Username: 
Password:    
Remember Me

Search by :  Username E-mail Region Interest AOL IM ICQ Number Yahoo! ID MSN Username Jabber

Elina (ilmatar) wrote in morningstar_mnr, @ 2010-06-03 18:09:00

AU: Thursday evening, Emily, Audrey, Gregori
Emily and Audrey had eaten Gregori's chocolates together on Wednesday evening while they had been talking. In fact, they had been talking - and arguing and crying and laughing and hugging a lot - for hours, way past both of their bed time. Audrey had taken the news well, having guessed half of it herself. She was utterly excited to have a father who was a celebrity too, and couldn't wait to meet him properly.

Emily's mind was just a little more at ease now that she had had time to think about it all. She still didn't want anything from Gregori, and she was very afraid of the potential scandal gossip in tabloids, but since Audrey was so happy and excited, she felt a little better as well. After a morning shift at work, Emily felt strange at home not needing to cook dinner. Instead, she was increasingly nervous as the time neared seven, just like Audrey was increasingly excited and hyper.

"Mom?" the girl asked when Emily came from the bathroom, dressed in a white shirt and black shorts, looking quite sharp. "Did you do your hair? Awww, you want to impress him, don't you!"

"What, I didn't do anything special," Emily tried to deny it. "And maybe I just thought this is an occasion I don't want to go through in dirty old jeans. My little cupcake gets a father," she said, running her hand over the girl's shoulders. "Are you hungry? He at least will want to impress us, so whatever he's bringing will be wonderful, and there will be a lot of it."

"Yeah, I'm getting hungry," Audrey admitted and patted her stomach. She was dressed in a yellow long tunic shirt with leggings underneath, and she grinned up at her mother even though she wasn't much shorter any more. "It's so cool that you know him that well even though it's been, what, thirteen years!"

Gregori had done a breakfast show, then a mid-morning presentation, and had snapped at an assistant who asked him why he wanted a shopping list fetched in. however, once the food had been brought in he surprised everyone with an impromptu demonstration, which the TV Company filmed, of the great Gregori Rushenko creating a family meal from scratch. He'd grinned to camera and reminded everyone that even the best chefs had families, and that the best start to a career in the culinary arts was good home cooking.

Once he'd got everything in the oven, or fridge, or even thh freezer, he got to take a break, and nibbled on a carrot stick and some celery while he waited. This was the problem with impromptu, now he was stuck waiting for it to finish! However, they had the filming done, and the food in the insulated bags by six o'clock and he was showered and heading for Emily's by half past. In fact, he was carrying only two insulated bags, one hot, one cold, and a large bottle of non-alcoholic wine too, the sparkly kind. He knocked on her door promptly at seven, hoping everything would still be all right, and knowing that the food at least just needed a little time in the oven or the freezer just to get it finished off perfectly.

Both of the Brandon girls turned towards the door as they heard the knock. Emily gave Audrey a hug before she went to open the door (while Audrey was fidgeting nervously, repeating, "He's here, he's here, he's here!").

"Right on time," Emily said seeing Gregori. She got a strange feeling in her stomach just seeing him - oh, he really was handsome. She opened the door further to let him in with all the things he was carrying. "Audrey's been a pain all day, she's so excited to meet you again."

"It's been, a long day so far," he didn't mind admitting it had been tiring, but then, he really hadn't slept all night and in between the shows there had been phone calls and then the press interviews and book signings.... "Perhaps she could help me sort out dinner then? While you relax?"

It was a sudden thought, but there was absolutely nothing left to do bar the rice, oh and dressing the green salad, but hey, no need to say that, besides, Audrey should know where everything was in the kitchen at least. "It won't take long and dinner will be ready."

"I'd love to help!" Audrey said. The apartment really was too small to have a private discussion without closing yourself into the bedroom. The girl came from the living room with a big smile on her face and her eyes gleaming. Her father! It all made sense to her, and she was infinitely proud to have Gregori Rushenko as her father, although it was a little difficult for her to believe that her lame old mother would have ever been with such a cool guy as Gregori.

Emily smiled a little and put her arm around Audrey briefly when the girl passed her on the way to the kitchen with Gregori. Suddenly she didn't really know what to say or do, just like Audrey didn't really know what you were supposed to do when you were just meeting your own father. But she definitely had Rushenko blood in her - she didn't do awkward, but she straight away offered to help and showed Gregori where to put his things.

