31
Anja found herself exhausted from both cleaning and dancing so Oscar tucked her into bed and closed the door behind himself as he departed from her room. He looked down sighing some as he realized the mistake he had made. It wasn't admitting he loved her which he definitely did not regret telling her. It was the fact that she was only with them to begin with because of her father. He didn't want her working for the Commission and so he was paying them under the table to watch her. It was like her being with them was not a real chance at being an Escort. Her entire job was pre-planned for her. It almost felt like all of this wasn't real. Oscar hated lying, but they were too deep into their relationship.
Telling her would ruin everything. But not telling her wasn't good either. He wouldn't ruin the good thing the four of them have together.
After an hour or so, his brothers returned and Axel lied the nice and warm comforter over Anja's body. She gave a sigh of relief and smiled as she curled up into the pillow. Axel checked her forehead to see her fever had not returned. He made his way into the living room and looked toward the couch to see Otto and Oscar with their arms crossed and a slight pout on their lips. Not even the kittens crawling over their laps were enough to soften their firm eyes. The oldest triplet walked over and shrugged at his brothers asking what was the problem.
"When should we tell Anastasia about the deal we made with her father?" Otto asked. Axel looked at him quickly now before shaking his head.
"We don't. There is no reason for her to know. Ever." he replied. Both his younger brothers winced and shook their heads.
"I told her I loved her…" Oscar responded and Axel stared at him stiffly now as if asking why. Oscar shook his head. "She deserved to know. She loves us and we love her."
"Fine you tell her that we went all this time keeping this from her and then by our next performance review she will put in to work with new agents." he challenged. Both Oscar and Otto looked at each other worried about that outcome. It has crossed all three brother's minds that their girlfriend would no longer want to be with them if the truth came to the light about the reason she was with them.
"But maybe we tell her now and tell her we are sorry for hiding this from her. The damage may not be as bad." he compromised. He didn't want to lose his muffin, but he didn't want the truth to come out from someone else. Axel shook his head.
"Or we tell her father that we will no longer require he give us the extra money. We watch out for her as we have been and take money only given to us by Commission. Problem solved." he explained. The younger Swedes looked at each other unsure of this idea, but they trusted their older brother and always followed his lead. There was a familiar swooshing noise coming from the cabinet in the kitchen. The brothers looked in the direction of the noise and Axel walked over to grab the cylinder bottle. His brothers followed behind him and the three stood together as Axel pulled the message from the bottle.
Now they just looked at the paper with a slight wince as if inconvenienced. It was from The Handler doing their mid-month reviews where staff spoke to both the elites and escorts to see how everything was doing before the final performance review that would tell the group if they were staying together or not. Their review is scheduled for two weeks. It was no question they knew Anja was sick and couldn't travel right now. Axel stuffed the message into his pocket and placed the tube back in the cabinet. He then shut the door and turned and pressed his back to the cabinets crossing his arms and looking down in thought. He wasn't expecting a mid-month review to happen for elites right now, but it wasn't completely foreign to him or his brothers. It would be like any other yearly review even if they didn't have an escort. The three would sit down in front of some stranger in a blue suit and just glare at them until they were passed along with passing reviews. As long as they killed and got paid everything was square.
Axel looked at his brothers and they just shrugged in response as he just shook his head. They wouldn't let this bother them though. Their only mission right now was making sure the woman upstairs got better.
Anja's POV
In two more days I felt better. My body aches were gone and I was thankful to pass this finally. I was so tired of being tired. The sun was slowly rising on a Wednesday and I just watched it come up on the back porch. I leaned forward on the wooden rails of the porch taking in the world around me. The sky was a mixture of purples and oranges and I just smiled happy to just not want to sleep. The wind kissed my face and I closed my eyes just getting lost in the quiet of the world around me before the town wakes up. The woods below were still asleep. The animals still resting either alone or with its babies. I hear the back door open and I glance back to see it's Axel. This time he's in white flannel pajama pants and nothing else. The cool air is hitting his chest and he is not bothered.
He combs his fingers through his white locks as he approached.
"Your body was gone from mine for too long." he rasped out as he wrapped his arms around my hips and pulled me into him. I smiled warmly as my back pressed into his chest. I leaned into him and he responded with a soft kiss to my cheek.
"I'm sorry. I feel I have more energy now that I have been resting and trying to get better." I said gently. He hummed in response and together we both looked out to the pale grey city. We were in our usual silence together. "What should we do today? I'm sure you all are dying for another assignment." His chin rested on my right shoulder.
"Nothing we can do but occupy ourselves until we get word from the Commission." he answered. I nodded in agreement before tilting my head some glancing at him.
