Declaimer: All characters are owned by Rockstar games except for the OC's
A/N: This chapter has Spanish, Croatian and Serbian, the English translation is in brackets. Warning: there will be some racial slurs
Chapter 3
That afternoon, Niko woke up to a wonderful smell wafting through the apartment, an almost familiar sent. He sat up and turned his attention of the woman in the kitchen. Was Melody in the kitchen? She looked somewhat different from before, his eyes up and down her body, she had nice round bottom and long legs underneath them, waist was curved nicely. She turned in his direction.
"You're awake" she sounded surprised
"I guess now" He hadn't notice this, the coffee table was clear of bottles and alcohol stained glasses and the magazines neatly piled in one corner. "You cleaned?"
"Yeah"
He rose from the couch and walked to the kitchen area. "What are you cooking?"
"Hmmmm" she was thinking "Gulaš, I hope I said it right" she turn back around and seasoned the stew.
"I haven't had that since I was a kid"
"I haven't made it in ages"
"Who taught you?" He sat himself down on one of the stools
"My grandmother"
He glanced at her again. "What are you?"
"What do you mean?" she faced him again and noticed his eyes looking at her.
"I mean heritage. Your skin dark for a Croatian"
"Oh, I'm part Puerto Rican and part Ukrainian as well and I don't think I'm that dark-I'm more a tan colour"
"Oh, you're bit of a mix"
"Yep" A pot started to boil over on one of the front burners
"Melody, the pot"
"What" she looked at the pot "Ah shit" the water had boil all over the burner, she picked up the pot by it's handle, moved it to another burner and switched it on, turning the other burner off at the same time. She mumbled some words in what sounded like Spanish, probably curse words; he had heard the some of the same words from Mallorie.
She turned to the kitchen island and grabbed some utensils from the cupboard underneath, a bowl, a wooden spoon and a potato masher.
"Do you know Spanish?" he asked
"What's with all the questions?" She sounded a little annoyed
"I just like to know"
"Yeah I do and I also know Russian, Portuguese and Italian" She grabbed the pot of boiled potatoes, drained the water over the sink and began to mash the potatoes with the masher.
"Why all them languages?"
"My grandfather, my mother's father, spoke Russian and grandmother, the Puerto Rican one, spoke Spanish. Italian 'cause it was similar to Spanish and Portuguese to keep me off the drugs when I was in rehab"
"You sound like a smart girl, why get involved with scum-bags like Michael?"
"'Cause I was too naive and an idiot. He offered me a place to stay when my ex left me to live on the streets" She pulled out a bag of flour from a shopping bag and put some with the mashed potato "And why were you hanging around with Playboy X, huh?"
"Playboy X?" He was trying to remember back, does remember an Albanian man and a woman of Yugoslavian descent with dark green eyes. Could been her? He wondered. The woman he saw was much thinner, face was blemished from drug use, track marks on her arms but if wasn't for that she would be a beautiful looking woman.
"Yeah I was with Michael at the time visiting, probably gang related or something. You walked past us with Playboy, something to do with a Messina Family construction site I think"
"So it was you"
She paused from what she was doing which looked like a dough by now.
"I guess so" she smiled at him
"Can I say you good now"
She blushed "Hvala. Michael has been saying I've been getting fat and says that why he won't fuck me" she floured the bench and turned out the dough on it "Like I cared, the bastard couldn't even make me come"
The door to the apartment opened "Guess who come for a visit!" bellowed a voice with a thick Eastern Europe accent.
A fat Serbian man and Puerto Rican woman holding a 3 month baby girl came through the door. It was Roman and Mallorie with their daughter Katie.
"Come to check on me again, Roman"
"We were worried about you, Niko" said Mallorie
"Did you decide to clean?"asked Roman
"No I didn't"
"You hired a maid or something" His attention turned to the woman at the bench rolling out sausage-like ropes out of dough "Is that her?"
"No she is not a maid"
"Oh, she's that sort of 'maid'"
"No!"
Mallorie had walked to the woman in the kitchen. "Hello, I'm Mallorie"
"Oh hi, I'm Melody" she towered over Mallorie, she looked at lest 5'7. Melody wiped her hands on the apron she was wearing, put out her a hand towards her. With a free hand, Mallorie shook her hand. "¿Habla usted español?" (Do you speak Spanish?)
