Hello, everyone! xAshlingxDreamx here!

I watched the movie this weekend and I remembered why I have fallen so much in love with it! Everything about it is just... awesome! So, besides my novelisation of the movie, I wanted badly to write a oneshot on our lovely couple. So this takes place right after the end of the movie, on the bateau Anya and Dimitri were dancing. It's just a fluffy, pointless little story! I hope you enjoy!

P.S. I do intend to write more of them in case you liked this one :)

She drew the warm, itchy fabric more tightly around her bare shoulders, clenching its ends in a fist on her heart while her other palm was resting comfortably on one of the knees she had drawn close to her chest. The cool, evening breeze had started getting chillier for quite some time now but her previous preoccupations could be called energetic and strength-consuming and they had caused the already pinky tone on her cheeks to redden even more. Well, she could think of one certain activity which just by doing that alone had caused her to blush so violently, like a coy schoolgirl. But she pursed her smirking, rosy lips and averted her ocean blue orbs to the enchanting night-sky.

The smiling stars were shining gleefully under the moon's bright, velvety silver light. Just like her tiara, a symbol of royalty, riches, nobility but most importantly to her, family. A life she had dreamt of countless of times during those ten years she had spent in that horrid orphanage as silly little nobody, a skinny little brat. As Anya. She had spent numerous of her evenings just watching these very same stars and letting her imagination flow endlessly, sweeping her off the ground and setting her in a dream-world, where she was in a magnificent, immense palace, strolling graciously on the marble dancefloor in a prince's arms while her golden glittering, beautiful dress would be waving joyfully around her legs and waist. As Anastasia.

The girl chuckled at the irony. Anya and Anastasia, two very different girls. Anya was but a nameless –not to mention, homeless- orphan with no memory of her past whatsoever, not a single clue of who she was or where she came from –except her gold medallion, of course-, who had spent her life getting scolded by the orphanage's mistress for behaving like a spoiled little princess or imagining she was said princess.

And then Anastasia was a Princess of Russia, yet just as lost and alone as Anya was. She had all she asked and wished for and everyone would behave her respectfully like the royalty she was. Anya was in search of a dream while Anastasia was the dream itself. Kind of weird, actually. These two were so different and yet so similar. Because, in the end, they were, in fact, the exact same person, the same little, lost but determined girl. Anya was Anastasia. Anastasia was Anya. An orphaned commoner was Russia's lost Grand Duchess and vice versa.

Odd, really.

But true.

The young woman had no idea how many sides of her character she had yet to discover and to learn. But this journey of discovery she was setting on seemed promising and appealing to her curious, young eyes. Besides, she had always been preparing herself for any challenge that life would throw before her path. And this time she was not neither did she feel alone.

"Cold, are we?"

Her head jerked startled to the direction the voice came from only to meet with a pair of awfully familiar, shimmering playfully dark orbs staring back at her before he sat down beside her. She brushed a cheek against the fabric on her shoulder with a nod and a gentle smile, making Dimitri chuckle almost in adoration. It was weird to have him treat her like that, so affectionately and sincerely, but she would get used to it. After all, it was only that very night that they had gotten together and actually shared their first kiss –said reason of blushing-.

"I thought so." he spoke again and sat beside her on the cold, metallic floor of the bateau's deck. "Here, I brought something that might warm you up."

With a smirk of genuine surprise and cheekiness, she accepted the cup he was so generously offering her and took a testing sip of its contains. As soon as the hot liquid touched the tip of her tongue, she spat it out violently, coughing. He knitted his brows in demand and worry. "You…don't like hot chocolate?"

"Don't know anything about chocolate. This, however, is definitely just hot!" she managed to exclaim while her tongue was still burning her. "Wherever did you get it, anyway?"

"Sorry, Your Highness, I thought you might like it." Dimitri spoke in his usual carelessly teasing manner but she had spent too much time with him to know when he was actually somewhat hurt.

