satisfied.

( CASSIA. )

Two and a half months. That’s exactly how long it’s been since Cassia moved back to town, how long she’s been living with him, and exactly how long he’s been going mad for. It’s not like he dislikes having her there. She’s easy to live with really. She’s only taken up all his hot water once and aside from the fact that on occasion she leaves his kitchen in a state he doesn’t even want to think about, she’s an easy guest. At least that’s what he should think of her as, but he doesn’t. They shared this home together once, and it didn’t take long before it started to feel more like theirs than it did his. It was…nice. He’d never liked living alone and after Bryson moved out, he was left alone once again, so having her here was a comfort and he found himself happier than he had been in years. Waking up and having coffee ready for her in the mornings, being able to see the marks on the kitchen door frame where they marked Nik’s growth…his house felt like home again.

What he hadn’t been counting on was experiencing feelings for Cassia that he shouldn’t be having after all these years.

He’d never said it when they were married, but he had loved her then, even if he didn’t realize it.. He’d just loved Elizabeth more, had been blinded by what he felt for her and convinced that Cassia still saw their marriage as just one of convenience. They had their chance and he had blown it. So why, why in the hell was it now, twenty fucking years later, that he’s realized that he’s in love with his ex-wife? It had crept up on him, the realization. It had started with little things. The way she moved around his kitchen and bent over, whenever she would flick her hair, the times when she would walk near him and he was overwhelmed with her perfume. He knew he desired her still, and that want was easy to repress because he knew to make a move on her like that without feelings involved would ruin things between them. Instead of acting on it, he slept with other women and kept things platonic. Then he realized that seeing her was the best part of his day. He came to realize that seeing her smile made him do the same, that hearing her laugh could warm his heart. That he missed her if they didn’t get to see each other much that week. It was only when his best friend John brought the word ‘love’ into the equation that the pieces all clicked together and he felt like an idiot for not realizing sooner.

He’d wasted so much time denying what he felt, and now? He had no idea what to do. He’d been able to deny the part of himself that desired her sexually, but to deny that he loved her now that he knew it? He’d been trying to for weeks and he still can’t bury it deep enough to make it go away. It’s been plaguing his thoughts, even now as he made his way home from work. He’d purposefully stayed back late as he had been doing for the past week in the hope that he wouldn’t have to see her before bed, beautiful and relaxed as she always was in the evening. He hasn’t loved anyone, really loved anyone since Elizabeth, and he’s scared. Scared that he’ll get hurt again if he takes a chance, scared that it will only mess everything up between them and he’ll really lose her. When they got divorced he’d known she would be in his life still because of Nik. But Nik’s all grown up now, and she has no reason to stay.

Parking his car, he made his way into the house expecting her to be asleep, but was instead met with the sight of her on his couch. Drinking his whiskey. “Hey, I thought you would already be in bed.” He placed his wallet and phone on the table near his door way before making his way into the living room. “I was just gonna pour myself a drink and head off, myself.”

#p: dimitri #t: two #c: dimitri

Cassia’s life can easily be divided up into two sections --- pre-Dimitri and post-Dimitri. Pre-Dimitri she lived a quiet and lonely life. It was punctuated by moments of brief, shining happiness when her father returned home with gifts and words of love, when her mother stopped drinking long enough to make her lunch to take to school. But the bigger parts of her life, pre-Dimitri were filled with angst and heartbreak; when siblings would show up on her doorstep, younger and older, when her parents would fight until the wee hours of the morning, keeping her up and she’d spend the next day’s History class trying not to fall asleep.

Post-Dimitri, her life was so utterly different. Full of bright and shining moments of love and happiness and pure joy --- and yes, it was true that their marriage had started off as something off a convenience: she wanted out, he wanted a way to protect his reputation, but it wasn’t always that for her. Somewhere down the line, she allowed herself to be immersed in everything their marriage was; from the takeout nights and bad movie sessions, to when he’d hold her hand during walks after date nights, to the night discovered she was pregnant and spent a good four hours freaking out --- right down to that final kiss the day they signed the divorce papers.

And even when she was on her own again --- he was never really gone. She had a little peace of him in their son, in Nik’s eyes and his nose and his laugh. He was still in her life, too, visiting for birthdays and weekends and holidays and never giving anyway any kind of inkling as to what his life was like, now that he’d left her for Elizabeth. He was gone, but not really.

