A/N: yay! new chappie! enjoy!

Chapter 5: Redemption

Kirill struggled up the stairs, his ankle still flaring with pain, but he didn't mind that much. He was just grateful he'd gotten out of that accident alive. When he reached the door he gently shoved it open before pushing it all the way.

The loud music they'd heard on the way in was now gone. He hadn't realized how late it was until he noticed that. The club was only open from nine to five, one of those special places for out of work lackeys that needed somewhere to go during the day.

Had it been a night club Kirill wouldn't have given in to Nikolai's offer to stay. He needed to at least try to sleep and so did Lily. Neither one of them would have been able to do that with loud party music thumping over their heads all.

He limped his way toward the bar where Nikolai stood, talking to the bartender who nodded at Kirill when he saw him coming. Nikolai turned and leaned on the bar as Kirill approached.

"Vy chto-nibud´ nuzhno?" (Something you needed?)

"Mne nuzhno, chtoby ty kupil dva bileta ne Frantsiyu." (I need you to buy two tickets to France)

"Frantsiyu, da?" Nikolai gave a small sneer, not moving from the bar. "Eto romantichnoe mesto, chtoby izbezhat´. Stavka vasha pordruga malo ponravit·sya, chto." (That's a romantic place to escape to. Bet your little girlfriend is gonna love that."

"Prosto dostat´ bilety," (Just get the tickets) Kirill snapped and Nikolai's sneer turned into a smirk as he leaned a little farther on the bar.

"Volneniya v rayu?" (Trouble in paradise?) he murmured, hopefully and Kirill glared at him, feeling his blood start to simmer in irritation.

"On vyglyadit nas voznikli problemy v kabine?" (Did it look like we were having trouble in the cab?) he retorted. "Ya zaplachu za nego, yesli eto to, chto vas volnuet." (I'll pay for it, if that's what you're worried about."

"Deneg net ob´´ekta dlya druga," (Money's no object for a friend," Nikolai shrugged, walking out from behind the bar and around Kirill to walk to the other side of the room. "Druga I yego devushka." (A friend and his girl)

Kirill said nothing as he followed Nikolai into a small office with a computer set up on a desk facing the door. But as he said nothing, he couldn't help smirking at the man's disdainful tone. He was probably wondering how a man like Kirill ended up with a girl like Lily. Wouldn't he'd have loved to know?

Nikolai sat at the computer and typed as Kirill glanced around the empty club. He was still on edge. Something wasn't right, he could feel it, and as he kept his ears on Nikolai typing, he kept his eyes on the door he'd come out of, every once in a while darting them around the room to make sure Lily hadn't snuck out of the room for whatever reason.

"You should leave in the morning," Nikolai suggested, making Kirill shoot a frown at the other man. He handed him two pieces of paper, explaining, "Boarding passes. Your flight leaves at one o'clock."

"Spasibo," Kirill nodded, taking the papers and folding them to stick them in his pocket and shoving his hand into his other pocket. "How much?"

"More than you have on you," Nikolai retorted, standing and stepping out of the room. "You'll pay me later."

"Why are you speaking English all of a sudden?" Kirill asked, pulling his hands back out of his pocket. Nikolai glanced around the room and stepped closer to the other man. His wariness and expression made Kirill tense up even more, ready for anything.

"The guys looking for you don't speak English," Nikolai murmured, making Kirill dart his gaze around the room again, but Nikolai only gestured with a wave of his hand around himself, murmuring, "The walls have ears."

He started to step away, but Kirill stopped him by gripping his upper-arm, hard, and Nikolai looked up at him with wide eyes full of question. Kirill only glared at him and growled, "Who did you call?"

"Not me," Nikolai argued, calmly them flicked his eyes to the bartender. Kirill looked to the man behind the bar as he cleaned up, not understanding what they were saying in English. Kirill set his jaw in anger before looking back at Nikolai and letting go of his arm.

"What time should we leave in the morning?" he asked, his real question being: When will the assassins show up?

"Eight o'clock," Nickolari replied, smoothly. What he really meant was an hour before that.

Kirill nodded in confirmation, thanked him again for the plane tickets and started back toward the door leading to the stairs to the hidden room. He subtly eyed the bartender who was oblivious to everything else but his job.

Once through the door and down the stairs he cursed in Russian as he opened the door and limped into the room, slamming it behind him and making Lily jump with a start as she stood at the sink in the bathroom. She turned to watch Kirill hurry toward the bed and grab his gun from under the pillow. He sat on the edge of the mattress and unloaded the clip to take out the bullets, counting them.

