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We're back in St. Petersburg now. The morning after the meeting in the garden. Oh, and the "Sunny" thing is true too. (Nicholas is so awesome here.) XD Go on...
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"Good morning, Sunny. Sleep well?"
Nicholas strode into his wife's personal sitting room to join her for a morning cup of tea, as he often did after breakfast on days he wasn't too busy. Sitting across from her with the morning's newspaper, he waited genuinely for an answer.
"All right, I suppose," she sighed, stirring her tea with more force than neccesary. Nicholas noticed this.
He smiled. "Something troubling you?"
"No, no, it's just..." Oh, fine. "Don't you think it's improper for Anastasia to be spending so much time with that kitchen boy? I worry about that girl."
The Tsar chuckled. "That's what's bothering you? They're just children---it's good to make friends at that age."
"But they're not, that's just it! Or they won't be for long. Have you forgotten that Anastasia is fifteen now? What if they end up together? What if we're allowing that?"
"Well," Nicholas said as if giving it a great deal of thought, "if that were the case, I'd have to take the boy fishing."
"Stop that!" Alexandra threw her grinning husband a motherly look and set down her teacup. "Is this a joking matter to you? Our daughter could be throwing her life away."
"But her life is the operative word, Sunny. The decision is hers. They are not together, not yet at least, and should they ever cross that bridge, we'll deal with it then. No life is thrown away when it's spent in happiness. All right?"
Alexandra nodded, calmer but no less worried. "Whatever you say. Sometimes I wish I could look at these things as easily as you."
"Ah, you're far too stubborn for that," the Tsar joked, and a mauve cushion hit him in the head as he reached over for the cream.
They were quiet for the next few minutes, after trading a smile and passing the sugar, and were content with this until the sound of humming reached them from the hall.
As it grew louder, Nicholas recognized the tune as "Once Upon A December"---his mother's lullaby of choice---and the voice as his youngest daughter's.
Right on cue, Anastasia floated into the room. "Good morning, mama," she sang, swirling first over to Alexandra, then to Nicholas, kissing them each on the cheek. "Morning, papa."
"My! Someone's happy this morning."
"I just slept well, that's all," the youngest duchess explained before breezing back out the door.
Her sisters knew better, though, judging from last night's chorus of "I kissed him I kissed him I kissed him" right after climbing back through the window. There'd been so much squealing that none of them were sure they could hear correctly. Yes, they knew, all right, and mum was the word, especially now as they filed into the room, staring after Anastasia as if she had three heads.
"Good morning, girls," Alexandra greeted.
"Good morning," all three said, trading that look and trying not to giggle.
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Two hours slid away, and Anastasia couldn't take it anymore. She snuck downstairs to the service wing and up to the kitchen door, opening it just a crack, quiet as a church mouse.
"This behavior of yours is dispicable," Kharitonov was shouting. He had his back to her, and she knew that Dimitri had to have been in front of him. He was taking it without a word. "You have no respect, no regard for the job you were given, no gratitude, and I'm sick of it. You are confined here. Do you understand me? Do not leave this kitchen!"
"But, I---"
"Enough! Get back to work. Now."
Kharitonov stormed away, and the kids' field of vision to each other was cleared. Anastasia waved, and as soon as Dimitri saw her he went to work, all right---on the stack of dishes nearest the door.
"Hey," he whispered.
The duchess smiled. "Hi," she whispered back.
"I'm sorry, I can't get out," he shrugged, running the water a little harder to muffle the conversation. "It looks like I'm stuck here for a while."
Her responding whisper had a devious ring to it. "It's okay. I can get you out."
Dimitri managed to give her an amused look without turning his head. "What are you planning?"
"You'll see."
At that, she slipped away, and the door clicked shut in her place.
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"Olga."
"No."
"Olishka..."
"No!"
"Please?"
