Here is Part II of the four part series.
Thank you to princesslara99 for your medical expertise.
Releasing it today specifically in honour of a special chica – you know who you are :P
Feliz cumpleanos mi querida amiga
PART II = CHRISTIAN
I stand and watch in awe as my beautiful wife goes through, for the second time, what I can only guess is unimaginable pain to bring forth our two sons into this world. I still don't know what I did in this life to be considered worthy of the love she unconditionally bestows upon me every day. She is the centre of my existence – my very own sun!
The harsh reality is that I come from a cursed family. May seem a bit melodramatic to make such a hard statement but it's the truth. First it was my parents choosing to become Strigoi in their quest for power. Then my aunt, who in her pursuit to change the status quo and desperate to reclaim the man she loved, committed regicide and framed & nearly killed the only other person who I had considered family after Lissa.
Frankly I'm surprised I haven't been given a one-way ticket to Tarasov as a precautionary measure!
The frustrating element in all of this was that I loved my family and they loved me! I actually had a close relationship with my parents, especially my father. This was evident from the few memories I retained of my parents (pre-Strigoi), the stories Aunt Tasha told me and the large collection of videos & photo albums I kept in storage. I could recall a wonderful summer – I think it was the last one I shared with my parents before they choose the 'dark side' – were we had vacationed at a lake house. It was just the three of us, as Aunt Tasha had been busy and we had so much fun doing silly activities like fishing and playing board games. That weekend they weren't Moira and Lucas Ozera, they were just my mum and dad, and that's all I ever needed them to be.
My relationship with Aunt Tasha had changed dramatically once she took me in. While my parents were 'alive' she was the cool, fun aunt and I was in constant awe of her. But when she had to step-up and take over their role, I felt a whole new level of respect and admiration for her. I was eternally grateful when she took me in since she put her own life on pause and gave me the love and protection I so desperately needed. And every time I saw the scar that marred her beautiful face, it reminded me that she really had gone above and beyond in her quest to keep me from harm.
Having witnessed the 'unsettling' personality traits of my family first-hand, I couldn't help but question my own. For a very long time I isolated myself from my peers – to me they seemed like a bunch of spoilt, snotty buffoons. I had no aspirations for power like my parents but I was no push-over and if needed could hold my own. I whole-heartedly believed in some of the philosophies Aunt Tasha advocated for – specifically the equal rights for Dhampirs and Moroi being allowed to use magic offensively & being taught physical combat so they didn't hide behind their Guardians. However, I wanted to convince the individual not elicit a revolution and flip the system overnight. So even though I wasn't them completely, I had their spirit and this worried me greatly – especially the first time I found out I was going to be a dad.
I wasn't naïve, I knew Lissa wanted kids – lots of them – because she just had so much love to give and adored children in general. The fact that it would re-populate the Dragomir bloodline was an added bonus.
I, on the other hand, wasn't a big fan of the little buggers – as babies all they seemed to do was poop, eat, sleep and occasionally throw up in a manner that would have put the possessed version of Linda Blair to shame. As little kids they seemed annoying, constantly invading your personal space and asking asinine questions – in other words miniature versions of Rose! And let's not get started on how much they affect the parent's lives, who no longer seem to function in 'adult society' and become complete slaves to their hellish offspring.
The day Lissa told me I was to be a dad, I almost packed a bag and considered to make a run for it. In fact I was desperately hoping that one of the academies would call me in for an indefinite period of time so that I could escape the confines of my upcoming responsibility and the craziness that was in store in my near future. In fact the moment she showed me the pregnancy test I almost had a panic attack!
Of all the people who could have knocked sense into me, the last person I'd consider coming to my aide was Adrian, but it was he who I came across while I walked around Court trying to digest the news and stop myself from taking the coward's way out. He listened to my rants & fears and calmly pointed out that I was not my family and shouldn't carry so much guilt & doubt. A child was a blessing and I had to remember that any child we had would contain half of Lissa's pure & sweet essence, and just like that I found myself feeling something for the little critter.
It wasn't easy and self-doubt plagued me through-out the whole pregnancy and at times I was probably more broody and bitchy than the actual pregnant woman – much to the annoyance of everyone especially Dimitri and Rose.
But when 8 months later, Rosalia Moira Dragomir-Ozera was born, it was like I fell in love all over again. She had my hair but her mother's eyes – or so I guessed since she was still too young for the colour to form. As I held my daughter, I felt my world shift its axis and I finally did something I thought I'd never be able to do – I forgave my parents and my aunt.
If Lissa was my sun, Rosie was my moon and she pulled me in with such a force that I couldn't help but be swept away in an all-encompassing love I never knew existed before her birth. I decided that day, as I held my little moon that I would focus only on the present and try to look at life in a more positive manner. I would also stop holding myself accountable for the actions committed by my family and in the process move past the bad memories and cherish the good ones. I had a new mission in life – to love and protect my 'new' family and I couldn't do that if I was wallowing in the actions committed by my 'old' one.
Even though Rose cracked jokes about it, I was – for the most part – a house husband. I spent a few hours every day running the Moroi training at Court and oversaw the Moroi combat curriculum for the academy at Court as well as the academies around the world, but once that was done the rest of my day was empty. Sometimes I would join Lissa at Council sessions, especially if the topics were of interest to me, while other times I would train – one on one – with Dimitri. But again this was a few hours a week.
