Sunday morning crept through Anya's bedroom window. Cathedral bells clanged outside and traffic rolled on as usual, interrupted only by car horns and screeching breaks. The sun caught a cut crystal dangling from the window above the headboard, which created beautiful rainbow prisms that danced all over the room. Olivia didn't remember falling back to sleep, but she remembered being woken up. She felt little impressions in the bed at some point in the night, but was so tired that she didn't open her eyes to see what Anya was doing. When she woke, she felt a small unfamiliar object beside her arm and as soon as the sun broke through the window, it started to purr. Olivia tentatively opened her eyes and was immediately caught in a staring contest with a poor and sad one-eyed cat. She wasn't sure if the cat was friendly or not, being that it looked like it had seen better days, so she reached around it to nudge Anya awake.
"Anya," Olivia whispered, keeping her eyes on the purring gray cat.
She inhaled deeply as she awakened to the sound of Olivia's voice. The cat let out a frustrated meow as Anya rolled over in the bed to face Olivia. "Oh, good morning, Katka." She smiled, petting her cat. "I'm sorry, Olivia, did she wake you?" She reached under the cat's belly, picked her up (much to her dismay), and put her on the floor.
"Yeah, but I should probably get up anyway." Olivia said, sitting up in bed and leaning back against the headboard.
"So you were able to go back to sleep?" Anya asked, yawning, then looking up at Olivia, who was trying to flatten her very tousled hair. Olivia nodded. "Good. Can I make you some breakfast before you go?" Anya asked, sitting up next to Olivia. "Or do not have the time?"
Olivia thought about her offer for a minute. She didn't technically have to go anywhere, but wasn't sure if staying for breakfast was moving too fast with Anya or not. She liked the idea of having breakfast, but was not looking for a relationship with Anya and if she stayed, she was certain that it would leave that impression with the woman. Before Olivia was able to voice her decision, Anya's cat jumped back onto the bed with a trilling meow and started pacing back and forth between the two of them, meowing.
"I didn't know you had a cat." Olivia stated. "Why didn't I see it last night?""Because you were a little more than distracted, Olivia." Anya joked with the other woman. Olivia laughed and bit her lip, dropping her head down against her chest admitting she was right. "Actually, Katka doesn't usually come out when strangers are here." She said beginning to pet the cat in order to stop her from pacing all over the bed and potentially getting on Olivia's nerves. "She's a little paranoid and rightfully so. She was abused in her former life." Anya looked sympathetically at her sad little cat, scratching her behind the ears.
"Do you know her story?" Olivia asked, patting the cat's back.
"No," Anya said, "I didn't really want to know. I just knew it was bad and that was enough." She gave the cat a scratch under the chin. "But we're okay now, right?" She said to the cat. Olivia thought it was strange that she used the word "we". Had Anya been in an abusive situation too, or was she just saying that to be endearing with the cat? She thought it best not to ask.
The cat meowed loudly again, staring right at Olivia. "I think she's hungry." Olivia acknowledged.
Anya rolled out of bed and the silver cat immediately took off, bounding playfully out of the room. Anya went to her closet to tie a lavender robe around herself. "Oh, she's definitely begging for her breakfast. It's a bad habit that I can't seem to get her out of." Anya said, taking a glance in the mirror at her dresser and running her hands through her hair. "Poor thing. I've had her two years now and she still thinks that every meal will be her last." Anya emerged from the closet with a second robe over her arm. "Speaking of…are you staying for breakfast?" Against what Olivia thought was her better judgment, she nodded a "yes" to Anya as she got out of bed. Anya tossed a blue robe to Olivia to wear over her t-shirt. Anya passed Olivia on her way to the bathroom and gave Olivia a quick kiss, "Good."
While Olivia was washing her face and brushing her teeth with a toothbrush that Anya had set out for her, Anya went out to the kitchen to feed Katka. After Katka was satisfied and quiet, Anya went to the refrigerator to pull out some items to make breakfast for herself and for Olivia. She was pleased that Olivia had decided to stay for the morning, although she had expected her to leave. Olivia soon came into the kitchen and had a seat in one of the bar stools.
"Can I help with anything?" Olivia asked, feeling restless and wanting to do something with herself.