"Do you not miss your home, your farm?" I asked and he nodded.
"Of course I do. But our land is paid off, our animals are tended to by neighbors. We pay them well." he said. I nodded slowly.
"Do you miss the farming, though?" I asked. He exhaled coolly as he stood beside me.
"I miss planting and growing things. Not really the waking up early part." he replied. I nodded shrugging slightly.
"So why don't you plant something out in the front yard?" I asked. He looked at me earnestly.
"Really? You mean it?" he asked. I nodded smiling warmly.
"If it will make you happy." I replied and he smiled some before raising his hand to me letting his fingertips graze my cheek tenderly.
"And what would make you happy?" he asked, and I pressed my cheek into his hands a bit as he cups my face now. It seemed like such a deep question but I already knew the answer.
"Just getting to be with you, going on missions together and getting into trouble at pharmacies early in the morning." I responded and he chuckled some looking out to the land, the wind blowing his face some. His deep blue eyes seemed pale as if the hues in his eyes hadn't woken up yet with the rest of the world. "But I'm serious, if you want to plant some stuff you can."
He gave a slight nod before smirking some.
"That means we have to go back to the farmer's market." he exclaimed and I playfully rolled my eyes.
"Oh I'm sure all three of you would love that." I replied starting to hear the honking of cars in the distance. Now the town was waking up. "Well let's get breakfast started."
"Let us make our own breakfast. You cook too much." he said catching my arm before I could turn from him. I looked at him genuinely before nodding and smirking.
"You just don't want me getting you all sick." I replied and he just smirked and turned with me as we headed inside. He didn't deny it but I still laughed it off because I was craving cereal. Otto came down the hall stretching some.
"Hungryyyyy." he yawned. I moved toward my cabinet.
"Today is make your own breakfast day." I replied. He stared at me stunned as Oscar finally came down the hall pouting.
"You're not going to make us food?" he asked. I shook my head as I pulled out a bowl and went to find my cereal.
"Toady we are all fending for ourselves. Then we go to the farmers market to get seeds." I replied. Now Otto looked between me and Axel.
"What are growing?" he asked with a bit of excitement. Axel smirked.
"We grow vegetables." he replied and Otto nodded as if impressed by the idea. I poured some coco puffs which Oscar continues to remind me that it's all just sugar and I would be hungry in another hour. This was true, but I wasn't worrying about an hour. I sat at the table and Axel joined me. Otto was pulling out pots and pans preparing to make some big feast I could imagine. Axel looked at me now.
"The Commission sent us a letter for mid-month reviews two days ago for two weeks. We were waiting until you got better to tell you." he said. I put a spoonful of cereal in my mouth, chewed it, then swallowed.
"They usually don't do mid-month reviews unless the program is in question." I replied. Oscar dipped down to put some food in water in the kitten's bowls.
"In question?" he asked and I nodded.
"Mid-month reviews just mean there have been complaints in a division or departments. My father discussed it a lot with other board members. It means to get to the bottom of any issues, and determine the future of the person, or party, they have mid-month reviews." I explained. Otto looked down worried before looking at me.
"If the Escort program stops, what happens to you?" he asked. I looked up in thought before shaking my head now slowly.
"I don't know." I replied honestly. The brothers looked at each other before I looked at all of them. "Hey guys don't worry. No matter what happens we will always have each other."
I could tell they still didn't look sure. Otto made large plump sausages, grits and eggs. There was so much food he even offered me some of which I ate since Oscar heavily insisted I have real food.
Once we were all full, we cleaned up the kitchen and merely enjoyed the morning together. We moved the coffee table out of the way and just rebuilt our blanket fort and to my surprise they didn't want to watch sports or even the hunting show. But Animal Planet caught their attention. It was a documentary on great white sharks and their piercing blue eyes were just attached to the screen. Huh. Who would have thought. Oscar lied on his stomach with his face on his propped-up elbows. Otto and Axel at against the sofa as I sat atop of it, gently massaging their scalps.
They seemed to really enjoy it.
"I want to kill a shark one day." Oscar said mesmerized with the creatures on screen. Otto scoffed.
"You can't kill a shark you can't even swim." he teased. Oscar shot him a look.
"I can swim better than you can!" he said.
"Yeah which is hardly any good." Otto shot back before looking up in wonder if he just made fun of himself or not. Axel rolled his eyes and shook his head and now I started to think to myself. I don't think I ever saw them really in a body of water before. I then leaned forward.
"Yo! Can any of you swim?" I asked. The three brothers looked at each other and slowly just shook their heads. Now that was news to me. I slowly smirked at them. "Well I know what we're going to do today."