"What happened?" she wondered, noticing the frown over his brow and his rushed hands as she hurried out of the bathroom and stood in front of him, but he didn't looked at her.

"Give me your gun," he ordered and she obeyed without hesitation, pulling it from her jacket and handing it to him as he set his gun aside, the now loose bullets next to it.

"Kirill, what's wrong?" she shuddered as he unloaded the clip from her gun as well and started counting the bullets, not saying anything and still not looking at her.

When he'd counted out the bullets he bit out, "Proklat´e!" (Damn!)

Lily jumped at his sudden exclamation, still standing in front of him, watching him with wide, wondering eyes.

"We'll have to split these bullets up," he muttered. "We're lucky that goon that come to your apartment was carrying the same gun as mine."

"Why are we splitting our bullets?" Lily shuddered again, still looking at him as he counted out the loose bullets on the mattress and started loading the clip he was holding in his hand. When he didn't answer, her heart started thumping in her ears and she felt near tears of panic.

"We'll be leaving early tomorrow morning," he suddenly reported, not looking from what he was doing. "You should get some sleep. It's early, but if you get to sleep now you won't be so tired."

He was loading a bullet into the clip when one of her hands rested on the opening and he finally looked up at her only to feel his heart clench in guilt when he saw small tears roll down her cheeks.

"If you think you're protecting me by not telling me what's wrong, it's not working," she breathed. "You're only scaring me."

Kirill sighed in defeat and pulled the clip from her hand to load the bullet he was still holding before setting it aside and holding his hands out to her. She frowned but took his hands so he could pull her closer, still sitting as she stood between his knees and gazed down at him in wonder and fear.

"The bartender called someone and told them I was here," he explained and Lily's eyes widened but she said nothing. "We need to leave tomorrow around seven tomorrow morning, if not earlier."

"Can't we just leave now?" she wondered, taking a step away to sit next to him. "Why wait till morning?"

"Chances are they're out there right now, parked in a car across the street, watching the door to see if I come out," he replied. "We're better off staying here, where we'll be ready for them."

"Like sitting ducks?" she wondered breathlessly, panic filling her emerald orbs as they stared widely at him. "What if they come in the middle of the night?!"

"They won't," he assured her, lifting a hand to place to palm gently to her cheek and run his thumb over her freckles to dry her face. She closed her eyes and leaned into the touch with a small smile, making him freeze but he didn't lower his hand.

"Your hands are warm," she murmured through her smile before opening her eyes. Their gazes locked for a moment before she straightened, pulling away from his hand and clearing her throat. "Sorry…again." She stood and turned in one swift movement to walk around to the other side of the bed. "I keep doing that, don't I? I don't mean to."

Kirill, who had watched her until she sat on the bed again, shook himself back to reality and turned to loading the clips for their guns, saying, "It's fine. I know that some people seek comfort in the person they're with when they are afraid."

"Some people?" Lily echoed with a frown as she slowly shifted to pull her legs onto the mattress and lie back as he still sat up. "You don't? Oh, wait. How stupid of me. You're not afraid of anything, are you, Mr. Ivanovich?"

He could hear the smirk in her tone as he sat with his back facing her, but his hands still froze for a split second from their work before he continued loading the clip in his hand.

"Hey," she called gently, concern now in her tone. "I was just kidding, youknow? I didn't---"

"I know," he muttered, finishing off the clip and loading it into one of the guns, doing the same with the second slip and gun and slipping one under his pillow, the other in his hand as he slowly struggling to pull himself onto the bed, fully. Lily moved to help him but he only shook his head, gritting his teeth at the pain in his side. When he laid down on his back he gave a sigh of relief, Lily watching him as he looked at her and held the second gun to her.

"Shoot only when you're sure you can hit what you're aiming at," he ordered as she took it from his hand. "We can't afford to waste any bullets right now."

She nodded and turned to slide the gun under her side of the mattress before turning back to face him, making him frown in wonder.

"Chto?" he asked, making her frown.

"What?"

"Da. that's what I said."

"Oh." Lily couldn't help but give a little giggle at the banter before she asked, "Does you side feel any better?"

"Net," he groaned, shifting to lay on his left side, tucking his arm between his head and the flat pillow. "It still hurts like hell."

"I'm sorry I didn't bring any pain killers with me," she said, shifting to be more comfortable on her right side to face him. "I was kind of in a hurry to get out of there."

