Chapter Four

Previously

"Didn't you say something about Lissa and Christian coming over?" I asked her before she could speak, in a lightning fast fashion. I was keenly steering the subject away from me and my newly found obsession over Rose's feet.

Rose shifted the weight of her stomach onto her other foot and looked thoughtful for a moment. "Oh yeah, that's right, huh?" Her toe got caught on a bit of cement, and she took a step back, bumping into Rex.

"Roza?" I asked slowly. After that, everything happened in slow motion. I watched as she tripped over Rex and fell swiftly backwards. And no, she wasn't falling back onto the cement.

She was falling into the swimming pool.

The last thing I caught of her before she connected to the cold water was her wide, yet beautiful brown eyes. She looked terrified.

Currently

"What would I do without you?" Rose asked, smiling at me under the big blue towel.

Only four minutes ago, I had dove into the water to save my poor Roza. She had missed her footing and fell into the depths of the awaiting pool.

"My knight in shinning armor," she said with a blush on her cheeks as she clung to me for dear life.

When I had first pulled her out, she was shaking and twitching every now and then. It's not that Rose wasn't a very good swimmer, it was more of the fact that she was more than, what, seven or eight months pregnant. That had shocked my conscious, and in less than a second, my shirt had been cast aside and my face was already in the water.

Nothing stood in the way of my wife's as well as my unborn child's safety.

"To tell the truth," I said, clearing my voice. "I have no idea what I would do without you, my stunning Roza," I told her, smiling down at her. She smiled, wrapping her slightly damp towel around me.

The sight of Rose was a suggestive one. Her- or maybe its mine- T-shirt was matted to her wet body, giving me a great view of her ample cleavage. I gulped, not wanting Rose to notice my overtly obvious staring at her. She didn't however, she was talking about something and I'm sorry to say I wasn't listening in the slightest.

"What?" I asked, cutting her off rudely. Rose paused and looked over at me, smiling a lopsided grin.

"You know, if you would kindly stop checking me out, maybe you wouldn't have to stop me while I am speaking all the time," she said, rolling her eyes. Caught red handed, I chuckled nervously.

"Sorry, babe, but I can't help it," I told her honestly, smiling at her with only half the side of my teeth visible. Rose furrowed her eyebrows, shaking her head.

"Anyway," Rose said, drawing out the word. "I was saying that Lissa had wanted to come over later today...?" she said, not suggesting anything. I knew when her sentences led off that she never was asking a question. It was just her subtle way of saying: This is happening and you have no say in it.

So in reply, I just nodded my head, imagining what the rest of the day would be like. Lissa and Christian over? Great. I have far too much to say to complain about that couple.

"And this time, Dimitri, try not to storm out on them when Lissa brings up a touchy subject," Rose said, looking up at me with expecting eyes. At that, I smirked. It was true, the last time they came over, maybe a week ago; Lissa had asked me how my family was doing.

Wrong move.

I had reacted really badly, and rudely I suppose. I left the awaiting group of people and headed straight for my room. I guess it wasn't really her fault, I was just in a previous bad mood, and that had just set me off. Rose, who often came to my rescue, came in and sat with me while I moped.

"I'll try not to," I said, that smug smirk tugging at my lips.

"Great!" Rose shouted happily, wrapping the towel around the back of my neck and walking in front of me. In one swift move, she yanked on the towel, causing it to pull my neck down and our lips to meet. The kiss lasted a while, neither of us really wanting to pull away.

Finally, I stopped it for a breath. I looked at Rose's blushing and ultimately adorable face. "Go shower before Lissa comes over," I told her, smiling a toothless smile.

"Oh yeah, that reminds me," Rose said, swallowing. "Christian and her kids are coming too."

I think my eye just twitched.

Rose definitely noticed. "Oh, come on, Dimitri," she said, chuckling. "They're not that annoying."

I guess Rose and I both shared similar views to Lissa's kids. They're twins; a boy and a girl. Apparently Lissa had been pregnant with Christian's kids and no one knew about it until it became very visible.

I took a deep breath, I had to mentally remind myself that I needed no matter what to stay calm the whole night. I couldn't just let my emotions run wild however I wished. I stopped and realized something, and it was funny. Funny enough to get me to outwardly smile and shake my head. I used to have all of my emotions in check, used when needed. But now, thanks to Rose, that has all been lost. Not that I mind at all...

We went back into the house and up the stairs with a little Rex trotting happily with his tongue hanging out of his mouth right behind us. I wanted to strangle the damn thing and get rid of it, but every time I look at it, I get reminded why Rose loves it so much. Plus, it's too fucking adorable to hurt.

An hour later, Lissa and Christian arrived. Christian gave me the usual glare, and then bored nod. Lissa gave me a cheery smile. Rose gave me a warning look, as if to cheer up or else.