The oven was quickly turned on to the correct temperature, the salad and dessert tucked into the fridge, the ice cream into the freezer, and everything that could be packed away again was. Even the sparkling non-alcoholic wine was in the fridge, chilling a little longer. Gregori was impressed with how easily he and Audrey had worked together, in a confined space he was somewhat over large, but, she'd gone round him easily, and made sure he had everything right there. She got that from her mother, well, he thought she did, it might have been from him, but he never remembered being that helpful. "Thanks Audrey, I think we can have a sit down for ten minutes, or we can lay the table and get the plates warming? Make sure everything is set up for the starters and dessert as well as the main?"

He grinned as he took a glass bottle from the last bag and set it down by the salad bowl. Dressing, just needed a good shake and then drizzling lightly over the leaves, and he was done.

Emily had been sitting in the kitchen silently, watching them without interfering. Now she stood up from the chair and motioned towards the living room.

"You two can go ahead and chat for a while, I'm sure you have a lot to talk about. I can finish up setting the table in the meanwhile," she suggested and started already looking for the cutlery and glasses.

"Thanks mom," Audrey said with a smile, and promptly took a hold of Gregori's arm and lead him to the living room couch. Emily felt very nervous for having her daughter in a one-on-one discussion with Gregori, but she knew she had to let them.

"So, what did you want to discuss? I suspect if I start asking questions your mom will think I have become the Russian Inquisition, so maybe you'd better do the asking?" Gregori smiled, and settled down where he could easily see the kitchen. No chance of him hiding, but then, no real chance for Emily either. "I'll do my best to answer anything I can. Where I can't, I reserve the right to reply with 'ask your mother', ok?" He chuckled, knowing Emily would hate that bit, but wanting to get her to participate as well.

"Well I actually did google you last night and I found out quite a lot, but... it's just not the same, you know? I just kinda... want to know more about you. I know you're Russian and where you've worked and studied but... well, how did you and mom meet? And are you the same age as her? And do you have family, like, do I have grandparents or cousins or something?" Audrey started shooting the questions as she settled on the couch beside the big man.

Gregori blinked, several times, and then laughed, "It does not say all this on Google? My publicist is slipping." He was still chuckling, "We met at CIA, it was old joke even then about me being first Russian allowed in. My mother is American, she married my father, and brought him home with her. I have younger sister, Katerina, who married nice man, Richard, and has two children, Jasper and Jade."

He shook his head, his sister had one set of twins, called them something daft, and then declared she was done creating family and would go back to work. Now, well, he never saw the rest of the family much, but his mom was constantly moaning about having to have the grandchildren so much. He still hadn't told her about Audrey either, but then, he valued being alive. "They are something like, six? Twins, and very, very much trouble."

"Jasper and Jade, that sounds so cool," Audrey giggled. "So you don't, um, have anyone? I didn't find anything like that so I'm assuming it's... just me, really," she asked, although she had seen photos of Gregori attending events and parties with different beautiful ladies at his arm. "So I don't know how you and mom are gonna work things out, I mean, you probably have a girlfriend, and mom said you weren't really even together in college," she revealed, sounding a little worried.

"Ha, your mother is good dissembler." Gregori leaned back a little, this part he had no trouble with. "I saw her, first day almost at CIA, she was beautiful, and quite happy to lecture poor fellow student on how to make perfect cheesecake base. But she wasn't so keen on me, kept me at arms length for long time. We worked together in second year, and she was very good at ignoring me even then. Although I made her chocolates, a whole bunch of chocolate roses one time." He smiled at the memory, it had been the middle of winter, thankfully, and the box of "roses" had survived until she'd opened it, seen them, put the lid back on and set them down, where one of the other students had promptly sat on them. It still made him laugh, because they'd still eaten them afterwards.

"But no Audrey, I'm not seeing anyone, haven't for a couple of months now. The tour has been pretty hectic." He wasn't joking about being tired either. But a couple more weeks and it would all be over for this tour.

"Chocolate roses... and the chocolates yesterday!" Audrey sighed clearly touched by the thought of the romantic gesture. "Mom, what's wrong with you?" she called out to the kitchen. A moment later Emily appeared at the door, and leaned against the door frame looking at her daughter with her father on the couch.

"What did I do now?" she asked raising her eyebrows.

"Chocolate roses!" Audrey repeated.

