I have no idea what this is or where it came from. My brain just puked it out one day.

Inspired by the small bit of the book where Rose is with Strigoi!Dimitri in Siberia.

Might be continued if requested.

Love,

Annaelle

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Beremennost' Chudesa (Pregnancy Miracles)

His lips sud den ly found mine again. I made a small sound of protest and tried vain ly to es cape his embrace. He was too strong, and af ter a mo ment, I didn't want to es cape. That same sen sa tion as before flood ed me. His lips were cold, but the kiss burned be tween us. Fire and ice. And he was right— I did kiss him back.

Des per ate ly, that ra tio nal part of me screamed that this was wrong. Last time, he'd bro ken the kiss before too much could hap pen.

Not this time.

And as we con tin ued kiss ing now, that ra tio nal voice in me grew small er and small er. The part of me that would al ways love Dim itri took over, ex ult ing in the way his body felt against mine, the way he wound my hair around one of his hands, let ting the fin gers get tan gled up. His oth er hand slid up the back of my shirt, cold against my warm skin. I pushed my self clos er to him and felt the pres sure of the kiss in crease as his own de sire picked up.

Then, in the midst of it all, my tongue light ly brushed against the sharp point of one of his fangs. It was like a buck et of cold wa ter tossed up on me. With as much strength as I could muster, I jerked my head away, pulling out of the kiss. I could on ly guess that his guard had been mo men tar ily down, al low ing me that small es cape.

My breath ing was heavy, my whole body still want ing him. My mind, how ev er, was the part of me in con trol— for now, at least. God, what had I been do ing? It's not the Dim itri you knew. It's not him. I'd been kiss ing a mon ster.

But my body wasn't so sure.

"No," I mur mured, sur prised by how pa thet ic and plead ing I sound ed. "No. We can't do this."

"Are you sure?" he asked. His hand was still in my hair, and he forcibly turned my head so that I was face- to- face with him again. "You didn't seem to mind. Ev ery thing can be just like it was be fore… like it was in the cab in… You cer tain ly want ed it then…"

The cab in…

"No," I re peat ed. "I don't want that."

He pressed his lips against my cheek and then made a sur pris ing ly gen tle trail of kiss es down to my neck. Again, I felt my body's yearn ing for him, and I hat ed my self for the weak ness.

"What about this?" he asked, his voice bare ly a whis per. "Do you want this?"

"Wh—"

I felt it. The sharp bite of teeth in to my skin as he closed his mouth down on my neck. For half an instant, it was ag oniz ing.

Painful and hor ri ble.

And then, just like that, the pain dis ap peared. A rush of bliss and joy poured through me. It was so sweet. I had nev er felt so won der ful in my life.

It re mind ed me a lit tle of how it had been when Lis sa drank from me. That had been amaz ing, but this… this was ten times bet ter. A hun dred times bet ter. The rush from a Strigoi bite was greater than that of a Mo roi's. It was like be ing in love for the first time, filled with that all-consuming, joy ous feel ing.

When he pulled away, it felt like all the hap pi ness and won der in the world had van ished. He ran a hand over his mouth, and I stared at him wide- eyed. My ini tial in stinct was to ask why he'd stopped, but then, slow ly, I reached in side my self to fight past the bliss ful daze that his bite had sent me in to.

"Why… what…" My words slurred a lit tle. "You said it would be my choice…"

"It still is," he said. His own eyes were wide, his breath ing heavy too. He'd been just as af fect ed as me. "I'm not do ing this to awak en you, Roza. A bite like this won't turn you. This… well, this is just for fun…"

Then, his mouth moved back to my neck to drink again, and I lost track of the world.

—Rose Hathaway, Blood Promise by Richelle Mead

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Life back at the Academy was… easy.

Just like it always would have been, had I never met Dimitri. I would've gotten into trouble, I would've gone to parties, I would've dated stupid, airheaded Moroi boys and I would have gotten to be Lissa's Guardian in the end.

But I also never would have known what it really felt like to be completely and truly in love, and I wouldn't have been happy (however short my moment of happiness was), because I wouldn't have had him.

I wouldn't have had Dimitri.

And no matter how much it hurt now, no matter how many times I woke up screaming at night after another terrifying nightmare of our time in Siberia, I could never ever regret meeting and falling in love with him.

