Please forgive bad grammar and spelling. Sorry this took so long. I have had a little writers block. But I got this out finally. I hope everyone enjoys this. I don't feel this is my best work. But I did what I could with what I felt I had. I hope you enjoy! And please review!

The wind was cool. October had brought a chill to the air. Winter was the only season in Russia, when there is less work to be done. Every moment of the year was spent preparing for winter. Winter was almost like God. Capable of wiping the Earth clean, readying it for spring, but also capable of taking lives.

Mother tended our pitiful garden. The government discouraged personal gardening. Collective farms had the full endorsement of the Kremlin, at the expense of the people. Mother was exhausted. We all were. And then all of a sudden, there was gunfire. My mother grabbed me to keep me from running to my father. The shots came from his garage. Zakhodim v dom i ostat'sya tam. Go!

I ran to the house, as my mother ran to the door of garage. From the living room window, I could see them drag my unconscious father away. My mother was terrified. She knew she may never see father again. They would take him away and he would rot in a Siberian prison. Whether he was guilty or not made no difference. As the men stepped back into their cars, the shorter of the two turned back and fired his pistol once. And like that, I was left totally alone in the world. Alone at 15.

Mikhail would never forget how he lost his mother. He would never forget laying her body into the frozen soil, to rest for eternity. He never saw his father again. Apparently, some official thought the rate my father charged to have his car fixed was too much. Never mind the fact that we were starving. His father died soon after in prison. Mikhail was left to do what he could to make it by. He sold illegal car parts, stole cabbages from collective farms, and had a rough start to adulthood. A rough childhood that lead him to the Crosses prison. Then later, to two more Siberian prisons. He had the tattoos on his body to show for his lawlessness. He really hadn't been kidding when he told Anna that if things were closed you just 'open them up'.

His main offense had been, however, the murder of the two agents who killed his mother and took his father. To a Russian, family meant everything, and he would do anything for family. When his mother died and his father was gone, he had nothing and so he made the two men pay for what they had done.

Sometimes, Stephan reminds him of the two men. He left though. He left Russia with his brother. Family meant everything to him too. That was something Mikhail could relate to. Mikhail had always hated the KGB. How he came to be in the FSB was a mystery. A man came to meet him so after release. He said he wanted to recruit me to do something I knew how to do. He said he wanted me to go undercover to stop members of the mafia that were terrorizing Western Europe. I agreed because it seemed the right thing to do and because I had nothing else.

He finally returns to the world of the living as she walks out of the hospital. He knows he probably shouldn't be here. But he had to see her one more time.

"Oh." was her only reply. He smiled. She was as beautiful as he remembered. "I thought you might like to get drink."He stands up and gestures toward his car.

"No, no thank you." she responds. She is flustered and possibly frightened. "I'll just walk home, thank you though." And with that she is walking away from him. Then a thought hits him. He should follow her home. There are too many villains on the street to let her walk alone. So he follows her from behind. Her hair is longer than last time and he decides he like it better.

She soon arrives at her house and disappears inside. He stops, knowing he will see her soon. He decides that he can't stop seeing her. This is the best he has felt in his life.

…...

One week later, he receives a call from Yuri. "Mikhail I have the best news. We caught Vladimir Dobrev, and the Russian desk has released you from your mission. Your a free man." This was the best news he had received in a long while. He was free. "Thank you Yuri, I will call you soon." "Of course, until we speak again."

So, once again, he finds himself outside the hospital. She walks out, carrying her purse and coat. "Oh damn. I really need to start carrying a can of mace. Leave me alone. Please!" "No, no you you misunderstand. I can tell you who I am now." This stops her dead in her tracks. "I'm listening."

Her smiles, glad she is willing to hear him out. "It would be easier if you allowed me to take you to dinner. There's much to tell." She takes a moment to think. She is obviously distraught. She still doesn't know who he is, and that frightens her. "Fine. But I'm calling my mother and telling her where I am going." He nods his head and she walks a distance away to call her mother.

A moment later she comes back. "Alright, where are we going?" "Where would you like to go?" She snorts and laughs. "I'm not the one paying. You are. You choose." He laughs with her. He drives into the street and they drive in silence. She doesn't know what to say, and he doesn't particularly want to say. As they pull up outside the door of another Russian restaurant. "Russian food. Are you trying to tell me something?" "I am just trying to show some good aspects of Russia." She follows him into the restaurant. They sit in a corner, away from the noise. "Would you like wine?" he asks, slightly out of his depth. "Yes please." She smiles at him and he at least feels like he has done something right. "What would you like to know?" She takes a moment to collect her thoughts. "Who are you?" He leans in and takes a drink of wine. "I am an FSB agent. My name is Mikhail Kimov. I have been working under cover to bring down the Mafia syndicates here in England."

There was a stunned silence. She opened and closed her mouth a few times. He waited patiently, even ordering her food for her. "So... That changes things." "Hmm," was his reply. He sincerely hoped it changed things. He hoped it meant a second date. "So you are a good guy?" she asked, trying to wrap her head around what she has been told. "Well, that depends on your definition of good. I spent 22 years in prison for murder. I killed the men who were responsible for the deaths of my parents. These tattoos are not fake. I really did earn them in prison. I have lied, stolen, conned... but if you are referring to me not being a mobster, than I am an angel."

She was so out of her depth. One the one hand, he isn't a mobster. On the other hand, he just admitted to two counts of murder, stealing, conning, and lying...

"So why do you tell me this now?" she asks, and he swirls the rest of his wine in his glass. "I tell you now, because I want to take you on another date. For this to go anywhere, I have to tell you these things. I would like to settle down. You know, work a job where I don't have to cut of a mans fingers."

She laughed. She was so shocked. How can a man be so charming even as he talk about cutting off a mans fingers. If she didn't watch herself she would fall for this guy. He watched her. He was happy she was taking this so well. He was worried she would freak out.

"How is Christine?" he asked her. He had not seen the baby since that night by the Thames. She looked up, having been lost in thought. "She is doing good. She is talking a little, and trying to walk." He nodded, happy she was doing well.

They continue to eat in relative silence and when they are done, he pays and they leave. He drives her home, and as she steps out of the car, he stops her. "I would like to take to dinner again. How about Saturday?" "Okay," she says, unsure why she didn't just tell him no. She shouldn't see him. He is still a wild card. She doesn't know a lot about him. He nods, glad she will give him another dinner date. "I will call you." And with that, he drives away, and she is more confused than ever. "Oh dear."

…...

Go to the house and stay there. Go! (translation for the Russian in paragraph 2. )

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