From Russia With Love

The military base had been built over an hour away from the royal estate, right on the edge of the bay for ease of access to the docks. Huge black gates four times the height of the average man surrounded it on all sides, and American soldiers guarded the front gates holding weapons that looked almost as big as they were. Razor wire ran right around the perimeter, making sure no one could get in or out. Gerard lived on the base during the week and came home to his parent’s house on the weekends.

It was the Friday night of the ball and she was sat in front of long vanity in her bathroom whilst the stylist did her hair. She watched her Mother in the mirror, who had been hovering incessantly in the background the entire time. The stylist twisted a strand of her hair over the barrel of a curling wand and held it for a moment before letting the perfect curl fall back to Dominika’s shoulder.

“What color is your dress?” she asked.

“Black” her Mother piped up from the background. Dominika shot her a withering look in the mirror, she hated being spoken for.

Voices floated up the stairs, and the stylist hurried to put the finishing touches on her make up. Dominika’s Father called out to them from below.

“Are you ready up there? Private Way is here”

Private Way?! It was the first time she had ever heard anyone refer to Gerard by his official title, and she made a mental note to give him hell for it later. For once she was grateful for her Father’s formalities.

She slipped the straps of the black satin dress over her shoulders and looked at herself in the mirror. She was happy with the way the material clung to her new curves, and the darkness of the satin offset her pale skin and made her eyes pop. The stylist had lightly curled her hair and it fell over her shoulders to brush her waist. Her long eyelashes fanned out perfectly with the help of mascara, and her lips were painted a bright shade of glossy red.

“You look beautiful, Dominika” her mother sighed, “picture perfect”

“Thanks, Ma, at least I’ll look good while I’m being humiliated”

Her mother rolled her eyes and pushed her by her shoulders out the door and down the stairs.

“Here she is!” she called in a singsong voice.

Dominika felt the heat rise to her face as she saw Gerard standing at the base of the stairs, dressed to the nines in his formal greens. His hair had grown out a little longer since his return and he wore it slicked back. He looked taken aback for a second as his eyes met hers, but he quickly cracked her a smile.

“You look pretty, kid, you scrub up well”

“Speak for yourself” she replied. He offered her his arm as she reached the bottom and she reluctantly linked it with hers.

“He’s not going to bite you Dominika, be nice” her Mother chided. She looked up at Gerard who shook his hand in the ‘maybe, maybe not’ kind of way.

Part of the deal had been that she would arrive with Gerard so they could be photographed together and they would sit on the official table together with Gerard’s and her parents, her siblings were apparently to be spared from the humiliation of being paraded around like a trophy.

He led her out to his car on the driveway and opened the passenger side door for her.

“You know, you don’t have to act like every second in my presence is torture” he said, not looking at her as he started the car and began to reverse down the driveway. She realized maybe she had been a little too theatrical.

“I apologize” she replied “its not you, its my parents, I don’t like being forced into things”

He took his eyes off the road for a second to smirk at her.

“Oh, I know”

“If you had asked me yourself, I would have said yes” she replied.

“I’ll keep that in mind for next year” he grinned.

When they pulled up at the front of Mess Hall, Gerard hopped out and opened the passenger side door for her. Several photographers dressed in all black approached them as they entered, and made them stop and pose for photos. Gerard kept his arm respectfully at her shoulders but pulled her in closer.

“Smile” he whispered at her “its not so bad”

The mess hall had been decorated beautifully for the event. Circular tables draped in red, white and blue satin table cloths dotted the room, surrounding a huge polished dance floor of dark wood. Long chains of white fairy lights cascaded from the ceiling over their heads. A swing band played quietly in the background and she noted a few couples dancing, at least she had that on her side, she could never imagine Gerard asking her to dance. They were ushered away to a back room to relax until their official announcement was made, and then they’d enter on their cue.

One of the things she hated most about royalty was that everything had to be so dramatic.
They sat in the semi-dark room on a red velvet couch, blue light reflecting on their faces from the screen in front of them neither of them paid attention to.

“I can’t believe I’m here with you, how did you pull this off?” she asked.

“I didn’t do anything, it was all your folks, kid” he replied “besides, aren’t you glad you’re here with me and not some creep?”

“The only creep here is you”

“I can be anything you want me to be”

Notes

You've probably worked out by now that these are all reflection chapters explaining the past, we're on our second last reflection chapter now and about to get into the main story line. Enjoy!