Adrian still asked me out at every opportunity that presented itself, and Lissa had been trying to talk me into saying 'yes', but…

I couldn't.

Not yet.

I'd promised to give him a chance, and I would, eventually, but I couldn't give Adrian a real chance as long as I was still in love with Dimitri.

I needed time, and a lot of it.

Sighing, I rubbed my hands over my face, trying to shake off the feeling of exhaustion and slight nausea that had been plaguing me since before I made it back to the States—I'd assumed it was an after-effect of using so much Spirit to save Lissa while I was still in Russia, but when I'd thought about it, I'd realized it'd been going on before that too.

While…

I winced and shook my head.

Nope. I was not allowed to think about those months I spent in Siberia. I was not allowed to think about everything I'd allowed Dimitri to do to me under the false and pathetic guise that maybe, somewhere deep down, he did still feel some kind of love for me, and maybe, he wasn't completely lost to me.

It had been stupid and childish and if I repeated to myself that it never happened, it might become the truth.

"Rose?"

I swallowed thickly and swung my legs over the edge of the bed, running my fingers through my messy, absolutely hopeless hair. "Come in, Liss," I called back, tugging down my tank top a little more, so it actually covered my stomach (I needed to start training more again, I swear I put on weight).

Lissa breezed into my room, babbling on and on about some party and how I should pick a dress and totally go as Adrian's date and that it was going to be fun, when she suddenly stopped dead in the middle of the room, staring at me—and I do mean wide-eyes-mouth-hanging-open staring. "Rose," she started slowly, and I winced at the feeling of disbelief and betrayal she was projecting (quite loudly too), "What the hell did you do?"

"Uh," I bit my lip, frowning a little, "Nothing?"

"Rosemarie Hathaway!" Lissa screeched (and I was seriously wondering what the hell I'd done now, because she only used my full name when I was in big trouble), "When were you going to tell me you slept with Adrian?"

"What?" I spluttered indignantly, "What the hell are you talking about? Is he saying that we did? Oh God, I'm going to kill him—who the hell does he think he is?" Lissa stops me right before I sprint out of the door to track down Adrian and kick his ass for making up ridiculous shit about us, her eyes still wide and surprised, though she does seem calmer.

Well, at least that's one of us.

"Well then," she crossed her arms over her chest, "Who did you sleep with?"

"No one," I exclaimed, my cheeks burning in embarrassment, "Liss, you know I haven't slept with anyone—not since…" I choked and looked down.

No, I scolded myself, bad Rose. No thinking about the now-undead Russian God.

"Rose," Lissa said softly, and I only jumped a little when her hand fell onto my shoulder, "I'm sorry, it's just—" she trailed off and studied me intently again, and it took me a second to realize what she was doing.

"Hey," I pouted as indignantly as I could manage, "Are you doing that aura-thingy Adrian taught you?"

She nodded slowly, biting her lip (she always did that when she was thinking very hard), "Yeah… Maybe I'm wrong, it's not possible anyway," she smiled, but I could tell it's fake, and I knew that if it worried her, I'd better be worried too. "Lissa, what the hell did you see?" I demanded, crossing my arms over my chest, frowning.

"I—" she sighed, "it looks different. Your aura, it's like…" she shrugged and sighed, "Like it's expanded. Rose," she bit her lip and finished, "the only other time I saw an aura like this, the woman was, uh," she whispered the last part so softly I couldn't hear it, and it was really starting to piss me off at the moment.

"Lissa, just tell me already," I hissed, narrowing my eyes at her.

"She was pregnant," Lissa repeated—I froze, feeling like someone'd slapped me in the face, because it was not possible—it'd been months since the night in the cabin, and even if it hadn't been, Dimitri was dhampir and so was I and dhampirs can't conceive together—it's common knowledge.

That's when the real nausea hit me.

The cabin… The cabin wasn't the last time I'd slept with Dimitri.

Oh God.

No, no, no, it's not possible.

I stumbled back and sank down onto my bed, my shaking hands coming up to cover my mouth—I couldn't believe this.

No—it just couldn't be.