"No." Anya said, organizing two eggs, a couple of pieces of bread, some bacon and other items out on the counter so she could manage all of the tasks at once. "Actually, would you mind getting the paper for me? It should be just outside the door."
Olivia got up and went to the front door to pick up Anya's copy of the Sunday Times. I should be really uncomfortable about being here this morning and maybe I am a little bit, but whatever this is…it's kind of nice. Olivia thought to herself.
"I assume you want coffee, Olivia?" Anya asked from across the apartment, interrupting Olivia's thoughts.
"Yes, please." Olivia called back, closing the front door as she came back in with the paper. The fact that I am here this morning means something. I've only gone out with her a handful of times, but I'm going to be sharing a Sunday breakfast with this woman. She hasn't even mentioned last night. I think we need to talk about it, but maybe we don't. Maybe she doesn't need to talk about it, but I think I need to talk about it.
When Olivia came back to the kitchen, there were two pans on the stove sizzling with oil and a kettle of water warming up. She sat at the bar again, pulling the paper out of it's plastic wrapper to look at the headlines, which were never pleasant. Anya leaned over the bar, gave Olivia another kiss, and thanked her for getting the paper.
"I'll have to pick up a Post on the way to the studio this afternoon." Anya said, dropping an egg into the simmering water to poach them.
Olivia furrowed her eyebrows. "You read the Post?" She was surprised; given that her other political magazines were fairly liberal.
"Of course. First of all, it's usually only 25 cents. And second, I never actually get to read the Sunday Times on a Sunday because I always have to work. I read it on Monday, but I want to be current, so I pick up the Post." She dropped a few pieces of bacon into the skillet and removed the eggs from the boiling water. "It of course ticks me off to read it because the opinions in that paper are just ridiculous, but…it gives me more perspective, I guess." The coffeepot started to gurgle as the black liquid seeped down into the carafe. "By the way, I hope you like really strong coffee. I'm not very fond of coffee to be honest and never drink it, but my father brings his own over here so he can have it when he's here watching Katka when I'm out of town. It's really, really strong."
"Actually, I prefer it that way." Olivia said simply. She got up. She couldn't not help Anya, so she picked up the pieces of bread and dropped them into the toaster for her. Such a trivial task, but at least it was something. Olivia was curious to know more about Anya so she asked if she was close to her father.
Anya nodded as she split up the bacon and poured the pieces onto two plates. "Very." When the toast shot up, she used a fork to put the poached eggs onto the toast. Olivia took the plates over to the kitchen table. She turned around to get her coffee, but Anya stopped her telling her to sit down and that she'd get it for her. She prepared Olivia's coffee to her liking, and when the teakettle whistled, she made her tea before joining Olivia at the small table.
"Thanks for breakfast." Olivia said, looking up at Anya. She looked beautiful, even without a touch of make up or even brushing her hair.
"You're welcome. Thank you for not leaving in the middle of the night." Anya said with a smirk.
Olivia gave her a crooked smile back as she cut into the toast with her fork. "So I assume your dad lives here in New York?" Olivia asked.
"Yes, he's lived in Brooklyn his whole life. He loves it there. Only crosses the bridge to come and see me. I love Brooklyn too, but it's much more convenient for me to live here."
"So you were raised in Brooklyn. What part?" Olivia wondered. She had been raised in Manhattan. It was a relief to know that they didn't have to have a conversation about the night before. Obviously, it was a good time and Anya didn't feel the need to go into it so Olivia eased her mind and let the questions go away for the time being.
"Brighton Beach, but I was born in Russia and spent the first six years of my life there."
Olivia was trying to figure out the math in her head, but was unsuccessful and didn't want to assume anything, so she decided to just keep asking questions. "So your mother is in Russia?"
"I would assume so, but I don't really know." Anya admitted, taking a sip of her tea. "I don't know who my birth parents are and I quite frankly don't care to know." Anya looked up to gauge Olivia's reaction. It was true that she didn't know Olivia very well, but she also wasn't the type to hide her answers if asked. "The man who I know as my father adopted me. His wife passed away shortly after I arrived in America, so I didn't know her and don't consider her to have been my mother. She was unable to have children, which is why they brought me over from Russian. They are both Russian, so they naturally wanted a Russian child."
