A/N: I made two chapters in one go... Hopefully to reel you guys into liking my story and telling me to keep going.
Ivan strolled into the front entrance of the building, giving a small smile and a nod to the receptionist as he passed by. The entire staff knew "Mr. Braginsky", save for the occasional newcomer. He was, after all, their biggest non-commercial buyer and he even helped out the distilling processes department in his spare time (not that he had much of that to go around). He made his way into the elevator, stepping out when it reached the top floor. The long hallway was decorated in traditional Russian paintings and tapestries, which Ivan always glanced at in appreciation despite having seen each piece hundreds of times over. He tapped his knuckles on the large, ornate wooden door three times before just pushing the door open and making his way in, knowing his friend wouldn't mind the intrusion.
"Ivan! How are you, friend?" a loud, jubilant voice carried across the room and Ivan made his way to one of the chairs sitting in front of Dmitri's desk.
"I am doing well, Da! I am sorry that I've been longer than usual without stopping by," Ivan gave him a warm but guilty smile.
"No worries! I have been busy myself anyway, making sure my Moscow hotel will have enough vacancies for your upcoming summit meeting," When Dmitri had heard that Moscow would be hosting the next meeting, he was more than happy to offer one of his hotels as both a venue for the meeting itself as well as a comfortable place for the rest of the nations to stay.
Ivan blushed a little at the comment, scratching the back of his head lightly. "Thank you again for that, I definitely owe you a favor or two for that one!" Iven let out a nervous chuckle. Dmitri just leaned back in his chair.
"Don't worry about it! Now, I hope you don't mind, I'm expecting a visitor any minute now. You're welcome to stay as long as you'd like, Ivan,"
Ivan gave him a worried look. "I'm so sorry Dmitri, I should have asked before coming. I decided to come here on a whim; I can come back later if that would be better?"
"Nonsense! Besides, It's someone you've met before anyway. Though she probably won't remember you, she was only a toddler then," Ivan shot him a quizzical look. Dmitri smiled softly at a picture on his desk before turning it so that Ivan could see it. "My granddaughter. You remember my son, Vlad, don't you? He went off and married that Native American woman, from Montana. He thinks he's a cowboy or something now. This is their daughter, Denali. She just graduated college in America, and has decided to come live here for a bit," Ivan studied the picture, showing a smiling, dark haired young woman wearing a royal blue graduation cap and gown. She was thin and fit, and she had sun-kissed skin that was just dark enough that one could tell she preferred to spend her time outside. She also had striking jewel-blue eyes, the intensity of them reminding Ivan of his own violet eyes. He wracked his brain for some sort of memory of the girl, but came up short. Looking back at Dmitri, he saw him roll his eyes a bit. "She's grown up to be a beautiful girl, but she's gone and covered herself in tattoos. Oh, and she likes to keep her hair purple," he shook his head lightly. "I just don't get the fad…"
"AHEM. I HAVE THREE TATTOOS, DYEDA. THREE. I highly doubt that counts as "covered"! And my hair color is called "blackberry", thankyouverymuch. I tend to get quite a few compliments on it!" Ivan's head snapped back to the door to see the same girl from the picture only moments ago. Except this version (at, the moment, at least) seemed a lot angrier. And a lot…shorter? There was no way she was taller than 5 foot at the most. Perhaps she had been wearing heels in the picture? Ivan broke his stare at her to see Dmitri walking around his desk towards the girl. Her expression softened to a genuine smile as she hugged the older gentleman. "I missed you, Dyeda! But you have GOT to lay off me about my appearance!" She stuck her tongue out at him jokingly, causing Ivan to crack a half smile at the gesture he could only think of as adorable.
