Nightswan

NaNo - Day 10

- Alessio - 

Things were actually quiet for a week, so much so that life almost returned to normal. Alessio went back to his job and caught up on his work, and he came home to a clean apartment and dinner ready and waiting for him. He was sleeping on the couch again. Vasilisa, though, was noticeably silent. He understood she needed time to process, but at the same time, he wished she would say something...anything. A small—a very small—piece of him was panicking because Vasilisa could be speechless because she reported him, and she didn't want to tell him. But after a few months of marriage, Alessio hoped he knew his wife well enough to say she wouldn't do anything that would endanger their relationship. Unlike him. He never should've agreed to a marriage to someone as untainted as Vasilisa Andino. She was beautiful, inside and out.

Alessio only wished he could help her see it.

He did the only thing he knew to do to clear his head: sketching. He'd pulled a piece of paper from the printer and was now scratching out a rough oval with his head. Never drawing with a destination in mind, Alessio scribbled until his hand ached, paying careful attention to the image's features to ensure they were almost identical to his memories. A long neck, without a single flaw. A dimple on the right side of the mouth, opened to reveal straight teeth. A certain sparkle in the eye which he'd only seen twice, and Alessio prayed he'd see it more often. An added detail was a jeweled tiara which matched a long, elegant dress that touched the floor.

He'd unwittingly drawn Vasilisa on their wedding day.

Alessio capped the pen, tossed it on the table, and shoved the paper away. This wasn't the first time he'd thought of drawing Vasilisa, but he hadn't done it till now. He hadn't felt like he could give her justice. Still didn't, but he'd let his mind travel where it willed, and it had gone to Vasilisa. As it often did now. Before their last discussion, the journeys to her were pleasant. Now, they were ominous—voyages into the unknown.

Danger had not frightened him...till now. He'd spent six years in the Army. He'd been on three deployments. Bullets, IEDs, and landmines, he could avoid. If he couldn't, at least he had methods to protect against them. But this heavy feeling deep in his chest, there was no armor. No remedy. It wouldn't surprise him if someone found his heart in the Earth's molten core due to how fall it'd fallen. And each day Vasilisa went without talking to him, it only sunk lower.

He'd learned to close himself off to forming relationships. He had Mallory, yes, and McCoy and a couple others, but even then, he kept his distance. Mallory was still active duty—Alessio didn't even know where he was at the moment—so Alessio was eventually expecting a day when he'd call Mallory and someone else would answer. McCoy was busy with his children, his wife, his career, and his mental health. Although Alessio didn't know Valerie McCoy well, she'd called him when McCoy had a bad night. He'd been drinking to block away the pain of a memory.

She couldn't pull him out of it.

Four hours on the phone with Alessio, though, seemed to calm him down. It hadn't been easy; the conversation had brought to surface a lot of Alessio's own demons he'd thought he'd buried in the ground. But he would do anything for his men, just as he'd do anything for Vasilisa to protect her. To bring the smile back to her lips.

"You're really good."

He hadn't realized he'd closed his eyes, and Alessio had been so lost in his thoughts, he'd missed Vasilisa entering the room. He jolted backward in the wooden chair, almost tipping it over. A few blinks cleared his mind enough and slowed his heartrate for him to focus on Vasilisa on the other side of the table. She had one of her hands on his drawing.

"Thank you," Alessio murmured.

"When did you start drawing?"

"When I was a kid. It was a good way to pass the time."