Those marred digits ran through that grand black cascade, twirling locks around those knuckles, those joints; Andrei gave a light tug, receiving a complaint.

"Hey…"

"I'm sorry, Ellis." A kiss to that ink-black crown. "Why don't you ever wear your hair down? It's so pretty."

"It always gets in the way." That nude back leaned into that sugared space Andrei had made, arms overtaking her. That anatomy melded into a seat. "I want to play my violin."

"Then go play it."

Ellis tried to get up, but was only pulled into that warm figure and captured, kept a hostage and drowned in a deluge of presses. The muse screamed, kicking those bare legs and attempting to claim her freedom.

Their lips touched and either laughed, relaxing.

"I can't get anything down with you around."

"That's why you love me, isn't it?" Lips swallowed that Austrian-Hungarian whole.

"Yes." Her palms touched to his chest. "You're naked."

"So are you."

"…You're naked."

"Yes I am."

"We're touching."

"Yes we are." Andrei laughed at his doll. "Is that alright?"

"Of course."

Their muscles grew limp, at ease, happiness flowing from them as radiation from the sun. They were harmonious together; a garden built within the soil of hardship and tangled affection.

Hands searched through the woman's ringlets.

The quiet seeped in.

Ellis heard that silence.

"Andrei, do you think I should write to my parents? To tell them we're getting married?"

"Well, I told my mother."

"You did? What did she say?"

"She was happy…" Those sapphires were lidded, blond lashes kissing. "I think mama likes you, Ellis."

"I hope so. Perhaps I should make her more flowers. She likes them, doesn't she?"

"My mother loved flowers. She would have us pick them and put them in the house during the spring. I think, sometimes, she secretly wished we were girls."

Ellis murdered her bliss. "Well, that's alright. I think every woman wants a little girl…Did you truly pick flowers?"

"Yes. Only real men pick flowers. They make soap too. And because they pick flowers and make soap, they smell like perfume."

"I like how you smell. It's nice." A smile upon Andrei's collar. "Do I smell bad? Like throw-up and sterilizer?"

"No, Ellis. You smell good. Did you bathe yet?"

"Yes, I did."

"Why wasn't I invited?"

"You were at work, Любовь."

"Well…Did you go to the hospital today?"

"Only for an hour…You know, your father is doing great, Andrei. He doesn't need so much maintenance any longer. Franz and I only give him medicine once every two weeks now." Ellis kissed her lover's chest. "I told him he doesn't need to pay me so much, but Mr. Braginski said that Franz and I deserved it for making him feel so much better. If he stays like this, he might even go back to work.

"Back to work?"

"Да. Back to work. However, we don't want him to become too stressed and fall ill again. So it will be a little while before that can occur, but we're definitely on the right track."

"Do you know what the disease is yet?"

"No…But I have a theory."

"What is that?"

"His heart was broken. A person can do a lot to themselves mentally. I think it was very hard for him to have no one for so long. Mr. Braginski probably had an illness for a short while, but the depression mixed with the symptoms held on longer than the actual virus."

"Well, that seems possible. It's good that he's feeling better…" Andrei's brows dented. "Dmitri and I will get him into trouble."

"Why do you say that?"

"Those stuck up aristocrats seem to dislike bastard children, don't they?"

"Those stuck up aristocrats don't like anything. It will be scandalous, for a while. But then they'll all get bored and move on to something else. They always do. I can remember my parents gossiping about something stupid every once in a while. But they never kept the same interest for very long."

"I see."

"You could even say that you were his long-lost son. It's not necessarily a lie."

"No…But how do you lose something you never even knew you had? That's alright. If he doesn't want us around any longer, we'll just leave. Dmitri and I have two homes."

"Of course he wants you. Mr. Braginski loves you, Andrei. I don't think he would trade his sons for anything. He let you remain here in the first place, didn't he?"

"Yes, he did."

"Then you have nothing to worry about."

"I'm not worried about myself. I'm more concerned about him."

"Well…You don't have to worry about anything at all. Mr. Braginski is too kind to be in any real trouble."

"I suppose so."

Relaxation.

"I'm going to sleep, darling."

"I am too…" Ellis lidded her vision, laughing. "We end a lot of nights this way."

"Yes, we do."

And either fell unconscious.