The Belov Family Reunion

"Oh Sonia."

His arms wrapped tightly around her and he pitched backwards. He landed hard on his sore ass, but didn't even make a peep as he dragged the girl to sit in his lap.

"It's not your fault. You've always been an amazing girl. There's nothing wrong with you."

He held her against his chest and rocked slowly.

"I'll be on the other end of the phone if you ever need me. I promise."

Sonia couldn't say anything more.  The sobs that were wracking her body made it so that she could not speak. 
 
She pressed her face into her cousins chest and held onto him tight as he cradled her and just let herself cry. 

Because sometimes, there didn't need to be words.  

Just embrace and the chance to really let all the emotion out.

He held onto his cousin, still rocking slowly as she sobbed into his shirt.

"That's it, girl. Let it all out."

His fingers ran through her hair and his lips pressed against the crown of her head.

Sonia cried for a good long while in her cousin's arms, mourning the loss of love, the grief of having no more mother, and the frustration of knowing it was all a choice.  It wasn't some invisible hand that had taken her mother from her.  Her mother had chosen to leave her life.  

Once she had cried all the tears left inside her for that moment, she continued to rest in his embrace, holding onto him.  

Eventually, she was able to get up on her own and wipe her nose and eyes with the back of her hand.  

In order to better pass the time, she decided to spend some time with her grandmother, helping the woman cook and learning some good tips and tricks.  

In a solemn way, Sonia recognized her grandmother was trying to help Sonia prepare for life without a mother.  Because it was obvious as sin that her dad wasn't going to be much help in taking care of her.  

The proof was him sat drunk on the couch, laughing loudly at the t.v and conversation with his equally drunk sisters.  The Belov's could be so loud sometimes.  Sonia definitely didn't inherit that trait.

Lyo followed Sonia to the kitchen, claiming that he had to taste test the food so no one got poisoned.

He was allowed to stay for a grand total of twenty minutes before being banished from the kitchen by a hand-towel weilding annoyed grandmother. It was scarier than it sounded.

Once banished he went to sit with his aunts and uncles and mother, who all found some way to make a jab at him. Bad hair, bad clothes, are those piercings and tattoos, being gay is wrong, so many scars, that split lip is unsightly, you should stop getting into fights, you should be in college, you smoke. Blah blah fucking blah.

He was glad when grandmother decided it was time for everyone to leave her in peace.

He had a short fight with his uncle over grabbing the car keys, but pretty soon he was carrying the drunken slob to the car. "Can you get the backseat door for me, Sonia?"

Sonia could hear her Aunts and Uncle giving Lyo a hard time.  It made her tummy hurt to listen to.  Lyo may have been a strong guy who was able to take hearing such criticism, but Sonia was still a little girl.  And she loved Lyo.  Hearing them rail on him hurt her as much as if they were saying it about her.  

So what if Alyosha was gay?  So what if he had different hair and piercings.  He was braver than she could ever be.  She knew that even if she wanted to get body modifications, she wouldn't be able to handle being treated like a freak by her own family.  

She'd prefer being ignored to that.  

Her face was a dark red as her father made a scene when Lyo tried to take the keys and then lead him out to their little beat up Lada Riva.  It wasn't the first time she'd be ashamed of her pop, and it sure as hell wouldn't be the last.  
Feeling responsible for his behavior, she tried to help Lyo coax her drunken father to the front seat.  She was quick to obey her cousin when he asked her to open the back door.

Taking hearing those criticisms wasn't quite what was happening. Each little jibe was getting him more and more riled up. He just knew he'd end up in a very cathartic fist-fight with his boyfriend later after ranting about all they said.

"Thanks, kid. You can hop in the front while I strap him in."

With his uncle babbling drunken insults in his ear, he hoisted him into the backseat and leaned over to strap him in. The distraction seemed to be the perfect time for his uncle to strike. A clumsy fist lashed out and struck his cheek.

"Motherfu-" Lyo cut himself off for Sonia's sake, giving a pained grunt as he pulled out of the car. That was going to bruise up nice.

He dropped into the drivers seat and belted himself up. "Belt on," he reminded the girl as he turned the key in the ignition.

"I'm staying over tonight." If his favourite uncle had hit him, he wasn't trusting him to go right to bed and sleep through the night. Lyo was playing guard dog tonight. He could save his fistfight date with Maks for later.

Sonia padded to the front of the car and got in.  She gasped when she heard her Dad hit Alyosha, covering her mouth with her hands.  

"I'm so sorry Alyosha.  Did he hurt you?  I'm so sorry." She rambled, her voice sounding shaken to the core.  

Apologizing for her father was something she had always known.  She came from him, therefore he was connected to her.  When he was bad, it meant she was bad.

"It's fine, Sonia." He smiled at his cousin, but the effect was lessened by the large red spot on his cheekbone. He could hate his uncle all he wanted, he had to admit that even drunk he had a pretty good punch.

"Seatbelt," he reminded her, glancing at her father in the rearview mirror.

"When we get home, I'd love some ice. Otherwise there's no need to worry about it. I'm a big boy." That was quite obvious by the way he had to adjust the seat so his knees weren't pressed against his chin and the numerous weather jokes he got from some people that thought they were funny.

The girl timidly put her seatbelt on, quick to obey.  

She nodded her head.  If she didn't feel so guilty about her Pop throwing a punch at Lyo, she would have giggled at seeing him try to fit into the front seat.  

It wasn't long that they were on the road that her father started to ramble and curse about his "bitch wife" and how she was going to burn in hell.  

