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Post by Joelle on May 12, 2019 10:25:30 GMT -8
May 5, 2019
(OOC: Sorry for the short post, but I didn't quite know what to say in this one to start it. )
Isis is a little jittery about being alone on bedrest while Viktor takes the kids to school on Monday as she will have one more day of bedrest then. She wonders who she should call, though a few of the neighbors have visited- just a few periodic, short visits as the idea of having guests for very long and not being able to get them drinks or food herself stresses her more. But whom should she call tomorrow to come over? She wishes she would stop worrying about being alone and let her mind go blank, but she's still a little clingy since her pulse is still a bit high regardless of what she does or doesn't do.It will resolve itself, but in the meantime, she hopes Viktor doesn't mind and that the kids understand that she can't be there physically with them right now unless they come to her.
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Post by meliz820 on May 14, 2019 12:28:43 GMT -8
Viktor drops the kids off without incident and returns home. He has a couple house viewings today, but he can do paperwork from the couch. He is secretly a little glad for Isis' restriction. She needs the time to herself. She is so invested in her kids' lives that she wears herself thin. They have been safe and happy for years. He wishes she would feel that.
"Honey, I'm home!" he calls.
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Post by Joelle on May 15, 2019 9:48:34 GMT -8
"Good...I'm in here..." she calls from their bedroom, trying to keep a straight face. "Sorry I've been so clingy lately. My pulse is still a little bit high... not as bad as the first day and a half, though. What are you working on?" She wonders if it might be something for their trip. Since Isis' pulse rate has at least partially balanced out, she feels a lot more comfortable starting to make other plans.
"I looked over that link again when I could finally breathe better. But I can't figure something out. Are we tourists or on business? Adoption records might be business, but if I remember correctly, your bio mom moved to the States, yes? And you haven't been to Russia since, right? So what kind of letter do we even need- tourist, business, or both?"
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Post by meliz820 on May 15, 2019 19:04:02 GMT -8
Viktor arranged his computer bag on the couch and pulls things out. "Tourist. We're going for personal reasons. I'm glad you are on top of that. I really have to finish these contracts. We have had so many new residents lately. Thank you for taking the lead on getting our visas."
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Post by Joelle on May 17, 2019 20:51:51 GMT -8
"Oh, then that's not going to take long. I think." Isis looks at the link again. "Wow. We could have it as soon as tomorrow evening if we wanted. Somehow,how doesn't quite compute, but wow. And the visas themselves last up to three years! So if we ever wanted to go again, we could. Would you want to?" She bets he can't even believe they're going now.
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Post by meliz820 on May 18, 2019 18:37:11 GMT -8
Viktor laughs. "We have been planning this for about 10 years. Let's do this trip first and see how it goes. Do you have all the information you need?"
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Post by Joelle on May 18, 2019 20:06:54 GMT -8
She nods. "I think so. I mean, that's not to say I'm not going to screw this up. Maybe I should call my mom. Gen was adopted from France, so that's why she's Genevieve, for the patron saint of France. I don't know a lot about going to a foreign country. I haven't been to one since we went to Israel for our honeymoon. Frankly, I'm surprised all these years later that I had enough courage to follow that dream. It wasn't just how the twins were conceived, either. It was before that. 2001 changed the world a lot. I guess the key was me wanting to go there for our honeymoon. You know I'd go anywhere with you, right?" She sighs happily. "I love you." Now she doesn't know if her pulse is racing because she's still having palpitations or if it's racing because of their love. Either way, she is grinning so hard her face hurts.
After a few more minutes of just staring happily into his eyes, she rouses herself a little. "I have one more day of bedrest tomorrow. Any ideas who I could call while you take the kids to school? Someone who's not also going to be taking kids to school, obviously!"
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Post by meliz820 on May 23, 2019 21:00:07 GMT -8
(OOC: That is so incredibly sappy. LOL)
"I love you," Viktor returns. "We better take this trip soon. Our passports are going to expire in a year or so."
He is quiet for a moment as he looks at his computer. Suddenly he says, "Look at this!"
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Post by Joelle on May 23, 2019 21:24:46 GMT -8
She turns. "What is it? You sound excited!"
