The sequel has arrived at last :P Let me know what you think :)

Chapter 1

I could feel myself drifting in and out of consciousness…not fully asleep and yet not awake either.

I had been wheeled away to recovery not long after giving birth to my beautiful baby boy Luka Belikov-Hathaway. It was just a well. I had been exhausted. Just before hand, the midwife had taken him from my arms to weigh, measure and check him over once again.

Being nearly a month early, he was a small-ish baby – only 6 pounds 8 ounces. The nurse told us that was perfectly normal. He had all 10 fingers, all 10 ten toes and was 100% healthy which was all that mattered to Dimitri and I.

I opened my eyes properly now and recognised the private room I had been wheeled into a few hours ago.

"Hey," Dimitri said quietly and got up from where he had been sitting on a chair by the bed. "How are you feeling?" he asked me, stroking my head.

I closed my eyes at his relaxing touch.

"Amazing," I answered and opened my eyes again. His eyes sparkled with happiness. "How about you?"

"Amazing as well," he answered and pulled the chair closer. He sat down and leaned his head against the side of mine. "Did you sleep okay?"

"More than okay," I told him. "Have you been home?" I realised that he looked much cleaner and well rested than he had when I'd left him.

"Yes," he answered. "Once I told everyone who had to be told, and called everyone who had to be called, mama and Lissa stayed with you while I went to shower. I brought some magazines and stuff with me in case you get bored here," he said and pointed to another bag of stuff from home.

I smiled and caressed his cleanly shaven cheek with my hand.

"Where's Luka?"

"The nurses are looking after him. They said they'd bring him in when you were awake." He told me. He leaned over me and pressed some button near my head, calling a nurse to our room.

The midwife appeared a couple of minutes later.

"Ah, how are we in here?" she said quietly. "Sleep well?"

"Very," I answered her as she helped me sit up in my bed. Dimitri adjusted the pillows behind my head. I sighed contently, secretly loving being looked after.

"I'm guessing you want to see your little fellow?" she asked me, smiling motherly.

"Yes please," I grinned at her, dying to hold my Luka again.

"I'll be back in just a moment then," she said and left. She arrived back not two minutes later with a small bundle wrapped in a blue blanket in her arms.

"Here we are little guy," the midwife said to him, handing him over into my outstretched arms. He snuggled into me and I felt complete. He was like a jigsaw piece, fitting perfectly into my arms.

The midwife left then with a promise to be back in a few short moments.

"Hi baby," I said quietly to him, my voice automatically going a few tones higher. I couldn't help it. "How are you today?"

His dark eyes gazed back at me and I found myself taking in every single detail about him. His eyes weren't a solid chocolate brown colour like Dimitri's – they had flecks of darker brown the same shade as mine around his pupils. His gorgeous eyes were massive, framed with long, dark eyelashes. I honestly wasn't far away from counting how many hairs he had on his head.

I reached a finger out and stroked the dark tuft on the crown of his head. It felt more like fluff than hair. It was incredibly soft.

"I may be a bit biased…" Dimitri said to me, "But is he not the most gorgeous baby you've ever seen." I grinned at him.

"I think I'm probably as biased as you are," I chuckled.

"Did any of the others see him yet?" I asked Dimitri, looking up at him.

"Not yet," he told me. "They wanted to wait for you to be awake." I smiled, dying to see Lissa's reaction when she sees her godson for the first time.

Luka made a soft noise, drawing both mine and Dimitri's attention back to him. He obviously didn't like the attention being diverted away from him.

"I'm sorry baby," I whispered to him. Dimitri placed a soft kiss on his forehead. He grumbled a little again. I watched as the perfect tanned skin on his tiny forehead scrunched up a little and he wiggled.

"What's wrong with him?" I asked Dimitri, feeling a little panicked.

Dimitri was saved from answering me when the door opened and the midwife walked back in.

"Oh dear," she said, chuckling. "Are we getting a little hungry, little one?" she said to Luka. "Are you going to breastfeed, dear?" she asked me kindly.

"Yes," I answered her. That was one thing I had talked to Dimitri about before actually going into labour. He hadn't minded and told me it was completely up to me. But it was something I wanted to do.

"Okay, then, you want to give it a try now? He may not get the hang of it straight away: it takes some babies a while to get used to it," she informed me.

