NRPG: Part two of the current collaboration between Jeff and me. Part three coming soon.
RPG:
[Corrigan's ranch, 5:30PM]
No one around for miles, no sounds of traffic or sirens, nothing to break the peace and quiet except the gentle babbling of a little stream that ran through the middle of the property and the laughter of children. It would be easy to get used to a life like this, Zenya thought, though the quiet would probably drive her crazy after a while.
Scott and Janet, with typical childhood enthusiasm, were continually riding ahead and doubling back every so often as they thought of something they had to tell Uncle Leo. His patience with them was amazing. Zenya could tell that he was holding back. He would just as soon be racing ahead with them, but he was keeping a tight hold on the reigns, keeping pace with her. Polite, but unnecessary.
Zenya's initial strategy had been to let the horse make all the decisions, since it no doubt had more experience with people than she had with horses. After a while, she was feeling a little more confident in the saddle. With a grin in Leo's direction, she gave the horse a sound slap on the rump and the little mare took off. With all of her concentration focused on just keeping her balance, enjoying the scenery was impossible, but the feeling was exhilarating, kind of like running blindly full speed down the side of a hill, not knowing if she would be able to stop. The experiment went just fine, except for a large branch that had fallen in the path. The horse didn't slow down to go around it, but decided to jump over it. Zenya nearly panicked, but forced herself to relax into the jump. As soon as they'd cleared the hurdle, though, she pulled back on the reigns and came to a stop. Leo rode up next to her a second later.
"Trying to show off?" he asked. He looked a little bit concerned.
"Yes. Were you impressed?"
"Not really," he teased. "I just wasn't sure you meant to do that."
"Uncle Leo," Scott called. He came racing up to them with Janet close behind. "Race you back to the house!"
"All right, but Zenya and I get a head start," he said, already spurring the horse on as he spoke.
Zenya took off after him as both kids called out, "No fair!" Halfway back, both of the kids passed them, with Janet in the lead by a length or so. Zenya smiled, secretly rooting for her. There was an inquisitive look in the little girl's eyes that reminded her of Irena.
Leo sped after them, while Zenya held back, content to come in last in this little race so she could watch the others. Leo almost managed to overtake them again - given another fifty yards he could have - but Zenya suspected he'd thrown the race on purpose. She wasn't quite sure, but she thought he'd slowed just a bit as they neared the house. The victor, Janet, laughed triumphantly. Leo jumped down off his horse, pulled Janet down and spun her around and patted her head as he set her down.
As Zenya finally rode to a stop near them, a dark-haired man came out of the house and called to Leo. "Finally made it out here, I see. Theresa was just sending me out to look for you."
"Daddy!!! Didja see? I won, I won!!!" Janet yelled as she ran towards her father, who picked her up and gave her a congratulatory hug.
Richard Corrigan smiled broadly as he answered, "Yes, darling. I did see. You and your brother gave ol' Uncle Leo a run for his money, I see."
Scott smiled broadly as he took the reins of the horses and led them back to the barn. Janet went to help brush them down as Zenya, Leo, and Richard followed behind.
"Richard, this is Zenya Gorky, from Zulu." Leo said, turning from Zenya to Richard. "And Zenya, this is Richard Corrigan, head honcho and trainer extra-ordinaire.
Zenya reached across to shake Richard's hand. "Well, Leo had a lot to say about you on the way over. I feel like I know you already."
Richard returned the handshake and replied, "Same here. He's had nothing but high praise for you everytime he's visited the class."
Leo had already entered the barn and was helping Scott and Janet unsaddle the horses, putting them away on their racks as Zenya and Richard chatted outside. Scott and Janet then started to brush the horses down as Leo helped, glancing occasionally at the door and wondering (a bit anxiously, but he wouldn't admit it) what they were discussing. As soon as they were done feeding and watering the horses after they were put into their stalls, Leo and the children made their way outside where Zenya and Richard waited for them and they made their way back to the house. Every so often, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that Zenya kept giving him curious knowing glances, with a hint of a smile on her face, which made him wonder ever more what they were talking about. He had no doubt that he was one of the topics, but he figured that eventually, someone would tell him. He hoped.
