Russian Roulette

Chapter Seventy-Two: Missing Link

---Isador---

Doc gave a light laugh at Eko as he claimed to be hurt. Jokingly she whispered, "I don't know... that may require more than I am able to give for aid." It was obvious to her he did not want her to make her exit from them, what was also pretty obvious is that he had no confidence in his ability to convince her. She followed behind him, only giving him a nod when he asked about the hatch. Doc did laugh a bit when Eko nearly lifted her poor small car up off the ground in the process of ripping the hatch door open. Who did he think he was, the Hulk? A smile crept onto her face as she continued to watch him. "You know, you could just ask to come with me instead of creating excuses as to how I may need your aid." She opened the back driver side door and gave her back pack and gentle toss into the tiny backseat. Doc then leaned on the side of the car, giving Eko a more welcoming smile. She definitely could admire the man's efforts. "I could always use some muscle around." She stood back up, and closed the back door before reaching for her driver door handle. Her hand rested upon it as she awaited Eko's response.

"I... didn't think you'd meant to, love..." Isador kept a gentle smile on his face as he watched Aleksei relax. It certainly made him feel good to see he could still aid Aleksei with that. Stifling a laugh at his disappointed parent comment, Isador gave a quick nod to Aleksei. His heart however began to race when Aleksei opened up more about his previous murder of a person. He presumed it to be the alleged one the FBI had been so keen to add to Aleksei's file. Isador's heart fluttered when he felt Aleksei ever so gently grip his hand. That warm fuzzy feeling Isador craved came flooding back to him in such a rush he nearly allowed it to swallow him whole only releasing him into endless happy thoughts. He quickly reeled himself back in, remembering at some point he'd have to tell Aleksei who he really was... *Who you really are? Your name is Isador, yeah... but you really, really love him. So far no matter what...* He nodded then, and in a low voice whispered., "You have mentioned it previously... not much more than that though."

As soon as the words friendly fire came from Aleksei's mouth, Isador felt some weird relief. Isador listened intently, giving Aleksei all of his attention. He even stopped petting the pig. The more information Aleksei gave him, the more he formed a very specific thought in his head. *The federal government... had alleged murder charges... on a man defending himself on another countries soil...?* He wasn't too surprised, honestly. The Feds made that a bad habit decades ago.

Isador could hear the regretful tone in Aleksei's voice, he also picked up quite easily on how Aleksei stopped talking on a slightly different note. *He's repressed this for so long...* Isador rubbed Aleksei's had a bit with his own. He wanted him to feel comfortable. The feeling of someone trusting you felt odd to Isador, but after months of being with Aleksei he was beginning to grow accustomed to it, and he liked it. He laughed when Aleksei brought up a woman kissing him while he was out and about.

"I don't feel I have much to worry about with her... after all, we play the same team, and she's not on it." With that, Isador planted a soft kiss on Aleksei's cheek. This was the Aleksei he knew and loved. One who could be gentle, one who would joke around in a slightly inappropriate time. That was his love. "This, this is the man I love." Isador winked that dumbass wink of his at Aleksei, practically smirking. The happiness he felt drained rather quickly though, as he suddenly thought about honesty.

"Aleksei... May I ask you... a question...?" Isador could feel his fear building. *Oh shit, don't do it. Take it back. Take it back!* His thoughts screamed in his head. "I... need you to keep being honest with me...If..." He paused. *If you can set it up right, you can see his reaction before you show your entire hand.* Isador was always bad at poker. "What if someone you knew was not exactly who they said they were?" His breath caught a bit. *Oh yeah... you frigging asked it anyways.* Quickly he added, "Like their actions were genuine, but they didn't give you their full information? Like if Aodhan was actually a cop..? He's not, he's just an example..." Isador relaxed and brought his heart rate down by thinking about how handsome he found Aleksei. *No doubt he can slightly feel your pulse in your wrist... he's close enough...*

---Aleksei/Eko---

Eko looked at the ground a bit flabbergasted, wow she actually agreed to bring him along, he was not expecting that. Not one bit. "I'll happily be your muscle, let me just go say goodbye to my brother." Eko smiled up at her as he started to walk back into the warehouse, putting down the gun Eko, nice. He looked around for a good moment as he thought about everything, everything they've been through in just a few days, it's ridiculous. He finally found Ghost fast asleep and Aurora scribbling on the piece of paper Isador left for her.

"Oh, its you." Aurora greeted as she swiftly got from the bunkbed and went to look up at Eko, "what's wrong now?" she asked expecting bad news, but Eko decided not to be the one to tell her about Kyle's death, "I'm just leaving. Going with a doctor on an adventure." He said before kicking at Ghost's leg to wake him up.

"Why? Why do you do this every time? I'm not even a hard sleeper, you do it to just irritate me." Ghost went on a rant as he began to get to his feet, right as he was off the chair Eko pulled him into the tightest hug he had ever gotten. "I'm going with Doc, don't know how far or how long but if you need me, call me and I'll come running back." Eko nuzzled into Ghost's neck. Ghost rolled his eyes before patting his back awkwardly, "yeah yeah, no need for the waterworks." Ghost said but he smiled when he did, he can't deny that he would miss Eko's presence, but Eko didn't need to know that information. After a very long, very awkward hug as a little girl stared at them, Eko finally let go and went to return to Doc happily, "I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready." He happily skipped excitedly all the way to the car, and he hopped in. "I'm ready." He repeated as he fastened himself into the seat.

'We play for the same team' that brought a memory back into Aleksei, but he couldn't tell where he had heard that term from before, or should I say whom he heard that term from but he decided to leave it alone, right now he was right here with the love of his life, fixing a mistake he had made. Ew, there was that wink again though. Aleksei pressed his lips together in disgust and shook his head, "That...that is the wink I hate." But he smiled as he said it, no he didn't hate it, that was a lie, he loved it. It was a quirky trait that he loved so much, if Isador ever stopped doing that Aleksei would be worried.

"Of course, you can." Aleksei smiled at him, he could hear the faint hesitancy in Isador's voice, he watched Isador as he spoke closely, being sure to be take his question into full consideration, he clearly wasn't too worried about what the question was though, he didn't feel like it would be something he had to worry about. He raised an eyebrow at Isador's words, "Well, I uh was known for tracking down deceivers and...getting them killed that should say something." Aleksei answered before hearing the next part then he nodded his head as he took the question a bit more seriously, "Well, its complicated. If you are hiding that information because it protects you or that person, do what you need to do but if this is a person you are supposed to trust and yet you still hide this information from them...do you really trust them?" he questioned back with an eyebrow raised, "You have seen first hand how open everyone part of the mafia is with their crimes, we would never tell that kinds of stuff to a casual friend, would we?" he smiled but it quickly fell when he realized just how nervous Isador was, he wasn't talking about Aodhan was he?

"Ben is this...about you?" he then asked, come on he was an idiot yes, but not that much of an idiot. He could read between the lines.