"Oh no, Greg," Emily clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes. "You had to tell her. Well, Audrey, your father is an overly romantic fool, and overly confident too, and he always assumes all too much. I blame your stubborn head on him," she said, but she didn't sound malicious in the least.

Audrey smiled looking at Gregori, and she didn't even realize she said it out loud. "My father."

"Da, and now I have two people to call Malinkaya, although, your mother has a new nickname now, don't you Mamoshka?" He grinned, "You liked the chocolate roses though, admit it, 'nobody ever worked so hard to impress me like you do Greg, shame it doesn't work', but you smiled Mamoshka, you smiled, and that gave me hope to carry on."

He wondered, but it was clear, if Audrey was almost as tall as her mother now, she had his height coming, and that was not necessarily a bad thing. "I was too tall, too broad, too confident, too persistent, but, your mother was just, irresistible. I was, of course, madly in love, but couldn't admit it, and well, when we did get together, it was pretty much at the end of college. I think we dated three times? I wrote, lots of times, but the letters all came back, unopened."

He'd even written to her parents, but they'd threatened him with a restraining order, and at the time he hadn't been established enough to just ignore them and insist on knowing where she was. After that he'd given up.

Emily looked down and folded her arms on her chest, the sad expression on her face a little ashamed and regretful. She didn't say anything, though, she couldn't. She had explained her reasons to both Gregori and Audrey the day before, but it didn't make the sting in her heart go away.

"Wow... that is so romantic, and really sad," Audrey sighed. "But we're all here now, right? Are you gonna go back to California?" she asked, first excited, then suddenly a little sad again at the thought of losing her father right away.

"No sweetheart, I'm not." He had said he wouldn't lie, and he wasn't going to. The house was being packed up and was already on the market. His assistant had already flown back to deal with that, while her assistant stayed on here to get him through the last of the tour dates. God it got complicated sometimes. "In fact, I've already spoken to the realtors here in the city, and the Tenants Association here, and my assistant has gone back to California to pack up my house and ship my things over here. I'm staying."

"What?" Emily looked up suddenly, her eyes wide open. "Here?"

Her questions were drowned by the excited giggle Audrey made, and the girl threw herself to Gregori's neck to hug the big man. The first time she hugged her father, she realized, which made her tighten her arms around his neck.

"I did tell you yesterday that we don't have to pretend to be a family, didn't I? Of course Audrey can have her father but..." Emily continued feebly on the background, and was afraid that this wasn't the only or the smallest surprise he had for them.

Gregori looked over Audrey, his arms coming round the girl carefully so as not to squash her, "I did say Mamoshka, I will not be denied my daughter, and from a whole continent away? It would be too easy to miss things. I will be here." He smiled, "But you know, this apartment is not big enough, I can't stay here."

No, he was on the waiting list though, for a four bed apartment, as soon as one came available.

Emily laughed a little and shook her head. "See what I mean, Audrey? He assumes too much. Like I would let him live with me," she chuckled, and the girl giggled too on Gregori's lap.

"Come on now, you two, I bet the dinner is right about ready," Emily nodded towards the kitchen.

Gregori sniffed, yes, the stroganoff was warming nicely, they should start now, that way the rice would be done once the melon and parma ham was eaten, after, well chocolate baklava was different, he'd been working on it for a while, finally thought he'd got it right. Tonight was kind of an acid test, because if it was wrong, he knew damn well Emily would say so. "Mmm, starters up Audrey? Emily, please, sit down and relax, I run the kitchen tonight, da?"

Reluctantly Emily sat down to the table that she had set with plates, cutlery, glasses and napkins for three, with a beautiful if simple tablecloth underneath and a vase of summery flowers in the middle.

Audrey helped Gregori eagerly, and while she did, his accent and the Russian words he used got her curious. "What's mamoshka? Or the, uh... other word? Is Russian very difficult to learn? I know it has a different alphabet."

She was very nearly as quick as her mother, and before he could think he'd started replying, "Mamoshka means little mother, malinkaya is little one, Russian is very different, but not that hard, if you can think differently than how you do in American. Cyrillic alphabet has different letters for a start," He grinned, "Take the plates through, serve your mother first. I bring the drinks."

He stirred the stroganoff, checked the rice, and pulled the sparkling wine from the fridge, then put it back, it would keep, and instead located the bottle of plain white grape juice he'd left in the chiller bag. That would be fine with the starter, and there was a bottle of red grape juice for the main. Baklava and cream would be good for the dessert, and with the sparling non-wine, well, that would be a good end to the meal.

