The Philocalist 〰 ♡ 〰 Volume One

Pilot

Eleonora wakes up to the sound of the babies crying. She pushes herself off of her bed, reaching for a blanket to cover herself in. She leaves her small room and goes across the hall to the nursery where the twins are sleeping.

She wraps the blanket around herself so she can hold the twins at once and feed them at once. Dashia and Sasha, twin sisters, six months in age, each suckle on one of Eleonora's breasts. 

Eleonora makes sure they're secure before walking into the living room of the three bedroom apartment she calls home. She walks past English books and paperwork to enter the kitchen. 

Elle quickly goes about making a coffee, knowing that her sister-in-law's little girls won't fall asleep for the rest of the night, so she is left to take care of them.

She turns the news on in the background as she picks up her rook book. It's filled with notes and tear stains. The notes translate some of the information into Russian and the tear stains are from nights of frustration as she tries to decipher the words.

[Five Hours Later]

"you said you were going to make Syrniki!" Maxim complains.

Maxim is her sister-in-laws oldest child. He is six.

"yeah, I'm sorry, I ran out of cottage cheese, so I made Kasha instead" Elle apologizes.

"Mama would've made me Syrniki" Maxim whines.

"I know, I'm really sorry, Maxim, I'm starting my new job today and I'm a little overwhelmed" Elle admits.

Maxim huffs and stomps off.

"come on, come on, I know" Elle pleads, trying to separate Sasha from continue to drink from her very sore breast. 

Sasha starts to cry and Elle sighs, setting her down in her crib with her twin sister in the other.

She somehow manages to get Maxim dressed by the time the babysitter arrives to watch over the twins.

"thank you so much for this again" Elle thanks the babysitter, handing her the money.

"of course, Elle, good luck at work" Maya nods, accepting the money.

"thank you, the twins have already eaten this morning but I have bottles in the fridge in case they get hungry" Elle informs the babysitter while grabbing her work bag and Maxim's backpack.

"sounds good, I'll see you around 6" Maya smiles as Elle ushers Maxim out of the apartment.

[Two Hours Later]

Eleonora enters the roll call room pretty early, there a few cops already sitting down but not many. Elle sits down at one of the front tables, having been told that the rookies always sit in the front.

"Помните, вы получили это. Вы выучили английский, научились водить машину, вы можете это сделать." Eleonora mutters to herself in Russian. (Remember, you got this. You learned English, you learned how to drive, you can do this.)

"All right, all right. Settle down. Settle down. So, okay, we got some new blood this morning. And some pushing the expiration date." Sergeant Grey enters the roll call room and starts to talk. 

Elle looks over at the other three rookies, she's unfamiliar with them. She went to the Academy in Hawaii but she does recognize that one of them does appear to be older, which must be the jab Grey made.

"Get up. After six months together in the Academy, you've earned the right to be here. But you'll have to prove yourself to stay. The way we do things matters. Protocol and tradition are the metal from which every cop in this city is forged. Understand?" Grey tells to the rookie. Elle is quick to stand up.