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Post by meliz820 on May 26, 2019 9:50:48 GMT -8
He turns his laptop toward her. It is open to Ancestry.com and his list of DNA matches. "This last name Volkov keeps coming up in my matches and I got a new match. Natasha Volkov." He reads, "Close family-1st Cousin. Shared DNA: 2,070 cM across 50 segments.' Centimorgans is a unit of measure along the DNA segment," he explains, drawing on knowledge he has picked up through his research. He clicks on a link. "This table shows the percentage of the time people sharing 2,070 cM have the following relationships: 100% grandparent, grandchild, half sibling, aunt/uncle, niece/nephew.' She looks too young to be a grandparent," he muses.
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Post by Joelle on May 27, 2019 4:38:34 GMT -8
"Viktor Valkov," Isis muses. "Sounds like a movie star." She grins. "That's great! You have a cousin! Huh, I wonder if I did mine I'd find any more relatives from Italy. Adalia and Andreas Grant are. Speaking of which, and I don't know why this just came to me after all these years, I should really do the twins'- for the other side of their medical history. But I didn't want to- to actually meet.. his family, you know? So I never did. But with the pollen count being a little higher than usual lately, I know it aggravates the fact that Julian has asthma, so... you just send in your blood to do one of those, right? I think there's another one, a newer one than this website, that you can find out medical stuff you're at risk for with. Hmmm." She pauses. "Natasha... you're going to e-mail her, right? I know Gen or Ray probably wouldn't pass that up.
(OOC: I am moving Jonathan, Susan, Tim, Greg, and Ray back to BG, but probably after everyone finds out about the twins being kidnapped. Tim and Greg both have wives who disappeared, and kids I really liked playing with.)
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Post by meliz820 on May 27, 2019 9:14:03 GMT -8
Viktor nods. "Emailing now. With Ancestry, you just spit in a vial and send it in. I haven't looked into any other sites. I haven't seen any medical information here." He clicks around on Natasha Volkov's profile and see's she has an extensive tree, but it is set to private and he can't see it. "You know," he admits, "I don't think I really thought about the possibility of meeting family. I just wanted to go to Russia. I'm kind of overwhelmed right now."
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Post by Joelle on May 27, 2019 9:42:51 GMT -8
"I think that site- with the medical info- is called 23 and Me. I see a lot of commercials for it lately. And... yeah. I think I would be overwhelmed too." She reaches for his hand.
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Post by meliz820 on May 28, 2019 8:19:02 GMT -8
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Post by Joelle on May 28, 2019 8:42:12 GMT -8
Meanwhile, Isis is wanting to know if Viktor actually knows or remembers Russian. "Ask her about whether she can help us with the language," she suggests. "Except for place names, Kremlin, vodka, Sputnik, a bunch of first names I find interesting- that's why Yuri- and Dodsvedanya, which is goodbye, (OOC: I think that's how you spell it) my Russian is nonexistent." Isis chuckles.
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Post by meliz820 on May 28, 2019 14:58:37 GMT -8
Viktor bursts into laughter. "I think we should just go over there and ask for vodka. What else do we need?"
He furrows his brow. "What does she mean she knows who I am?"
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Post by Joelle on May 28, 2019 16:15:30 GMT -8
Isis laughs too, then thinks about his question. "I don't know... unless... maybe she knows someone who knew your bio mom?" she guesses.
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Post by meliz820 on Jun 1, 2019 14:16:22 GMT -8
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Post by Joelle on Jun 1, 2019 14:25:02 GMT -8
"Almost done, now." A few minutes and several keystrokes later, Isis is finished. "There!"
Once that is done, she takes a peek at Viktor's message. "Wow! I...don't know what to say. This is like something out of a novel."
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Post by meliz820 on Jun 7, 2019 18:34:58 GMT -8
Viktor nods, rubbing his chin. When he sent away for an AncestryDNA kit, he only wanted to confirm his heritage in preparation for this trip. He never felt like his family was missing. Though he has three-and-a-half when he was adopted and he did remember his former name and snippets of his mother, they had only been childhood memories. The Kaehills had been wonderful parents to him and had given him everything he wanted and needed. Connecting with blood relatives was a part of AncestryDNA he hadn't given much thought to. Had his biological father run away to the USA with his biological mother, Natasha's nanny?
"What should I do?" he asks.
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Post by Joelle on Jun 7, 2019 19:33:47 GMT -8
Isis thinks. "I'm not sure I'm in any position to advise you. Gen or Ray might be, being that they were adopted. But I think even they would want to know if there would be others who could confirm that story."