By the table the plates were spread out and the starter was served. Audrey was just sitting down as Gregori came in, and was explaining to her mother what the starter was, and somehow managing to venture into the thought of taking Russian courses at school if it was possible.

"Quite classic, but looks nice," Emily commented to Gregori sounding appreciative. "I could get used to not cooking dinner every day."

"Sometimes I cook it four times a day, and I wonder then, how nice it must be to only have to do it once?" Gregori opened the bottle and poured three glasses, "Then again, I do make a good living from cooking dinners and desserts and interviewing other chefs, and all that jazz," he chuckled, "I have books, DVD's, a new line in cookware, and accessories coming soon too."

He sat down, "I would say don't let it get cold, but how about don't let it get warm?"

Once he was seated, Audrey was the first one to bite in without hesitation. Emily picked up her cutlery as well, and then nodded in agreement while she was chewing to Audrey's exclamation of how tasty it was.

"Yes, I do cook at work as well, and it can be very tiring. I've been thinking of changing into something else many times but..." she shrugged and sipped the grape juice. "Even if I'm not at the level I once planned, I couldn't do anything else."

"And I would do anything else but cook for a living," Audrey said.

"The latest career plans have been rockstar, gardener and journalist," Emily explained to Gregori. "The journalist sounds very good to me, Audrey does write excellently. Always full marks on her essays at school. She's a bit of a bookworm, just like I am. Maybe you could let Greg, um, your father read some of your stories some time?"

"Ohh, only if you really want to," Audrey said in a manner that was learnt modesty, even though she was grinning widely.

"After dinner maybe? There's no time limit on these things is there?" He smiled back, "But journalism is a good choice, lots of travel opportunities, various fields to get into, papers, TV, radio, even the internet has journalists now."

"I've cooked for rockstars, I don't think I could approve of that one myself." He frowned, "Mostly spoiled and pampered beyond belief, they seem to think they should have everything they want and right when they want it." He smiled at Emily, almost daring her to comment on how like himself that sounded, but then, he wasn't a rockstar, he was a hardworking chef and TV presenter.

"Really?" Emily raised an eyebrow, apparently going to do exactly what he thought she would. "That must be dreadful, to deal with someone who thinks he can have anything he wants, when he wants it," she said smiling a little with the sarcasm. "I hope you start to see the frustration you've caused me, and still continue to, Greg, you impossible man."

Audrey ate and listened, feeling very entertained by the exchange. She sensed the tension between the two, and felt happy about how her mother was acting now. The tone of her voice and the look in her eyes was something Audrey had very rarely seen - the way she looked at Vinnie was a little similar sometimes, but this was something sharper, with a lot more history. The girl hoped that maybe her mother really was warming up to Gregori and his romantic gestures.

"Ah but you always did love to spoil my plans Mamoshka, until graduation anyway, after that, well, I think time was not in our favour then, but now? Well, maybe now I have a whole new game plan." He was never going to speak to her parents again, they had to have known, and they hadn't said, they were probably lucky he wasn't going anywhere near them. "

"Today, I put house on market, send assistant to pack up belongings, have another assistant looking for restaurant or premises to take on. Investments working well, have new apartment lined up too." He grinned, "Two in fact."

Emily frowned and as soon as she had swallowed what she was eating, she asked, "Why two? Surely not even you are that big of a megalomaniac to have two apartments in the same city?"

Audrey giggled, but the gleaming look in her eyes said that she had already guessed what her father had in mind. She liked the thought a lot more than her mother.

"I'm not sure I would be allowed to live in one, is very stubborn person see who would be room mate." He tried not to grin, but Audrey seemed to have guessed it already, "Although, having
own bedroom would be nice Mamoshka, da?"

Emily's face went pale, and her mouth opened in a gasp. "No, no no no, Greg, I told you I don't want anything from you. I am not a gold digger, and I won't have you taking pity on me like that!"

"Is not you I take pity on, but me, how can I come visit Audrey knowing we keep you out of your bed?" He gestured to the couch, "Other apartment is so Audrey can come visit me. I have bedrooms enough, three of them, so can have guests too." He shrugged, "I know you are stubborn, prideful, obstinate pig-headed donkey stubborn sometimes, but, is better for you and Audrey, better for all of us. I have many years to make up, no digging required. What is given, is already given. Done is done"

Indeed, on his way in he'd signed the leases and the keys would be available tomorrow for her new apartment on the seventh floor, his, on the tenth, would be ready on Sunday.