"No wonder you are close then." Olivia said.
As she thought about Anya's upbringing, she couldn't help but notice that she shared certain circumstantial similarities. Anya didn't know either of her birth parents and was only raised by one. Olivia was curious about the first six years of her life in Russia, wondering what kind of hell, if any, she went through growing up in foster or orphanage care. She was well aware of what the stereotypes were for children raised in Russia under those circumstances. She remembered her comment earlier about abuse to her cat, but didn't want to bring up any painful subjects. Anya revealed quite a chunk about herself as it was. She wanted her time with Anya to be without strife because the rest of her life was filled with so much of it. It frustrated Olivia that Anya's life wasn't as picture perfect as it had originally seemed, but it also made the woman more real to her. It perhaps explained why she had such an honest and "take it or leave it" attitude.
"So what does he do?" Olivia asked, taking a last bite of her eggs and toast before picking up her bacon with her fingertips to eat.
"He owns a restaurant. He spends almost every waking hour there too, although I wish he wouldn't." Anya said, rolling her eyes.
"Is it very traditional?" Olivia asked, taking her and Anya's empty plates to the sink. Despite the variety of cuisines available to her by living in New York, she wasn't entirely familiar with Russian or Slavic food in general. Chinese take-out was the preferred cuisine at her precinct and ultimately, what she ended up eating a lot of the time.
"Oh yes." Anya affirmed. "The menu is entirely in Russian, which I think was a poor choice on his part." She got up to help Olivia with the dishes. "Very exclusive to others, you know? But, he's been in business since before I came to this country, and it's a neighborhood favorite, so what do I know?" Anya stood away from the sink, leaning against the counter, allowing Olivia space to wash the dishes after Olivia wouldn't move aside to let her help. "What about you, Olivia?"
Olivia laughed, nervously. "What do you mean?""I mean…are you close to your father?" Anya asked. Olivia's hands slipped and a dish nearly fell out of her hands and into the sink. She managed to catch it, but she set it down and turned to walk away from Anya with the intent of avoiding the question. Anya noticed how shaken the woman was by what she had thought was an innocent question, and grabbed her hand to stop her. "Olivia." Anya whispered. "I didn't mean to pinched a nerve. You don't have to tell me. I'm sorry."
Olivia turned to Anya and nodded her head, giving Anya a strained smile, "I know you didn't mean anything." Anya ran her soapy fingers through Olivia's hair, and brushed her thumb around the edge of her face, bringing her chin up to meet Olivia's lips with a kiss. Olivia graciously accepted the woman's mouth and extended it by pulling her closer. Olivia was always trying to keep her violent impulses at bay, constantly questioning whether her own genetics brought on such intense reactions in certain situations. After Anya had brought up the one subject Olivia dared not to tread upon with anyone, she felt she had to work harder in order to hold back certain dark urges within herself.
Anya opened her lips slightly and only for a second, before curling them around Olivia's. Olivia felt compelled to be inside of Anya again and pushed her tongue into the exotic woman's mouth, playfully teasing the inner flesh. She took hold of Anya's hips and lifted her effortlessly from the floor and sat her down on the counter with her legs dangling over on either side of Olivia's hips.
As Olivia kissed her, Anya held Olivia's head in her hands, scratching the back of her neck and pulling her closer. Olivia brought her hands down to the cotton rope that held the woman's robe closed and loosened it enough to allow her hands to enter and touch Anya. She still wore the silver satin lingerie and touching it was almost like touching Anya herself. Olivia massaged the woman's breast under the lacey bodice but then moved her hand slowly down the side of her body as Anya softly moaned into Olivia's mouth. Olivia's lips moved to Anya's neck and kissed it as her hand traveled south.
"As much as I would love to see where this is going" Anya began, but did not want to finish her thought, though she knew she would have to. Just as Olivia's hand reached the base of the other woman's nightdress and started to lift it to reach between her legs, Anya pulled away. Olivia looked at her as if she'd been left hung out to dry. "I have to get to work." Anya said it as a matter of fact.
Now Olivia was the one with a look of disenchantment in her eyes. She let out a frustrated grunt, and begrudgingly lowered Anya back down to the floor. "Now I know what it feels like, I guess." Knowing she had done the same to countless men.