Nikolai knew that, even apart from the trip he would be taking to Moscow, this summer was going to be an incredibly eventful one—and probably not all in a good way. It had been a long time since he’d been around any family, let alone one that he’d married into and particularly not one this size. He knew that some people accepted his presence, others didn’t, and that when Isabella got home, it would certainly become even more chaotic with all of the drama that could more than likely be expected. Of course, he had to get this trip out of the way as well, and hopefully his brief absence would help Persephone and Isabella to sort things through without him in the way. That was the least he could do, since it was partially his fault that things were as tense as they were, since him getting stabbed had prevented Persephone from coming home for the funeral of her brother and the rest of the family. More than likely, Persephone would think him leaving was a good idea in any case, and wouldn’t even contemplate what else he could be doing in Russia.

He’d tell her after the fact, obviously, as they weren’t ones to keep their questionable actions secret from the other. In the past, he probably would have told her beforehand and she’d wouldn’t have blinked at the … mission, of sorts. But now, he knew that she probably didn’t think he could even take on the man and live to tell about it—as if he would get killed by that boevik. In a fair fight, Nikolai would have been able to kill the man even after getting stabbed; but being caught off guard, which was rare enough in any case, had been his downfall… apparently. And it was past time that that was rectified. “Speaking of annoying—which I wasn’t,” he stated, his lips curving into an amused smirk, “I’ll have to go to Moscow sometime over the summer for some irritating meetings and other incredibly boring shit,” Nikolai told her, scowling slightly. Those meetings were going to be aggravating, but having an opportunity to go to Moscow was something he couldn’t pass up.

The thought of this challenge was certainly enticing him, as he was sure that he could still beat Persephone in a fight; she might have speed on him, but Nikolai did know all of the moves she was going to make, for the most part before she even made them. The same could be said for her about him, obviously, but he did have strength on his side. “I would take you up on it, win, and… I suppose you’ll have to see what happens then.” Currently, the only restriction he could think of wanting lifted that she’d actually consent to was something he didn’t think would take much convincing at all.

Persephone was still as resourceful in Russia as she was in England. She would venture to say she was even more so in England. She had started training as an auror at seventeen and had spent around decade at that department before going to Russia. She was well liked and still had quite a few connections so his admittance of what he would have to do in the future wasn’t surprising to her. It wasn’t that she had done digging on him. That was absurd. They were married and there were never any secrets. It had just come up in casual conversation with someone a little higher up. Of course the conversation then veered back to the confusion of her being married. She could understand why, during her time there she rarely even dated, and even dating she specifically stayed away from getting involved with men that were in the same field as her. Those relationships never lasted long. It was difficult to be with someone whose job consumed most of their time. So when Persephone came home with a large Russian man who was not only in the same field as her, but had once been her superior they were skeptical.

She laughed as he said he wasn’t annoying, dramatically lowering herself back down to the dock with her hands over her mouth. She waved her hands comically in front of her as if trying to fan away tears before sitting up again. ”Oh sorry… you were being serious, were you?” She joked before quirking an eyebrow at him. ”I already knew you had to take a trip.” She said before pointing to herself. ”Auror…” She said with a smirk. ”You’re on my turf now, Darling.” She teased using the pet name she had given him during their big detail together. Thinking about the old days never failed to amuse her, especially the part where no one back in Russia was surprised when they had gotten married. A few had even said they saw it coming years before.

Persephone looked him over with a shake of her head and a laugh at their turn in conversation. ”You know, most men kiss their wives when coming home, maybe even a bit of a cuddle. I come home and end up being challenged to hand my husband his ass.” She raised her eyebrow at him, pretty damn sure what he was insinuating would happen if he won. She would be lying if she said she didn’t sometimes miss that part of their relationship, but fear always seemed to out weight those compulsions. ”Are you really sure you want to be laid out by a woman half your size in bare feet and a skirt?” She laughed.

