London… wasn’t bad. There had been a time when he’d thought it must be the worst city in the world simply because it was where his now wife was from, though that thought was now an incredibly amusing one to think about. If anyone had told him when Persephone had joined his detail in Russia years back that they were going to get married and move to London, he would have immediately sent them St. Verkola’s. Of course, if anyone had told him that he was going to get stabbed and be unable to do anything but desk work, Nikolai also would have shipped them off to the Russian hospital. His cockiness never would have even let the idea of being caught off guard enough to have anyone get the drop on him cross his mind—let alone the concept of them giving him nearly fatal injuries. It had been particularly inconvenient that he’d been taken to a Muggle hospital, though he knew that it was the only option at the time. Hell, he probably wouldn’t have even made it to St. Verkola’s, as it was quite the distance and there was no damn way he could have been able to apparate. Then there was the obvious issue that his wife had been the one to find him, as that was clearly something that he would never want anyone to have to experience, particularly her. Nikolai knew firsthand about finding dead loved ones and knowing that there was nothing to be done to bring them back. It really was good he didn’t die, or Persephone probably would have killed him herself.

But having a desk job now was … the most boring thing he had ever done in his life. It didn’t help that Persephone got to sneak around Knockturn Alley, and take up a job at Hogwarts as an undercover auror professor while he was just so damn bored. Nikolai had been contemplating trying to put in a request for a job change to give him something to do—like a hit-wizard, perhaps. He would try to transfer into the auror department if he didn’t know that Persephone would just rip up the form. She was apparently convinced that he was still somehow going to get hurt all of over again just because of his ridiculously Muggle-healed injuries. But there was no convincing her otherwise, hell, they’d been fucking like she was afraid of hurting him, which was probably the most ridiculous part. He’d keep the desk job if she stopped with that shit. It didn’t help that the way that he’d been healed by the obviously insane doctors caused him to still experience sporadic pain—and he had thought he’d be back to damn normal by now.

Nikolai had actually been home from work for several hours, irritatingly enough. He still found himself amused by the size of this damn house. It was not at all what he had been expected when they had arrived in England, seeing the overwhelmingly large house when all he had lived in in his life was a farmhouse, a dorm at Durmstrang, and small apartments. Meeting her family, in bits and pieces at least, had been almost overwhelming as well since he really wasn’t used to such a large family and it had also been a hell of a long time since he’d been around any families for an extended period of time. Then there was the whole situation with Persephone’s niece, whom he hadn’t even met yet. Nikolai didn’t like the thought that his wife or her family was at risk by the quickly destabilizing conditions here in England, but it was particularly difficult when apparently Isabella wasn’t even speaking to Persephone. It was going to be an… interesting summer. He understood what it was like to lose family, but he doubted that the girl would want to discuss that with him—not that he was exactly the type to discuss anything like that.

He had been out on the dock with a bottle of vodka for well over an hour, he assumed. Persephone would probably be home relatively soon, and he had a specific mission in mind. There had to be a way to distract her from his still healing injury long enough to have sex properly … well, their version of properly at least, which didn’t involve her worrying about his damn injuries. Nikolai took a long gulp of the vodka as he stared warily out at the pond and the surrounding forest.

@persephone

It seemed like not much had really changed at the department since she left. Just as before she found herself in her old habits while there, laughing with co-workers, having a bit of fun with the newer recruits, and just feeling at home. Today had been especially amusing seeing as for the second time in a week a trainee mistook her for a secretary and the other blokes in the department conned the poor guy into making a pass at her. It had to be one of the most amusing things to see the look on the blokes face when he realized she was an auror and she decided to do an on the spot training evaluation. Of course she had handed him his ass and reminded him that the next time she saw him approach another woman as he had approached her things would be even worse for him. That was one of the perks of working under her old boss, they had gone back to the same work relationship they had when she left, allowing her a great deal more leeway and trust. She was sure the random evaluations would tip him off as to what was going on around the office. The first time she had another auror come up to her when the boss was out to run things by her she was elated. For once nothing had changed, and she felt she was genuinely missed and valued.

