AN: Magazine cover with Lena is posted on the tumblr page for Absolution and Forever & Always from this chapter as well as current photo of Nadia.
Music for this chapter (on repeat): I Love You (BT Mix) by Sarah McLachlan, I Only Have Eyes For You by The Flamingos, A Thousand Years-Part II. by Christina Perry, The First Kiss by George Fenton, Armageddon Piano by Trevor Rabin, I'm Alive by Celine Dion, Everytime We Touch by Cascada, Young Hearts Run Free (remix) by Kym Mazelle from Romeo & Juliet Soundtrack.
FIFTY-TWO
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When Lena couldn't stop smiling at breakfast the following morning and kissed everyone good morning with a radiant glow, humming to herself as she spread cream cheese on her bagel and happier than they'd seen her in a very long time, Dmitri's eyes flashed to Nicholas who smiled and winked making the older man laugh softly.
"So Lena, are you going to tell us what has you in such a fantastic mood this morning?" Katya asked with hands folded under her chin taking keen interest in the mood change of her niece.
"I was asked out on a date tonight." Lena's smile widened and she literally couldn't stop that only made Jack and Irina's widen as they stared down the table at each other, loving seeing her so happy after so much sadness.
"Oh real-ly," Sydney's voice swayed and smiled softly, "And here I thought last night you said you were done with guys for a while? Who is the lucky man that made you change your mind?"
"Antony." Lena's eyes flashed up to her sister's with tight lipped smile so wide it almost hurt and she had to giggle softly seeing the entire table's eyes widen except for her parents, her younger brother and Dmitri who all looked a bit... suspicious, she thought, though extremely happy for her.
As they were eating breakfast and laughing, Lena came to another realization listening to her mother and father tell more stories about when they'd first met, talking about how she was Lena's age; with her mother sharing her thoughts on what she first thought about America and Jack and his thoughts about her that had them all laughing.
Lena realized listening to her mother, that she was not only the age that her mother was when she had met her father, but that she was now the same age as her mother, the last time she ever saw her own mother, Babushka Anya… having never returned to Russia after she left and when she finally did return years later, her mother, Anastasia had been murdered.
Lena's heart dropped into her stomach suddenly, looking over at her mother and trying to imagine what that would be like, at her age and having this be the last time she'd ever see her mother or hear her voice and tears immediately began to form in her eyes with a shiver running through her.
Irina was laughing and smiling at Jack's story and it was Katya who noticed the silent tears running from Lena's eyes first as she sat staring at her mother.
"Lena, Darling… what's wrong?" Katya asked quickly with concern as they had all been smiling and laughing and it was clear Lena was somewhere else. She'd no sooner asked the question when Lena stood rapidly and came around the corner of the table to her mother at the end and threw her arms around her neck, holding on tightly causing everyone to share questioning glances at the sudden mood change.
"Sweetheart, what's wrong?" Irina asked returning the hug and stroking her hand down the back of Lena's head with worry in her heart and eyes.
"I just realized you not only met Daddy at this age…" Lena replied quietly speaking over her mother's shoulder and holding her more tightly, "But you never again saw Babushka Anya. You lost your mother at sixteen and I can't imagine never seeing you again or hearing your voice at my age…I just can't imagine losing you, Mama, not when I need you so much. I just had to hold you… I'm so sorry, Mama." She cried softly, thinking about what a gaping hole it would leave in her life and heart if her mother were suddenly ripped from away.
There were instant tears in Katya's eyes at this reminder as well and Marcelo took her hand under the table, swallowing hard at his own first realization of just how young Irina had been when she lost her mother, not just her mother… but her 'family' when he looked at Lena. He'd forget sometimes, that Irina didn't 'lose' Anastasia when they all had in 1981, but years before that when Irina said her last goodbye and moved to America for her mission. Marcelo had only known Anastasia for eight years when she died but that was half as long as Irina had and it was tragic to really come to that realization fully when looking at Irina with Lena now.
Sydney's eyes watered with her own comparison that even with the twenty-one years absent from her life, she now had known her mother longer and had more time with her, than her mother had with her own; realizing yet another new depth and facet as to why her mother was the kind of mother she was. She really did now, not only understand why her mother's, mother and child connection, was so strong and deeply connected within because of losing Sydney after only six years but also because she'd lost her own mother far too early in her life, not enough time with either of them.
The image of a sixteen-year old Irina sitting on the piano bench playing the last of 'Clair de Lune' and joined by Anastasia with the two crying and leaning their heads onto each other in silence just before Irina left for America, resonated in Jack's mind looking at his wife and daughter now, breaking his heart at the amount of loss in Irina's life.
The doorbell rang shortly after Lena's hugging Irina and Dmitri went to answer it; he smiled softly at the blonde haired young man and ushered him inside where Antony paused by the entrance in the foyer.
"Dmitri, I have come to see Lena, and Nicolai and Jaxx of course, but I would like to speak with Her Majesty and His Royal Highness for a moment alone first, please." Antony swallowed hard having never spoken to them alone together since he was five and Irina had come to get him from his hospital room. He'd never been nervous around them, having slept in their bed and all when he was little on more then one occasion, a thought that still made him smile and chuckle, but this was entirely different.
Dmitri looked at him with a curious brow and smiled when he saw his slight nervousness and knew what he wanted to speak to them about and smiled, "Of course, Antony, I'll get them for you right away. Why don't you follow me and you can wait for them in the library?"
Antony nodded and followed quietly, taking a seat on the couch and then moving to the chair when he realized they would probably want to sit there, together and Dmitri couldn't help the chuckle as he left the room.
"Your Majesty," Dmitri smiled and eyes flashing from her to Lena and back, "Someone is here who'd like a private audience with you… the both of you." He nodded at Jack with the same smile.
"Who?" Irina asked with a curious smile seeing Dmitri's even as she stood.
"Mr. Antony Mazzio." Dmitri smiled and shifted his gaze to Lena who looked wide-eyed in surprise and her smile only grew hearing his name and that he was here.
Jack and Irina shared a look of smiling question, both wondering if this was what they thought this was and linked fingers, dropping a kiss each to Lena's head as she turned to watch them go.
"What's he doing?" Jaxx asked Lena with a smile wondering if she knew what Antony was up to.
"I don't know." Lena smiled shaking her head and reaching for her juice.
"I bet I know…" Nicholas smiled across the table at his sister, "He's probably asking if it's alright with them that he takes you out on a date."
The entire table erupted immediately with an, 'awe' and smiles that had Lena blushing madly and unable to tear the smile from her own face.
"Hello," Irina smiled entering the library with Jack closing the door behind them and Antony bolted up from the chair to greet them with smiles. "How are you this morning, Antony?" She asked kissing both his cheeks and taking a seat in front of him.
"Wonderful." Antony answered wearing the same smile they saw on their daughter's face. "Thank you for letting me take you away from your breakfast for just a moment but I couldn't wait any longer and I want to do this right," He paused in his ramble to take a deep breath and calm himself smiling, "So I came over as soon as I could." He blew out the breath exaggeratedly and took another leaning forward with elbows resting on knees, "I care about Lena a great deal… I always have…" He smiled, "And over the last year or so I've come to care for her a great deal more in a different way…" He forced himself to keep looking at them though he was desperate to turn away, wanting to show them how very much this was his truth, "We have both had communication problems in trying to work it out and I think that we finally have," His smile grew seeing they were still looking at him with soft smiles and sat up straight, "Would you please allow me the great honor of courting your daughter Lena?" He asked quietly.
