To Russia With Love

[brthrarnold]

Dr. Dimitri Karloff hummed a strange song to himself as he wheeled a gurney along. Atop the gurney was a man. . .a dead man. And atop the dead man was a white sheet, draped over the body in that formal, respectful way that was done when a man died. Dimitri had draped that sheet himself, in fact. He liked to do things himself and that was why he was pushing the gurney this very moment. Really, it was odd for the Chief Medical Examiner of a hospital to do the actual 'collecting' of the deceased, but Dimitri was glad to do it. He hated spare time. It was his greatest enemy and was to be occupied with business at all costs.

As the Coroner moved along to the elevator, his humming continued. One might suspect his song to be an exotic Russian one, perhaps originally played upon a balalaika and enjoyed over a bowl of borscht, however, it was rather a song that Dimitri constructed all on his own as he went along. Sometimes, the tempo and tune varied as he shifted between settings. As he crossed from the hallway into the elevator (which had opened with a pleasant 'bing!'), his music changed from a dirge-like tune to a chipper type of melody.

When the elevator 'binged!' again, Dr. Karloff and his gurney and his deceased companion exited and headed down the hall to the morgue. Dimitri's humming suddenly became very. . .mysterious.

[moody]

If this was at all meant to be some sort of practical joke, well, then Alexei Karloff had taken the phrase to a rather impractical extreme. It was a meeting many months in the making. Ever since coming to the United States, Alexei was allowed to keep a erratically regular correspondence with his favorite nephew (regular, because that just happened to be Deema's way and erratic, because it as Alexei's way.) In recent months, however, Alexei had dropped all correspondence. He stopped answering letters, never called... but toward a very good goal, so he felt.

In those months, he had poured his efforts into packing his bags and moving away from the Big Apple to.. Seattle, whatever they called it. Since he was living there now, he'd surely pick it up eventually. Anyway, that being said, the second phase of his plan was to procure a job at the very same hospital to which his dear nephew happened to be a beloved staff member. Everything, so far, had gone without a hitch, for Alexei was proudly Seattle Grace's newest Ambulance driver. Now it was a simple matter of completing this whole venture with what would be a comparatively, very short lived phase three.

So, standing in the morgue beside the door, he simply awaited that telltale humming that would let him know that dear Deema was on his way in. When the time did come that he heard the strolling hum of a gurney being wheeled down the hall, coupled with the dark and ominous humming of the individual wheeling the gurney, Alexei waited out the time it took for the gap between them to be closed. As Dr. Dimitri Karloff,at long last, passed through the door, his beloved Uncle Alyosha threw up his arms in greeting.

"Hello, Deema" he started in a loud Russian accent, "the favorite nephew of ME!"

[brthrarnold]

If 'sudden cardiac freakout' was a real term, then that would be the perfect term to describe Dimitri's reaction. His heart leapt in a horribly surprised way and Dr. Karloff promptly jerked back, clattering into the wall and shrieking as if he had just been physically attacked by a jaguar. Dimitri did not like surprises! The gurney, now released from Karloff's grasp and having been suddenly propelled by his terror-stricken spasm, wheeled dangerously on it's own, crashing into a table. Luckily, the body was not stirred from it's place on the gurney - or else Dimitri would have had to hurt his poor uncle.

With eyes wide and glazed over, Dimitri pressed back into the wall as if he thought he could shift through it if he tried hard enough. His chest heaved heavily, in sync with every high-pitched gaspy breath that Dr. Karloff took. He looked like he might keel over at any moment and earn a place in one of the comfy freezer-boxes along with his silent 'friends.' He had half a mind to slap Alexei across the face for that one, but how could he possibly slap his uncle? After all, he had lost correspondence with the man months ago and had been worried sick (possibly literally) over it all. Dimitri realized that he was too overjoyed to hear from Alexei to even come close to being mad for his sudden, surprising re-appearance.

Dimitri recovered all at once, shouting "HELLO, my dear uncle!" Leaping forward, he gave Alexei a hug that pinned the man's formerly-raised arms down to his sides. Excitedly, Dimitri briefly lifted his uncle off of the ground for a second before returning him to the floor and adding, "Vhat are you doink here?!" There was a hint of concern in his tone.

[moody]

The initial response that had been provoked from the poor doctor was exactly what his young uncle should have expected, and therefore a satisfactory one. It was good to see that all of that time spent preparing for this surprise was not a waste, for Deema most assuredly found it surprising. What Alexei had not counted on was that after months of no communication, his nephew would have been so worried (looking back, it really was something he should have suspected, since Dimitri was, in fact, the sort to worry.) Alexei never really had been good at predicting even the most predictable of behaviors, but was, himself, overjoyed to receive a warm welcome from the affectionate man he had neglected to call for such an extended period of time.

