She wake up in the room she didn't recognize, at least at first. Only when she looked around, she noticed that she's in Dimitri's room, not her own! Then, the memories of the night came to her. Anya smiled at this, and gently put her hand on Dimitri's place, but it was empty. Where the heck he went? Is it so late, that everyone's up? She looked at a small clock on a night table, of course, she should be already in the kitchen. The girl sat up on the bed, and felt a pain in her head.

'Dimitri, I will make you hurt!' She thought, as she remembered why she could have a headache. She wasn't used to drinking much alcohol, but last night she had pretty much of it. Slowly she went to her room to get dressed, and then she joined the rest of the family in the kitchen. Everyone was cheerful, but Dimitri. He seemed to be down and thoughtful, yet she had no idea why.

"Hey, good morning! " She said.

"Morning." Replied the kids.

Dimitri soon disappeared somewhere, like he was avoiding Anya. What was wrong? At night everything was more than perfect, and now…? What's going on with him?

"Is Dimitri acting so odd since he got up?" She asked confused.

"Pretty much. Anya, I know it's none of our businesses, but have you argued with him last night?" Asked the oldest boy.

"Not at all. I spent almost all night long on writing a letter, and Dimitri was to be with Sasha… We even had no occasion for arguing." She frowned. "Well, Dimitri is Dimitri, and often he has such swinging moods. Like a pregnant woman."

By chance Dimitri heard only the word "pregnant", and even more dark thoughts came to his mind. He used her, again. Or rather she could think so. They weren't married yet, but he already slept with her. Is she thinking he's a jerk? Has he hurt her? He couldn't find an answer, and desperately needed help. He decided to go and see Vlad. It was pretty often that he was going to see his friend, so it didn't surprise Anya. Dimitri just said he might be late, and left. The kids looked at their foster-mother puzzled.

"Anya, what happened to Dimitri?" Asked Annushka. "Has he forgot that he promised to play with us today?"

"Seems so, I have no idea what's going on with him. But, well, if he can't play with you, I'll do this. Come on, let's go to the garden."

Dimitri slowly went to the bus-stop and waited for the bus to come. It passed only five minutes until it came, but for the man it was eternity. He wasn't sure if Vladimir was home, but if not, he'll wait somewhere. Just to not talk too much with Sophie. He liked her, but he also knew she loved to know everything about anything, so today talking to her would be dangerous. Finally he reached the house where Sophie lived. He knocked on the door. This time, it wasn't the servant who opened it, but Sophie herself.

"Oh, hello, Dimitri, how are you?"

"Fine, thanks. You?"

"Great, merci."

"Vlad's home?"

"Yes, he's in the garden. Please, come in." The duchess lead her guest to the garden behind the house, yet in their way she kept asking questions. "Where's Anya?"

"Uhm… she stayed home with the kids."

"Oh, so maybe you'll talk with Vladdy, and I will go and see how is she doing?"

"Well, if you want, sure. She'll be happy to see you." Maybe Sophie's visit wasn't Anya's dream, but causing the duchess to leave him alone with Vlad was something he dreamed about.

As Dimitri joined his best friend in the garden, Vlad instantly noticed that something was wrong.

"What happened, my boy? You had a hard arguing with Anya?"

"Worse."

"Worse?"

"I slept with her." Vladimir made a surprised face, so Dimitri continued. "I… made love to her… She was writing a letter at night… but… I brought some wine… and… we got bit drunk… she slept with me… she agreed… Vlad, what am I to do?"

The older man smiled thoughtfully. For the first time he saw Dimitri being worried about a night with a woman. Well, of course, now it wasn't just any woman, but Anya, however, Vlad would never think that his friend might care so much about spending a night with Anastasia.

"At first, calm down, nerves won't help you. And, now, tell me what's the problem. Anya told you something?"

"No, as she woke up, I was already with the kids. I tried to not talk to her about last night. I feel guilty that I've done this. Vlad, it was her first time! We're not married yet, but I… oh and before I left she said something about being pregnant… what if she's with baby?"

"Well, maybe it wasn't too responsible, but on the other hand, you love her and she loves you back, right?"

"You know that I love her more than the life itself! I just got drunk and I lost control, I shouldn't done this, not yet, not before she will be my wife! And… now… probably she's pregnant…"

"You have to talk to her. You must tell her what you feel. You were avoiding Anya since she got up, right?" Dimitri only nodded, so Vlad continued. "This was your biggest mistake. You should be by her, when she woke up. You see, women are much more complex than we think. Maybe for her it wasn't a bad experience, but surely very important, and she needed you in the morning."

