It had been a few months since the end of the detail on the Belikovsky family and Persephone was just starting to readjust again. It was strange having an office and paperwork again after spending a little over a year working undercover on that protection detail. She was back in her apartment again which felt oddly empty though she couldn’t seem to pinpoint just why. She figured it probably had to do with being around so many people all the time then to go back to being alone. Granted she always kept herself busy and now Vadik had her doing little trainings on some techniques she was taught over in the UK to the other aurors in the department. It was more fun than she would have thought it to be. Maybe she just liked being able to take the guys in the department out for all their sly comments while around the office. It was all in good fun though and she very rarely took offense to it. She still couldn’t help but feel like something wasn’t quite right, which was driving her mad seeing as she was typically good at figuring things out in general. Ever since the end of that detail everything seemed a touch off. The more she tried to ignore it the more it seemed to fade thankfully though is still lingered.

Persephone walked out of the training room down in the basement of the building wiping her face with a towel after a particularly grueling training session. While she did have an advantage of being faster due to her smaller stature than the blokes she worked with it did her no good when they finally got a hold on her. The one thing she did appreciate was that they never went easy on her. That was apparent by the bruising she was sure would surface in the morning. It was still fun for her in a strange way as she was able to see some improvement over time. Spiridon walked out beside her wrapping a towel around his neck before carelessly rubbing it over his damp hair. ”Это происходит , чтобы оставить след ...” He teased poking at her shoulder where she had landed pretty hard on their last go around. She made a face at him pulling her arm away. ”Я дам тебе в конце концов ...” She mumbled before smirking at the large man. ”Smacking me upside the head when I’m not looking doesn’t count. He said with a laugh leaning over to pinch her cheek. ”Sure it does.” She said moving her face away from his hand with a light laugh.

They continued their easy conversation as they made it up to the main floor laughing periodically along the way.”Is this going to take you long?” He asked as they walked towards her office. She had wanted to check on some paperwork before heading out and Spiridon had been pestering her all week to go out for a drink telling her she worked far too much. Persephone had no problem admitting she was a workaholic, but she took her job seriously and wouldn’t give anything less than 100%. She rolled her eyes at her colleague. Just as they were getting close to her office another door opened a few feet in front of them and a familiar face she hadn’t expected to really see ever again emerged causing her to pause briefly as Spiridon called out his name going over to greet @nikolai. She quickly pulled herself together bringing herself back in step with Spiridon though she hoped he hadn’t noticed her brief hesitation that was very much unlike her.

It had been a calm couple of months since the Belikovsky detail had concluded, with most cases being mild and short in comparison. Well, one had not been all that mild, but the violent nature of it had made it easy for Nikolai to track down the perpetrator, and the other two cases that he had had since had ended within a couple of weeks. Being off of that detail was a bit odd, not that he fully understood why that was. He blamed it on the fact that the case had taken up so much of his time, but he had always found it rather easy to move on from a case… at least, as long as it had ended well, which it obviously had. Nikolai supposed that he could blame it on the mixture of being off such a grueling case and working alone again, even if he always did prefer working by himself. But after a few months of that, he had been more than willing to head into the Auror Office to meet with Vadik; they both liked to keep each other apprised on what was going on in their different arenas, and they just liked catching up since they known each other for so long. Hell, he had known almost all of the aurors in the office for years, and he always enjoyed checking in with everyone—only if he had time, obviously, but today he had certainly enough time to spare.

After talking to his old friend a lot longer than he had meant to, Nikolai finally realized that it was time to head off and make sure that he didn’t have anything else that he needed to do today. “You know we will always take you back, Petrov, if your case load is so light that you have time for such visits,” Vadik stated, jokingly, after Nikolai had made it nearly halfway out of the door. “I’ll take you up on that when I can have your job,” he called back, good-naturedly, before stepping out of the office and closing the door behind him hearing Vadik chuckle at the response.

