(no subject)

[every_blossom_blooming]

Nina leans over Katya where she's sort of nestled on the couch. Frank's here already but Nina hasn't quite been able to make herself leave the baby alone.

"You're sure you don't mind?" she asks, looking a little uncertain as she looks over at Frank. She has-- a date, she supposes, and she realized she didn't know who to ask to babysit and she'd called Frank in something of a panic.

But now he's here and she's almost not sure what to do with herself. Nina picks up the infant girl, currently dressed in a onesie with bears on it and a little bear-ear hat. She wanders closer to Frank, not looking reluctant just-- uncertain. And maybe, for a moment, young.

"Billy doesn't mind that I'm taking you away?"

Comments

[onebatch_twobatch]

"I know," Frank said. He hadn't been on a date in years (because going out and shooting with Billy probably didn't count as a date, nor did drinking with friends on his birthday), but Nina was younger and more free than all that.

"It's going to be a good time. Tell me if you need me to take her downstairs so you can be alone."

There was the instinctive, fatherly concern at offering to make sure she had some alone time with her English beau. He didn't need to warn Nina off anything; she was more than capable of taking care of herself. Still...

"Or should I wait for your rescue text and then call and make it sound urgent?"

[every_blossom_blooming]

Nina rolled her eyes and tried not to smile at his offer. "I don't think you'll need to answer a rescue text. If I get upset I'll just make sure he can't get up when I take my leave," she said with a dry smile.

She sighed and bumped against Frank, leaning into him for a moment.

"I keep telling myself not to be a silly girl," she admitted quietly. "And that's all I feel like, falling for a pair of blue eyes."

[onebatch_twobatch]

"You're allowed to be a silly girl, Nina," Frank reminded her. She was a soldier, a powerful Grisha, and a mother now. But she wasn't even twenty-one and she had a lot of childhood to make up for in some ways. So Frank figured, let her be silly. Let her fall for a pair of blue eyes and some cheekbones. She'd earned it.

He kissed her forehead gently. "Well, if you need the apartment to yourself, I can set up downstairs for a while."

[every_blossom_blooming]

"I think that went out the window as soon as I was pregnant," she says with a dry little smile. Nina sighs and leans into Frank for a moment more.

"Come on, tell me I look pretty while I get changed. You can close your eyes or I'll change behind a screen if you're very embarrassed."

She just wants company and she knows Frank won't be an ass about it. She's been changing in front of boys since she was a little girl and she's never quite gotten the hang of modesty.

[onebatch_twobatch]

"You say that, but I'm pretty sure you're wrong," Frank said with a mild shrug, managing not to tussle Katya in his arms.

He trailed along behind her. He wasn't uncomfortable about nudity, because he'd been in the military for so long, and Nina being too young for him meant nothing in regards to their friendship. In the bedroom, he sat on the edge of the bed, doting on Katya as he held her on one arm.

"I'll just stare at this little miracle so you won't be offended that I'm not drooling over you," he teased.

[every_blossom_blooming]

Nina rolls her eyes but she's smiling all the same. She lays out the dress she'd chosen and starts to get changed for the evening. She makes sure not to invade his line of sight too much, conceding at least that much to a sense of modesty and propriety between them.

"I wonder if he's that serious," she admits, frowning a little as she wiggles into her underwear and a little bit of shape wear. It's warm enough that she doesn't want her thighs chafing uncomfortably. Next is the dress. "I wonder if I should be serious."

[onebatch_twobatch]

Frank appreciated the discretion, because the fact of the matter was that Nina was too young for him but she was still a ridiculously attractive woman--and, for a moment, a naked one. Her body was going back to her pre-pregnancy shape, and when he glanced up once she had the dress on, he could appreciate it.

"I think that's a conversation to have with him, not with me," Frank said. He'd only ever been serious about two people in his whole life, and wasn't prone to bouts of fancy otherwise, though he'd fooled around a bit as a teenager. "Besides, I'm sure your friend Inej will have set him straight if he's not serious, by now."

[every_blossom_blooming]

"Yes, well. It's easier to have the conversation with you, because you're sitting there and trapped by a baby," she said with faint blush.

"I'm sure Inej would, but I'm not sure I want her to." Nina sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed, where she promptly leaned against Frank. "She threatened Geralt when she realized he was spending time with me, I've had quite enough of that."

[onebatch_twobatch]

Frank snorted a little bit, because the image of Nina's tiny friend being so bothersome and nosy was hardly surprising, but it was still a mental image.

"Well, if you haven't already given her a telling off, you might before things get any more serious than they may or may not already be." Frank ran his fingers gently over Katya's head, smiling down at her. "Yes she should. Mama should do that."

[every_blossom_blooming]

"Saints, I'll be shocked if she hasn't talked to him - they're practically siblings now."

She's glad Inej has someone she can relate to, even if she and Tommy butted heads at first. Nina imagines it's because Tommy is too familiar and Inej hadn't been expecting it. Now they're thick as thieves, in their own way.

"How do I look?" she asks as she sort of brushes herself off. Her lips are nearly blood red and she's done eyeliner and mascara.

[onebatch_twobatch]

"Remarkable as always," Frank said, looking up from Katya to admire Nina. She was terribly his type, lovely and curvaceous, sure of herself (at least outwardly), fully capable of kicking his ass. Some days it was harder than others to not be attracted to her, and this was one of them. But he did respect her, above and beyond everything else.

"He'd be a fool not to fall in love with you on sight."

[every_blossom_blooming]

"Well he's a Barrel boy and a Suli boy. According to Inej, all he knows how to be is a fool," she says with a dry smile. Nina comes closer and leans to kiss Frank's cheek.

Her scent is always pleasantly subtle: roses and sandalwood.

"At least someone thinks I'm pretty."

She stands straight again and collects her small clutch. "You have a key, right? Just in case?"

[onebatch_twobatch]

Frank only had context to either of those in that he knew Nina and had spoken to her about where she'd come form before Darrow. And anyway, he knew Bronx boys, and Jersey boys, and all that sort of thing. Military boys and their wives and fast cars. Shelby struck him as a bit of all of it. But Nina seemed rather happy, when she wasn't thinking about things too hard.

"I do," he said. "I'll mill about here a bit, I think, and then I might take her down, if that's alright."