Different than last time

[Irene Finch]

Irene sat in a corner of the kitchen, conversing in a low voice with the family house elf. She had proven to be loyal, generous and quite helpful in the years that she had been in the household and Irene was glad that she had accepted Lukyan's offer to have her in the house. Irene didn't consider her a friend by any means, she was a house elf after all, but she was aware of anything and everything that happened in the house. Her ears were always open and she would find out soon anyway. Keeping an ear towards the room next door where two blonde children were supposed to be playing, Irene continued to speak, her voice barely above a whisper though snatches of conversation in Romanian leaked into the living room every now and then. "...am I going to do?" Irene peeked into the living room and saw the two girls in a corner. Entering the kitchen once more, she paced around some more. "...different than last time..."

Irene dropped into a seat in the kitchen and looked out of the window for a moment. Her blue eyes stared straight outside, not really focusing on anything. She barely heard the house elf say that she was going to take the brownies out to the girls. When she returned, Irene dismissed her from the kitchen, asking her to turn down the beds before she retired for the night. Irene simply sat, not knowing what to do with all of her nervous energy. She wasn't afraid but she was certainly not as calm as she usually was in her own home. She waited on pins and needles for Lukyan to return home. She expected him soon because he hadn't mentioned that he would be home very late. Kicking off her shoes, Irene lifted her legs and tucked them under her. She continued to look out of the window into her garden in the backyard, watching the shadows as they fell on the brightly colored flowers.

 

[Alana Finch]

Alana Finch had only just arrived to her aunt's house about thirty minutes before. Her aunt's house elf had been sent to retrieve her so she could spend the night and play with her cousin, Melina. Alana and Melina were fairly close in age and their parent's were eager for the girls to be close friends. Whether that would happen was something that only time would be able to tell. With the promise of brownies, her aunt had left the two girls alone in the living room. Alana walked around the room, looking at the stuff in the room until she heard her aunt talking something other than English in the other room.

"Lina...what is your mommy talkin bout?" she asked, her red eyes looking towards the doorway as she heard the commotion. Alana had heard her dad speak something that sounded like that but he hadn't done it in a while. She was easily distracted by the house elf's entrance with brownies. "Brownies!"she exclaimed, hopping up and taking one. She took a quick bite and then turned to her cousin again. "C'mon Lina. Let's do somethin."

 

[Melina Kozlova]

Melina looked at her cousin with curiosity wondering in her eyes, she heard her mom say something in a different language, something she would hear often in their household. "I won't knoooo what she swaying, Alannna" Melina shrug her little shoulder, there just so much a three year old knew, but she knew there was something up with her mommy. She's been pacing a lot all day, but Melina knew there was something more going on with her beautiful mommy. Something big was going to happen, because Melina could feel like all little children can, she could tell there was something bothering her mommy. It was the instant connection she shared with her, and it's something can could never go away till she grew a little older.


"Waiiiiiiit, waiiiit, I want to seeee whats wong wif mommy, okay?" she took her own piece of brownie from the platter and walked into the kitchen. The doe eyed blue hues dance up to her mommy and offered her a piece of the brownie. "Mommy do you want sum, I can give you sum if you want?" she wanted to make her mommy smile, she look so worried and Melina just knew it in her little heart that if she could make her mommy smile everything will be alright. She pulled on her shirt and asked to be picked by the woman, "Uppp please!"

 

[Irene Finch]

Irene hadn't heard the door and she knew the house elf was eagerly attending to her duties, so she figured that one or both of the girls had entered the kitchen. She turned her blue eyes on her daughter and took a bite of the brownie that the girl offered to her. Obliging the young girl's request, Irene lifted the girl and sat her on the table facing her. She pushed back a blonde lock and spoke in English, "You're getting heavy, Melina." The woman stared at her daughter who had eyes so very like her own even if her other qualities were nearly identical to her father. Irene would never share with her daughter how reluctant she had been to have her because Irene was one of the best parts of her current life. Still, that didn't mean that she was eager to bring another one into the world. She and Lukyan had been doing well, getting along nicely (apparently too nicely) and she was reluctant to upset the balance of things.