It was only moments later that he heard his name being called again, already recognizing the voice of his old partner back in his days of working in the office. Nikolai turned to face where the voice had come from, grinning at his former partner and noticing DiTraverso with him as well. He saw that she paused ever so slightly, probably wondering if she wanted to say hello or go in the other damn direction. Nikolai had forgotten that she would still be in the office, or he probably would have contemplated how he was supposed to act around her now. Everyone still thought that they were on good terms, since they were always polite to each other in public. Things did improve for them on the detail once they had sorted out a way to solve their… disagreements, so he figured there was no reason not to keep up that politeness—though if anyone was going to see through it, it would be Spiridon. “Spiridon. Как поживаешь? DiTraverso,” he added, turning his gaze on her. “Рад Вас видеть. You look like you just got your ass beat.” They had clearly come from the training room, and since he had personally seen Spiridon fight many damn times, Nikolai knew that the man didn’t hold back… though obviously there weren’t many women in the aurors’ office before DiTraverso came around. Apparently, Spiridon didn’t hold back for her either, which was good because she probably would have never stopped pestering him until he gave it his all. “I’m well. Heard you took down Zolnerowich last month—that’s probably just about as much action as you ever get.” Spiridon replied, raising an eyebrow. “She gave it her best shot,” he added, casting an amused look at the brit, before taking the opportunity to move in case she tried to smack him.

Well this was certainly awkward to put it mildly. It was silly to think she would never see the man again when she knew he was good friends with her current boss. Not only was he close to her boss on a personal level but her new partner just happened to be his old one. This could cause potential problems as Spiridon had gotten to know her fairly well, though probably not nearly as well as Petrov. Her new partner was bound to notice there was something odd between the pair. The man was far too good at his bloody job. She and Petrov had perfected their public act during their detail together. They had all but lived with each other for a year making appearances as a couple for events with the family. If they could kiss each other in public and make it look natural when they couldn’t stand each other behind closed doors they could certainly play the part of friendly colleagues in front of Spiridon.

She clasped her hands behind her back out of habit as that was normally her posture when being purely professional. She quickly corrected her body language to make it look like she was just stretching her arms behind her, wincing slightly at the pain in her shoulder. It would look strange for her to be so cordial with someone she had worked so close with. She and Spiridon had only been partners for a couple of months and she already joked with him quite frequently. Merlin this was going to be more difficult than she had anticipated. It’s good to see you too. Вы пропустите меня еще?” She asked with a light laugh. ”Thanks for the compliment, Petrov. You certainly know how to make a girl feel pretty.” She replied sarcastically though a smile stayed fixed on her face. She knew she looked rough after training with Spiridon. The man was relentless and she was sure her shoulder was already showing signs of bruising.

Persephone glanced over Petrov when Spiridon mentioned the man taking down Zolnerowich. She wasn’t surprised really but definitely impressed though she wasn’t about to tell him or anyone else that. It wasn’t the time to get too friendly as she caught herself looking over him briefly. This was absolutely ridiculous and she should just go to her office while the pair talked. ”You got me this time… but the day isn’t over just yet.” She said looking over at her partner with a genuine laugh knowing that at some point that night she would possibly try to pull some little stunt to get him back for their training session that day.

When he and Persephone had figured out their less-than-professional way of sorting out their differences, Nikolai supposed he should have concerned at that moment how it would affect future interactions when the detail had concluded. For some reason, he perhaps really had been thinking that she would have returned to London afterwards, or at least pretty soon after. The Russian aurors’ office was… different than a lot of offices, or so he would assume. Training was a hell of a lot more strenuous, which was why many people got sent there to learn more from them. But no one stayed all that long, which he could understand to an extent. Everyone just couldn’t handle their office for a long period of time. Nikolai supposed that he should have actually realized that Persephone would not be one of those, and would be one of the more rare ones that stayed longer; it was uncommon enough for a female to be sent to their office, and she had certainly outstayed all of them, most of whom didn’t stay more than a week before calling it quits. They new how to push people to their limits, apparently, something that he knew personally from his own time training these people.

Nikolai noticed Persephone had briefly clasped her hands behind her back, something that she did in order for her posture to look more professional, before briefly changing it up and stretching. Perhaps she was thinking what he had been thinking, which was that if anyone was able to see through the polite front that the pair put up, it would be Spiridon. He was also someone who wouldn’t hold back calling them out on that. But Nikolai could probably pull off being a little more than polite, though there was still the possibility that his former partner would see through that. “О, конечно, я делаю,” he answered, grinning. He could admit that she was not nearly as difficult to be around when they had been sleeping with each other to sort out their issues, but that certainly didn’t mean that he missed her, obviously. Something might have been off the last couple of months, and it was rare for him to not be able to move on from a case that had ended successfully, but obviously that had nothing to do with her. Even if she was the one differing factor that could explain it. Nikolai pushed away the thought, irritated by it, before chuckling at her next comment. “I do what I can,” Nikolai replied. Watching a fight between DiTraverso and Spiridon would certainly be interesting, and perhaps it was past time for him to start coming around a bit more often if only for the amusement the training room always brought. And for another chance to take Spiridon down, as he did miss sessions with his former partner, since it was always up in the air who would win.