When Persephone had been assigned to his detail, Nikolai had been sure that Vadik had been out of his mind. It hadn’t made any sense at all to him that the man would stick an Auror on his detail that was clearly the last person that he’d be able to successfully work with. Even as their work continued, he’d continued to be surprised to find out that every auror that knew both of them had thought that they’d be ‘a hell of a team’ together. He was sure that everyone was going crazy, though they’d also apparently been anticipating them dating and getting married before it had even happened. His old auror partner had even started a pool on it, which he also hadn’t known about until after the fact. It was so amusing to think about that now, but she’d certainly aggravated him every damn day back then. “Of course I was being serious. I’m always serious—I’m Russian,” he said, solemnly. Nikolai was always amused by Russian stereotypes, ones he filled and otherwise. He did drink a hell of a lot of vodka, after all, and he supposed he did come off as pretty damn stoic on occasion. If someone didn’t know him, really, though most everyone in the Russian auror department had known his more amusing side.

If he’d had his way, Nikolai would have headed to Russia a month ago, or perhaps he wouldn’t have even left until he had resolved … the situation. Of course, it hadn’t worked out like that, and for good reason. He’d been just as concerned as his wife to hear how serious things were getting for purebloods here, and clearly heading to England to ensure her niece and family’s protection was more important. At first, he’d been unsure where he was even going to be working in the Ministry, but when the Russian Ministry had contacted him to work as a delegate in between the two countries, he’d realized that it was certainly the best idea. He’d annoyingly known that it would have a hell of a lot desk work, but it would get him back into Russia at some point. Once he’d found the boevik that had put him in the position to have to work in an office all day, then he could probably just move on from that. Besides, it would prove to him that he was completely able to do the work he used to do, and that would be a start as well. It would help to tell Persephone that if he could still kill a gang member without much effort, then they obviously didn’t have to listen to what the healer was saying about his injuries. “Well, hell, then I won’t bother boring you with the details if being on your turf means you already know,” he replied, amused, raising an eyebrow at her. That would be easier, actually, though he’d still have to determine when the best time to go would be. “Figured I’d time it conveniently to when you’ll probably want me out of the house anyway with the end of the school year,” Nikolai added, knowing that his presence would probably complicate the already strained relationship she currently had with her niece.

His grin widened at her words, before leaning in to kiss her. “Well, if you’re afraid of losing, that’s understandable,” he stated, after pulling away. He was at least confident enough in being to beat her, probably. Knowing her moves would help, but her speed would certainly work against him when he wasn’t at one hundred percent. But the stakes were, of course, too tempting to resist. Frankly, she had to be tempted too, and this would be just what would hopefully get her to relax about his damn made-up heart condition. “Are you really sure that you want your ailing husband to beat you in a fight in your own house?” He countered, raising an eyebrow.

Persephone always found it entertaining to see the look on people's faces when they saw her out with Nikolai. Those that knew her looked shocked as her husband's default expression was quite stoic and slightly intimidating at times to others. He was a large man after all which made it even more confusing to others. While she was very serious in her job her colleagues had seen her more humorous side so Nikolai had thrown them off. Though seeing the reactions that followed whenever he laughed or they had a bit of fun at each other's expense was priceless. "Yes we know... You're a big bad scary Russian man, with a sweet, innocent English wife who wouldn't hurt a fly." She said rolling her eyes with a laugh.

If her family could see this side of them they would probably lighten up a bit. She knew it had to be overwhelming to become a part of such a large family, and quite the culture shock when Persephone was passed around in embraces and kisses on the cheeks. He had only ever seen her be affectionate with him and a few of their close friends in Russia. She wondered how he felt when male colleagues from England did the same, one of which picked her up and carried her away. Of course he didn't get far and it was all in good fun. "I know everything. Have you not picked up on that yet? Just like I knew you wanted me before you knew." She joked though she hadn't really and she was quite shocked that a few months after their detail she found herself bumping into him at the Ministry and not long after be dating the man that aggravated the hell out of her everyday for over a year.

She returned his kiss before laughing lightly at his comment. "I'm more afraid of causing you serious bodily harm, and bruising your ridiculous ego." Only they would find amusement in quite literally fighting with each other. It had been a long time since they had done that. She really did not want to chance possibly injuring him, but she didn't want to lose either. "You know, we could always skip ahead to the good part..." She said casually moving her legs in a way that allowed her skirt to bunch up a bit hoping he would take the bait so she could put him in his place without causing him serious pain.

