Red's voice broke as she tried to explain to her husband how much this meant to her - how much she needed to rescue this girl from whatever fate awaited her if she didn't step in. "Please, Dmitri. Try to understand!" Red pleads. Her back spasms and she pushes through the pain stoically, her teeth gritted under her red lips. "She's the same age as Vasily. And she needs help!"

"And what's the difference between her and Vasily?" Dmitri asks irritably, sitting down heavily in his armchair. He sighs. "Tell me, Galina. I want to understand, but I just don't have the same draw you self destruction as you," he says sarcastically.

Red glances up at him, her mouth hard. Her answer was serious. "There is absolutely no difference in my eyes. They're both young adults and need guiding. What would you tell Vasily if he was going down this path?" She demands angrily, her nostrils flaring.

"I would tell him to grow up and be a man and make us proud, because he's my child!" Dmitri says exasperatedly. "And there's the difference I was looking for. She's not our child. You don't even know her. And she's addicted to drugs! You're vulnerable and hurt, she could do anything! Not to mention that she caused your injury in the first place. Why would you invite her into our home?" Dmitri slams his hand down hard on the coffee table but Red doesn't flinch. Instead she looks at him, scorn in her eyes.

Then she laughs, a scoff escaping from her mouth as she shakes her head. "What do you think she's going to do? Rob us? Yes, she can steal all the mince pies from our restaurant like the Grinch she is! Or maybe she'll attack me, seeing as she clearly towers over me at 5'2! Don't be so utterly ridiculous. There are bigger mice than her in the dumpsters behind the restaurant." Red rolls her eyes at her husband, disregarding his contempt as mindless jibber-jabber. She glances at the clock. She was due to be here any moment, and she didn't want Dmitri yelling before she'd even crossed over the front door. "You think you can keep your mouth shut when she gets here?"

Dmitri sighs inwardly. "Galina," he begins hopelessly, knowing she won't take any notice despite his warnings. A knock on the door interrupts him mid-sentence and as Red hurries him, he knows he has no chance of stopping this from happening. He opens the door with a weary smile as the girl stands on the doorstep, looking lost. "Come in," he says in defeat. "Galina is just through there."

"Galina?" Nicky says abrasively, her eyes meeting Dmitri's in a hard glare. She raises her eyebrows and crosses her arms like she's been challenged. "I thought I was looking after Red. You know. Big mouth, red hair...? Same accent as yours." Dmitri bites back a laugh and ushers Nicky through to their modest living room, gesturing to Red as she narrows her eyes at the young girl.

"Galina calls herself Red for obvious reasons," he says, his hand falling to Red's shoulders. "I still call her Galina. I do agree with you on the big mouth, though," he smiles. He plucks his coat from the stand in the corner of the room and kisses his wife's cheek softly. "Have a good day. And don't...just ne poluchit' vperedi sebya, okay?"

Red rolls her eyes and runs her hand down Dmitri's arm comfortingly. "Do I ever?"

Nicky watches the exchange with a guarded expression. Her own parents never showed affection so openly - and if they had, it would have been nearly impossible for Nicky to remember because she was so young when her dad left. Dmitri turns to Nicky as he leaves, his worries melting away as he watches the girl stand, her arms crossed, sulking on the other side of the room. His arm brushes her shoulder reassuringly. "Her bark is worse than her bite, milaya," he shakes his head and his hand reaches for the door handle. "Look after her for me, okay?"

Nicky nods absently. "Yeah." Her attention snaps back to Red, who is looking pointedly at Dmitri and attempting to make him leave by the power of her stare. "How much am I getting paid?"

Dmitri hesitates closing the door behind him. "Paid?" His tone is colored with surprise and he frowns at his wife. "You never mentioned anything about her being paid, Galina,"

"Well, what did you expect?" She says innocently, hoping that he doesn't scare Nicky away before she even started. "It's nothing special. It won't be much," Red promises. Her attention turns to Nicky. "You have to get to work. I don't get up at 5AM every morning so that you can run my business into the ground. Maxsim won't keep it open forever. He has a life to live."

Dmitri sighs heavily as he pulls the door closed. "We'll talk about this later."

Red waves her hand at the closed door and rolls her eyes. "He might, but he'll be talking to himself." She turns to Nicky, one eyebrow arched curiously. "What do you need money for anyway?" Red asks unnecessarily, wondering if Nicky would provide her with a truthful answer. She shrugs her shoulders, grimacing.

"Rent?" Her reply is more of a question than an answer, and Red nods as unconvincingly. Nicky plays with the ends of her hair and doesn't meet Red's eye, shrugging again. She doesn't seem to want to talk about it further, so Red quickly closes the matter.

"You'll get paid. Don't worry about Dmitri. My bark may be worse than my bite, but he has no bite at all. He'll get used to you, and once he does, I promise he's a pushover," she says with a smile. "He's more like a chihuahua than a doberman. Quite...whiny. But still nice to curl up with and have around the house."