As such; pre and post-Dimitri, Cassia is near two different people.

So why the hell does she feel like pre-Dimitri Cassia, when she’s clearly living that post-Dimitri life?

It all comes to a head two and a half months later and Cassia calls mutiny. She’s not doing this again. She’s not going down that road again. She likes living in Oak Pines, likes being here and close to her son and far enough away from her work that she doesn’t contemplate biting every single one of her co-workers. She likes that Dimitri is back in her life again, and maybe it’s not the way she wants him to be; but having him, just a small part of him, is better than not having him at all. She likes this life she has now --- Dimitri doesn’t get to screw with that.

She’s waiting on the couch, glass half empty of whiskey when she hears his car pull up --- the front door open and his footsteps reach her ears. And the thing is... she plans to say something to him, confront him on why he’s been steadily pulling away from her for the last two months or so when things have finally gotten good between them again... but one glance at his face, and some of her resolve chips away.

( She knows him, is the thing --- knows him better than most will, knows him better than himself even. She knows what his childhood did to him, and now knows what Elizabeth did to him. Maybe confronting him on this is a bad idea. Maybe it’s just a funk, and not anything to do with her at all. Maybe maybe maybe. )

“Lawyers.” The blonde shrugged, shifting on the couch to full face Dimitri. “Night owls, on a good day.” Her lips pursed slightly and Cassia swirled the amber liquid around in the crystal glass, before holding it out to her ex-husband. “You want mine? Think I’ve had enough anyway.”

dearmasana-deactivated20160902

#( i'm begging you to keep haunting me. | ft. dimitri )#coughs

mitridragomir:

He snorts at her use of his old nickname. “You haven’t called me that in years, blondie.” He can remember their married years so clearly. So many late night sessions of eating packets and packets of ramen noodles while watching the worst vampire movies in the world. They could talk and laugh, have sex when they got bored, drank wine and simply handed the bottle back and forth. Even after Nik came along, in the first few months they had him and they barely slept, they would sit up together while trying to coax their son into sleep and do the same thing they’d done the year prior to his birth. “I’m a big boy though, Cass. I can make up my own bottles and everything.” He lifted the bottle of scotch to prove his point, refilling his coffee mug as he did so. “Though I really would kill to see you bitch slap her.”

Dimitri frowned at the thought of Nik’s reaction and he exhales loudly. “About the same as you used to when you found out you had siblings you didn’t know about. It was better after he understood though that I hadn’t known about Summer and that I wasn’t the one that abandoned that family. He was kinda in shock, don’t think he really knew how to react to that. I don’t think he really knows how to react to the whole thing. He inherited my inability to figure out feelings, obviously. I think he’s a bit excited to have a sibling though.” And Dimitri can quite easily hope that his two children will form a good relationship. He knows that things between himself and Nik are often strained, but he wants something that resembles a real family unit, even though it isn’t conventional. “I don’t act like a stereotypical Russian stoic, what are you talking about?” He muttered, rolling his eyes at her and shaking his head. He has to think on his answer though because it’s a loaded one. How is he taking it? With how much of a mess his head currently is, he’s not really sure how he feels or how he’s really processing the fact. “I wish I could change so many mistakes from twenty years ago, but I can’t. That pretty much sums up how I’m dealing with this whole thing.” He takes another sip from his mug, because even though he’s comfortable with doing so in front of her, showing his deeper feelings has never been something he’s been good at. “I’m gonna be fine. I have a daughter now and that’s not something I can be sad about. I don’t wanna be sad about it, I just want get to know her and she’s allowing me to do so.”

Setting his mug aside, he straightens up and smiles wide at her. “Come on, let me show you your room.” He doesn’t want to get deeper into the soap opera that’s playing out in his life, and he’d rather get caught up on how she is anyway. Reaching out, he takes her hand and starts pulling her back towards his stair case, only letting go so that he can take her luggage in each hand. “How’s your job? Is everyone there still being an asshole that I need to bite?” He questions conversationally, steering away from the deeper level of communication they’d been on when they had been in his kitchen. It wasn’t even 5pm yet and he’d already had enough scotch to make him tipsy. If they keep heading down that road, he’ll be a drunken mess before dinner and he has plans to cook for her.

