Diamonds Dancing

Fifteen

Rubbing her back in circular motions, he could hear her heavy breathing turn into light snoring.

After enjoying an over-the-top feast and spending a lot of well-needed family time with one another, it was getting to that time of the day where everyone was winding-down and relaxing. Lilia had taken less than a few minutes persuading to get her to take a mid-day nap, having used all of her energy up, she knocked out after a full glass of warm milk, and some cookies. A low grunt broke out as he leaned over to position the sleeping body down onto the couch, satisfied to see them side by side.

Together, at last.

Janessa had been the more difficult one this year, she had refused to get any rest, insisting that she was big enough to be with the adults all day. And that is exactly what she did. It was all very cute for the first hour. However, when the second and third, and eventually, forth hour struck, he feared that she would never leave him alone to sleep. It wasn't until they were watching their third crappy holiday movie together, that she gave up and let her drained body win.

He was sick of hearing the cheesy music and watching the cringe-worthy plots.

Romance was not something that appealed to Slater, he didn't care for any kind of public display of affection, to his annoyance, the festive films happened to be everything he hated and more.

This was usually Dasha's job, trying to put the girls to bed before they drove them to insanity. He thought to himself.

Christmas had been something he wished he could put a pause on this year, it didn't feel natural nor did he have any real emotion to give. Reaching over the coffee table, he picked up the homemade Nastoiki he was drinking, or in other words, flavoured vodka.

He was tired, so tired. It wasn't the type of tiredness that could be fixed with sleep, six months of pure havoc was resulting in him slowly spiralling out of control.

Drinking was helping him feel numb, he knew how to operate normally when he was drunk, he had abused the substance during his youth and into his early adulthood. The cigarettes were another major thing he knew she would be yelling at him for if she could see him.

She couldn't see him though, he tipped the edge of the glass back, swallowing the bitter contents inside in one swig.

Lowering it down onto the table again, he ran a hand through his messily kept hair, and then, dropped down onto the single sofa closest to him. Slater leaned back, his hazy eyes falling onto the two girls, he couldn't help but stare.

Lilia was looking more like her as time went by. She was the spitting image of the supermodel, same dimples, same hair colour, same striking eyes, the one thing she had gotten from her father was her temperament. It could come in hard at times; she had a lot to say, all of the time. On the other hand, Janessa was the perfect mix, she showed moments of her mother, as her infectious laugh. It was delicate, melodic, he could listen to her laugh over and over and never get bored of hearing it.

He needed to stop drinking, he told himself, closing his eyes shut.

It was going straight to his head, Slater let out a sigh, opening his jaw to try and remove the ache in his cheek.

Maybe, if he tried to get some rest, he would be able to function properly for the remainder of the day.

He didn't seem to get his longing to relax when the door handle started to make a sound. Twisting, turning, and then it was yanked open.

"M-Mr. Ivanov?" A small hiss as footsteps entered the dimly lit room, "I'm sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if I could talk to you."