He shrugged at Spiridon’s comment about Zolnerowich. Normally, his work absolutely did not deal with drug cartels, as the cases that were brought to him had more to do with security details, missing persons, murders that Vadik passed off to him, and the like. But when what had looked like a simple mugging had turned into a hit by the leader of the drug cartel, Zolnerowich, that case had pretty much imploded. But it had ended successfully, and apparently people were still talking about it over here, which proved how long it had been since he’d been around. Though he supposed it only had been a month since it had happened. Although he was always proud of a case done well, he wasn’t normally one to brag about them or talk about them all that much unless prompted. Spiridon obviously knew that, but liked to bring shit up that he felt Nikolai deserved some recognition for, or something ridiculous like that. “Just went where the case led. Got lucky,” he concluded. Spiridon raised an eyebrow at Nikolai, but turned his gaze to DiTraverso as opposed to replying. “You going to take advantage of me while I’m drunk, DiTraverso?” He asked with a laugh.

This was an absolute nightmare in a sense. She wasn’t sure why she thought it would be possible to never see him again. She thought the same thing back when they had a one night stand, only to meet him again a few months later as her superior. It seemed like no matter what they did they would always end up crossing paths in one way or another. It felt like Petrov had been just as surprised to see her as she had with him. Then again she was the only female auror she knew of in the department and it seemed rare that they ever really had any. Maybe he thought she would be gone already. All she knew was that it was proving to be difficult to act ‘normal’ around him, and that was odd all on its own seeing as she normally did well keeping up a front.

She was beginning to chalk up the difficulty she was having with Spiridon being present. She feared he would already have awkward questions for her later that night, though it looked like only Petrov had noticed her slight movements that indicated the opposite of what was normal for her with a colleague. An involuntary smile came across her face as he grinned after saying he had missed her. She briefly wondered if his smile had always looked like that, as it took a few moments for her to recover and calm her own. It must have just been… tired… she had to just be tired. Or maybe she hit her head during training. ”Of course you do. Who else is going to deal with your stubbornness and complete inability to compromise?” …outside of the bedroom… She tacked on mentally before shaking the thought from her head and laughing in good nature. They had seemed to get along much better after they started sleeping together, and even now she didn’t feel any animosity towards him really if at all. It was only because they hadn’t seen each other in so long… that explained it. ”That you do…” She laughed in response to his next comment.

Persephone arched an eyebrow at Petrov as he shrugged off his latest case. ”There were several times you could have done well to use modesty when we were on our detail… but this is actually… impressive…” She said shrugging gently as if to play it off that it wasn’t a big deal for her to compliment his work and encourage him to be more boisterous about it. She turned her attention back to Spiridon crossing her arms and shaking her head with a laugh. ”Don’t I always? Why else would I keep you around as my partner if I couldn’t have a little fun with you?” She teased nudging him with an exaggerated wink, though she suddenly felt awkward at her implication with Petrov right there seeing as they had quite a bit of ‘fun’ while working together. Hopefully Spiridon hadn’t honed in on anything yet.

For some reason, he was pretty sure that they had simply both been under the impression that they wouldn’t see each other again after the detail had closed. It was probably what had made the decision to start sleeping together easier, as they didn’t think of any encounters like these ever occurring. But with the luck they had clearly been lacking when they had a one-night stand only to be thrown together on a detail only a few months later, Nikolai really should have realized that he would be seeing her around. He just had really thought that she would be back in England by now. She had family, after all, or so he would assume; it wasn’t as if he knew all that much about her personal life, but it seemed a safe assumption that she had people there. Perhaps she didn’t though, he mused, because it was hard to be nearly on par with him when it came to being a damn workaholic and that was because he didn’t have the luxury of having a family to actually go home to. If he did, he would most certainly regulate his work schedule a bit more, and probably hire another actual employee. Alas, he didn’t, which meant that this tendency toward working far too much was all right—because he enjoyed what he did, and what else would he do? He got bored with his spare time enough as it was.