When he really thought about it, it was almost amusing that they were back in England. Their relationship had started in Russia, where she had originally been more than likely out of her element. Though she had quickly gotten used to it, he supposed. And now, he was in England and very much out of his damn element. Her family had him out of his element, and that was obviously still occurring. Hell, even the house had him caught off guard for a moment, just because he hadn’t expected Persephone to live in a house that damn elaborate. Obviously, he’d gotten used to that bit, since he was there so often. Even just London as a whole was a lot different from Moscow, and it was good that he was fluent in English as well as Russian since clearly speaking Russian here was incredibly rare. Some people acted like they’d never even seen a Russian before, which was amusing, and that in particular is what made the Russian stereotypes even more entertaining to think about. “Sounds about right,” he said, with a crooked grin, before taking a quick swig of the vodka. Anyone who thought that Persephone was sweet or innocent was clearly delusional—well, he supposed she could be sweet… occasionally… on a whim. But innocent? Not in the slightest. The thought alone caused him to chuckle under his breath, shaking his head.

Nikolai knew that as far as the Russia trip was concerned, Persephone either had no idea that he’d any plans outside of his work for the Ministry, or she was well aware. Somehow, he doubted that she thought he would do something that ‘stupid,’ or she would have brought it up. Although she said she knew all, even jokingly, Nikolai wasn’t sure how she could possibly know about his plans—luckily. It would take a fair bit of planning to get the deed done once he got into Moscow, but he fortunately knew that area well. More than likely, he would be able to get in and out without anyone even knowing that he was there. No one but the gang would notice the man missing, and they’d blame a rival gang before they would think it could be anyone else. “You wanted me first,” he stated, scoffing, as though the fact was obvious. It was absolutely ridiculous to him that after over a year of them getting on each other’s nerves, they had ended up dating. He wouldn’t have even believed it possible to miss the witch after she was gone, especially when she was so damn irritating, but the fact had stood that he had… apparently.

He certainly wasn’t at his best—that much was clear. It had been clear to him from the moment he had started trying to get back into the swing of things, and it had been something else that continued to irritate him. He knew that his mission in going to Russia to find the man that had done this was really nothing that was necessary. It wasn’t something he could blame on needing to do for a case, or needing to do because he was undercover. No, it quite frankly could only be deemed as revenge, unless he was trying to play it off by getting a murderer off of the streets. He was doing that, after all, which he could claim made it a bit better. “Don’t let the made-up heart condition stop you from attempting to cause me any bodily harm,” he stated, grinning. Nikolai knew that she thought it was ridiculous that he was so convinced that the healer had flat out made up whatever ridiculous condition he’d been given… but it was simply true. He was fine, clearly, so he didn’t have a silly heart condition. “And you know my ego is impossible to bruise.” Nikolai added, though getting laid out by his wife might be something that was capable of even slightly injuring it. But obviously that wouldn’t happen. She was good, obviously, but he’d seen too much of what she could do face-to-face, making him fully able to beat her. Without question. He might not be at his best, but he still was… well, him. Nikolai raised an eyebrow at her words, his eyes moving slowly over her at the movement. “Oh, could we?” He asked, slightly suspiciously, though the offer was tempting.

Living in Russia had definitely been difficult in the beginning. It wasn’t like she was fluent in Russian, and her accent seemed to make her English a little more difficult for the locals to understand her. It had been frustrating to say the least. She had been lucky that a good bit of her colleagues at the Ministry spoke English. It had taken her some time to get the basics down though it helped that Vadik only spoke to her English when absolutely necessary feeling that the more she tried to use it the faster she would catch on. He had been impressed with how quickly she had caught on though she felt like it had taken an eternity. She wasn’t sure if it made thing worse that when she began to work for Nikolai he spoke to her mostly in Russian making it difficult to properly lay into him when her vocabulary was still limited, though she learned how to swear quickly as he had tended to do it frequently under his breath whenever they were alone. It was amusing though after so many years in Russia, speaking primarily in Russian, she had lost a bit of her English accent in the process.

Persephone did have her sweet moments which were typically reserved for her family and Nikolai, though it didn’t happen on a regular basis. She was sure had any of their colleagues back in Russia seen their more affectionate moments they’d probably think the pair were imposters. And as much as she knew Nikolai would never admit it he could be quite loving which had shocked her really the first time she saw that side of him. Though she felt they didn’t do it nearly enough those days with how much she was working. She shook her head with a laugh. ”No, I’m fairly certain you wanted me first. I caught you several times ‘looking’ at me before we reached our ‘agreement’. And I’m surprised it took you that long before you made a move on me. Granted, that was pretty brave of you… or stupid.” She said arching an eyebrow at him, granted she was pretty sure neither one made a conscious decision to sleep together during that detail. It had just kind of happened as they were in a heated argument one minute, then going at it the next.