Kirill nodded in understanding but couldn't help asking, "Why did you run?"

She met his green0hazel gaze for a second before looking to the mattress as she picked at something on it, giving a small shrug as she muttered, "I don't know. I was…afraid of you for a second, I guess. I mean, I'd just met you and there you are yelling as some guy while pointing a gun to his head. I thought…you'd do that to me or worse, so I took off."

"I would never do that to you, Lily," he replied, instantly. She shot her gaze up to meet his in surprise, but he was dead serious, and she could tell. "After what happened to me in that tunnel, I couldn't hurt you after you saved my life…twice." He reached a hand out and touched hers that was still picking at the mattress, their gazes never wavering from the other's. "I'm not who I was, if that makes sense."

"I understand," she murmured with a small smile. They sat in silence for a moment before she licked her lips and shifted closer to him, his hand still on hers and she looked at their hands as she wondered, "What happened to you in that tunnel? Were you in an accident of something?"

Kirill gave a small sigh as she looked back up at him. She was this far in, she may as well know it all, he thought.

"I was given a mission to kill a man," he explained, looking her in the eyes. "I failed the first time. My second attempt resulted in what you saw this afternoon. I…underestimated him."

"He must be good if you're admitting that," Lily observed, making him give her a frown. "You don't seem like the kind of guy to admit that easily. So…what happened when you caught up with him the second time? He obviously beat the crap outta you, but I'd like details."

He couldn't help but smirk at her joking tone and gave a small scoff as he let his gaze fall to their hands. He hadn't noticed she was stroking his fingers again, absently. It was soothing.

"You were right before," he answered, not looking from their hands. "It was a car crash. He pinned my car between his and a pillar." Lily's hand gripped his lightly as he continued, "He got out of the car to finish me off, but…"

"You escaped?" she guessed when he trailed off.

"No," he murmured, a small frown appearing over his brow as he shook his head slightly. "He had his gun pointed at me. I was completely at his mercy and he…he didn't kill me. He just stared at me, lowered his gun and walked away." He looked up at her, still frowning and she frowned back as he wondered, "Why would he do that?"

Lily took in a breath as she thought for a moment before shifting so close that their hands were pinned between their chests, their faces only inches apart.

"Maybe, he believes every man deserves a second chance," she whispered as his frown disappeared, his eyes scanning over her face as she stared at him. "A second chance to change who they are to what they want to be, you know? Maybe, he was giving you yours?"

"Redemption?" Kirill summarized in a breath.

"Exactly," she smiled with a small nod. "Maybe France could be your start to that redemption? You can make a new life for yourself. That is, if you want to."

His eyes scanned over her face, making her blush at and glance away from his intense gaze. He moved his hand from hers and placed the tip of his fingers under her chin to pull her gaze back to his.

"I want to change," he nodded slightly, holding her gaze. "But I have to run first, which means I can't change just yet."

Lily nodded, her gaze falling to his lips, her heart starting to thump in her chest as she suddenly noticed how close they were to each other. She suddenly shivered, a chill of cold running through her body from the cold of the room, making Kirill frown in wonder and he shifted to close the gap between them, pulled her closer by wrapping his arm around her.

"Cold, malen´kaya?" he murmured as she stared at him with wide eyes. She swallowed but gave a small nod before looking away from his intense gaze. "That's why I told you to sleep with my coat. It's colder down here."

"Y-Yeah," she nodded, still not looking at him. "I noticed that."

"We can sleep close together like this," he suggested, then quickly added, "to stay warm."

"Yeah," Lily breathed. "Th-That's a good idea." She snuggled closer, slipping her arm cautiously around his chest to hug him close as he hugged her as well and she set her head on his chest. She frowned and looked up at him, making him look back at her as she asked, "How do you say 'good night' in Russian?"

Kirill smirked and replied, "Spokoĭnoĭ nochĭ."

She mouthed it before smiling and snuggling her cheek to chest again, murmuring, "Spokoĭnoĭ nochĭ, Kirill."

He swallowed when his heart skipped and he prayed she hadn't felt it.

"Spokoĭnoĭ nochĭ, Lily," he murmured before swallowing again. If he thought hearing her speak to him in Russian was music to his ears, talking to her in Russian was honey on his tongue, and he wanted more. He was so glad she was coming with him. He was sure he'd get lost if she wasn't with him.

A/N: oh, i couldn't resist the cuteness. it'll get crazy next chappie, i promise. reviews?