Watching her daughter eat her brownie, Irene spoke. "Honey, why don't you go wait with Alana for daddy to come home? Tell him mommy needs to talk to him. Ok? He should be home any minute." Irene ruffled her daughter's hair and put her on the ground. She had never asked Melina about whether she wanted a brother or sister, mostly because she had not really thought about having other children. Lukyan had always mentioned to her that he wanted more children though and she had the feeling that he would, once again, be more pleased than she was at this whole situation.

 

[Melina Kozlova]

Melina wiggle her little hip on the table top, she like seeing her mommy eat the brownie. She was uber pleased to have made her eat, but she still wanted a smile on her face. Melina was determine to make the woman grin, she made some weird noises with her mouth, did several faces, but in the end her mommy wouldn't budge. "Otay mommy, I will go" she was let down by her mommy, Melna ran out of the kitchen and into the living room where she left Alana, "Alannnna, wanna play now?!" she was asked to keep a look out for her daddy, yet being the three year she was, she was back to play with her cousin instead. She took out a ball from under the couch and rolled to Alana, she had sticky brownie hands. Melina finished up the rest of her little treat, and retrieve another from platter settle on the ground.

She sat digging her small fingers into the brown delicious treat, mushing in her hand and putting the rest in her mouth. Melina heard something or someone pop right outside the front door, to her it can only mean daddy was home. Now she remembered why she went back out here, she ran quickly to the door and wrapped herself around the man leg before he got his chance to step in their sanctuary. "Daddddddy!"

 

[Lukyan Kozlov]

Tired from his work at Drumstrang, Lukyan was gracious to be home after a few days of being unseen. He was most looking forward to seeing his three year old daughter, Melina. It's like she could hear the moment he step at the door, he smiled hearing her scream Daddy. He was still getting use to that name, being a father was a privilege to him because honestly he never thought he would be one, never mind bringing children to the world. He picked her up and hugged her, snuggling his little one in his slim arms. He would only be this soft whenever he was around her, or else he was a complete different demeanor. "Hey sweety, is your mom around?" he asked, she nodded and pointed to the kitchen.Sometimes he would forget that she was three years old, she had an expanded mind of a five year otherwise he could never think she was older the moment she said a few words. "Hey Alana! Your here for the weekend?" he briefly brushed the five year old cheek, she was looking more like her father each time she saw the girl, and her mom. He travel onward to the kitchen, stepping around the toys ignoring the sight if the house elf who went to fetch his belongings the second he came. She quickly disappeared to put her masters belongings away.

Lukyan walked in, his charismatic ways turn on whenever he was around her stubborn little mommy. "Hey, long time we don't see" he joke. Lukyan crossed the kitchen and kissed Irene right on her cheek, and quickly her lips. She didn't like showing affection, he did so he had to kiss her whenever he saw her. She can be stubborn all she wanted, but he loved to kiss and it was their personal connection when others were around. He sat down setting Melina down, she went back to her cousin once more. Leaving us grownups together. "How's it going around here, you missed me darling?" he curled his lips, showed off a bit of his teeth, the pointing one at the edge bared out, he had them personally done so when that he smile they bared out a little. Long with a few tats that joined the various of others on his back. His daughter name was printed at one part of his shoulder blade, he was planning on getting some more when the time came.

 

[Alana Finch]

Alana waited patiently, eating a brownie as she waited for her cousin to come back into the room. The little girl smiled and jumped up from the sofa when her little cousin came back. She nodded eagerly and stuffed the last piece of brownie into her mouth. Bouncing the ball, Alana played with her cousin until her cousin jumped up. Her daddy was home. Alana watched the man warily. She didn't see him very often and she didn't really like people that she didn't know. Nodding, Alana spoke. "Yep."Alana didn't call Melina's daddy 'Uncle' mostly because her daddy told her she didn't have to. She wasn't sure because she was too young to understand but sometimes she didn't think that her daddy liked Melina's daddy. Her red eyes followed as Lukyan and Melina walked into the kitchen. Alana wanted to know what was going on, so she moved to the seat closest to the kitchen door and then she leaned over.