Arriving at his spare room, he pushes the door open and walks inside, putting her bags down by her bed. “Voila! Your bedroom for however long you need it, and your own bathroom. I know that means you’ll sadly not run into me in a towel in the mornings, but we must all make sacrifices in life.” He mock pouted at her before his face split into a grin.

There’s a part of her that hates this. That after a son and years together and fights and walk outs and memories made, this is what they are and where they are. Her --- closed off and sarcastic, surviving on hours of sleep and working herself to the bone to distract from the lonely life she leads. Him --- wound up and bitter and cynical and even a possibly functioning alcoholic, with lost children coming in from the cold. God. She looks at him and wonders --- what did they do with their lives and where did it get them?

Cassia nodded slowly, eyeing her ex-husband as she processed the information. She’s always been able to read between the lines and read people, but she’s always been better at with it Dimitri than others. It’s for that alone she knows what he’s feeling --- guilt. Guilt that he wasn’t there for his daughter, that he wasn’t able to be the father she wanted and not to mention, deserved. Guilt that he probably believed he should have tried harder and done more and been more for Summer’s mother so that she stayed and that he got to know Summer from the very beginning. ( She stuffs the part of her however, that believes maybe, he’s talking about her and the ending of their marriage. While they may have started off as a marriage of convenience and a way to get their families off their backs --- it was real in the end. It was real for her. With Dimitri’s words about regret and the last twenty years... maybe... but she can’t. She can’t. She doesn’t have time for maybes and regrets and what ifs. She barely was time for reality as is. )

Shaking herself from her thoughts, Cassia shrugged. "Well. She’d be a fool if she didn’t allow you that.” It’s all she manages to get out before Dimitri is reaching his hand out and taking hers, whirring his way through the kitchen towards the upstairs part of the house. “You do realise I lived here, right? I know where the spare room is.” The blonde snorted, watching with amusement as he picked her bags up and hauling them up the stairs --- even though the weight was nothing given their less than human status.

“Oh, please. We’re lawyers, of course people are assholes. It’s practically a job requirement.” She chortled, following behind him a second later. “So, you know, if I can avoid biting people, I think you can too, mister.” The door to the spare room opened moments later and all of a sudden, she has an irrational urge to cry. The last time she was in this house for any extended period of time, she always slept in his room --- because it was their room, and it was their house. But it’s not anymore, is it?

It’s not their room or their house --- it’s his room and his house and the memories and moments have been wiped clean. ( Fleetingly, Cassia wonders if the pencil marks outlining Nik’s growth spurts are still on the kitchen cupboard door. Or if there’s still that scrape in the bedpost from her engagement ring that time they relished in the first night without their son. Or if there’s still that scorch mark in the kitchen from the time she tried to cook for his birthday, something that did not work, upon later realisation. She wonders if those memories and tears and fights and declarations of love have been wiped from this home or if she looks hard enough, she might find them lurking. )

Cassia leant against the doorjamb, offering a cursory glance around the room. “No you in a towel? Oh how will I go on?” The blonde drawled, pasting on a sarcastic smile to hide the sadness lurking behind her eyes. A sigh blew past her lips. “Dinner plans? I think you can persuade me to order Thai food given how much whiskey I poured in that coffee.”

#( i'm begging you to keep haunting me. | ft. dimitri )

wnq-writers

Although we’ll never admit it, we can’t seem to let each other go.

pen-to-paper-bm (via the-queenbitch)

“You were so pure before you married me, what have I done? I must be going to hell for all the women I’ve corrupted. Can’t say I’m sorry, though.” He raised both brows, sipping at his scotch. It;s sad to think that an alcoholic beverage is one of the only constants in his life right now. His last fling, while it wasn’t too serious, ended only a week ago. His son..well, his relationship with Nik has never been perfect, and to this day that hasn’t changed much as he wishes it would. Juni won’t even talk to him since she found out that he had known about the rest of her family that was in town. He found out that he has a daughter that he doesn’t even know, but already loves unconditionally. The only thing he’s really sure of is the fact that his club is as successful as ever and there’s always going to be another bottle of scotch when he needs it. Everyone in the town for the past five years has always poked fun at him being a sad old man, but this is the first time he’s actually felt it.