"Hey guys!" I said with faux excitement. In Lissa's arms were her two twins. Sure, they were cute, but my god when you set them down they were like little speed demon wrecking balls.

Anthony, the boy twin, had platinum blond hair like his mother's and but electric blue ones to match his father's. Raine, however, had ebony black hair like Christian's, emerald green eyes that were identical to Lissa's. It was odd how it worked like that, but no one can question genes.

"Mimi!" Raine said softly, smiling at me brightly. Yes, Mimi is a girl's name, but she's so adorable that I don't even care.

"Hi there, Raine," I said, smiling at her. She was the quieter of the two, but certainly the whiner and crier of the pair. Anthony wiggled in Lissa's arms, reaching his arms out to me. I chuckled. "Hey Anthony," I said, messing up his unruly hair. He just smiled as I took him from Lissa's arms and pulled him into my embrace. He wrapped his chubby little arms around my neck and grabbed the collar of my T-shirt only to shove it in his mouth, slobbering happily on me.

Rose smiled at me lovingly, and I swore to myself that if playing nice with little kids was what it took to make Rose look at me like that, that's what I would do for the rest of my days. I smiled smugly at her, sending a wink to her while Lissa and Christian weren't looking.

Lissa wrapped her arm around Rose's midsection, pulling her with her to the kitchen area, Raine playing with Rose's hair. I turned and looked at Christian. Things were still kind of tight with us, but it wasn't too horrible. I mean, sure, we both hated each other's guts, but we understood what the other was going through.

"Can I talk to you?" Christian asked, cocking his head slightly to the side. He seemed serious, and I nodded in reply. I set Anthony on the floor.

"Why don't you go find your sister and your mom?" I asked the child. He still looked at me and Christian unsure, as if not sure if he should really leave us or not.

"Go find mommy, Tone," Christian said and Anthony listened this time. He crawled off, and I turned back to Christian who was already looking at me.

Christian was unusually silent - I take that back; being antisocial was his normal behavior - indicating that something was bothering him. "What's the matter?" I asked, putting my hands on my hips a lot like the way Rose does it. God, the woman was rubbing off on me so much... Again, not that I minded at all.

Christian inhaled a big breath of air.

"I know what's going on with you and Rose."

I raised an eyebrow. "Ah, well I'm sure, I don't know what you mean," I said, my mind running wild, trying to think of the solution to his words.

"Dimitri, please." His expression was wary. "It's happening to me too," he said, looking down at his hands. "It's all because of her..." He meant Tasha. I knew this because he was far too scarred by her to ever say her name aloud.

Oh thank God. At first, I thought he was implying that he knew about our constant sex-life. It was a relief that we weren't that loud. But then it hit me.

"The notes..." I mused under my breath. It made sense suddenly. Christian has to be getting notes too. All thanks to his recently deceased aunt.

"At first I thought it was a prank, you know. Because the first one I got, about two days ago, read: Watch your back. I thought at first that it was from that kid down my block. He's a real prick; he pushed over my son, so I gave him a little piece of my mind," Christian said, seeming to get really pumped up about it. "With a baseball bat."

I furrowed my eyebrows. What the fuck, Christian? I decided that it would be best if I didn't go there - asking what had actually happened to the poor kid, that is.

"But then... the second one came. 'What she's done will never be forgotten'," he said, his eyes seemingly got colder, as if he wasn't really even there. "And then the whole thing clicked. As you know, I grew up with... T-Tasha." He paused to nervously gulp. "My parents were never really there for me until, you know, you killed them," he said scoffing, obviously annoyed but not overly hurt in the slightest.

I raised both my brows. "I only got the first two today," I told him honestly. He nodded his head, just a bit shaken. "I know who we can talk to about this, though," I told him and he looked up.

Christian raised a brow. "And who would that be?" he asked.

"Ibrahim Mazur."

xXx

"Babe, where do you think you're going?"

I turned looking at Lissa and Rose both giving Christian and me weird looks. Rose's hand was resting on her swollen belly while Raine was on Lissa's knee and Anthony sitting on the floor playing with one of Rex's annoying squeaky toys. Rose looked so beautiful like that, her brows creased with a mixture of worry and confusion.

"Ah... right, um, Christian and I... we..." I was at loss for words.

A question hit me. What the hell do normal guys like to do?

"We're just heading out to buy some beer and shit," Christian smoothly lied for me. "You know, uh, guy bonding time... Something like that." I turned around and sent him and thankful look.

Rose cocked a perfectly arched brow in disbelieve, but did nothing more.

"Alright, and can you pick up some ice cream for me?" she asked with big eyes. "Pretty please?" At this, a smile broke on my lips.

I was speaking before I even registered what came out of my mouth. "No problem."