Working at the school had been far more of a challenge. It was strange to be around 'normal' people or at least work with them when she had spent the last fifteen years working with nothing but other aurors and the like. Not only that but the career she had been in for so long was primarily male dominated, so she was naturally a bit more commanding than really necessary. There was something about having breasts that some lesser intelligent co-workers felt put her at a disadvantage which at the school wasn't the case in the slightest. So finding that balance had been difficult but she was doing well as far as she was concerned. Then there was Bells still livid with her, and being her Head of House just seemed to make things worse. Her niece seemed absolutely sure that Persephone had willingly stayed away and that her marriage was nothing more than a cover to give the family extra protection which both couldn't be farther from the truth.

She knew this was all hard on her husband. He had gone from being so very active doing undercover work and other dangerous details to being stuck behind a desk doing a nine to five job that she knew he hated. She was sure he was also getting annoyed with her at how cautious she was with him in general, even their sex life had taken a bit of a hit after he was stabbed. He had almost died right at her feet, then being rushed to that horrid muggle hospital ago be told he might not make it was traumatizing. It seemed the blade had nicked a major artery that had collapsed causing them to put a small muggle device called a shunt in his heart to keep it open. They had been lucky enough to find a healer who had muggle medical training that did his check ups with him so they didn't have to venture back into those disgusting, offensive smelling, muggle hospitals again. Because of this he technically had a 'heart condition' which always put her on edge. That's all she needed was for him to go into cardiac arrest in the middle of a damn shag. He was lucky she even consented to shagging as he still tried to get aggressive during. No, tossing her about was no longer an option and he would have to just deal with that.

Persephone walked into the house dropping her briefcase on the couch before calling out in Russian to her husband. Almost six years of primarily speaking the language had made it a habit, though when she got angry she was most likely to speak in Russian than she would in Italian as she used to. When he didn't respond she pretty much knew exactly where he would have to be. She kicked off her heels grabbing herself a glass of wine before heading out the door barefoot to see her husband sitting out by the water with a bottle. "So is this what you do all day while I'm at work?" She laughed lightly before settling down beside him with a quirked eyebrow.

It had been a long time since he had lived anywhere as quiet as here. Of course, it wasn’t exactly like they were in the middle of nowhere, like he had been when he’d been growing up, but it did remind him of that at times. At times that put him slightly on edge, simply because it was an occasional reminder to remain on guard—but he was always alert, really. No matter where someone was, there was the potential for some asshole to be around wanting to kill an entire family, or stab someone. More so now than ever before, which in his opinion wasn’t at all a paranoid thought to have. Things were going to hell in this country, apparently, but it was nothing that they weren’t capable of dealing with. For now, they’d just have to watch out for anything suspicious, though if that happened Nikolai was sure Persephone would probably put him on bed rest or something ridiculous if she didn’t stun him herself to stop him from overexerting himself in any kind of altercation. Heart condition my ass, he thought, shaking his head before setting the bottle down on the dock beside him. Nikolai was convinced that the doctor had just made that up, as he’d also spouted something about exercise and being cautious and a lot of other bullshit.

After all, he exercised all of the damn time—when Persephone wasn’t home, and he hadn’t dropped dead yet. Granted, it wasn’t exactly always pleasant, but working out wasn’t supposed to be pleasant in any case. Perhaps at his next appointment he’d tell the healer that he was clearly find and to okay him for a job that was actually interesting. That was on the list of what he needed to do, certainly, after getting his wife to relax about the whole thing. Nikolai understood that finding him nearly dead was rather… alarming, but that didn’t mean that he was going anywhere. In fact, this situation proved that apparently he was a hell of a lot harder to kill than people thought. A heart condition certainly couldn’t get the best of him.

Nikolai chuckled at his wife’s comment, having heard her coming from the moment the door opened. At least his senses were still working for him even if he wasn’t using them to his full advantage. He glanced over at her as she sat down, “No, sometimes I just have coffee,” he replied, smirking. But after a long day of monotony, Nikolai had been craving vodka far more than any nonalcoholic substitutes. After his family had died, he’d drank a hell of a lot—hell, if he didn’t have Persephone around he’d probably be doing the same thing, irritated by not having that major part of his life anymore. He really didn’t damn well know how to have a desk job. He’d gone from working in the Muggle police, to the gangs, to the auror office and finally his own company. Yes, he’d certainly be going batshit crazy if he didn’t have Persephone around, even if she got to do everything he wanted to be doing.