It’s funny. Some things really are all about timing, and he really can’t think of a better time for Cassia to have walked back into his town and his life. While he’s always been reckless and impulsive, she’s grounded and composed, someone to always give him a dose of reality when he needs it most. Dimitri has never really believed that everything happens for a reason, but he can’t help but feel like them reconnecting in this way was meant to happen.

“She’s not worth it.” He remarks bitterly, jaw clenching at even the thought of her turning Strigoi. “Though if you have a cat fight while I’m not around, video it for me.” He adds flippantly, sipping again at his scotch. “Besides, I’m pretty sure Summer is angry enough at her for all three of us considering Elizabeth told her that I was the one to keep us apart rather than her. The bitch.” He’s full of bitterness and anger, emotions that he’s easily been covering with sarcasm and passive aggressiveness, but sometimes it just shines through. He’d moved past her leaving him so many years ago, but it feels like she’s played him all over again and really, she has.

He leans both elbows on the top of the counter as she talks, eyes never leaving hers and while he’s heard the same advice from his friends, hearing it from her just makes him feel better. Like everything has kind of clicked into place purely because she confirmed what he already knows. “Thanks, blondie.” Though he uses his playful nickname for her, he really does mean it sincerely. “Nik has a funny way of showing love. Which reminds me, him, Summer and I are all having dinner together in a couple of days. I asked him not to tell you about it just yet because I wanted to be the one to do it.” He doesn’t know what it is. They’ve been divorced for over twenty years, and yet the thought of her finding out that he had another child coming from anyone but him? He felt guilty even thinking about it.

Looking over at Dimitri, she suddenly feels so utterly old. She suddenly feels like she’s hundreds of years older than what she is. She wonders if it’s because she feels as if she knows Dimitri but she doesn’t. Looking at him hurts, more so than it used to. Is it because he has a child with someone else and she has to share a peice of him that previously only hers? Is it because being back in this house, she’s forced to confront the peices of her past she’d long left buried? Or is it because she knows that on some level, something between them is bound to change and shift like tectonic plates, forever screwing with the dynamic they’ve somehow come to establish?

Cassia isn’t sure if she can take that, is the thing. She’s barely above float as it is, Dimitri the one constant she has in between the insanity of work and their wayward son --- the one she knows she can call at 3 in the morning and he’ll be just as wide awake as she was.

“I know she isn’t worth it but.” She sighed. “Doesn’t change the fact that she still hurt you, keeping Summer out of your life. And you, Fangs, are family. No one hurts my family.” ( It’s been years since she’s used that nickname but she feels it’s appropriate at this point. He’s family and always will be; a little morsel of their past isn’t going to hurt. ) And, Christ --- she has a kid with him; that pretty much meant he was going to be in her life for till the end of their days. It was of course, how they managed to survive for twenty years, despite how intense and hard it was after the divorce. Nik was too important to fuck up and yet, somehow... they still managed to fuck him up didn’t they?

Cassia nods slowly, processing the information. Well, she mused to herself, at least Nik still had enough respect for his parents that he could keep a family secret. It still hurts somewhat, "That probably explains half his reaction. The kid always did have my stupid habit of bottling his feelings up and letting them age like fine wine before the goddamn cork pops off the bottle.” She muttered bitterly, taking a heavy sip of her Irish coffee, before setting the mug aside and crossing her arms over her chest as she levelled a look at Dimitri. “How did Nik take it?” Lord knew she didn’t react well to finding out about her own half-siblings but --- her father was infinitely more fucked up than Dimitri was. Her father didn’t care for starters, that he was fucking up a family with each sibling that showed up looking for her father. It was half the reason she was so thrilled when Dimitri came along and presented her with the proposal --- she was able to get away from her family and their problems; she had a chance to make her own. ( Of course, that crashed and burned but. For a while she had her own family, and that was more than enough. ) A soft frown blooms on her features and she shifted her head, shaking a blonde peice of hair of her eyes. “How are you taking it, more to the point... and don’t pull that irritating Russian stoicism, either. This is me, --- I’ve seen you eat ramen at 4am while watching Rockula, Fangs. We don’t have secrets.”