"You think so? Won't she be angry with me, because of what I've done to her?"

"Dimitri, I see I have to ask you this, even though it's a very privet question…"

"Go on, nothing can make my mood worse, because I'm already totally down."

"What Anya told you at night, if she said anything, because from what you're telling me, she was rather silent."

Dimitri frowned sadly.

"She said it was… wonderful…"

Vladimir smiled bright. This boy was often blind on gentle way of speaking of something.

"Dimitri, it means she cannot be angry with you. Go to her, and apologize, but not for what happened at night, but for your bad attitude in the morning. You should talk to her, if you won't you will always have a barrier between the two of you."

Meanwhile, Anya had a similar conversation with Sophie. The older duchess was asking millions of questions, and Anastasia had to answer all of them, which reminded her of their first meeting, when Sophie was asking her about details from princess' childhood. Yet, this time the questions were even harder.

"So, what happened between you and Dimitri? You had an arguing again? When he came to ours he was like a bitten dog."

"Well, he's just himself. Dimitri will always be Dimitri, and will have his crazy swinging moods. And I thought it's something characteristic for women, but I see he's even a harder case."

"What you were arguing about this time?"

"We weren't arguing, even pretty opposite. Well, it's kinda hard for me to talk about it… uhm…" For a second Anya was searching for proper words, yet, Sophie didn't let her to be silent.

"What happened? You didn't have a fight, so what happened?"

"But, as for now, don't tell grandmamma, okay?"

"I will be silent as a grave."

"Well, we slept with each other. In this other… meaning…"

"Only now?"

Anastasia looked at her aunt and laughed loudly.

"What?"

"I thought you already did, long ago…"

"No, just last night. And since the very morning, he's acting oddly. What have I done to him? I said something wrong, or what, it wasn't what he expected? Actually, I don't care, but he could at least pretend to be normal. All the kids already asked me what's wrong, and if we had an arguing with Dimitri. And what am I to tell them? That we had a wonderful night, but he's going crazy because of unknown reason?"

Sophie smiled. She really thought that the young couple had a really serious fight, but it occurred to be something bigger.

"Have you talked to him?"

"If he'd give me a chance… But, as soon as I entered the kitchen, he finished his coffee and left. Well, maybe it's because of a hangover. He had bit too much wine, I guess."

The two women laughed at the last Anya's comment.

"As he'll be back, you have to talk to him. He must know that it was something important for you. By the way, has he waited for you to be woken up, or he left you asleep?"

"When I woke up, he was gone. So, I got up, ran to my room, got dressed and went to the kitchen, where he was taking care of the kids, like usually, but as he saw me, he instantly went off."

Suddenly they heard the smash of the front door, and to the garden where Anya was sitting with Sophie, entered Vlad and just behind him, huge bouquet of red roses and only then, Dimitri. This was too much for Anastasia, she couldn't help but laughed. It was the very first time ever, when Dimitri bought her flowers! Uneasily, he came towards Anya and handed her the bouquet. Sophie and Vlad went inside the house, to let the couple talk in silence.

"Anya, … I…"

"Mhm, what this time? What huge crime you've committed?" She asked with a playful grin. "Well, judging from this bunch of roses it has to be something even bigger than a con…"

"Are you this angry with me?" He asked sadly.

"Me, angry with you? What for? Of course, if you haven't done anything after you went to see Vlad."

"I'm sorry for today's morning. For being cold and avoiding you. It's just I felt guilty for what happened last night. Hope you haven't thought I used you again? That all this was only to sleep with you?"

"I knew you were crazy from the beginning, but now I see you're nuts! Don't you think that it's something as normal as walking or breathing?"

"Sure, but for married couples…"

"Okay, let me ask you straight, you regret that it happened?"

"Anya, of course not!"

"Fine, then, we explained everything. Could you act like usually?"

"Well, not everything, yet. Before I left I've heard you saying something about pregnancy…"

"Yeah, that you have swinging moods like a pregnant woman."

"So, you're not with baby?"

"Of course not! If there would be even a slight chance that I could get pregnant, I'd force you to use a proper stuff. Maybe, I will sound cold now, but I still care about opinion of people, so with having a baby I'd prefer to wait until we're married." She said with exaggerated seriousness. They both laughed, as they realized what was the reason of this crazy events. Something that they should talk about was untold, and they could even argue, but someone wise told them what to do.

"And now, could you go to the kids, and tell them that we hadn't have any arguing last night? They're terribly worried. And, I will go to the post office to send this letter to Vlashnikovs, alright?"

"Fine. And, thanks." He replied pressing a gentle kiss on her cheek.