Persephone knew she was being over the top sometimes when it came to Nikolai and his injuries. Though she knew he was doing far more than his healer had really approved while she wasn’t home. There was absolutely no way he could keep his physique the way he did without doing some serious weightlifting as he always did before the incident—not that she was complaining about the view, but she was still irked that he could seriously hurt himself while she was gone and she wouldn’t have a clue until her work day was over. Her work days were very long those days and there would be no telling how long he would have to wait for her to help him. Hell, for all she knew he could damn well try to die on her again. Gods he was frustrating sometimes.

Since moving back to London with Nikolai she had felt slightly guilty about going right back to her workaholic ways. They rarely spent much time together between her working at the castle, then going to the office working on odd things as well as a personal family case. When they were in Russia they had always spent a good bit of time together seeing as she worked closely with him and his company often. This was definitely quite the change for both of them, though her husband was definitely the one that bore the brunt of it.

She shook her head with a smile at his comment as she settled beside him crossing her ankles in front of her. ”A splash of coffee in your vodka doesn’t count.” She laughed lightly before taking a sip of her wine and setting it off to the side. It always felt good to be home after a long day. At least the summer lent to more sunlight allowing her to bask in it more often even with her crazy schedule. It was one thing she never tired of, even while working in Russia it wasn’t uncommon for one to find the auror laying out in the sun with a content smile on her face. Persephone laid back closing her eyes slowly trying to soak up the last little but of sunshine from the day before it disappeared behind the horizon. ”So what were you up to today… I’m assuming some of it I probably wouldn’t approve of.” She asked opening one eye to look at her husband with a smirk.

Nikolai was beginning to think that the healer they saw was just as absurd as the Muggle doctors that had treated him. He would have to be to have the work experience that he did—it clearly meant that the man had worked with them and their craziness must have rubbed off on him. After all, if the healer got a choice, Nikolai would do nothing all day except for sit at a desk all day and take a mild and unaggressive walk around the neighborhood. The fact that Nikolai hadn’t keeled over and died yet while working out, weight lifting and everything else that he attempted to do, meant that he was more than likely fine to do everything else. If he had thought that excuse would work on Persephone as far as sex was concerned, he would have attempted it already. Unfortunately, he knew he’d have to go another route for that. Desk job, the sex debacle, still having appointments with that damn healer, and still feeling pain from the injury months later—that damn boevik had done a hell of a lot when he’d stabbed him. If he was still in Russia, Nikolai knew that he’d be incredibly tempted to go after the man, especially since he knew him from his time undercover. Although he had looked a bit different undercover with his hair grown out and longer facial hair, the boevik had still recognized him, which had put him in this situation to begin with. Fortunately, he would have to take a trip to Russia soon for his job, and although that would put him in incredibly irritating meetings, Nikolai was sure he could find time for some other … activities.

That was another reason why he had to keep up his exercise regimen regardless of the delusional healer’s directions on what he should be doing. If he meant to find the man that had annoyingly almost killed him, he would have to be in the position to be able to take him down. Being in the hospital as long as he had had certainly slowed that progress, so he had a lot of time to make up for. Luckily, he was doing all right on that front, albeit it was still an aggravating slow process. Hell, Persephone probably had a chance against him now—not that he would ever admit that to her and not that she’d even damn fight him at this point. There had been a time where she’d probably wanted to knock him out, or attempt to, every day and now she probably wouldn’t do it even if he offered. Damn heart condition, he thought, again.

“Sure it does—enough to give it some flavor,” he stated, chuckling under his breath. Amusingly enough, it did seem that he always ended up being out here, as it was commonly where Persephone found him. It was a damn fault of his normal work hours, though it did give him time to work out without Persephone worrying about him dying. He would find himself more annoyed by her reaction if he hadn’t understood it so well—he, of course, still found her frustrating a hell of a lot because of it, but at least he knew why. “You’ll be happy to hear I was in my office all damn day,” Nikolai replied, glancing over at her with a smirk as she lay back onto the dock. “As far as after work is concerned, I think you’re better left in the dark,” he said, jokingly, before picking up the vodka bottle to take another quick swill. Of course she knew that he did more than what he was supposed to do—he’d know that before she’d said it outright, but she’d probably have a permanent scowl on her face if she knew just how much he did do.

