Tough Ice

Tough Ice: Chapter 26 - Valery

I walk into the skating rink and I get my team on the ice, then Ares comes up to me.
"Hey man, can I talk to you?" I nod and walk away from the rink, he follows closely behind me.

Grabbing something out of his pocket, I interrupt him,
"You got the ring?"
"Yeah."
"Well don't show me idiot, anyway, how are you going to do it?" He scowls at me, then sighs.
"I'm going to do it when we go to New York for Christmas, she loves christmas, it's perfect." I smile at him mockingly. "Oh shut up dickhead."
"Get on the ice Petrakis, and put that ring away before you lose it." I slap his back and hop onto the ice, doing a couple of laps before coach comes out.

"Hey gorgeous." I sling my arm over Kat's shoulder as I walk into the kitchen, and she kisses my cheek.
"Hey, how was practice?"
"Great." A huge smile is plastered on my face as I sit down on one of the bench chairs.
"What's got you in a good mood honey?"
"I'm just happy!"
"What are you happy about baby?"
"It's a surprise!" She raises her eyebrows at me, then walks over to the fridge and opens it.
"What do you want for dinner?"
"I'll cook my love, you practiced a lot this morning, then you had 3 classes, go get some rest."
"I'm okay Valery, now what do you want?"
"If you're sure, what do we have?" She looks through the fridge as I walk up behind her.
"Not much, do you want to get takeaway?" Looking to where I was sitting before, she stands up confused, so I wrap my arms around her waist.
"Whatever you want princess," I whisper in her ear, then I lay a soft kiss on her bare shoulder. "I love you so much."
"I love you too."
"What does so much even mean?" She turns around and raises a confused eyebrow at me.
"What?"
"Like when you say: 'Thanks so much', how much is so much?"
"I don't know Orlov."
"Aw." She pulls my arms off her waist and closes the fridge door.
"I'm going to go get changed, I'll be back in a second." She walks away from me and I don't let go of her hand until she's too far away to keep a hold of it.

She walks out of the bedroom with baggy jeans and a very deep neck-lined cropped long sleeve top on.
"What do you think?" She does a little spin and I smile at her.
"Very cute love."
"You don't think it's too revealing?"
"I know how to fight darling." Her cheeks turn pink despite her blush, and she hides her face in my neck, so I pick her up and walk us out the door.

"Hey babe?" I look away from the road at her for a second, then I turn my head back,
"Yeah?"
"You have that program coming up in two weeks."
"Trust me love, I know, I'm so excited." She squeals and takes out her phone, then goes on tik tok and starts to make one. "You're making a tik tok now?"
"Yeah I look hot." I smirk and glance over my shoulder as we drive into the in-and-out drive through.

"Love what would you like?"
"Animal fries? And I'm paying."
"No, you are not princess, and I'll get you your animal fries." She frowns and crosses her arms.
"You never let me pay for things."
"That's because I love spending money on you." The corners of her mouth top up slightly,  and she starts her tik tok. I move slightly and kiss her temple, making her go red halfway through her tik tok.
"Welcome to in-and-out, what can I get you?"
"Two animal fries please."
"Could you repeat that? I can't understand your accent." I turn around and make a '😐' face at Katerina, making her giggle.
"Two... Animal... Fries... Please."
"Is that all?"
"Yes."
"Alright drive on through." I sigh and drive around to the paying window and I tap my phone on the pay phone, then I drive to the food window and wait.
"She couldn't understand your accent!"
"She would be able to understand yours if she couldn't understand mine."
"I don't have a Russian accent!"
"Yes you do love, you're half Russian, you've spoken it from birth, and you lived there for five years."
"Seriously? I loved showing off that I had a Greek accent." Her brows furrow and I let out a low chuckle.
"It's still somewhat Greek my love, just not fully." Kat huffs and turns her head away from me and looks out the window. She's definitely hungry.

"There you are darling." I hand her the food and she smiles, then starts eating immediately.
"Thanks babe!" The radio starts saying something about Russia, so I turn it up.
"Ukraine is now attacking Russia back, their first hit being in St Petersburg." I turn over to Katerina, and she looks horrified.
"Valery-" She chokes out.
"Come here love," She moves her food and I wrap my arms around her, and lay a kiss on the top of her head. "Your family is going to be okay, if they're anything like you, they'll be strong and they'll fight." All I can hear is sobbing, and it shatters my heart.
"They could get seriously hurt Valery, what will my mama think? That's her parents, her siblings, her aunts, uncles, ouinieces, nephews."
"They'll stay strong for your mama, for you, for their country. I'm here for you sweetheart, please remember that." I turn the radio off and pull her closer to me, but she only backs away.
"Can we go home? And can I just have some alone time to think?"
"Of course my love." I drive the car out of the car park and get on the road home. Katerina stares out the window, a blank expression on her face, but her hands fidgeting in her lap.

We walk in the door and she immediately goes into the guest bedroom and locks the door behind her. I take a deep breath and walk into our bedroom, take my phone out and I call Katerina's mum.
"Mrs. Petrakis?" (this entire conversation is in Russian, there's just some words that I don't know so I'm writing it in English."
"Hi Valery, is everything okay?"
"Have you heard about- the...bombing?"
"Bombing? Where?"
"Ukraine started attacking Russia back, their first hit was in-"
"St Petersburg." She sighs heavily and I hear a quiet sob leave her mouth.
"I'm so sorry Mrs. Petrakis, is there anything I can do?"
"Just be there for Kat, I have my husband, but that's her family too."
"Of course, are you alright?"
"I will be when I know their safe. Anyway, thank you for telling me, bye hon."
"Good bye Mrs. Petrakis, it's going to be okay." She sighs again and hangs up the call, and I flop down onto the bed, and stare at the ceiling.

That's my family too.

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Plot twist!