A/N: Long time, no see! If anyone is still around to read this, know that I love and appreciate each and every one of you! Please make sure to read the end notes for this chapter once you finish reading.

When the day of Alaina and Callistair's departure arrived, Mina was surprised to find her husband still at home when she returned from spending the morning with Thali. She would have thought he would have things to do that day and hadn't seemed overly enthused with the idea of helping her care for Lowell.

"What are you still doing here?" she asked, walking over to sit in the chair across from him.

Kolya lowered the paperwork he had been examining to look at her with a raised eyebrow.

"I was under the impression that we were meant to spend time with our guest together. I wasn't going to abandon you to the task and hide away in my office. I think spending the afternoon with you would be a much more enjoyable way to pass the time."

"Don't you have things you need to get done? I said that I would be willing to look after Lowell myself if you weren't interested in helping me."

Kolya gestured to the file sitting on his lap. Mina peaked at the words written on the papers and could see that he was looking over medical reports for those under his command.

"I can complete my tasks just as well here at home. Besides, I might need your assistance to make sense of some of the things Corric has written in these files."

Mina smirked at her husband's attempt to find an excuse to stay at home with her. Her heart swelled at his need to stay around her more often, even if that meant spending the afternoon with a baby. She stood from her chair and walked over to stand in front of him, pointing at the file on his lap, which bore Sora's name at the top.

"You might want to take it easy on her for a bit," she said. "She's having a rough time lately."

Kolya furrowed his brow at her suggestion, shaking his head slightly.

"So I've noticed. She left in the middle of her training session the other day without a word to anyone. This says she has been given rest orders for the next week."

"I did that," Mina said. "She injured her knee and needs time to heal. I don't want her pushing herself too hard and permanently injuring herself. And I don't want you to give her grief about it either."

"Mina, you know I need to push her to help her get better. You know more than anyone how much work it takes to make up for lost time."

"Yes, I understand that. But, there's a difference between pushing her to do better and belittling her because of her mistakes. She's far too young for the pressure that is being put on her, especially after what she's been through. I'm not asking you to baby her, just give her a little bit of leeway. At least until she has firm ground under her feet and feels stable in her own mindset again."

Kolya seemed to be thinking over what she said, not giving her a reply, so Mina left him to stew in his thoughts as she went to make them some lunch. Alaina and Callistair would be coming soon and she wanted to be ready when they arrived. As the two of them ate their meal, Kolya still hadn't responded to her suggestion, causing Mina to feel a bit uneasy. She wondered if she had overstepped in telling him to give Sora a break.

Just as she was about to say something to him, there was a knock at the door. He got up from his place at the table to open it, revealing Alaina holding Lowell. Callistair stood behind her with a wooden frame in his hands. Kolya gestured for them to enter and Mina walked over to greet her friend.

"Are you excited to get away for a few days?" she asked.

Alaina nodded and shifted Lowell in her arms, handing the bag she had on her shoulder to Mina to take.

"It will be nice. I haven't really had a break since he was born. My mom is always busy and I'm not sure Cassie can handle him on her own quite yet."

"She'll learn with time. But, for now I am more than happy to help out."

"Thank you again for doing this. My parents will be back tomorrow and will take him off your hands. Dad said he'd watch over him until we get back."

Callistair and Kolya walked over to join them, Callistair holding up the wooden frame he was holding.

"Where would you like me to put this?" he asked.

Mina couldn't tell at first what he was holding, but after looking at it for a few moments, she figured it out. It was a portable railing to convert a normal bed to an enclosed one for small children. She hadn't seen one in so long that she had forgotten what they looked like.

"You can put it on the bed in there," she said, pointing to the spare room.

"He'll be needing a nap soon, so you'll have use of that shortly," Alaina said. "It seemed easier than bringing his entire crib."

"I'm sure we'll figure everything out," Mina said reassuringly.

"Of course, I sometimes forget that you've done this before," Alaina said. "Was Thali much of a climber?"

"Not a climber, but she liked to stick her legs through the bars and get them stuck," Mina said, laughing softly at the memory. "Once she was old enough to start saying things, she would yell 'Na!" over and over when she'd get stuck and need help getting her leg out."

Callistair had emerged from the bedroom and had been motioned over to sit in the chairs with Kolya to have their own conversation while Mina and Alaina caught up. Mina imagined that he was eager to go, but was willing to give his wife some time to converse with someone that spoke in more than just single syllables.

"Gah!" Lowell called out just as the thought crossed her mind, bringing a smile to Mina's face.

"Gah, indeed. What a wise thing to say," she said, letting him grab her finger with his little chubby hand.

Alaina smiled down at her son as his mouth opened in a big yawn. Mina pulled her finger out of his grasp and Alaina shifted him in her arms again.

"I'll go put him down now so you don't have to worry about doing it."

Mina watched her friend disappear into the bedroom before turning her attention to where the two men were talking. They seemed to be engaged in a serious conversation, speaking at a lower volume that she couldn't hear. Mina felt uneasy again, worry blossoming inside her. She didn't like the idea of her husband having secretive conversations that were a precursor to him doing something risky.