It was nice to have Nikolai home when she got done work though she knew if he had it his way he’d be working around the clock doing more strenuous and dangerous work. That was fine when they were in Russia and he was in good health. That had been one thing that attracted her to him. There was something about a hard working man that was extremely alluring, though she wondered how them constantly being at each other’s throats in the process added into the equation. She supposed the sexual relationship they had cultivated in order to keep themselves from killing each other had a good bit to do with it. And it did help with the big family detail they pulled together several years ago. It had become quite a bit easier to pretend to be his girlfriend when they were able to come to an ‘agreement’ of sorts when it came to personal issues. Though if anyone back then were to tell her she would marry the aggravating Russian she would have thought them insane as what they had had was purely sexual and that was it, and even that was just for the good of the detail so they could work properly together. Gods, that even sounded like ridiculous logic to her.

She rolled her eyes at her husband’s comment on flavoring his vodka and laughed quietly. It was always amusing that he tended to fit some of the Russian stereotypes quite well. Although she had picked up some of it from living over there for so damn long. England was certainly far different from Russia as a whole and she was still trying to get used to it little by little. ”Hey I have two jobs that require a lot of desk work, one of which requires me to take care of teenagers that I have to remind myself on a daily basis that it would be inappropriate to hex them.” She began stretching out slightly. She did enjoy her students though as much as they irritated her some days. ”Even though I still work as an auror 80% of my job is still paperwork, and until they move their arses on getting more offices prepped I have to share a desk with my boss. I’m sure you feel bad for him. I think I’ve already told him to contact you if he decides to pull the ‘boss card’ to ask just how well that worked for you.” She said with another laugh. She and her current boss rarely ever had disagreements. They seemed to work on the same wavelength thankfully, but it never failed to amuse her to think about the hell she put Nikolai through when he was her supervisor.

She turned her head to look at her husband at his next comment with raised eyebrows. She knew a good bit of what he did when she wasn’t home. He often seemed to forget that he had aided in training her for quite a few years and that it would take a good bit for him to be able to pull one over on her. ”I’m never in the dark when it comes to what you do when you think I’m not looking.” She rolled onto her side, lifting up his shirt and poking at muscle in his abdomen. ”Now if you were listening to the Healer you would have lost some of this already as well as quite a bit more muscle mass. Not to mention you left 400lbs on a bar in the weight room.” She gave him a look as she lowered his shirt to cover him again. ”What the hell are you going to do if you get hurt and I’m working a detail that requires me to be out all night?” She asked him seriously.

They had come a long way from when they first met, obviously. Nikolai had scarcely been able to believe it when the auror that had been brought in to work with him had been the woman he’d met at a bar months back. That had begun their working relationship with a hell of a lot of confrontations, arguments and him contemplating firing her while she probably simultaneously thought about quitting. They’d finally figured out a way to work together, in a sense, though he had never been expecting it to go this far, as at the time he had thought shagging the woman was just a way to find their way to some kind of agreement on any issues they were having at work. It was hardly the most professional of arrangements, but it had worked in both of their benefits, anyway. After that detail had ended, he had been sure that he’d actually seen the last of Persephone, as obviously he would not be requesting her on any more cases. As good as she’d been, and though they’d figured out a way to work together decently, he had doubted either of them wanted to subject themselves to their aggravating arguments any more than they had to. That logic clearly hadn’t lasted long, and now they found themselves in London, which was the last place he ever would have expected himself to be.

Desk jobs, to him, were almost a form of torture. Of course, he understood the need for paperwork on occasion. He’d had to do that when he worked at the Muggle departments, at the Auror office in Russia, and obviously in his company. The only time in his life that he’d been able to forgo paperwork completely had been when he was undercover, as Nikolai’s position in the gang clearly hadn’t required any of that. “True, I don’t necessarily envy you on that front,” he agreed, because although he always had enjoyed training new recruits when working for the auror office, Nikolai wasn’t much of a teacher other than that. Working at Hogwarts would have been a bloody nightmare for him, though it was obviously better than what he was doing now. That, and there was the secret, almost undercover aspect of Persephone’s job there that he found particularly intriguing. That would almost make the paperwork worth it, really—at least, slightly. Nikolai found himself smirking as she brought up sharing a desk with her boss, as well as the ‘boss card’ that she’d always talked about him pulling back when they’d worked together. He knew that if he’d had to share any manner of space with her while they had worked together in the beginning, he would have more than likely lost it. “Well, I was the boss,” he said, solemnly, his smirk growing as he thought back at the disagreements they’d had during that particular detail. She had made just about everything hard for him, but he hadn’t exactly been easy to work with either, looking back at it.

