The Tsar's Wife

Telling Nicholas

Alexei couldn't help the nerves running through his body as he made his way to his father's hospital room later that night. The dimly lit hallways made the hallway hard to navigate,  but thankfully Alexei made it without bumping into anything. Olive, his mother, and his sisters had gone down to their dorms in the hospital just less than an hour ago, giving Alexei a chance to tall to his father in private. He was now engaged to the love of his life, Olive, and needed to tell his father the news before anyone else.

Nicholas needed to officially announce it to the country,  and to his family along with Alexei. Alexei was a bit worried about Russia finding out, since Russia knew very little information about Olive and she wasn't royal. Russia knew they were courting each other, they had both made that fairly obvious at the train station, the memory making Alexei blush in the middle of the dark hallway. There had been hundreds of people watching them, but Alexei couldn't have cared less, he just wanted to kiss her one last time before he left.

There probably was pictures of it all over newspapers in Russia,  though Alexei wouldn't know because he never looked at the newspapers. Anything important about the country he knew, the rest was usually gossip or rumors that were never true. Once, there was a rumor that Tatiana had eloped with someone,  though Alexei couldn't remember exactly who. Olive didn't read them either from what Alexei could tell, and Nicholas read the occasionally if he could find nothing else to do or just wanted to lounge around.

As Alexei reached his father's hospital room, his nerves jumped back up in chest and he felt the urge to turn around, but he stayed where he was at. The door was shut, and Alexei sensed his father may be sleeping and he would have to wait until tomorrow to speak with him, though when he opened the door his hopes were quelled. Nicholas was sitting up in his bed, his leg bandaged and hidden under the white bed sheets. When he saw Alexei, he put down his food, sitting up a bit more to greet his son.

"Why hello my son." Nicholas greeted, the corners of his mustache twitching n amusement. "What brings you here at this hour?" Nicholas said, though Alexei could tell he wasn't unhappy with him visiting.  It was almost ten a night, Alexei didn't usually fall asleep until somewhere around midnight and woke up around four. He honestly didn't sleep that much because his mind seemed to constantly race with thoughts when he tried, he had no clue how he didn't have dark circles under his eyes from his lack of sleep.

"I needed to discuss something with you, alone." Alexei said, smiling even though he was anxious to tell his father. Nicholas squinted, his smile faltering for a split second. "Discuss something? What is on your mind, my son?" Nicholas asked, and Alexei could easily sense his father's suspicion.  "Well you could say that, I'm excited for it." Alexei said, titling his head and sitting down on the chair beside his father's hospital bed. Nicholas nodded slowly, squinting his eyes and grabbing his glass of water beside him on a small fold out table.
"Alright then, get out with it." Nicholas said, waving his hand at Alexei as if to usher him on.

Alexei took a deep breath, coming straight out with it. "I proposed to Olive, Father." Alexei said frankly, realizing there was no point in beating around the bush. Nicholas's face registered surprise, his eyebrows raised, but he quickly covered it up with a teasing smile. "You finally did it, huh? We all knew it would happen." Nicholas said, and Alexei resisted the urge to let out a breath of relief. His father's teasing made him fee more at ease, and his shoulders slumped a bit. "Yes, I didn't plan on doing it but since the incident..." Alexei trailed off, sighing and biting his lip as he looked to the floor. "I realized I didn't want to lose her, and if I did, I wanted all of Russia to know I loved her." Alexei said, shaking his head like someone shaking water from their ears.

  He felt his face flushing, and waited for hid fathers incessant teasing. "I never thought I would see you this happy, Alexei. " Nicholas said, surprising Alexei with his warm, gentle voice. "You really love her, don't you?" Nicholas asked gently,  and Alexei knew he didn't even need to think about his answer, it was written in his mind and heart. "Yes, more than anything, I love her so much. "Alexei said, looking up at his father to see him smiling, though it wasn't his usual teasing smile, it was his rarely shown warm,  gentle smile. "I could tell, I'm glad you found each other. " Nicholas said, giving his approval.

Alexei smiled, and couldn't agree more with his father. If he knew one thing,  he knew that he loved Olive, and he wanted everything with her. He actually couldn't care less about the ceremonial wedding, he didn't care what the ceremony was like as long as he had her for the rest of his life, no matter how long that may be. "So, I now have another official announcement to make, don't I?" Nicholas asked, his teasing coming back. Alexei chuckled, rolling his eyes. "Yes, I'm afraid you do." He said, and even he couldn't resist the teasing in his voice, he sounded like Nicholas more than ever.

Nicholas gave a playful sigh, rolling his eyes at Alexei's teasing. "I have to make arrangements for the wedding, the engagement ball, and all of that too. You're lucky I love you son." Nicholas said, shaking his head. Alexei laughed, smiling at his father's teasing. "I love you too father, thank you." Alexei said, realizing all the work he would have to put his father through because of his engagement. Nicholas nodded, his teasing eyes disappearing for just a second, but were back in a few split seconds afterwards.

"Anytime, my son. Anytime."

I really need to work on my endings, I mean really. They're so bad!!! Anyways, this is taking place in somewhere around October, and I got Felix's birthday ALL wrong because I forgot that we were in a certain time frame. I need their wedding to occur sometime around February which is in four months book time, lol. Have fun planning the wedding guys! Nicholas has to arrange all this as well as Alexandra, but Alexei and Olive do too so they have to do some work too. Thought they were slick... Anyways, thanks for reading and if you can, comment below what you want to happen after the wedding, since I already have that all planned out. Thanks for reading!!! I love you all!!!