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The sound of someone knocking on the door was enough to immediately make Eve go all the way on high alert.
She hadn’t gotten any visitors nor was she expecting them. Not after moving to her isolated little safe house in Whitefish, Montana.
She’d been here for almost four months now. After she had survived the sniper attack, she’d received some unexpected help in the form of Carolyn, who had gotten her set up in this new life and new identity, with the only stipulation being that she never set foot in London again.
Eve couldn’t be grateful though. Not when she felt like half of her soul had died along with Villanelle. Instead of truly living, she spend her days feeling like a ghost herself, her only spark of motivation coming from the research she had been undergoing in order to find out who Villanelle’s killer was.
She had a few leads. She was fairly certain it was either someone they had known or connected to them somehow. There was one suspect in particular. But she knew she had to be sure before she made any moves. Being impulsive had never helped her in the past.
It was almost eleven in the evening. Eve had been in the middle of getting herself a glass of water to calm her nerves when she heard the knock at the door.
Quietly, Eve set down the glass and grabbed the pistol she had stashed in one of the cabinets. Making sure it was loaded before she stealthily approached the front door.
“Who is it?” She asked, making sure to show in her tone that she meant business.
“Eve, it’s me,” a startlingly familiar voice replied. “Open the door.”
Eve froze. No. There was no way. Someone was playing some sort of mind trick on her. It wasn’t possible for that voice to be coming from who it sounded like.
“Like hell you are,” Eve hissed venomously.
“Eve, please,” the voice said again, beginning to sound a bit desperate. “I can explain…”
Without thinking, Eve threw the door open and raised the gun firmly, pointing it directly at the chest of the imposter.
Only to discover that it wasn’t an imposter at all…
Standing on the doorstep, her hair disheveled and her eyes slightly widened at the sight of the gun pointing at her, was Villanelle.
“This isn’t possible,” Eve murmured, repeating her earlier thoughts. Mostly because she didn’t know what else to say.
“Eve,” Villanelle said slowly, as if speaking to a very unstable wild animal. “Put the gun down.”
Eve said and did nothing in response, her hand that was holding the gun beginning to shake.
Villanelle rolled her eyes and quickly reached forward, snatching the gun out of Eve’s hand. She swiftly unloaded it and placed it in her jacket pocket.
Eve simply let her, too shocked to react.
“How?” She finally managed out. A part of her wondered if she was dreaming. Or if she was finally going fully insane and hallucinating.
Villanelle suddenly looked somewhat sad. “I wanted to come to you sooner…or tell you, but I couldn’t,” she said earnestly. “Carolyn didn’t want me to. I owed her a dare…”
“What dare?” Eve demanded, not knowing what the fuck a dare would have to do with anything.
“I had to fake my death. It was Carolyn’s plan.”
Eve was having trouble wrapping her mind around all of this. Villanelle wasn’t dead after all. She had faked her death, following a plan apparently laid out by Carolyn. Eve had spent months believing Villanelle was gone forever and…
“Why the fuck did no one tell me?” Her voice came out in a growl, unable to hide her bitterness.
Villanelle, to her credit, visibly flinched, showing that rare vulnerability only Eve was usually allowed to see. “I wanted to, Eve. But Carolyn said you wouldn’t be safe if you knew.”
“I wasn’t safe not knowing. I got shot in the shoulder.”
Villanelle’s eyes immediately darkened. “I know. I told Carolyn to make sure you were okay, or I wasn’t going to go through with the rest of her plan.”
Well, that explained why Carolyn had been on the scene to have Eve fished out of the water, her wounds tended to, and set up for a new life in Montana.
Eve closed her eyes, willing herself to calm down. She was still angry. She didn’t like that Villanelle had kept her in the dark like this for so long. But it seemed she had made moves to protect Eve without her even realizing. And…Villanelle was alive. Eve wasn’t alone after all. They had another chance.
The feeling of a gentle hand on her face caused her to open her eyes.