“And here I thought I had made my living off of being secretive—can’t get anything by you,” he said, offhandedly, though he wasn’t at all surprised that she’d apparently known what he’d been up to. Despite the more … physical evidence, she surely knew him well enough to know that he wasn’t bout to sit around and do nothing regardless of what the healer said. Nikolai raised his eyebrows in amusement as she lifted up his shirt, though she was certainly right that it was proof enough of what he had been doing. The moment he’d gotten out of the hospital, he’d realized that he certainly had lost a bit of muscle, and so clearly he’d had to get back to work on that. Having a desk job and regular hours gave him enough time to do so, which he supposed was the one and only benefit of it. “The healer doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” Nikolai said, and this was a fact that he was absolutely sure of. Anyone who would actually train themselves in Muggle healing had to be at least mildly insane; it was an aspect of the magical world that was certainly superior, and the Muggle methods were ridiculous in comparison. “At least it was only four hundred,” he replied, chuckling under his breath. Really, he was irritated at the weight, as it wasn’t what he’d gotten up to previous to the incident, but he knew that he’d get back there at some point. Nikolai couldn’t help but laugh outright at her next statement, even though he knew she was being serious. “Get hurt—I’m not going to drop dead from a bit of weight-lifting,” he told her, his grin widening, “I’m much harder to kill than that.”

Her husband was certainly lucky she was still afraid to hurt him. The training and experience she had acquired over the past fifteen years had her at a great advantage to most people in their field of work. She was disciplined, a workaholic, a perfectionist… This was what always made things difficult whenever she went up against her husband back in Russia for refreshers. He knew her too well. He knew her style, the way she thought, the smallest movements she knew alerted him to what she had cooking up regardless of how subtle they were. They only thing she really had on him was her speed which she always went for, but those were the ‘old days’. She doubted she would ever consent to actually go up against him now. That’s all she needed was for him to get hurt, and feel that guilt knowing that it was her fault it happened.

She rolled her eyes with a laugh as he reiterated that he was, indeed, the boss. ”Yes you were. And you were the most aggravating boss I had ever worked under in the entirety of my career. Honestly, Vadik and I never got into it over much of anything. Actually if I recall correctly you were the only one who didn’t like me.” She laughed still finding it humorous that the most annoying man she had ever met had become her husband. Persephone could only imagine what Nikolai was feeling being forced to give up a career he worked so hard for, a career he loved, because of an unfortunate incident. Sometimes she felt she should give him a little more freedom, at least when it came to their intimate life, but then she remembered sitting in that horrible hospital being told that there was a good chance her husband wouldn’t survive and she second guessed it.

”I’m afraid there isn’t much or really anything you can get past me at this point. I’ve been dealing with you professionally and personally for just about five bloody years. I’d like to think I know you well by now.” She sighed putting an arm over her eyes after he went on about the healer not knowing what he was doing and that the weight she had caught him with on the bar had been low for him. She didn’t doubt it was on the lower end for him in his prime. But the man had muggle heart surgery for Merlin’s sake. He was going to be the bloody death of her with how much he worried her on a daily basis. She peeked at him from under her arm as he insisted he was okay to give him a look. ”Don’t get cocky.” She said moving onto her elbows as she looked him over. ”I could probably kick your arse at this point. Hell, if you could still lay me out you would probably have a chance at me lifting some restrictions.” She laughed knowing full well it would only aggravate him more to realize that his wife could actually take him out at this point.