Jack and Irina couldn't help but smile at how formal he was being trying so hard to get it right and wanting them to see he meant what he said and was sincere; already holding Antony in high-esteem and now even higher that he'd come to them and asked permission when he really didn't have to.
Irina turned her head to smile at Jack, already knowing they'd say 'yes' and in their silent communication told him to go ahead and give the young man their answer.
"Yes, Antony you may have the honor." Jack answered softly hating to agree under any circumstance in letting go of his little girl even more but he could think of no one better for Lena and he knew, that Antony was sincere in his regards to caring about Lena and would look out for her as he always had. He gave Antony a small smile and reached out to shake his hand when they stood.
"Thank you, both, so much." Antony smiled widely with excitement feeling a massive relief wash through him, and then sobering, "I promise to always respect her and do what's right by her."
"I know you will. You always have." Irina smiled cupping his face with unshed tears in her eyes and then kissed both of his cheeks again, pulling him in for a hug, "I'm so happy that the two of you worked out your communication problem. I know how difficult and heartbreaking that can be." She added quietly, holding him a bit longer with a smile hoping now that her daughters' days of heartbreak were behind her after so much sadness this last year. "Lena told us earlier that you'd asked her out for tonight. She hasn't stopped smiling all morning." She laughed softly stepping back and watching Antony's face light into another big grin with a bit of shyness.
"I haven't either. Mama clasped my face this morning before I left and asked if I'd started taking drugs." Antony answered quietly laughing with them at his mother's reaction to his mood change. "She said she hadn't seen me smiling that much in my life. She was worried because I'd been so miserable the last year that I resorted to drugs." He shook his head, "When I told her I was smiling because I'd finally asked Lena out and she'd said, yes," He started laughing softly, "She threw her arms around me with a big smile making me dance with her around the kitchen."
Jack and Irina couldn't help but laugh with him thinking about Lana and being able to envision her doing just what he described.
"I can imagine her excitement." Irina smiled with a soft laugh, "Would you like some breakfast? We're just finishing but I can make you something if you're hungry?"
"No thank you, Your Majesty," Antony smiled with his own laugh, "Mama made me a big 'celebratory breakfast' before I came over. She's funny like that." He laughed again with them. "I would however, like to see Lena and everyone else to say 'good morning' before I have to go. I have a lot to do today." He smiled thinking about what he already had planned for tonight… having envisioned his 'first date' with Lena for quite some time.
When they entered the dining room everyone was wearing a raging smile to see him and said their good mornings, watching Lena and Antony intently as the last to greet each other and the females of the group all internally 'awed' when he lifted Lena's hand and gently kissed it with his eyes locked to hers' and then kissed her cheek almost whispering 'good morning.' They were already terribly romantic and way too cute.
*I Love You (BT Remix)*
"So how is it that the two of you finally broke through the barrier of your communication problem?" Irina asked spinning around with sweaty ponytail flying and cracked Lena's staff loudly as the two sparred later in the morning.
"Isabella told me at the club," Lena jumped to avoid the bo her mother swung back and swung her own down trying to knock the legs out from under Irina and missed with Irina rolling over it and away, recovering her attack and landing a good blow to the backs of Lena's thighs making her hiss and throw a dirty look her mother's way, knowing she was pulling her punches and hits but it still hurt like a bitch, "That Antony had broken up with Sonya."
They'd always talked while sparring, having been told many times that in most situations whether in fighting or life, your attention is always split and you need to be able to concentrate fully on both and this was good practice. Once a year they would both go spend weeks with the Samurai monks in Japan at a monastery in the mountains training the mind, body and spirit and had so since Lena was five. Lena was amazing in her skill but still unable to really beat her mother knowing that Irina was always holding back as not to hurt her and it drove Lena crazy that her mother would never 'really' engage.
"And I was so frustrated he didn't tell me… couldn't tell me because of our situation. Like every time, I was close to him or he, I, we couldn't say what we really wanted to." Lena huffed when she flipped backwards off her bow to get away from her mother's assault, "We ran into each other in the hall by the bathroom." She gritted her teeth and charged forward with a loud cracking of blows as she drove her mother back, "Neither of us wanted to move because we were afraid to even touch each other. There was so much left unsaid between us and I knew we'd end up walking away from each other as we always did…"
"So what did you do?" Irina asked landing another thumping blow to Lena's arm earning another frustrated look to which she smiled, seeing her daughter's focus was all over the place this morning with the change of events with Antony but understanding why, having been in a similar position with Jack. "Don't look at me like that!" She laughed blowing a sweaty curl from her face, "You're the one who's lost her focus… I told you long ago that love was the one thing that really had the power to make you forget everything else around you." She knew from her own experience, trying and training all those years without Jack to keep her mind focused when her love and loss of him kept attempting to drown her.
"How can I forget when you keep thumping me?" Lena spun and concentrated for the moment on solely making bodily contact with her mother at least once and went crazy with a furious attack of ricocheting loud cracks as the two battled.
"I asked you a question and I'm still waiting for the answer." Irina countered with a smile seeing the change in Lena's eyes knowing her daughter was now thinking only of attacking her instead of dividing her focus like she was supposed to be doing knowing at this point she couldn't do both.
"I'll give you the answer as soon as I-" Lena launched forward off her bo planted on the mat and around behind her mother who was already trying to evade the hit spinning towards and away from her and Lena nailed her above the hip in her stomach instead of the ass like she was going for. She smirked wildly at Irina having landed a blow finally knocking her mother back, "Kick your ass."
"But you missed." Irina laughed backing up with the two circling each other again and spinning her bow, "You didn't kick my ass."
"Oh, I will!" Lena laughed back with a feral grin spinning her own bow.
"Story please… you left me hanging with the two of you frozen in the hallway." Irina laughed asking the question right before she moved forward on attack knowing her daughter's mind would be divided in focus in that moment, "You have to be aware that while you're caught up in one mode of thinking and feeling," She threw her with arm extended as she turned and cracked Lena across her ass this time, "Life is continuing on around you. You have to find a way to balance both and not let it consume you."
"Always the professor, aren't you?" Lena smiled wheeling around and escaping the attack to crack her bo across her mother's when Irina foresaw the blow from behind.
Lena knew that there were lessons on being the Tsar mixed in with all this but right now all she wanted to do was kick her mother's butt in such a good mood today though never having done so before, and knew the chances unlikely, she'd still try. "So we were frozen in place and Nadia's voice was ringing through my head of 'keep trying' and so," She huffed and grunted taking a hit and landing one as well, "I decided it was now or never and grabbed his hand," She jumped and rolled, "Drug him into the bathroom and locked the door, pinning him against it."
Irina's eyes widened with a surprised grin at hearing of Lena's forcefulness thinking it sounded like something she would have done and recalling flashbacks to what Antony had said on the balcony about not wanting to 'make love' to Lena in a bathroom for her first time, and Irina's heart really started to pound over what she was going to hear next.
"I see that look in your eyes," Lena smiled with an exhausted laugh working up quite the sweat in this round of sparring, "No, I didn't take him in there with the intention of sleeping with him."
"I didn't say a thing to suggest you did!" Irina smiled with her own deniable laugh, "Not that you would be doing any 'sleeping' anyway…" She laughed more seeing Lena's look, "I was merely curious about the position and location you were both in." She chuckled looking at Lena who was smiling and fingering her own sweaty loose strands of hair behind her ear, "It must have been very… heated." Irina chose her words carefully trying not to laugh, assured in the fact that, nothing in fact, had happened in the bathroom for which she was thoroughly glad. She wanted more for Lena, like Antony, then a bathroom in the heat of the moment for her first time.
