Killing Eve: Season 4 + Extras

Bonus: The Ballroom

A live orchestra performed slow melodic music, while Eve and Oksana sat at a round table, watching couples dance to the rhythm.

Oksana readjusted in her seat. "I did my first ever kill in this country here," she said, "strangled a high ranking police officer."

Eve gazed at her with a yearning expression, and Oksana could feel deep seated guilt creeping up to the surface. She pulled her lips inward, then continued.

"He was a tango champion," she said, and smiled faintly, watching a man twirl his partner around in a beautiful floral dress.

She glanced at Eve, who was hanging on to every word, then a painful thought crossed Oksana's mind and she stared across the room, past the strobing lights and the dancing couples, vision blurred by images of roads less traveled.

"Imagine if I'd refused," she said. "What do you think I would have become?" the question being directed more towards herself than to Eve. An answer came to mind and Oksana's face brightened up. "Interior designer maybe," she mused.

"If you had, it would've saved me a lot of heartache," Eve teased.

Oksana let out a soft smile, which quickly turned into a pained expression as she was reminded of all the hurt she had caused people in the past. Eve changed the subject.

"Niko is in the hospital," she said, taking on a more serious tone. "Dasha stabbed him through the neck and blamed it on you."

Eve looked at her, expecting some kind of reaction, but Oksana only curled her eyebrows and continued to stare across the room, locked in a prison of past regrets.

"Are you listening to me?" Eve asked, more out of concern than anything else.

"Do you ever think about the past?" She asked out of nowhere, still not breaking her gaze.

Eve was a bit thrown off by the question, but she answered anyway.

"All the time," she said, staring at the crowd. "It's all I think about."

"It's nice to watch them," she continued. "They seem happy." Oksana struggled to find the right word. "Carefree," she decided.

"Well dancing will do that," Eve said, and leaned back in her chair.

"I want to feel like that," she said, with a deep sense of longing that lingered in her voice. Eve could see her eyes welling up and now she was really concerned.

"What happened?"

Eve waited for a response, but just then, the music ended and the room erupted in a round of applause. Oksana finally broke her gaze and looked at Eve, as if ready to answer. However, their moment was interrupted when a well dressed man in a black suit approached them. He smiled and folded his hands together.

"If you would so please," he began, "we encourage all to the dance floor," then he bowed and moved on to the next table.

Eve turned back to Oksana, who was looking up at the ceiling and fighting really hard to hold back tears. In the past, when Villanelle murdered Bill, Eve would have loved to see her in this vulnerable state. She would have rubbed it in her face and never let her forget it. But now, after everything they've been through? She hated seeing her like this. It was unbearable. Eve took a deep breathe, before standing up.

"Come on then," she said.

This seemed to have snapped Oksana out of her gaze, but she still sat in her chair, feet together and hands folded on her lap. She looked up at Eve and shook her head like a nervous child.

"Dancing's not my thing."

Eve threw her hands up.

"Mine either, but it's good to try new things."

Eve started to walk away and Oksana watched as she made her way to the center of the dance floor. Eve looked back and smiled, motioning for her to follow. Oksana glanced around the room, feeling a little self-conscious, but when she looked back at Eve, and saw her swaying to the music without a care in the world, it made her smile and forget about the people in the room. An invisible force pulled Oksana, and she finally rose from her seat to meet Eve on the dance floor. They held hands and awkwardly bumped into each other a few times, unsure of how to move together as one. Oksana looked down and tried to get the right footing, but Eve pulled away as they bumped again for the third time.

"Are you leading, or am I?" she said, a bit frustrated, and Oksana was quick to answer,

"I don't know."

Eve let it go and noticed that Oksana was observing the other couples. She followed suit and in a matter of seconds, they got into the swing of things. Oksana smiled at Eve, as they danced to the music in rhythm with each other, and then she leaned against her head. She closed her eyes and buried herself in Eve's presence. As they danced, she began to feel formless, like the rolling waves of an ocean during a calm summer's night.

She opened her eyes and saw a woman dancing with her husband, totally lost in the music.

"Do you want to be like that?" Oksana asked.

Eve looked at the couple and thought about it for a moment, then turned away.

"Not anymore."

"Why not?"

"We would never make it that long," she said, and Oksana smiled, not expecting the answer to be about them, but Eve continued, "we'd consume each other before we got old."

"That sounds kind of nice."

Oksana liked the idea of having a future together; giving up her job as an assassin and living somewhere remote, like in the mountains or a privately owned beach off the shore, where no one could bother them. But unfortunately in her line of work, blood from the past had a way of bleeding into the present, and a wave of negative emotions took hold of her. Faces of dead people flashed in her mind, and never in her life had it bothered her so much like it did now, until she met Eve.

"I've killed so many people, Eve."

"I know."

In that moment, hearing those words from Eve, Oksana relaxed and felt like she could breath again as a weight was lifted off her shoulders. But it was only for a moment, because just on the other side of the room, Rhian showed up, clearly not dressed for the occasion. She spotted them and Oksana knew their little dance had come to an end.

"You should go."

"Why?"

"Take this," Oksana said, and placed a piece of paper in Eve's hand. "I'll meet you later."

"What is it?"

Oksana closed Eve's hand into a fist.

"Freedom."

Eve was growing concerned. "What's going on?" she asked, as Oksana backed her away from the dance floor.

"Our party's getting crashed. Go, Eve."

She began to walk away, but turned around and hesitated for a moment.

"Go," Oksana pleaded.

She stood by herself and watched as Eve grabbed her jacket, and walked to the entrance, glancing back several times, as if this would be the last time they saw each other. Eve held the door open and looked at Oksana once more, before letting go and disappearing into the hallway.

Villanelle turned to Rhian.