Even to this very moment, Nikolai was irritated that anyone had gotten the drop on him enough to get stabbed. Stabbed. He’d worked undercover for years and gained numerous injuries from that, but it was when he was years past that work that he ended up getting nearly fatally injured by one of the gang members that had been his ‘friend’ while he was there. The boevik was one of the gang’s warriors, and their sole job was killing which meant that he was incredibly capable of it. Nikolai was surprised that he was alive with one of them wanting him dead, but that really only brought about the point again that he was hard to kill. Nikolai supposed that he would have to be telling Persephone about the trip he’d be expected to make within the next couple of months. He was going to plan it around when she more than likely would want him gone in order to attempt to work things out with Isabella without the additional complication of … well, his presence when Isabella didn’t know him or, more than likely, like him all that much. But there was a bit of time until he’d have to figure that out.

He had been sure when he’d met Persephone, the second time, that she had no idea how working in Russia was different than working in the auror office in England. There was a hell of a learning curve, he certainly knew that just from training new aurors when he had worked there. Coming straight in from working undercover had worked in his advantage, but he was sure that the woman hadn’t the experience to be any good. It wasn’t a matter of her being a woman, but of her immediate aggravating personality when they had realized that they’d be working together. “And out of every auror that was ever sent to assist my company, you were arguably the most exasperating.” He replied, grinning before taking a swig of the vodka. Although they had masked it well enough in front of others, being around each other had been impossible alone, and there had been no doubt in his mind that she was most irritating woman alive. He’d known she was good, he learned that quickly, but when it came to working with others, he was sure she had problems. But she hadn’t… as she had just said, he had been the only one who didn’t like her. However, the reverse could also be said, as everyone had liked him as well. “And you were the only one who didn’t like me,” he countered, finding that particularly amusing.

Nikolai supposed that she was right that there wasn’t much he could do that she wouldn’t realize, though the reverse was also the truth. They’d been dealing with each other for a while now, and they also just were damn aurors, after all. It was hard for a suspect to get something past an auror in an interrogation, as it was their job to know how to deal with situations like that. In marriage, amusingly some of that stuck. “Well enough, I’d say,” he replied, grinning crookedly. If she knew about him working out and wasn’t doing anything about it, perhaps it wouldn’t be all that hard to convince her that there were other aspects of their life that could most certainly go back to normal. The last thing he was going to do was let a muggle surgery get in the way of their sex life, because that was just ridiculous. Why Persephone even believed a word those doctors said, Nikolai had no idea. He was sure that he’d be as good as new in a few months, especially at the rate he was going with his weight-training. Nikolai narrowed his eyes as his wife brought up the potentially of her actually being able to beat him in a fight at this point, which he immediately felt the need to prove wrong. “Don’t challenge me to a fight you know I’m going to win unless you mean it,” Nikolai said, raising an eyebrow at her. He’d fight her and win if that meant she’d lighten up about his fake heart condition. This would prove to her that he was fine, more than likely, and then perhaps he’d even be able transfer departments without her having a heart attack.

The summer was bound to be a disaster, at least when it came to trying to explain things to Bells, and try to get her to understand that she really had wanted to come home sooner. It certainly didn’t help that a few people in her family were still not completely convinced that Nikolai was legitimately her husband. Sure Nikolai wasn’t the most affectionate man as most of the men in her family were, but that didn’t mean the marriage was a farce. And while there were times she wished he would be a fair bit more affectionate she felt it ridiculous. She married him knowing how things would be. Just because they were back in her home didn’t mean things would change or that she should expect it. She still loved him, or else she would have never married him. Persephone wasn’t a fan of jealousy but sometimes she felt it weird that any man could approach her and he seemed not to care. She supposed that was just the trust he had that she wouldn’t give in just because another man showed her more attention.

She laughed lightly shaking her head. ”I still say you were far more annoying than I ever was.” She replied giving him a look though smiling shortly after. They had certainly come a long way, but she felt they would probably not work great together or at least not as well as she did with others. There was always a constant power struggle between the two as both of their personalities were quite dominant, though that never seemed to affect their personal lives together. At the end of the day she still loved him and all the aggravation he put her through with that damn injury.

It wasn’t difficult to tell that her husband was cooking up some kind of plan as he sat beside her. The one thing she had to give him was that he was just as cunning as she was, and he had pulled a few fast ones on her in the past. There were a few things that came to her mind that he could be plotting and a few of them seemed to be a bit interesting. She rolled her eyes at her husband as he said she wouldn’t win against him. ”And what if I am challenging you? What exactly do you plan on doing about it?” She challenged him still propped up on her elbows looking up at him.