AN: Hey friends! Remember that time back in chapter 23 when I said there would be two or three more chapters and then fin? Yeah, me too! Well, clearly that was a dirty rotten lie...the story has clearly evolved beyond what I had initially anticipated. I hope you're not bored. This chapter was sort of filler and explanation stuff for certain aspects of Nadya's life now and in her future. Be aware that while I don't know how many chapters are left, I do have a better idea of where I am heading.
Thank you to everyone for your support, reviews, follows, and favorites. Enjoy!
Walking home that night was exhausting. Even with the girls staying to help me clean up the disaster zone that was my desk, the whole process took us well into the evening. Had I been on my own, I would probably be in that stupid office picking up glitter particles piece by piece to this day. It's also very lucky because if left alone, I probably would have first burned the building down and then exploded Remy's head.
So the long clean up turned out to be a good thing. Well a good thing for Remy anyway. They were able to talk me down from my murdery cliff and prevent me from killing Remy or worse, according to Sara, dumping him. Honestly, the priorities of some people baffle me.
Despite the excellent job we did of removing most of the glitter from my person, I still couldn't help but notice the faint sparkly trail in my wake. I wondered if I would still be haunted by glitter when I was eighty. Cool, I had never actually thought I would live past thirty, yet there I was planning for eighty.
By the time I reached the apartment, it was well past nine, and I wanted nothing more than to slip into bed, slide under my covers, and sleep for the next twelve hours. While my curiosity about the gift Remy had so graciously bestowed upon me hadn't died, I was far too tired to deal with whatever occasion he had invented. I could only pray Remy would accept my plan for the evening. I didn't have much hope.
Sure enough, when I finally made it upstairs, I found myself confronted with more balloons than any one person should be allowed to purchase, enough streamers to create an entire bedding set for our room, and a stack of beautifully wrapped gifts on the coffee table. As I looked around the room, I wondered not for the first time what exactly was going on. What could possibly warrant such an outrageous display and merit the work that would go into cleaning it up.
I pushed my way through the balloons, stumbling over others all the way to the kitchen counter. "Remy?" I called. "Be very aware that I am not cleaning up any of this junk!"
"Congratulations!" I jumped as Remy grabbed me around my waist and spun me in several circles. I couldn't help but let out shriek of laughter as Remy finally set me down, whirled me around to face him, and planted an incredible kiss on my mouth. Before I had the chance to come completely undone by his lips alone, he eased himself away and pressed his forehead to mine.
Shooting me a suggestive smirk, he whispered, "Congratulations, Cheri."
I blinked a couple times before shaking myself from my kiss induced stupor. "Not that this isn't all very exciting," I replied while taking a step back, "but are you going to tell me why I just spent six hours vacuuming, sweeping, mopping, and handpicking glitter up at my office. Also, know that the next dozen or so times we "do the do" as you so tastefully put it last time, you'll be sharing in my pain of a glitter overload."
He only laughed as we guided me toward the sofa in front of the stack of gifts.
"Wow, keeping me around for another dozen rounds? Here I was a tiny bit worried you would throw my devoted self onto the streets."
I rolled my eyes. "It came pretty damn close," I replied. "And if you don't have a good enough reason for this shit, I'll change my mind so fast you'll be dizzy for a month."
"Oui oui, I'm sure," Remy chuckled. He squeezed my hand in his own and reached forward to grab the first box in the pile. "Here, open this one first," he ordered. I gave him a blank look and then turned to the box in my hand. As I traced over the sleek gold and pink wrapping paper, I smirked.
"Did you wrap these?" I asked, one eyebrow raised in disbelief.
"I am a man of many talents." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and nudged my shoulder. "Open it. Open it. Open it," he urged.
"Fine, hold on." I made to start peeling away the pretty paper but stopped myself. "If this explodes, Remy, so help me –"
He hurried to assure me he was done with exploding boxes. Unsure of how long that would last, I nodded and accepted that these probably wouldn't explode. If they did, at least he was close enough to be affected as well. I giggled at the image of Remy trying to vacuum glitter from his hair and pushed him away when he started trying to open my present for me.
"Fuck off," laughed. "I've got it…"
I waited for Remy to back off a little before making quick work of the wrapping paper. Flinging it behind the couch, I looked over to Remy once more before opening the small box before me. Seeing the pure joy on his face only made me all the more curious. I pulled off the cover and frowned at the paper waiting inside for me.