"Sure…" I said, feeling a little nervous. This was something completely new to me…and it's not like Dimitri could coach me through it.

"Don't worry, honey, I'll help you," she smiled gently at me and held her hands out to hold Luka for a moment. Once he was safely settled in her arms, Dimitri helped me get comfortable.

The nice midwife, whose name I found out was Carmel coached me through the entire experience. I would have thought it would've been uncomfortable, but she was just so easy going and motherly that it didn't matter if she saw me half naked.

It took Luka a little while to get the hang of what he was supposed to do. Even though Carmel had said it was normal, I still got worried that maybe he wouldn't get the hang of it and I wouldn't be able to feed him.

After about a minute however, he latched on to me and began sucking hard. I jumped in surprise at the sudden movement.

It was safe to say that breast feeding was the strangest feeling ever. It was also the most fulfilling.

I looked at Dimitri, feeling almost like laughing. "This feels so weird!" I said to him, quietly though so as not to disturb Luka from his lunch.

He looked up from where he was staring at Luka feeding with amazement. "Good weird?"

I just grinned in response and looked back down at our baby, who was suckling happily.

Carmel wheeled a small glass incubator into the room with a card on the side with both mine and Luka's information on it. She informed us that he could stay in here with me from now on.

Dimitri went to fetch Lissa and whoever else was out in the waiting room. I revelled in the few quiet moments alone with my baby. I realised it was the first time the two of us had been completely alone together.

"Hi baby," I whispered to him. He had stopped suckling and I watched as his brown eyes closed, reopened and then closed once again. "Are you sleepy?" His eyes shut completely and I held him close to my body. "I know how you feel."

I pulled my top back down to cover myself and leaned further back into my pillow.

There was a soft knock at the door.

"Hey!" Lissa walked in quickly, followed by Olena, Ivan and finally, Dimitri.

"Hey guys," I greeted them.

"Let me see!" Lissa squealed and peeked into Luka's face.

"He is so adorable," she whispered, seeing that he was asleep. "Hi Luka," she stroked his small hand.

"You wanna hold him?" I asked her. Already knowing what her answer was going to be, I held him out towards her. She carefully supported his delicate head and held him gently in her arms.

Olena came over and fussed over me as Ivan chatted with Dimitri at the side.

"Ivan?" Ivan looked over when Lissa called his name. She held Luka out to him. "Want to meet your godson?"

Ivan looked nervously at the baby. Dimitri clasped his shoulder in a guy way of saying 'it's okay.'

He took Luka from Lissa and I watched his face soften as he studied him.

"When you're older," he told him, "I'm gonna teach you how to pick up girls. You're daddy here was never very good at it, but it was okay, because he had me as his wingman. You're gonna have me as well. To be honest, I'm not even sure how he managed to snatch your mommy up," Dimitri scoffed, making me grin even wider.

"First things first," Ivan continued, "Always leave 'em wanting more," I laughed outright.

"I think that's enough lessons for today," Dimitri announced to Ivan, grinning happily and holding his hands out to hold the baby. He looked still a little tired, but so happy. It made my heart soar.

Dimitri brought our baby over to Olena.

"Mama, this is Luka. Luka, this is your Grandmama," Dimitri introduced them sweetly. Olena held her hands out and took Luka expertly in her arms.

"Hi baby," her eyes welled up at meeting her newest grandchild. "I'm so happy to finally meet you. When your daddy and mommy first told me that they were expecting you, I didn't think I could be any happier…I know now that I was wrong." She gave a small watery small as she rocked him gently. "You're so beautiful like your mama, and so handsome like your dada. He was a gorgeous baby too – I've been meaning to show your mama some old pictures of him but we never got the chance to sit and talk." She lifted her head and smiled at me. She walked over and placed Luka back into my arms. He was now sleeping soundly.

I began to feel a little drowsy then. Dimitri noticed and came to take Luka out of my arms. I reluctantly handed him over and watched Dimitri as he placed Luka in his temporary bed with ease.

"Sleep now, Roza," Olena whispered to me and pulled the fresh blankets up to my chin and tucked me in. I smiled and closed my eyes, falling asleep to the sounds of their voices speaking softly to each other in the background.