“Can I come in?” Villanelle asked quietly.
“Yes,” Eve answered without hesitation. “Get in here.”
She pulled Villanelle inside rather aggressively and slammed the door shut behind them.
Villanelle didn’t seem to mind.
Once inside, their first and immediate destination was the bedroom, of course.
“Eve,” Villanelle breathed, briefly breaking the passionate kiss as Eve had her pressed against the wall. “Can we go slow? I want to touch you.”
Eve hadn’t been in the mindset to go slow, just wanting the feeling of Villanelle to consume her until she forgot about everything else. But Villanelle’s words did make her think. The only other time they had sex had been in the camper van. And it had been hurried, the two of them not even being able to take off all of their clothes. Now, they could take their time. They had all the time in the world.
Wordlessly, Eve nodded, and she allowed Villanelle to take charge, the blonde immediately grabbing her and backing her toward the double mattress on the floor.
She hadn’t had the time or money to get an actual bed yet. But Villanelle didn’t seem to care.
Once Villanelle had Eve on her back on top of the mattress, they took a brief moment to just look at each other, as if really absorbing that the other was there. As she took in Villanelle’s face, Eve suddenly felt the sensation of her eyes burning but held back. She was not going to fucking cry right now.
“Are we going to get on with it or what?”
Villanelle grinned and grabbed at the hem of Eve’s shirt, slowly beginning to pull it off. “Patience, Eve,” she tsked.
“You’re one to talk,” Eve snorted.
Villanelle gave her a displeased look that quickly went away once she had her shirt removed, her eyes hungrily taking in Eve’s bare chest. “We didn’t get to do this before,” she said quietly. “I want to take my time.”
Eve melted at that, remembering what they had agreed to just moments before…to go slow. She had just never expected this would be how their true first time in a bed would go down. But maybe it made sense after all. She reached forward to take Villanelle’s hand into hers, giving it a light squeeze as she repeated her earlier thoughts.
“We have all the time in the world now.”
She sat up and pulled Villanelle into a kiss before she could say anything in response, this one slower and tender than the one before, Villanelle immediately returning it earnestly as their mouths perfectly molded together.
They wouldn’t leave the bed for the rest of the night.
Hours later, they laid on the mattress and under the covers against each other, both completely naked.
Villanelle was in Eve’s arms, her head resting on one of Eve’s shoulders. Despite how ridiculous she deep down knew it was, Eve felt as if she never wanted to let go, in fear that she’d blink and Villanelle would disappear. That this would all have turned out to be a dream and Villanelle would be dead in the Thames again.
She shivered at that thought.
“Are you still mad at me?” Villanelle suddenly asked.
“Yes,” Eve answered immediately.
Seemingly startled, Villanelle parted from her slightly to turn her head and look at her with wide eyes. “Eve…”
“I understand why you did it,” Eve said, cutting her off. “But I still didn’t like it. How would you feel if you spent months believing I was dead?”
It didn’t occur to her until after she had said it that Villanelle had in fact experienced something like that. After Rome. But the situations were a bit different.
“Like shit,” Villanelle eventually murmured in reply, looking sheepish. “I wouldn’t have liked it.”
“I didn’t like it either.” Eve sighed. A part of her wanted to be petty and be angry a little longer. But truthfully, the part of her that just wanted to give in and embrace their second chance was stronger. They had wasted enough time.
“I’m sorry.”
Eve knew firsthand how rare it was for Villanelle to apologize and mean it.
“Just don’t ever do it again,” she eventually replied. “No more secrets. We’re upfront with each other from now on, okay?”
Villanelle smiled lightly. “Okay.”
She leaned in to kiss Eve again and Eve allowed it, kissing back after a moment.
She wasn’t exactly sure what the future had in store for them or where they would go from here. But one thing was for sure; it would never be boring. And Eve wouldn’t have to go the rest of her life feeling like half of her was missing, never to be whole again.
It was more than enough.