Rose paused. What did he just say? Ibriham was giving off weird vibes. She clutched Immanuil closer. "You and me, Dimitri, we're not much alike," he had said. Did that mean...?

"I'm sorry, do I know you from somewhere?" Rose asked the creepy hipster named Ibriham. He shook his head.

"No, you wouldn't know me. I left before you could."

Rose's eyes widened and she glanced at Dimitri. His eyes were wide as well as they came to the same sudden realization:

"You're...my father," Rose whispered, backing up a step. "Ibriham...Abe."

"Indeed. I regret not being there for you, but there was really nothing to be done—well, I'm glad to be back," her newfound dad grinned at her easily. She glared back. Sure, the information was new and should have been joyous, but Rose had seventeen years worth of bitterness towards this man.

"Do you really honestly believe I'm going to just let you back into my life that easily?" Rose snapped at him. He looked a little taken aback. "After you just left me to be raised by a mom who didn't want me either? You expect me to believe that you actually care?"

"Well, Little Rose, I had to go, I—"

"You what? Don't 'Little Rose' me. There's no excuse for abondoning a child, Abe. I was sent away to school after school, thinking my dad was dead, when in fact he just didn't want me!"

Abe looked at her with a look of...sadness? Remorse? Probably a show. "I wish I hadn't gone, dear, I do..."

"Well it's too late, Dad," Rose sighed, suddenly tired. She turned to Dimitri; gestering for them to leave. Dimitri nodded slowly and guided her and Immanuil away, towards a different group of benches; leaving Ibriham behind looking solemn. Rose felt her chest start to constrict and Dimitri noticed.

"Are you okay, Roza?" He asked softly. She was about to nod, but the two had wasted too much of their relationship lying to each other. She shook her head, and felt a tear slip out of her eye. Dimitri urged her to sit and she did.

"Neither of my parents wanted me," she said sadly, confessing what she had kept buried inside her for years. Dimitri sat next to Rose, taking Immanuil from her in one arm and wrapping his free arm around her shoulders.

"That's not true, Rose. They both love you, they just have an odd way of showing it," he said calmly.

"Their way of 'showing it' is by showing no emotion whatsoever!" Rose said furiously.

"That's not entirely true, and you know it," Dimitri told her. "At your...memorial service they both seemed to show an outstanding amount of emotion. Of course, I didn't know Abe at the time, I only knew his name."

"You knew him?" Rose asked curiously, still upset.

Dimitri looked hesitant. "Yes. He's sort of a well-known man, especially around Russia."

"Why?"

"Rose..."

"Why?"

"Wel...you see, he sort of runs a...secret business. Nobody really knows what he does, but you don't want to get involved in it..."

"My mom hates me and my dad is a mobster!" Rose wailed, more upset now. Dimitri just sat there patiently, cradling Immanuil, waiting for Rose to calm down. Once she had, she stared into her little Immanuil's deep brown eyes. He gazed back at her with a certain infant intensity.

"Mommy and Daddy aren't ever gonna abondon you, alright, bud?" She asked the boy, and Dimitri smiled, rubbing small circles on Rose's back. "Mom and Dad are gonna protect you and keep you safe from the world."

"We sure are," Dimitri also was talking to Immanuil. Then he seemed to pause. "Rose, how did you get into court without everyone noticing?"

"The people who had been holding me got me here in a private jet and then gave me this—" and showed Dimitri a ring from her pocket—"to disguise myself with. They didn't want me to start an uproar the instant I walked in."

Dimitri grabbed the ring and studied it curiously. "How does it do that?"

"Oh, it has spirit induced into it. It's kinda cool. I'll have to talk to Lissa about it."

"Rose?"

Dimitri and Rose looked up, to see Lissa standing there with a dopey smile on her face.

"Speak of the devil," Dimitri smiled.

"Sorry, did I interrupt anything? It's just that you guys are so cute and it's weird to see you around, Rose, and with Dimitri, and I just am so glad to have you back..." she trailed off. Rose started to laugh.

"I understand, Liss," Rose told her, watching as Lissa gazed at the boy in Dimitri's arms.

"What was his name again?" Lissa asked, holding a finger above his head and giggling as he grabbed it.

"Immanuil Dimitri Hathaway-Belikov," Rose responded automatically, still proud of the choice.

"Dang, that name sure packs a punch," Lissa commented, trying to tickle him now.

"That's the point..." Rose grinned at Dimitri, the argument with her parents out of her head. "Did you want to hold him, then?"

Lissa's eyes grew wide and sparkled with excitement. "Can I?"

"Of course," Dimitri said graciously, carefully placing his child into Lissa's awaiting arms. Rose watched as Lissa's eyes welled up with tears and she held Immanuil up to her face.

