Thank you all for your reviews, favorites, and follows! The song lyrics in the last chapter were made up by my amazing co-writer! *Cue applause* R&R.

Disclaimer: We do not own VA, just Anatolie!


RPOV:

I got up the next morning with the memory of his song lingering in my mind. Halfway through the night, Anatolie had crawled into bed with me. He had been scared of an imaginary monster that seemed to crawl under his bed at night. Getting out of bed, being careful to not wake up Anatolie, I made my way towards the kitchen. I always made breakfast before he got up, wanting to see his beautiful smile, which was so much like his father's.

Pulling out eggs and milk from the fridge and bread from the cupboard, I prepared the ingredients to make French toast, Anatolie's favorite breakfast food. Like father, like son. I'll have to pick up some more groceries soon, I thought idly.

Fifteen minutes later, a yawning Anatolie walked into the kitchen and sat at the table just as I was making his plate.

"Smells good, Mommy. What are you making today?" Anatolie asked, smiling up at me. Some days, I lived for that smile.

"Your favorite," I said lightly, smiling back at him.

"Yay!" He clapped his hands excitedly.

I turned back to the stove, flipping more bread. He's so easy to please, I thought reflectively. Unlike some people. I shook off the thought. Let's not go there today.

Hearing Dimitri for the first time in months, that particular song especially, had opened up some old wounds, rubbed them raw. Something told me it was going to be one of those days.

I sighed and happened to glance at the clock, my eyes widening. "Crap! Crap, crap, crap!" If I didn't hurry, I was going to be late for work.

"What's wrong, Mommy?" Anatolie looked up at me with his eyes wide.

"We have to hurry, sweetheart, or else we're going to be late," I said in a rush, shutting off the stove. I scooped the last four French toast onto a plate, hurriedly spread some butter onto them and added syrup. "Clean your face, Tolya," I said, whilst stuffing my face.

"Okay, Mommy." He hopped down from his chair and padded down the hall to the bathroom. I heard the water run and hoped he wouldn't make a mess. Five minutes later, he walked back into the kitchen, face fully cleaned.

"Okay hunny, now you've got to get dressed so Mommy can drop you off at school," I said, cleaning his dish. He nodded and ran to his room, leaving me to go get dressed in mine.

I quickly ran my fingers through my hair, and grabbed a grey, silky blouse from my closet, a black pencil skirt going with it. Taking a quick shower, I got dressed and put on my black three-inch heels. Lissa would be proud. Ever since high school, she's been saying I had no sense of fashion, but all of those years of her chastising me paid off.

Grabbing my keys and purse, I walked out of my room to see Anatolie holding his coloring book, waiting for me. We walked out of the door and headed towards the car. Anatolie's school wasn't far from the house, maybe about half a mile from where we lived.

"Mommy, after school can we get ice cream?" Anatolie asked. Every day after school ended, he'd want to do something; some days he'd want to go for doughnuts and other days like today, he'd ask for ice cream.

"Sure we can baby, just promise me you'll be good in class today," I answered, knowing he would be good anyway. He took his temper from his father.

"I promise, Mommy. If you see Aunty Lissa, can you tell her I said hi?" Anatolie asked, smiling. Lissa loved to spoil him; every now and then she'd take him somewhere or bring him something of his choosing.

"Of course I will," I said, smiling just as sweetly. Twenty minutes later, we arrived at the preschool; man did I hate traffic. Especially in the morning when parents and high school students needed to get to work or school.

Opening our car doors, Anatolie and I made our way to his classroom. Seeing a friend of his by the door, Anatolie ran towards her yelling, "Hey Camille!"

I smiled, glad that Anatolie was making friends. "Bye, Tolya!" I called, waving to him.

"Bye, Mommy!" he called back.

I hurried away from his school and jumped back into the car. Now that he wasn't in it, I could drive a little less carefully.

I'm sure that in my hurry to get to work, I broke several traffic laws. It wasn't physically possible for me to reach St. Vlad's Publishing, where I worked as a secretary, on time otherwise. I parked my car, and nearly ran to the office door. I couldn't afford another tardy. Nearly tripping in my heels, I stumbled into the main doors.

"Finally, Rose, I was beginning to wonder when you were going to show," Clare, the other secretary, said. I smiled.

"Yeah, sorry, horrible traffic," I said, smiling to myself. I rushed to the elevator, and hit button number two, which was the floor my desk was located. Five minutes later, I appeared at my desk just as my boss, Victor, walked out of his office.

