What if Alexei's wife finds pictures and jewelry from Ilya's mom hidden in a box while she's deep cleaning?
She secretly sends all of them to Ilya, knowing that he's the only one that would actually appreciate them- she knows Alexei would just burn or pawn them off
Ilya receives a package in the mail, the return address familiar. He opens it and finds the last physical reminders anyone had of his mama
She looks so beautiful in the pictures, so carefree and happy.
He finds the jewelry, memories swirling in his head
He remembers the cool touch of her rings against his face
The jingle of her bracelets
The shine of her earrings
Shane finds Ilya on the ground in their kitchen, crying and muttering to himself on Russian, Shane only being able to pick up some of the words
What he hears breaks his heart
mama, mama, please, I miss you, I love you, mama
Shane slowly sits down next to him, letting Ilya feel everything he needs to, sitting as a solid presence next to him, keeping him tethered to earth, his eyes catching one of the photos
It's a picture of Irina, maybe 20, wearing skates and holding a makeshift hockey stick, beaming at the camera, eyes bright and a gorgeous shade of blue, looking every bit like the woman who raised such a beautiful son