I couldn't think about anything other than the words Eugene read from the letter. I stare out the little window in the plane.
He knew where I was. He knew who I was with, but he wanted me to keep being kidnapped. I wasn't... useful to him. That's what he had said, basically.
I was never someone that he loved, he never thought of me as his wife, his soulmate, or whatever, I was just a pawn and when I was useful, he would use me and when I wasn't... well, he wouldn't.
"Darling. Are you alright? You've been awfully quiet." Misha asked, reaching over and taking my hand.
I sighed. "I'm fantastic."
"Well, when you want to quit lying, I'll be glad to listen."
"How about you tell me why we're leaving to Russia."
He grinned and then leaned in and whispered, "How about no."
He instead just put his head on my shoulder and mumbled, "I will sleep."
Even in my deep state of depression, I couldn't help but laugh at his childish self. I ruffled his hair and then turned back to the window.
Finally, the plane landed and we went out into the streets of... Moscow. This had been one place I was dying to visit for years now. We had a simple hotel checked out towards the outside of the city, and so we didn't get a chance to walk through the Red Square, but I was still amazed at the beauty and at the Russianess of it all. All of my culture, the roots of my culture and life were here, and I was finally visiting it.
"Mishka, you and Maria are staying in one room. Go get settled in." Stephan ordered and threw us a key.
Misha winked at me and then grabbed my hand in one hand, and my suitcase in the other, and we rushed up the stairs. He quickly unlocked the door and then threw himself on the bed as soon as he walked in, the suitcases falling at his feet.
I laughed. "Misha, you are acting like a little child."
He jumped up on the bed a few times. "I love this place. Back when we lived here, we would stay here all the time. I love this hotel."
I leaned against the door and watched him make 'snow angel's' on the bed.
"Come here. You've got to experience the softness and wonderfulness of these beds." He reached out a hand and IÂ almost instantly grabbed it.
He pulled me up on the bed and jumped, making me jump with him.
I couldn't help but let out a full, happy laugh. Oh, this was the most childish thing I had ever done. I don't even think I did this as a little kid.
Misha suddenly tripped over the pillow and came crashing down. Since he was still holding my hands, I came crashing down on top of him.
My breath caught in my throat and IÂ stared at him, neither of us moving. His eyes were also buried deep into mine.
I allowed my eyes to look over his face, noticing little wrinkles around his eyes from laughing so much, and a tiny scar at the edge of his lips.
Some weird spirit must have been controlling my body because before I knew it, I had reached with my fingertips and gently brushed over the little scar. I felt Misha's fingers lightly brush away a strand of my hair, and then his hand came around the side of my face. His fingers spread out into my hair, and he gently pulled me closer to him.
I knew what would happen if something didn't interrupt us, and I was very terrified of it.
So I did the most natural thing I could think of and laughed. Misha, not at all surprised at my interruption, laughed as well. I buried my face in his neck and wrapped my arms around him, and he did the same.
It felt nice to just lay in his embrace. He was a strong man, and he made me feel very safe and comfortable. I wanted to lie like that for as long as I could. Thankfully, he didn't want to move either and so we ended up lying like that for a long time.
In fact, the next morning, we woke up next to each other. I had rolled off of him, but his arm was still tightly wrapped around my waist, and I had my hand on his chest. I guess we had fallen asleep.
I studied his face and was careful to not make any noise or movements so he wouldn't wake up.
"You better not be taking pictures of me, Maria." I heard him softly say, in a deep husky voice.
I laughed, clearly surprised. "How did you know I wasn't sleeping?"
He opened one eye to look at me. "I woke up before you."
"Why didn't you wake me?" I asked, giving him a little push.
He simply laughed and then closed his eye again. I closed my eyes and rest my head as well. Suddenly I sat straight up in the bed.
Misha shot up as well, his eyes wide and alert.
"What's wrong?"
I stared at him. "My baby. My baby, it's kicking!"
He glared at me for a moment and then leaned back down. "You are awful, Maria. I thought someone had shot you or me."
I laughed. "No, no, my baby though!"
Misha couldn't help but let out a little smile. I raised my shirt up so I could look at my belly. The baby was over five months now, and the belly was clearly visible now. I placed my hands on it and felt my baby kick again.
I laughed, causing Misha to sit up again. He looked at me with an amused grin, and I stared right back at him, smiling even wider whenever my little baby would kick.
"Can I?" He asked, raising his eyebrows.
I nodded, my face lighting up. Finally, someone else knew about my secret, and although it wasn't Alexander, at least it was somebody very special to me.
He very carefully placed his hands on my belly, almost as if he was afraid. As soon as he felt the baby kick, however, his face erupted into a wide grin.
"This is wonderful, Maria. I'm... so happy for you. I truly am." He whispered.
I smiled. So was I.
"Let's go look at the city today. Hurry, get ready, and we'll leave!" Misha exclaimed and jumped from the bed.
I quickly got out as well and hurried to get ready. I put on shimmery rose-gold beige skinny pants with a lacy strap top. Of course, this was Russia and October weather was very cold and so I put the same colored long jacket. I put on short pearl earrings and high stilettos.
Misha came out of the restroom, looking very well. He had on dark skinny pants and a leather jacket that looked very warm.
He looked me over and gave a wink, that sent my cheeks into a wild blush.
"Ready, love?"
I nodded and he wrapped an arm around my shoulders and I leaned into him. He smelled very good and so I took a deep breath and tried to just enjoy the moment as long as I could.
We walked out of the room and the hotel and began to make our way towards the city. We were silent, but it was a very refreshing silence, and we just enjoyed each other's company.
