Snow wakes when a nurse comes into the room to check on her vitals. Crenshaw is still sitting next to the bed, but he is awake as well and looks over at her with a smile as she stirs. She returns the smile, saying, "Under the circumstances, I do not think that I can keep calling you Crenshaw. Would you prefer that I call you by another name"
The man blushes a bit as he answers. "Andrew. My first name is Andrew. And is yours just Snow, or is there something else?"
"Ophelia. The name I was given at birth is Yelena. Yelena Marinova, but almost no one uses that, anymore. I have been Ophelia for a long time and most people just call me Snow, because of my pale skin and white hair." Snow sits up in the bed and takes a drink of water from the cup at her elbow, idly noticing that hospital gowns in what has to be an exclusive clinic in Seattle are no different from hospital gowns she has seen in the hospitals she worked in when she lived in Russia. She looks closely at Crenshaw and says, "Andrew, I do not know if a hospital bed is the best place, but I do not know that anywhere else is any better. So here it is. I have never met a man like you before and am very attracted to you and very interested in you and would very much like to see if there is anything to us. Your staying at my side here tells me that you think the same about me as I do about you. But I want to be honest with you and will understand if you run for the hills. I was born and raised in Russia. My parents were, and still are, Vory soldiers. I was raised Vory and still answer to their call. My parents also worked for EVO and I was educated and trained by the corporation. I have received extensive medical training and could find work in almost any hospital. But such education and training is not free, Andrew. I paid my debts by working as a corporate hostess, or escort. My job was to sexually please corporate clients to further the business aims of EVO. The Vory have also made use of me in that role on occasion. My sister came to Seattle a few years ago and then disappeared. I came here to find her, or at least find out what happened to her. And, actually, none of this has any bearing on how I got involved with my team and went to Los Angeles. That was something extra to make some money to be able to stay here and continue my search."
"So, now you know. I have skills with hacking, but I am also a physician and a corporate prostitute. Certainly this is just the highlights, but it should be enough truth to let you decide if you want to stay near me. I would like very much to get to know you better, as I think we could have a future together, but I do not want that future built on lies. You are a very smart man, Andrew, and would eventually find out if I was telling lies to you and I do not want that. So it is now up to you. My vote is to give US a chance, but what is yours?"