But DiTraverso was still here, for whatever reason. He shouldn’t even be wondering about why that was, because it really didn’t need to matter to him. For the current time he just had to focus on keeping this conversation as unassuming as possible, to keep Spiridon from catching on. Nikolai supposed it didn’t really matter to him if his former partner knew that he and DiTraverso slept together on a regular basis to sort out their problems, but that was the sort of thing that probably negatively impacted a female’s career more than his own—not exactly far, but pretty damn true particularly in Moscow. So it was important to act normal since he was sure that wasn’t something that she wanted getting out, after all. “Haven’t found anyone yet,” he replied, chuckling under his breath. She was one to talk about stubbornness, really, since she certainly was more stubborn than he was. “See you found someone to deal with you though,” Nikolai added, jokingly, casting an amused look at Spiridon. Even if Vadik hadn’t just told him that he’d paired the two together as partners, he would probably be able to guess it. He’d been around long enough to understand how Vadik partnered people together. His gaze moved back to DiTraverso at her next words, smirking widely. Too many comments had come to his mind that weren’t exactly appropriate to say when he was trying to help her keep this from Spiridon, which was clearly the best move for both of them. So he determined to not respond at all, and that worked well as the topic seemed to change to a safer one anyhow.

Zolnerowich had been someone that Muggles and the aurors’ office had been trying to take down for years. He was a wizard that was using that power to further his position in the drug cartels and making the cartel far too powerful at the same damn time. Taking out the leader would be helpful, but it wasn’t as if he had taken down the entire damn cartel. That would be something that he would brag about… well, no probably not, but it was at least more likely than him talking this up. “I’m always modest,” he replied, grinning again. He was finding this conversation to be a bit awkward, obviously, but he wasn’t even aggravating at DiTraverso yet, which was rare. It wasn’t rare when they had been sleeping together, as that had made their working relationship easier all around; but since they hadn’t seen each other in months, let alone work through any disagreements, Nikolai was surprised that she hadn’t yet done or said anything to grate on his nerves. It must have been because of how long it had been, he mused, as that was the only explanation that came to mind.

So far things looked like they would go smoothly during this encounter. She found it really wasn’t taking much of anything to remain polite, or even toss some humor out at him meant in good nature. While that was all well and good it concerned her slightly. The moment she laid eyes on him she had been sure this would be absolute hell to play off, but it was proving to be easy enough, though still very awkward. It shouldn’t have been so easy for her to be this way with him naturally. Up until they came to their agreement they were constantly at each other’s throats, so it made perfect sense that them shagging had helped mellow them both out around each other. But it had been months since the last time they had been together like that, which just didn’t make sense as to how they were getting along now. She chose to let the thoughts go for the time being as they were only hindering attempt at normalcy, not to mention Petrov probably noticed that she was thinking a bit more than what was typical for her during easy conversation. She wouldn’t be surprised if he could tell she was picking apart the situation as it went as he had watched her enough when she was trying to pick apart various situations during their detail. It was irritating to know that he could probably read her like a bloody book, though oddly comforting in a strange way.

She was sure Spiridon wouldn’t judge her based on a sexual relationship she had with one of their colleagues, but it was something she preferred she and Petrov kept to themselves. While her partner was sure to keep that information safe she wasn’t willing to chance the wrong people finding out. ”I’m sure there is someone out there for you, Petrov.” She laughed lightly. She knew she was just as stubborn as he was as did everyone in the department knew, so she always found it strange that anyone would think she and Petrov would make a good team. ”I’m not nearly as bad as you. Я красивее , чем вы, слишком. That makes me far more tolerable.” She teased realizing that everything she was saying at this point was coming easily without her having to force herself to be nice.

Spiridon looked between the two as he saw the smirk on his old partner’s face at her off-color comment. He chuckled lightly shaking his head. ”Taking advantage of poor unsuspecting men… Я красивее , чем вы, слишком…”[/b] He arched an eyebrow at Petrov though his voice was amused. He wasn’t sure if something happened, but he couldn’t miss the look on Petrov’s face as something inappropriate came to his mind. It wasn’t like he and DiTraverso didn’t make inappropriate jokes… it was more to see their reaction to such a comment.

