NRPG: Hi, all! This is a joint post, from Jeff and myself. It's part one of what promises to be a multi-part exploration of Leo's and Zenya's past, experiences with Docker, and so on.
Jeff: I'm working on part two.
RPG:
The flight back from Boston had been uneventful, for Zenya mainly because she had dozed off immediately after take off. Not one to be able to fall asleep on planes, Leo spent most his time reflecting back on the events that occured during the past few days. His memories were beginning to become fuzzy and so he glanced over at the now sleeping Zenya, envious of her ability to grab a few snatches of sleep.
"She's been through a lot", Leo thought to himself. "More than any of our partners could ever imagine."
But then, so had he. Seeing Docker, using the device, the scene at the parking lot where Zenya found out about his involvement in her family's death. It had taken more out of him than he had realized, and he could only imagine what it had done to Zenya. As he watched the morning sun play across her face, he saw that whatever she was dreaming of was taking a turn for the worse, as her face drew to a frown, her brows knitting together. Leo wondered if it would be wise to wake her now, but then the captain answered that for him as he announced that they would soon be landing at Dulles. Leo's hand on Zenya's shoulder roused her from the beginning of what promised to be a bad dream anyway.
"Buckle up," Leo said. "We'll be landing in a few minutes."
"Already?" She tried, and failed, to suppress a yawn.
"Didn't get much sleep last night?"
"A couple of hours. But then, you already knew that. By the way, thanks for the pillow."
Leo shrugged. "I tried not to wake you."
"You didn't," Zenya said, smiling. "I figured it didn't walk over from the sofa on its own, and did you notice, everyone else looks comparatively well rested?"
"I guess we both had a lot to think about." He seemed about to say something else, then changed his mind, staring straight ahead at the back of Jordan's head in the seat in front of them. The group didn't know about their past, and it felt wiser not to let them in, at least not yet.
Zenya took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She could think of about ten good reasons for being nervous, but none of them changed the fact that she needed to hear the truth. "Leo, if you're free tonight, I need to talk about all of this. I need to hear whatever you can tell me."
Leo nodded thoughtfully, not quite having second thoughts about the promise he had made to her, but certainly not looking forward to it. "Sure. Go home, get some rest, and just come over when you're ready."
"Good plan," Zenya said, and turned her attention to the view of Washington as the plane began it's descent. It was something she usually couldn't stand to watch, too busy thinking about the fact that there was a mile or so of nothing between her and the ground and almost convinced that whatever laws of physics allowed a plane to stay in the air would be repealed at any moment. This time, she watched, lost in other thoughts, trying to pick out the important landmarks in her life - the Hoover Building, the old Soviet Embassy that had been her first home, the mini-mart that now stood on the very spot were her parents' home had been.
*****
[Zenya's apartment]
Two days worth of mail lay on the counter, brought in but untouched. Typical. Valery would probably let the water, electricity and phones all be turned off before he ever bothered to open an envelope. Sometimes Zenya wondered if he really had any concept of where these things actually came from, or if he just thought they appeared miraculously.
He wasn't home, which was no surprise, but a relief nonetheless. He was the last person she wanted to see right now. There was a time she could have talked to him about what had happened, but that time was long past and now he would just dismiss her feelings as irrelevant. It was ancient history, he would say, get over it and get on with your life.
Zenya dropped her luggage by the door, went into her bedroom and, pausing just long enough to undress and throw her clothes in a pile on the chair, crawled into bed. When she finally woke up, the bedside clock said six-fifteen and she at last felt like she could keep her eyes open - and that she was ready to face her past and sort through the encounter with Docker.
When she came out of the bedroom, dressed in jeans and a yellow sweater that felt a bit strange after weeks on end of nothing but business suits, Valery was sitting on the sofa, sketch book in hand, doing absolutely nothing.
"I wasn't expecting you home so soon," he said.
"Then you won't mind if I go out."
Valery shrugged. "Why would I mind?"
"Why indeed." She walked out, pulling the door shut a little harder than necessary.
*****
[Leo's apartment, 15 minutes later]
If there was one thing that Leo hated more in this world than Docker, it was housework. Over the time that he spent in D.C., he had managed to keep his apartment in a pretty mild state of chaos. Now, for the past hour, he had been "cleaning up" the place and trying to hide a lot of his junk in places that Zenya would never think of looking.
"After all..." Leo thought to himself. "First...."
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[Columbia, South Carolina. 1996]
"Imp... Impwes..." Andrea's face scrunched up into a puzzled frown as she stumbled over the phrase that Jenn was fond of. Leo looked down at his beautiful daughter, who had just turned 5 not too long ago, as she straightened out one of his various ties from hell.
"Impressions?" Leo asked with a grin on his face.
"Yeah! Impressions..." Andrea replied, her smile broadening over her cherubic face. "First Impressions are very important." She said with a nod as she took a step back to look over her tie-straightening job with pride. Leo turned to look at her work in the mirror and was impressed as usual. He never could get any of his ties straight, no matter what he tried.
"You're starting to sound as weird as your mommy." Leo said, a mischeivous grin stealing over his face as he saw his daughter's expression turn to mild shock.
"I'm telling mommy you called her weird." Andrea said with a giggle.
"Not if I get to her first." Leo said as he dashed around the bed, just in time to see his daughter disappear down the hall towards the front door where he knew Jenn was waiting with her usual patience for him to get ready. When he turned the corner into the living room, he saw Andrea clinging to Jenn's leg as she tried to hide from him.
"Mommy, mommy... daddy called you weird." She said, between breaths. Her eyes flashed with glee as she peeked around Jenn's dress to look at Leo in the doorway.
"Oh, he did, did he?" Jennifer said, shaking her head slowly while smiling. "Well, daddy must be just as weird for marrying me." she replied as she bent down to inspect Andrea, making sure she didn't get too sweaty before they headed out to dinner. "Let's go, shall we?"
After locking up the house, they all piled into the car, Leo driving, Jenn riding shotgun and Andrea securely fastened in the back.
"I'm impressed, dear. You finally got that tie straight." Jenn said with a smile.
"Of course I did, dear." Leo replied as he turned around to reverse the car out of the driveway, giving his daughter a wink in the process.
Andrea replied with one of her exaggerated winks as Jennifer chuckled in her seat.
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[Leo's Apartment]
As Leo snapped out of his reverie, he noticed that he was holding one of the few family portraits that he managed to have taken when all three of them were together. Leo was dressed casually in a Polo shirt and Jeans, Jenn and Andrea were wearing matching sundresses, Andrea's hair done up in a ponytail as Jenn's hair cascaded over her shoulders. Replacing the picture on his shelf, Leo went about the cleaning (or hiding) process, reminding himself that he would need to do some laundry soon. After inspecting the bedroom and adjoining bathroom, making sure there wouldn't be anything embarrasing lying around, he went back into the living room to do a little last minute dusting. As soon as he stepped out of the bedroom, a knock came at his door. Looking through his peephole, he saw Zenya, dressed in jeans and a sweater standing outside.
Opening up the door, Leo said, "Zenya, come in, come in. Almost didn't recognize you in civvies."
"Civvies?" Zenya asked, surveying Leo's apartment.
"Civilian clothes." Leo replied, as he watched her move towards the living room. "Can I get you anything?"
********