His lips press together and he smiles a cheesy as hell smile at her. “You know you’re always welcome here, my home is your home until you find a place. I just hope you know that if you take up all the hot water and take all my blood bags from the fridge, I will have to kill you.” Dimitri teased her with a casual shrug of his shoulder as he took another sip of his coffee. In truth, it could get quite lonely knowing that he would always come home to an empty house. Even when he had girls over and they spent a night in his bed, it was only a temporary fix to the real problem. His jaw clenches at her words and it’s a sobering thought, that their son struggled so much with love because the two of them didn’t make things work. It’s entirely his fault though, and Dimitri will easily accept the blame for tearing their family apart because he was stupid enough to fall in love with someone else. Someone he never even got a future with. “Yes I do. We may not have been able to teach him much about love, but I was pretty sure I at least taught him to respect his mother.”

A snort escapes him when she goes straight for the scotch bottle and he can’t say he blames her. “I don’t know if you were trying to recreate my reaction or not, but that was pretty spot on.” His voice drips with enthusiasm despite the fact that he feels anything about happy about the whole thing. He notes her change in expressed when he had mentioned Elizabeth and he hadn’t realized that all that had happened still affected her like that. He shouldn’t really be surprised, though. They used to have something so good together. That perfect domestic life, a nice little family. They were a close unit, like a well oiled machine that ran smoothly without any prompting. The sex had always been amazing too. A part of him had loved her despite the fact that he hadn’t married her for that reason, and a part of him always will. But at the time, he loved Elizabeth more and it’s something he’s come to regret in the years gone by.

“Yep, that was what I said when I confronted her about it.” That conversation had been extremely ugly. They’d fought, screamed at each other and at one point he even cried, overcome with the fact that not only did he have a daughter, but he’d missed her entire childhood, the most important years of her life. “Honestly, I don;t know. She’s a great girl, but I don’t know her. She’s my daughter and I don’t even know what makes her tick.” He lets out a long sigh, shaking his head in bitter disappointment. Summer knows now that he hadn’t chose to abandon her, hadn’t even known of her existence, but that will never change the fact that he hadn’t been there for her throughout her childhood.

He took a long sip of coffee before taking the scotch bottle and filling the rest of the cup with it. “I’m mad as hell, but hey, at least I have scotch.” He grinned wide and clinked his mug against Cassia’s before taking another swig.

“Yeah, well, four years and a kid together is bound to mean some of your habits are gonna rub off on me.” She snorts half a laugh, taking another glug of the alcoholic coffee. Of course, she’s drinking for an entirely different reason to him... there’s space between them, she muses, even more so now with revelation he had a daughter with Elizabeth. For the longest time, that was something she solely owned; she was the woman to make him a father, she was the one woman who has a peice of him he wouldn’t ever give to someone else but now... now that’s all changed. It’s all changed and it hurts. God, does it hurt. What they’d had, despite the beginnings and their origins --- she’d thought it could last, even more so when Nik came along. But time had proven she was just a stupid little fool, holding onto delusions of a great, all-consuming love. This whole notion --- that he was a father, again, with a another woman, that she no longer had the claim to being the mother of his children? It just proves again she’s never been quite enough for anyone. ( Not even the love of her life. )

But like always, Cassia swallows her pride. Because what else can she do, really? Kick and scream and cry? She has never been that woman and well. She was a fool, yes, to think Dimitri would love her despite all odds, but she’s not an idiot. To Cassia, the two things are different --- she’s a fool to still love him after all this time, but not an idiot to know he needs her, now more than ever.

“I should honestly go and find that woman and eat her.” Cassia commented. If anyone else had been in the room, they would have noted she sounded almost as if she commenting on the weather and not murder; but it wasn’t just anyone else in the room, it was Dimitri; and he’d see what her casual words were truly hiding --- a burning fury to protect those she deemed family. Turning Strigoi is not a reality she plans to entertain or actually carry out, but hurting those who hurt whom she loved? It’s an attractive prospect.

“So get to know her.” She said, eyes levelling a look at him: the kind of look she used to give him in the same kitchen, years and years ago when he was being particularly stupid and everyone knew. “The years you missed because of Elizabeth’s selfish actions will never be able to truly go away...” And she should know, given her own father walking in and out of her life whenever boredom struck, “But you can try your best to make up for it. I know you, Dimitri --- ” She cuts herself off suddenly, and inhales sharply. “I know you because you let me know you. You let Summer in, let her know you? Then she’ll love you just as much as Nik does.” Just as much as I do, goes unsaid, and perhaps, that’s for the best.

