RPOV

Dimitri and I sat together on the couch with Aleksandr for quite awhile. We talked a lot about how we were going to set up a schedule before I went to court. We decided on him getting Aleksandr in the afternoons and staying the night two nights out of the week. The rest of the time Aleksandr would be with me. If Dimitri wanted to spend extra time with Aleksandr, all three of us would be spending time together. I agreed to Dimitri wanting to be a couple again. I would try as long as we took it slow and didn't rush into anything. I'm still shaken from him leaving, but I still love him.

I was walking back to my dorm, for the last night, to put Aleksandr down for bed. It had been a long day and I was exhausted. I unlocked the door and the first thing I did was put Aleksandr down in his crib. I went into the bathroom to pull my hair up. I couldn't seem to find my brush and fished around for it. I looked through all of the drawrs and under the sink. I remembered putting it down in the bathroom, but not exactly where. I finally found it sitting under my hair dryer and flat iron. I pulled my hair up into a ponytail, put my brush back in the drawr, and walked back out into my room.

I gasped and almost screamed when I saw two people standing by the door. "Jesus christ! Why are you here?"

"Well, excuse me for coming to see my daughter."

I laughed. "Janine, I recall you saying that I was a disgraceful daughter and that you never wanted to see me again. If you don't mind me saying so, you can get the hell out of my room." I smiled a sweet-evil smile.

"Rose, I know you're mad at me. But I would like to make it up."

"And how are you going to make up 18 years of you not being in my life? You couldn't even do something as simple as sending a card. You never actually took time out of your schedule to spend time with me. The only times you came here was because your charge was here. Too little, too late, Janine. Get out of my room." I couldn't beleive she had the audacity to come and talk to me after all that she has said to me.

She sighed. The man next to her shifted his feet, as if he was getting impatient. "And who the hell are you?" He glared at me.

"Don't you be talking to me like that, little girl."

I snickered. "I'm no little girl, old man."

Janine touched his arm and started to direct him out of the room. "Let's go, Ibrahim." He pulled away.

"No, Janine. I've waited 18 years. I'm not waiting any longer."

"What are you two talking about?" I asked.

The guy that looked like a mobster, with his flashy suit, tie, and gold jewlry said, "Rose. I'm sorry for not being as involved as I should have been. But with my kind of work, we thought it was best that I wasn't involved. And-" I cut him off.

"Let's get to the point. You're saying that you're my dad. I don't care or want to hear any of your excuses. Both of you don't get to just come into my life and act as if everything is okay. I'm an adult and I can take care of myself. I have been for the past 18 years. Now why don't you do everyone a favor by getting the hell out of my room." They both finally left after standing there for another minute. I picked Aleksandr up and put him right up against my side, so he was snuggled in. I needed to feel like I wasn't alone and having Aleksandr lying right by me made me feel a hell lot better.

Next morning...

I woke up to the sound of my phone buzzing with a new text. I checked and found that it was Dimitri.

Dimitri: I was at a meeting this morning and saw your mother. Did you guys talk yet?

I texted back with a short reply.

Rose: Last night.

Dimitri: Things didn't go well?

Rose: No. She thought she could just walk back into my life. And with Abe Mazur too.

Dimitri: He's a dangerous man, Roza. You should stay away from him.

Rose: Can't.

Dimitri: Why not?

Rose: I'm bound to him.

Dimitri: What do you mean? Bound how?

Rose: By blood. He claims to be my dad.

Dimitri: I'm coming over. Be there in 5.

I picked up Aleksandr and got up to put him in his crib. I was extra careful since he was still asleep. I quietly ran to the bathroom and brushed through my hair leaving it down in waves and quickly changed into jeans and a cami. I had one minute left so I brushed my teeth and threw some lipgloss on. I just walked out of the bathroom when there was a soft knock on the door. Aleksandr stirred a bit but didn't wake up. I answered the door and saw Dimitri standing there, as expected. "Shh," I whisphered. He got the hint and slipped inside. He took my face in his hands and just stared at me. Finally, he let go.

"I should have noticed it sooner," he said, russian accent lacing his words. "You look so much like him."

"Who?"

"Zmey," he said, his tone bitter.

"Who the hell is Zmey"? I asked. I could barely pronounce the name.

"Abe Mazur. He's a... what you would desbribe as a mobster."

I looked up at him and smiled. "I'm a mobster baby!" I half shouted, half whisphered.

He chuckled. "Why does that not surprise me that you'd say something like that?"

"Hey. Be glad. He's the one who gave me and Aleksandr our wickedly awesome hair." As if Aleksandr knew he was being praised in our conversation, he woke up with a little whine. I picked him up and kissed his forhead. "We have some awesome hair don't we," I baby talked. Dimitri chuckled and suggested we go to breakfast. Down in the cafeteria we got donuts, bacon, eggs, and orange juice. Yum! Dimitri held Aleksandr while we ate and half way through, Dimiti had finished chewing and held Aleksandr up and put their faces next to one another.

"We have wickedly awesome eyes." I laughed.

"You guys have the same ears and mouth." Dimitri looked betwen Aleksandr and I and then said, "You have the same nose and eye shape."

"50/50 I would say. We'll just have to wait on personality to see who he's more like." I paused. "He better not like cowboys and the Old West."

Dimitri mocked hurt. "I'm hurt, Roza. We could get matching dusters as father and son."