And then Christian and I were flying out the door to his car.

"Goddamn, Dimitri," Christian said, turning to me as he buckled himself up in the passenger seat. I gave him an odd look.

"What?"

"You looked like you were about to piss yourself when Rose caught you. Jesus Christ have you ever lied in your life?"

"I lie about a lot of things," I said, subtly shrugging my shoulders while starting the car up.

"Yeah, and I can shit rainbows and puke unicorns," Christian said rolling his eyes. I sent him a pointed look as I pulled out of the driveway swiftly and began speeding down the street. "All I'm saying is you're one whipped son of a bitch," he said with an exasperated sigh.

"Whatever," I muttered. I was more than just whipped, and I was proud of it.

Twenty minutes of speeding down the freeway later, we had arrived on Abe's street, literally street, because he owned the whole damn thing. He had acquired a bigger house since the one eight or so months prior.

The guard at the front gate instantly recognized me and waved me in. I nodded in thanks as I drove in.

I parked the car and Christian and I both got out. We turned to look at each other before we simultaneously nodded to each other and started walking.

We ended up at his front door. I looked around, trying to remember where the stupid fuck hid his spare key. I looked everywhere before finally remembering that it was buried under the pile of leaves that never seemed to be brushed away from his porch.

I unlocked the door and took a step in. Christian followed in after me and we began to search around for the one and only Ibrahim Mazur.

Five minutes later...

"Whoa!" We both jumped in alarm and turned towards the direction we heard the noise come from. "Abe?" I asked, raising a brow.

There stood Abe wearing a pair of dark rinsed jeans and a white and black striped cashmere shirt. He had dark circles around his eyes and his hair was looking extremely short. He had on shoes and a jacket, as if he were just about to leave and go somewhere. Some times I had to remind myself that the guy was only forty-three. He still had young features; it's just the amount of power he wielded that made him seem like such an older guy.

He jumped and in his hand I noticed a little tase gun, but when he realized it was just Christian and I, he awkwardly put it back into its holster in his jeans. He put his hands on his hips, mocking a stance that I usually found Rose in.

"What are you guys doing here?" he asked, taking a step forward to the two of us. I noticed Christian out of the corner of my eye cringe slightly, as if having Abe in his presence freaked him out. I mean, I won't lie, I think he is a bit of a creep.

"We need some help; I guess you could say..." I muttered, glancing quickly over at Christian and then turning back to Abe.

"Okay. What kind of help? Like... Some hitmen?... Or what about some new designs of the AK-47? A bong? Marriage counseling? Oh, I just got a shipment of crack and, sweet Jesus, tons of dope-"

"No. Abe. No," I said, pinching the bridge of my nose.

"What's happened is we've been receiving notes," Christian said seriously.

I realized something a second later. I cocked my head to the side. "Did you say marriage counseling? Are you implying that Rose and I aren't working out well?" I asked, furrowing my brows and squinting my eyes at Abe like he was crazy.

Much to my dismay, I was completely ignored. Abe only raised a brow to Christian and crossed his arms, leaning back against the wall behind him. "Um, alright. Do go on."

"Threatening notes, Christian should have added," I said, glancing at him, and then turning my focus back to Abe. He seemed deep in thought. And for that, I was thankful. He was being serious for once. "I've received only two, though Christian's had..."

"Four."

"Four. Christian's had four, and I'm already at risk of Rose finding out..." I said, my voice growing hoarse. "And that's the last thing I want, for Rose to know that this is continuing behind her back and I know about it. That… I can't tell her the truth. I don't want her stressed out..."

Abe nodded. "I'm all for keeping my kid out of this, but honestly Dimitri, you can't lie to her. I've seen you try, but you can't resist her."

I got red with embarrassment. "Well then, Abe, what are you proposing for me to do since I supposedly can't conceal a secret from my wife?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at my father in law. Jeez, I thought, Rose's attitude sure is rubbing off on me.

Abe snorted. "Don't worry about it, son. I got this all covered. I'll think of something. Plus, if you don't keep your voice down, you'll wake Sydney. I've come to realize that she's not the happiest person in the world when awoken for an unnecessary reason ..." Abe said with a bit of a panicked look in his eyes.

"Alright, whatever," I said, taking a deep breath and running my hand through my hair. I turned back to him. "Wait, what do you mean by you've got this covered? You're highly unpredictable, I have no idea what's going on in your mind."

Abe rose his eyebrows and smiled evilly. I got a sudden knot in my stomach. "Want to know what's going on in my mind? My girlfriend, Sydney. Want to know what else? Sydney when she's on my bed, underneath -"

"Oh God!" Christian hollered.

"Stop! Stop, Abe!" I shouted, putting my hand in his face to try and get him to stop. This made him chuckle.

