Avos'

𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝

T'S A LITTLE PAST EIGHT WHEN OKSANA FINALLY MANAGES TO MAKE IT HOME.

She hadn't expected to spend the entire day with Grissy and Finn- touring the countryside, shopping for little trinkets for the twins, watching Grissy dazzle a crowd of children with magic tricks- but it had been wonderful. Despite that, it had been necessary.

Grissy is surrounded by men- her husband and her brothers- but today she needed someone else.

Today she needed a woman and, unbelievably, Oksana realizes she needed one as well.

All the main lights are off as she enters the house and crosses the den to make her way up the stairs. The house is silent, deadly so, and she imagines that Tommy's probably tucked Charlie in and retired for the night, or perhaps he's still conducting the business he so vaguely referenced this morning.

Imagine her surprise when she opens the door to her room, the breath whisked from her when she sees Tommy is already in there waiting for her.

He's smoking a cigarette by her open window, the cool air blowing away the stale smell, but it still lingers in the air. The lights are off, and with the moon's glow, Tommy looks almost ethereal. He's dressed down from his traditional wear in simple pants and an untucked white shirt, but it's dazzling, nonetheless. He isn't royalty in the traditional sense, but he's a king in his own right.

And with the aristocratic air he carries, he brings back a rush of memories from earlier today.

He's besotted with you.

"Back in one piece." It rattles her that her voice is so low and breathy, making her sound nervous to see him.

At the sound of her voice, his back straightens. He turns around slowly and her stomach flutters something gooey at the small- almost nonexistent- smile he gives her. He crosses the room in three long graceful strides, plucking his cigarette from his lips as he bends down and steals a kiss. "Good. How was your day?"

"Good," she whispers. "Business?"

The smile is still there, but his eyes flash with something uncertain. "Good."

"Charlie is asleep?"

"Tucked him in. He asked me for the bedtime story you read him, but he couldn't remember the name. The squirrel and-"

"The Dog and the Wolf, from Aesop's fables. It is on the second shelf on his bookcase, green cover," she says, cutting him off and chuckling when he raises his eyebrows in intrigue and suspicion.

A story about a wolf who rejects warmth and comfort from a dog because he refuses to live in chains.

If he catches the pointed and ironic symbolism, he doesn't comment on it. "I'll remember that for next time. So, Grissy didn't manage to scare you away? She's good at that."

Oksana shakes her head with a smile because she doubts that's even close to the truth. "No, she's..." but then she trails off. A part of her screams that it isn't right for her to share what Grissy told her today, but the other side of her rationalizes that this is something she needs her best friend for, preferably sooner rather than later. "Alfie's sick."

He takes a slow drag of his cigarette and nods. "I know."

"She told you?"

"She didn't have to. She tried to hide it, but I felt it anyway."

Oksana blinks repeatedly. If there was ever a doubt that their twin-like, psychic connection is fake, it's thrown to the wind now. There's no possible way that Grissy managed to tell him so quickly, not when she spent the entire day with Oksana and Finn. Which begs the question-