"I know and sincerely thank you. But you should have warned me!" she apologized in a laughing manner, bringing a finger on her burning lips. "God, I feel like my mouth's on fire!"

"Who's the baby now?" the man muttered acting indifferent as he looked away and snickered when he received a playful punch on the arm. Still, he hissed under his breath and gently rubbed the spot that had been punched.

"Looks like you are…!" Anya stated the obvious in a singsong voice, shrugging her shoulders. "…again!"

"All right, that's it!" Dimitri exclaimed, removing without a warning the cup off her hands and placing it somewhere on the floor beside him, before slipping an arm behind her back and digging his fingers in her belly and sides, pulling her closer to him at the same time. He got the most girlish squeal he had ever heard her lip's leave and grinned mischievously in satisfaction as she giggled uncontrollably and completely out of breath. "Say you won't call me a baby ever again! Say it!"

"Fi…ne! I…won't! St…op!" she practically begged and after hearing an exclaim of contentment coming from his lips, she was finally able to breathe properly again. But she did not bother releasing herself from his arms; his strong, warm chest was much too comfortable and welcoming to get away from and his protective arms around her were much too caring to push them away.

She sighed in a purr and shut her eyes as he pulled her even closer, resting his lips on her hairline. She enjoyed the feeling of being loved after such a long time. "Dimitri, who do you prefer best?"

"Beg your pardon?"

"Who do you prefer best?" she repeated in the same serious tone of hers that was both confusing and perplexing the young man. "Anya, the orphan, or Anastasia, the Grand Duchess?"

"Oh, brother…" he mumbled before silently chucking and rolling his eyes. How could such a thought have crossed her mind? Besides, it didn't actually make much sense. She was both Anya and Anastasia. He could not really see the difference that she had obviously noticed. He decided that a diplomatic answer was his best way and solution. "I like both the same."

"Yes, but who did you start…you know…liking…first?" she repeated the question almost coyly that made Dimitri smirk. But the fear he could spot in her well-chosen words made the smile drop off his face and actually made him feel embarrassment and even pity for the girl. Did that mean that she still was an uncertain young woman and lost? Maybe she had not yet fully accepted her new name and title? "The commoner or the Princess?"

However, the question was harder to give an answer to, than he had actually imagined. Even he did not know who he had fallen for. The thing is, he remembered acting and behaving the same way around her even when he learned she truly was the Princess. Well, he may have become a better person along the way. He had noticed how her presence had played a major part in his little 'transformation'. He had discovered things about himself like the fact that money was not all he cared about. Or that when Anya was being wronged by the Empress, when she was told she was just another actress, he felt the great need that justice would be given. And for some reason he felt that he'd do what he did for Anya for anybody else too.

Even him offering her a cup of hot chocolate was something he had never done before. Not willingly, anyway. Many times he had been asked to do errands and serve others, his little stay at the Romanov house was an example. But now he had done it because he wanted to. That woman had brought his softer side out and she had no idea. The question was, was it Anastasia or Anya who did that?

Maybe he had an answer to that after all.

"Neither."

Anya's eyes widened a bit and she sharply looked over her shoulder to face him. He looked perfectly calm and certain of his answer and as if he was unaware of the question that was visibly hanging on her lips. It was the most confusing reply he could have given and yet the truest one. His dark, mysterious eyes dropped in hers without a trace of emotion in them before they started shimmering teasingly and yet in a way she had never seen them shine before. Was it…love?

"Yep. That's right. It was neither Anya nor Anastasia whom I grew to…like." The word came out a little awkward but to Anya it seemed the cutest way he could have possibly spoken it. Plus, it gave her all more reason to look teasing. But he ignored it by clearing his throat and continuing his little speech of explanation. "It was the girl, not the name or title or the state of money."

