Not the most exciting chapter, but we're moving forwards. It's also quite a bit different from what was in Marriage.


"England?"

"Yes?" she answered slowly, looking up from her phone.

"We've been invited to a charity event with my boss in a couple of weeks."

"Oh," she said, setting her phone down on the counter. She took a moment to adjust to the knowledge that she had been invited due to her marriage. "What sort of event?"

"It's a gala. The schedule isn't set entirely yet, but we might be meeting with a few people beforehand as well. Then we'll ride with my boss to the event."

"Black tie then?" she asked.

He turned off the stove before answering. "Yes."

"That's what I forgot."

"What is?" he asked as he started on the last round of preparations for their meal.

"When I packed to come here, I forgot to bring any of my formal dresses. None of the shoes I brought are particularly nice either."

"We can get you some."

"We'll have to do it this weekend then in order to have it tailored in time because of my height."

"I think we can do that."

"Anything else you'd like to spring on me?" she asked, tucking her phone away as he served their meal.

"No, but I do know a boutique we can go to for your dress. They'll be able to tailor it as well."

"That's fortunate. You might have to translate everything for me."

"I can do that, but it would be easier in the long term if you learned Russian."

"How about you tell me what sort of charity this event is for?" she asked, taking a bite of her meal. She had almost become used to having a well cooked meal for every dinner.

"It's the usual sort of thing that makes you look good in politics," he started. He spent the rest of dinner explaining the event and giving her whatever details she asked for. It came out sounding more like a chance for politicians to make a few maneuvers rather than a chance to give to and promote charity. It didn't surprise her in the slightest.

"It's going to be a long evening," he warned her.

"I've been to these types of things before," she shrugged. "There's going to be dinner and discussions and dancing and alcohol."

"Yes, but we might be invited to an after party."

"With who?"

He shrugged. "Usually an oligarch. It's an easy way to keep contact with them. They're also usually drunk enough to say what they're thinking by then."

"How much do they drink?"

He titled his head. "A lot."

"Does a bear make them?"

He chuckled. "Not anymore. You should be happy about that."

"I am. I don't plan on drinking that much."

He raised his brows. "You are a lightweight."

"I am not," she retorted.

"Yes, you are. You'll have to be careful or else you might drink more than you realize."

"I'll be fine. I've been to balls here before."

"You haven't been to the after parties."

"It'll be fine," she promised, getting down from her seat. She brought her plate over to the sink. "So what's the plan for the boutique? We'll just go Saturday?"

"Yes," he said, getting up.

"Alright, hopefully it will go well. I don't like spending forever picking out clothes."

He nodded as he moved past her to rinse his plate. "Do you want to do something tonight?"

"What?" she asked, looking towards the clock.

"I mean together, like watch a movie?" he asked, tucking his hands into his pockets. "We eat together, but we don't really do anything else."

"I guess, yeah, we can watch a movie," she said, rocking on her feet. "What movies do you have?"

"In English?" he asked. "Probably not much."

"We'll just have to look then,"

"Follow me," he said, leaving the kitchen for the sitting room. He opened up a cabinet with movies lining its shelves. "Some of these have English dubbing. What genre are you interested in?"

She shrugged. "Just pick something light and happy."

"Light and happy?" he laughed. "What sort of movie is that?"

"One I want to watch. Do you have one or not?"

"I'll try and find something like that," he promised as he crouched down to look at the cases lower down.

"I'll be on the couch," she said, taking a seat at the end.

After a few more moments, he pulled out a movie. "Let's try this," he said, putting in the movie.

"Okay," she said as he took a seat in the middle of the couch. He changed the settings to English and started the movie. They made it five minutes.

"That is terrible dubbing," England said, trying not to laugh at the face Russia was making. "Just switch it back and put on English subtitles."

"Yeah, let's just do that," he said, quickly making the adjustment.

England didn't find the movie very intriguing, but it wasn't bad. She found Russia at least as interesting as the movie. She watched out of the corner of her eye as he slowly relaxed. He stretched his legs out first, keeping them crossed at the ankle. Then, he laid his arms across the back of the couch. She couldn't help but be aware of how close his hand was to her shoulder. She didn't relax at all for the duration of the movie.

"How did you like the movie?" he asked as the credits began to roll.

She shrugged. "It was alright."

"It's not one of the better ones." He said, getting up and stretching.

"That's okay."

"Are you ready for bed?"

"Definitely," she said, getting up and heading for the stairs. Russia followed behind her after turning off the entertainment system. She readied for bed as she usually did in the hall bath. She found Russia in bed once she made it into the master bedroom. She crawled into bed and as soon as she was settled, Russia wrapped his arm around her waist. She couldn't help but relax into his warmth.

"You're a lot softer at night," Russia muttered.

"What does that mean?" she asked.

"Nothing," he said with a sigh.

"If you say so," she said, adjusting her pillow.


"Are you alright?" Russia asked, not entirely concealing his smile as he parked the car.

England looked over to him with wide eyes. "No, why the hell would I be?"

"It was just a drive into town," he said, shifting in his seat to face her.

"What part of that entitles just a drive into town?" she asked. "The part where you nearly got us killed?"

"We wouldn't have died."

"Only because we're not human,"

"There was plenty of space,"

She glared at him, but he shrugged it off. "We're here and we're on time," he said, pulling her hand loose from its white knuckle grip on the armrest.

"Do not drive like that on the way back," she warned, pointing a shaking finger at him.

"It's how everyone drives. There's no other way back,"

"Ugh," she pulled her hand from his. "Let's go then."

