| "Food for Thought" | ||
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Popov Residence June 13, 2008, 2145 hours Dinner had been excellent as usual, and all four of them had wolfed down the food as if they were never going to eat again. Nikolai once again complimented Anastasiya on the fine cuisine, causing her to turn away embarrassed yet again. It was something he did as often as he could; it had started when Sergei had first brought him to his house for dinner and it had turned into a game from then on, both of them trying to make the other turn red at every opportunity. Little did he know that Anastasiya was just waiting for the baby to be born, knowing full well that the little bundle of joy would provide her with an array of opportunities to get her own back. Sergei stood and took the empty plates out into the kitchen, leaving his wife to ask questions about her daughter's latest essay. Nikolai took Yelena's hand under the table and rested it on his knee. As his fianc� replied to her mother's questions he began drawing circles on her hand with his finger. The way in which he did this caused her to stifle a giggle, the sensation just too ticklish for her to be able to ignore. He smiled as Anastasiya gave her daughter a puzzled look, obviously wondering why her child had cut off mid-sentence. Sergei rejoined them at that moment, a tray with four bowls held in his hands. He manoeuvred around the table and handed a bowl to each of them before sitting back down in his seat with the last bowl in front of him. It was chocolate cake, doused in chocolate custard, and topped with chocolate sprinkles. Pregnant food, he thought with a grin. Yelena was going to love this. "You pregnant Sergei?" he asked his mentor, gesturing at the desert. "No," Sergei replied, "but I noticed someone is. Seems you can do something right after all!" He laughed. "Very good, old man." "I try." "As do I." He took a spoonful of the brown sponge and placed it in his mouth, immediately noting the richness of it. "Mmm, very good." Once they had finished mother and daughter went into the kitchen. Sergei and Nikolai went down a set of concrete stairs hidden under the stairs to the first floor of the house. This led them to the cellar, or what would have been the cellar had it not been designed to be Sergei's private command centre. From here he could access everything that he could from his office at HQ, even if that meant getting far more use out of a computer than he ever had in his life. Amazingly enough he was growing more and more comfortable with them, even getting accustomed to the particulars of each program, something that he would have never believed possible only a few months ago. "Take a seat," he said to his young Team Leader. They both sat down on the comfortable corner couch, sinking into the soft cushions. "You may be going to America again." "Huh?" "Georgiev is speaking with the Americans to see whether or not a meeting will be arranged. He has indicated that he expects a meeting to be set up fairly soon, and seeing as Kinzhap will be the go-team soon, coupled with the fact that you have already had contact with the American team, means that you will be going to represent our fire- teams." Nikolai caught the underlying tone. "You're not going, are you?" "No. I have to remain here and deal with the missions. Evgraf Zotovich will accompany you and represent the command aspect of our organization. If it does go ahead I do not believe it will be a long visit, more likely a couple of days. It would only be an introduction really, let us get a feel for each other," he explained. "But you don't know when yet?" Nikolai asked. "No, not until Georgiev sorts everything out." "Well, I was planning to take Lena away�" Nikolai said, his expression showing that he was hoping the trip would not be cancelled. "I know. We should be able to work around that. Besides, she does not know of it, so if it is at a different time she will be none the wiser." Nikolai shook his head. "She is at Uni, remember. I planned this so it would be in one of her breaks." Shit, he thought, I forgot about that. He'd have to see if he could get Georgiev to make any meeting happen sooner rather than later. It would be so much easier if Nikolai was at the meet. As the only RGZS man (Georgiev wasn't considered to be part of it) to have had both contact and dialogue with the American team Sergei felt it important that Nikolai was there. The conversation between him and the American woman had suggested that there was a degree of trust between the two, and he was keen to exploit that in a positive manner. "Ok, I'll see what I can do. I was just giving you a heads-up." "Thanks old man," the youngster said with a grin. Return |
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