Chapter 85 – Introductions

AN: I know, I know! You hate me and I suck at life...I really didn't intend for it to go so long between updates but my new job doesn't allow for the same amount of writing time as my old job. Between work, school, and going to the gym nearly every day (I had to get ready for summer!)I am swamped. Bah!

Okay so here is the next chapter....I hope you like it!

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Sasha’s POV

My mom is nervous. Really nervous. She’s wiped the same counter top six times now.

”Mom, I think the counter is clean enough. Stop it,” I said taking the cloth out of her hands.

I pushed her toward the living room where my dad was sitting. Nef and her parents were supposed to be arriving any minute. She’d been working like a mad woman the last two days to make sure that everything was perfect for an early dinner.

When Nef and her parents arrived I greeted them at the door. I gave her a chaste kiss on the lips before hugging her mother and shaking her father’s hand. I led them to the living room while Nef took their coats to hang up in the hall closet.

“Mr. and Mrs. Hassan, meet my parents. Tatiana and Valeri. Mom and Dad meet Adjo and Nefetiri.”

I was surprised at how well Mrs. Hassan had picked up Russian. She was able to chat with my parents with minimal help from Nef or myself. My parents spoke English well enough but she was excited to be able to speak Russian.

“Damn, so this means we won’t be able to talk about my parents in Russian anymore,” Nef joked.

Her mom swatted at her and told her to behave. It’s true; we’d had multiple conversations about her parents, in front of her parents in Russian. Dinner was easy. Our parents got along well. Neither of them brought up and of the difficulties we’d had over the past few months. I’m sure Nef had sat down with her parents and allowed them to ask all of the questions they felt they needed to ask before they arrived.

After dinner Nef and I snuck away to have a few minutes alone together. I just wanted to be able to hold her for a little while.

“I’m glad they’re getting along,” she said as she crawled onto my bed.

“Me too,” I said crawling in beside her. She yawned into the pillow as I planted a kiss on her shoulder.

I had another long road trip coming up and I wasn’t looking forward to being away from her for another two weeks.

“You want to come to an away game?” I asked.

“Sure, as long as it’s a weekend game. I can’t take any time off of work or school with midterms coming up.”

There was a knock on my bedroom door.

“Come in,” I said not moving from the bed.

“Your mothers are looking for you,” my dad said.

“Napping,” Nef said not bothering to open her eyes.

I tried to get off the bed but Nef wrapped her arms around my neck.

“No, sleep.”

“Sleep after your parents leave.” I picked her up bridal style and carried her to the door. She let me carry her down the stairs without much protest.

“Wake up,” I said when we reached the living room. She made no move to get out of my arms so I dropped her on the couch.

“Jerk!” she squeaked.

I don’t know how but eventually our parents starting talking about Nef and myself moving in together. Nef had been talking things over with her mother and Nefetiri had quite a few things to say to me and Nef.

“You’re father and I were talking—“ Nefetiri began.

“Oh no,” Nef said. “This can’t be good.”

Nefetiri swatted at Nef and said “Well, your grandparents, father, and myself were going to wait until you got married but since you seem bent on moving in with Sasha before you get married we’ve decided –“

“That you’re going to disown me?” Nef said jokingly.

This time when Nefetiri swatted at Nef I held her in place so that she could hit her.

“No Ms. Smarty Pants, we’re going to buy you a house.”

“That not necessary. I happy to buy us a house where ever we end up moving to,” I said.

“We know that but this is something we’ve been planning since the day she was born. It’s something that our family does for the children.”

We argued back and forth for a little while before my mother interrupted with the idea that we could buy the house together. She said that if we wanted to have a strong relationship we would have to learn to compromise. Nef was set to move out of her condo the first week of August. Nef then said that she didn't really want to think about it just yet. There was too much up in the air and she couldn't make a decision with how things were. She didn't want to live with my parent or hers but it didn't make sense to by house for us when the one I already own would sit vacant for months at a time.

If I didn’t resign in Washington and depending on the length of the contract I signed it would be up to Nef to find a place for us in whatever new city it was. She already told me there were certain cities she didn’t want to move to: Philadelphia, Edmonton, Calgary, Atlanta, Columbus, etc. I jokingly told her that I’d never find a job if she cut out half the teams in the NHL.

“You know where I wouldn’t mind going…LA. I’d like to go there.”

“I keep that in mind.”



Nef’s POV

So now that’s one major monkey off my back. Parental introductions were done and it had gone really well. There were no arguments, no fights, no bloodshed, no Cold War part II, no nuclear standoff.

After dinner Sasha and I had gone back to my apartment. It had been more than a month since Sasha and I had been intimate. With his groin injury and me starting a new birth control pill we didn’t want to risk it. The doctor had given me a clean bill of health and said that I shouldn’t suffer any lasting effects from my miscarriage but we were both still cautious.

Honestly, I was nervous. Not so much about the sex part…I mean Sasha and I had had sex a hundred times before and in a hundred different ways but I knew that things were different and I knew that we were both scared. Sasha has been so tender and kind with me since all this happened, almost as if he was afraid that I would break. For the first few weeks it wasn’t that I didn’t want to have sex, I couldn’t. I wanted him but there was too much going on physically, mentally, and emotionally for me to even consider sex. But now that things were finally settling and getting back to normal I wanted nothing more than to strip him naked, throw him down on my bed, and have my wicked way with him.