As if he could feel her gaze on him, Kolya looked up from his conversation and met her eyes. Mina tilted her head, her eyebrows raised in a silent question. Rather than the guilty expression she expected to cross his features, Mina was surprised to see the tiny hint of a smile on his lips. She wasn't sure how she was supposed to interpret that.

Removing her attention from him, Mina moved to place the bag Alaina had handed her near the door to the bedroom. Right as she put it down, the door opened and Alaina emerged. She looked relieved, which led Mina to believe that Lowell had fallen asleep quickly. The two of them moved away from the door to stand in the kitchen to talk, not wanting to make any noise that could wake him up.

"So where are you guys going?" Mina asked.

"We're going to visit a few places, stopping to see friends as we go. Our last stop will be Dorin before we return home to visit my grandmother. Ideally, we want to bring Lowell to see her sometime soon, but this time it will just be us."

Mina felt herself tense up at the mention of Dorin. Alaina's smile faded and she rested her hand gently on Mina's arm.

"Have you talked to Kyra at all since you quarreled?" she asked.

"She made her opinion on things quite clear last time we spoke," Mina said, shaking her head. "I haven't felt the desire to speak to her. Not if she's going to act that way."

Alaina gave her a look of pity and sighed.

"Should I send your greetings if I see her?"

"I guess. Not sure if she would accept them, but you can try."

"Who are we greeting?" Callistair asked, coming over to stand beside his wife.

"Someone Mina knows, but hasn't seen in a while," Alaina said, saving Mina from explaining. "Are you ready to go?"

Callistair nodded and wrapped his arm around her waist, guiding her to the door. Mina followed after them, holding the door open to watch them walk away. She felt her husband come up behind her and they both returned the waves Alaina and Callistair sent their way. Once the other couple had vanished, Mina closed the door and moved to sit in her chair by the fireplace again.

Before Alaina had brought her up, Mina hadn't thought of Kyra in months. Thinking of her now caused a twinge in her heart, bringing back the pain she had thought she buried. A gentle touch against her hand led Mina to look up. Her husband stood beside her, a look of concern covering his face.

"What's wrong?" he asked, kneeling down beside her. "Who is it that Alaina was talking about?"

Mina let out a heavy sigh at his question. She had never talked to him about this, knowing it would be a difficult thing to talk about, especially before they had grown closer. Now that things had changed, perhaps it was a good time to talk about it.

"You might want to sit," she said, gesturing to his chair across from her.

Kolya did as she said, but only after dragging his chair closer to where she sat. He reached out and took her hand, an expectant look on his face. Mina took a deep breath before she began speaking.

"The person Alaina was talking about was my aunt. My mother's sister Kyra."

Kolya furrowed his brow in confusion. Mina had suspected that he wouldn't know her aunt existed, especially since she had never mentioned her before.

"You don't know about her because I didn't want to talk about her," she continued. "I haven't spoken to her in about a year and we parted on bad terms."

Mina could see the gears turning in her husband's mind as he did the math.

"She didn't approve of you getting married," he said.

Mina shook her head and looked down, breaking their eye contact. She took another deep breath in an attempt to steady herself. She felt him squeeze her hand reassuringly, urging her to continue.

"When she heard Caleb's idea, she was violently opposed. The fact that it was arranged, our age difference, and the fact that you are Genii were all negative factors in her eyes."

"But you are also Genii," Kolya said, confusion lacing his statement. "Why would that be a factor?"

"I'm half Genii," Mina said. "At least that's how she sees it. My aunt has never been a fan of the Genii and wasn't happy when my parents got married either."

"By that logic, I am also half Genii," Kolya pointed out. "My mother wasn't Genii either."

Mina glanced up and gave him a small smile for his technicality.

"I think your rank as Commander would override that way of thinking. It doesn't matter anyways. This was the last thing in a long history of events that she has disagreed with. It was just the thing that pushed her over the edge and made her walk away."

"What other things has she fought you on?" he asked.

Mina thought over the many things that had happened in her life that her aunt had not approved of. Most of them were related to being Genii and the decisions that she and her family had made. What had previously brought her pain was now causing her anger to bubble to the surface.

"When my mother died, she suggested to my father that we would be better off living somewhere else. She argued that we needed a mother figure in our lives, a role she was willing to fill. When my father refused, she took it personally. As far as I know, she never spoke to him again after that."

The memory of the incident brought back the image of her father and aunt yelling at each other in her family's living room. Mina and Caleb had been hiding at the top of the stairs, eavesdropping on the conversation below. Eventually, the yelling had woken up Thali and they had been forced to leave their hiding spot and go to quiet her down while their father was busy.

"That doesn't sound like it was your fault," Kolya said. "She can't possibly blame you for something that you had no control over."