"I don't get it…"
"Congratulations you're a girl!" Remy cried, kissing me again.
"What?" I asked, still confused.
"Come on. Read it," he begged, moving himself from the couch to the floor in front of me. I sighed before pulling the paper out and looking it over. At the very top, in large fancy script read the words "Birth Certificate." Everything below just served to confuse me further.
Name: Nell Marie Logan
Sex: Female
Place: Deaconess Hospital Spokane, Washington
Date: August 15, 1981
Father: James Logan
Mother: Norah Johnson
What followed were birth record numbers and names of doctors I had neither heard of nor seen. I focused back to Logan's name and shook my head. Father? Shifting my gaze to the Date provided, I realized it was the date I gave Remy as my birthday…the anniversary of my being taken.
"I'm sorry, I just don't understand," I murmured while looking down at Remy. I felt like the biggest idiot. This was clearly something he meant to be incredibly important and I just couldn't see it.
"We've been living together for two years," he replied. I nodded. "In all that time, you've lived completely off the grid, because according to your paperwork, of which there was none Cheri, you didn't exist. This here –" He took the certificate from me, "was the first step to changing that for you.
"You won't have to wait for me to find you jobs from sleazy assholes. You can get a car or house. You can travel. You can do anything you want now."
I could feel a smile growing on my face when it finally hit me. This was my birth certificate. It was a fake obviously…but shit did it look real. This silly piece of paper Remy had gotten me was the single greatest gift I had ever received. Seeing the realization on my face made Remy grip my knees and reach up to kiss me once more.
"Here, this one next!" He passed me another box the same size and I hurried to rip the box open. Inside lay a small blue passport. Opening it up, I frowned at the picture of myself.
"Why is this so ugly?" I complained.
"It's a passport Cheri. All passport pictures are shit," Remy replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Yours isn't," I argued. I wondered when he had gotten his hands on what was probably the worst possible shot of me. My mouth was slightly open, and I hoped I didn't always look so pissed off.
"There is always an exception, Nell." I heard the emphasis on the name and rolled my eyes.
"Yeah that too…what's with the name? Nell?"
"I thought it was cute. And it goes with the N theme you've always used. Nadya, Nikki, Norah. And now you're Nell!" His enthusiasm was catching and I said the name once more, testing the feel of it on my tongue.
"Nell…I think I like it," I replied.
"Good, because we can't change it now." He shot me a wink and for the next twenty minutes proceeded to shove box after box into my hands. Along with the birth certificate and passport, by the end of the evening I also had a social security card (with my forged signature,) a driver's license (though I'd been driving and getting into bars for years,) a complete educational and work history which included a Bachelor's Degree in English, and a number of other documents for which I had no idea as to their purposes.
When all was said in done, I set the last set of papers to the side and just looked over to Remy with a smile upon my face. Sometime during the frenzy he had rejoined me on the couch and was now leaning back with the clear knowledge that he had done well. I let him pull me backward, and I settled into his arms.
"So?" he asked expectantly. "What do you think?"
I sighed and picked up the birth certificate. Pointing at Logan's name, I looked over to Remy. "I think that I wish Daddy Dearest was here." I gave a hollow laugh and shifted the paper away.
"We could find him you know. I've got a guy," Remy added. I just shook my head.
"I'm sure you do, but no. He doesn't remember me. It sucks, but he also doesn't remember the terrible shit that happened during our years together. And that's good." I paused.
"I think about that sometimes…how nice it must be to forget. Do you think he's happy? That even though so much was lost for him, he was able to move on like me – I mean like I have with you?" Remy grinned and hugged me closer.
"This is why I like you, non? You think you're so tough, Cheri, and you try so hard to be a bitch. But deep down you care just as much of the rest of us." I slammed my head back against Remy's chest with just enough force to make him laugh.
"That's a dirty lie," I replied throwing a stray bundle of streamers his way. "Now take me to our room! I want to christen it."
He raised one eyebrow. "I don't think that word means what you think it means, Cheri…we already christened it. Time after blissful time in fact."
I stood up and started walking toward the bedroom. "Nope, you and someone named Nadya took care of that. Now it's Nell's turn." I let loose a shriek as Remy jumped from the couch and made to grab me. He chased me all the way to our room.