Leaping for Your Dreams

***Mari’s POV***

Aleks was coming home for her birthday. I knew who she was really here to see but damn the girl is my Bestie. I _had_ to get her something I knew she’d love and after the three _very_ successful events we’d just finished, I gave Moka and Stace Thursday off. This meant I had _time_ to find just the right things for her.

I spent an hour in the mall before I hit on just the right gift for her. I was strolling through the bookstore and noticed that several of her favorite authors had new books out. BINGO! I got them all and with a lighter heart went to find a dress for next week’s Skates and Plates.

I got home at 4 pm with a light heart and a lighter wallet. Who really cared though, I had my Bestie’s B-day gift and a dress I _knew_ Geno would like. I’d even found a pair of shoes to match the dress and a good price.

I hid the things I’d bought in the back of my side of the closet, not to hide them really more to keep myself from doing something stupid with them beforehand. I then skipped downstairs to peruse what to do about dinner. I didn’t get too far when I was corralled. “Where you today? You had half day, but not at home.”

I laughed. “I had some shopping to do today. Aleks’ birthday is coming up, not to mention Skates and Plates. Fortunately I’m all done with shopping for both.” I was actually happy about all of that. I didn’t normally go shopping for dresses without another woman to get the opinion of.

Geno pushed me away and looked oddly at me. He actually looked hurt that I was done shopping. “You not want help from me?” Yep, the hurt puppy look was coming out.

I sighed. “I know what Aleks likes and her favorite authors all had new books out. If that’s not a perfect gift for her I don’t know what is.” I watched as his face got dark and brooding. Ok that was _not_ what he was upset about.

“Никогда даже дать мне шанс, чтобы помочь посмотрим ... (Never even give me a chance to help look ...)” He walked away quietly. Oh hell no! That was not a wise move

“Jak jsem měl vědět, že chtěl pomoci? (How was I to know that you wanted to help?)” Oh yeah, did I mention that I tended to fight in Czech… Well here goes nothing…

“Что за черт? Я не понимаю вас. (What the hell? I do not understand you.)” He whirled around as he raised his voice.

Oh yeah… I couldn’t fight with him like that. I shook my head a bit and fired back. “Fine then! How was I supposed to know you wanted to go with me and help? You didn’t tell me when I mentioned it. You gotta talk to me if you want me to know things!”

Yep voices were raised and tempers were flaring… “I not only one who need to tell things! How you know I like it if I not there?!”

We were now standing in the living room shouting at each other. “Well gee I thought that you might be more interested in how it looked on the floor after the event than how I looked _in_ it!” Yep I went there.

He sputtered for a bit, I think I caught him off guard. Soon enough he was back at it though. “Is that all you think I like about you? Holy Fuck! You more than just a piece of ass for me! I tell you that first night! I _not_ Max! You more than just that!”

Oh My God! “You idiot!” I smacked him once. “I _know_ you aren’t Max I know that even _Max_ isn’t _always_ like that! My God Evgeni, sometimes you are just SO…” I screamed in frustration. “I have _no idea how to explain this to you!”

I walked away and grabbed my purse. Fishing through it I found my phone. I dialed quickly and got Aleks on the phone. “I hope to God you aren’t busy cause I need you to explain something to Evgeni!”

Aleks sputtered over the phone for a second before asking what was going on. “We’re having a fight cause I went dress shopping without him!” I heard her sigh and then she told me to hand him the phone. I stomped over to him, nearly slammed it into his hand and them stomped upstairs.

***Geno’s POV***

As Misa walked away I was wondering if her crazy was coming out. Then she came back, forced her phone into my hand and stomped up the stairs. I was totally flabbergasted but I answered the phone anyway. “Hello?”

I breathed a sigh of relief when Aleks was on the other end. “Hey Geno, Heard you two were fighting.”

I snorted. Fighting, yeah that was about right, but it was no fight I’d ever been in before. “I think so.”

I heard Aleks sigh. “Over what? I can’t help you if I don’t know.”

“I not sure. She say she happy that she got your birthday gift and dress for Skates and Plates. I want help her find dress but she did it without me. Then she yell at me in Czech and then I so Lost Aleks. I just want help find the dress.”

Aleks sighed again. “So you wanted to help her find the dress but she did it without you. Did you tell her that you wanted to help?” I mumbled something negative, which made Aleks laugh. “Geno, she’s mad cause you didn’t tell her you wanted to help. I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess that she said something about how all you cared about was how it would look on the floor, right?”

How the hell did she know that? “Da, how you know?”

Aleks laughed. “That’s how she fights with people she really cares about. It always comes back to either sex or alcohol. Geno, if you want this fight to stop, you have to look like you’re giving in. She likes to surprise people on special occasions. Your job is to make her understand you’d find her beautiful no matter what she wears. Then she’ll end this, and probably _still_ not show you the dress she found. From there you can handle things. Good luck.” She then hung up. I sighed. I hated fighting with anyone, but fighting with my girl was _always_ the worst.

I climbed the stairs and found her sitting on the bed sniffling. My heart broke; this was kind of my fault. I crawled up behind her and pulled her close. She tried pulling away from me but I held on tight. “Мне очень жаль. (I'm sorry.)” I mumbled into her neck. “I should have telled you I want help.”

She stopped sniffling. “We need to talk to make this work Zhenya. That means about all kinds of things we might not think about.”

I just held her while she continued to lecture me on how to have a good relationship. I knew we had to work on things, not just talking to each other but everything. This was going to be a learning curve for both of us. I needed to learn what kinds of things would set her off and she needed to learn how to pry things out of me at first.

When she was done, I had listened; I spoke up. “We need learn each other, this still new. Give us time. If I say nothing about something you think important, talk more about it. Give reason you think important, maybe I not get why at first.” I loosened my hold on her and she turned around.

“So I need to just keep talking about things I think are important. Won’t that annoy you?”

I shook my head. “I hard headed, not always get it the first time. Ex complain about it a lot. I try to remember that if I want things with you, I need to tell you. We need work together you right, but we need have fun too.” I made a decision. “Come, Team leave tomorrow for weekend games. Tonight we go shop and have fun.”

Several hours, and shops, later we came back home laughing. We had found a couple incredible pieces of furniture for the house that we had then ordered. Misa even let me choose a dress for her to wear some other time.

As we lay in bed that evening, my bags packed and by the door, I couldn’t help but smile. We’d survived our first fight, hopefully we’d survive a lot more than that.