Audrey giggled all the louder at what he had called her mother.

"What? This is - you, you..." Emily stuttered until she snorted and slapped the napkin from her lap to the table. "The main course is probably ready by now," she said and stood up. She knew it wasn't her business to take care of the dinner tonight, but it was an excuse to go somewhere else to breathe. She left the table and walked to the kitchen, where she simply leaned against the counter trying to clear her head, instead of doing anything for the food.

In the lounge, Gregori looked at Audrey, "We are going to fight, your mother and I, rather a lot to begin with." He sighed, "It is true, I am used to getting own way, but she should never have let me go to begin with, I was much more how you say it? Easy to train when I was younger?"

He deliberately kept his tone light, knowing it would carry to the very stubborn woman in the kitchen, who would be unable to accept defeat gracefully unless he gave her a way to think of it as a victory. However, Audrey had to know this was likely to be the way of things to start with at least, since he was terribly out of practice at it. "But new apartment is on seventh floor, has two bedrooms, two bathrooms, no more sharing spaces, I know you women and your long baths, sister is no different." He grinned, "Nice view of gardens, no street noise, safer as higher up. Oh, and paid for, but, I can't do everything, so I left the bills for your mother. She will be glad to know she still has to struggle just to keep up, will help her be stubborn some more." He winked at Audrey, trying to get her to join in, even if it was to defend her mother. He just needed some response to the idea of the new apartment.

"We've never had anything that great, or big!" Audrey said wistfully, her eyes all wide open as she imagined it. "Wow, it'll be awesome to have my own bathroom! And it'll be so nice that mom will have her own bedroom too, and more room for all the clothes and whatever," she babbled. "I don't know why she wants to do things the hard way, why she always needs to struggle with everything," the girl wondered looking towards the kitchen. "Will you make her come around?"

This was perfect, "Ah but your mother has good point, if you always take what is given, what happens when giving stops? Must learn to provide for self hard way. But, sometimes, is better to give in gracefully and take what is offered freely, for the good of someone else." He smiled, "My apartment would house all of us, but I suspect your mother is not quite ready for that, so I give her own apartment, close, but on different floor. We can, reacquaint ourselves with each other, while not treading on toes. If she says she can do that from here, well, no, couch not big enough for me to sleep on, and besides, no privacy for mother means no privacy for anyone."

He looked towards the kitchen, "Besides, I need to help, both of you, it is, not good for me to see you struggle so hard, when I can do nothing. I need to do this."

"Well, I think you need to go and talk to her," Audrey said, nodding like a conspirator. "And get dinner too, I'm starving," she couldn't help but add. "I'll, um, pretend I can't hear what you're talking there, okay?"

In the kitchen Emily had moved to drain the rice and put it to a serving dish, and to check the taste of the stroganoff. She had to admit, Gregori had always made the best stroganoff, and he had not failed this time either. Still, she did not want to feel anything positive about him right then, but she had to get dinner for her daughter anyway.

He came up behind her, one hand taking the dish before she could drop it, "I have other things I would give you, but I know you're not ready yet," he almost whispered the words, wrapping his free arm around her waist, and trapping her hands. The last thing he wanted was a slap. "The apartment is more for Audrey than you, although you both need your privacy, if you want to sleep on the couch, you can, but you will both need room, teenagers are not the best of company sometimes, we both know that, even the most well mannered and balanced of them do have those episodes of being off balance?"

He wanted desperately to nibble at her neck, dear god was she still using that fruity scented shampoo? It was divine! "I would have only rented one apartment, but I don't think you want her moving in with me, and I doubt you would have come with her, so this seemed like the better choice, Mamoshka, Emily, please. I can't just leave you in a one bedroom apartment, I was not bought up to do that to a woman, especially not one of mine, and Audrey is most definitely, mine."

He suspected Audrey might have heard some of it, but he had deliberately kept his voice right down, holding Emily close and not giving her the chance to interrupt. Now he waited, to see if she would agree, or continue to fight him. He didn't want her upset, he wanted dinner, and preferably some progress in this new relationship.

Emily was quiet for a while, and once he caught her hands, she did not even struggle, but stayed in his arms, trying not to enjoy feeling his broad form against her back and around her. It was, just like always before, extremely difficult to resist him, though.

