#jinjja

“Ah don’t mind the dog” the woman yells at her dog recognising your hesitation to approach the porch. “Get back in the house” she commands holding the screen door open as it obediently enters the home. “It’s all right. Come in, darling. His bark is worse than his bite.” The woman steps off her porch and walks closer to you and Nat.

“We’re really sorry to bother you” you say stepping towards the kindly old lady. She pushes her glasses further up her nose.

“My name is Natalia” she offers stepping up from behind you still holding onto your little finger. You smile hearing her use that name. “I used to live in this house with my parents and little sister ages ago. We, this is my girlfriend Y/N,” she bumps you with her shoulder and you give a shy wave, “we were driving through the city and got curious. Would it be alright if we just looked around a little?” she stumbles uncharacteristically over her words, afraid the lady would decline. 

“Really? What were your parents’ names?”

“Alexei Shostakov? Melina Vostokoff?”

The lady hums to herself contemplating. “I don’t seem to remember those names” she laughs to herself before continuing, “I’ve been living here for over 20 years now and It’s hard to imagine anyone lived here before”.

“We really don’t want to be a bother” you quickly add taking a half step backwards. 

“No no dear” the lady steps back onto her porch and holds the screen door open inviting you and Nat inside. “Go ahead and look around. Take your time. I’ll be inside folding some laundry.”

Nat walks first into the house pulling you by the finger. She thanks the lady who disappears into the laundry room. You look at Nat and give her a mischievous smile.

“Ok that was almost too easy,” she smirks leading you around the house. You walk around the house and into a white dining area attached to a big back porch at the rear of the building.

“This is very nice” you remark running your finger along the cold marble worktop. “Oh! Is that where the swing you and Yel used to play at was?” you point towards an old shed next to a row of well manicured rose bushes. 

“Mmhmm” she nods. “Come on I wanna show you something” she slides the back door open and leads you out into the yard. Your finger still tucked safely in her hand she leads you through a corral past a large barn to the right of it. You imagine the fun Nat and Yelena used to get up to. She leads you through some bushes and you feel like you’re trespassing even though you knew you had permission to be there. Finally she slows her pace to a stop. She points to a clearing and starts tugging you towards a large oak tree. Running her fingers over the gnarly bark she smiles fondly. 

“Look” she says and you squint noting the very faint “N & Y” etched into its bark. You place a quick kiss on her cheek as she smiles fondly at the marks she carved into the tree all those years back.

“You know, I could live with you in a place like this and be happy.”

“Oh yea?” 

“Yup” she answers popping the P playfully. 

You turn her towards you and pull her into a kiss. You cup your hands on her cheeks and hold her close. She smiles into the kiss. When you pull away you run your thumbs over her cheeks noting how rosy they’ve become. 

“Wanna get something to eat?” Nat says resuming her previous position of your finger safely grasped in her hand.

You raise an eyebrow at her and she laughs. “Stop! I didn’t mean that. I meant a hamburger.”

“Sure babe, let’s go get a hamburger.”

---

I do have a taglist. Plse click here to join.