"Yes, it was very... heated." Lena laughed springing upwards grabbing hold of one of the ropes hanging from the ceiling and swung around on it away from the wall where her mother had her pinned, "The position was merely so I could press my chest to his… since our mouths couldn't seem to say what we wanted I thought I'd let our hearts try." She smiled drifting off with the memory and lost her focus getting hit across the ass again by her mother.
"Fo-cus." Irina responded with a singsong tone and then laughed seeing Lena's fiery eyes and smile come at her again. "And what did your hearts say?" She asked quietly loving to hear this story and proud of her daughter.
"Everything we wanted but could never say." Lena smiled in response, "We just sort of stood there for a moment… and my eyes went to his lips and the next thing I know," She wildly crossed her arms back and forth fending off the attack from her mother, "He was kissing me and everything seemed fuzzy and clear all at once… like nothing I'd ever felt before." She answered in breathless awe.
Irina was smiling with tears in her eyes knowing exactly how that felt having had the same feeling when Jack kissed her that first night. She slowed her attack and circled her daughter again listening and waiting at the same time to strike. "It was the same way when your father first kissed me… like I was drowning and losing air but saw the shiny object that I just had to have on the bottom of the ocean floor and kept going for it."
"Yes!" Lena smiled nodding that her mother had put it into the perfect terms. "Things got pretty hot pretty quickly after being so long denied and we couldn't seem to get enough of each other in that moment," She threw her bow aside and watched as her mother did the same, finishing this out in hand to hand combat as they always did, ending usually with Lena getting Irina on her back at least once and then being pinned under her in some amazing move her mother pulled from nowhere.
"I know that feeling, too…" Irina snickered waving up and down suggestively pointing to Lena herself, "Ala your conception." She laughed harder when Lena smiled, shaking her head picturing that from the film and realizing, yes, it was the same, 'too long been denied and couldn't get enough of the other.'
"True." Lena laughed again before timing her kick and punch to grab hold of her mother for the first time with the skills of a precision trained ninja. "But Antony stopped and I thought he was rejecting me again and so I left." She spoke softly with a grunt locking her leg around her mother who was over powering her and pulled back hard, upending them both bringing them to the mat where she quickly took over in advantage.
"So that's why he came crawling over the balcony?" Irina smiled and laughed softly catching Lena's surprised eyes and used that momentary lapse in focus to flip them and pin Lena down with knees on her arms and sitting on her chest.
"You saw him? Us?" Lena asked in a breathless grunt trying to get her mother off of her and taking note she didn't seem angry at all to find out Antony was 'almost' sneaking into her room.
"Yes. Your father and I both did. His loud whispers of your name caught our ears through our open doors." Irina laughed taking a breath and wiping her brow secure in the fact she had Lena essentially held in place, "He was quite cute trying to get over the balcony railing."
"Daddy wasn't mad?" Lena couldn't believe what she was hearing; that her father saw him sneaking onto the balcony and did nothing and then later said nothing.
"No. We weren't trying to spy on you its just that… You both remind us so much of ourselves at the same age… it was hard not to get swept up in fascination watching the two of you interact after so long of expecting it." Irina reached down and wiped a sweat soaked strand of hair from Lena's cheek with a smile where she still sat on her perch on Lena's torso, "I am happy to hear that you didn't keep going… and that he respects you and cares for you enough not to want your first time to be in the bathroom of a club."
Lena was slightly dumbfounded, "So everyone has been expecting Antony and I to get together at some point then?" She asked slowing her struggle to give the illusion of defeat knowing this time it was her mother who lost focus and made a misstep. She was now waiting for the time to strike.
"I think so, yes." Irina smiled, "There has always been something special about the two of you together… a certain spark. I'm happy that you finally figured it out… and let your hearts do the talking to break the barrier…and also happy that your heart and mind found a way to focus together, as to not let your heart get carried away and keep going in the bathroom." She laughed softly with yet another point about the balance of things and needing divided focus as to not be consumed with one thing.
Lena used the moment and swung her legs up and back, crossing them over the front of her mother's chest and neck and rapidly forcing her back and to the floor, flipping her torso up with the weight changed and instead landing on her mothers torso where she smiled down at Irina sitting just over her mother's hips and then crashed against her chest with her own tired body. Her ear pressed over her mother's sweaty skin to hear the pounding of her heart. "You lost your focus, Mama." Lena smiled with heaving breath; "You sat too far back on my torso where my legs could get you." She laughed softly and heard her mother laughing with her.
"And here I thought you'd surrendered." Irina laughed with a smile running her fingers over Lena's ponytail with her head on her chest, letting their body's come down from the exertion of the battle.
"I never surrender, Mama. I just lie around and wait for the perfect moment to strike. You taught me that." Lena smiled speaking quietly unable to see her mother's teary-eyed smile of pride, "You also taught me about the complicated language of dialogue spoken between two hearts… thank you for letting Antony and I take the time to figure it out. I know he asked your permission to date me this morning… thank you for saying' 'yes."
"My heart is talking to yours now… what is it saying?" Irina asked with a silent tear rolling into her already sweaty hair with a smile.
Lena was quite a moment listening and feeling and smiled, "You're welcome but you don't really need to thank me… because you love me to the moon and back, more than the stars in Heaven and the grains of sand on Earth… forever and always… and you want the best for me… and anything to make me happy… and you'll always be there to love me and support me in anyway you can." She smiled and then laughed, "Oh… and you're proud of me for not only taking the chance with Antony to let our hearts do the talking… but also for seeing and seizing the opportunity to knock you on your ass."
Lena's laughter rolled around the room echoing off the glass windowed walls when Irina wrapped all her limbs around her like an anaconda and started tickling her to death.
"Okay stop! Please! Mama! I'm not five anymore! You're not supposed to tickle me! This is cheating!" Lena squealed with a mass attack of laughter wiggling wildly trying to get away.
"Do you surrender?" Irina asked with her own raging smile and laughter.
"Never!" Lena screamed and laughed with a jerk when Irina attacked again. "Okay, okay only to you though! Please stop or I'll soak you in more then my sweat!" She threatened and Irina pushed her off with an 'ewww!'
"You've been hanging around with your Godfather Eric too much if you use that tactic." Irina laughed pulling her up.
"Well you're the one who made him pee on himself and also the one who told me that all is fair in love and war!" Lena laughed grabbing her towel and throwing another at her mother along with a bottle of Gatorade.
"Yes, I did." Irina laughed with shoulders shaking and her head doing the same before pulling Lena slowly against her in a tight hug with their own chests pressed together, "I'm glad that our hearts are able to speak so clearly to each other… yours heard everything mine was saying." She smiled thinking about Lena's answer with new tears forming in her eyes and cupped her daughter's face, kissing her lips. "I love you."
"I love you, too." Lena smiled and kissed her back before linking arms and heading off to take showers, "Even the part about you being proud of me for knocking you on your ass? I got that part right too?" She asked as they were walking out and Irina started laughing.
"Yes, even that part, too." Irina kissed her head.
"We should really think about getting better ladders if Daddy and Antony insist upon climbing over our balcony. They're going to get hurt one of these days being so romantic." Lena smiled at her mother who was slightly surprised this time.
"You saw your father climbing over the balcony last summer?" Irina asked with a smile and a laugh as they ascended the enormous marble staircase.
"Romeo! Romeo! Where for art thou Romeo?" Lena recanted dramatically with hand over her chest smiling and teasing.
"Okay, you little smartass." Irina laughed wrapping her arm around Lena in a teasing headlock.
"Just like you!" Lena countered with a laugh and kissed Irina's cheek when she let her go. "We all thought it was terribly romantic."
"We?" Irina asked with a smile.