It was surprising even for him but truth can bring a lot of surprises. Those words seem to spark her interest and he felt her muscles tensing against him as she tried to be in his embrace and able to be looking at him without having to break her neck. He felt flattered, he must admit. "I know it sounds weird. But it was the woman, a woman who had dreams and goals greater than I could have imagined. She had a mind of her own, like Vlad has well put it! She brought out the best in me, she managed to see who I truly am. And her being pretty helped a bit as well…!"

Anya's gaze had timidly dropped on the perfectly painted nails of her fingers before her. She had never received as many compliments that she knew the man who gave them actually meant every word and he was not just trying to win her favour. "Wow…" she managed to say after a moment of silence, still staring at her fingernails and driven by her perplexion and timidness she started actually biting on them. "You make her sound almost perfect."

"I know." He said with sheepish and yet proud smile. "Because you are." He added without a warning. She was as pleasantly shocked as to actually bite too hard on her nail and break it. But not wanting to spoil their little moment –she wasn't so sure, after all, when he'd be so honest to her again-, she only squeezed her thumb and buried it under the blanket he had given her to keep her warm. "So you now know that it was not the title and what you represented that made me fall in love with you but it was just you. Right?"

Anya smiled in adoration. "Right!" she replied and looked away, going over his words in her mind and, obviously, so was he for, at the same time, they realized what he had said. And they seemed both equally surprised. She blinked as she stared at his face. "W…w…wait…. Did- did you just- say that you…that you…and I mad-…did you just say…love?"

"What?" was the only thing he could master and under different conditions, it might have sounded rude but to her it was just an exclaim of surprise and puzzlement. She did not misunderstand him, she knew he was not used to declaring his honest feelings easily and just the fact that he did it by accident convinced her that he was not lying. "Did I…? I did…what I wan- uhh… gosh, just forget it!"

He looked away, suddenly his eyes darkening in anger. She knew it was not her he was mad at, but at himself. She didn't want him to feel that way. Especially if he believed that his feelings were not returned. She slipped a gentle hand under his chin and brought it to his cheek. She carefully turned his head so that he was facing her but he had his eyes glued on the ground. Well, she knew the perfect way to make him look at her. "Why do you always have to be such a baby?"

Her words worked immediately and he shot his gaze up in shock. Honestly, that wasn't all she had to say to him, was it? Because if it was, then he would never have felt more awkward and embarrassed in his entire life. And he hated feeling so. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me." she exclaimed in genuine happiness. "Only little boys do not have the guts to admit something as serious and important as love."

"I am no little boy!" he objected offended. "And I do have the guts to admit it!" he had now unlocked his arms around her and was on his knees.

She arched a clever brow and stood on her knees too so that she would almost match his height. He was a great deal taller, after all. "Admit what?" she challenged.

"That I…"

She nodded invitingly a couple of times. "Come on, baby! Say it!"

"I love you!" he snapped at her angrily. But his face changed when he realized what he had blurted out.

She giggled and bit her lips. "Well, that's a good thing." She said in a low voice as she walked on her knees closer to him. "Because I love you too."

He seemed surprised and yet content and relaxed. He was completely motionless and was watching carefully her every move as she closed the little distance between them and after placing a palm on his chest and slowly driving it on his jaw, she drew his face closer to hers, eyelids gently shutting, lips lightly parting, before his rough ones found her soft ones in a loving, gentle kiss. As if bewitched by her, he drove his cupped palms on her cheeks and lightly pressed her closer to him as the kiss grew more demanding and passionate. She suddenly but carefully pulled away breathless, her hands still on his jaw and her thumbs caressing smoothly his cheeks.

"Am I still a baby?" he asked cheekily after a moment, while capturing lightly her lips in his several times.

With a purring sigh, she snaked her arms around his neck and dug her fingers in his chocolate hair. After sharing one more kiss with him, she placed her forehead on his and gazed in his chestnut eyes, loving the intriguing darkness in them more and more. "No... for now!"

Well, to me, the end seems a little disappointing. But I just hope you enjoyed this little baby of mine! I just adored the idea of having them admit their love for each other for the first time! What do you think? :D