She was concerned about him going back to Russia without her. He complained often about how the Healer had no clue what he was talking about and that he was fine. While she knew deep down he was more than capable of handling himself she had a bad feeling he was going to try to do something extreme while away from home. Fortunately for him she would be so caught up in handling Bells that she wouldn’t be worried sick on a constant basis. She rolled her eyes at her husband ”It’s not made up. You have a bloody muggle device in your heart, and you know how much I trust their methods and it would not be an attempt… it would most certainly happen.” She said giving him a look. He had obviously not lost any of his cockiness since the incidence. She wasn’t completely sure she could take him out now that he had had time to actually heal a bit, but she did have a bit of a chance given the right circumstances. She reached over him as he spoke to grab his bottle, lingering just long enough to allow him a view down her top, grazing his body with hers as she sat up again taking a sip from the bottle. ”We could… unless you are afraid I’ll hurt you in the process.” She said with a shrug and a sly smile. ”I’m not sure you could handle me anymore if I granted you the opportunity to take me however you pleased.” She added nonchalantly as she pretended to smooth her top down only to pull it down to expose more of herself in the process. She felt confident he wouldn’t be able to pass her up on such an offer leaving him vulnerable for her to prove her point in the process when she finally took him out.

Something that Nikolai had realized rather quickly when coming into the department that he worked for that it was quite convenient that he had learned so many languages in his life. It helped that he was able to pick up ones that he didn’t know rather easily as well. Of course, for the most part he was communicating with the Russian Ministry, which obviously wasn’t a problem. But everyone in the office were from different countries, and some of them were marginally less fluent in English than others. Being able to converse with the large majority of the people he had to work around was certainly easier. Granted, it didn’t make his job that much more interesting, but it was better than sitting around with a bunch of wizards and witches that couldn’t understand each other. Merlin, he needed to get out of that job as soon as possible. Surely, a healer could take out whatever ridiculous device that doctor had put in his heart and then heal it the magical way. How hard could that be really? It seemed like something that was worth considering, at least—assuming that anything was even actually in there, which he wasn’t convinced was true. What kind of healing was that? Keeping some foreign device in someone’s heart? Sounded like absolute damn nonsense.

He chuckled at her words, thinking back to the time before they had even had their arrangement in place. Before that, he contemplated dropping her from the detail on nearly a daily basis and she probably thought about quitting just as much. When they were around the family or other people, they actually managed to at least be cordial, to the point that some people didn’t even realize how much they fought in private. But when they were alone and all hell broke loose, he certainly couldn’t deny looking at her on occasion; he had obviously thought himself crazy at the time, since she was so damn aggravating. “Of course I looked at you—I’d already seen you naked by that point, how was I supposed to forget that just because you were the most aggravating human being in all of the Eastern Hemisphere?” He replied, raising an eyebrow. “I’d say it solved most of our problems, so I’m going to have to go with ‘brilliant,’ because clearly there was no reason for bravery,” he stated, grinning. He had been just convinced then as he was now that he could beat her in any manner of physical combat, even though she threatened it quite frequently back then. The fact that she had thought she’d be able to land a blow on him back then was rather amusing, as she’d only been in Russia for a rather brief period of time. As far as he had been concerned, she hadn’t nearly enough practice to take him on. Now, however, she probably be able to get a hit in. Most likely…

