What a Difference a Year Makes (Revised)

Chapter 15

Chapter 15

The rest of the weekend was spent getting to know my In-laws better and they me. I was happy to be part of their family and Olena was ecstatic to know that Dimitri and I could give her grandchildren one day. We spoke a bit more about life after graduation and we told them about Abe's gift of the villa in LA, saying that if the worst came to the worst and we couldn't get an allocation anywhere we could move out into the human world and exist somehow. I'm sure Abe would have some ideas but first I wanted to finish school and graduate, which they understood and no more questions were asked about life after.

Some of the older families in the neighbourhood visited the house while we were there. They hadn't seen Dimitri in a while and all were curious about the American bride that he had brought with him. I was worried of the scrutiny at first but they all turned out to be as welcoming as my new family were and accepted me with open arms.

It was Monday morning and we were sitting in the food hall having just got back from Baia, when we were joined by Alberta, looking absolutely exhausted. "What's wrong Alberta?"

"I've just finished a twelve hour shift of walking the wards. I had forgotten how mind numbingly boring it was. I've been stuck behind a desk for too long, I think I need to get my butt back in the gym" she said with a yawn.

"I'm sure you will get into the swing of things soon" said Dimitri kindly "but feel free to join us for training whenever you want. The rest have but I think Eddie is coming to impress Vika and she is doing the same for Eddie" he laughed.

"How was your first trip home in three years?" Alberta asked with a smile.

"It was great to be home. Lovely to see mama again and my sisters, and Babushka, can't forget Babushka" he said grinning. "They absolutely love Roza especially Paul and Zoya"

"You got that right, totally ignored me, Paul ran straight past me and into the arms of these two. Then Zoya woke up shouting Aun Woza and ran into her arms totally ignoring her mother" added Vika with mock hurt. Everybody just laughed. We spoke for a little longer about our weekend in Baia before I noticed Dimitri looking at the time.

"When do you start guarding Comrade?"

"I start in the moroi classes this morning but I think I'm in some of yours this afternoon, so I'll see you then."

"Do you want me to bring you something to eat to training or will you be able to grab something?" I asked solicitously.

"If you could bring me something that would be great. Don't worry if it's cold I'll probably be able eat anything by that time" he replied.

"Oh really, I may hold you to that Comrade" I whispered salaciously in his ear causing him to let out a low growl which Vika heard.

"Ewww you two are gross" she said with a whine as Alberta laughed indulgently.

The morning combat classes went really well. Eddie, Mason and I were actually in a better position than we thought we were, I more so than the boys because I had been taught by my Russian battle god. I did notice that some of our take down techniques were new to the students of St Basil's which I filed away for later use. I also noticed that there were more girls than at St Vlad's; it made a nice change not to be in a minority.

At lunchtime Vika sat with the guys and me and just rambled away about anything and everything. It was nice not having to think too much about anything for once. We had been through a long busy week and it was nice to let someone else do all the talking. I picked up something for Dimitri and packed it safely away in my bag so it would survive until training at 3.30pm and we walked to our next class.