"Well then, we've learned a lesson, haven't we?" he asked, scratching the back of his head while looking down at me condescendingly. "Don't try to pry into people's personal lives."

God what a prick. And then he wonders why I never want to spend father-in-law and son-in-law time.

"Okay, well I've had enough. I'm ready to go hang myself. I'll show myself out," Christian said, turning around and leaving the room in a hurry.

Then it was just Abe and I alone. I always dreaded when this happens. No, not particularly because I'm afraid of the man, but because he always seems so unstable. Ever since Janine died, Rose had explained to me once, he had always been out of sorts, especially in the mind. What surprised me was when he gave me a soft smile.

"Honestly, Dimitri. I've come to understand that you'll believe in me; trust me in my decisions. I may not always have the best ideas in the world, but I'll make it up to you. I promise." There was sincerity in Abe's words that made me trust him, and not come up with a witty remark that might just make him change his mind about helping us stop the downpour of annoying, threatening notes.

"Thanks." I found myself thanking him. Tell me a year ago that I would be thanking my worst enemy? I'd say you're on fucking crack. I guess times do change.

xXx

Rose POV

I'm currently a stay at home wife and soon-to-be mother, while Dimitri worked all day, though not on the weekends. Lissa worked too, but at an orphanage. Christian helped out there too; they had created it over the course of about a year. They had been planning it, and then finally got the money to actually set it all up. That was about four months ago. So now, it's up and running and pretty much the coolest place ever. They got permission from the government, and so everything works swimmingly.

"Heard anything from Mia recently?" Lissa asked, placing Raine on her lap. I shrugged.

"The usual nothing. She doesn't seem like the calling and chatting thing, if you hadn't realized." I sighed. "I miss her. Ever since she moved to Hawaii with Eddie, our little trio status has gone to a two-woman band," I said with a frown. Lissa smirked.

"Definitely, but at least we can rest assure that she's not casually talking shit about us behind our backs." I opened my mouth to tell Lissa that Mia wasn't that bad of a person, but Liss beat me to it. "Shut up, Rose. You and I both know how much shit Mia talked about everyone. In fact, before she started dating Eddie, she thought he was an arrogant, self-centered, faggot-asshole. She practically wrote in on a banner and taped it everywhere!"

"Yeah," I said rolling my eyes. "That's because that is what she did, senior year at St. Vladimir High, remember?" I asked. Lissa paused for a moment and then brightened like a light bulb.

"Oh! No wonder that seemed like such a good analogy!"

I patted her on the back. "You're a very smart girl, Lissa," I said, rubbing her head. She swatted my hand away and smirked.

"I'm on medication! My memory is all distorted," she whined. "I'm stressed. What with the orphanage, the twins, Christian! For god's sake, that man is an aerial bomb waiting to explode. You know, since the parents and family passed..."

I gulped, saying nothing.

"But anyway, these kids need to sleep. I'm surprised Tony hasn't passed out by now," she said, and instantly after she said that, I craned my neck to try and find that kid. He was in the bathroom, and Lissa gasped at what he was doing. There he sat, pulling the toilet paper off the roll until there was only a single paper left. He had toilet paper in his mouth and had stuffed the toilet full. His hands were wet and sticky with white goo.

Lissa jumped up and handed me Raine. I watched as Liss moved. God, she was so pretty. I felt almost jealous of her body. I mean, seriously, albeit Dimitri showers me in his love and affection, I can't help but feel like a whale. It seriously sucks. Lissa's gone through hell and back having two kids, but almost immediately after, or nearly a year, she's gone back to supermodel thin and sexy. I guess I just miss it.

"It'll be over soon," I whispered to Raine, who was bouncing on my lap. "Right, Rainey-poo?" I said, ticking her stomach. She giggled, her black hair bobbing around her face.

Lissa returned with Anthony and placed him on her lap, scolding him for messing around. The kid just laughed as she spoke, as if it were one big joke. God, this kid.

I put my face in my hand as I looked up at Lissa. She smiled warmly. "Don't worry, babe. Things will get better. You're almost done."

I hoped what she said was true.

I groaned. "I hope Dimitri comes back with that ice cream soon..." I said with a frown.

xXx

Holy shit! Long time no update! I know, and I'm sorry, but I was feverishly trying to finish Camp Is and Living in Siberia! Now you guys can divert your full attention to this story, because it is back in action! And the last chapter of Siberia will be posted in the time span of three or so days. Sound good? Great.

Now review. And go check out my poll! I have a ton of new story ideas, but I'm waiting till I have a better hold on this story before I start them. I swear, this story is going to leave the first part in the dust! I'll try my best to keep updating & such, as well as make the chapters super interesting and fun!

THANKS BETA! (Dpower) Go check her stories out... Especially if you like M stories, because she's got a whole collection! ;)