"Everyone saw you, Mama. Everyone." Lena smiled widely with pride, "No one said anything because we all sort of felt like we were spying but we couldn't resist watching the two of you either… You held your audience captive and we couldn't move until he'd said his final 'goodnight.' It was really beautiful… more so because the two of you had no idea anyone else was watching and it was just the two of you in your own little world… speaking your love for each other and no one else… I love that." She added softly with a raging smile, in love with the way her parents were in love, as Sydney always said.
Irina was completely moved to hear the love, pride and adoration from her daughter for the love she shared with her father.
"I'm glad… because I do love your father… oh so much, do I love your father." She smiled with a sigh thinking about Jack. "It wasn't easy for us either with our hearts communication at times. But eventually we found a way to let go and just let them speak to each other after tearing down the sound proof walls around them. The struggle to get there was worth it."
"And you got the shiny object you were reaching for." Lena smiled remembering her mother's previous analogy. "I'm going to keep swimming towards mine… oxygen be damned." She laughed softly with her mother.
"You'll get there." Irina smiled kissing her forehead just before she split off to her own room. "If you know what you want, go after it with everything you have and don't stop until you get there and once you have it… don't let go."
"I won't." Lena smiled pausing by her own door. "Thank you, Mama. I love being able to talk to you about anything and everything."
"So do I, and you're welcome. Thank you… for sharing." Irina smiled feeling new tears and nodded at her softly before they both disappeared.
Antony and Lena had been dating about a month by July and attending the Air Force Academy daily. Antony lived in a dorm, like everyone else attending while Lena remained at the palace residence. It was best and easiest with her at home for safety concerns as she was the Tsarevicha and Lena didn't mind the arrangement.
On their last date with a parting kiss she'd held his gaze before pulling away and whispered, "I'm ready… when you are. I'm ready." She couldn't wait anymore with the searing heat between them, getting frustrated every time they got carried away with kissing and ended up having to pull away from each other. She didn't want to pull anymore… she wanted him and she knew he wanted her.
Antony's eyes had widened, swallowing hard wanting more then anything now then to be with her but not wanting to rush into anything she wasn't ready for. "Are you sure?" He asked with a choked voice cupping her face gently with one hand and threading her hair over her ear.
"Yes." Lena smiled at him softly, "I want to be with you… I've wanted to for a long time."
So when Antony appeared on her balcony with a smile the next night, her heart began to pound in her chest when he told her to get dressed and come with him. She held his hand after climbing over the balcony railing with her eyes on her parents doors, making certain they were not watching and slipped into the darkness with him.
"Where are we going?" She whispered as they crossed the grounds dodging in and out of the shadows of tree cover under the bright full moon.
"You'll see." He answered with a smile kissing her even as they kept walking. "It's a surprise."
He led her by the hand deep into the massive estate through the droves of colored wild flowers that smelled heavenly and to the ruins of the old chapel that had been mostly destroyed during the Nazi occupation of Alexander.
When they rounded the wall of broken bricks she gasped to see that he had lit hundreds of white candles and placed them all around the enclosure with no roof and moonlight shining brightly down on the space. He'd pushed back the old wooden pews and where the altar once stood and had long since been gone; he had made a nest of pillows and blankets. The entire area was covered in red and white rose petals.
"It's so beautiful." Lena smiled speaking in a whisper wondering how in the world he'd been able to pull all this off. Guards rarely if ever patrolled this far into the grounds and she knew that when they did, it was always during the day so they were safe from being caught.
He smiled happily and tugged on her hand walking with her slowly down the center of the pushed back pews and reached over pressing play on a small portable stereo, and picking up a single rose handing it to her with a kiss and smile.
*I Only Have Eyes For You*
"May I have this dance?" He bowed slightly holding out his hand with a soft laugh and eyes locked to hers. The two were already accomplished dancers with as many balls as they'd been to together in their life and their bodies easily melded together with her hand in his.
"You're so beautiful… especially in the moonlight. It does something to your eyes I've never seen in anyone else." He smiled at her in awe as they swayed together softly amongst the ruins and under the blue hew of the moon. "I'll never get tired of looking into your eyes."
"Nor I into yours." She smiled softly in turn, "I feel like I'm drowning every time you look at me… I can hardly breathe." She added in a whisper with hand reaching up pulling his head towards her softly and kissing him. Their tongues brushing with the briefest of contact and sending a bolt of electricity through them both; his tongue sweeping into her mouth claiming it softly and the heat between them escalated quickly.
"We can slow down if you want to? We have all night… we don't have to rush." He rested his forehead with hers with one hand cupping her face and chests pressed together with pounding hearts.
"I can't wait anymore." Lena kissed him again softly with hand sweeping over his chest and down his sides grasping at the hem of his shirt and pulling it up, stepping back with eyes locked and pulling it all the way off; her eyes drinking in the sight of his chiseled form in the moonlight and smiling softly.
Antony smiled and stepped forward until they were almost touching, his eyes still locked with hers and turning her gently so her back was facing him. He brushed her long dark hair off to one shoulder kissing the bare one gently with hot branding tongue and making her gasp softly while his fingers slowly untied her halter top summer dress from around her neck.
With the straps free the clingy fabric fell slightly down her chest and back and his fingers pushed it slowly down to her hips with knuckles brushing softly down her sides. His mouth began a trail of kisses down her back as he slowly paid worship to every inch of soft flesh exposed to him sliding the dress over her hips and revealing her perfect naked ass for the first time; his eyes widening in slight surprise to see she wasn't wearing any underwear underneath her dress.
His hands were almost trembling as they drug the fabric slowly down her legs not needing to as it would have fallen free to pool at her feet but wanting to touch as much of her as he could; having wanted to touch her for so long. She stepped out of it softly and kicked off her sandals at the same, her heart pounding at being completely naked with a man for the first time in her life and preparing herself to turn around and face him.
Antony swallowed hard taking a large step back from her and watching her head turn to look at him over her shoulder before slowly turning her body to follow and exposing the front view for the first time inch by inch.
His heart was about to explode looking at her for the first time with view unrestricted by bathing suit or any other type of clothing, exposing herself to him completely for the first time; mind, heart, body and soul and he tried to speak but couldn't find his voice; gone along with his breath. "My God…" He finally managed in a hushed whisper with tears forming in his eyes having waited so long for this moment. She was absolutely perfect. "You're the most beautiful thing… I've ever seen." His chest was heaving with ragged breath and eyes locked to hers as he slowly slid his fingers in the waistband of his shorts and pushed them down his legs slowly keeping his eyes with hers and sweeping over her body again when he pushed his boxer briefs down as well, stepping out of them.
*A Thousand Years- Part 2*
Now it was Lena's turn for her hungry gaze to sweep over his own nearly perfect form and swallow hard at seeing his very long arousal for her already and growing with every passing second. She took a step forward as did he with eyes continuing to discover the secrets of the other hidden for so long and then another step.
Both of their hearts were pounding in the chests and Lena's larger one was visibly bouncing beneath her flesh and sternum. Her fingers tips reached up to graze lightly over his pecks and placed a kiss over his own pounding heart with eyes slowly coming up to meet his and cup his face.
"You… are the most beautiful thing I've… ever seen." She whispered in the same quiet tone with voice thick with emotion. With one last step forward they were touching completely, naked form to naked form for the first time ever and both gasped softly at the contact. His member grew harder when pressed against the soft flesh of her abdomen, just above her radiating heat and her chest pressed against his with hearts, once again speaking to each other.
