Drabble:102
POV:Third Person

The first time Janine visited Rose and Dimitri's apartment at Court, she brought some wine as a housewarming gift for the couple, even though they had begun living there a couple-of-months ago.
She followed Rose to the kitchen, looking around, approving of how cozy and homely the apartment looked. En route, she deposited her scarf and jacket in a wall-cabinet, where a couple of Rose and Dimitri's jackets were also hanging and traded her work-shoes for a pair of Rose's sandals. She also inventoried the den as she passed by, taking note of the cluttered trinkets scattered amongst the photo-frames, magazines and DVDs.

The kitchen was painted bright blue and Rose happily informed Janine that the colour had been her idea. Janine smiled wryly to herself, thinking how similarly colour-confounded her Rose was to Abe. It seemed that the apple hadn't fallen far from the tree.
Rose took the wine-bottle from Janine and placed it in the fridge, which was covered with little magnets, memos and snapshots, and then asked Janine about her charge and the raid mission she'd lead. As they talked, Janine leaned against the breakfast counter, and watched her daughter prepare coffee.
Rose looked…..good. Not good, happy. Glowing. Janine observed her bright voice and twinkling laugh, and concluded that Belikov had to responsible for Rose's happiness-which meant that he was treating her well; which meant that Janine didn't need to 'talk' to him. Good for him.
Rose broke her reverie, handing her a (thankfully) sober dark-blue-coloured coffee cup. The Hathaway women then sat down at the kitchen table and bantered, sipping their coffee and nibbling on biscuits and pretzels. An hour and a half later, Dimitri arrived and-Janine observed-Rose's face lit up.
He came directly to the kitchen (presumably after hanging up that ridiculous overcoat of his), looking healthy and wearing a dopey smile on his face. Seeing Janine his smile toned down a bit, but he still smilingly asked Janine about her trip. Janine answered him civilly, trying to be pleasant. It wasn't that she didn't like Belikov, because she did. She just disapproved of him living with Rose without putting a ring on her finger.

Dimitri invited her to stay at the apartment and forego the guest housing and Rose was quick to insist too. Janine politely refused, but Rose was adamant. So, she finally agreed to their request, even smiling a little when Rose grinned at her. Dimitri insisted on going back to her room for her luggage and took off immediately after acquiring Janine's room keys, promising to return with Chinese food.
Janine followed her daughter to the living room afterwards, her eyes immediately going to the photos around the room. She was just about to sit down on the couch, when a particular photo arrested her attention. It was of Rose and Dimitri cuddling on the couch, wrapped in a blanket and sharing popcorn. Cute, but not the point here.

She immediately stood up and Rose, who'd curled up on the sofa, looked at her questioningly. "Is it safe to sit here?", Janine asked her calmly.
Rose only looked puzzled by her question.
"Is. This. Safe. To. Sit.?", Janine asked again, enunciating each word for effect. "Have you two…..", she trailed off.
Rose frowned a moment before realization dawned on her. "Mom!", she chastised indignantly, blushing to her very roots.
"Well, have you?", Janine challenged, arching a brow.
Rose scowled at her before huffing, "Yes. Happy? Exchange seats with me!"
Janine bit her lip to keep from laughing and flopped down on the sofa her daughter had vacated.
"What about the kitchen table?", Janine asked curiously, hoping her daughter's answer would be a resounding no. Otherwise, all the food she'd eaten would come upstream.
"We haven't…yet. But now that you mention it….", Rose answered brashly, her eyes looking speculative. "Have you?".
"It's different….fun", Janine commented flippantly, unwilling to back down. Rose's face went pale when Janine added, "Ask your father if you don't believe me."

Janine-1, Rose-0

Poor Dimitri spent the dinner glancing between the Hathaway women, wondering why Rose looked horrified and why Janine was smirking self-congratulatorily. He also never found out why Rose steered clear of the kitchen-table when they were in the throes of passion. Or why Rose couldn't meet Abe's eyes when he came over the next day.

Thanks for reading. Please review!
And thank you MelissaDB'sLover for your lovely review. Cheers!