Author's Note: I have no excuse for how long it took me to publish this. But here it is! According to Google Translate, 'Ya vydokhnu eto chertovo der'mo! Klyanus' trakhat' Boga, ya ub'yu yeye! Ona ili umret, ili pozhaleyet, chto k tomu vremeni, kak ya zakonchil s ney' means 'I'l gut that fucking shit, I swear! I swear to fucking God, I'll kill her! She'll either die or wish she was dead by the time I finish with her!' and 'Ne boysya, malen'kaya devochka. Teper' ty v bezopasnosti. Ya vsegda budu zashchishchat' tebya, moy malysh. L'venok. Ya lyublyu tebya tak sil'no. Ty v bezopasnosti, detka. Ya sdelayu vse, chto mogu, chtoby pomoch' tebe, Lev. Ne volnuysya. Mama zdes'' means 'Don't worry, my little girl. You're safe, now. I'll always do everything I can to keep you safe, my little cub. Little Lion. I love you so much. You're safe, baby. I will do everything I can to help you, Lion. Don't worry. Mommy's here.' As for Cinnamon, Red just seems like the kind of badass lady who would have a blood python. I hope you enjoy! WARNING: This chapter contains mentions of pregnancy, snakes, mentions of drugs, discussions of abuse, implied abuse, and talk of murder and violence.
When Red answers her door, she's a little surprised to see Nicky and another girl. The other girl is tall, with green eyes framed by glasses, and long black hair. The glances at Nicky, who looks at her feet. Still, she lets them in.
"You wanna tell me what's going on here?"
Nicky opens her mouth, before shutting it. "Can I go take Kostya outside? And…Maybe Alex can tell you?"
If Red was concerned before, now she's fucking worried. She's gotten a girl pregnant. Somebody hurt her. She's on drugs. Fucking hell, what is she so scared to tell me?!
Red nods, and Nicky goes into the backyard, the redhead's fluffy dog on her heels. As soon as Nicky leaves, the older woman gives Alex a once-over. "If you're hurting my daughter, I'll kill you. I mean that. You either treat her right, or don't see her. Do I make myself clear, Stretch?"
The brunette nods. "I understand. But that's not why we're here, Mrs. Reznikov."
"It's Red, honey. Now go on."
Alex nervously launches into her confession that isn't even hers. She tells Red about finding out about Marka's abuse of Nicky, only going into as much detail as is necessary. She doesn't want to tell Red everything, without her girlfriend's explicit permission.
"Ya vydokhnu eto chertovo der'mo! Klyanus' trakhat' Boga, ya ub'yu yeye! Ona ili umret, ili pozhaleyet, chto k tomu vremeni, kak ya zakonchil s ney!" Red snarls out her response, voice a low, terrifying growl.
Alex has no idea what the redhead is saying, but it makes her shudder. She's fairly certain that the Russian is plotting Marka's death, and her angry voice is scary. Red gets up off of the couch that Alex is still sitting on, and begins pacing, growling out more Russian as she does.
She stops when she hears a tentative knock at the back door of her house. She opens the door, and finds Nicky standing there. "Hey…Are you done talking?"
Red sighs, and nods. She pulls Nicky inside, and hugs her tightly. Alex watches, feeling like an intruder, as the blonde begins sobbing into her mother's shoulder.
"Ne boysya, malen'kaya devochka. Teper' ty v bezopasnosti. Ya vsegda budu zashchishchat' tebya, moy malysh. L'venok. Ya lyublyu tebya tak sil'no. Ty v bezopasnosti, detka. Ya sdelayu vse, chto mogu, chtoby pomoch' tebe, Lev. Ne volnuysya. Mama zdes'." Red rubs her daughter's back in an attempt to comfort her, murmuring Russian in a quiet soothing voice.
Alex is genuinely impressed by Red's rapid change. Although, she figures that she would do the same thing if she found out that someone was hurting her child. She hesitates, before walking over to join the embrace.
The mother and daughter welcome her, and Alex clutches onto Nicky tightly. It takes several minutes for Nicky to calm down enough to stop crying. When she does, she wriggles out of their grasp, and walks over to stare into the tank in the corner, silently.
"It's ok, Honey. We'll talk whenever you're ready."
Alex follows Red back to the couch, and the two women sit down. The brunette wonders how easily Red is able to get control of her own emotions. It's a very impressive feat.
It takes a good 20 minutes for Nicky to come over to the sofa. When does walk over to join them, Alex notices that there's a large red and gold snake wrapped around her arm. That must be what was in the tank.
Red smiles, and pats the spot between the two of them. Nicky sits. "Good girl. I see you've got Cinnamon. I have to say, the feel of a snake's scales are one of the most comforting things. Right up there with family and good meals."
Nicky doesn't respond, merely stroking the python on her arm. Cinnamon flicks her tongue out, touching Nicky's finger. The blonde cracks a tiny smile.
"So, we know the problem. Now, how do we go about solving it?"
