Jumps up and down* It's working! I can actually read the reviews!
Catherine : We have the same name. Thank you for your review! I hope you enjoy the updates. I was hoping this would be a surprise and I'm glad you (as well as everyone else) is taking Emily/Yelena well.
UndercoverElfHM : This has been discussed? I've not been on message boards for quite some time. Where has it been talked about? I'm glad this is orignal! Yes, I do need a Beta reader. I'm afride I've not had the best of luck finding a good one. I'm doing my best but if you see anything that really bothers you please let me know. Thank you for the review!
a7r4i : Yes! Thank you for the review! There will be another chapter or two. This is not a long fic.
Chapter Three : Painful Truths
The remainder of the flight was silent. Irina and Yelena both thinking about the up coming talk with Arvin. Arvin still recovering from his recent nap, quite unaware of the sleeping pill his wife had dissolved in the water she'd given him earlier. Yelena wanted to be certain she and her sister had time to talk before they landed and this plan also gave her husband some time to cool down and relax.
As they began decending Yelena saw an old Mini, orange and rusted, waiting below. Irina arranged for a contact of hers to pick them up at the abandoned air strip she had purchased through back channels shortly after the cold war. Yelena had not been back in Russia since her father died some ten years ago. Somehow, she felt comforted by this return. Even with the extreme government controls and poverty that faced the nation, she was returning to her birth place, home in a sense. She shirvered inwordly at the thought. As a girl she'd dreamt of the day she would be able to explore the world, but that dream changed into the cold reality of life. Yet, in her heart, she knew she'd made the right choice. She loved Arvin. Regardless of the murders and the lies, she'd do it all again.
The plane hit the runway with a jerk, stirring the buttterflies in Yelena's stomach up even more. She kept her hand intertwined with Arvin's as they exited the plane, wanting to hold on for as long as she could.
"Serge," Irina said, as a man in his early forties approached them. He had dark black hair and a dark complexion helped along by a bit of dirt.
"Irina," she inclined her head slightly as he did the same in greeting. He took her bag and put it in the small trunk as he eyed Yelena and Arvin.
"We should get going," Serge said as he opened the door, allowing them to enter.
They said nothing for the first half hour of the drive. Irina and Sloane both checked their e-mail on their PDA's, writing to contacts and making sure the CIA did not have any leads on their current location.
Yelena watched as Serge glanced into the rearview mirror again. In her opinion, he'd spent more time staring at her and Arvin than actually paying attention to the road. Finally, having had enough, she gave him a pointed glare that said quite clearly he should direct his full attention to the road if he wanted to live out the night.
After another fifteen minutes and only a slight decrease in the glances, Yelena nugged Arvin, moving her eyes from him to Serge and back to him. She would have gladly dealt with him herself, but thought it best to let her husband do it. She had to remain Emily for a little longer.
Getting the message, Arvin asked, "Åñòü ëè êîå-÷òî, ÷òî Âû õîòåëè áû çíàòü?" {"Is there something you would like to know?"} He trusted Irina's contacts to be loyal, but he wanted to passify his concerned wife.
"Êòî - ýòà æåíùèíà, ñ êîòîðîé Âû ÿâëÿåòåñü ëè íàñòîëüêî áëèçêèìè?" {"Who is this woman you're so intimate with?"} Serge asked, noting how close the couple were sitting and the way Yelena was absentmindedly massaging Sloane's thigh. Emily remained calm while Yelena shouted a few choice words in her mind.
Arvin's eyes narrowed, "Òî, êòî îíà, íå ÿâëÿåòñÿ íè îäíèì èç âàøåãî ïðåäïðèÿòèÿ." {"Who she is, is none of your concern."}
"Âû âñåãäà ãîâîðèëè òàê âûñîêî î âàøåé àìåðèêàíñêîé æåíå. Ñòîëü íàèâíûé. ß íå îæèäàë âèäåòü Âàñ ñ ..." {"You always spoke so highly of your American wife. So naive. I had not expected to see you with..."} Irina cringed, she knew her sister would interrupt now.
As expected, Yelena jumped like a caged lion, cutting Serge off, "With one what?" She spoke in English. Serge hit the brake quickly, causing the Mini to skid to a stop.
"You..." he inquiringly uttered, he and Arvin staring at her, equally shocked she'd understood the conversation..
"Emily?" Arvin chocked out amid his surprise.
"I'll explain everything when we get to the house," she told them. Katya had always had the shortest temper, but when someone hit the wrong nerve with Yelena she could make Katya or Irina's wrath seem like a cake walk.
"You speak Russian?" Arvin asked, not appering to have heard her.
"Äà," she replied simply.
It was Serge that spoke next, "You're his wife?" Three heads nodded and he whistled softly. He pulled the car back onto the road and they again drove in silence. Arvin was staring out the window, having pulled slightly away from his wife. When he spoke, it was directed at Irina, "You don't seem surprised about this," he bit.
She turned her head around and looked into his eyes. "You would do well to remember what you told Emily tonight."
"That was certainly interesting," Serge commented as he pulled up to the back door of a small house.
As they exited the car Yelena felt herself become more and more apprehensive. Arvin said nothing to her as they walked to the house. Irina entered and they made a quick check of each room so as to be sure no one had broken in.