Dmitri hugged her back tightly. "You're my only granddaughter and I haven't seen you in seven years! I've got to pick on somebody!" She rolled her eyes but smiled. "Yeah, yeah…" She peered around her grandfather at Ivan, then gave Dmitri a look of concern. "Did I interrupt a meeting? I can go wait in the lobby if I need to?" Dmitri lead her to the other chair adjacent to Ivan. "Absolutely not, dear! Ivan is a family friend, he just comes to visit sometimes. I was just telling him that you two have met once before, but you were only a toddler then!" She looked at Ivan, giving him a sad smile. "I'm sorry, I don't quite remember!" Ivan chuckled back, reaching a hand out to her. "That's alright, I'm not sure that I do either! My name is Ivan, Ivan Braginsky," She took his hand with a smile, expecting a handshake but blushed deeply when he brought her hand to his lips and lightly kissed the top of her hand. "I-, uh, I'm Denali…Denali Lukin…" she stammered as she gently pulled her hand back and tried to hide the red in her cheeks. "Nice to meet you… Again, I guess..?" Ivan smiled warmly, and pretended not to notice her blush. "Da!"
Denali turned to her grandfather, who had seated himself back at his desk. "So, what was this job opportunity that you wanted to tell me about?"
"Oh, yes!" he glanced at Ivan briefly, then clasped his hands together and rested his forearms on the desk. "In our Moscow hotel. We will be hosting the next summit meeting on our conference room there. I need someone I can trust to wait on the delegates throughout the meetings. You know, seat them, bring them drinks, hors d'oeuvres. Things like that. I will pay you by the hour, under the table. Plus," Dmitri shot another quick glance at Ivan. "I've heard that the nations tip well for things like that. Especially the larger ones." He leaned back in his chair. "I figured it would help you start paying off some of those student loans you've seemed to rack up these past few years," Denali scoffed and rolled her eyes again, this time looking at Ivan. "I'm an heiress to a multi-million dollar company, and they still are making me pay my own loans?! What kind of shit is that?!"
"LANGUAGE, Denali. I am trying to teach you responsibility!" She gave him another playful smile. "I know, I know! I'm only joking, Dyeda! You know I always try to take care of myself."
"I'm serious Denali. It's a day and a half of work and I'm going to pay you double what I usually pay servers. It will be hard work but I think you'll find it worth it. You'll also be staying in one of the best rooms in the hotel for no charge," He peered at her over his glasses.
"Of course I want to do it! But when is it? You know I have to take a trip to Kamchatka in a couple of months for my study," She asked him, bringing her legs underneath herself in the chair. Ivan flashed a confused look between the two as Dmitri dropped his head slightly and sighed. "The summit is next week, but I was hoping you had changed your mind about that."
"Perfect, then of course I'll do it! But as far as the excursion? Nope, I'm going. Already paid for in full. Plus I kind of have no choice, it was part of my graduation agreement," She crossed her arms, almost defiantly.
Ivan shifted in his chair. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to be nosy, but why are you going to Kamchatka? Surely you did not choose it for leisure?" Denali turned and beamed at him, grinning. "I'm wildlife management major! I just graduated last month, but part of my graduation agreement is that I have to do a study on a wildlife population. I like to go big or go home, so I chose to do a three-week excursion to Kamchatka to study the bear population there!" Her arms were still crossed, but this time she looked confident and proud rather than stubborn. Ivan only frowned. "Denali, that sounds incredibly dangerous. There are only a handful of towns there, and even those are few and far between." She gave him a sort of nonchalant wave, smiling. "I can handle myself! Besides, I won't be going alone. There's a group of about eight of us signed up,"
Ivan sighed at her. "I agree with your grandfather, I think you should reconsider." Denali gave him yet another smile, one that he was beginning to enjoy more than he probably should. "I'll think about it," she replied, though it didn't exactly sound sincere. "But Dyeda, why did you look at Ivan when you were talking about the meeting? Does he have something to do with it?" Dmitri coughed out of slight embarrassment but Ivan only chuckled. "Da, I have lots to do with it!" he said cheerfully, causing her to look at his with her head cocked to the side. "I am Russia!" Her eyes suddenly went wide.
"Wait…WHAT?"