Maybe while he was in Russia, he could stop by that Muggle hospital and get them to take out whatever device they claimed they put into him. Then he could go to St. Verkola’s and sort it out that way. Surely, that would work out perfectly. Either they would take out whatever it was, or he would finally be able to prove that there wasn’t shit in there anyhow. “Alleged device, since I’m pretty damn sure there’s nothing in there,” he replied, scowling slightly at the thought. It obviously couldn’t be a Muggle healing technique to keep something in someone’s heart. That was just illogical. He watched her carefully as she moved, his eyes darkening. Well, now she was just damn tempting him, which sounded like a far better use of time than fighting her to prove a point. “Scared of you beating me… what fantasy world are you living in?” He asked, grinning. Clearly, he would still win. But suddenly, she was putting the offer on the table that he’d been working for in any case. Nikolai wondered if he should be slightly wary about that, since it had been such an abrupt change, but decided to think nothing of it. After all, she damn well missed it as much as he did. “Well how about I prove I can handle it, then?” Nikolai asked, darkly, though he was slightly amused that she would ever think he couldn’t handle it. He didn’t fall for her unintentional reveal of more skin, though really all it proved was that she was baiting him, which meant that she might actually be calming down about his supposed ability to drop dead at any moment. Nikolai raised an eyebrow at her, moving closer before bringing an arm around her to press her against him as he brought his lips to her roughly. The dock probably wasn’t the best setting, in retrospect, but he was trying to prove a damn point, after all.

There arrangement hadn’t seemed all that odd all those years ago, though now it made her shake her head. It was amusing that the only way she could even slightly handle being around him as a boss was to shag on a regular basis. That was highly unprofessional, though at the time she looked at it as just a way to settle disagreements without getting into a huge fight. In a way it was a ‘professional’ agreement. Well at least it was supposed to be a no strings attached kind of deal just to make it through the detail without killing each other. Obviously it hadn’t stayed that way and at some point during the detail things started changing though she doubted either one of them even really noticed until they were apart.

She laughed and shook her head as he confessed that he had been looking at her before their arrangement. Persephone would be lying if she said she hadn’t looked at him on occasion. It was damn near impossible whenever he decided to parade around shirtless for one reason or another not to look and remember exactly what they had shared months before. ”I fail to see how you could have been so sure that first time on that detail that I would sleep with you instead of hexing your bullocks off.” She said with a raise of her eyebrow.

Nikolai would be the death of her; this much she was sure of. The man still felt as if he were invincible while he hadn’t been in her position. He hadn’t even been conscious when she found him and didn’t regain it until days after his surgery. He didn’t see her pacing the halls, or her sleeping in the chair beside him often leaning forward so that she could hold his hand with her head resting on the bed, the sounds of several monitors attached to him lulling her to sleep every night. He didn’t see her break down, being comforted by a nurse as they told her he probably wouldn’t make it through the night. She would never tell him these things, though she didn’t think he would remember any of it. ”I assure you there is a damn device in your chest. I met with your surgeon several times while you were in the hospital. Though they had you so doped up I doubt you remember.”

What was nice about Nikolai was that, regardless of his personality and pride, he was still a bloke and would have some kind of difficulty saying no to being intimate with her in most situations. She knew it was very snake like to lure him in like that with the intention of proving her own point, but she supposed if he was a good sport about it she may lift his restrictions for one night. She was starting to second guess her decision when he got that look in his eyes before moving closer. If she wasn’t careful there was a good chance she would just succumb to him opposed to putting him in his place, or at least remind him what kind of woman he had married. She returned his kiss with equal passion trying to keep her mind clear as she became very aware of his still strong body against hers. Giving in would be him winning and that just couldn’t happen. She ran her hand up the back of his shirt as she continued their kiss letting her nails dig into his skin. She had stopped doing that awhile before and that was sure to be a good indicator for him that she really was going to let this happen.

Prior to finding a way to… work together, per say, Nikolai had been sure that they would never agree on anything. What was interesting was, it wasn’t as though they had differing beliefs on how the detail should have been run. Really, they agreed on it for the most part, even when they argued about it. Nikolai couldn’t count the number of times he recalled arguing with the witch about something, when really, their end goals had been the exact same damn thing. It seemed as though they had just been looking for an excuse to fight, which was amusing, because at that time they had hardly needed an excuse to go at each other. “It was worth the risk,” he replied, grinning. Nikolai couldn’t even recall the exact moment that he had decided that perhaps sleeping together would help to rectify the issues that they were having, but it had done the trick. Granted, they still argued on occasion, but that had been a …. relatively professional way of solving their problems. Well, he supposed no one would exactly call that professional, but it had worked for them.

