I unwillingly yanked my lips off of Dimitri's to look into my daughters confused brown eyes. A thousand ways to explain the situation ran through my head all at once, all ways to excuse something that was completely inexcusable.
But you don't have to. It's okay for you to be with him now; you don't have anything to hide.
I was dizzy with all the emotions threatening to overwhelm me. I had almost forgotten that we didn't have to hide anymore; I was no longer his student.
But that didn't make explaining to my five year old why my tongue was down some guys throat any easier.
"Mommy, what are you doing to Dimitri?"
I turned my worried glance to him, trying to see if he knew how to handle a situation like this. By the look on his face, he didn't.
"Uh….um, well…"
"Mommy, are you and Dimitri having sex?"
This wasn't getting any easier.
My jaw dropped. Did Sophie seriously just ask me about that? I couldn't remember being five years old, but I was pretty damn sure that I didn't know about that "stuff" quite so young. And I had always been careful; almost never using bad language in front of them, keeping all movies PG once they actually knew what was going on enough to repeat what they saw. But this; this was seriously disturbing and very uncomfortable considering me and Dimitri were still very much locked together.
"Sophie, where did you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
"That…that, word."
"Sex? I heard it on a movie Uncle Adrian was watching."
"Where you watching a movie you weren't supposed to?
"Noooo, Uncle Adrian said I could."
"Oh, he did?"
"Yep." She said simply, popping the sound on the P.
I looked at Dimitri again; he looked like he was caught between laughing and deciding whether or not I need restraining.
Restraining was most likely the safest option, because I was seriously contemplating killing Adrian. He knew the rules I kept about what the girls saw or heard. Claire was easier, because as long as she didn't know the signs for the words, she could never repeat them. But Sophie, Sophie was just like me. And it scared the hell out of me.
I knew very well that I was not, still not, the easiest person to deal with. I had a crazy temper that ran hot and cold, a mouth like a sailor, and a wicked right hook that I liked to use on anyone who pissed me off.
And right now, my sweet innocent little daughter was asking me if I was sleeping with Dimitri.
I really thought I had few more years before crap like this started happening.
I sighed really big, and said "Sophie, why don't you go wake Claire up and tell her to come down for breakfast. And I don't want you saying that word anymore, okay? It's bad."
"Okay, mommy." She shuffled back to her room.
I finally untangled my legs from Dimitri's waist, just as he took his arms from around my neck. I wasn't one to blush, but my face was beet red as looked back up at him. I seemed at a complete loss for words.
"I…I should finish making breakfast."
"Do you want some help?"
"You know how to cook?"
He rolled his eyes, "Roza, if you can cook—"
"Whoa! Hey, as a matter-of-fact I can cook very well."
"Really?" he said disbelieving, but I detected a hint of sarcasm.
"Yes, really. I make pancakes every morning and I even made lasagna the other night."
"She burnt the lasagna!" came Adrian's voice from the living room.
"Adrian Ivashkov! Right now is not the time to make comments on my cooking!"
He was going to be in so much trouble, he must have known this too because he switched the TV off and peeked his head around the corner.
"What did I do?" he sounded worried.
I didn't exactly know what to say to him, I mean, how was I supposed to explain what Sophie said without explaining what me and Dimitri were doing. I knew it wouldn't hurt his feelings or anything, but I didn't exactly want to share my privet business with Adrian.
"Sophie said a…inappropriate word today. She said she learned it from a movie you said it was okay for her to watch." He obviously knew he was in a bad position. He was shifting from foot to foot and rubbing the back of his neck.
"Look, whatever. Just don't do it again. Okay?"
I think my words surprised all three of us. I never ever let a fight go like that. Especially with something that concerned my kids. But at the moment, I really wasn't in the mood to deal with it. Dimitri always tested my control, but he also made it stronger. Just being with his strong presence made me more rational and less hot tempered.
I wasn't going to lie, I was pissed. But I could deal with Adrian later.
"Okay, Comrade. So you wanna help me make some pancakes?"
He smiled an adorable half smile, "You sure you need help? I thought you were a chef now?"
I smiled back, "Nope, just the greatest pancake maker in the world. Feel free to worship at my feet or build a shrine in my honor."
"I might do just that." He said with a roll of his eyes. I had to laugh; even after all these years we could go back to our comfortable banter. Hell, even after making out on my kitchen counter with pancake batter dripping all over his head we could go back to our comfortable banter.
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By the time we had all of the pancakes made and the table set, everybody was awake. I sat at the head of the table with Dimitri on my right and Tasha at my left. Adrian was at the other end of the table and Sophie was next to Dimitri, Claire was in the seat next to Tasha.
"Mommy, at school Mrs. B asked us what we wanted to be when we grew' ed up and I said I wanted to be a guardian. But Patrick said that that was stupid and he wanted to be a knight. I said that was stupid because everyone knows that knights kill dragons, but dragons aren't even real!"
Sophie went on and on (and on and on and on) for a long time, her face getting more and more animated as she went on with her story. It was the cutest thing, watching her tell us about problems that seemed so important in her safe little world while signing her entire rant rapidly so Claire could understand. Claire's innocent brown eyes watched her sister's hands with rapt attention. She idolized her sister; constantly following her everywhere and game for anything Sophie wanted to do. At first it bothered me that she was so dependent on her sister, but then I realized she wasn't dependent, she just had a great respect for her. People warned me that it would be good for her in the future; she wouldn't always have Sophie to watch after her. But something inside me said that she would. They reminded me of Lissa and me.
The one always protecting the other, not even realizing that even though the one put herself out there to keep the other from harm, she need Claire just as much. Each trait canceled each other out and brought out only the best in each other.
It hurt to know that I had failed as Lissa's guardian because I chose my kids instead, but even now I was still helping her. I could sacrifice everything in the whole world, but I could never sacrifice our friendship.
I felt a small brush against my leg; I looked down to see Dimitri's hand resting on my knee. He wasn't looking at me though. He was looking at Sophie and Claire, watching their every move with a small smile on his face and love in his eyes that surprised me.
Even if he didn't know they were his yet, they still were.
We all were.
Hey guys :D I just realized that in my last chapter I had a lot of spelling and grammar mistakes. I did fix them, but then I realized that I forgot to save my edited version and by accident posted my first copy. The chapter went the same, but I just had things a little more polished. So, sorry if those errors confused anyone :D
Thank you for the reviews!
Xoxo
-Lydia