Strigoi couldn't… They didn't… I didn't…

"Rose?" I was vaguely aware of Lissa calling my name, but all I could focus on was the possibility—the symptoms I'd been ignoring for weeks, assuming it was a flu; nausea, exhaustion, weight gaining, my period staying away…

"Oh God," I breathed out shakily, "Oh my God—Lissa." She was kneeling before me, her hands gripping mine, and I could tell that she was slowly realizing the same thing I was (she was feeling confused, slightly disgusted by the thought—not that I could blame her—and considering it as an actual possibility).

"Rose, did you—when you were in Siberia, with Dimitri, did you—" she couldn't even finish the sentence and I understood, it was disgusting, he was Strigoi, and I shouldn't have let it get that far, but I'd been so far under his control that I'd actually started to believe my Dimitri, my Comrade, was still in there somewhere.

I didn't have to nod for Lissa to understand—she knew.

And she didn't judge.

She just nodded, got me off my lazy ass and in the shower, dressed and ready to go see doctor Olendzki, claiming that at least, she would be able to tell us if I really was pregnant. Everything was a blur—I was trapped in my own mind, and all I could focus on now was Dimitri.

Why had I been stupid enough to believe that I could change him?

That I could save him?

Why had I given in?

I was only vaguely aware of Lissa dragging me through the school by my hand, chattering non-stop about inconsequential things, undoubtedly trying to distract the both of us. I let her do all the talking when we arrived at the hospital wing—I was in no state to communicate properly.

Was this what shock felt like?

Slight nausea, a numbing feeling spreading throughout the rest of my body, my head swimming with so much information, I felt as though it might explode at any given moment. "Princess Vasilisa, Rose," doctor Olendzki smiles at us as she enters the cubicle, "What can I do for you?"

Seeing her solidified it, I think.

The shock wore off, and all I wanted to do was crawl in a corner and die. "A pregnancy test," I whispered, "I need a pregnancy test."

To her credit, Olendzki only looked mildly surprised and disapproving before she nodded and disappeared to get the test, while Lissa squeezed my hand and told me it was all going to be okay—I don't know how she figured that one, but I let her have that delusion for a little while longer.

I really wanted it to be true too, but I knew that if it was true—if I really was pregnant—I was in a lot of trouble.

Moroi-dhampir pregnancies were simple and common, as were pure Moroi pregnancies—I'd have been in trouble with a complete dhampir pregnancy… But a Strigoi-dhampir pregnancy?

Completely unheard of.

And for pretty damn good reason too—Strigoi didn't stick around to knock up dhampirs or Moroi. They killed them.

I was pretty sure I was one of the few—if not the only one—who ever lived to tell the tale.

"Here we go," Olendzki re-appeared with a small cup and a simple white stick, handing them to me, "Pee in the cup and put the stick in, keep it there for a few seconds, and then in three to five minutes, we should have an answer."

I don't think three minutes ever lasted longer than they did then.

Every second dragged by, almost feeling like a fucking century, before Olendzki's watch finally beeped, and we all leaned forward to look at the small white stick.

POSITIVE.

PREGNANT.

Shit.

Shit, shit, shit.

Up until that moment, I don't think I really considered it a real possibility.

It was just too surreal—I couldn't be pregnant. I'd only had sex twice, for God's sake (with one man too—what were the fucking odds?), and both times, I was not supposed to be able to conceive at all.

Olendzki immediately slipped into doctor-mode and started firing question after question at me, which I answered as well as I could without giving away my baby's father.

My baby.

Holy shit.

I was having a baby.

I was having Dimitri's baby.

My hand fell to my stomach, and I choked—whatever the baby's father was now, it had been his affection for me that had kept me alive for so long (as a Strigoi or as a dhampir, Dimitri just couldn't get rid of me), and whatever else, the baby was the only thing of his I had left.

If anyone found out what the baby really was, they'd take her from me—I was sure of it.

And I couldn't let that happen.

She was mine (don't ask me why, but I was convinced the baby was a girl).

"Rose," Olendzki smiled kindly, "Can I ask who the father is?"

I hesitated for a split-second, and Lissa's wide, panicked eyes met mine as I swallowed thickly—I needed an excuse, I needed someone to cover for me, and I needed someone I could trust.

I could only think of one person.

"Adrian. Adrian Ivashkov."