Hey,

Thanks for all the reviews, I really love to hear what you think about the story. I love chess so much, and I was so glad to receive the love out there. Here's the 3rd chapter. I hope you enjoy it.
TempeGeller

Love after Chess

Chapter 3: Return to the Battleground

Florence stared at the words she had written on Freddie's play of chess, she tried to tell the people how Freddie won without using the words no one would understand. She slowly pushed the paper in the hands of her editor.
"Thanks Florence." He smiled "Always on time with your pieces, just how I like it. People are enjoying what you're writing about chess. How is that?"
"I used to work with Frederick Trumper and Anatoly Sergivsky." Florence leaned back against the wall. "My father thought me how to play chess. So I pretty much know everything on the subject. Plus, I'm very passionate about chess in the big sense of the word."
"Well that shows." He smiled "People love your talent to show the play in easy words, that's a talent on itself Florence. Could you be able to cover another match?"
"No problem sir." She nodded.

She slowly walked away from the office. She loved to work here, mostly she covered local things. Things that had happened, she wrote anything. Yet she seemed to love writing about chess above anything. And with VHS tapes she was able to make a visionary on the playing. Freddie was her first of that kind of articles. She had a complete different understanding on his game. She saw small signs of nerves and more than just his game.
"Florence wait!" A young women called to her. Her hair was long, wavy and had a very ice blond color. Her eyes were crystal blue, not like any she had ever seen. Her name was Amy, she had lived on the island her whole life. When she came here, she was the first one to Florence. She explained everything and it seemed that they were instant friends. "What's wrong with you?"
"What…" Florence raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"You worked for 2 champions." Amy stepped closer. "You must have more talent than working for a local paper writing about anything they send your way. Don't you dream bigger? You could be someone's second, like you did."

"Well I'm not." She turned away. "Plus, it was never really my dream to help someone play chess. It was my dream…"
"What?" Amy reacted to Florence voice as she wouldn't finish her sentence.
"To be the player." Florence turned around. "It's stupid, really. I mean a girl playing chess, I mean not much girls do it."

"So you should." Amy sat down on one of the empty desks. "Are you any good?"
"I beat Anatoly most of the times, so if that means good."
"You can beat a world champion chess and you're not competing." Amy's mouth fell open out of surprise. "You should compete, so the world can have the best chess player as a champion."
"I have 3 kids." Florence replied. "It takes at least 3 years to get to that level, and that is if I never lose. Plus, it will demand flying to London and other places. I don't know if I can handle that."
"Well, you could handle it." She smiled "Plus, the first competitions wouldn't take you out of Scotland. A trip to Edinburgh, is doable right?"

"Yeah…" Florence turned away from her. "I swore not to return to that world, writing about it is enough. These people don't care about chess, it became a weapon. Chess is not a weapon. Plus I'm a girl, they won't take me that serious."
"Do you love it?" Amy saw how Florence nodded her head. "That right there is all you need to know. I'm sure you can make it far, I'm not saying you'll become world champion. I guess why not, you can beat Anatoly. If you are the best chess player, that post of world champion should be yours. It will make you happy…"
"Trust me, the last thing I need is to run in to Anatoly." Florence turned away.
"What makes you say you'll run in to him?" Amy turned to her. "I mean in the first few rounds, you don't come in contact with people from other countries. You'll first have to be a national champion. You will have the time to grow towards this meeting.."
"I don't want to meet him at all!" Florence had tears in her eyes. "If I do meet him, I won't be able to control myself, too much happened between us."

"You miss him?" Amy touched her hand. "That's why you don't want to see him…"
"Yes." Florence's eyes showed signs of weakness. "I should return to chess, I mean I should play chess. I love chess, Anatoly shouldn't take that right from me. He didn't want to give up that right to be with me in the first place."
"You're right." Amy spoke "you are going to be a champion, you have all you need!"

Freddie stared at her as she finished those words. Yes, she had called the chess federation and told them she was going to join the competition in the new semester that came their way. It would take a couple of years before she ended up on Freddie's level, but she liked playing. So she didn't even think about that, the most important thing was that she wouldn't run in to Anatoly. She still had time to figure out what she would say to him.
"I think it's an amazing idea, Florence." He hugged her. "You are smart, cunning and I'm sure you will be able to beat me more than 6 times. I shouldn't be supporting you, since that's not the best thing for me. Yet as a friend I can only see how happy it will make you, to what I say, Hell ya!"
"Thanks, Freddie." She smiled as she stepped to Anna Marie's bed. She pulled the child from it bringing the bottle she just got to her mouth.

"Florence, you are an amazing mom." Freddie said "And an amazing chess player, Anatoly doesn't know what he's missing."
"Freddie…" She smiled at him. "You're a good friend, you never were a good friend to me when I was your second. Now, you're amazing."