He pours some cream into his coffee, two sugars as well. For a vampire, he’s always had an odd weakness for something sweet. Screwing off the top of a scotch bottle, he adds a capfull of that as well. It’s the afternoon, a perfectly acceptable time to be drinking, and far from the earliest he had ever started drinking. It’s so nice, having her in his kitchen, having a coffee with him as if this was something they did on a regular basis. Suddenly, he was having flashbacks to a time twenty odd years ago when this used to be their lives on a daily basis. Moving around each other in the kitchen, doing their own thing while somehow acting together as well. Dimitri takes a moment just to lean against his counter top and smile, raising his mug to his lips to take a sip.

“Hardly interrogation when there were only three questions. I think there has to be at least four to be considered so.” He quipped in return with a quirk of his brow. “This is easy for you? Really? Do you know what it’s like having drivers in this town that are immortal or are hard to kill? No one knows how to chill when they’re driving, everyone speeds. Driving in this town is usually a nightmare.“ He scoffs, shaking his head as he takes another sip of coffee. “If they don’t have any room, you could always stay with me. My spare room is currently available and way cheaper than a hotel.”

He can’t help but roll his eyes at the mention of Nik being dramatic once again. It shouldn’t really be a surprise seeing as he’s Dimitri’s son, but some times he just can’t understand what’s going through his sons mind. “He fought with you? You’d think that by now he would know better. He should have taken my advice and had a cry, then get drunk, cleanse his palette with a one night stand and then work through it. It’s so much easier.” He emphasized, as if it was the most logical thing in the world to do. “Don’t blame me, he got his stubbornness from you.” He teased in return, pointing his finger at her before smiling. “I never went jet setting to a different continent just to get over a break up. Regardless, I’ll have a chat with him about it and see if I can get him to see reason.” Especially seeing as the fact that he had argued with Cassia was something that irked him.

Taking a much larger gulp of his coffee, he set his mug aside and inhaled deeply. “So, I kinda have some news that I didn’t really want to share over the phone.” He starts off tentatively, a little bit nervous to tell her about Summer. “You remember Elizabeth, the woman I was supposed to marry?” He shifts his weight from one foot to the other. “Turns out she was pregnant when she left and that I have a daughter. Her name’s Summer.” His smile was half-hearted and he leaned back against the counter again. “She came and found me a couple of weeks ago, was apparently told that I was the one who abandoned her. So, that’s been a thing.”

She sighs heavily, tipping her gaze to the ceiling. “Staying here might be easier, to be honest. Saves me money at least.” And it’d be hard, of course, staying with him but --- the truth of the matter is staying in another hotel room is utterly unappealing, reminding her of the emptiness of her life, of how impermanent everything currently was with the state of her job and life. ( A fully grown son she was constantly arguing with and an ex-husband with commitment issues whom she still loved. Yeah, this was totally where Cassia pictured herself at this age. ) Her lips pursed. “You don’t --- you don’t have to talk to him. Like you said... he’s just being a stubborn kid. He’s hurt and he has a screwed up perception of love thanks to you know, yours truly.” She gestured between them; a father who had many other relationships, no mind to age and a mother still in love with a man who would most likely never come back to her. “He’ll get over it.”

A shrug and a moment later, Cassia quiets, a soft frown blooming between her brows as she wonders just where this conversation could be heading. Someone they knew hadn’t died had they? There wasn’t a Strigoi attack on their friends or on Nik or, God-forbid --- him? She couldn’t fathom any of that happening...

Her head quirks, frowning turning heavier and heavier by the minute. Because of course she remembers Elizabeth --- it’d be hard not to forgot the woman he truly loved, the woman he wanted to marry versus her, the woman he did so out of family out of obligation. A sharp inhale follows a moment later and she tries; tries to fight the fact that her world bottoms out at the sentences that follow. I have a daughter. Her name’s Summer. No matter how hard she tries of course, she can’t hide the look of shock and surprise on her face. She shifts from her perch and back towards the counter, picking up the scotch bottle he’d used moments before and pouring a generous amount into her own coffee. Taking a glug, she relishes the soft and slight burn as the warm and now alcoholic liquid pours it's way down her throat.

