Several mornings later, Illya stopped by Medical to say hello to Alexandra before heading to his own office, only to find her livid.

"You should have seen what my Anastasia wore home yesterday!" she blazed. "It barely covered her bottom, and you could see her legs from well above the knee on down. It was simply obscene, I tell you!"

Illya had to chuckle. "It is called a miniskirt, dorogaya moya. It is the latest fashion. All the young women in New York City wear them these days."

"I think they look really nice, Mama, and I'd like to be able to wear them too," said Tatiana, who'd overheard the conversation.

Alexandra rolled her eyes and sighed deeply. Illya laughed as he walked away. It occurred to him that he'd love to see Alexandra herself in a miniskirt, but of course he didn't dare voice that opinion.

Several days later, Alexandra received a telephone call from Alexei's school.

"I must leave right away," she told Illya. He noticed that her voice was shaking and automatically felt concerned for her. "Alexei's nose began bleeding, and they can't get it to stop. He must be taken to the hospital as soon as possible."

"I'll come with you," Illya offered. "You should not have to go through this alone."

"But I would not want to take you away from your work..."

"It is all caught up for the day, dorogaya moya, and you are much more important to me than finding things to do around the office until it is time to go home."

Alexandra smiled gratefully. Illya smiled back and patted her arm.

Illya drove Alexandra to the school to pick her son up, then to the hospital to have him admitted.

"It is at times like this that I miss our friend Rasputin most keenly," Alexandra said to Illya as they sat in the waiting room.

Illya raised his eyebrows but didn't say anything. He'd heard the name before, of course.

"He was a holy man of God, Illya. He could stop Alexei's bleeding when even the doctors couldn't."

"As you know, Alexandra, medicine has come a long way in the past fifty years," Illya reminded her. "The doctors now can give Alexei clotting factors that will stop his bleeding much more quickly than any kind of magic can."

"Clotting factors?" Alexandra looked blank.

"We know now that your son's excessive bleeding is caused by a deficiency of certain components that are normally found in blood," Illya explained. "These components are far too tiny to see, but they are important for the blood to clot normally. We now have the technology to separate the clotting factors from the rest of the blood and inject them into sufferers of hemophilia."

"But where does the blood with the clotting factors come from?"

"A healthy individual donates it."

"So now they are able to take blood from one individual, remove the clotting factors from it, and inject them into another individual?" Alexandra sounded incredulous.

Illya smiled. "That is correct."

"Truly that is a miracle of God."

"It is the fruit of the hard work and diligent study of many doctors and scientists over the years."

"You are a believer, are you not?" Alexandra was beginning to sound upset.

"I believe in what can be proven objectively."

"You sound just like a Bolshevik to me." Alexandra's voice was cold, accusing. "It was Bolsheviks that killed my Nicky."

"And it was an actor that killed Abraham Lincoln," Illya retorted. "Does that mean that all actors are murderers?"

"Well, no, of course not, but..." Alexandra looked very torn.

Just then a physician appeared. "Your son is resting peacefully," he told Alexandra with a smile. "You may see him whenever you want."