"Speak over second, who will be yours?"
"Dad." She turned around as she put the child back to the bed. "He insisted doing it, plus it will bring him with me. I trust him, it's the perfect second right?"
"yes." Freddie nodded as he saw how her father entered the room. He gave Freddie a small nod acknowledging he was right here. Gregor Vassy sat down, he turned to Florence for just a moment. She turned around to Freddie and gave him another smile as she pulled the cookies from the oven. Freddie was enthusiastic to try the first one.
"Flo, I didn't know you were such a great baker."
"I have time to practice." She smiled as she returned to the table. "Have you seen Anatoly?"

"I've encountered with him, yes." Freddie turned away. "He's asked after you and your father, I told him you were okay."
"You didn't tell him anything about them, right?" She seemed panicked when Freddie told her about the encounter with Anatoly.
"I kept my mouth shut." Freddie took a bit of the cookie. "As far I'm concerned, he doesn't need to know. He left you, end of story. You deserve so much better."
"So did he look awfully bad?" She smiled "like he can't live without me.."
"He looked like the Monster of Frankenstein." Freddie laughed. "But on the other end he looked awful previous year too, so not much difference there."
"Freddie…" She gave him a playful push.
"I miss this." He turned to her. "I mean we used to have this, I miss you. I don't understand that I was so rude to you. You must have hated me."
"Water under the bridge…" she turned away. "That faze is behind us."
"Well, I don't want to be awful you ever again…"

"You know…" Florence smiled "The next time you meet with Anatoly, you should tell about my irresistible new boyfriend. How he's so much better looking than him."
"Wow…" He laughed.

Svetlana tapped her foot, waiting for the wooden door to open up. It was already behind 12, dinner had been made that night, yet Anatoly hadn't shown the decency to call her that he was running late. He never called that he was running late. He only cared for one thing, Chess. She was just as unhappy now as she had been when he was hanging around London with that mistress of his. She kept seeing that image of Florence. She was a young beautiful woman with the darkest black hair Svetlana had ever seen , she had soft brown eyes and a perfect figure. She knew that she had just began her 30's, when Svetlana was about to hit that middle line of 35. She still remember that way that Anatoly looked at Florence, he worshiped her. That look had he never shown to her, not even when their marriage was fresh and new. It was because they hadn't fallen in love. Malokov had married her off to the most talented chess player, which happened to be the shy Anatoly. Shy, that was a weird thing. When he was with Florence, he wasn't. When he was with Florence he had a warmth in his eyes.

Anatoly never talked to anyone, he was scared of his own shadow. Most of the time he didn't even like interviews. It was only when he was under Florence's wing that he seemed safe in them. Yet when he was with Malakov, he had shown them a caring man. Yet she had to admit that he wasn't. He did play with his children and they liked him. But on some level, it seemed that he couldn't always connect with them. For one her daughters refused to play chess, they saw it as the most boring game ever invented by men. So they had not shared their father's love for the game.
Svetlana's eyes went to the door as it opened up. There was Anatoly, his brown curly hair was messy. He seemed that he had been drinking, his eyes were not sure where to look as he pulled his tired body in the room. She stood up, ready to show him she thought he should stop the drinking and return to his normal self.
"Anatoly!" She yelled. "Is this an hour to arrive at home, intoxicated by the beverage you so foolishly drank. What would you say if the kids saw you like that?"
"Nothing…" He turned away.

"It's not my fault you know." She screamed. "That you can't see your little mistress anymore. She's in England somewhere, I'm sure that you could visit her if you wanted too. Yet you've chosen this life and now you have to make the best of it. That means you stop drinking over that little Hungarian of yours."
"She has a name…" He replied "It's Florence."
"Florence, Hungarian, the bitch that ruined our marriage."

"Our marriage was broken before Florence." Anatoly turned around "Or am I supposed to believe that you stay faithful to me when I leave…"
"You should say the many times you leave…" She spoke "You're never at home. You like Chess more than you like me."
"Well, my chess board doesn't nag as much as you do!" He said with a extreme rude accent. "It also doesn't judge me when I drink too much."
"Well, than you should have married that board of yours." She turned away as she stepped in the kitchen. "So how is your little Hungarian?"

"Florence is fine." Anatoly turned away. "Freddie told me."
"So you're unhappy that she's fine, aren't you?" She laughed. "Doesn't a little part of you wish that she would be crying for you to return, that she would beg you. I bet you dreamt she would have stopped eating, felt in a terrible situation, so you could come in and be her savior. I guess you're sad that she's okay, poor Anatoly."
"Stop it, Svetlana." He turned away. "Where are the kids?" 1
"They are in bed, where they should be." She turned away. "You know that Anatoly."