I face palmed. "Oh hell no! I'd have another kid before he likes all things western!" I hadn't realized what I said until Dimitri's eyes flashed. With hope? Longing? Both? Aleksandr saved me from fussing. I stood up and took him. "I have to go feed him," I said. I started to head back to my dorm, but Dimitri had grabbed Aleksandr's things and caught up. We walked back to my dorm in silence. Dimitri waited in the bathroom while I finished. Dimitri burped Aleksandr while I texted Lissa saying that I would start moving my stuff to guest housing after lunch. I sat back on my bed waiting for her to reply.

"About what you said earlier..." Dimitri started.

"Look. Dimitri-" he cut me off.

"Did you mean it? About having more kids? Is there even a little meaning to it?" Looking at his face broke my heart a bit. Hope and longing radiated from his face. I thought about it for a minute. If things did go well and Dimitri and I got back together for good this time... I think I might want more kids. I don't want more until Aleksandr is older though.

"It depends," I said. I rocked Aleksandr to keep my hands busy so I wouldn't fidget. I never imagined that I would ever have to have this conversation. This parenting thing is a whole new adventure itself.

"On what exactly?" Dimitri's expression of hope faltered a bit.

"If we do stay together, I mean we really have to be together and I have to be sure that you won't leave again, also when Aleksandr is older then yeah. I think I might want another kid. It just depends and what is going on especially with... the both of us being guardians." I had no know idea why I hesitated. Dimitri flashed one of those to-die-for smiles and I thought that he didn't notice the hesitation. He did though.

"Why did you hesitate on the last part?"

"I don't know," I said slowly. "I guess I just don't want to be as bad of parents like mine were to me. I don't want our son growing up and hating us."

Dimitri smiled and came and sat next to me on the bed. He put his arm around my waist and rested his hand on my hip. "Roza, we will be amazing parents. We will figure this all out. We're not there just yet. When the time comes we'll have a plan by then." He started to chuckle at towards the end. I frowned.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing. I just liked the way you said 'our son' is all. It's nice." I smiled.

"Calm yourself, Comrade. It's not that big of a deal." He was full out laughing now.

"You finally called me Comrade. You have no idea how much I've missed that."

"You're too easy too please," I joked.

"I am when it comes to you, Roza." I tilted my head up to look into Dimitri's eyes. He looked into mine and we just gazed into each other's eyes. Our faces were just mere inches apart and I could feel him breathing. "I missed you, Roza." He moved his free hand to caress my face, his thumb brushing against my cheek.

"I missed you too," I whisphered. We slowly moved closer, our lips almost touching, when I smelt something funny. "Comrade. You're breath smells bad." I scrunched my nose as I pulled away. Dimitri smelled his breath.

"Are you sure it's my breath that smells bad?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" Dimitri grabbed Aleksandr and practically shoved his butt in my face. A huge waft went up my nose and I coughed, gagging. "What the hell! There is no way he produced something that smells that bad!" I covered my nose with my hands and leaned away.

Dimitri laughed. "He needs a diaper change." He held Aleksandr out to me expecting me to take him. I just shook my head.

"That's not my son, that's your son. He only produced something this big and this nasty, because you're so damn big." I got off the bed and, with one hand, grabbed a diaper and baby powder, set it on the changing table, went across the room, and pointed at the changing table. Dimitri shook his head and laughed while setting Aleksandr down on the table.

"It can't be that bad," he said. But then he opened up the diaper. He averted his eyes and started to cuss in Russian.

"C'mon, Comrade. It can't be that bad," I mocked him.

Dimitri cussed some more and asked, "Could you at least hold his legs for me?"

I groaned. "Fine." I grabbed a scarf that was hanging out of a nearby box and wrapped it around my nose as a cover up. I held Aleksandr's legs as Dimitri grabbed some baby wipes. He stood there for a while. I was getting irritated because my eyes were watering. "Well, don't just stand there, Comrade. Dig in," I joked. He scrunched his nose and got to it. He cussed in Russian the entire time and it was kind of funny. Who knew that it would take a poopy diaper to gross Dimitri out?

"He needs a bath," Dimitri choked out. "Can you give him one while I dispose of this... toxic waste?" I laughed and nodded. I bathed Aleksandr, wrapped him in a towel, and changed my clothes while he dried off. I walked out of the bathroom to get Aleksandr dressed and saw Dimitri spraying air freshner all over the place.

"Chill out with the air freshner! Spray too much and you'll suffucote the entire wing!" I went over and opened up the window as wide as I could with one hand. "All clean," I said and handed Aleksandr to Dimitri. I grabbed a pair of jean shorts, a t-shirt, socks, and a pair of sneakers while Dimitri layed Aleksandr down on my bed. I handed Dimitri Aleksandr's clothes so he could dress him while I brushed through my hair. "So what exactly did you do with Aleksandr's mess?"

Dimitri's looked over at me amused. "In the garbage of course," he said.

"Did you make sure to spray that too?" I joked, my tone being very sarcastic. I waited for his answer and when he didn't I busted out laughing. "Seriously? You sprayed the trash?" Dimitri finished dressing Aleksandr and threw the towel in the hamper.

"That was the worst smell I have ever come across. That smell was worse than death its self." I was laughing so hard at this.

"Gee, Comrade. You could always use Aleksandr's dirty diapers as a weapon instead of your stake then." Dimitri was chuckling now.

"Oh, Roza," was all he said.

Once I had finished laughing, I got serious. "Alright, alright. I've got to finish packing everything before Lissa's helpers come and move everything into guest housing."

"Do you need any help?" he asked.

"Don't you want to go do father-son stuff?"

"I'm sure there will be plenty of time for 'father-son stuff'," he chuckled and put Aleksandr in his swing. "What do you want me to start with?" I smiled and pointed at my computer desk. Dimitri smiled back and got started.