The entire situation was ridiculous, though he supposed that he might even have less of a full scope of the issue than Persephone did. As much as he joked (though he was still fully convinced that he was damn fine) about the Muggle device, and his injury, he knew that Persephone finding him bleeding out couldn’t have been easy. Hell, it had to have been terrifying; that was something that he could fully understand. Nikolai knew firsthand what it was like to lose loved ones, only by the time he had gotten there it actually had been too late. Regardless, he was sure that when Persephone found him, she had thought it was too late to save him for a while as well. The Muggle doctors had even said he might die, irritatingly enough. He had no idea why they would tell her that; it certainly didn’t seem like good… doctoring to do so, particularly since he was clearly fine. But the situation had to have been horrific to deal with, even though the experience of being in a hospital waiting to see if someone lived or died wasn’t something that he had experience with. He had always been too late, and had never dealt with a situation where it was touch and go. He couldn’t decide if that was better or worse. “Doped up—that Muggle medicine is damn ridiculous,” he stated, scoffing. That was something that even he couldn’t deny, and he didn’t really understand what the point was in having medicine that had those kinds of affects. He really didn’t understand the point of that. “I doubt it—who leaves shit in someone’s heart? That doesn’t seem like the best healing technique,” he continued, shrugging. That was how Nikolai was so convinced that there was nothing there. Leaving something foreign in someone’s body didn’t seem like anything that would have lasting positive benefits, after all.

In his mind, the mission of getting Persephone to calm down about this entire situation had been one he hadn’t anticipating going this well. Overall, he had a lot that he wanted to achieve with that… getting off of desk work, her not worrying about him working out, going back to Russia, and the like. Nikolai had thought that all of that would be difficult enough, but the main goal had been to get her to stop acting like he was going to drop dead even by sleeping together the way they used to; that had easily been the most ridiculous and frustrating parts of this entire situation. He would take the desk job for a hell of a lot longer if he could get her to give up on that, but it seemed that she might finally be. Either she missed it enough to ignore her ‘better judgment’ for the time being, or she was actually deciding that he was fine and able to live his life regardless of the fake Muggle device that they liked to say he had in his heart. Nikolai let his hands trail down to her hips, pressing her against him as he deepened the kiss, smirking against her lips as her nails dug into the skin of his back, albeit through his shirt. So far, it seemed that maybe she was finally letting her ridiculous worries go, but it was too soon to tell, clearly.

She rolled her eyes at her husband as he said that sleeping with her while they were still at each other’s throats had been worth the risk. She supposed he was right. They had been able to work far better with each other knowing that at the end of the day they would be able to ‘work out’ their differences in private. If he hadn’t taken that risk she was sure they would have never even dated let alone married each other. She would always be confused as to why their colleagues were so sure they would end up together. They were obviously very good at their jobs to spot that.

The memories of finding Nikolai clinging to life in a pool of blood still haunted her, permanently burned into her mind. It was hard to shake that though she knew eventually that she would need to. He wasn’t still sitting in a hospital bed breathing through a machine anymore. He was still the same man she married and could most likely handle things just as well as he had back then, granted not a hundred percent but pretty close. ”You were in a lot of pain, Nik. Don’t try to tell me you weren’t. I was by your bed the whole time; well I was when Vadik wasn’t kicking me out to go home for a bit while he stayed with you. You scared the shit out of all of us.” She said seriously. She was sure he knew that it had been very serious, but was just trying to brush it off as nothing. ”Well we have an appointment with the healer next week so you can dispute that with him.” She said with a shake of her head. Part of her knew she was being a bit silly about this all; it was just hard to let it all go.

This was a potentially bad idea. She knew this was something he had really wanted ever since he had come home from the hospital. She had been holding back quite a bit. The first time they slept together after he got home she had been terrified of hurting him. It didn’t help that the moment he had taken off his shirt all she could see was an angry looking red mark across his chest with little dots on either side reminding her of the terrible silver staples that had once been there. She moved into his lap as his hands on her hips pulled her closer trying to keep herself focused on the whole point of this. She was quickly losing this battle as her need for him was starting to outweigh her actual mission of sorts. Finally an idea popped into her head, knowing that if she maybe could see the scar it would cool her down a bit and allow her to properly hand him his arse once his guard was completely down. Take it off.” She demanded as she pulled away from his lips tugging at his shirt making sure her movements and expression still remained aggressive as they had been in the past.