"Mmmmmm.." Zenya said as they approached the house, "Something definitely smells good inside."
Leo and the kids looked at each other and were thinking the exact same thing. It didn't take long before the kids took off with Leo not far behind, as they rushed headlong towards the house and dinner.
Richard laughed and shook his head. "They never learn, especially that big one."
Zenya smiled as he said this, "What do you mean?"
Richard said, "Just watch. I'd advise you to hit the showers first because Theresa doesn't like the smell of horses at the dinner table."
When they entered the house, Zenya noticed that Leo, Scott, and Janet were all standing in a row before the dining room. Theresa stood in front of them and shaking her head.
"You know the rules, no horses at the table." She said in a firm and strong tone.
The three of them looked stunned at this piece of news as they looked at each other. As Zenya went quietly to her guest room and got her clothes and then slipped into the shower as Leo and the children looked on in shock, never expecting to be outraced to the shower.
"Heyyyyy!!!!!" She heard the three of them exclaim outside as she undressed and took a nice hot shower, letting the water work out the knots she received while riding. She couldn't help but laugh as the water worked its calming effect on her.
*****
"Let me help you with the dishes," Zenya said as Theresa started to clear the table after dinner. Theresa declined the offer and shooed everyone off to the living room with a promise to join them shortly.
Janet tugged on Zenya's sleeve as they made their way to the other room. "You talk funny," she said.
"Janet!" Scott exclaimed, scolding his sister for the breach of etiquette. Richard looked apologetic. Leo looked amused. Zenya started laughing.
"Yes, I suppose I do," she said. As they settled in the living room, Zenya explained that she was from Russia, and answered a half dozen other questions before Janet grabbed her hand and stared intently at the tattoo on her finger.
"Ba.. Ba.. I can't read it," the little girl said. "What does it say?"
"It's in Russian," Zenya said, trying to think of a way to avoid a topic she really didn't want to discuss. "Do you want to learn the Cyrillic alphabet? Then you can sound it out yourself." Janet nodded enthusiastically and Zenya sent her off to get a pencil and some paper.
"Don't let her be a bother to you," Richard said. "Once she gets started, sometimes there's no stopping her."
Zenya waved away his concerns. "It's really not a bother."
"She used to teach," Leo put in. "Probably right in her element with Janet." He gave Zenya a look and a smile that said he saw right through her little ploy.
"Really. Have you managed to teach Leo here anything useful?"
"I'm afraid he might have picked up a few words," Zenya said, recalling an unguarded moment in the Great Hall at MIT.
"Nothing that can be repeated around young ears, though," Leo said.
Janet came running back with notepad and pencil in hand, and she and Zenya settled into their lesson using the coffee table as a desk. After ten minutes of explaining that a 'B' was really a 'V' and that the backwards 'R' wasn't really an 'R' but a 'ya' while the 'P' was actually the 'R', Zenya was nearly in hysterics and Janet was getting frustrated.
"Show me how to write my name," Janet said.
"Of course. Start with a D."
Janet giggled. "My name doesn't start with a D!"
"I know," Zenya told her, smiling. "But there's no J in Russian, so we use dzh instead."
Janet thought about that. "There's no one in Russia named Janet," she asked.
"No," Zenya said. She frowned. "The equivalent would be Zaneta."
Janet laughed again. "That sounds funny. What's your name in English?"
"Je.." Zenya cut herself off. Jennifer. She hadn't really thought about it before - why should she? - but now she blanched. She glanced over at Leo, who was deep in conversation with Richard. If Janet picked up on it the way children are inclined to do and started using the name for her for the rest of the evening, how would he feel about it? And why should it matter so much to her what he thought? But it did.