He stepped on the stairs, why was she happy? Or did Freddie lie to him? Maybe he was trying to get her back. Why didn't he want Florence to be happy in the first place. Wouldn't it be honest for him to ask for her happiness. Yet it hurt him that the absence of him did nothing to her, that she was able to move on that easily. Because without her, he felt that a big part of him was missing. It would almost be a year since he last kissed her. Since he last saw that beautiful face, since he saw her smile. That day he saw her on the airport was the most difficult moment of his life, the tears in her eyes when she found out he'd returned to the Russian side was heart breaking. It was even harder when he found out that she wouldn't be back at the next world championship chess, he would have been able to see her once. Yet the only person that he'd seen was Freddie. A man that he could miss, yet he had talked about Florence's happiness. True, he did ask him. Yet he hoped to hear that she talked about him all the time, that she was waiting for his return in their apartment in London. Yet it seemed that she left that apartment that had meant so much to the both of them, she had sold it and bought a house somewhere else. She and her father had moved there. And that was what he knew about her.

He did know she joined a local paper and someone he knew send everything that Florence wrote to him, he kept a scrap book with every article, yet it never showed a picture of the woman he missed. It was a interview about an topic, the first piece of her writing about Freddie's chess was his favorite, he hoped and prayed he was the next player that went under her delicate pen. That was all he would be able to hear from her. And if his game could be called perfect by Florence, would mean the world to him.

One word about his game would bring him satisfaction, not as much as waking up with Florence in his arms in the morning, yet for that it was too late. They would never be the same again. If his eyes would set eye on her, it would be a world of difference. Yet one look would never mean what it used to. They would never be the same again, he had given up that relationship for the hope that Florence would get her father back and she had. She was happy with her father in a private place. He took the paper as he read the words.
'Florence Vassy wins 12 matches'. She was on her way to become the champion of Scotland. He knew she was good and finally she had seen her chance to play her own game. He smiled, knowing that in a couple years he would face her. He was glad, the only one stealing his title of word champion should be Florence.

Freddie ran towards her as he spun Florence around. As her feet returned to the floor, she could see a smile on his face. She had just won the 20th match, 20 without even losing one. She was making her way to being the absolute national champion of Scotland. Only a half year had passed since the beginning of her chess championship and her life had changed for the better. She spit the time between her family and her new found hobby and job. She kept a blog about chess for the newspaper and had enough money to take care for her family and save money.
"Great job." Freddie smiled "That last most was brilliant…"
"Am I not always brilliant, Freddie?"

"Well, yes." Freddie smiled "Don't become too cocky."
"There's no reason I should do that." She smiled as she looked at him. "So how did he react about my hot sexy boy toy?"
"Well, Anatoly doesn't really appear on the stage when he's not playing chess." Freddie turned away. "They say he's depressed, or maybe he's just stuck up."
"He's depressed?"
"So that's what you heard about my previous words." He rolled his eyes. "I seem to remember mentioning his stuck up nature, I mean being a world champion for 3 years must do something to his ego. Not good in his case…"
"Freddie…" She raised an eyebrow as a smile appeared on her face. "So, he's okay? Has he asked after me?"

"He doesn't really ask after anything." He turned away from her. "He doesn't really talk to me remember, he hates me. I bet he's happy with Svetlana. I mean she's his wife."
"I guess…" Florence nodded.
"So how's the family?"
"my father insists that the kids will have a first word in Hungarian." Florence picked her hand bag up as she stepped to the door. "Me on the other hand I would be happy that's mommy. If it's daddy, I will…"
"Have you ever tried to contact Anatoly to talk to him about the…"
"No." Florence turned around. "I have no address and I have contacted Malakov, but he refuses to give me the number. He's afraid I will try to make him change sides once more again. So I have no way to contact him, I'm well aware that I could make you give him a message. I feel that if I tell him, he should hear it from me. I just don't feel like bringing my family in the Commie newspaper thing, that's what will happen. I can see it already, 'World champion has bastard kids with ex-second'. That's the last thing I need, plus they won't take me serious as a chess player when that happens. So, no I haven't told him."
"That's a good idea, he doesn't deserve to know."
"That's not true." She turned around to face him. "I think he does deserve to know, it's just that it's too complicated. Yet the situation grows more awkward as the children grow older."
"That's right." Freddie turned away from him. "Florence, you don't own him anything. He doesn't need to know you carried his offspring, he left you."
"He left me so my father could come home." She cried. "I think he still loves me. I still love him…"
"I don't think he still loves you, Florence." He looked her in the eyes. "If he still loved you, why wouldn't he find a way to contact you. He could hand me a letter anything. He has never asked about you and he seems pretty happy with Svetlana. It seems he has forgotten all about you. Me on the other hand, you know I'm still in love with you. I love the munchkins, I'm perfect for you."

"That ship has sailed." Florence turned away. "Too much has happened between us. I love you as a friend, but I don't think I can see you more as a friend. "
"Don't you think that we grow towards love once again?"
"Maybe."