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2) ShallowEnd
Dimitri raised a hand to the bell on the door, his finger touching the plastic, yet not applying quite enough pressure to trigger the sound. Now he was here, he felt somewhat apprehensive.
"Dimmy!" Rosie squealed, flicking up the letterbox and peering out. Her eyes shone in the gloom of the flap. "Mummy, Dimmy's here!"
He straightened his t-shirt as the little girl disappeared again. Footsteps in the corridor; sharp and efficient taps as Erin's heels connected with the wooden floor. Dimitri glanced down at his worn trainers. How to make a guy feel inadequate, right?
The door swung open, "Hi."
"Oh...hi."
"You okay?"
He forced his head up and down, in a jerky nod, "Yeah. Are you? You look...you look nice."
"Thanks," she smiled. She didn't look shy, but she didn't look exactly very confident either. "I've just got to sort Rosie's bag out, I... Do you want to come in for a moment?"
Rosie emerged from the living room and reached out for his hand, "I did you a picture. Are you coming swimming with us?"
"Yeah, I..." he smiled as he was dragged over the threshold. Erin closed the door behind them, and disappeared upstairs silently.
"Here," Rosie lifted a piece of paper and held it out to him, "That's me, that's you, that's mummy."
"It's lovely, Rosie! Thank you," he ruffled her hair affectionately, his heart thudding again.
Both Erin and himself, with their square heads and stick arms, were holding Rosie's hands. Grins were plastered over all three faces. God, he didn't blame Erin for trying to protect her daughter. Their second meeting, and he already found himself adoring the child.
"Are you two ready?" Erin called from the hallway. Dimitri nodded, scooping up Rosie and following his boss out of the door. As she turned to lock it, he thought he caught a flash of extra makeup now highlighting Erin's eyes.
He couldn't be sure, though.
You never could be sure about these things.
XxXxX
"You're not...you're not coming swimming, then?" Dimitri faltered, seeing Erin slip out of the cubicle holding her daughter's goggles, still fully dressed.
"No, I thought...I don't feel too good. I'll give it a miss."
"Oh, okay," he narrowed his eyes; for such a brilliant liar normally, she wasn't doing a good job of convincing him today, "Are you alright? You do look a bit pale, actually."
"Mummy can't swim!" Rosie exclaimed, dropping Erin's hand and taking Dimitri's.
Erin's cheeks flooded with colour and she glanced around to see if anyone was near, "I...I..."
Dimitri held back a snort. After all, she did look scared. If it wasn't his presence (as if!) it was something else. Maybe she just needed a little convincing. "Well, that's alright. Like I said, I'm cr...I'm bad as well."
"She brought her arm bands," Rosie interjected helpfully, again.
"Rosie," Erin warned weakly.
He shrugged, "We could just sit in the shallow end?"
"You're ex-SBS."
"That was a while ago."
Erin half-smiled at the ridiculousness of the conversation, "And I still bet you could do a length twice as fast as anyone here."
He smiled too, "Hey, I'll look after you? What more could you want?"
She raised an eyebrow reluctantly, and slipped back into the cubicle. Rosie eyed the pool somewhat longingly whilst Dimitri did his best to be patient.
Erin reappeared eventually, her hair hastily scraped back into a ponytail, and her eyes pink where she'd wiped the mascara from them. "Happy now?"
He grinned, "Reasonably."
"You owe me."
"We'll see about that."
Rosie tugged at Dimitri's hand, "Can we go in now?"
"Come on, then," he let the girl lead him across to the water. She scampered down the stairs and ducked straight under, disrupting the stillness of the blue. Very confident. She'd grow up like her mother.
Erin hovered behind him as he followed Rosie down the steps. He submerged himself quickly, then raised his head and shook the droplets from his hair. "Coming in, then?"
She sat down on the side of the pool, dangling her feet down into the water so that her toes were just covered, "It's cold."
She had elegant feet, Dimitri thought. Elegant legs, elegant arms... Well, everyone got the picture. "Good job I know how to treat hypothermia, then."
"Funny," she mumbled, shivering. He gestured to the pool, and she slipped forward and into the water, throwing up splashes all around her. "It's freezing!"
"Shut up and swim."
"I thought you'd gathered from my daughter's revelation earlier," she rolled her eyes, "That I cannot swim."
"Look, just relax, okay? Float, kick your legs, flap your arms."
She didn't shake his hand off her shoulder this time, but shook her head and attempted a smile instead, "I'm fine, I'll stay up here. Go on, go and play with her. I want to see how fast you can swim anyway."
"Okay," he sighed. Strong women. How he hated them.
Erin watched with a mixture of exasperation and admiration as he swum off, reaching the end of the pool before she could really process him swimming across it. He swum like a fish, or a mermaid. Sleek, and shining.
Dimitri swam a couple of lengths, then hoisted Rosie onto his back and swam a couple more, smiling as she squealed and clung on tight to his shoulder blades. He didn't look tired, but he stopped near the shallows, swung her from his back and splashed around with her instead. He gestured for Erin to join them.
She shook her head. She didn't know why, but she did. Maybe because she was jealous of the attention her daughter gave Dimitri, and of the obvious skill he had in the water. Maybe she was in awe of his charm and sweetness. Maybe she just wanted to watch them enjoy it for a while.
She felt nervous, yes, but she always did in the pool – she didn't like it. She didn't hate it today; she didn't feel like a spy. She felt real – part of a real family.
That was good enough for one day.
XxXxX
Okay so maybe gone off at a slight tangent, but bear with me, I'll do my best. Next chapter might contain a bit of a twist if I write what I think I might...
Oh and I think I forgot to mention all the disclaimer stuff on chapter one...we know who writes and acts for Spooks, and they're all amazing! And I'm not them.
LoveHowitHurts is actually a song by ScoutingForGirls – listen to it; it's great xx