 

[Irene Finch]

Irene heard the two girls bouncing a ball in the room and knew that they were fine. They seemed to get along fairly well and she couldn't help but hope that it would continue as they grew older. Irene had idolized her older cousin when she was young until the family disowned her. Irene was far too obedient to her dad to admit that she thought the family was wrong for disowning her. Pushing her away had been the wrong thing to do and had only cemented her comraderie with muggles. Irene was just getting up from the kitchen table when she heard her daughter shout. "He's home" she said to herself as she sank back into the seat. Pushing her hair behind her ears, Irene didn't have to wait long before he had entered the room. Irene took in the sight of him and a brief, very brief small smile crossed her face. Even though he was tired and a bit scruffy, Irene found him incredibly attractive. She didn't move as he leaned down to give her first a kiss on the cheek and then on the lips. It was good for Melina to see them being affectionate. She tried to keep Melina from ever hearing them argue but considering how often that happened, she didn't think she did such a good job with that.

Waiting for Melina to leave and join her cousin once more, Irene performed a wandless summoning charm and placed a glass of water in front of Lukyan. "Alana is spending the night. I hope you don't mind." Irene ignored Lukyan's question and instead moved her chair closer to her boyfriend until her bare knee was touching his knee through his pants. She liked being close to him even if she wouldn't admit to missing him. The woman turned her head, her blue eyes looking into his. Hers were filled with worry as she spoke softly. She didn't want the children to overhear. "We have a problem." The woman didn't want to alarm Lukyan and make him think that they were in danger or anything, but this was a serious issue that they would need to deal with together and sometimes that didn't work out so well for them. Irene had found that she got along best with Lukyan when he allowed her to have space. When he was always around, they argued often or the truth was that she argued often.

 

[Lukyan Kozlov]

Lukyan thank her for the glass of water. he took it with grace and drank the whole think in two gulps. Can you tell he was tired? Exhausted. Teaching and writing all day was not the kind of job he wished on anyone. Though he still enjoyed it and in a few months he would be publishing two sets of books for Hogwarts students this time around. Everyone would get them after they all had their own copy. He did it that way, so whenever he sold them in bulks he get paid a little more heavy, addition to the money the students needed them more versus the public. It was education, education came first for them. When he was younger Lukyan fooled around a lot but he still put education first in some form of way or another. Didn't help he had devilishly good looks. He smirked. "It's alright with me, I'm not the owner of this house...yet" he said brushing his hand over his lap, he moved closer and kissed her cheek, she smell wonderful though he hardly admitted this to her in the open. He kissed her some more and pulled away by leaning to the side of his chair. He had rather a strong grip on her leg, so he caress the very bottom of her ankle.

"What's the problem" he said looking at her, observing from down below to her eyes, "Is Melina sick of something. your brother needs to talk to me?" it's a few times in a month when Ioan would need to talk to him, they both shared quite a few things in common. And still Irene had no clue what they were doing with the rest of his death eaters followers, but lately nothing happen. Nothing out of the ordinary has trigger that any of them were out there. It frustrated him, this generation of death eaters they were recruiting were becoming obvious to the public to when they do attack, He had enough of them, babies he would call them. They were still inappropriate to be consider a follower. "I see Melina fine, so that should tell me no and your brother would've mailed me if he wanted to chat. So what is it?" he recline to his chair, his hands still secured around her small ankle, "Oh by the way, tonight. Please? You can't deprive me from it to long, it's been a week." he added coolly.

 

[Melina Kozlova]

Melina went to look for her cousin again. She skip out to the living room and saw her cousin perched right besides the door of the kitchen. "Hey Alanna, come wif me pwease! I have dolls!" she persuaded to take her away from the door, Melina didn't know it but her little cousin was actually being a nosy mouse. "What you doing Alanna, C'mere so we can pway a while" she took off to her room up the stairs, she wanted to play with her dolls so she went to get them for her cousin to play with her. Melina pushed her door open and walked in, she would've grab the first few set of them. but her tiny little mind got distracted super easy. She stayed playing with her dolls in her room, along with various of other play toys scattering them around her entire room.

 

[Alana Finch]

Alana jumped up and followed her cousin up the stairs. She was only five so she didn't really care too much about what was going on with her aunt. The young girl ran up the stairs and into her cousin's room where her bag had already been placed by the house elf. Alana unzipped her bag and began to rummage inside. "Lookit, Melina" she said as she pulled out a doll. It was the newest witch doll that had come out and Alana had seen it in a toy store the other day and begged her daddy to get it for her. Of course he had. The doll was enchanted to fly around the room on her broom. "My daddy got it for me" she boasted and then she let it go. The doll began to fly around Alana's head and she chuckled as she watched it. The house elf peeked into the room to check on the girls and Alana stopped chuckling, her red eyes watching the house elf curiously until she left the room. She turned to her cousin once more and then began to hop around the room trying to capture the doll.

