Chapter two.

This will have more on Anna's and Nikolai's feelings than the previous one.

Please review!

They were on the motorway, heading to Edinburgh. Anna stared out of the window. She thought of Christine, of her mother, her uncle. But not of Nikolai…

Every time he was there she thought of others, but once he was gone she only thought of him. The fact was that every time she looked at Christine, she remembered Nikolai and their first kiss. Then she would remember the one he gave her in the hotel room a few days earlier. She was surprised at herself that she hadn't pulled away or thought of it as some wicked deed, but quite the opposite. She thought of it as a pleasant dream, a paradise. But then she would get back to reality and try to forget about it.

She felt Nikolai's hand on her own. She turned around but didn't change the hand's position. She looked into Nikolai's eyes that were concentrated on the road ahead.

"Who are you?" she asked again. Nikolai chuckled.

"You are very stubborn Anna Ivanovna. I like it. You never stop until you get what you want." He glanced at her. She looked at him. Her eyes still held the question. Nikolai sighed.

"I am a person who is marked to live in the criminal world. There was no turning back, not since the first tattoo." He sighed again. "There never will be. The path I chose: I must follow it till the end." He tightened his hand over Anna's. "Try to forget me when I leave you with your family. It would be better for you."

"Out of curiosity," she said, "what makes you think it will be hard for me to forget you?"

"Because every time you will look at Christine, or every so often, you will remember her real parents. You will remember Semyon, Kirill and me. And secondly: you came to find me, did you not? I think you knew that you would not get the answers from me, but you still came to ask them." He looked at her. She smiled. "Did it really matter that much to you, who I was?"

"Possibly not that much, but I am still curious." Anna spoke. "You still haven't answered me." Nikolai chuckled, louder this time, but it wasn't a laugh. But he didn't answer.

He could feel her fingers under his. She was so pure, while his hands were covered in blood and 'dirt'. He wasn't going to tell her until he left her permanently. She would be safer that way. Or would she be? He wanted her to be safe, happy and loved by an honest man. Perhaps that would hurt his heart but if she would be happy, it would be worth the pain. It was strange: he always wanted people who got tangled with the vory v zakone to be happy and continue their life. But when he thought of Anna, he couldn't help but feel pain. He didn't know why. This was the first time in a long period of years when he really cared for someone. Really wanted them to be safe and happy. Was it love? Perhaps it was, perhaps it was not. It was more like a bud in Siberia, in the early summer, when everything was just coming to life. It would grow and become a flower, become love, as we know it.

It was ten o'clock. Another two hours and they'd be there. But Nikolai felt that his eyelids were heavy. Anna had fallen asleep in the passenger seat. He couldn't decide whether to stop for an hour to get some sleep and continue later, or drive till exhaustion to Edinburgh and then sleep elsewhere. He finally decided when he saw a lay-by. When he stopped the car he looked at his watch and set an alarm. He would probably wake up anyway. What would he do after getting Anna to Edinburgh? He'd run obviously. He wasn't as certain as he seemed to be. His disguise was not permanent. Still, he could think it over after.

Anna woke up, to find that they have stopped. When she looked at Nikolai her blurry vision made him look like a corpse. But the sudden rush of adrenalin woke her up to find him still alive and in health. He was just sleeping. She calmed down and looked at him. She tried to describe him, but found it worthless. "What did I care for him?" she asked herself scolding herself. He was a killer and a member of mafia! But her answer came from her heart. It was so pure that she almost cried. It was too rich to describe with words. But she was startled to find this answer in herself. She cared! She would die just to see him! She wanted to smile and shake her head, but found that it was not exaggeration. She was surprised. Her sub-consciousness had surprised her, for she had not thought like this aloud before. Then his alarm went off and he woke up.

She turned away so as not to draw attention. He looked at her.

"How much do you really care who I am?" he asked.

"I don't." she said. "I don't care who you are, I care that you are you." The words that she spoke startled her. What was happening to her? He took her arm, but she slowly pulled away.

"Anna…" he whispered. She turned around. There were tears in her eyes. Nikolai pulled her towards him gently. She came into his arms. After a few moments he looked at her face. That's when he kissed her the third time. And it will be this kiss by which she will remember him the rest of her life. The kiss that explained everything that they felt for each other.