A Shot in the Dark

Can you feel it?

One moment you are awake, the next moment you wake up, finding yourself in a hospital bed, not knowing how long it has been since the last time you were up on your feet, not expecting anything of the sort could happen to you. For Villanelle, though, it was something that was bound to happen. And she knew it.
    There was a time in her life where she couldn't care less. The Twelve would assign her a new job and she would just do it, without asking questions nor wondering why her new target was destined to die. She loved it. She had been trained to love it. She couldn't feel a thing and that was good. Before becoming the cold, skilled assassin that she was, she went through the toughest trainings. Starting in the Russian cold, passing through USA and ending up in Paris. The awful people that crossed her path during those times, after she was taken away from prison, ended up molding a new person. She used to be a brilliant student at the University of Perm, going by the name of Oksana, but her unpredictable instincts attracted the attention of the most powerful criminal organization in Europe.
    But as she laid in bed, hugged by the feeble dawn light that passed through the window of the hospital room, wondered again what would have happened if she'd made different choices. Looking at the woman that uncomfortably, and soundly, slept on the chair next to her, she thought that taking a different path would have also meant that they would never meet, and as absurd as it could sound, she was happy she took the job.
    Has time passed, she came to learn that feelings can be a good thing. It also hurt, as she could remember one morning in Amsterdam, when she didn't see Eve go on the crime scene. She cried her eyes out in the bathroom, but ended up smiling for she found out that she could actually feel something.
    The fact that Villanelle was showed a new way of living through things made her care about the fact of the risks that she was put through. She didn't want to die, not now that she could finally feel something. Not when she could finally do the things she started fantasizing about when she met Eve. Watching movies together, listening to Eve speak about anything, even if it was a boring conversation; at least it would have been with her. Someone that actually accepted her for who she was.
    She took a deep breath and winched silently for the wounds still hurt. Suppressing a groan she turned her head to look at Eve again, hoping she didn't wake her up, but the woman moved in her sleep and opened her eyes.
    "Hey, you are awake" the brunette said groggily.
    "For a while" she replied, her voice still a little hoarse for not speaking for long.
    "You could have woken me" Eve said apprehensively.
    "No, it's fine" she said, then smirked "I like staring at you"
    "Of course you do" she chuckled. Then she got serious and worried, as she saw a sad and pained look on Villanelle's face "What's wrong?"
    It took her a moment to reply, as if she was thinking about something extremely important: "I think they shot me in the butt" and then laughed at the expression on Eve's face.
    Well, Villanelle was definitely back and given the way she was acting, no damage was caused.

***

    Doctors said that she could finally leave the hospital and only needed to work on some basic therapy to gain some mobility back, for the bullets had hit muscle fibers. Nothing that couldn't be fixed with some daily exercise and patience, even though this last thing was pretty much hard on Villanelle. Especially one afternoon when the therapist asked her to try to put pressure on her left leg, as they worked on some balance exercise. Not liking the inappropriate touching coming from the physiotherapist she glanced at Eve as if to say "Can I kill him?". Suppressing a laugh Eve had to gently escort the man out of the house and opted for private therapy sessions with her being the therapist.
    Weeks passed and the couple was indeed facing some progress. Eve's patience in contrast with Villanelle's impatience was perfectly balanced and it eventually paid out. The Russian beauty was healing fast and well, and that was positive for she kept asking Eve to continue the researches about Carolyn. On the other hand, the brunette banned her from touching the laptop or any kind of thing that could stress her, until she fully recovered. Villanelle, loving challenges, said that she would indeed heal fast.
    "How's therapy going?" Pam asked one afternoon.
    "Very well!" Villanelle said approaching her, and in a matter of seconds struck her in the face with a punch.
    "Villanelle!" Eve admonished.
    "What?" the blond looked at her with mocked disbelief. "I was showing her that I regained full control of my right arm" she added in her thick accent.
    Eve raised an eyebrow, while Pam was still holding her jaw.
    "That was for Konstantin" she shrugged. "But all good" she then patted Pam's shoulder, and gave her that playful smile that made her look like a kid. Pam couldn't do anything but stand there and accept the punch. She knew she had it coming sooner or later. Eve just shook her head, but couldn't help but smile. As far as Villanelle was concerned, she was definitely ready to get into some real action.