She tilted her head slightly and leaned in with hands going around his neck and head pulling him closer and dragging her tongue slowly across his bottom lip softly before plunging it in softly to meet with his sweltering one and moaning softly when she felt him press into her further and his hands roam up the curves of her body and back down again.
His fingers grasping into her flesh just above her hips and lifting her against him and Lena took her cue and lifted her legs, wrapping them around his waist with arms around his neck and still kissing him he slowly walked forward the few paces until his feet reached the blankets and carefully went down on his knees amongst the pillows and candlelight and laid her back softly with eyes meeting again when the kiss was broken.
Her legs released from around his waist and lay open around him kneeling between them, his gaze smiling softly at her face and leaned over, kissing her again softly and deeply before moving down her neck and sucking lightly with swirling tongue over her throbbing pulse point before dragging his tongue over her collarbones kissing each with gentle kisses working his way down her chest.
Lena's heart felt like it was about to explode as she watched him with heaving chest and swallowed hard looking up at the moon above and closed her eyes with a gasp feeling his mouth close over her breast for the first time while his other hand kneaded the other breast and thumb swirled the nipple, teasing it.
Antony swirled hot tongue around the little brown bud bringing it to a rigid peak and grazing over it lightly with his teeth making her inhale sharply with a wave of pleasure and a shiver. He paid the same attention to the other before sliding back slowly on his knees and kissing down the center of her belly, his tongue swooping into her belly button while hands grazed down her sides. "Are you okay?" He asked quietly looking up at her and wanting to make sure she was.
"Yes." Lena answered in a breathless whisper again and soft nod and gasp again when his hands slid down the sensitive skin of her inner thighs.
"We'll go slow… a step at a time and work our way up," He spoke just as quietly with a soft smile, "And if you're not okay at any time or change your mind… let me know and its okay."
Lena nodded, "I'm sure." She smiled, "I trust you…"
He smiled back and dipped his head again, kissing up the length of her thigh and getting close to her heat but diverting up and over her hipbone working his way back up. Wanting to cherish everything about her untouched temple and pay it the respect it deserved by worshipping it in everyway.
She'd always been the girl of his fantasies and now she was his; she was giving herself to him, the most coveted girl in the world… wanted him and he would do everything in his power to be worthy of such an honor. He knew that most guys would go straight for the 'kill' wanting to be inside a girl's heat immediately with the urge to thrust so strong but Lena wasn't just a girl and even though he'd had lots of sex before this; this was his first time of 'making love' to someone and wanted to give her as much pleasure as he could and make it memorable and worth the wait.
He leaned over her with one hand and arm planted beside her shoulder, kissing her mouth once more and probing it suggestively with his tongue while his other hand slid slowly between her legs and fingers dipped into her fold, already wet and waiting.
When she felt his thumb flick over her clit for the first time she inhaled sharply against his lips and moaned softly when he began to tease it in slow ecstasy rubbing it in circles and pressing hard and then soft, pinching it and sliding his fingers slick with her scent over the throbbing little bundle of nerves until she was panting softly and mewing.
His mouth covered hers again and laved her tongue with his while sliding the first finger inside her melting heat and then a second into her impossibly tight core making them both gasp and groan. His fingers wiggling softly back and forth inside her, feeling her muscles pulsating against them at never having been disturbed before and his thumb continuing to work against her clit.
He shifted his palm so he could thrust his fingers inside more deeply and used the heel of his hand to continually stimulate her little pleasure detonator on the outside while the tips of his fingers found the ridges of electrified nerve endings inside her core and began stroking them every thrust of his fingers.
"Oh God…" Lena gasped feeling her body losing control to his touch and panted in short breaths starting to tremble and involuntarily thrust against his hand. He moved his mouth down to cherish her perfect breast again knowing she was close to her first orgasm and teased her over the edge until she fell with a series of gasps and pants and trembled beneath him coating his fingers and hand with more of her ecstasy and kissed her mouth again with a smile continuing to use his fingers to thrust against her extending her first wave of pleasure while his mouth made the trek down her body wanting to taste her in every way.
His eyes were on her already flushed face when his tongue slid up slowly through her folds laving at her juices and then came in contact with her pulsating clit and she gasped loudly, "Antony…" and held her breath, fisting the blanket they were lying on tightly with both hands and having her breath stolen in a continuous stream of sharp inhales staring up at the stars while he sucked and nip, teasing her back on to the edge again with a loss of control over her body she'd never experienced before.
"Oh god, oh god, oh god, oh god," She chanted with quivering legs spread open for him when he plunged his tongue to taste her deeply and pulled out only to be replaced by a sharp thrust of his two fingers with mouth continuing to worship her clit throbbing so hard he could feel her heart beat against his tongue.
With the combined stroking of both of her raging bundles of nerves it wasn't long before she was running full speed at the cliff, trembling and about to explode with more emotions and feelings then she'd ever felt in her life, and panting hard in panic with the loss of control chanting in a crescendo, "Antony, Antony, Antony, Antony, Antony!" Until she screamed with "Ahh" at flying over the edge and seeing stars she didn't know existed with body shaking violently in the most explosive orgasm she'd ever had that consumed her whole body and all senses with muscles clenching and quivering uncontrollably.
With her pupils still blown and staring up with the mixing of stars in front of her eyes Antony crawled back up her body with a smile and kissed her, giving her the first taste ever of her own sweet scent that tasted like honey and making them both moan with electric heat between them. His weight laying fully on hers' propped up on elbows with her legs wrapping around to drape over the backs of his thighs while her dripping center painted his own throbbing heat and stomach, aching to be inside her and so close with the slick tease.
Lena rolled them wanting to be on top for a while with limbs still quaking and gasped softly when she felt his rock hard shaft brush against her clit sliding back on his body. She slid back to straddle his thighs and Antony couldn't help but groan watching her when she threw her long hair over one shoulder and grasped his member for the first time with both hands, pulling it away from where it had flattened itself against the slick heat she'd left behind on his abdomen.
Her fingers gliding gently over the smooth skin taut with rushing blood and feeling the ridges his bulging veins made, tracing them lighting and then brushing her thumb over his head and rim before stroking it a couple of times making Antony moan and thrust slightly against her palm feeling her core dripping its sweet honey onto his thighs.
His eyes widened and hands fisted when she slid back further and dipped her head taking him inside her wet mouth with tongue wrapping around his head and rim like a warm blanket as she slowly slid him in further sucking and then pulling away leaving him chanting her name in turn with gasps and ahs as he fought for control with the sight, scent and feel of her invading his every sense.
Her tongue was a wicked tease and he slammed his eyes shut and jerked when she opened her throat and let him slid back further, her lips closing around him tightly and hand moving to cup his balls and caress them while pulling away slowly causing him to tremble and groan loudly. He knew that he was going to lose it in her mouth if he didn't take over again so close to the edge already and sat up with fingers going under her chin to lift her face off of him and to his with pounding chest and panting breath.
"If you keep that up it will be over rather quickly." He smiled and laughed softly, tangling his hands into her hair and kissing her deeply with roaming hands.
"I want to feel you inside me." She whispered with ragged breath and her saturated crux hovering near his raging shaft that she slowly grasped and stroked gently making him moan with her words and her touch and he tugged at her lip with his teeth before kissing her again.
His hand reached over searching under one of the outer pillows and found the little package he was looking for. Without his mouth leaving hers he ripped it open and removed the condom tossing the packet aside and his hand closed over hers slowly stroking him and moved with her efforts twice before gently pulling them away and sliding the condom on. His legs moved under her to sweep back under his own body so he was kneeling with her straddling his thighs and his wrapped heat between them.
"Are you sure, Lena?" Antony asked one more time with a thick voice stilling his roaming hands for a moment to capture her dark eyes with his.