"I know. I understand," she finally breathed out, talking as quiet as he did. "But it's just that... well, the apartment will probably be double as big as this. There will be one whole room more, with another bathroom. I need to get a bed, carpets, curtains, lord knows what, just to fill that space. And honestly, Greg, I can't afford it," she said looking down, ashamed. "Of course I want Audrey to have the best she can but... I can't keep up with it."

"Would it help if I told you my four bedroom house is being packed up tomorrow and trucked overland? I can have the inventory faxed so you can pick what you want, no charge. Or, we could take Audrey shopping and buy her all new furniture and you can keep the old stuff? Or, we could do both. Take Audrey shopping and you pick and choose out of my stuff?" He smiled, "We will find a way Malinkaya, I promise, we will find you a way."

He turned a little, "Audrey, have you heard of Ikea?"

Audrey came to the kitchen when she heard her name being called out. The smile on her face broadened even more when she saw Gregori holding Emily in his arms, but as soon as Emily realized she was there, she stepped away from him and cleared her throat.

"Yeah, of course I have! What about it? Ooh, are we gonna go there, mom?" she asked.

"Yes we are, cupcake," Emily said, and it was finally a sign of agreeing to Gregori's schemes.

Gregori smiled, "A new apartment, bigger, means you guys will need new furniture, and all my stuff, however good they are at packing up is at least a week away, and definitely not feminine." He sighed, "Sometimes, I wish I'd been a girl."

It was a flat out joke, told deadpan of course, but it might just have lightened the mood somewhat.

It made Audrey laugh, at least, and Emily chuckled a bit too. "Now now, don't say that," she said to Gregori with a twinkle in her eye. "I kind of like the beard. Shall we have the main course then?" she changed the topic to hide the compliment.

"Of course, and I see you have prepared my favourite! Stroganoff forever!" Gregori was not above acting the clown, he did prefer them laughing to fighting, "And while we eat, we can discuss what sort of furniture Audrey would like for her room? Colour schemes and such of course are not my thing, but, I can build flat pack furniture."

He picked up the rice, and with a quick squeeze for Emily, to at least acknowledge the complement, he headed back to the table. "Audrey, don't forget the salad and dressing now will you? Emily if you can bring the Stroganoff?"

Audrey took the salad and the dressing, and Emily picked up the stroganoff. She was starting to feel a little better again, and it was always lovely to see her daughter so excited and happy. They all returned to the table, shared the food, poured the grape juice and started eating.

"It's better than what mom makes," Audrey said once she had tasted.

Emily had to agree, but it did not surprise her anyway. "Gregori has always made it the best I've ever tasted. I think you've improved the recipe, too, among other things."

"Ah, I can get better ingredients now, organic was barely taking off back in college," He knew there were more subtle flavours, different kinds of mushrooms, different tomatoes, new blends of herbs, but saying it was the ingredients alone, well, it was his way of trying to be modest. "I make it a lot too, so it's good all the time, no more hit and miss on this one."

He stirred his rice into the sauce, the way he had always done, and then looked over at Audrey, "So, what kind of furniture would you like? Modern and funky or classical and comfy? Or a mix of the two? Or something traditional and very very girly? I think they do a four poster bed still? I seem to recall Kat mentioning that Jade wanted one.... At least, I hope it was Jade and not Jasper."

"I think mom likes it kind of classical, and she likes red and pink and yellow and so on. But if it's my room..." she looked Emily for confirmation before she went on. Emily nodded at her as she ate, so Audrey continued, smiling. "Then I'd like blue and green, especially turquoise! I don't know, I think modern is better," she wondered. "And nothing very girly. The girly things are for mom."

That made Emily laugh a little. "I was like that too when I was your age, I didn't want anything pink or girly. But I grew to like all sorts of flowery girly pink things," she shrugged. "But of course, it's your room, Audrey. We'll try and make it look like you."

"The lady I spoke to this morning said they can paint the rooms in the colours of your choice, included in the rent that is," it wasn't but hell, he didn't care, "and if you want the kitchen refitted, then say so, you have to cook in it, I want you to be happy in it." He was definitely looking at Emily then, "That is not in the rent, but if you are unhappy, Audrey is unhappy, and if you are both unhappy, my Mother will shoot me. Especially once she hears about Audrey, in fact, I should rewrite my will before we tell her about you, because much as she will adore you, she will kill me for not telling her sooner, or knowing, or both!"

He wasn't joking, his mother was very much like he himself, and considering she'd had to stand up to his father, another charismatic but stubborn man, for the whole of their relationship, she was one immensely strong woman.