 

[Irene Finch]

Irene listened to Lukyan, figuring that she didn't have to reply when he asked if Melina was ok. He could see for himself that Melina was perfectly fine. That girl was as healthy as a hippogriff, thankfully. The second conclusion that Lukyan jumped to was more curious. Her brother and Lukyan had an interesting relationship that Irene didn't really understand. She always had the feeling that there was something she didn't know or fully realize about them, and she often wondered if Lukyan had helped Ioan out when he'd up and left the family after he'd finished school. "Has he contacted you recently?" Irene asked casually, though she was quite interested to know. It seemed that whenever Ioan sent Lukyan a message, he would drop whatever he was doing as if Ioan's message couldn't wait for a reply.

Irene closed her eyes, feeling Lukyan's hand around her ankle and sitting in silence for a moment. Where do I begin? she thought to herself, different scenarios running through her head. Lukyan spoke once more and a smirk crossed her face as she heard his request. It distracted her for a moment from what she'd been waiting to speak with Lukyan about. "Only because you said please" she stated matter-of-factly as she opened her eyes. Irene cleared her throat and then sighed. "I think I found someone to sell the Dinette to" she stated, not even being close to discussing what she really wanted to with Lukyan.

 

[Lukyan Kozlov]

Lukyan attention never peeled away from the brunette. “I don’t remember, I think it was last month” he shrug, it was less important really whenever Ioan contacted him it was all about updates and such. Lukyan ran his hand back; his honey blonde hair needed a cut as soon as possible. He looked a little beat up anyways, there was so much he needed to do while in New Zealand, and yet so little precious time. Lukyan meant to have scheduled everything if he needed, seem like he was stuck in the middle of his family issues, with Irene and his sisters, including that nephew of his.

“If he does contact you, tell him I will be around for about two weeks, I’m getting tired of Drumstrang” Lukyan complain. He was tired of the hours, of the books he have to update every time something went horrendously wrong, and plain tired of teaching those imbecile of children. “I think he owes me something, now that you mention. Oh well” he shrug once more. Lukyan waited to see what she had to say, he went from being tired to confuse. “Is that what you wanted to tell me all day? And why are you doing this in the first place?” Lukyan question the beautiful girlfriend of his, he thought maybe she was ready to settle down, actually marry him someday. “You’re thinking of marrying me babe? If that’s the case I’m all for it, support you one hundred percent of the way” he brushed her cheek, kissing the palm of her hand. Lukyan jump conclusion way to fast, he’d look like an idiot if that’s not what she had wanted to discuss further about. What can be more important than that anyways?!

 

[Irene Finch]

Irene's blue eyes looked suspiciously at her boyfriend. The relationship that he and Lukyan shared was one that was a huge mystery to her. She suspected that it involved money or perhaps a girl in their past. Not even a hint of the true reason for their relationship entered the woman's awareness. She nodded slowly. The next time Ioan asked after Lukyan, she was going to try to pry and find out what he wanted. As he began to question what she had told him, Irene bit her lip and listened to what he was saying. When he leaned in to kiss her, the woman slapped his cheek playfully and then pushed him away. "No, my doing this has nothing to do with us getting married" she laughed as if that was the furthest thing from her mind. At the moment it was. The woman had many more pressing needs.

"At first, I wanted to sell the place because I was getting tired of the dinette" she said, her hand on her neck as she leaned on the table. "It makes me money, but my staff drives me insane" she rolled her eyes. She also just wanted to be home more. The woman wouldn't admit it to her boyfriend, but she was jealous of the fact that their child always sought her father for things simply because he was more available for her. He'd taken care of her during the day because his job allowed him to do that. Irene was always either at the Ministry or at the Dinette. She could barely keep up some days, and now it would be even more difficult to do. "But...now I need to sell it so that I can spend more time at home" she took a deep breath and then blurted, "I'm pregnant again." Her blue eyes stared at Lukyan, a mixture of blame and shock in her face. He had done it to her...again.