Having been returned to the ground from an airlifting hug, Alexei managed to yank his arms free and placed his hands on either side of the older man's face in the most uncley way he knew how. "My dear boy, I am here for the surprisink of you! Surprise!"

First patting Dimitri's cheeks, Alexei pulled him back into a quick return-hug before pulling away to allow each of them room to breath. "You are lookink at new ambulance driver of Seattle Grace. I am vorkink here now, is good news!"

[brthrarnold]

"Is very good news!" Dimitri replied at once, patting his uncle on the shoulder. His terror had converted into excitement in that way that made Dr. Karloff a touch hyperactive (which, apparently, made him all the more eager to touch people.) "Congratulations! Is very good position! Ve are co-vorkers! Hurray! Ve celebrate!"

Uncle Alexei was always an odd one. Then again, everyone in Dimitri Karloff's family was a bit strange. It was evident that he had not thought that his sudden lack of correspondence would have affected Dimitri in any way, and so for that, Dimitri had to forgive his relative. --Dr. Karloff could not help but be cautious about the word 'surprise.' He hated surprises. Alexei knew (or should have known) that Dimitri hated surprises. Was there something more behind this?

"This is very big surprise, I am thinkink! But vhy do you not call or write to me? You vorry me very much vhen you do that, Alyosha," Dimitri said, trying to guilt the younger man just a little.

[moody]

"This is very right, ve vill be doink much celebratink vhen you are off vork." Alexei stated, in a mockingly matter-of-fact sort of way. It was anyone's guess how the two would celebrate, since Alexei Karloff's idea of celebration differed rather greatly from that of his nephew. Most notably was that Dimitri was not a drinker, where as his young uncle felt a little bit of alcohol was the perfect way to lighten the mood of just about any situation. Also notable was the younger man's affinity for loudness that contrasted Dimitri's preference for silence. The details could be worked out and negotiated later, however, because now was just a time for happy reunion.

"If I had been callink and writink, I vould have told you of my comink." The fact that Dimitri did not enjoy surprises was far from unknown to Alexei, but it remained a mystery to him how this could be. He, himself, enjoyed surprises and loved surprising people. Deema just didn't know he liked surprised, perhaps. It wasn't that he didn't like them, no, it was simply that he was not used to them. Exposed to enough good surprises, so it would seem, would make Deema realize that surprises are not all bad. This had been Alexei's theory for many years, and so from time to time he'd make an attempt to give dear Deema one of those more pleasant surprises in hopes that it would help him enjoy more things. So far, he had made very little headway, but with a surprise as good as this one, he suspected things would pick up.

"If I am tellink you already, you cannot be so happy to find out today!" Rather kindly, he tried explaining to Deema how he should be feeling about it. "Is no reason to vorry, because I am okay. So you are happy to be seeink me, happy to be hearink of good news, and happy to have uncle livink close by now. Is all reason to be happy!"

[brthrarnold]

Dimitri grinned at his uncle's words that acknowledged the fact that his work was his priority. The grin on Dr. Karloff's face also attempted to hide apprehension at Alexei's choice of wording, stating that there would be a literal celebration after work. Dimitri was well aware of his uncle's preferred ways of celebration and they did not sound like very much fun at all to the coroner. Of course, this made him a very odd Russian for not being fond of drinking, partying, and loudness, but Dimitri never was a normal person. No. . .not ever.

As for Alexei's logic as to why he would not call? It did not make sense to Dimitri one bit. Well, that is to say that Dimitri realized what Alexei's reasoning happened to be, but he did not seem to think that it made much sense at all. Of course, his dear Uncle Alyosha had decided to keep hush-hush so that Dimitri would be surprised. Oh, how Dimitri hated surprises. He did not understand why Alexei insisted on constantly surprising him at every possible opportunity. Honestly, the coroner supposed that his uncle took sick amusement in seeing him almost have massive heart failure all the time. "You should not be keepink secret like this from me, ha ha!"

Slapping the younger man heartily upon the back, Dimitri continued, "Da, da. This is makink me very much happy for certain! Is very good for me to have you livink close! But you are very all-of-sudden person! This is not normal, Alyosha!" Dimitri Karloff had no right to tell anyone that they were not normal. No. . .not anyone.