Author's Note: It should be noted that I know absolutely nothing about Utica, New York, so I'm kind of just making stuff up because, you know, fanfiction.

Learning to Fly

Healy pulled into the small gravel parking lot of the house indicated by his GPS. He didn't spend much time in Utica, and hadn't known that this neighborhood existed. It was an interesting mix of residential homes and small businesses—on his way up, Healy had passed two antique stores and a bookstore.

Looking at the house through his windshield, he wondered if this was where Red was living. He hoped not, since the porch railing was broken, the white paint on the outside was dull and peeling, and at least one of the shutters at the front of the house was hanging on by a thread. The place looked like it hadn't been occupied for quite a while.

There was another car in the driveway, which he assumed was Red's. He shut off the engine and then looked at himself in his rearview mirror. Healy was never particularly happy with his appearance, but, as he smoothed a strand of silver hair away from his face, he thought that he looked about as good as it was possible for him to.

He looked back at the house and saw that the front door was opening. His breath caught when she stepped out onto the porch. She looked…god, she looked radiant. She had only spent a little more than a month on the outside, but he could tell that she was adapting just fine. More than fine, really. Freedom seemed to be agreeing with her.

She wore her hair softly pushed back from her face instead of spiked up now, and it was a rich, natural shade of ginger instead of the purple-red she had maintained behind bars. Her makeup, too, was less severe; gone were the harsh cat eyes sculpted in black eyeliner and the flaming red lipstick. She wore a simple black, scoop-necked t-shirt, a pair of jeans that flattered her shapely legs, and ballet flats. For the first time, Sam felt as though he was really seeing Galina, instead of Red, and he liked what he saw.

He opened his car door and got out. He wondered, for the hundredth time, if he should have brought anything. He had contemplated buying flowers on the way, but then decided against it, since he didn't know where, exactly, he was going to be meeting her, and how she would react to such a public display of affection. She smiled at him as he approached, and all other thoughts were pushed from his mind as he walked towards the porch.

"Be careful on that third step," she said by way of greeting, "The wood's a little rotten; it's about to fall through."

"Good to see you, too, Red," he joked, gingerly taking the steps. When he reached the porch and stood in front of her, she suddenly felt frozen. She wanted to throw herself into his arms, but she also wanted to just keep looking at him; she still couldn't decide if he was really there or if she was dreaming. Healy made the decision for her, coming in for a hug. It was a simple embrace, nothing more than what could have happened between two old friends, but Red still felt her skin tingling with the contact, and she knew that Healy must feel it as well. They stood there for several minutes, just holding one another, until finally she broke away.

"So, umm…what is this place?" Healy asked.

"It's my pastry shop," Red explained, "Or, it will be, eventually. It obviously needs a lot of fixing up first."

"This is yours?" he asked, "How…?" He hadn't expected her to actually have the building for her shop after only five weeks.

"Yuri," she replied, "Technically, he bought it, but it's my name on the deed, so it belongs to me. It took some doing, but his new wife's mother is a realtor, so…" She waved her hand in the air, as if that explained everything.

"Well that's…that's amazing!" Healy said. Red took his hand with a smile and led him through the front door.

"Come, I'll give you the grand tour," she said, "Not that there's much to see; it's a small house and everything looks like shit because it's old, but still. This," she swept her hand across what had once been a living room, "is going to be the main dining area. The pastry case will go right there, and the rest is going to be tables and maybe a sofa or two." She took him into another room. "This will be the kitchen. It's a little small, but the master bedroom's behind that wall, so after we knock it out, I should have all the space I need."

Red was beaming, and Healy couldn't help but grin along with her. He didn't remember ever seeing her this happy; she was almost like a new woman. He could tell that she could already see all the changes that she planned to make, and it excited her.

"This," she said, gesturing towards a door at the end of the house's only hallway, "Is nothing special, but I'll show you anyway. It's a little bedroom, but I'm going to use it as an office."

They entered the room, which was, indeed, quite small, but would provide adequate space for a desk, filing cabinet, and maybe a chair or two. Currently, there was an accumulation of furniture scattered around it, including a desk with a dining chair in front of it, likely leftover from the previous owners. Red walked over to the desk, lifting herself up to sit on top of it and gesturing for him to take the chair.

"This is all so amazing," he said after he sat down, "You've really got everything figured out."

"Not everything," she replied, "I knew that I was going to have to take out a loan or two to remodel the place and buy everything I need, but I underestimated how hard it would be. After fourteen years basically existing outside of the world, I have no credit whatsoever. I also can't get a job. My PO makes me apply to at least three every week, but nobody wants to hire someone who spent 14 years in prison, so I'm not bringing in any money. My boys are trying to help me, but it's difficult. I even swallowed my pride and reached out to Dmitri, but he's been having his own financial issues since the market went under."

"Hmm…well, you'll figure something out," Healy said, "I've never seen you not get something that you really wanted."