The house was small, built in the same style as those around it. There were three bedrooms, one bathroom, a kitchen that was just big enough to cook in and a living room. There was also a small room that Irina had turned into a make shift armory, complete with guns and any gear they might need.
Yelena wrung her hands as she waited for Arvin to join her and Irina in the living room. Serge had left once they determented the house was in order, leaving the three of them alone.
"You will be fine," Irina said as she walked over to her sister and gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "I'll be in the kitchen if you need anything. Katya should be here soon also."
"Thank you," Arvin chose that moment to enter the room. His eyes flickered between the two, but he said nothing. Irina excused herself, as she left she gently touched Sloane's arm, "Remember the lies you told before you judge her?"
Once alone they regarded each other in a painful silence. Yelena wanted Arvin to break it first, hoping to have a better understanding of his mood.
"What are you hiding?" he asked, resorting to a voice he'd once reserved for SD-6 interrogations.
Yelena let out a breath she'd not realized she'd been holding in. She sat down and indicated he should do the same.
"Know..." she began, closing her eyes for a moment as she felt tears threaten to spill over, "...that I love you. I always have." Arvin said nothing, so she contuined.
"I should start with how I know Russian." At his nod she began, "I was born here, not far from this house actually. My father was a member of the KGB. I knew early on that I wanted nothing to do with that life. The lies and the betrayal, I just couldn't do that." She stopped again, blinking hard.
"When I was accepted at Georgetown I was so happy. My sisters and I had always dreamt of seeing the world, but with the state of the Russian governent it was hard. Without informing me, my father forged my birth certificate and other documents. That's why the CIA background check on me identified me as Emily Parker."
"Are you saying your name is not even Emily?" Sloane bellowed.
"I'm getting to that," Yelena said slowly. "When I met you, I can't describe it. I knew I was in love. The feelings I had when even I thought of you," she shook her head, smiling slightly. "My mother died the year before we met. My father was having a hard time dealing with her loss. I knew there was nothing to go back to. I wanted us to work so much. I thought that since you already knew me as an American there was no harm in not telling you. Especially after you met my sister."
"What are you talking about?" Arvin asked, this time his voice was down to a whisper.
"You asked me before what my name is. There is one thing you must know before I tell you. I was never a KGB agent. My real name is Yelena. Irina and Katya are my sisters."
What ever reaction she'd been expecting, was certinally not this one. Arvin stared dumbfounded at her for a moment, not really knowing what to think. "She's the third sister?" his mind asked. He jumped to his feet, the sudden realization hitting him hard.
There was a coffee table between them with a glass vase on it. With one hard sweep of his hand, the vase went flying into the wall several feet away, shattering instantly. Yelena blinked, she'd never seem him like this. He'd been mad before, certainly, but he'd never lost control like this. He was fuming, his face turning redder as each moment passed. She stood, bringing herself to her full height, to face him.
"How could you lie to me like that and claim to love me?" Arvin shouted.
"Honesty has never been a very big part of our relationship," she snapped, her tempter getting the better of her.
"You knew I was CIA!"
"Of course I knew." She said, keeping her voice down. "I've known all along, CIA and Alliance. I also knew when you went off on your own."
"What is the reason for telling me?" he asked, his voice deathly low. "Why now?"
Tears started forming in her eyes again. "You...I was sure you would find out soon. I needed you to know how I feel about you. That I love..."
"Don't you dare say that you love me!" he yelled, his eyes wide. "Your sister married my best friend! What do you want, are you asking me to trust you now? How can I believe a word you say, knowing who your family is?" Yelena looked as if she'd been slapped in the face. She'd known in the back of her mind that he would not take the revelation well. Yet she hoped that he would still love her. That dream was fading quickly as his words sunk in.
"Whatever my sisters have done is their business. I've done nothing but love and stand by you for the past thirty years. I couldn't tell you at first. It would have put Irina in even greater danger. Then after she left, how did you expect me to explain all of this to you? Should I have perhaps started our conversation at dinner one night with "I'm Yelena Devrako?" Maybe it was selfish of me to want whatever I had to last. I accepted your career as a spy, but that's not me, Arvin. You can't compare our marriage to that of Irina and Jack's!"
"You're just like her!" Arvin said, her words hitting him like a knife in his heart. She, Emily, had been the reason he'd stayed sane, she was his lifeline. She had always been the one true thing in his life, the one thing he could always count on. Now that was gone.
"I love her. She is my sister, but we are not the same. Please do not presume our motivations are the same," Yelena pleaded, her voice amazingly controlled. She loved her sister, that was true. But she'd never liked what Irina had done to Jack.
"Whatever helps you sleep at night," Arvin said as he reached for his coat that had fallen on the floor in their fight. "Goodbye, Yelena," he told her coldly.
For her part, she was too distressed to do or say anything more. She watched painfully as Arvin turned away and left her alone. Her brain was screaming at her to go after him, but she could not will herself to move. Tears flowed freely from her eyes and she covered her face with her hands, dropping down onto the nearest sofa.
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(3/5)
Hope everyone enjoyed it! As always, reviews are welcome!