"Good morning, Hathaway. I want you to translate these documents from Turkish to English by lunchtime," Victor said professionally. He was a good boss, and he certainly did have his days.

"Will do sir, I'll have it done by then," I said, smiling.

Times like these I was glad to be fluent in Turkish, English, and Russian. In high school Dimitri had loved to tease me in Russian, not telling me what he'd said, but in college I had studied the language. It had helped me carry a conversation with the Belikovs, especially with Yeva. The stubborn old woman only spoke to me in Russian, even though she was almost as fluent in English as me.

While I was growing up, my mom had mostly spoken to me in Turkish, due to my father apparently being Turkish. Which was why I finished translating the documents an hour before my lunch break. I made my way to Victor's office, waving to some of my fellow colleagues. I knocked softly on the door. A soft, "Come in," came from the other side of the door. I opened it to reveal Victor typing away on his laptop.

"How can I help you, Rose?" Victor asked, his eyes curious.

"Well, I finished translating the documents, sir," I replied, smiling at his shocked look.

"Amazing! You can take your lunch break early today, seeing as you've done all I wanted you to do for the moment," Victor replied, happiness lacing his words. It made me wonder what made him so happy.

"Sir, a woman named Sonya is on line five," one of the receptionists, Alexandra, said. Pure joy filled Victors face.

So Victor has a sweetheart. Maybe with her around, he'll always be this happy, I thought hopefully to myself.

"Thank you, Alexandra," Victor said. "Rose, go ahead and take it now. I expect you to be back in two hours." He hit line five, and I quietly shut the door. My desk phone started ringing, and I quickly made my way towards it.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Rose, hey, it's Lissa. I was just calling to see if you wanted to meet somewhere for lunch. Maybe at Alberta's?" Lissa said, music coming from the background.

"Sure," I said happily. "I'm on lunch break right now. Want to meet there in fifteen?"

"You're on lunch break already?" Lissa sounded surprised.

"Mmhmm," I replied absentmindedly, getting ready to leave. "Victor was in a generous mood today."

"Okay, then, sounds good!" I could tell she was grinning.

"Mmk, see you there." I hung up and grabbed my coat along with my wallet and keys. Waving goodbye to Clare, who was on the phone, I walked out of the building with a smile on my face.

It seemed like the day, which had started so badly, was turning around. However, something told me I spoke too soon.

By the time I arrived at Alberta's Cafe, I was about twenty minutes late. In my defense, there was a slow driver in front of me.

"There you are!" Lissa waved me over to her table. "I should have known you'd be late." She shook her head mock disapprovingly.

I rolled my eyes. "There was a slow driver in front of me," I protested.

Lissa chuckled. "Suure that's what happened. You were probably the slow driver."

I rolled my eyes again. "Did you order?" I asked.

Lissa nodded. "Yup, all taken care of." Just as she finished speaking, her order was called.

She came back with a coffee and large hot chocolate, along with a salad for her and stromboli for me with a side of one of Alberta's famous brownies. "Have I ever told you I loved you?" I questioned, inhaling the delicious scent of food.

Lissa laughed. "Yes, but it never hurts to hear it again," she joked.

Our lunch continued on normally, until Lissa got a phone call. "Excuse me, Rose," she said apologetically. "It's Mia and you know how she gets."

I nodded in understanding. Our mutual friend Mia was the stereotypical blond fangirl, stalking any number of famous people. It got highly disturbing at times, especially when she began her rants on how they should lead their lives.

"Hello?" Lissa answered the phone as I began to busy myself with my brownie. "That's great." Something in Lissa's voice changed as the blond's babbling voice could be heard ranting loudly on the other end. I couldn't make out any words, but whatever it was made Lissa anxious. "That's awesome Mia, but -" She was cut off. Lissa became increasingly upset with whatever Mia was saying. I looked at her, puzzled. "What?! When?" Lissa's eyes widened with horror. "No!" she gasped.

"Liss?" I inquired.

Lissa's eyes flashed to mine. "I gotta go, Mia," she said abruptly, and hung up.

"What was that about?" I asked.

Lissa shook her head, staring intently at the table. "Nothing," she mumbled, frowning.

"Clearly it's not nothing, since you look like you're planning your own funeral," I said frankly.

Lissa just shook her head again and stood up. "I have to go," she announced.

I stared at her, open mouthed. "Okay then?" I said, confused.

Lissa nodded. "I'll see you later." I watched, dumbstruck, as she walked away.

What was that about?


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