Not sure when the next update will be, I have a busy run up to Christmas now, plus some family stuff (as I'm sure you all know about and have experienced in your own lives!). But for now, enjoy chapter 38 :)
Don't forget to review ;)
Chapter 38
"How was the date last night?"
"Total snooze fest," Ivan sighed and rested his chin on his upright arm. "I'm telling you, I don't think I've ever met somebody so god damn dull."
I chuckled and shook my head. "How'd you break it to her?"
"I haven't," he paused. "Well not really. I just left her apartment this morning without her knowing. I figured she's get the idea from that."
"Ivan," I groaned at his antics. "Its men like you that give women the impression that all men are pig headed assholes."
"Hey," Ivan said indignantly. "It's her own fault; I made it perfectly clear that all I was interested in was sex. It's not my problem if she was expecting some lovey dovey romantic story to appear just because we slept together…kind of like you and Rose, I guess."
"That's nothing like me and Rose."
Ivan scoffed. "I beg to differ."
"Good morning!" Right on cue, Rose entered the kitchen, stopping our conversation. I fought the urge to roll my eyes at Ivan as he continued to wink at me.
I stood and walked over to her and Luka, who was nestled in her arms, slapping Ivan across the head as I did.
"Morning," I pecked her lips and took Luka into my own arms. "Is he hungry?"
"Nah, I fed him at half six. He's just a little cranky today, isn't that right, bubs?"
Rose flung her hair up into a messy bun and lay her head dramatically onto the countertop.
"How about you? Are you hungry?" I asked her, bouncing Luka in my arms.
"I could go for some of your mom's pancakes, which she told me she was going to make this morning."
"Olena's making pancakes!" Ivan piped up. "Damn, why did I have to go to work today?"
"Because that's what normal adults do," I answered. "See you later, Roza." She stretched her head upwards and kissed me.
"Good luck with work," she smiled. "Try not to be home too late."
"I'll try. Come on, Ivan."
I slapped him on the back and led the way outside to my car.
RPOV
Ivan and Dimitri left the house; causing Luka to kick up a fuss.
"Ssh…" I whispered, bringing his head up to rest on my shoulder. "Dada will be home later on."
My soothing didn't help.
"Oh dear, someone's not happy," Busy Olena bustled into the kitchen, apron already on. I handed my grouchy baby to her as she held her arms for him.
"Come here, sweetheart," she cooed. "What's the matter?" I watched the cute seen happily as she gently moved him and back and forth, all the while murmuring comforting words…much like Dimitri did.
"He didn't sleep very well," I told her. "I think he's just tired."
"Hang on a second," Olena left the room, leaving me to my own thoughts and my crying baby. She returned not a minute later. "Here you go. He'll like this; Paul and Zoya both did." She shook out a baby play mat and laid it carefully on the carpeted floor. It was pretty sunshine yellow in colour, and had multiple dangling items from the top of it. I lay Luka down in the middle of it, relieved to see that he had actually stopped crying in order to gaze up at the seemingly odd devices hanging above him.
"I heard baby Luka crying," Paul peeked into the room and whispered. "Is he upset?"
"He's just a little grumpy today because he didn't get enough sleep," Olena bent down and explained to him. "You know like how Zoya gets sometimes?" Paul nodded his head in understanding.
"Do you want to help me make pancakes?" He again nodded his head, this time enthusiastically.
"I have an idea," he announced suddenly, then proceeded to hurry from the room. He returned a couple of minutes later; with the teddy monkey he and Ivan had bought on the day Luka had been born. "Will this make him feel better?"
"Why don't you find out?" I suggested, unable to prevent the smile from sliding onto my face as Paul crouched down beside Luka. He held the monkey out and Luka made some grasping movements with his fists. Paul turned to look at me.
"Can he hold things yet? Mama told me he's not strong enough yet."
"Not quite," I told him and slid from the stool I had been seated on. "But if you put it…" I rested the toy on Luka's full belly so that he could grab it easily. "…there, he'll be able to see it properly."
Olena, Paul and I watched with interest as Luka's expression turned to concentration. His small fingers toyed with the tail of the monkey.
