Shelby hugged her mother. "Your lip looks better today. That ice helped."

"Yes it did. Jason's eye looks worse though. I even put raw steak on it, but it didn't do much good."

"How is he?"

"He's fine. I'm more worried about Justin. He seems more himself today, but he just adored Jonathan. This is all my fault."

"Mom, it's over now. Blaming yourself isn't going to accomplish anything."

Lisa sighed. "I know. I just wish..."

Shelby sat down at the table with her mother. "I'm proud of you."

"Why, Shelby? I let you down, over and over again."

Reaching for her mother's hand, Shelby said, "Because you're standing up for what you believe is right. It's not easy to do that. I respect you for admitting you made a mistake. I love you, Mom."

Lisa wiped the moisture from her eyes. "I love you, too. Thank you for not giving up on me like Anne did."

Shelby smiled. "Oh, I think she'll be back to visit soon." She decided to call her sister and invite her to come and visit. "You'll see."



*  *  *

Kris stood just outside the living room doorway gazing at her mother watching TV. She stepped into the room and cleared her throat.

At the sound, Masha glanced up and a tentative smile covered her face as she rose to greet her daughter.

They both stood there awkwardly until Masha took the initiative, speaking in their native language. "I've missed you so much. We have been cheated out of so much, you and I."

Kris nodded, the sound of her mother's Russian words taking her back to her childhood. This was the mother she remembered, who dived right into the crux of the matter. "Yes, we have. I thought you were dead for so long..." She glanced away, trying to find words to express her feelings.

Masha closed the distance between them, and wrapped her daughter in a hug. "I don't know if you want me in your life, or if you blame me for what happened to you. You are my daughter and nothing can change that and I will love you no matter what you decide."

Kris returned her mother's hug. "I love you, too, Mom, but I've...I'm not the daughter you remember."

Masha smiled gently, sensing her daughter's unease. "No, you're not. And I'm probably not the mother you remember, but that doesn't mean I love you any less." She nodded at the couch. "Come, let us sit."

Once the two women were seated on the couch, Masha said, "When I was locked in that room, I had a lot of time to think. When they told me I was going to see you, I didn't believe them. I thought it was a trick of some sort, but when I realized you really were alive, I knew you had to be very important for them to bring me here."

"I just wish you hadn't had to go through that. You were Sergei's trump card. He wanted information and I wasn't being very cooperative." Kris gazed at her mother. "I'm glad he brought you here, though."

Masha reached over and grasped her daughter's hand. "I was treated fine. It was you I was worried about. Once Shelby told me you were a mole, then all the pieces began to fall into place - why they wouldn't let me visit. Why all my letters were returned, everything."

"You came to visit?" Kris gazed into her mother's eyes. "I never knew that."

"Oh, Natasha. Of course I came. I was turned away at the gates. They said you had broken the rules and were not allowed visitors. I came very single week until they told me you died. I never deserted you."

Her last doubt buried, Kris embraced her mother. They had a lot of catching up to do, but they had plenty of time to do it.

Masha looked at Kris curiously. "So they taught you to be a spy?"

Kris nodded. "Yeah. I was brought over here when I was ten and raised as an American."

"The Americans know, yet you are free."

Kris smiled. "Yes. I made a bargain with them a long time ago and have been granted citizenship, but my name is no longer Natasha. My papers reflect my American name - Kris Barton."

"You are still Natasha to me."

Kris chuckled. Her mother hadn't lost any of the feistiness she remembered from her childhood. "Yes, Mother."

They began to converse a little more freely and started slowly rebuilding a relationship lost long ago. An hour later, Shelby glanced into the living room, smiling when she saw Masha and Kris engaged in a conversation that she would've bet was laden with childhood memories judging by looks on their faces.

Just as she began backing out of the door, Kris spotted her and gestured for her to join them. She reached out, grasping her partner's hand and with a smile reverted to English. "Shelby believed in me. If it weren't for her..." Kris paused, searching for a way to explain the analyst's importance to her.

Masha smiled and commented, "Shelby loves you."

Kris' jerked her head around to gaze at her mother. Then she looked at Shelby. "What did you two talk about while I was gone, anyway?"

Shelby was lost because Masha had spoken Russian. "What did she say?"

"She said you love me."

Shelby grinned. "Oh that. I do. She figured it out by herself."

Masha picked up enough of the English to know that she'd shocked her daughter by revealing what had been obvious to her. Watching them interact now, she knew that her daughter felt the same way about the American.

Straight to the point, Masha said, "Good. You love her, too."

Kris' face reddened and Shelby chuckled, not needing a translation of the words this time. "I think she's got your number."

Her mother always had been able to read her and Kris realized that their long separation hadn't changed that. It was hard to believe that her life had changed so totally in the matter of a few weeks. Her mother was back in her life and the woman she loved with all her heart was at her side.


Epilogue

Kris hugged her mother goodbye and joined Shelby in the car for the long ride back to Northern Virginia. Masha was visiting a friend who had emigrated from Russia for political reasons in New York for two weeks. This was her second visit and she'd expressed a desire to find a place to rent in the Russian community, intending to use this visit to do that.

In Russian she had already told Kris that she expected to see them at least once a month if she did find a place, or they could expect her on their doorstep. Shelby had chuckled when Kris relayed the message and hugged Masha, promising, "We will." Shelby had grown very fond of Masha, and was glad they were all starting a new chapter in their lives.

It had been two months since Kris had been released, and their time alone had been very limited. They had stolen moments whenever they could, relishing each second they spent together.

Later that night, Shelby glanced at Kris, and smiled. "Wouldn't it be fun to go on a vacation?" Laying her head back against the couch dreamily, she thought out loud. "Maybe California, Florida or even Myrtle Beach. I've still got over 30 days of leave time left. You could take a break from setting up that electronics business. With that big severance check you got, it wouldn't hurt us."

Without answering, Kris stood up and walked out into the kitchen. Shelby's eyes followed her. "I guess that means you don't want to?"

Her partner returned and handed her an envelope. Shelby opened it, perused the contents, then jumped up off the couch and hugged Kris. "Key West! Here we come!" After giving the operative a big kiss, she asked, "And just when were you going to tell me about this?"

"I was going to ask you to go to dinner tomorrow night and give you the tickets then. I picked Key West because I was there on a case once, and I just loved it. They have the most gorgeous sunsets I've ever seen. I wanted you to get the chance to see it, too. I hope that's okay?"

"Okay? Are you kidding? I'm thrilled!" As Shelby began energetically expressing her delight, Kris moaned softly. Suffused with pleasure, the tall woman felt a brief flash of gratitude for everything that had brought her to this place and this woman. All the deceit, betrayal and violence - none of it was important if she could spend the rest of her life with the blonde whose eager lips were erasing everything from her mind. Smiling with delight as her lover pushed her back onto the couch, Kris finally let the past go. Shelby was her future and that was all that mattered.


THE END