They both got out of the car, but England had to stretch her fingers after the death grip she'd had them in for at least the last fifteen minutes of the ride. She followed Russia onto the sidewalk, trying to keep up with his longer strides. "Could you slow down?" she asked, jogging to catch up to him. "Or is there some rush I wasn't aware of?"

"No, I was walking normally."

"That might be true, but you're outpacing me."

"I'll walk slower."

"Thank you," she said, taking a deep breath then releasing it in a short sigh.

"We've only got the block to go to reach the boutique," he said, pointing in the direction they were headed.

"That's good. Lead the way," she said, gesturing for him to continue. He nodded and kept his promise. He walked slowly enough for her to keep up until they reached the boutique.

"Where did you say you heard of this place?" she asked when faced with the rather unimpressive front of the store.

"Several politicians said they got their dresses here," he answered as he pulled open the door. The interior looked as understated as the front, but meticulously clean and very well lit. A woman immediately came from behind the counter to greet them in Russian. Russia responded as England hoped to glean what she could from body language.

The woman turned and motioned for them to follower her. She lead them through a door into a larger spaced lined with dresses organized by color and style. The woman turned back to them and spoke directly to England.

"I'm sorry. I don't speak Russian," England said, offering her a polite smile.

"It's not a problem," the woman said, immediately switching to accented English. "Do you know what you're looking for?"

"Not in particular, but I prefer richer colors and styles that better suit my height," she explained, intending to add details when she found a preference for them.

"Alright, I can bring you a few dresses to try out to start with," she said, nodding once before moving to choose dresses.

"No theme, right?" England asked Russia.

"No,"

"Would you like to match?"

"We don't have to,"

"That doesn't really help narrow choices. I wore green to the last event so I'll wear something else this time."

"The last event? I remember you wearing white," he said, giving her a look.

She rolled her eyes. "Aside from our wedding."

He said nothing more as the woman returned with three dresses and to lead England to a dressing room. "Just call if you need anything," the woman told her as she handed over the dresses.

England first tried on a dress a shade too red to be orange. It had ruffles down the side, and they rubbed against her arm and looked off in the mirror. She took the dress off without even leaving the dressing room. She pulled on a navy blue dress and left the dressing room with it on. It had a simple halter top, empire waist, and a-line skirt that would make it easy to shorten.

"What do you think of this?" she asked Russia while lifting the hem. "Once it's shortened."

He looked the dress over. He shrugged. "It's alright."

"It's a little plain," she said in agreement. She turned back to the dressing room. The lady brought her another dress once England had gotten out of the blue one. By the time England had gotten herself into a pink dress, she heard another group come in; chattering away in Russian. She went to show Russia the pink dress and received the same nonplussed reaction. She set it aside in the dressing room to consider later anyways.

When the woman helping them came back with two more dresses for England to try on, England asked, "Could you find a dress that's creative with the style or just a little unusual? Not like wild patterns, but something with a neat detail?"

"Like this?" the woman asked, turning around an aqua dress to reveal lacing in the back.

"Yes, something similar to that," she said, nodding. She caught Russia giving her a wary glance, and she tried to remember if she'd worn a daring dress around him before. She went through three of four more dresses, feeling like each one was getting closer to what she wanted. Russia seemed a little more enthusiastic about those dresses, but in a manner than came across as rushed.

"Try this one," the woman said, handing England another dress. England didn't consider the dress' royal purple color an early summer color and questioned why she had been brought a dress that looked so austere. It seemed Victorian inspired with a neckline to match a turtleneck and a nearly straight torso section. The lack of sleeves didn't seem like much of a twist on the style. She turned the dress around to find the zipper and discovered the reason it had been given to her.

She couldn't help but smirk as she pulled on the floor length dress. She found that the soft material the dress was made of also had a trick to it. It hung, or maybe formed itself, in a manner that imitated the appearance of wearing a corset. "I think this is the one," she told Russia as she left the dressing room.

"Really? I thought you said you didn't want a plain dress," he said, eyeing her dress suspiciously.

"It's not really plain at all," she said, stepping up to stand in front of the three way mirror. She watched the shock appear on his face in the mirror at the sight of her back. An oval had been cut from the back of the dress from the bottom of her neck down to the small of her back, and it still kept its form.

"Is this what you want?" the woman asked. England nodded enthusiastically.

"We'll have to get you a shawl next," Russia said, turning for a moment to look at the half of the other group that had come in that had stopped to stare at England.

"And cover this up?" England asked. She shifted to get a better look at her back and pulled her loose hair over her shoulder to clear the view.

"Why else?"

"I don't know, maybe you've stopped wearing jackets with your suits," she shrugged then turned to face him. "I'm not going to wear a shawl. You never had a problem before."

He muttered something in Russian, but she shrugged it off. The woman stepped up to stand with England in front of the mirror. She went through all the area of the dresses that needed tailoring with England before pinning them into place. She did her work efficiently and delivered the price of the dress. England looked to Russia, and he only shrugged.

She went back into the dressing room to gingerly take off the purple dress and pull her own clothes back on. She found the woman waiting for her when she finished. "Follow me, and I can ring you up," the Russian woman said.

The couple followed her back to the front of the store, and England paid for her dress. "Now it's time to get back into that death trap," England said as she returned to the street with Russia.

"You don't want to stay for lunch?" he asked, gesturing to restaurants farther down the street.

"I don't know. I didn't think about it," she said, brushing back her hair. "Won't it be really expensive?"

"Probably," he answered with a shrug. He began moving towards his car. "We can head back then."

"Alright," she said cautiously. Russia usually stuck stubbornly with something he wanted to do. She made a reminder for herself to check if he might be falling ill.


Hope you liked the chapter. I got chapter 9 finished up, and I'm halfway through 10 so I can just keep moving along. We're getting closer to when the fun happens.

Please review!