"Si"(Yes)
"I thought you might" now cutting the rope dough into tiny pillows.
"Why"
" 'Cause you're Puerto Rican ain't you?"
"Si. ¿Dónde aprendiste español?" (Yes. Where did you learn Spanish?)
"Mi abuela, ella de Puerto Rico, así" ( My grandmother, She is Puerto Rican as well)
On the large couch, Niko and Roman were now sitting down watching T.V.
"What you help her from an Albanian scumbag. You sure she's not Albanian"
"No she is not. She's part Croatian"
"What! That's even worse and you're letting her stay here"
"She is not that bad. Престанете да правите претпоставке о њој, она не изгледа тако лоше, Roman" (Stop making assumptions about her, she doesn't seem that bad)
"You what they did. Идиот" (Idiot)
"I'm an idiot? Hmph! At lest I do not gamble in the mafia's private clubs"
Melody had gotten a large pot and filled it with water which was now boiling, she began to place the tiny pillows of dough in the boiling water.
" ¿Cuánto tiempo ha estado casado dos ahora?" (How long have you two been married now?)
"Ocho meses" (Eight months)
"Oh" She fetched 4 bowls from one of the cupboards "Would he eat some of this?"
"He eats anything"
"I can see that" she chuckled
She filled two bowls with some of the stew and some cooked gnooci(the tiny pillows). She grabbed two forks and travelled to the two Serbian men. "Would you like some?" She asked Roman, as she handed a bowl and fork to Niko.
"Sure"
She handed the other bowl and fork to Roman. As she leaned to hand the food he couldn't but look at her cleavage of the top of camisole "Thanks"
"Know you why want her to stay here, она има велике груди" (she has big breasts)
"Shut up, Roman" said Niko between mouth fulls
"Why? It not like she can understand" But he was wrong, he couldn't see Melody's face redden with anger like Niko did.
"Just shut up, she-"
Melody folded her arms across her chest "Ti jebeni srpski svinja čovjek!" (You fucking Serbian pig man)
Roman just sat there looking dumbfounded. He only understood half of what she said. She walked back to the kitchen.
"What did she say?"
"You do not want to know"
Everyone finished their meals. The two Serbian men sat on the couch, Roman was holding his daughter on his lap now as Mallorie was helping Melody in the kitchen cleaning. The two women were chatting away in Spanish.
"You didn't sleep with her?"
"No I did not" He was getting annoyed with all of Roman's stupid questions.
"Maybe it's a good thing, she's damage goods"
Now he did it "Stop making assumptions! Maybe she didn't have a choice to begin with!"
"How would you know, you only just met her"
"Because she told me"
"Oh"
The two women had finish cleaning and sat down with the two Serbian men. Mallorie next to Roman and Melody sat at the other end of the large couch but close to Niko. She seemed nervous.
"Me and Melody could be related" said Mallorie
"How?" Roman sounded confused
"I'm one quarter Puerto Rican"
"My mother and her mother could be cousins"
"So you're-"
"My grandmother's sister could be her grandmother" said Melody straight out "But I'll have to confirm with my grandmother"
"So you're-"
"Could be my second cousin-in-law" she giggled
That just crept Roman out.
Around 9:00pm, Roman and Mallorie with little Katie left to go home not before Mallorie and Melody exchanged phone and mobile numbers.
"She's a nice girl" She was calm now that Roman had left.
"Yes she is"
"Don't you like Roman?"
"No, he's a perv. I just don't like men like him" she shuttered
"Je li to nešto za napraviti sa svoje prošlosti?" (Is it that something to do with your past?)
"Da. I to je razlog zašto sam došla u Liberty City" (Yes. And it is the reason why I came to Liberty City) She hugged herself tightly, the thought of that 'man' sent a cold shiver up her spine.
Niko could of said more but he had a gut feeling that she wasn't going to say anything about it yet, maybe in the future she might. He wondered if there was a clue in the LCPD database; even if there wasn't a clue, he was curious to see if she had a criminal record or not. He might have a look tomorrow.
A/N: Gulaš is a Croatian and Serbian stew or sometimes known as Goulash, often served with pasta.
Well I hope this chapter was ok. Review and no flaming.