"I think he likes it," Paul whispered loudly. Right on cue, Luka left out the most beautiful laugh. I gasped at the exact same time that Olena clapped her hands over her mouth.
"Oh my god, he laughed!" She clapped excitedly and hugged me. "He laughed, Rose! Call Dimitri!"
I had just grabbed my phone and began dialling his number when I recalled something. "He'll still be driving," I hung up the phone, feeling a little disappointed. That feeling went away when I saw that Luka was looking very happy with himself.
"Who's a clever baby?" I crawled into the tight space so that I was hovering over him and placed a kiss on his nose…to which he also found hilarious. I grinned.
"I heard squealing," Viktoria pushed through kitchen door. "What's going on?"
"Oh Vika, listen!" Olena dapped at her eyes. I leant down and brushed my lips against Luka's nose; causing him to let out a fresh round of giggles.
"I think that may be the cutest sound I ever heard," Viktoria said in awe. "Can I try?"
Once the moment had passed, I watched Vika play with Luka while Paul and I helped Olena with the pancakes. I couldn't wait for Dimitri to hear his beautiful laugh; I could listen to it all day.
"So, Rose, what are you guys going to do for Dimitri's birthday?"
Shit. I'd forgotten his birthday was right around the corner from Thanksgiving.
"I'm not really sure yet," I answered honestly. "We'll probably be back in New York by then so we'll just go out to dinner or something. We can save the big party for his 30th," I joked.
"Mama'll probably start planning it the day after he turns 28," Vika laughed. "She's only got about two years to plan it."
"Hey, when my baby boys turns 30 we're going to go all out," Olena defended, making Vika and I start to laugh.
"Rose! Vika! Get your butts out here, it's time to go!" Sonya arrived at the doorway, Karolina at her side grinning. I looked to Viktoria to see if she knew what they were talking about, but she looked equally confused.
"Where are we going?" she asked them, pulling herself up from the ground beside Luka.
"We," Karolina came forward and linked her arms through mine and Viktoria's. "Are going to the spa for the day." She looked at me. "Dimka told us you've been feeling down and we figured you could really use some girl time."
I was unable to suppress the absolute delight I felt with this plan, but my eyes fell on Luka.
"I can't leave him, and it's not really a good idea for me to bring him with me. You guys go ahead, it's ok."
"Nonsense!" Olena protested. "I'm minding the kids today – one more isn't a problem. Not to mention when you go back to New York I won't get to see my grandbaby every day, so I'll take every moment here I can get!"
"Are you sure?" I checked, feeling guilty. "I mean, he can be a handful sometimes; I can't even imagine what it'd be like to have two others to look after."
"Rose, I've raised four babies before," she reminded me, pulling my hair over my right shoulder. "As well as helped with two grandbabies; I can handle it." She pulled me into a tight embrace, and then pushed me towards her daughters. "Now off you go – all of you. And have fun!"
We were in the car – Karo was driving – and Sonya and Vika were filling me in on this supposed 'amazing' spa.
"It's got this amazing mud bath room!" Vika was sighing at the mere thought of it. "Every part of it's tiled and it's really dark except for the hundreds of candles they light all over the place. It's beautiful!"
"And so relaxing!" Sonya added.
"I can't wait," Viktoria clapped. "It's been so long since we've had a sister's day out! And now there are four of us!"
I wanted to cry at the seemingly effortless insinuation. Viktoria – as well as the other two who nodded – seemed to have already decided I was one of them, despite not being related by blood or marriage. Well, yet anyway. But I was happy that they had already accepted me so openly and willingly into the Belikova sisters.
DPOV
Three dull 'thuds' rang out as my knuckles wrapped hard against the pretty wooden door. I studied the seemingly nice neighbourhood I was standing in the middle of as I waited for someone to answer the door.
I didn't have to wait long before they did.
The door swung open, revealing a little girl. Her blonde curls fell over her shoulder as she tilted her head at me.
"Who are you, mister?"
"My name's Dimitri. Is your mommy around?"
"Yeah, she's right in he-"
"Sophia!" Another voice shouted from further inside the house. "What have I told you about opening the door!"
"Sorry mommy," Sophia shrank behind her mother's figure, knowing that she was in trouble.
"Go into the kitchen please," the young girl's mother told her. She looked back at me.