When Rosie was born, I convinced Lissa we didn't need to worry about a royal nanny. I finally had something – more like someone – that gave my life purpose and it excited me. I was already cooking for us – and by us I meant Lissa and all our friends at Court who practically ate dinner at our place every single night! But getting the chance to raise our baby girl as a full-time stay at home parent was something I was both nervous and thrilled about.
It wasn't without its challenges and even though Lissa tried to breastfeed, it made our lives easier when Rosie was transitioned to formula at 4 months. I also became an expert nappy changer, feeder, story teller and baby calmer. I knew it bothered my wife sometimes that our daughter preferred to be comforted by me over her, but in the end she loved watching the bond that formed between us and wouldn't have it any other way.
I still pinched myself sometimes, wondering how I got so lucky. I had my own sun and little moon that burned so brightly in my darkened world that only a small remnant remained of the foreboding shadows that had haunted me since my parent's death.
The sad thing about life is that to appreciate the good you have to experience the bad.
Rosie had just turned one and was starting day-care. Meanwhile in the world of vampires, an important piece of legislation was being passed through the governing bodies and Lissa had to attend a three-day meeting in Romania where all the important people in the vampire world – Moroi and Dhampir – would be in attendance. This wasn't the first time, nor would it be the last, Lissa had to travel overseas for her Queenly duties. But something had me worrying and I begged Dimitri to join them. I'm glad I listened to my gut, otherwise things could have been much worse.
The meeting itself had gone well and by the end of the third day the legislation had been passed through and accepted by all – finally Dhampir communes would be recognised as 'part' of our world and be given the rights and protection they desperately needed.
Unfortunately, a large army of Strigoi had been waiting for the perfect opportunity to deliver a cataclysmic blow to our world and what better way to do this than killing the Moroi Queen!
The royal motorcade had been ambushed on its way to the airport and the battle had been brutal. Ten royal guards died that day and the surviving ones all had series injuries. By the time reinforcements arrived the place looked like a blood bath. Rose was in a coma for almost three months, while Dimitri had a broken arm and shattered collarbone. Even Lissa got injured and though on the surface it didn't seem as bad as the others, internally it was a whole other story.
During the fighting a select group of the guards kept close to Lissa but there is only so much they could do and in the midst of the chaos Lissa's abdomen had been pierced. Rose had done her best to staunch the bleeding but when the doctors finally looked inside they noted that the piece of sharp metal – which had once been part of the car door – had cleanly severed her left fallopian tube. She had been lucky that it was a clean cut and hadn't caused any heavy internal bleeding or severe scaring on the uterus. Once the craziness died down and the survivors recovered, we finally spoke to the royal doctor to better understand the implications of this – Lissa's fertility had now been cut in half and the chances of her falling pregnant, which were already low (due to both of us being Moroi), had now dropped to a heart-breaking level of 5%.
We were young and had so much love to give, and for me – who had finally accepted my role as a dad – this news was earth-shattering. I wanted to curl up & cry and could feel all the depression and sadness I had pushed back returning ten-fold. But then I watched Lissa fall apart – this news along with her Spirit powers caused her to fall into a depression the likes of which I had never witnessed before. It was our beautiful daughter Rosie and our insane sister Rose that helped us through one of the darkest periods of our lives.
Five percent wasn't much but it was still something and the doctor warned us that if we were to fall pregnant – by some miracle – it was would be a high risk pregnancy. Nonetheless we tried and kept on trying – something I would never complain about! The doctor also recommended a series of hormone boosting injections in a bid to make the viable ovary produce more eggs – more eggs, more chances of falling pregnant was his reasoning.
I guess the universe felt my life was still incomplete & dark, and the powers that be bestowed upon us not one but two bright and shiny stars – our twin sons.
When we had discovered our 'little miracles', I was gobsmacked and had to be shaken and slapped by the assisting nurse to come back to reality. We knew that increasing the number of eggs increased the chances of us having multiple births, but since multiple births for Moroi were so rare we figured the two would negate each other.
If I thought the first pregnancy was bad, this felt like it was times ten with Lissa constantly in pain and experiencing sickness throughout the first 6 months. Since it was also considered a high risk pregnancy – times two – she was visiting the doctor at least once a week if not more. After she passed her 6 month milestone, she was put on bed rest which presented a whole other set of problems for Rose, Dimitri and I as we tried to convince her to govern her people from the comfort of her bed.
As she had chosen the name for our daughter, she gave me full reign on deciding the names for the twins. I struggled with the task and had almost given up when one night I had a strange dream. In it I was sitting around a table, playing a game of poker with my dad, Eric and Andre. It almost felt real because had they been alive this is what I imagined us doing whenever we caught up with our families. Nonetheless I woke up that night with my answer.
As I stand here and watch my two little stars feeding from their tired yet exuberant mother, I can feel tears stinging my eyes. We now have two beautiful sons, who had my dark hair but their mother's smile. I can't help but smile myself as I recall the names I signed on their birth certificates.
Eric Dumitru Dragomir-Ozera and Lucas Andrei Dragomir-Ozera.
I may have come from a cursed family but I no longer carried this curse, for I now had a family that were my own little universe and I couldn't be happier!