think we can do more with the young lady alive…. No I don't just want her for myself, what better way to get our revenge then to show him how he can't always be the hero." The two laughed the rest of night, contemplating, scheming, and plotting.

Translations

YA vernulsya- Russian for: I'm back

do svidaniya- Russian for: Good-bye