"Maybe not," Mina said. "But the next thing was my doing. Five years later, we were put in the same situation once again when my father was executed. Kyra insisted that we come live with her, away from the Genii. She pleaded with us over and over, trying to make Caleb see that it was the right decision. He had already been enlisted by that point and he was determined to stay where he was."

"And you stayed with him," Kolya said.

Mina nodded again.

"In her mind, I doomed both myself and Thali to the life we had to live as semi-outcasts. I think that when she found out about our marriage, she had an 'I told you so' moment and felt justified in her reaction to the news. She said I was trapping myself in a way that I could never escape from."

Mina could see the sadness in her husband's eyes when she said that. She hoped deep down that he knew she didn't feel trapped, but didn't want to say anything that could lead him down that path of thinking if he wasn't already on it. She felt him squeeze her hand again before taking her other hand in his.

"I can understand why you didn't want to tell me about this, but I'm glad you did," he said. "While I don't feel that she had any right to treat you that way, I know how important your family is to you. If you want to reach out to her and try to repair things, I will do everything I can to support you."

Mina shook her head and returned his comforting gesture, squeezing his hands tightly.

"I made my decision, and if she can't support that, I don't want her in my life. She is not my only family. I have Caleb and Thali. And I have you."

Kolya released his grip on one of Mina's hands and raised his hand to cup her cheek.

"You'll always have me," he said softly before leaning forward to kiss her.


It wasn't long before the sound of soft crying pulled Mina's attention into the spare bedroom, the signal that Lowell had awoken from his nap. When she reemerged with a slightly grumpy looking little boy, Kolya laughed softly.

"I think I've seen his father make that exact face before," he said.

Mina shifted the boy in her arms, bouncing slightly and making strange faces at him in an attempt to lessen his grumpy demeanor. Kolya watched in amazement as the frown faded and a tiny smile replaced it. While he had little experience with children, he imagined that the change in mood had been quick and unusual.

"I'm not sure he had a long enough nap," Mina said. "But he refused to stay laying down to go back to sleep. We'll just have to hope that it doesn't come back to bite us later."

She shifted the boy once again and sat down on the floor, placing him in front of her. She placed a few toys in front of him to occupy his time and leaned back to watch him play. Kolya observed the pair of them thoughtfully, a slightly different scenario playing in his head.

He could see Lowell's dark curls transforming into red ones, hazel eyes gazing in wonderment at the toys before him. In his imagination, a miniature boy version of his wife was sitting alongside Mina, turning to show his mother something he found fascinating. Kolya blinked rapidly and shook his head slightly in an effort to remove the image from his vision.

He wasn't sure what had put the idea in his head. Perhaps the comment Callistair had made earlier about himself and Mina having a child of their own? Kolya knew that Mina wanted children, he had seen it in her eyes when the little boy before her had been born. Though she had denied it when he asked, he knew it was true. He had never thought about it himself, although until Mina came along, he had never thought he would have been married either.

Kolya looked over at Mina and Lowell again, his gaze focused on Mina's smile as she watched the boy play with some blocks. After a few moments, Lowell shifted from his place on the floor and began to crawl across the space in his direction. Once he reached Kolya's chair, he used the side of it to pull himself into a standing position. One of his small hands rested on Kolya's knee while the other held up a toy he had brought with him.

"Gah!" he said, moving the toy in Kolya's direction.

Confused on what he was supposed to do, Kolya looked to his wife for assistance. Mina smiled at him and nodded in Lowell's direction. Turning his attention back to the boy, Kolya took the offered toy from him and held it in his palm. Lowell seemed pleased that he had accepted his gift and smacked his hand against his knee, making more nonsensical noises.

"I think he likes you," Mina said. "Why else would he hand over something so precious as a toy?"

Kolya raised an eyebrow at his wife, judging her slightly for the comment. He received a smirk in return, which made him roll his eyes. Lowell began to move away from his chair, slowly toddling on his small legs in the direction of Mina's chair instead, seemingly done with him. After a few steps, he lost his balance and fell down on his butt. Rather than trying to stand again or crawl, he simply scooted across the floor like that.

"You better get him before he gets into trouble," Kolya said.

Mina laughed softly and crawled across the floor in Lowell's direction, scooping him up before he could pull the blanket off her chair. She stood with him in her arms and moved him through the air in a swooping motion, causing him to giggle and squeal in delight. Kolya watched the scene with a soft smile on his lips.

Mina seemed to be a natural at this. That didn't surprise him any, given her caring nature. She had shown him compassion when he needed it most, even though he probably didn't deserve it. Despite their differences and lack of a good relationship, she had shown concern for Sora's well-being. Her position as a medic was well chosen, giving her the environment to help people like she was good at.

She would be an amazing mother. If possible, I will do what I can to make sure she achieves that dream.

A/N: There will likely be one or two more chapters of Say the Words left. But! Mina and Kolya's story is not over! In the next chapters, I feel I will have accomplished the goal I planned from the start and will reach a point where I am happy that it is met.
There is so much more to their story, but it will follow a very different path with a different tone. Stay tuned for an announcement for the future at the end of this part of their story!