"The only thing she could do that Sonia can't is fuck.  Bitch was only good for her cunt anyway.  Plenty of other women with much prettier pussies to stick it in.  The bitch is the one that's made the mistake.  Didn't know how replaceable she was." He said crudely, a dark and rough tone to his voice.  

Sonia brought her knees up on the seat and covered her ears, trying to block her dad out.

Lyo sighed softly as his uncle babbled.

He should have returned that punch. Maybe then his uncle would shut the fuck up.

"Sonia, can you text Maks for me?" He shifted in his seat, lifting his hips and pulling out his phone. He held it out to her. "Just tell him it's you and that I'll be staying at your house tonight, okay?"

Sonia didn't look up or hardly move aside from reaching her hand out and taking the phone.  

She clicked over to his contacts and send Maks a text simply saying "stying s/w else 2night ttyl".  It being 2005, most phones still required texting using the number dials.

She handed the phone back to Lyo and went back to covering her ears so she couldn't hear her dad talk about her mother and other women in such a vulgar way.

"Thanks, kid."

His eyes flickered up to his uncle as he dropped his phone between his thighs. He was going to want to kill by the end of the car ride.

He was just hoping that his uncle would just go right to bed, pass out and not hopen his eyes again. Though he suppoed he could comprimise and just not want him to open his eyes until morning.

Fortunately for both of the cousins, Sonia's father passed out about 45 minutes into the three hour car ride.  

Eventually, Sonia was able to fall asleep as well, leaning her head against the windshield.  

It was amazing that she could doze off.  Her father was a very loud snorer.  He sounded like a big mean bear.

Lyo drove at what was probably way too fast of a speed. He managed to do the three hour car ride in just over two hours.

When he parked up outside of his cousin's house, he reached over to nudge Sonia awake gently.

"Sonia, you're home. Sonia."

Her eyes fluttered open slowly and she stretched out, gazing to the back of the car to see her father still passed out.  

"Should we just... leave him here?" She wondered.  She didn't want to have to deal with how unpleasant he'd be if they tried to wake him up.

"I'll just carry his pitiful ass to bed."

Lyo slid out of the car and closed the door.

"Can you go open all the doors for me? I need a clear path to his room." The quicker he could get him in bed, the quicker he could forget about him.

Lyo set the keys on the roof of the car then yanked open the door and dragged his uncle out. He wasn't the most gentle with the movements, but he wasn't all that rough either.

As soon as the words were said, Sonia was off to obey.  She opened every door leading to her father's room, and made sure that there wasn't anything laying in the pathway that could trip Lyo up either.  

Anyone else probably wouldn't have been able to to carry the big Russian man, but luckily Lyo was one of the few who could.

Lyo struggled, straining under the weight of his uncles beer gut, but the walk was pretty smooth and soon he had his uncle laying face-down in bed.

If they got lucky, he would suffocate.

Lyo descended the stairs on light footsteps. "Sonia, did you have any plans for food tonight?" They'd had a big lunch at Grandma's, so he doubted that she'd planned anything more than a picky salad or sandwich or something.

Sonia shook her head no, she didn't have much of an appetite after hearing her dad say some of the things he did about women.  

"Lyo... will you sleep in my bed with me?" She asked.  

She didn't want to admit it, but she was afraid of her Dad.  She was afraid of what he might do to her when he was this drunk.  She was afraid of things no eleven year old should ever be afraid of... or anyone for that matter.

"I'm going to order pizza then. Are you okay with anchovies?"

His hand dove into his pocket to grab his wallet and his phone. "You don't have to eat it, but I'lll save a couple slices for you even if you don't now."

He dialled a number quick and held he phone to his ear. Lyo could forget some things in an instant, but he'd been over here a couple of times before and Lyp never forgot the number to a pizza place.

"Sure, kid. Any chance to not sleep on the couch. Its indented from your dads ass."

Sonia's little nose wrinkled at the mention of anchovies.  

"You actually like those?" She giggled, looking disgusted and amused all at once.  

"Alyosha that's gross!"  She tucked her hair behind her ears.  

"But don't worry about me.  I'm fine, really.  Might as well take it home with you." She suggested, and then a soft yawn escaped her lips.  It sounded more like a girlish sigh than anything else.  It was like it was impossible for this little girl to not be adorable no matter what she did.  

She was so happy to find out that Lyo was going to keep her safe.  

"My door doesn't have a lock on it, I'm gonna go to sleep.  My bed is pretty big so it'll fit both of us."  Her smiled wavered just a bit as she remembered her mother sharing the bed with her many nights when the woman couldn't stand to sleep with her husband.  

"Night Lyo." She said, giving him a tight hug before turning around and heading to her room.

"Someday I'll find someone that actually likes anchovies. And when I do, I'll marry them." Why did so many people hate anchovies?

"Gross but true. Bet if I really looked, you could see the indent of that stick up his ass, too, that intent is so perfect."

Someone answered the phone and he rattled off an order: half anchovy and half plain cheese. That way Sonia could have half without picking off the little fishies.

"I'll be up in a bit, Sonia," he murmured into her hair before pressing a kiss to the crown of her head.

Sonia changed into her bright red nightgown, hugging herself after it was one.  It was so soft, and she found herself needing to feel something comforting, even if it was just physical. 

The eleven year old flipped the lights off and crawled into bed, and for the first time in many years, she fell asleep snuggled up with her little Cheburashka doll cradled to her chest.

It wa an hour before Lyo ambled upstairs. He'd devoured his half of the pizza and stored the rest in the fridge already.

When he got to Sonia's bedroom, he just leant against the doorframe and watched her for a long moment before he moved.

All he did was pop the button on his jeans before he laidn on the bed atop the covers. He rolled onto his side so he was facing away from Sonia and let his body relax.