The Tsar's Wife

Departure

Alexei had never hated the train station more. All it seemed to do was tear him away from the people he loved most and take him to places he never wanted to go. He remembered the first time he had been here, traveling with his father. His mother had been peering into the train with looks of fear on her face at him slamming into the windows waving goodbye to her and his sisters. Anastasia had started calling him 'private Romanov', a title Alexei had been very proud and boastful of long ago. Now, he was the Tsarevich, as he had always been. It seemed funny he had never been too proud of being the heir of Russia but boasted to everyone about his St.George medal, 4th class for  'bravery'.

  Now, he stood beside his father in dread, his back straightened and his feet together. Guards surrounded them as well as his sisters, mother, and Olive. He wished he could turn around and give them a small smile -though it would be forced. But Alexei knew once he saw the pain on their faces, especially his mother's and Olive's, he wouldn't be able to keep his composure. He stared at the empty tracks, barely even noticing the people don't he other end with cameras and children, trying to get a small glimpse. Whenever the Romanov Children had been younger, Alexandra had made several guards leave, letting the children and herself have more privacy.

  That didn't concern the people outside the palace though. During official ceremonies when Alexei was a child, he walked either beside his parents surrounded by guards, or was carried by an officer in order to avoid bumping on something. All his childhood, some one would always watch over him like a hungry hawk, making sure their Tsarevich wasn't hurt. He didn't really notice when he was younger, though as he got older he was gradually annoyed by everyone incessantly watching him. He was now perfectly capable of watching himself, he just was scared in the future. His children could easily have the same problems if they were boys, since girls only carried the disease. There could be just one more Tsar with hemophilia.

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Olive couldn't believe that in just s few short moments, Alexei would be gone. Three months wasn't really that long, but she couldn't imagine waking up every morning knowing Alexei wouldn't be there. And what made things worse is that Alexei was also in great danger, meeting with the Germans. All it could take was one of them to sneak in with a gun and shoot. Alexei had almost lost his life several times to just bumping his leg or arm on something, Olive didn't even want to imagine what a gunshot would do to him. She wrung her hands together, a failed attempt to calm her nerves. Olive hadn't been this scared since the time she almost died in Blackpool, her blood freezing into her veins.

  She could now control her peculiarity to the point where it would only come out if she wanted it too. She could now pass as a semi normal person, though she doubted she would ever tell Alexei unless she absolutely had to. She simply focused in the fact that peculiarity was a gene carried down through families, if her and Alexei had children then the children could pass it down to their children. What would become of that? A peculiar Imperial Royal Child? Alexei also had hemophilia, if somehow that would mix with Olive's peculiar genes, what would happen to the child? Could it survive that drastic blood mix? Olive could never know for sure.

Maria was thrusting her hand into Anastasia's coat pocket, pretending to look for candy though Olive could tell she just wanted to hold someone's hand without looking weak in front of the hundreds of people gathered around. Olga was here with Erickson, who had his arms wrapped around her shoulders sweetly. Olive smiled at them, it was wonderful thing to fall in love, she was glad Olga had. It was a bit strange living at the palace without Olga there chatting or even quietly reading a book, Olive loved spending time with Tatiana and Olga both, they were all three connected in a way. Tatiana stood beside Olive, slightly huddled together for warmth.