Drabble:167

Reporting for duty an hour after lunch, Dimitri straightened his uniform before taking out his set of keys to unlock the front door, and entering Vasilisa and Christian's apartments.

Normally, after Christian was done with his teaching duties in the morning, he gave Dimitri time off to go help out at the Guardian HQ, or spend time with Rose (if she too happened to have time off), if Christian didn't have any appointments scheduled for the afternoon, so technically Dimitri was supposed to be off-duty right them.
But Christian sometimes randomly decided to run errands around the afternoon, and Dimitri would rather that he be there to protect his ward, than have Christian wander the Court grounds alone and unprotected, so here he was, entering the Royal apartments, which seemed...eerily quiet.

Standing in the foyer, all Dimitri could hear above the background noise was muted noises coming from the den, so he followed the sound to find-
"Alex?", Dimitri asked Christian's two-year old son, who seemed engrossed in watching some cartoon on the plasma TV. "Where's everyone?"

"Mama out", little Alex said, momentarily looking away from the bright colors on the screen to point towards the door. "And papa nap-nap"

"Where's your nanny?", Dimitri asked, looking around for Alex's nanny.

"Maria go home. Tummy ache", he replied succinctly, pouting a bit. "Uncle Dimka watch Dora with me?"

"Sure, buddy", Dimitri smiled, unable to say no to the little boy. "How come no one's watching you?"

"Jilly come. She put phone there", Alex explained, pointing to the baby monitor on the coffee table, and Dimitri surmised that Jill had visited sometime, and was probably keeping track of her nephew via the monitor. Just to be sure, he called her cell-phone.
Jill picked up on the first ring, and started talking before Dimitri could get one word out. "I can explain! Christian had asked me to look after Alex because he wasn't feeling so well, and I was babysitting him, but then one of my clients called, and she wants express delivery, so I had to go.", Jill rambled, without apparently stopping for breath. "I was listening to Alex, I promise. I heard you come in and everything"

"Jill, breathe", Dimitri ordered, concerned.
"Sorry", she replied sheepishly.
"I understand why you can't be here. Your business is important too", he said, referring to her couture business. "But for future reference, let me or Roza or even Sydney know beforehand, okay? We can't just leave Alex alone, right?"
"I'm sorry", she replied contritely. "I didn't think"
"Don't sweat it", Dimitri placated. "You should probably get back to your rush order."
They bid goodbye soon, and Dimitri pocketed his cellphone, and reclined in the chair to watch Dora the Explorer with little Alexander, who seemed engrossed into the show, singing right along with 'swiper no swiping'.

It was awhile before Alex spoke.
"Uncle Dimka?", he asked, turning to look at him during a commercial break. "What be sorry?"
"What do you mean?", Dimitri raised an eyebrow.
"Mama go out to sorry, and she looked angry", Alex explained, frowning for effect.
"Soiree", Dimitri corrected with a smile. "And Mama wasn't angry I'm sure"
"But she look like this", Alex insisted, frowning again. "I promise"
"Well..", Dimitri trailed off, not wanting to tell Alex that Lissa probably hated going to the society event where half of the people wanted to worship the very ground she walked on, while the other half wanted to stab her in the back. "Was Lissa dressed prettily?", he asked, hit by a sudden inspiration.

"In blue", Alex nodded enthusiastically. "Like Elsa"
"Exactly. Your mama was frowning because in soiree they drink tea, but she didn't want to spill tea on her pretty dress"
"Oh", Alex replied, eyes widening in innocent acceptance, before lapsing into silence.

"Uncle Dimka?", he asked after a little while. "Will you sing Let it Go with me?"
"I don't know the song, buddy", Dimitri tried to evade.
"I teach you", Alex enthused. "TV has writing", he said, referring to subtitles. "Pretty please?"
Dimitri sighed, knowing he was going to give in. As Alex clapped with joy, Dimitri took out his cellphone.

Jill, he texted. Turn off the monitor. NOW

So, who wants to build a snowman? Don't forget to drop a review!
Also, happy holidays lovelies! Hope you all have a blessed year ahead :)
Cheers!