FaceTime

Sophia's P.O.V.

April (Easter)

That lilting chuckle echoed throughout the kitchen. "Why don't you just order take-away? It's so much more easier."

I propped the iPhone against the wall of the counter so the screen faced me with my kitchen in the background. I pulled out a wooden chopping board and a large sharp knife.

"No way. I don't get the opportunity to cook all that often at the academy, so it's nice to come home and make something from scratch." I spun away from my iPhone and opened the large silver fridge. I rummaged through the drawers and pulled out various vegetables, setting them on the countertop next to the chopping board.

"You should be grateful for that. It's a luxury to have someone else cook for you all the time," came his teasing voice.

"I am grateful," I replied, "but I enjoy cooking for myself every once in a while too." I gestured behind me at the clean and pristine grey-and-marble kitchen. "Besides, this beautiful stove and oven need to be put to good use. No one uses it."

It was practically brand new the equipment considering Mom and Dad hardly needed to cook too with Aunt Lissa always having queenly meals prepared at all hours of the day.

With our line of work, or rather, my future line of work, it was a somewhat ordinary and homely thing to cook. It reminded me of Baia, and Babushka in particular who was always cooking, always baking. Dad occasionally whipped up a black bread but it wasn't all that often considering the long hours he and Mom work.

I glanced at the screen. He shook his head back and forth and chuckled again, those pouty lips curling up as per usual. "You are not a normal teenager. If this was Nadya, she'd be bringing home a box of pizza per person."

"If this was Nadya," I countered, pulling out a handful of carrots from its bag and slicing the edges off first, "she wouldn't think about the rest of us and buy only herself a pizza."

His laugh bounced louder. "Too right you are, krasivyy."

Beautiful.

I smiled a little.

Since he left the academy, the use of the old pet names had returned, since it wasn't really appropriate for him to call me them as his student. Now, we were back to being friends the way we were in summer but with a twist of Russian mixed in. He'd pull out nicknames and phrases every so often in the Russian tongue considering how immersed he was in the culture and language at the moment.

I picked up a peeler and began peeling the skin of the carrots off. Damon shifted to a lying down position on the camera, propping up an arm behind him for his head to lean back on.

"Oh, by the way, your cousin still does not like you," Damon said, changing topics. "Or Nadya."

Two lines appeared between my brows. "Who? Kira?"

"Yep." I stepped out of the camera's field of vision and washed the carrots. I dumped them back on the chopping board and sliced them into large chunks for roast.

"What did she say?" I asked curiously.

"She said—and I quote—'Don't compare me to that lying, scheming, dhampir slut who's born from nothing but a freaky accident!'"

Unfortunately, my family decided this was the perfect time to come home. The door swung open and all four of them walked in, catching the tail end of what Damon said. Nadya turned furious from the quick glance I stole at her out of the corner of my eye and Dad became displeased by the grudge Kira was still holding.

"Is that Damon?" Nadya stepped forward and Mom closed the door behind everyone.

"Is that Little Belikov Number 1 I hear in the background?" Damon replied back.

Nadya came up behind me and snatched my phone off the countertop.

"Hi," she grinned excitedly, the camera now being taken up entirely by her face.

I put the knife down and reached out to grab my phone. "Hey," I growled, "give it back! This is the most I've spoken to him in weeks!" I struggled to get even within an arm's length distance of my phone as Nadya held it up and away and kept pushing me back.

"This is the most I've spoken to him in months!" she retorted. "We don't all have him on speed dial."

She faced the camera. Damon wore the most amused expression and laughed that rich, warm, deep laugh of his.

"I won't take up too much of your time," she promised him. "I just wanted to ask two things. One, can I send you my paper for bodyguard theory to look over?"

The response was instant. "Sure, Nads."

"Hey, we are right here!" Mom exclaimed, gesturing her finger between her and Dad.

Nadya gave them a shrug. "Yeah, but I really want a teacher's perspective for this one."

My parents faces turned bemused.

"And what do you think we are?" Dad asked dryly, crossing his arms.

"Royal guards," Nadya stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Not teachers."

I kept my laughter silently to myself, allowing for just a tilt of my lips as I peeled several potatoes. Sacha just shook his head, as did Dad, and Damon laughed outright again.

"And two," Nadya pivoted her attention back to the FaceTime screen. "What was that you were telling Sophia a moment ago?"

"Nothing," I chimed in.

"Soph," Damon warned.

"Tell us, Damon," Nadya spurred on, jumping up onto the edge of the countertop. Her legs dangled and she held the phone up higher to get more of us in the shot.

"All I was saying was Kira seems to have a grudge against you two still," he explained.

"Old news," snorted Nadya. "That's why I told you to kick her ass when you got to Siberia."

"Oh, don't worry, I did. Plenty of times on the sparring mat and then after her little comment the other day, I made her run an extra ten laps in the freezing cold."

"What comment?" asked Dad while the rest of us chortled.

"Being a teacher has its perks," noted Mom.

"What was the comment, Damon?" Nadya reiterated when he didn't respond.

"She just said that I should stop comparing her to Sophia because she's a lying, scheming, dhampir—"

"Whoa hey, you don't have to repeat it word for word!" I exclaimed, cutting him off.

"Sorry," he said sheepishly.

"She's just jealous and upset over what happened a couple years ago," I told him. "Don't pay any attention to her."

"I'm not," he assured me. "And what did happen by the way?"

Sacha and Nadya began speaking in a rush at once.

"Sophia had a casual hook-up friend—"

"She saw Sophia kissing—"

I whacked the both of them up the back of their heads and snatched my phone back.

"Ow!" Nadya and Sacha rubbed their heads.

"It doesn't matter the details," I said, setting the phone back in its original position on the countertop. I washed the potatoes and set them down to be chopped. "She thinks I did something when I didn't. I apologised for the misunderstanding and she still hasn't forgiven me. She also dislikes Nadya now because Nadya sided with me and argued with Kira over the situation."

I began slicing the potatoes in half and then quarters and chucked them into the glass dish with the carrots.

"You said this happened over a year ago?" Damon asked, raking his fingers through his hair as he lounged around.

"Yup," I confirmed.

"Seems a little dramatic," he noted.

"I know right," I agreed and pulled out a cut pumpkin out of its wrapper.

Nadya's P.O.V.

"Anyway," Sophia enunciated, halting in her slicing and dicing of vegetables. "This isn't a group video call." I heard a snicker of Damon's laughter before Soph pulled out her headphones from her pocket and connected it to the phone, silencing Damon's end for the rest of us.

"Bitch," I scoffed at her. She poked her tongue out back at me and began chopping up a pumpkin. Yuck.

"Just you and me now," she murmured into the microphone.

I couldn't hear his end of the conversation anymore, but I could of course hear her and her giggles. She seemed so light and airy as she waltzed around the kitchen, preparing dinner and seasoning everything. She seemed so…content. And happy. And domestic.

Without even realising it, I had begun to see a vision of her doing this very thing but when she's older. And it's not us she's cooking dinner for but Damon. And that softness about her is because she's stress-free and enjoying life because of him.

Blinking, that vision went away and I drew myself out of the daze, unsure why I thought of that for her future. And why it had to be Damon, of all people.

Sorry this one's a bit short but wanted to upload something for you guys.

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