"Yes, please make love to me, Antony." She stare back with tears already in her eyes and tilted her face to kiss him again with arms going around his shoulders feeling his hands slide down to her hips and grasp her again.
He slid her light body up his own and grasped his cock with one hand, aligning it with her heat and holding her gaze stilling their kiss and swallowing hard when he let her sink slowly onto him ever so carefully allowing her impossibly tight core to stretch slowly with the new invader.
Lena's breath was stolen the moment his tip first entered her heat and her fingers and nails dug into his shoulders with a long slow gasp and hiss of pain and pleasure to feel him slowly filling her up. He was groaning and fighting the urge to thrust hard feeling such a tight grip around his burgeoning cock that was like a tight glove continually grasping at him with her muscles quivering against him and clenched his teeth hard. He pulled her hard against him, stopping her descent onto him fully knowing this was already new and painful and not wanting to overload her with his length filling her completely.
She knew what he was doing when he stilled and gasp pushing down against him trying to hold her up, "I want all of you, Antony. Completely." She gasped sharply feeling the added inches rapidly fill her up with her fast trust onto him. They both stilled with chests pressed together and pounding hearts echoing when he'd filled her completely in a perfect fit allowing her to adjust to the added length and then kissed her deeply with tears in both their eyes.
"Are you okay?" He asked her again wiping at her tears softly with the backs of his fingers, "Are you in pain?"
She shook her head no choking on emotion she never knew existed and kissed him again before answering, "I'm okay." She whispered and then slowly pulled herself off of him a little and thrust back down just as slowly getting used to the movement and making them both gasp and moan with the tight friction.
His hands holding her tightly to him he turned them and lay her back down on the pillows with bodies still connected and pulled out slowly bracing himself with extended arms with head hanging and both of them watching the point where their bodies were now connected and seeing his slippery length slowly pulling out of her heat until just his head remained inside and then slowly pushed back in.
The sight and feel of bodies connecting with each other had them both mewing internally and then gasping when he'd filled her completely again. Her shaking hand slid over her sweat slicked skin and to her lower abdomen where he was buried deeply inside her beneath and pressed down feeling her muscles spasm when he slowly pulled out again and then thrust back in and her tears fell faster at feeling him moving inside her.
She pulled her legs back further opening herself up wider and allowing him to go deeper pressing against her cervix almost painfully and making them both groan when he pulled out faster and plunged back in faster picking up his speed now that she was stretching to his width and stole her breath with one rapid thrust so eagerly to pump his hips with wild abandon about to explode from being held in so long.
"God Lena… you feel… amazing," He ground out with panted breath at the unbelievable feeling of being inside her unbelievably constricted core that was clenching him with wild abandon.
One after another his thrusts came swiftly and quickly stealing her breath and making her' pant and undistinguishable sounds come from the back of her throat until he was pounding into her with gusto and she moved her hands to his back, gripping tightly to hang on feeling herself about to implode again with his every thrust and retreat.
"Oh my- God!" He groaned about to explode and trying to hold it back as long as possibly while working towards it as quickly as he could in a battle of prolonged pleasure and the awaiting euphoria of nirvana at its end. He felt her muscles rippling tightly around him and her own increased pants and sounds and then sharp scream of his name as she pulsated over into oblivion sinking her claws into his back with body shaking violently beneath his own and watching the stars exploding in her eyes as she cum he leaned down closing his mouth over hers' with a hard thrust and erupted inside her with a tidal wave force being the girl of his dreams and imagining this moment hundreds of times and finally having it here, he screamed into her mouth and eyes slammed shut with body rocking. He continued to drive into her with burning adrenaline firing through him and their tears mixed on Lena's cheeks as they fell from his eyes.
Antony dropped down onto his elbows pressing his full weight into her, spent and collapsed over her, burying his face into her hair and neck pressing a soft kiss to the spot below her ear while they both came down. He rolled them rapidly so she was lying on him with bodies still connected and Lena's face buried against his neck now.
Her hand came up to cup the far cheek as tears rolled over the bridge of her nose and her fingers moved to twirl the curls at the base of his head. His arms were around her body holding her to him tightly and she wiggled slightly forcing herself up on her elbows to look down at him with hair curtaining them on one side. Her eyes held fast to his when she smiled and leaned down to kiss him softly with eyes open. "Thank you…" She whispered against his lips with fingers brushing through his curly blonde hair. "That was amazing… you're amazing…" Her smile widened and Antony's smiled did too with his hands tracing up and down the length of her spine. "Everything is amazing…" Her tears welled and fell again and she laughed softly brushing it from his cheek.
"You're amazing." He reached up cupping her face and brushing her tears with his thumb, "I want to make love to you everyday for the rest of me life…" His stare was intent opening his soul and exposing it to her, letting her see he meant it, "There are so many feelings swirling around inside me right now for you… I think I'm going to explode." He laughed softly when she smiled, "I've never wanted somebody… or needed somebody …as much as I do you. You make me laugh… you make me cry." His voice dipped and laughed softly again with her when she wiped at his own falling tears, "You scare me and you excite me… you're the most amazing person I've ever met in my life… when I'm not with you… my heart aches. It misses you so much…" He leaned up kissing her softly, "I want to give you the world and the moon and the stars… I want to give you everything… I live for your smile." He whispered softly feeling new tears forming seeing it now on her teary face and remembering the pain inside him when she was gone and he didn't see it everyday.
*The First Kiss*
Antony swallowed hard cupping her face and staring up into her beautiful silvery dark eyes, "I love you." He whispered quietly with choking emotion in his voice, "I love you, Lena." He could feel her heart pick up speed and begin to pound against his own immediately hearing the words and more tears flooded her eyes.
"I love you, too…" She answered in a whisper afraid her voice would give out, "I loved you before I even knew what love really was." She sniffled thinking about him when they were little and smiled, "My savior… My Antony." She held back a small sob with a smiled staking claim to him as she always had when they were younger but intent now, as not only best friends but so much more.
Antony's eyes filled with tears again thinking about the first moment he saw her being pulled into the car and how his heart skipped a beat at looking at the beautiful feisty girl with tears in her eyes and then now, to the same gorgeous creature above him now with the same sparkling eyes only now instead of fear they were filled with love… for him. She'd claimed him for her own and he wanted no other.
"Do you remember the night your parents brought me home from the hospital with them? And your mother was carrying Nadia… and your father was carrying me… and we stepped through the door and I'll never forget… seeing you run towards us. Your face was all bruised and you had bandages over it and your lip was split but you looked up at me and smiled for the first time," He thumbed away her new falling tears with his teary smile, "I stopped breathing in that moment and I remember thinking I had never seen something more beautiful in my life then your smile… and I was so happy you were okay. I'll never forget that as long as I live… that image of you smiling at me for the first time is seared into my memory and heart forever… My Wild Child." He smiled and laughed softly thinking back to the origins of that nickname years ago when they were little and getting into mischief with her as the leader and him willing to follow her wherever she'd go.
Lena leaned down instantly kissing him overcome with so many emotions with hearts pressed together and bodies still connected she'd never felt more alive or more complete in all her life.
Antony couldn't stop smiling finishing getting dressed watching her do the same and stepped forward to help re-tie the halter-top strings. "Let me help you." He smiled stepping behind her and brushing her hair off to the side again kissing the nap of her neck and then crux of her shoulder before letting her hair fall again and turning her in his arms, "You are the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life…" He smiled speaking softly and staring at her, "And I want to look into your eyes forever… until the day I die, I want to drown in their dark depths." He smiled fingering her hair behind her ear. "My God, do I love you."