Prior to them figuring out how to deal with their personalities seeming to clash at every damn moment, Nikolai had been pretty sure that he’d have to unfortunately tell Vadik that it wasn’t working out and have her dropped from the detail. That was something that had actually never happened before, and Vadik had been sending aurors his way for cases since he had started his company. Never had a circumstance arisen that he would go so far as to send them back to the aurors’ office. Hell, for the most part, Vadik had only ever sent him people that he’d ended up getting along with incredibly well. After all, his former boss certainly knew the type of auror he worked well with and the kind that he didn’t. It was because of that he found the fact that he’d chosen DiTraverso to be strange, as the man should have realized that was going to go absolutely awfully. But then he had heard from just about everyone in the department in one way or another that they all thought the pair would work well together. Granted, they all thought that they did and that their guesses had been successful, but that had been because the pair had always managed to remain sufficiently professional when around others. Clearly, there was something that they were all missing, but it was odd for an entire room of aurors to be so off base on something… very odd, really. Of course, he could admit that they began to work well together after they had sorted out their differences, but somehow he doubted that was what anyone had in mind—that he knew of, at least. It was the problem with having friends in law enforcement, as they were all pretty damn observant. By even taking a brief look at DiTraverso, he could tell that she was thinking something over, and with the current situation they found themselves in, Nikolai could make an educated guess that it had nothing to do with any case she might be on. She must be confused as well, he mused, on how they were possibly talking so easily right now.

Regardless of that, it was better to keep the information under wraps. Although sleeping together really had been helpful in simplifying their work relationship, apparently, it wasn’t exactly something that anyone would deem normal, or professional in the slightest. Nikolai was close friends with a great majority of the aurors, so he knew that they wouldn’t judge the situation, but it would certainly give them the slightest bit of pause at the very least. “Suppose I’ll have to wait and see,” he replied, chuckling. Nikolai could work well by himself and with others, but he would have to say that sometimes he did actually prefer taking cases on his own and not having to worry about anything else. He didn’t mind working with anyone that Vadik sent his way, for the most part, since it had all ended up well before now—and he supposed the detail with DiTraverso did technically end successfully also. “Ну , я не буду отрицать, что один,” Nikolai stated, easily. It was a bit odd that this conversation was coming so effortlessly for them, as they hadn’t even had the benefit of … working out their differences in months, so it should have gone back to being impossible, logically. Their conversations had actually never came this easily before, oddly, but he figured that could be blamed on the fact that it had been so long since they’d even seen each other last. He wasn’t sure how accurate that was, since he was pretty sure they were arguing within the first ten minutes of her being assigned to his case, and that was only when they had just been reintroduced. But he decided that wasn’t really worth thinking about at the current time.

Nikolai should have realized sooner that Spiridon would catch on, as he had been his partner for far too long to not know what he was thinking. Now that he was DiTraverso’s partner, he had the added benefit of knowing her as well which would come in handy for him quickly figuring out what was going on. But he knew that the man was only suspicious at this point, and it was still probably for the best to just keep their ways of problem-solving a secret from the rest of the office. “Она не могла воспользоваться мной, если она пыталась,” he said, jokingly, casting a look at his partner. Nikolai supposed they really should have thought of how to deal with their methods of sorting out their differences after the detail had ended, but he could tell she had also apparently not thought about ever seeing him again afterward.

---

Ну , я не буду отрицать, что один: Well, I won't deny that one
Она не могла воспользоваться мной, если она пыталась: She couldn't take advantage of me if she tried