Nicky gives Red a genuine half-smile. "A pushover, or browbeaten?"

Red laughs. "Smart girl." She drums her fingers on the arm of her chair and faces Nicky. She can't help herself from giving her advice even though she knows she probably doesn't need it. "You've got to get there first. Don't be pushed over by a man, okay?" Red says. "Or by anyone for that matter. The minute they think you're weak...the minute they think they can take advantage..." Red shakes her head despondently. "That's the moment when you've lost already, you know."

"Finally," Nicky breathes. She helps Red down onto a chair outside of the restaurant and she sits comfortably, seeming pleased with herself, as she stares at Nicky from across the table. Nicky sits across from her, sighing in relief and panting from the exertion. "Is that okay now?" She asks insincerely. Red ignores her tone and nods gratefully.

Nicky leans back on her own chair, basking in the sunlight and mostly ignoring Red. The sun warmed her and helped the shivers that had suddenly taken over her body from being so severe. The walk over to the restaurant had been grueling, but Red insisted that she needed to see her restaurant, and so to her restaurant they went. Red watches her husband from the table outside, eyeing up every single thing he did. As he spots her, he comes outside with two plates.

"How nice!" Dmitri says, forgetting all about that morning's arguments and placing the plates in front of them both. "Nicky, our speciality. I hope you enjoy it. Galina seems much better even from this morning." He eyes his wife suspiciously. Nicky doesn't have the energy to comment or even notice his statement and instead pokes at the plate of food in front of her, watching as Dmitri walks away from them both to serve the waiting customers that were beginning to form a line.

"I'm surprised you agreed to bring me here." Red says. It was an irritating point to make, not to mention pointless, seeing as she had, and proved to Nicky that the whole escapade was simply a test of how far she was willing to go, how desperate she really was. Nicky sighs and looks up from her food, locking eyes with Red.

"I don't really have a choice," she explains, making it crystal clear why she is willing to do it. "I'm supposed to pay Marka rent. She doesn't make me, but now she's cut me off..." her voice fades away. She tries to hide the catch in her throat and rubs at the back of her neck awkwardly. She watches Dmitri rush around in the kitchen, wishing she was doing something as all consuming so she could forget how shitty life was for her at the moment

"Who is Marka?" Red asks gently. She didn't know if Nicky was telling the truth but the pink glow that rushed to her cheeks made her think she was being genuine, if not quite telling the truth wholly.

"My mom - well, not quite. The only thing she ever did was giving birth to me." She says bitterly, shaking her head. Nicky rubs her eyes tiredly. She felt so exhausted she could cry, not to mention the fact that she was beginning to feel the effects of not getting another fix. It had been building all morning and made her feel weaker than she ever wanted to. Her skin felt like there were pins pricking her all over and an inferno was sweeping through her veins. She exhales forcefully through her nose and leans on the table in front of her, slumping on her elbows. Red watches in concern. Nicky attempts to shake off the pain and concentrates on the woman in front of her. "I know it was my fault that you're hurt, and that this is the least I could do," she says through gritted teeth. "But I really need this job. I really need the money."

"Mhmm," Red says softly, her head nodding thoughtfully. As she thinks about how she was going to help the girl, Nicky loses her composure and is on her knees on the dirty ground before Red can even extend her hand.

"Sorry," she chokes out, retching into the trash can next to Red's chair. The fact that her first word following her collapse was an apology spoke volumes about what usually happened when she started detoxing and Red wasn't entirely surprised. "Fuck this," she groans, clutching her cramping stomach tightly and hugging herself pitifully. If there was a needle next to her she wouldn't hesitate to plunge it deeply into her skin to relieve this God-awful punishment that her body was dishing out, despite what Red would think of her - despite the fact that she could be thrown in jail - despite everything, she would take heroin over it all. Red cringes as she watches over her, and reaches out to hold her hair back instinctively. How many times had she been throwing up by Marka's feet? Countless times, Nicky thinks. And how many times had she gathered Nicky's hair in her hands and tenderly stroked the back of her neck? It would have been nothing short of a miracle if that had happened even once. Red seemed to do it without a second thought, her hands slowly gathering the hair and raking fingers through her scalp that soothed her pounding head. It made her ashamed to be lying. Made her ashamed to be a junkie.

As if sensing Nicky's discomfort, Red reaches out to touch Nicky's arm, her eyes crinkling as she laughed hollowly. "Hey, hey. Look at me," she says harshly, her tone clipped. She takes Nicky's face in her hands and stares deeply into her eyes. Somehow she knew that Nicky was finally taking her seriously, finally listening properly. Her words mattered and she had to make them count. "It's okay, kid. Sometimes you've gotta hit rock bottom before you know which direction to go in."

A/N:

I hope you like this chapter! Please tell me what you think in a review and tell me what or who you want to see appearing next. If I don't talk to you again, have a lovely Christmas/holidays/whatever you celebrate! xo