"I'm not sure that's entirely true, but, if you say so, Sam."

"I do," he replied, "So, how's living with your son?"

"It's going well enough," she said, "But I think I'm starting to drive them a bit crazy, and they are definitely driving me insane. Not Maxim; he's overjoyed to have me with him, but I'm not Tanya's favorite person because her cooking is terrible and I tell her so. And the baby. I love my granddaughter, but being around an infant, all day, every day, it's…maddening. But I shouldn't complain. At least I'm free to come and go as I please. And how are you, Sam?"

He filled her in on the details of his life, such as they were. Sadly, the most exciting thing he had to report was that he had recently started going to the gym, and had actually lost about ten pounds, but only because, at his last checkup, his doctor had told him that his cholesterol and was sky-high and he would almost certainly end up in the hospital within a year if he didn't change his lifestyle. After Red had expressed her concern for his health, the conversation faded into a silence that, between any other two people, would have been thick and awkward, but, for them, was simply comfortable.

"So, Galina, I can't help but wonder…you've got this new life and you're trying to get this business together, and I just want to know…where do you see me fitting into all of this?"

"Well, that mostly depends on you, and what you want," Red replied. When Healy looked at her in confusion, she continued, "I wanted to be with you the second I got out. I wanted to kick myself for telling you that we had to wait. I thought, once you got away from me and had some time on your own to think, maybe you'd realize that you didn't want an old lady felon in your life."

"I thought the same thing," Healy said, relieved that it hadn't just been him.

"Well, you would be right about that; I had my fill of lady felons while I was in Litchfield; I don't particularly need any more."

Healy chuckled. "You know what I mean," he said. Red nodded.

"So now you know where I stand," she said, "What about you, Sam? What do you want?"

"You, Galina." Healy got up from the chair and stood before her, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her in until their foreheads touched. "I've always just wanted you."

Healy thought that he saw a tear fall from the corner of her eye, but he couldn't be certain, because she put her hands behind his head and pulled him in for a kiss. Their lips met slowly, tremblingly, and Red sighed beneath his mouth.

"I missed you so much," Healy said against her lips.

She kissed him briefly, softly and then said, "I missed you, too, dorogoi." That was the understatement of the year. She had been dreaming about his lips, waking up wanting him. It was taking every last bit of willpower that she had not to push him back into that chair and straddle him. As it was, she could barely keep her mouth off of him, kissing his cheeks and his forehead and then his lips again, this time deeply as her tongue drove into his mouth.

His hands were roaming up and down her back, and she hissed when, purely by accident, two of his fingers accidentally lifted the hem of her shirt and brushed her skin.

"Sorry," he murmured, seeing her shiver beneath his touch.

"Don't apologize," she said, her voice deep and breathy. His hands grew bolder; at first, only one of them grazed over the skin at the small of her back, and then both were underneath her shirt, trailing over her flesh. It crossed his mind that he was now exploring uncharted territory; even in the greenhouse, he had never been able to touch her so freely. He was almost drunk with the feeling of freedom and the softness of Galina's body beneath his fingers. Healy's hands skimmed down her sides and then gripped the hem of her shirt, but she brought her own hands down to cover his when he tried to lift it, making him growl in frustration.

"You're making me feel so good, lyubov moya," Red said, in that sultry, accented whiskey voice that set Healy on fire, "And I want you to touch me all over, but I can't fuck on top of a table again. After last time, my back was in spasms for days." Healy frowned; she had never told him that. There was nothing he could have done and it would only have made him feel bad to know it, but still.

"It's for the best, I guess," he conceded, "This isn't how I wanted it to be, anyway."

"Oh? So you had a plan to seduce me?"

"No plan as such, just a vague hope that maybe this time we could find an actual bed and not have to rush it." He put his arm around her waist and helped her down from the top of the desk, and, as she alighted, her hip rubbed up against the front of his jeans, causing him to groan and her to feel how excited she had gotten him. She smirked at that, and also at the way he pulled away from her, pacing the room and obviously trying to calm himself down so that he could once again be capable of rational thought.

"So," he said, when he was finally done pacing, "Do you…do you maybe want to go get a bite to eat? Catch up over dinner?"

"No need, actually," Red replied, "If you want to come back to my place—well, my son's place, technically—I have dinner in the slow cooker."

"Your son and his wife—they won't mind if you bring a guest home?" Healy asked, mentally adding, And then proceed to have sex with said guest all night, loudly and in every conceivable positon?

"They're not home," Red said, grabbing one of his hands and pulling him out of the chair and towards the hallway, "They've gone into the city to visit Tanya's parents. They took the baby with them, and they won't be back until tomorrow, so we'll have the place to ourselves."

Author's Note: *wink wink* *nudge nudge* The next chapter's going to be smut, is what I'm trying to say here. The rating will obviously be changing accordingly.