Alias- Forever And Always

57) Helping Hand

AN: Music for this chapter (on repeat): Young Blood by Birdy, Apologize by One Republic, Ice (Dusted Mix) by Sarah McLachlan, Welcome to Cuba by David Arnold, Ella Tiene Fuego (She Has Fire) by Celia Cruz, Represent, Cuba by Orishas.

FIFTY-SEVEN

o

Alexander Palace - Old Chapel Ruins

"Shit!" Antony cursed quietly as they both hurried to put their clothes on. They had both fallen asleep so exhausted after spending the night together making wild, mad and passionate love, waking only when the sun was up and shining down upon them. "What are you going to do?" He asked rapidly having never been in this situation with Lena before.

"I have no idea. I know they're all awake by now looking at the sun. Don't worry." She smiled softly hoping that all would be okay but not knowing for sure, "I'll just tell Mama the truth and she'll be okay."

"You're going to do what?" Antony balked at her over the idea of telling her mother, the Tsar, she'd stayed out all night with him.

"I don't lie to her. If she asks me where I was, I'm going to tell her I was with you. That we fell asleep…" Lena smoothed her shirt down the front, "Don't worry, it will be okay. I'm sure she won't be upset that I was with you…if anything she'll have been worried at not knowing where I was."

Lena was right about the latter and when Irina saw her daughter walking along the edge of the pond towards the house she breathed a sigh of relief from the bench where she was sitting looking over the water.

She took a seat beside her mother and saw the unasked question in her eyes before a word was spoken. A stray hair that had escaped her hair tied in a knot at the nape of her neck blew in the slight breeze and she caught it and snagged it behind her ear feeling her mother's eyes still on her.

"We fell asleep." She turned to look her straight in the eye letting her see the truth, "I'm sorry if I worried you. It wasn't intentional that I stayed out all night."

"Where were you?" Irina asked without any anger believing her daughter and knowing she wouldn't lie, but wanting to know.

"We never left the grounds." Lena answered right away, "We just honestly fell asleep outside and woke up with the sun." She swallowed hard and looked away towards the water catching the fly away hair again, "We got used to falling asleep together during the Olympics…it's a hard transition to have to do so alone now…and wake up without him beside me." She was emotional and felt the tears starting though she willed them away not wanting to think about the empty feeling inside her when she woke up without Antony.

Irina looked at her daughter's beautiful profile in the morning light and saw the glistening in her eyes as she fought back the tears. She knew how this felt, the transition of trying to adjust to sleeping alone again after falling asleep next to the one you love and her heart skipped a beat with a sigh not wanting her daughter to feel that agony anymore then she had to.

Her hand slowly reached over and wrapped around Lena's getting her attention again after her daughter drifted off someplace else, "Make a deal with me…I'll let you stay with Antony at his apartment at the Academy two nights a week as long as you keep it to yourself and sporadically choose which nights you stay there, always changing and making sure not to make a pattern for security's sake." She smiled softly seeing the hopeful spark in her daughter's blurry eyes while she ran slow circles with her thumb over the back of her hand, "But let me know at least please or your father on that night if you're staying with Antony so we're not left to wonder if something happened to you."