Persephone was sure at this point Spiridon was picking up on her awkwardness. She had been tossing jokes around but she was pausing a good bit, even if it was for a fraction of a second. That just wasn’t like her as she was very clear and concise a majority of the time, even while poking fun at colleagues. It was difficult as her mind seemed to be going back to the night that had started everything in motion. It was amusing now but it hadn’t been the morning after. She still wasn’t sure exactly what had transpired the night before but she sure as hell remembered the morning after. Gods that had to have been the worst hangover she had in her life. To top it off she was in a strange apartment, in a strange bed, in the nude, with a very large, very naked Russian man beside her. She remembered the mad dash she made around his apartment cursing under her breath in Italian trying to find all of her clothes as they had been scattered around it, hoping to get dressed and out the door before he woke. After spending a bit over a year living in the same house she was willing to bet he had been awake that morning but was feigning sleep. It was because of that one night that caused all of their problems when they first started their detail together. If she were to be honest she felt she did fight with him more than necessary because she felt as if she had to prove the witch he had slept with months before was not some idiotic slag that’s only redeeming quality was her ability to shag well. She may not have fully remembered that evening but she was sure they had one hell of a shag if it was any indication by the marks she had seen on his back and the few random bruises on her body
.
If her slight pauses didn’t cause Spiridon suspicion the smile that hadn’t left her the moment she had started poking fun at Petrov would. She was a very friendly person and it wasn’t unlike her to smile, but this was slightly odd as every time Petrov spoke is seemed to widen slightly. She really should excuse herself to go to her office before things really became apparent. ”Why Petrov, was that a compliment I just heard?” She replied unable to keep herself from laughing with him. She had expected him to say something snarky, though not maliciously, about her appearance instead of just agreeing with her. Did he actually find her attractive? Why was she even thinking about this? Yes, she definitely needed to get to her office.

From the look Spiridon was giving it would probably reaffirm any suspicion if she excused herself without any really warning, especially when he knew what she had to do was menial and she never skipped out on amusing conversation. ” Я собираюсь позвонить чушь на что” Spiridon chuckled in response to Petrov. ” Эй , я не то, что отчаянно!” Persephone shot back at Petrov shoving his arm in a playful manner.

---

"Я собираюсь позвонить чушь на что" 
I'm going to call bullshit on that

"Эй , я не то, что отчаянно!"
Hey, I'm not that desperate!

One-night stands weren’t situations that he found himself in often, which was why he had found it incredibly ridiculous that the one time it happens, he ended up having to work with the woman. He supposed it could have been worse, as at least they hadn’t had an awkward next morning; that might have made them meeting again even more uncomfortable, and it had definitely been better leaving their meeting at an only drunk encounter. Obviously, he had been awake when she had woken up the next morning. Nikolai had been a light sleeper since everything had happened with his family, as well as after all of his work with the gang. In fact, he was surprised that she hadn’t realize he was awake because he was pretty sure the amused smirk on his lips had been a huge indicator of that as she muttered under her breath in Italian. Though, he supposed she was probably doing her best to not look at him and just get out of there as quickly as possible. He’d also opened his eyes at a pretty convenient time while she was getting dressed; he was appreciative of that reminder, but if it had been one part of the night that he did remember, it was her body. That was probably why working with her had been that damn difficult, but they had figured out a way to make it work, and now they just had to figure out how to be around each other after the fact. It was really just so surprising to him that she was still here, which was rather ridiculous now that he was thinking about it, as she seemed to fit in well with the department.

This conversation was coming incredibly easy to them, or to him at least. Nikolai was also sure that he had never seen her smile before if she wasn’t forcing it for the sake of them being out in public, and even then it was normally not one that looked anything like this. Or maybe he was just noticing it more today, though there was no reason for that either. “Thought I’d throw one your way,” he replied, shrugging. “Не привыкнуть к нему,” Nikolai added, grinning. Really, he had no idea why he had even said that, since normally he would have said something sarcastic just to see if he could get a rise out of her. He supposed he could blame that on Spiridon being around and trying to act more normal, which didn’t include trying to irritate her when that normally had ended up a very appealing way. But wouldn’t anymore, clearly.

Spiridon was still suspicious, obviously; he was too good of an auror not to be, and he knew them both. He would have no problem calling them out if he figured it out, but Nikolai was sure that if they kept up this light joking then he would stop being suspicious. “Нет фигня,” Nikolai added, before casting an amused look at DiTraverso. “She tried to make a move on me once, and I turned her down. Она по-прежнему горько,” he added, keeping a straight face for maybe a moment before laughing and not attempting to dodge her as she shoved his arm. “See? Я говорил тебе.”

---

Не привыкнуть к нему: Don't get used to it
Нет фигня: No bullshit
Она по-прежнему горько: She's still bitter
Я говорил тебе: I told you