"Come on, kids, time to get ready for bed," Theresa announced.
Zenya breathed a sigh of relief. "We can pick this up again in the morning if you want to," she told Janet.
*****
A little while later, kids tucked in bed and bedtime stories read, Zenya went looking for Leo and found him on the back porch. The night was cold, but the sky was clear in the way it only can be away from city lights. Leo was sitting on the porch swing, lost in thought.
"Hey," Zenya said, sitting down next to him.
"Having fun?"
"I am. I want to thank you for bringing me along. This was the perfect remedy for everything."
"My pleasure." He grinned. "You and Janet seem to have hit it off."
"She's adorable. Smart, too." They lapsed into silence for a couple minutes, enjoying the silence and the starlit night. Then Zenya started to say something, stopping herself a few times, and finally biting the corner of her lip when she caught herself about to use an overly familiar derivative of his name. "Leo," she finally said, "can I ask you a very personal question? You don't have to answer it if you don't want to."
Leo looked at her rather strangely, wondering what she could possibly want to ask that was too personal, considering how they'd bared their souls to each other before the mess with the Crosses started. "Uh, yeah. Sure. What is it?"
For her part, Zenya was already starting to regret having started the conversation. It was too beautiful a night to be marred by discussing the sort of ugliness that was playing in her mind. But since she had, there was no graceful way to turn back. "How, how many people have you killed?"
Whatever he was expecting her to ask, it wasn't that. And for that he was a little relieved. "A lot." He shrugged. "Why?"
Zenya shook her head. "It doesn't really matter, anyway." She stared into the night for a long time before continuing. "Before Valery left, he asked me a question. Would I feel better if Amanda Ericsson were dead? And I said yes."
Leo nodded in agreement. "Sometimes, it's the only way."
Zenya smiled and nodded. "I'm learning that. I guess I'm having a little trouble accepting it, though."
Leo reached out and squeezed her hand. "And you want to know how I live with myself?"
Even though he hadn't said it defensively, Zenya was shocked at the implication. "No! Not at all," she said emphatically. She wasn't sure exactly what her point was, but that wasn't it. Then she surprised herself by saying, "I just need to hear from someone who's opinion I value that it's okay." She rolled her eyes and shook her head. Since when had she been so insecure? She knew the answer to that, too. She held up her hand and looked at that stupid tattoo. "I wonder how painful it would be to have that removed."
Leo lifted her left hand up and ran his thumb over the finger that held the tattoo, "It shouldn't be too bad. A little laser surgery and that finger should look like new."
Zenya blushed a little, she was thanking the fates that it was probably too dark for Leo to notice, as he ran his thumb gently over her finger. After a bit of composing herself, she asked, "How would you know that?"
It was Leo's turn to blush as he related the story of how his mother made him get rid of a tattoo prior to getting married. "After all, no son of hers was getting married being marked up like a graffiti-stained wall." Leo finished, his cheeks a deep red. "And to think, it was only a small tattoo in the shape of a heart."
Zenya gave off a small laugh, which turned into a stretch and yawn. "I think I'm gonna head off to bed, that riding took a lot out of me. Coming?"
It took her a few seconds to wonder why Leo was looking at her with that half-grin on his face, before she realized how it must've sounded. This time, the blush she had couldn't have been hidden from the darkness as she stood in the light being shown from inside. "I'm sorry, I didn't...." she stammered, while trying to laugh at the same time.
Leo, laughing a little at the awkwardness of the situation himself, just waved her in. "I know. I'll stay out here a while before coming in." He smiled at Zenya trying to compose herself once again. "Good night, Zenya."
"Good night, Leo." Zenya answered, as she closed the door and made her way to the guest room that she was staying in.
Leo stood up and watched as she crossed the living room and entered her room, wondering what was bothering him more. The seemingly dormant feelings that he was experiencing for the first time since Jennifer or the fact that he almost said Yes to Zenya's question.