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Her dark brown hair makes unending waves on the white pillows. God, Villanelle will never get used to seeing that gorgeous hair and that beautiful face at such peace in the mornings. It had been, what? Three long months? Since they started quarantining in a small, chic apartment in New York City after their bridge conversation. It feels like eternity has passed. And still, Villanelle would give all of her money, her clothes, her life to be able to wake up everyday next to this woman.
At approximately 9 a.m., Villanelle knows she can count on the taxi horns and car engines to fill the dark bedroom that she currently lays in. The curtains are still shut but a sliver of sunlight threatens to break through and shines directly on Eve’s still sleeping frame. For a long time, they both were moving and running and leaping onto the next danger but now, they have had the lucky luxury of freezing time for a moment to rest. This does not mean, however, that a pocket knife and gun won’t be under Villanelle’s pillow but it does mean that Villanelle and Eve can lay together and simply exist with one another without the constant paranoia.
Villanelle’s hand is wrapped lazily around Eve’s waist, and their noses lay only a few inches apart. Their legs entangle each other underneath the very expensive cotton sheets, not wanting to let even air come between them. A few minutes pass and still no stir from the older woman. Villanelle moves the hand that gingerly hugged Eve to the sleeping woman’s face. She lightly traces Eve’s jaw, neck, shoulders, and then finally pushes some stray hairs back behind Eve’s ear.
“Are you really still staring at me while I sleep?” Villanelle giggles softly as Eve pushes one eye open. Eve sleepily grins at the younger woman and rests her free hand on the intersection between Villanelle’s neck and jaw. Eve pulls lightly and brings the blonde closer to her, placing a chaste kiss on Villanelle’s sweet lips. They breathe into each other, relieved and content.
“Oh Eve, your morning breath!” Villanelle playfully sticks her tongue out when they part which garners a small kick from Eve under the covers. It’s like a routine that they have known forever. They embrace and place kisses all over each other for a while before remembering they have Zoom calls and food to tend to. Rolling out of bed, Eve slips on some dark shorts and a loose tank top while Villanelle just puts a silk navy blue tiger robe on top of her lack of pajamas.
“Don’t tell me you are seriously going to wear only that to breakfast.”
“What are you gonna do, Eve? Take it off of me?” Villanelle raises her eyebrows and gives Eve a seductive smirk.
“You are insatiable, I swear. But not right now. I really need some coffee so c’mon.”
They grab some latex gloves, a wad of cash (courtesy of Villanelle, of course), and a small gun. Both of them slip on matching black masks over their faces in the name of safety and prepare to take an arduous journey to the downstairs coffee shops. Perhaps they have the pandemic to thank for the increased anonymity and for the fact that most of the Twelve contracted the virus and wouldn't be travelling anytime soon (big thanks to Carolyn for that wonderful information). So they have been calmly living in an almost honeymoon-esque existence for quite some time.
And being that couple, Eve and Villanelle interweave their hands together as they descend from the third floor to the first floor to a quaint French bakery. The server, named Adelaide, already knows the two customers that lovingly appear at her shop's doorstep at around 10:30 each morning. She hands Jane Park, a white chocolate iced mocha, and her wife, Eleanor Park , a plain black coffee. Villanelle applauds herself silently every day for those names and for the fact that Eve actually agreed to be a married couple in their charade (and hopefully in the future, real-life).
After grabbing some croissants from the bakery area, the two walk back to their apartment.
“Eve, I do not understand how you can drink that gasoline fuel.”
“And Villanelle, I do not know why an international assassin like you insists on filling up on sugary drinks every morning.”
“I like it!”
“Well I like my black coffee, there we go then.”
Villanelle shakes her head and beams at Eve as she tries to unlock the door. Villanelle, like the handywoman she is, installed an electronic lock and a manual one to ease some of Eve’s anxieties. Eve isn’t that old but god, technology truly isn’t her forte. After what seems like hours of jiggling handles and pressing the keypad, the door finally opens. Eve, being the meticulous ex-agent she is, goes to the sink and starts her twenty second countdown of hand scrubbing.
Villanelle is entranced by the woman humming a tune and washing her hands and feels herself gravitate towards her. She wraps her arms around Eve’s waist and buries her chin in Eve’s shoulder and hair. Eve seemingly in her own trance turns her head so that their lips are just breaths apart. Villanelle closes her eyes, anticipating Eve’s soft lips but instead, she gets a chastising.
“Ehp, ehp, ehp! No funny business until you wash your hands, young lady.”
“Eeeeevee. You were just so cute and sexy...you distracted me!”