"Where does she live? Can I meet her? Have you met her?" Audrey asked, the last question for her mother.

"I have, a couple of times in passing, actually the last time..." her expression darkened a little as she realized, "in the graduation." It was a strange thing - the graduation day had been wonderful, full of happiness and hope, everyone's families and loved ones at the school in the ceremony, and in the evening the party had been tremendously fun. She still remembered exactly what Gregori had smelled like, and she remembered the songs they had danced to, and how incredibly sweet and wonderful and passionate he had been that night. Such a positive day, but thinking about it always brought her down a little, knowing its consequences all too well.

"California, and yes," Gregori answered the other two, "She and my dad, well, they have a little house they won't move out of, in a part of town they love, up at Carmel? I think they were still in Oregon back at Graduation? I got mom to move south a bit more for her joints, she's a little stiff these days." He grinned at Audrey, "But no telling her I said that or she's swat me a dozen or two to prove she can, then she won't move for a week."

His mother was all of five feet four, a very petite woman, with a will of tempered steel, and a far more generous nature than Gregori was letting on. Besides, if he scared them with the dragon, they'e love her for the pussycat she was really. He just hoped Emily didn't let on. "I remember Graduation, it was, best day, ever." He grinned, "For more than just one or two reasons, we were so close on scores, they didn't tell us who'd come top until the last minute did they?"

"And I was so angry at you for getting first place!" Emily sighed chuckling. So angry, in fact, that they had argued after the ceremony like they always did in their own way, but this time it had ended in her kissing him in the middle of a sentence. The memories of that day gave her very mixed feelings, and they brought back a lot of the feelings she had felt for Gregori back then.

"I have to take a look at mom's graduation photos again when we've eaten," Audrey decided and hoped she would see her father there as well.

"I still have mine too." Gregori's were all framed, with copies in albums, and even sometimes, well, he had a couple on his phone too, but he was never going to admit to that! He carried on eating his dinner, sipping at the grape juice, and contemplating how comfortable this felt all of a sudden, he smiled at Emily, then at Audrey, "We should tell her about the profiteroles, all those attempts, and why you were trying so hard? Did you ever manage to make the tower for what was his name again?"

"Mr... Stevens, or something. Or maybe he was Steve Something. I did make the tower for his party, yes, and it stayed intact and it was fabulous! I might have photos some where," Emily paused to think for a while, but couldn't remember exactly where. "And the profiterols?"

Audrey made a face at her, and Emily looked from her daughter to Gregori. "Well, of course I didn't tell Audrey because I didn't tell her about you. I needed to be better than you! And in the end, I totally was. My profiterols still are better than yours, bet you anything, and I am so not giving you my recipe."

"That's ok, my chocolates were always better than yours, and still are no doubt. Did you enjoy them?" He smirked, "Not bad for a man with big hands huh?"

There had been one occasion he'd been tempted to offer a cooperation with her, she made the profiteroles and he did the chocolate sauce, but, somehow the moment had always passed, "I make a really nice range now don't I?"

"You really do," Emily admitted. "The Grand Marnier filling made me need to sit down when I tasted it last night. Still my favourite," she sighed.

"I liked the ones with the jelly filling the best. Some of them were too heavy," Audrey said.

"The truffles were very traditional indeed but they are of very dark heavy chocolate. You can't eat more than one at a time of those," Emily said, and patted lightly the corners of her mouth with the napkin as she finished eating the main course.

Gregori nodded, "I like the turkish delight ones myself, they take some time to make, because you have to make the turkish delight first, then cut that to shape and set the chocolate round it. some of the rest are like chocolate cups you fill and then once that's set you seal a base over them." He grinned, chocolates were a passion, yes, and one he wished he could have made money out of just by themselves.

He cleared his plate, chasing the last few bits of rice around with a fork and some sauce. "Oh that was good, shall we break for a bit and then have dessert? Or shall we continue on?"

"I can't think of anything to argue about right now. What about you, cupcake?" Emily asked with a smirk.

"Nope. All out of arguments," Audrey giggled. "Let's have dessert!"

The girl jumped up and gathered everyone's plates, remembering that she was supposed to help her father with the dinner. Emily watched her with a smile on her face - finally it was there - and once Audrey vanished to the kitchen, her eyes lingered on Gregori when he was getting up as well. Maybe it was going to work out afterall, Emily thought.