A/N: Well, for any of those who are reading Normal Days, or any of the other things; Yep, some of the writing on my page is completely insane, while other stuff is serious and dark and on occasion rather sad... Well, what happens, happens!
If anyone is crazy(Awesome) enough to be reading this, spaseeba, danke schon! ;) :D God bless.
Anatoly looked over the plans again as Sergei unfolded them over the hood of a taxi. He spoke in their native tongue; "Move it to here," he pointed. Sergei grunted a response and leaned forward, scribbling something down on the paper where his employer had pointed.
They had spoken face-to-face with Fisk for the first time, not just speaking with 'Wesley'. Anatoly sighed, eyebrows furrowed and lips pressed together tightly.
The sound of a cane against cement echoed through the taxi depot, and an annoyed thought of 'what now' popped into his mind.
At that moment, Vladimir came around the corner-faster than his usual pace-and nearly bowled over Anatoly. "Ona zdes'." (She's here.) His eyes were wide with shock. How had the woman found them? They hadn't told her... it wasn't as though they had actually PLANNED for things like this...
"Shto?" Anatoly backed up, hands already feeling behind him in case someone stood there. Anatoly's frown deepened as if to hide the other emotions. "Vladimir..." Before he voiced his question, he watched her come around the corner.
Vladimir grumbled a curse and pulled Sergei in front of himself, with an order of "stand right there." Sergei obeyed. Vlad shot his brother a looked of something like horror and annoyance as the woman came forward, shuffling her feet and slamming the cane down with every step she took.
Anatoly returned his sibling's look, with one of his own - a more tired, tight expression. He placed his hands on his hips and took a deep breath through his nose before heavily exhaling.
"Vot, pozhaluysta!" The crackly old woman's voice rang through the garage. "Or should I say, here you are... english." she smiled widely. Her top teeth were brilliant white, (clearly false) while the others were uneven and yellow...
Vladimir cringed. "Nyet... Nyet." He pressed one hand over his eyes and groaned quietly. "Nyet..."
"It's filthy in here! You ever clear out sometimes?" she asked.
Anatoly quirked an eyebrow. His posture became tense and rigid as she hugged him, head coming to the height of his elbow. He looked over at Vlad with a facial expression no other human could read. He cringed, waiting for the worst of her hug - and as expected, it came; she pulled back, hands feeling and patting his form as if subconsciously she expected some new physical problem.
Vladimir frowned and pulled the woman off of Anatoly... with the unintended affect of her latching onto him. Family reunions were always awkward, especially if the family was your estranged (and very strange) grandmother, who happened to be the most judgmental woman on earth.
"Vladimir, Anatoly, kak tvoi dela?" (How are you?) their grandmother asked with a broad-scary-grin.
The woman wore cat-eye sunglasses, a flower-pattern dress with shoulder pads, and a blue jacket that had a very distinct scent. Just as Anatoly remembered her; except for the sunglasses, he could only guess where those had come from.
"Shto ty zdes' delayesh'?" (What are you doing here?)
She smiled up at them and removed her sunglasses. "V gostyakh u vnukov!" (Visiting my grandchildren!) She paused and looked over at Vladimir, right as he tried to leave. She latched onto his arm to stop him, only then noticing on of his tattoos. "Vladimir!" she gasped indignantly. The woman shook her head and clicked in in disapproval.
Anatoly managed to step close enough to be between them and break the contact, and efficiently block the tattoos from the woman - or more precisely the grandmother that he had disowned years ago. Of course, that didn't seem to be stopping her.
She huffed and looked up at Anatoly. Her "winning" smile was back. "Gde ya ostanovit'sya?" (Where do I stay?)
Anatoly shifted and briefly looked over at Vladimir, subtly nodding as he bit back irritated comments and decided what to actually say.
Vladimir started to inch away, a bit at a time. He pulled Sergei with him, and ordered the man to distract the woman for a few minutes so Anatoly could get away. They needed to talk about this.
Sergei did just that. First he growled - his own personal speech habit to buy time, like 'um', or 'well'. He started talking to her, in what he thought was a semi-conversational way.
Anatoly slowly moved backwards, hands moving from his hips to fisted tightly by his sides.
Vladimir glanced back, making sure Anatoly was close. He halted and spoke quietly, so as not to be overheard, for once, he spoke English, because their grandmother would have a harder time understanding that. "What do we do with her? SHe expects to stay with us."
"She does," Anatoly spoke, eyes momentarily widening. He stared vacantly at the wall behind Vladimir, "If she expects to," his eyes flickered up and met Vladimir's, but his head didn't follow the movement, "She is going to find a way to stay."
Vladimir growled and his frown deepened. "She can't stay with us. We'll have to find her somewhere else to stay."
"Vladimir-" Anatoly paused, glanced over his shoulder, and leaned closer, putting a hand up between them absently, as though the action was helping to get his point across; "She won't take no for an answer."
"She will have to learn to, then. She can't stay with us here. If Fisk sees her... what would he think?" Vladimir could only imagine Wesley's laughter and mocking if he met their grandmother... then again, he'd only mock for a little while, until she started going after him like a wolf after prey. She had a habit of doing that...
Anatoly sighed and replied with a distant "Da..."