"As I love you… it feels so good to be able to say that… to tell you… to show you." She smiled leaning up to kiss him with a smile that could not be torn from her face in sated bliss.
Their kiss picked up to heated proportions again with hungry bodies not getting enough of the other's substance now that they'd had a taste and wanting more and both stopped with foreheads lulling against each others and a soft breathless laugh knowing they didn't time for more as the sun would soon be rising.
"Later…" She whispered with a smile and a palm over his heart.
They bagged up the pillows and blankets in black plastic garbage bags for Antony to come back and get and put the candles together hidden under a bench knowing they'd be back having laid claim to this spot with the enclosed walls and open roof to let the beautiful night sky shine down upon them. He walked her back hand in hand through the flowers with soft laughter and smiles as he picked some for her and threaded one behind her ear on their way.
*Armageddon Love Theme*
When she was safely back up onto the balcony he kissed her once more and then slipped back into the night leaving Lena with a smile on her face watching him walk off in the brilliant moonlight as she twirled the purple flower in her fingers and watched him until he disappeared into the darkness before heading back to bed.
*I'm Alive*
Lena and Irina were running side-by-side around the property fence in the early morning twilight before each went to work and school the next morning.
"Okay… so something is different." Irina finally said something with a smile taking note of Lena's aura this morning, "You look like you haven't slept but you haven't stopped smiling since I knocked on your door to ask if you wanted to come with me and you haven't said a thing since we started running miles ago. Can you come down from Cloud Nine for just a moment to tell me what's going on?"
Lena's tight lipped smile only grew and chuckled softy thinking about the fact that her mother knocked on her door just after she climbed over the balcony and changed into her pajamas. She hadn't slept at all but she was deliriously happy.
"Let's just say… that I'm extremely happy that we waited for something more special than the bathroom of the club." Lena's smile raged and then started laughing at the look on her mother's face when she whipped her head to the side with wide eyes and a stunned smile.
"You mean you…" Irina motioned with her hand in front of her in a twirling motion as they ran with stun all over her face and smiling at the same time.
"Yes… we-" Lena smiled back doing the same twirling motion with her hand teasing her mother and then breaking out laughing.
"Okay then." Irina cleared her throat with a smile and Lena laughed more. "And you used…"
"Yes." Lena nodded with a smile knowing what her mother was asking without saying the words, "We were careful."
"Good." Irina answered in a funny high-pitched voice still in shock but had been expecting this conversation for some time now. "I guess I don't have to ask how it was since I had to call you down from Cloud Nine." She laughed softly, happy for her daughter that it was a positive experience.
"It was a beautiful dance, Mama." Lena answered softly with a smile reaching up to tuck a sweaty strand of hair behind her ear while they dodged around the corner. "More than I could possibly have imagined. I've never felt so alive in all my life, than I was with him. I've no regrets."
"I'm glad." Irina smiled wondering when the tears had formed in her eyes and thinking probably around the time she referred back to a 'beautiful dance' and moved to hear her daughter who was conceived into this world in such a beautiful dance had experienced one of her own for her first time. "And Antony? He didn't rush you into anything you weren't ready for?" She had to ask even knowing the answer already, knowing the kind of young man he was.
"No, he didn't. He was very respectful, very." Lena smiled still speaking softly with the flashes of his smiling face interrupting her vision. "I know now, why you wanted 'more' for me. To have it be special and it was."
Irina's tears were now streaming down her cheeks looking over at the profile of her daughter, a gorgeous young woman and so grown up. She reached her arm out coming to a stop and swung Lena around into her arms, wrapping them around her daughter's neck and holding her.
Lena smiled softly, returning the embrace and standing there quietly with her mother in the trees both with tears in their eyes.
"I love you, Sweetheart… and I'm so happy for you." Irina cried with a smile, pulling back to cup Lena's sweaty face, "When did you grow up so fast?" She laughed softly with a sniffle, "It seems like yesterday you were asking me about the dance of making love with your cute little face looking up at mine so innocently… and now hear you are telling me about your own beautiful dance." More tears surged forth when Lena smiled and her own tears fell, "Slow down in the growing up for a while, okay? It's going by too quickly for me as it is."
"Mama," Lena sighed with a teary smile, "No matter how quickly I grow up… I'm always going to be your Snuggle Bug… and you're always going to be my Mama." She laughed softly knowing that was true and she loved that fact. Only her mother could make her feel like a little girl, an equal, a woman, a friend and a daughter and she loved her dearly for it.
Irina hiccupped with a smile on a held back sob and Lena pulled her into her arms holding her tightly and then rocking back and forth dramatically in the bear hug making her laugh. "I love you." She sighed deeply, kissing her mother's sweaty cheek and pushing a hair behind Irina's ear before they started jogging and then running again.
"So I'm going to assume that since you've broken the barrier and done it once it's not likely to be a one time thing between the two of you?" Irina asked with a soft laugh wiping at her tears.
"I plan on repeating it… many times." Lena answered with a sway in her voice adding exaggeration and laughing with her mother whom she loved she could tell anything to.
"Well, okay then." Irina shook her head laughing softly, "We're going to have to get you a more stable form of protection. I'll make an appointment for you tomorrow to get some birth control and start you on the pill."
"Thank you," Lena smiled softly, "And for not freaking out on me." She laughed softly, "I'm sure Daddy will go ballistic considering he's caught Nee-Nee more then once and she has four children and yet he still is adamant about thinking she's never intimate with her own husband… that's funny to me considering the two you and your-" She made the twirling hand gesture again making Irina laugh, "Are you going to tell him right away? I know you don't keep things from him about stuff like this, falling into the Needs to Know Parental Category, but you know Daddy… he's going to freak out no matter what age I am so can't we just wait a little while… say, after my birthday when you and I can then remind him that he was sleeping with you at the same age?" She ended with a dip in her voice to a high hopeful pitch and raised brows that had Irina holding her side laughing at her tricky little mind.
"You're a natural Game Theorist, you know that?" Irina laughed shaking her head.
"Well, considering I'm the daughter of the world's best it just sort of comes naturally." Lena shrugged with a smiling laugh. "Please, Mama… I'll be more capable of having that argument with him having that ammunition on my side."
That comment made Irina snort with heavy laughter and new tears in her eyes, "You're now thinking of my intimate relationship with your father as ammunition? Oh God…" She couldn't stop laughing shaking her head that they were so much the same, knowing she slyly used that argument as ammunition with him when they'd settled on an age for Lena to date.
"Come on, Mama. It packs a punch!" Lena fisted her hand as they ran mimicking a punch with a laugh and a smile.
"Yes, but probably in reverse of what you want as he will definitely not be wanting to think of you doing the same things he and I were doing at your age." Irina smiled continuing to laugh softly with shoulders shaking thinking about some of those crazy endeavors she and Jack took on as challenges from the beginning of their sexual relationship. Everything seemed like a challenge including the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial.
"Well how is it my fault that I got your crazy wild love genes?" Lena snickered.
"It isn't." Irina laughed at the thought imagining Jack's reaction, "I'm proud of them and to have passed them on but what your father enjoys and appreciates about me... he hates to see in his daughters when it comes to those kinds of genetic traits."
"Well, that's discrimination!" Lena roared with a smile and laughter with her mother.
"Yes. But he's your father and all fathers are that way. Mine was no different. He hated that our mother passed the same wild 'traits' onto his daughters." She laughed thinking about some of those conversations and comments, "Though I was fortunate in the fact that Russians have a much more open view on sexual relationships then what your father was raised under in the States. He was fine I was having one as long as he thought of it as only missionary and not adventurous." She and Lena were both laughing at that thought, "Don't ask me why he was fine with one but not the other… fathers are strange creatures."