When we finally reached Red Square, my eyes lit up. Oh, oh it was marvelous, breathtaking, absolutely stunning!
How much I had been wishing for this moment! It was just... gorgeous! I really had no other words for it, I had lost all other words from my vocabulary.
I simply stood and gazed up at the famous, phenomenal St. Basil's Cathedral for a good long time.
Misha's hand was wrapped around mine tightly. I could feel his eyes looking at me in amusement but I didn't care. Nothing would stop me from fully embracing and enjoying this moment forever.
"It's a beauty, isn't it?"
I let out a laugh. "A beauty? It's much more than that. It's... I don't know. I don't know enough words to describe it. It's simply wonderful and amazing! The most beautiful structure I have ever seen, and I am just... oh, I am so amazed!"
"Let's go, Maria. We want to see the rest of this magical city." Misha tugged at me, but I stayed firmly planted in the same spot.
"No, no. Let me enjoy this moment for just a while longer."
He sighed and placed his head on my shoulder. We just stood like that until I finally decided to take pity on him and continue our beautiful walk.
"Okay, fine. Let's go."
He raised his head and smiled. "Finally. I thought I would become a statue here."
I stuck out my tongue at him and he copied. He took my hand and turned around, tugging me to go see something else.
Suddenly, I noticed a quite familiar face. Very familiar indeed. I narrowed my eyes to see better. Yes! Yes, I knew him...
"Misha..." I mumbled, tugging at his hand.
He turned to look at me, a frown on his face.
"I'm... that's Alexander." I pointed in the direction of Alexander, who was coming to our direction, and he was quite fast.
Misha's eyes shot wide open. "Maria!"
I stared at Misha, not knowing what to do. He would have to lead the way on this one. And he did, he did find a solution but it was definitely not what I was expecting.
His lips slammed on mine, and his hands came around to cup my face and bring me closer to him. I stood shocked but surprisingly, my body reacted very fast. Too fast.
I kissed him back, slowly but with... desire. I knew what I was doing was wrong on every single level but I couldn't resist. I knew that he couldn't either.
We had been resisting for a very long time and now that his lips were finally on mine, I couldn't step away. All this tension that had been between us was finally being dealt with, and we kissed each other with hunger and passion.
His lips felt perfect and so did everything else. His hands in my hair, his breath in between our kisses on my lips, the way my body had pressed up against his strong, muscular body, and how his smell intoxicated my lungs.
I had lost track of all time and all I could focus on was Misha and my cravings for his perfect kisses. I knew this was wrong to do to Alexander.
I frowned when my thoughts came to Alexander. He deserved this, though. He hated me, he didn't want to save me despite knowing exactly where I was. He completely deserved this, and so I kissed Misha with a new hunger.
Finally, he pulled away, his eyes burning into mine.
"Maria." He whispered.
I stared at him, and my conscious finally found me. I gasped when I realized what I had just done. Tears began to well up in my eyes.
"Maria, Maria, stop it. Stop crying stop it! He's gone, we're good! Don't cry. Please don't cry!" Misha began to say.
I had just kissed a different man while being married to another one. I didn't just kiss him, I was passionate about it, and I loved it. I had been wanting to do this for a very long time.
I turned around and quickly ran off from Misha.
Ah! What had I done?!
"God, God, please forgive me!" I yelled to myself.
"Maria!" Misha growled and grabbed my hand, forcing me to face him.
"Misha! I just cheated on Alexander! Do you know what that means?"
A guilty look spread on his face. "Maria, I'm sorry! Please, I know I'm the one to blame, I am very sorry, but I didn't know what else to do. And you know, in the Avengers that's how they hide from the people, remember? And so I thought why not? I'm very sorry! Please, please don't hate me, or yourself!"
While Misha was rambling, I studied him. He was indeed very sorry and my stupid brain thought that it was cute and so thoughtful of him to worry so much about me.
"Misha. Misha, you didn't force me to like the kiss and to keep kissing you with such passion."
He quit talking and stared at me. "You liked it?"
I grunted. "You didn't realize?"
"I thought you were just acting very well."
"No, Misha. I actually liked it. And I actually realized that I had been wanting to kiss you for all this time now."
He let out a few, or actually many, curse words. He brushed his fingers through his hair and walked a few steps away from me. He spat at the ground.
"Blin, blin, blin, dammit Maria!"
"What? Stop cursing at me, and tell me what's got you so riled up!" I shouted at him.
"You! You!" He yelled at me and stormed at me.
I was scared he would hurt me, but I kept my ground, not backing up. He stormed up until he was just centimeters away from me and then he stopped. I looked up at him and saw him staring at me.
"You know that I-" He began to say and I quickly clasped a hand around his mouth to stop him from saying the words.
"Don't," I whispered.
He angrily ripped my hand off of his mouth and exclaimed, "Why not?! Maria, you know it and I do! Why can't I just say it so that it stops torturing my soul? Dammit, I love you, Maria! I love you, and..." his voice quieted down and he gently placed his hand around my neck, his thumb began to rub circles on my cheek.
"Screw it." He mumbled and his lips came crashing down on mine once more.
I didn't hesitate a single moment and my arms threw themselves around his neck, causing me to press tightly against him. Ah, I couldn't get enough of him. I wanted him.
Suddenly, I pulled away. This was all very, very wrong.
"Maria?" Misha asked quietly, his eyes studying my face.
I pulled away from him. "I'm sorry, I... I can't."
Before he could stop me, I ran off. I ran and ran until I coulndn't run anymore. What did I just do? Oh, what did I get myself into?