Eve rolls her eyes and pecks Villanelle’s cheek. After Eve pulls back, they stare into each other’s eyes and after realizing she can’t win, Villanelle scrunches up her face in defeat.
“Okay fine, I’ll wash my hands now. Can you get our meal ready?”
“Mmmmm. This is the closest I am going to get to a true Parisian pastry.”
“And when I saw that you booked this place, I knew that the french place was the only reason why you picked this building, Villanelle.”
The two sit on their minuscule balcony that overlooks the busy streets of New York City. Eve had found an antique wooden table and some matching chairs a few months ago, and they now use it as their daily breakfast oasis. The streets and sidewalks remain fairly bare aside from the occasional pedestrian and honk. After they finish sipping their drinks and cleaning the buttery flakes off the table, Eve goes to wash her face and put on an acceptable blouse for her first virtual meeting of the day.
Villanelle follows her of course and puts on a comfortable beige one-piece jumpsuit and ties her hair up in a neat bun. Eve finishes brushing her teeth and to finish what they had started before, Villanelle once again creeps up behind Eve. Since Eve now has a mirror at her disposal, she quickly turns around then grabs Villanelle’s waist and pushes her against the cold granite-topped sink. While Villanelle has some height on Eve, every time Eve does anything like this, Villanelle always feels smaller.
“You are so annoying and clingy, you know that?”
“You like me too much to be annoyed, Eve.”
Villanelle puts on her best pouting face and leans in to steal a kiss. Eve softens at the contact and wraps her arms around Villanelle’s neck. She smiles against the blonde’s lips and presses her body closer to Villanelle’s chest. This is what heaven feels like, isn’t it? Eve feels Villanelle’s hands wrap around her lower back, getting hungrier and lowering by the second. In order to actually make it to the Zoom call on time (and not get yelled at by Jamie for missing a meeting again due to Villanelle’s shenanigans), she moves her hands to Villanelle’s lips. Her darkening hazel eyes meet Eve’s and she nods defeatedly when Eve tells her they have to actually get to work so they can afford having more time together.
Eve pads over to her temporary work station, cluttered with two huge monitors and a bunch of wires. Villanelle makes herself comfortable on the couch they have a few feet away from the desk of technology. She opens up a book and makes a mental note to get back at Eve later for cutting their little makeout session short.
Villanelle thinks of a way to really annoy her girlfriend. Yes, they are girlfriends, and no words can describe how happy Villanelle was when Eve slipped the term in casual conversation a few months ago during dinner. When Eve seems to be lost in thought and conversation with Jamie and Bear over some paper trail that the Twelve left, Villanelle sneaks to their (yes, their!) bedroom and finds a replica of her favorite pink tutu dress that she wore in Paris. Slipping it on, she prances back to the sitting area where Eve furrows her eyebrows in concentration.
Dancing behind Eve’s chair, she does her best impression of a ballerina and keeps an eye on Eve’s zoom call on her screen. Bear picks up on the Russian’s antics first and opens his eyes wide at the spectacle.
“Uh Eve. You have a visitor behind you.”
“Huh, where?”
Eve whips around at a spinning Villanelle then reaches out to grab her wrist.
“V, I am on a call right now,” Eve says through a tight smile.
“And I want some attention.” Villanelle responds with a playful pout, “and a kiss for my troubles.”
Eve pinches the bridge of her nose and gives Villanelle a light smooch on her pouty lips to quiet the blonde. Villanelle beams at the older woman and spins around on her heel. Before fully exiting the room to go change back, she peers over her shoulder.
“That wasn’t so hard, Eve.”
When Eve finally finishes her call, she finds a sweaty Villanelle glistening on the treadmill with earbuds in. Instead of distracting her, Eve goes to the kitchen and looks through the pantry drawer and fridge for a good meal. She finds a salad bag and some leftover grilled chicken from their dinner last night and decides to make some basic Caesar salads for lunch.
Eve works on prepping two bowls of salad with some dressing. She grabs a kitchen knife and hears a whistle from the bathroom door.
“I love a woman who knows her way around a knife.”
“Get in that shower, V. Don’t test me!” Eve points the sharp object at the tall assassin.
After hearing Villanelle’s wild laugh and the water turn on (as well as Villanelle’s loud shower singing), Eve finishes off the dishes with perfectly sliced pieces of chicken on top. Finding a bottle of Italian sparkling water (it still boggles Eve that Villanelle decides to spend her luxuries on stuff like this instead of stocks or a proper savings account), she gets out two mugs, for old time’s sake, and pours each of them a healthy serving.
Eve gets lost in her thoughts for a bit until she feels a soft hand on her shoulder, tugging at her shirt. Villanelle leans down and caresses Eve’s face then gives her a long, tender “hey, there” kiss. Seemingly not getting enough, Eve stands on her tippy toes and pulls the blonde closer, deepening the kiss.
