A week later, Ludmila refuses to get out of bed. She's locked herself in her room at the headquarters, sleeping and rethinking everything that had happened. People had been in her room countless times to tell her to wake up, to get her blood pumping. But what was the point? She'd just roll to the other side and close her eyes. Dreaming was a lot better than reality, after all.
She opens her eyes anyway. She can't go a minute without subconsciously replaying that one scene over and over. She shouldn't have pulled the trigger. Federico shouldn't have died. They should've made a plan.
"This was your fault, you nitwit," she says out loud. "But it was my fault too."
She sits up in bed. Why haven't they delivered any news about him? Is he alive? Is he dead? Ludmila shivers at the last thought.
Suddenly, a knock sounds at the door.
"Come in," Ludmila croaks.
Fabio flies in, seemingly in a good mood. "Ludmila, I have some good news."
Probably not enough to cheer me up, she thinks. "Shoot."
"First of all, your awards ceremony is on Tuesday," he says quickly, glancing at Ludmila's serious case of bed-head. "Second, Federico's alive. They managed to save him."
"What?" She nearly flies out of bed. "Why didn't anyone tell me?"
He shifts uncomfortably. "I just received the news about fifteen minutes ago. Also, he wants you to go stop by."
Ludmila's heart beats faster. He wants to see her? Well, she definitely wants to see him. She quickly drapes a sweater over her shoulders, twists her hair into a messy bun and runs out the door before Fabio can ask what she's doing.
The infirmary isn't very far away, but when she gets there she's panting. The nurse at the front desk tells her that Federico is in the room down the hall, in emergency care. All of the doctors and lobby-goers stare at her strangely, but all she really registers it that he is alive and she has to get to his room.
She bursts into his room, panting, and the first thing she sees are his eyes. They're not looking at her though, they're trained on a brunette, who is standing over his head. They're having a teasing argument, the girl fussing over the wires and his equipment while Federico is laughing. This makes Ludmila's heart drop a little, and she watches them as they banter on, smiles alight on their faces.
Finally, Ludmila just can't stand it anymore and makes a small ah-hem noise. They both stop their chatter and look at her.
Once Federico's seemingly recognized the situation at hand, Ludmila can see his smile grow. "Hey Ludmi," he says.
"Hey," she mumbles, adjusting her zippered hoodie. She glances down at her sweatpants and feels a little self-conscious of what she's wearing. Maybe she should've changed before she came.
The brunette is watching them carefully, like she's trying to figure something out.
"Oh, right," Federico says. "Ludmila, this is my sister, Violetta. Violetta, this is Ludmila - we were... partners in the mission."
Ludmila catches herself before breathing a sigh of relief. Of course she's his sister. Good looks must've definitely run in the family.
Ludmila smiles and sticks out her hand. "Nice to meet you."
Violetta returns the smile and shook it. "Same here."
An awkward silence hangs over the room, and Violetta looks at her watch. "Oh, man," she remarks. "I'm kind of late to a meeting. See you later, Federico. Nice meeting you, Ludmila."
When they've bid their goodbyes and Violetta dashes out the door, Ludmila turns towards Federico. "I can't believe you're alive," she breathes.
Federico lets out a small laugh. "Me, neither."
She crosses the room to him. "How does your stomach feel?"
"Okay." He shrugs. "They stitched it up alright, and gave me some kind of numbing sensation to make it hurt less. It makes me really tired though." And he yawns, to prove his point.
Ludmila yawns too.
"So I heard that you slept the entire week since the mission," he comments, sitting up a little.
"Yeah," she admits.
"You got a nice, sexy bed-head going on right now, though," Federico says with a grin.
This time, his comment doesn't make her blush. She laughs. "Flirtatious as always, Granera. Even when you're weak and lying in bed with a bunch of tubes attached."
"My charm is unbeatable."
"I'll say," Ludmila scoffs.
He glances up at her, and the way his eyes are trained on her own is enough to make two grown woman faint. "As I recall, you agreed to go on a date with me?" He waggles his eyebrows suggestively.
"You're such a dork," she says, smiling.
"I'll take that as a yes."
They both laugh and before she knows it, he's kissing her, and she's kissing back, and she thinks, Wow, what was I missing out on? Because he's a damn good kisser. She's getting really hot and flustered and when Federico traces her jawline with his fingers she feels like someone has released a butterfly farm in her chest. Finally, Federico pulls away and smirks at her. "You were getting a little excited there."
"Psh, don't pretend that you weren't either," she says, and breathing hard from their ministrations. She's a little light-headed from pleasure.
He gives her a sideways grin. "You got me. You free next weekend?"
She almost bursts out laughing, but instead she just pulls him close and kisses him again. He doesn't object.
————
And that's it, folks! The last part of this oneShot, which could actually be seen as a proper fanfic ;P
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Lots of Love,
Emily
xoxo
