Chapter 47- Russian Lessons
Diana sat nervously on the quinjet between James and Elizabeth, licking her lips. "I can't believe I let you talk me into this," Diana said.
"Mama, I thought you wanted to see your parents again," Elizabeth said. Diana traced her daughter's face lightly with her fingers. Since finding out their baby was alive, Diana and James couldn't keep their fingers off her face or out of her hair. Diana almost felt afraid that if she didn't touch her daughter, she might disappear and she could tell her husband felt the same way. The night before James had stood in Elizabeth's doorway and watched as Diana brushed out Elizabeth's hair. If Elizabeth felt like she was being smothered, she didn't say anything
"I do, but it's been so long since I've seen them and I don't remember them," Diana said, feeling almost sick to her stomach. This was almost as bad as when she was pregnant with Elizabeth. The urge to throw up was almost as bad as then.
"Maybe you will, Doll," James said, rubbing her hand gently with his flesh hand.
"I didn't even tell them about you or Elizabeth. All I said was that HYDRA kidnapped me and that was where I have been for the last 15 years. They might never understand how much I love you or that I won't ever leave you," Diana said, running her fingers over her husband's stubbled face and hair. He had recently trimmed his hair. Before he had looked like a shaggy dog with his hair in his eyes. The only time she saw his eyes was when they were kissing and she would push his hair out of his eyes as she loved running her fingers through his hair.
James took her hand and gently pressed his lips to her palm. "So, have you thought about what I asked?" Jimmy Banner asked Elizabeth.
"Kind of. But I wanna ask your dad first," Elizabeth said, looking at Dr. Banner.
"Ask me what?" Dr. Banner asked.
"Dad, I asked if she would teach me how to use a sword and Russian," Jimmy said.
"Why?" Dr. Banner asked.
"That was what I said. He said, he hears me talking in Russian at the restaurant in Brighton Beach or even to Dad and he also says that using a sword might come in handy along with another language. I couldn't argue with that as I know 20 languages. I learned them in Russian Spy School," Elizabeth said.
"You really know 20, Winter Warrior?" Thor asked.
"More or less. I'm looking into learning Norwegian next or maybe Dutch. Dutch isn't too different from German. There's a few slight differences," Elizabeth said.
"Like what?" Steve asked.
"I was reading "Anne Frank" by Melissa Muller and she said that when the German Jews went to Holland, that doors would say Bellen 3x. Well, in German like you speak in Germany, Bellen means to bark. In the Netherlands Bellen means to ring. But these Jews from Germany were confused and started barking three times instead of ringing three times," Elizabeth said.
"That would be kind of funny," Diana said with a smile.
"It's up there with "Dances With Wolves and John Dunbar accidentally says in Sioux, "Fire lives on the prairie" instead of "Grass grows on the prairie." You wouldn't believe the blunders I made in Greek and French when the Red Room taught me those languages. I thought that Comrade Saltikov and Madame Petrovna would fall over dead from my blunders," Elizabeth said, rolling her eyes.
"How long did it take you to get it right?" Steve asked.
"Quite a while. I learned French and Greek when I was seven. In the Red Room we had no hobbies or friends. So my go-to was languages. It's very easy to learn foreign languages when you already know a couple. I knew English and Russian and had just finished learning German already," Elizabeth said.
"So, can I learn Russian, Dad, and how to sword fight?" Jimmy asked, turning to look at Banner.
"Okay. I guess you can," Banner said.
"When do you wanna start, Vet?" Jimmy asked.
"We can start Russian now. The sword fighting let's do that when we land. A quinjet is not a place to start that little hobby," Elizabeth said.
"Okay. So what do I learn first in Russian?" Jimmy asked.
"Why don't we try hello and goodbye. Privet is hello. I'll demonstrate. Privet moy nazvaniye yavlyayetsya, Yelizaveta Markova. Translattion; "Hello, my name is Yelizaveta Markova. Of course for years, I never used my name when introducing myself. I usually called myself by what everyone in S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA called me: Zimniy Soldat. Translation again; the Winter Soldier," Elizabeth said.
"But your name isn't Yelizaveta," Steve said.
"Actually it is. That is Elizabeth in Russian," Elizabeth said.
"She's right, Steve. But I am never calling you Yelizaveta. You are my daughter. I have always called you Elizabeth," James said, putting his metal hand firmly on Elizabeth's shoulder.
I know, Daddy. Very few people call me Yelizaveta anyways. Steve calls me Liz. Clint calls me Vetty. His kids called me Yizzy because they could hardly pronounce Yelizaveta. And everyone else calls me Vet," Elizabeth said.
"And don't forget Winter Soldier, Vet," Jimmy said.
"Okay, good point. I forgot about that," Elizabeth said.
"And Stark calls you Catherine the Great," Jimmy said.
"That's a little different. Stark only does that in teasing as I like Russian history," Elizabeth said.
"So, who ruled Russia better; men or women?" Jimmy asked.
"Women, obviously. No woman would have tanked their country as badly as the men appeared to. Alexandra, Nicholas's wife, was an exception. She had no business ruling if all her advice came from Rasputin. Just pictures of that lunatic gives me the chills," Elizabeth said with a shudder.
"So there really was a Rasputin?" Sam asked.
"Yeah, there really was. He was like what you said about Loki, Dr. Banner. His brain was a bag of cats. You could just smell crazy on him and Alexandra went to him for advice," Elizabeth said.
"So history was never kind to Rasputin, was it?" Jimmy asked.
"No. And why should it as even his name means 'dissolute' in Russian? But back to Russian. Goodbye is do svidaniya," Elizabeth said
"Actually I heard that in the cartoon "Anastasia." Rasputin says it to Anya and she says it back," Jimmy said.
"They actually weren't wrong there in their pronunciation and vocabulary," Elizabeth said.
"Okay. do svidaniya," Jimmy said.
"Very good. Your pronunciation isn't bad either," Elizabeth said.
"Okay. Here we are. We are landing in Seattle," Clint said as the quinjet landed.
The sky was overcast as they touched down. Diana licked her lips nervously as she held her husband's flesh hand tightly. Hopefully her family wouldn't be angry with her for being gone for 15 years and having a former assassin for a husband.