Villanelle pulls away slightly, breathing hard. Eve, missing the warmth of the other, searches for Villanelle’s touch.
“Hey, as much as I love what is going on here, those cute salads you made aren’t going to eat themselves.”
They chow down on the fresh greens and the carbonated drinks. There are a few hours left until their evening call with Carolyn, so they do what any other normal couple does: watch a movie. Just a week after reuniting on the bridge that fateful night, Eve had remembered the conversation they had back in the Paris apartment and how Villanelle had wanted normal “stuff” like a cool flat and someone to watch movies with. To surprise the Russian, Eve had rented Notting Hill and set up a screening in their safehouse, with Carolyn’s permission. The absolute joy that Villanelle had squealed that night was enough to make Eve fall deeper in love with her.
Now, they do much of the same. Villanelle props her feet up on their small coffee table and Eve lays in her lap as they flip through movie titles on Netflix. Settling on “Always Be My Maybe,” they snuggle up underneath a thick wool blanket and prepare for hours of viewing fun.
It was a great movie. Or at least they think it was, from the thirty minutes they actually ended up watching. They both zonked out in the middle and found themselves almost missing their encrypted Zoom meeting with the big boss. Untangling their limbs and flattening down their wild hair, Eve boots up her laptop and Villanelle brews some tea for the two of them.
“Hello, you two. Any new developments?” Carolyn pops up on their laptop screen and illuminates the room in a blue hue. She is in her kitchen with a chic scarf and glasses propped up on her nose.
“Good evening, Carolyn, and thankfully, no new developments. Quite peaceful actually.”
Eve beams after saying this because she knows it is a luxury that can be easily taken away from them. While the pandemic has raged on and has taken too many lives, their lives have been spared for a few months. Carolyn has been helping them work out a long term plan to keep them all alive and well.
“And you, Villanelle? Any killing or violent tendencies as of late?”
“Unfortunately, no. Being with Eve distracts me from all of that.” Villanelle winks at the older woman seated next to her and receives an elbow nudge for the slightly off the cuff comment.
“That must be pleasant. There are some files about recent kills you may want to peer at, Eve. Will be sending it to you via encrypted email. That is all for now.”
Then the screen goes black. The calls are usually brief as they don’t have much bandwidth to keep their communications a secret without Kenny’s expertise (rest in peace). Which is all good for Villanelle and Eve because this means more time to explore one another.
By now, the sun has set and time is approaching sleeping hours. Eve orders in a medium pizza, and they both gorge on the greasy slices while catching up on the latest news which consists of wildfires in the west, more pandemic tragedy and the upcoming election (yikes!).
Villanelle proclaims that she needs to begin her skin care routine because “radiant skin like this isn’t free, Eve.” After receiving a pointed look from Eve, Villanelle pops up and beelines for the bathroom to get ready for bed. This is how all of their days go from now on. The domesticity and the sheer normalcy of it all shocks Eve as she contemplates over the past few months as Villanelle washes her face. Eve realized on that bridge that she didn’t necessarily want to live a normal life because it was boring and her inner monster was not going to let her.
But this. This sounds kind of nice...echoing Villanelle’s words from the ballroom. Perhaps taking time to rest with Villanelle, the only person in the world she can trust and be comfortable with, is what normal is for her right now. And she is loving it.
“Are you coming to bed, Kill Commander?”
Eve shakes her head and chuckles. Grabbing a tank top and some sleeping shorts, she heads for the now vacant bathroom. Villanelle’s eyes twinkle with mischief.
“I don’t think you’ll be needing those clothes for tonight…”
Eve stands in the doorway between the bedroom and the bathroom. Turning her head over her shoulder, hair slightly concealing her teasing smile, she retorts at the lounging blonde on the bed.
“Oh yeah? Keep it in your pants for a few minutes, Astankova. I have to keep my skin glowing too.”
Let’s just say that Eve couldn’t even finish her nightly routine until Villanelle snuck up behind her and hugged her all the way to the bed.
That night, after kisses on every inch of skin available, Eve tucks her chin into Villanelle’s shoulder and hugs her waist tightly as if to say “I’ll never let go.” Villanelle lays on her back, arm wrapped around Eve as her other hand strokes Eve’s curls.
“Good night, Eve.”
“Good night, Villanelle.”
“You know...I love you, a lot. Even if you snore and drool a bit on me.”
Eve groans but Villanelle feels her smile. “Love you too, asshole.”
And they close their eyes and doze off, ready to wake up in each other’s arms again tomorrow.
THE END.