From Russia With Love

The days seemed to speed up as they drew closer to the date of Gerard’s aptitude test. Dominika had resigned to turning her attitude towards savoring every last minute of each day they had left together rather than lamenting and dreading his departure. Their relationship had strengthened and tightened, the bond between them casting deep threads that bound them together, and Dominika felt with confidence it was this that would hold them together across the ocean when he left. For now she felt grateful. Grateful for this life, for her life, for Gerard’s life, and for everything that lay ahead of them, despite the past horrors that had brought them there.

There was not a day where her thoughts hadn’t drifted somehow to her family, but now she had channeled her thoughts and memories into her own strength, a crutch to lean on, and a way to turn their deaths into a motion of change rather one of sadness. Their deaths would not be in vain if Dominika did not allow them to be.

Gerard seemed to sense her resolve, and somehow he was more relaxed too, joking and teasing her as always but this time his loving undertone was blatantly apparent, and Dominika felt the true extent of his affection for her on a different level.

She lamented the early morning starts at the company studios now that Gerard’s departure was imminent, peeling herself out of the warmth of his sleeping arms before the dawn light as she trudged off to the bathroom to shower. Inexplicably, no matter how quiet she tried to be, he was always awake and at least partially dressed by the time she stepped back into the room, her long hair tamed and her eyes slightly more present and alive.

This morning was no exception, and Gerard stood at the edge of their bed with his tousled hair in his face as he focused on buttoning his shirt. He looked up at her through the dark strands as he heard her footsteps, grinning widely as he took in her appearance.

“Nice towel”

Dominika looked down at the pale fluffy towel that she held around her otherwise bare torso before pulling it a little tighter around herself. She cocked an eyebrow at him.

“My bathrobe is out for laundry service”

“Sure, sure, kid” he chuckled, ruffling her hair playfully before his eyes softened and he pulled her in closer, trailing his soft lips from her jaw line to the corner of her mouth. Unable to suppress the pleasure of his touch, Dominika let out a soft moan and she felt his pursed lips turn to a smile against her skin.

“You pretend you have no idea what you're doing, but I think you know exactly how to drive me wild” Gerard said softly, his voice equal parts strained and un-tethered, making the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.

He kissed her neck a final time before he slid out the side door, much sooner than Dominika had hoped, calling out behind him as he went.

“I’ll be waiting”

She paused for a moment, waiting for the sound of his footsteps to dissipate down the staircase as she hugged herself, her slender arms wrapped around her own torso, savoring the feel of his body against hers from only a moment before.

And in that moment she felt something within her shift and change, and she realized for the very first time since she had arrived in America, she felt genuinely safe. The irony had been at first that D.C had felt somehow even more foreign than war-torn Russia, and here and there she found herself pining for her home over the ocean, even if was fractured, ravaged and broken as she had heard reported over countless channels, almost every day of her life here so far. Life there was surely not as she had known it anymore, Dominika knew that, but a large part of her still pined for the familiar, however fragmented that may be. Things had changed now. There was no family waiting for her in Russia, and she realized with an empty bleakness that almost every person she had once called a friend was dead and gone. Her country, her town and even her home pillaged and violated beyond all comprehension.

Life here in America was different, the horrible, black fingers of the darkness shrouding Russia reached out and touched it, but somehow only skimmed the very surface here, unable to break it and unable to break Dominika the way she had been broken by the death of her family. In this life, this world, Gerard was safe, she was safe, and all those she cared about that remained were here with her, protected.

America was nothing of what she had imagined; it had become her safe place, a home away from home. And for that, she was overwhelmingly grateful.

She could only pray it would last.

Notes

Sorry for the massive wait guys! This chapter is short but there is more coming soon! Thank you so much if you're still sticking with me, I can't believe I've had over 4k views in the last 2 months!