Olga stood up and tried to leave the room, but Anastasia was blocking the doorway. "I am not going to get your boyfriend off duty for you, okay?"
"But you're the only one who could pass for mama!"
"So why don't you just ask her?"
"Yeah, right, like she'd ever help with this. Can you picture if I told her? She'd explode. Please, Olga? I'd owe you. Huge. Please please please?"
With a sigh fit for an actress, the older sister pushed past the human barricade and walked down the hall, but not toward the stairs. Instead, she headed for the telephone in the hall.
"Yay! Thank you thank you thank you!"
"Ssh." Olga picked up the receiver and dialed down to the service wing, waiting for someone in the kitchen to answer. Finally a maid picked up. "Yes---the head chef, please."
"Remember, you're mama," Anastasia whispered.
"Ssh." Another pause, and then Olga lowered her voice just the tiniest bit, sounding like a perfect copy of Alexandra. "Yes, hello. This is Alexandra speaking. Yes, actually. One of the apprentices is to be released from work for the afternoon. Dimitri. Yes, that's right. Him. Yes, I'm sure. Well, I don't care what his orders were. These are his orders now. Why is he being released?" Thrown off by the question, Olga whisper-repeated it to her sister, expecting an answer quick. "Why's he being released?"
Anastasia thought fast. "He's, uh...he's got family coming to visit."
"His family is coming to visit him today," Olga relayed into the phone. "You wouldn't deprive a minor of his family, would you, comerade Kharitonov?" Anastasia snickered. "I thought so. And Kharitonov? I think it would be wise of you not to question me again. Yes. Yes. Thank you." She hung the phone up. "There. Are you happy now?"
Anastasia threw her arms around her sister. "You're the best, Olishka!"
Olga just watched as the girl ran off down the hall, presumably to wait outside the kitchen, and smiled, shaking her head.
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Dimitri had to keep himself from laughing from the second Kharitonov approached him, biting back jealous rage, and informed him that he was free to go until supper. He wished he had a camera, or a really fast caricaturist to capture that face for him.
Still, he had more important matters waiting for him. Flying out the door, he ran down the hall, and there she stood. There she was.
"Hi. Again," she said with a smile, stepping out from the wall.
"Okay. Good."
Anastasia was confused. "Good what?"
"I wasn't dreaming yesterday," he replied with a grin, putting his arms around her. She held him too.
"I can't believe this," she breathed.
"Me either."
"I mean---" she looked up at him now "---it's us. You know? We've been best friends the last eight years, and now...."
"I know. It's a pretty big move." Dimitri moved back to get a good look at her. "But we're still us, right? That didn't change. Are you...are you sure you want this?" He was terrified the answer would be no.
She wanted to say yes, but first, she said, "Are you?"
Picking up her hand, Dimitri decided to tell her the truth. "Well, yeah. I mean, I...well, for a long time now, I've..." The next part wasn't quite ready to come out, even thought it was true, so he moved on. "I've thought about this. It's always been you, Anastasia. If you want me, I'm in."
"You know what?" He decided to take the shining look in her eyes as good news. "I do. This is good, I really think so."
"Really?" He was kind of surprised that had worked.
But her mind had already been made up. She laughed. "Really. So we're in this?"
"We're in this."
They were doing that whole 'moving-closer-without-noticing-it' thing again. A reenactment of the night before seemed imminent. "Should we try this again?" Anastasia whispered. It was definitely a rhetorical question.
Dimitri smiled, knowing he could never have been good enough to deserve this. Not the palace thing, not being best friends with a Grand Duchess, and especially not having his best friend fall for him. Somewhere, some kind of angel had to be getting its wings. "You know what they say about practice," was the last thing he said before their second kiss shut them both up.
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I wish I had an Olga...XD But we all know everything can't be this perfect for long.... The Romanovs still don't know about their daughter's relationship, there's a madman on the loose, and when the heck am I going to mention Alexei??? ;) You'll see. Review.
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