“Well, I feel it’s firstly appropriate to say that bitch.” She scoffed and her anger falls through her quick and fast and hot. She shook her head, blinking and reeling from the knowledge. “I --- a daughter. Wow.” Cassia exhaled, leaning heavily against the kitchen countertop. “How --- how are you doing with all of this?” They may have been at odds sometimes but she could consistently see how much Dimitri loved their son, loved his children now it seemed. For someone else to deny him that... she felt a rage bubbling up inside of her she hadn’t felt in a very long time, perhaps, would only feel when it came to him.

#( it's a crown of thorns leavin' me torn | muse )

flunkerlux

He keeps her close, chin tilted to the side of her head because she still uses the same shampoo and he’s always loved the smell of it, especially the days when he would wake in the morning to find her pressed against his chest. Dimitri rubs his thumbs across her back, unable to recall the last time he had been able to hold her like this. “Your heart is beating so fast. You nervous about seeing everyone in town or something?” His enhanced hearing picks it up and while he’s half teasing, there’s also some concern there about whether or not everything was alright with her. He loosens his grip on her only when she pries the flowers from his hand and even when he pulls back little, he isn’t far away at all and his hands have merely slid to the sides of her waist. A grin forms across his face as she looks at the flowers and he doesn’t have to get confirmation to know that she likes them. “Well, like I said, I have the cool ex-husband reputation to live up to. And I know they’re your favourite.” He grins, wide and toothy and rather pleased with himself before ducking his head to press a kiss to her cheek and dropping his hands from her waist.

“Come to the kitchen, I’ll get us some coffee. Or a real drink, whichever you prefer.” Dimitri said with a shrug and a grin on his face as he turned and began making his way into the kitchen and he can’t help the fact that his mood has brightened just from having her back in his house. He always hated that there was always so much distance between them in terms of land. But his business was in Oak Pines, his whole life has been there and he’s not willing to leave it in order to be closer to her (not to mention how strange it would be, moving closer to his ex that he considers one of his closest friends).

Leaning against his kitchen bench, he propped his chin up in his hand and looked over at her. “So, how was the trip in? Where are you staying? When are you seeing Nik?” He basically interrogates her with his onslaught of questions, but he wants to know, can’t hep the compelling need he has to make sure that she has somewhere safe to be and that everything goes well for her. Even after all these years, he still has more respect for her than he does for anyone else in his life.

She thought it’d be a lot easier than it was, is the thing. She thought she’d be able to handle it - being around him again, being in close proximity and in the same town for an extended period of time. Birthdays and holidays were easy. But this? This was a whole other level, a level that Cassia wasn’t sure she was ready to deal with. Because when she wasn’t in town, wasn’t in Oak Pines, she could pretend that those flutterings in her heart weren’t about Dimitri, and just nostalgia for a previous, easier life. She could pretend that her desire to share all parts of her life with him were just because he was one of her closest friends, still after all these years, and not because he was the only one she wanted to tell about her day.

God. She’s the worst ex-wife, ever. No question about it.

“Coffee is fine,” She replied, smiling slightly before trailing behind him towards the kitchen. Cassia stopped a moment later, merely leaning in the doorway, and watching as he puttered around before shaking her head. It’s so domestic, so much like the life they used to share, and it sends a pang to her heart. They almost had everything - but that was the thing wasn’t it? They were an almost, an almost everything, almost in love, almost that picture of perfect, happy family. Almost almost almost. The almost hurt as much as their ending did, and well - that nearly destroyed her once upon a time.

“Woah there ducky, relax. Give a girl a chance to breathe before interrogating her, alright?” She grinned, arms crossing over her chest before she moved from the doorway and towards the coffee pot, easily taking a mug from the top cabinet and pouring herself a cup of coffee. “The trip in was fine. Not as much traffic as I expected, which is a positive I suppose. But then again, I suppose I’m just used to driving everywhere else in DC so, this is easy.” She stirred to two sugars into the black coffee - taking it the same way she did all those years ago, and still does now.