"Can I help you?" Although wearing a flour covered apron and her hair slightly askew, I could tell this woman wasn't very old – 30 at the most.
"Hello," I greeted her formally and took out my badge. "My name's Dimitri Belikov. I'm with the FBI. Are you Galina Dolan?"
"Yes," she replied hesitantly, looking quite frankly a little scared. "Is everything alright?"
"Everything's fine, ma'am. I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions."
Honestly, Galina looked as though she wanted to shut the door in my face. But instead, she opened the door wider and gestured for me to come in. She led me into the kitchen, where her daughter was playing with a pink toy oven. Studying her features – her blonde curls, her grey eyes – I could tell she was her mother's daughter, but there was still something vaguely familiar about her.
"Here, have a seat. Would you like a drink?" Galina asked me, drawing my attention back to her. "Water? Tea? Coffee?"
"A glass of water would be great, thank you," I replied, sitting down on the tall stool by the island unit.
I waited until she had gotten a glass of water for me, as well as one for herself; which her fingers twisted and turned with nerves.
"I've never had an FBI agent in my house before," she chuckled nervously then stopped. "Well, not one that was on duty, but…nevermind. Is everything ok, Mr Belikov?"
"Everything's fine," I assured her, wanting to calm her. "How has your day been?"
She looked a little taken aback by my question; perhaps she hadn't expected the easy going nature of these questions. There was no reason for her to be so nervous; and though this was no social visit, this woman hadn't done anything wrong and there would be no need for me to be so formal.
"Good," she recovered from her brief surprise. "Busy, but good. Sophia and I were just making cookies."
"Sorry for the interruption," I smiled at the little girl who was whispering to the doll she was holding. "She's a gorgeous child."
Galina's face broke into a smile and she thanked me.
"She's my pride and joy," she told me, gazing at her five year old.
"I know what you mean." She looked at me then.
"Have you got any yourself?"
"Just one, but he's my life."
"Aw, how old is he?"
"Four and a half months," I answered, feeling tempted to pull out the picture of my baby boy I kept in my wallet and show her…but I had to remember why I was here.
"Oh, that's such a cute age! Once you get the sleeping pattern sorted it gets a lot easier. Sophia was great when she was first born – I feel like I was one of the luckier ones! Getting up in the middle of the night is not something anybody would want to see!" She joked and I chuckled.
"She's actually half of the reason I'm here," I told the young mother. Her joking manner disappeared immediately. "There's no reason to panic. You stayed in the South West hospital for four days in September of five years ago, is that right?"
"Yes," she told me, nodding her head for extra emphasis. "That was the time I went in to have Sophia."
"Well, the reason I'm here is because the official record of your stay, as well as your daughter's birth certificate were stolen from the hospital a couple of weeks ago." Galina's brows furrowed. "Do you know of anybody that would possibly want these records and why?"
"No," she replied, her face thoughtful but dark. "Not that I can think of." I sighed, feeling deflated. Still no leads…
"But what does this mean?" she asked me. "Is Sophia in danger? Am I?"
"I wish I could tell you that, Ms Dolan, I do. But unfortunately, I have no more information on the subject than you do. For now, forget about it. Just keep on living and doing all of the same things, but keep a sharp eye out for another unusual." She nodded and looked at her daughter.
"I can't let anything happen to her. I won't be able to survive it if something happened."
"Nothing's going to happen," I reassured her. "I will get to the bottom of this."
"Thank you, Dimitri." She smiled, still looking worried.
I was just about to leave when a thought occurred to me.
"Is your daughter's father in the picture, ma'am?" Galina looked a little startled.
"Eh, no. Not really, anyway. Why do you ask?"
"Is it possible that he would have done something like this?" I questioned.
"I- oh god no! Most definitely not. He's an agent, like you. And very sweet. Sophia was…unexpected. It took a little while but eventually, he was very happy to hear I was expecting her. He still contacts me for updates and sends some financial support. Believe me, he wouldn't ever do something like this."
"Ok. I'd still like to contact him and talk to him about this whole situation. Perhaps he might be able to enlighten us some more. Could you give me his name?"
"Of course," she smiled. "His name is Hans Steele."