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Post by meliz820 on Jun 15, 2019 16:06:33 GMT -8
"I need to call my mom." Viktor abruptly gets up and leaves the room. He returns 20 minutes later. He meets Isis' eyes and shrugs. "Mom is excited! It's like she's gaining a daughter or something."
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Post by Joelle on Jun 15, 2019 16:15:15 GMT -8
"Wow! Yeah. I guess I never thought of it that way- but then your mom always did love kids. She spoiled Julian and Hadassah before they were even born." Isis chuckles. "So many things, the little socks that look like shoes, the portrait coupon... and that was before you and I were officially dating! Though just barely." She's still grinning. "Hey, how old is Natasha? I wonder if she has any kids."
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Post by meliz820 on Jul 5, 2019 11:09:16 GMT -8
Viktor spends the next few days keeping Isis company and communicating with his new-found sister. berkshireglen.freeforums.net/thread/308/viktor-kaehill-interaction-distant-relative?page=1&scrollTo=14303As their travel plans begin to come together Viktor wrestles with the enormity of the new life he is finding for himself. He can't believe he is now sitting at the computer ready to buy tickets. "You made plans for the kids, right?" he asks Isis. The passports and visas are ready. He wants to make sure all the dates are in order. "These tickets are ready to purchase."
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Post by Joelle on Jul 7, 2019 15:22:07 GMT -8
Isis nods. "We're still finalizing a few details, but I think they may stay with the Mohrens. Chief Brianna Callaghan's sister Lucille and her husband. They have 9 year old twins as well." Isis shakes her head. "Good heavens. How did that happen? Double digits January 2020! It seems like yesterday Brianna visited me in the hospital with Christopher and Isabella! Here they are a few months later- the two sets of twins," she says, smiling at the photo.
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Post by meliz820 on Jul 10, 2019 15:48:56 GMT -8
Viktor smiles at the photo. "Can you believe we are going to have another one of these? It feels like yesterday, but also I can hardly remember what baby life is like." He laughs. "Maybe that is for the best."
He hits "checkout" on the airline website and completes his ticket purchase. "We're on our way!"
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Post by Joelle on Jul 10, 2019 19:48:38 GMT -8
(OOC: I hadn't considered until now how scattered their families had become and how that would affect Isis' perception. )
Isis grins. "I couldn't be happier- two I didn't expect and two I did is a good number! But I'm also glad we're not going to be quite as stressed as we were then. With the kids being the ages they are, they might even help with some parts of it when they can. And it looks as though our family might be growing by even more, if Natasha is your sister!" She grins. "I can't believe we're finally doing this! We've been talking about it for years and I just watched you buy our tickets! Please thank her for the offer to stay with her. "
She smiles wistfully. "There were six of us, too. Me, Gen, Seraphine, Tim, Greg, and Ray- though I only got to live with him for a couple of months before our wedding. Now Gen is in...California, I think, and Seraphine's in Israel and the rest moved back to Ohio. For all that that seems like a huge number, we barely see each other. Yours are in North Carolina. Do you ever feel kind of...I don't want to say isolated, because we have lots of friends here, but...do you know what I mean? I'm hoping this baby will bring some of us together again, if briefly." She chuckles, remembering how pregnant she was when she and Viktor met, and how explaining the situation had bonded her to him and his family. "Babies are good at that, aren't they?"
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Post by meliz820 on Jul 13, 2019 17:59:08 GMT -8
"Maybe we can organize a family reunion after the baby comes. Get everyone back in BG for a while," Viktor suggests.
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Post by Joelle on Jul 14, 2019 17:17:19 GMT -8
"That would be great. I've been missing everyone lately. It took me a little while to realize I was pregnant- mostly because we had the worst flu season in my memory- but I must have conceived around the time Haddie and Yuri and I all had it together. I did talk to my mom the other day. She said Tim and Greg are at least thinking about moving back."
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Post by meliz820 on Jul 19, 2019 16:06:06 GMT -8
"Oh?" Viktor asks. "What are they planning?" "Ok, tickets are purchased. Can you set the kids up to stay with someone beginning May 29? I'm sorry it's so close to the end of school, but ticket prices skyrocket after that, plus Natasha's family will be much busier in the summer." berkshireglen.freeforums.net/thread/413/scattering-all-directions
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