The Philocalist 〰 ♡ 〰 Volume One

The Switch

{Hi, just a quick thing, I'm not going to release new episodes of Altruism until Saturday just because I need to finish my plans for how the rest of the season is going to go since I'm a little more than halfway through. But when I do release it, I'll publish six episodes to make up for the wait. Hope you enjoy :)}

"alright, tell me about Eleonora Solokov" Zoe requests, returning from the bar with drinks.

"um, what do you wanna know?" Elle giggles, accepting the Coke given.

"well I know the basics, immigrating from Russia, specifically Siberia when you were 20, went to the Academy in Hawaii while your immigration paperwork was going through and was moved to LA" Zoe explains. "but I wanna know why"

"right, so Siberia is a pretty poor area of Russia, it's cold and grim and politicians don't really care about us. My family were farmers and I was the black sheep of the family, as Americans say, I knew that farming wasn't for me and decided to immigrate to America" Elle answers.

"and why the police?" Zoe inquires.

"I've always been good at guns, I hunted with my dad when I was little and I liked the idea of protecting people" Elle replies.

Zoe nods. "I saw your scores from the Academy, it was impressive"

"thank you" Elle smiles, blushing. "why did you want to be a cop?"

"I'm a native LA dweller and I saw how cops would treat people on the streets and I was determined to change that" Zoe explains.

"that's amazing" Elle compliments.

"thank you" Zoe smiles. "and your nieces and nephew?"

"oh, right, my brother, Alexander, he married this French girl. At first she was charmed by living in such a remote place and working on the farm, but she grew bored and so they left their children with me and are now traveling the world" Elle elaborates.

"damn, that's pretty bitchy" Zoe whistles.

Elle giggles. "yeah... it's not fun, Maxim basically hates me and the twins... are infants"

"how did you get through the Academy with them?" Zoe inquires.

"the babysitter would drop them off at lunch every day and I would feed them and right before I left for the Academy and when I got back home" Elle explains.

Zoe nods. "so you're a Russian immigrant with three kids to look after and still rocking being a r[ookie?" Zoe concludes.

Elle giggles, blushing "I guess you could say that"

"I can and I will" Zoe grins.

[Two Hours Later]

"how's your friend?" Maya asks when Elle gets back home.

"she's so nice, she's my Captain but she was so... friendly, nobody here has been like that yet and I think she actually wants to talk to me" Elle gushes.

"that's amazing, Elle" Maya squeals.

"thank you so much for watching the kids for an extra few hours" Elle thanks, very grateful.

"of course, I'm so proud of you, I know how hard it's been but you found someone to talk to and that's amazing" Maya compliments.

"thank you" Elle smiles. "so I'll see you tomorrow?"

"bright and early, goodnight El" Maya nods, grabbing her purse.

"goodnight" Elle calls after Maya before she leaves.

Elle squeals and does a little spin when Maya is gone. Her exclamation of happiness wakes up Dashia which in turn wakes up Sasha.

But Elle is not deterred by the twins waking up, newly energized and optimistic. She bounces towards their room, eagerly singing them lullabies. The smile on their aunt's face makes the twins fall asleep, glad that their new mom is happy for the first time since moving to LA.