"So you're okay if I'm adventurous and not missionary then?" Lena asked with a slanted eyebrow and curious smile to see what her mother's reaction to this question would be.
"Yes, of course I am!" Irina laughed, "As long as you're being safe, smart and as discrete about it as you can, I see no problem with you enjoying your own freedom to experiment. The whole point of doing it is to enjoy it and each other. It's just another facet to your relationship that allows you to grow and expand upon, allowing you to learn each other more intimately on many levels… not just the sexual ones."
"I'm learning that." Lena smiled softly thinking about the deeper connection she'd found with Antony last night and the new things they each learned about the other. "So you're not going to tell Daddy until after my birthday, right?" She asked again with a soft smile and Irina laughed again shaking her head at her daughter's determination.
"Well actually… this doesn't fall into the category of Parental Need to Know as technically, by Russian Legal Standards you are an independent adult and this is your personal intimate relationship. It's private and between the two of you. You didn't have to share," Irina smiled softly over to Lena, "But I'm glad you did… I want you to know you can always tell me anything and I'm here and I'll keep your trust as long as its not life threatening or damaging in any way… you have my trust." She reached over and grabbed Lena's hand, squeezing it. "It's your choice whether or not you want to tell your father, not mine."
"Thank you," Lena's eyes watered with tears and a smile, "And I do trust you. I love being able to talk to you, I do… I really don't want to have that conversation with Daddy as it falls into the 'squick category' and being just 'different' talking about this kind of thing with your father and I'm sure he'd be more happy to not know and continue to live blissfully unaware in his Virginal Fantasy Land." She smiled when her mother started laughing, "But what if he finds out and knows you know and then you fight about it… that you knew and didn't tell him? I don't want him to be upset with you for that."
"That's nothing you need to worry about." Irina knew her daughter hated it when she and Jack argued, knowing it pained them both to do so and hating when they were in pain, just like herself in regards to her children. "If he says anything I'll answer him truthfully as I always do, your intimate relationship with Antony is your own personal business and no one else's. Its not mine to discuss unless, as I said, it becomes detrimental or harmful to you in anyway."
"It won't." Lena shook her head.
"I know." Irina squeezed her hand again with a smile.
"Thank you." Lena smiled loving these conversations on the runs with her mother.
"You're welcome… and thank you, for sharing. I'm happy for you." Irina smiled softly.
*Every Time We Touch *
In October, Antony turned seventeen and Lena's gift to him was to sing to him, something he loved and which she usually only did in private, the lyrics of a poem she had written to him in a surprise on stage at the packed club driving everyone wild.
What started as a one-time performance for Antony on his birthday turned into a European dance club sensation after it was remixed to a faster beat. Lena had gone into the studio with her friend who was the DJ at the club to lay the track so Antony could keep it and somehow it found it's way to the radio-stations. The song raced up the charts and quickly made its way to Number One and then invading America where it did the same, becoming the Club Anthem of the Year.
Everyone was continually fascinated by this Royal who unlike any other and everyone wanted interviews with her and to sing LIVE performances, which she turned down saying she never had intentions of continually performing. She granted one and only one interview to Rolling Stone the premiere magazine of the music world and let them ask any questions they wanted and divulging her heartbreak over the breakup with the unnamed Parker, though everyone knew whom she was talking about, the rumors that were relentless and why she left America to graduate in Russia and finally, falling in love with her best friend and being deliriously happy.
They asked her about what life was like as the Tsarevicha to one day inherit the Throne from her mother, preparing for such a role and her reactions to the job her mother was doing as well as life as an Air Force Academy Cadet. She spoke of her work with the orphans of Russia and helping her mother now to finish ridding the world of the Black Market sale of human beings having almost been sold twice there in her life. She dispelled myths and rumors of what it was really like growing up in a modern monarchy and her reactions to the life her parents and siblings led before as well as what it was like to be an Olympian at only thirteen and how it changed her life and didn't and how she was preparing for the next Olympics in Moscow, her home country. She answered a series of rapid questions with true or false, yes and no and when they asked her if she was a virgin, she smiled and said, 'No,' and that was all she would say on the subject.
"My God! My little sister is so beautiful!" Sydney cried with pride in her eyes when the Imperial Family got their hands on the first copies the day of their release while every male in the room balked at the cover photograph of her looking entirely too gorgeous and sexy for their liking and when they read the article and read the answer to the question about her virginity status, all inhaled sharply with paling faces to discover she wasn't.
The older ones all had temporary daggers out for Antony with their glares for days before they calmed down though Jack was still freaking out on occasion for a week after and Irina had to laugh at him the night she spoke with him about it before going to bed. Telling him, as she said she would to Lena; that it was their business and no one else's but not to worry so much as they were being responsible about it and Lena was on the pill. That information sent him moaning and groaning pulling at his hair into the bathroom realizing that it wasn't an occasional event but a regular activity and had Irina falling back in bed laughing at his hysterical physical reaction.
In December they were all moved to tears to see Anya at age fifteen perform as one of the Prima ballerinas at the Boshoi in Moscow in The Nutcracker as the gorgeous Sugar Plum Fairy, taking over the role that had once been Irina's at the same age.
Jack's agony over his daughter's sexual relationship adventuring only expounded when they went to Goa, India the following January to celebrate Katya and the twins birthdays, after spending the week up north at Ash and Julian's for an additional week; it wasn't Lena this time that had him wanting to scream and stab his eyes out, but Nadia and her new found freedom in dating now that she was sixteen.
*Young Hearts Run Free*
"Jack, are you alright over there? Do you need another drink?" Katya asked him laughing from her chair under the umbrella watching her sister's husband silently fuming watching Nadia in the pool with a young man laughing and having a good time.
"Very funny." Jack smiled sarcastically.
"Oh relax, Jack. They're just young and having fun. He's a rather delicious looking young man, beautiful dark hair and eyes." She winked over at Marcelo who was laughing that she was goading Jack, "Look at that large muscular body of his. She did very good, very Derevko worthy."
Irina laughed seeing Jack roll his eyes, "Calm down, Sweetheart. Open mind, remember? Open mind." She laughed softly with a slanted eyebrow reminding him not to go overboard like he did with Lena turning sixteen and able to date.
"I thought that was your gorgeous profile sitting over here."
A familiar voice caught their attention from behind and everyone's hearts skipped a beat when Dubey picked up Irina's hand and kissed it.
"Jack," Dubey smiled extending his hand politely. "Fancy running into you here. What brings you to India?"
Lena's eyes widened shooting her gaze over to Sydney witnessing the first real interaction between her mother, father and Dubey, with grown up eyes after watching the films and learning the truth about her mother's past relationship with the man.
"Family time." Jack answered sitting up straighter in his chair on edge with pounding heart as the flashes of Irina with Dubey and their first sexual encounter in Goa flashed through his mind in an instant.
"Ah," Dubey smiled taking an open seat next to Vaughn beside Irina, "We're here for the same reason. My beautiful wife is currently out shopping with our youngest daughter and should be back soon. I'm supposed to be spending some time with the oldest two, though they seem to be enjoying themselves on their own." He laughed nodding towards the pool, "My son seems quite happy with that gorgeous young woman."
"Oh no…" Irina whispered under her breath just before Jack's reaction. His eyes flashing to the muscular young man now throwing Nadia into the pool making her laugh.
"He's yours?" Jack asked with raised eyebrows and a higher pitched voice than he'd like. Now that he'd had the connection, the looks and body type were a definite 'yes.'
