For Anatoly and Lex

[thethirdwonder]

Cassie was practically bouncing as she jogged down the beach, occasionally even breaking into a skip and a twirl in the sand. Normally, she wasn't the romantic type, giving Cissie a hard time whenever she was roped into watching fluffy romantic movies. But that was all forgotten yesterday. Yesterday had been perfect! Kon had gone all out, with

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[whoneedsadream]

Anatoly looked up from the chess board, smiling at the familiar voice. "Hello, Cassie. Come on in."

He glanced down at the board again, considered his options briefly then moved his bishop to place the white king in check. Any further consideration would have to wait until later. He had a visitor, after all.

[thethirdwonder]

Still practically vibrating with excitement, Cassie came in and moved to stand by where he was playing. She looked down at the board and studied it, brow furrowing. Or attempted to anyway and gave up after a moment. Yes, Anatoly had started teaching her chess and explained how all the pieces moved but it was still Russian to her.

When he looked up again, she grinned and launched right into her excitment. "I have so much to tell you! Guess what Kon did yesterday?"

[whoneedsadream]

"Nothing I have to speak sharply to him about, I hope," Anatoly teased gently. "I will if I must. Nothing but the best for you, Cassie."

No one could ever take the place of his daughter, of course, but looking after Cassie assuaged the pain, a little. If he couldn't look after Ilona, he could at least look after her.

[thethirdwonder]

Unable to help her blush, she swatted lightly at Anatoly's shoulder be practically jumping to sit on the nearby bed so she wasn't standing over him as she spoke. "No of course not! He was a complete gentleman! You know how I told you how our date plans were screwed up by the whole stupid turning into a boy thing? Well he totally out did himself to make up for it!" Her glee was evident in her voice, as she bounced lightly on the bed as she spoke.