“I’ll be staying at the little B&B on the coast, probably.” She shrugged. “Depends if they have room, of course, but that seems like the most logical choice.” Taking a sip of the brew, she mulled the warm and velvet taste before glancing away from Dimitri, a sour looking blooming on her face. “Nik, well - that of course depends on whether or not he wants to see me.” She snorted bitterly. “We had a fight the other week.” A stupid fight it was, of course, but a fight none the less. “About that art fellowship graduate program he wants to complete in Europe?” She glanced back at her ex-husband. “I told him that taking off to another continent just to avoid his break-up wasn’t a sound idea and that historically, it doesn’t work, and he said things and I said things and we haven’t spoken.” Cassia scoffed. “What is with you Dragomir men and being absolute nightmares to deal with?” The words sounded bitter, but they were softened by the teasing smirk on Cassia’s lips.

He’s been excited all day. He’d cleared his schedule so he wouldn’t have to go out to the club tonight, could manage all his business from home. The news that she was coming back to town lifted his spirits after all the craziness the town had offered lately had made his mood hit rock bottom.To most people it would probably seem strange that he and his ex-wife still had such a strong bond, a good relationship even after all these years, but to him it was just usual. He had never gotten close to anyone the way he had to Cassia and the fact that she didn’t wear his ring on her finger anymore didn’t change the fact that she was still one of the most important people in his life, second only to his children.

Dimitri can hear the door open from his place in the kitchen and a grin splits his mouth open without any consciousness of it happening. The sounds of her voice is enough to ease the tension in his shoulders, makes him exhale as if he had been holding his breath and he doesn’t even make the choice, he just starts moving toward the hallway. It’s only a few steps and then she’s there in front of, just the same as he remembered if not for a new hair cut. “I’m not a regular ex-husband, I’m a cool ex-husband.” He states it clearly, unable to help the smirk on his face as he procures a bouquet of orchids from behind his back that he had bought earlier today. “And cool ex-husbands bring flowers.”

He doesn’t hand the flowers to her when he reaches her, instead wrapping his arms around her waist and hugging her tightly against him. Dimitri automatically buries his nose in her hair, and she still smells the same, of something flowery and fruity that he has never quite been able to identify as a scent other than her. “Hey blondie.”

She thought she was prepared, in all honesty. She thought she could handle this, because after all, it had been years since they were in the same space for any amount of consistent time together, in the same place. (Holidays and birthdays, of course, do not count because it’s days, weeks at most, and often, Dimitri blows into and out of her life in a manner that leaves her both frustrated and breathless at the same time.) This is different, and Cassia thought she was wholly prepared for it. Why would be it any different, to how they usually spend time? They’d been divorced for years now, their son fully grown and they were, on most days if not all of them - the very best of friends. She thought she could handle this.

Oh how wrong she was.

Because one look at his smirking face, the ruffled hair as if he’d been running his hands through it again, the sparkling eyes and Cassia knows without a doubt, that she’s fucking screwed. Not even bothering to respond to his statement about being a cool ex-husband - because really, what experience does she have with another husband? He was the only one she ever wanted to marry. - and instead tries to focus on the rapid pulse of her heart. She’s so, so, so screwed, because then, of course, he has to go and hug her.

Cassia doesn’t even blink, before her own arms are wrapping around his waist, hugging him almost as tightly as he’s hugging her. She thought that stepping inside his home was like coming home, but again, - she was wrong. He is home, more so than anyone else could ever be. And not for the first time, Cassia wonders when the hell Dimitri managed to steal her heart. Her nose buried in his neck and without thinking, she inhales. He still wears the same cologne, and he still smells that warm way, like cinnamon and sugar and spice, and something inherently Dimitri. “I’ve been blonde for years now.” She rolled her eyes good-naturedly, pulling back just enough to be able to look him in the eyes. “One would think you’d be used to it by now, and stop using that stupid nickname.” The words however die on her tounge as she’s finally drawn into the pull of the orchids, and pulls the flowers from Dimitri’s hand, his arms still wrapped around her waist. (Totally platonic and normal behaviour for two people who’ve been divorced for however many years now. Totally.) The petals are soft in texture, and the prettiest shade of pink-purple that it almost steals her breath. Her eyes flick to Dimitri. “You didn’t have to get these, you know.”