"Oh my goodness, who's the cutest little thing I've ever laid my eyes on?" Lissa squealed at him. "You are, buddy, that's right! Look at your eyes! Look at you, you're so tiny!"

"Savor it while you can, Liss," Rose reminded her friend, her heart warmed by the way she doted over Immanuil. "Soon he'll be big enough to walk; I swear he's already gained three pounds since yesterday."

Lissa kept smiling at Immanuil while he wiggled in her arms. Just then, Rose saw four people walking quickly in their direction. Dimitri noticed as well and they both stood up quickly. Lissa turned to see what they were looking at, and Rose noticed she held Immanuil to her closer as she did, already wanting to protect him.

As they got closer, Dimitri inhaled, and Rose figured he knew them. She looked at him questioningly.

"The royal guard," he muttered into her ear. She felt her heartbeat quicken as they drew near.

"Guardian Belikov," the guardian who appeared to be the leader of the guard greeted. Dimitri nodded stiffly, and shifted his body towards Rose. The man raised his eyebrows and handed Dimitri a note. "The queen requests your presence."

Before Dimitri could say anything else, the man interrupted him. "Along with Hathaway. And the child."

The royal guard walked away and Rose, Dimitri, and Lissa stood tensely. Lissa was the first to speak.

"How does she know you're here? And how does she know about Immanuil?"

Dimitri frowned. "I don't like making assumptions, but it might have something to do with Janine. Whatever the case is, we need to get going. Tatiana is not a patient woman."

Rose took Immanuil back from Lissa, and gave her a concerned look.

"You'll be okay, Rose," her best friend quickly hugged her. "I'll go tell the boys what's going on."

Rose thanked her and the group parted ways, Rose clutching her baby. Dimitri gripped her free hand tightly.

"What does she want from us?" Rose voiced her worries out loud. "What if she wants to take Immanuil? The Brothers of Defenders kept me because they didn't want Tatiana to know about him...and his parenthood."

"She won't," Dimitri said through gritted teeth, sounding unsure though. "That's inhumane and I would start a riot until he was safe with us again."

Rose was again blown away by the fierce loyalty Dimitri had for the two of them, even after being back for less than a day. She leaned into him as they sped up their pace to meet the queen.

Soon enough, they were at the doors, and the guardian standing there recognized Rose, and gawked.

"We're here because the queen requested us?" Dimitri cleared his throat at the guardian that was staring at Rose and he nodded quickly.

"Right, uh, head right on in," he opened the door, and Rose took a deep breath as they stepped in together.

They were locked in Queen Tatiana's sharp gaze the instant they stepped in the room. She gestured for them to take a seat in front of her with a wave of her hand, and they did. Her eyes went from Dimitri to Rose to Immanuil, who had fallen asleep in Rose's arms.

"It's all true, then," the queen said, sounding mildly entertained at the thought. "Rose is alive. Rose had a secret relationship with her mentor. Not only that, she got pregnant."

"I sure feel welcome," Rose couldn't help but grumbling. Dimitri shot her a look that told her to not test Tatiana.

"So, Belikov, how did you take the news? Are you going to keep the baby as your own?" Tatiana asked, jumping right into business, skipping the part about Rose being alive and her secret relationship.

"Yes...?" Dimitri frowned. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Most men wouldn't do the same, that's very generous of you," Tatiana commented. "Now, on to the next order of busine—"

"You mean to tell me most men wouldn't keep their own child as their own?" Dimitri interrupted incredulously.

The queen paused, raising both her eyebrows. "You mean to tell me that you actually believe that you're the father of that child?"

Dimitri stared back at her. "Of course I do! How would I not be? I'm the only person Rose has ever been with!" Rose was confused. Dhe thought that the only reason she was kept was because the Defenders didn't want Tatiana getting to her baby.

"Do you know that for sure, Belikov? Besides the fact that she could have easily been with any other man the entire time she was supposedly dead, a dhampir and dhampir can't have a child together. It's imossible."

Rose and Dimitri stared at each other. The woman didn't believe them. Rose was worried that he would start to doubt that Immanuil was his, but he was just looking dumbfounded at the queen's inability to see the truth.

They looked at each other silently and made the agreement to just accept this. If she didn't believe dhampirs could have kids together, they wouldn't have their son taken away for lab work. It was weird, though. There might be something going on here.

"However, we can brush past that particular detail for now," the queen said authoritatively. "You realize this entire thing could lose you your job, Dimitri?"

Rose felt her heart drop as he bowed his head. "I am fully aware of the consequences of my actions, but I have come to terms with it. I am not leaving my son or his mother any time soon, no matter what is at stake."

"I could have you arrested, Belikov," the queen inspected her nails casually, while Rose glared at her. Thankfully, Immanuil was still asleep.

"I am aware of that as well," Dimitri said firmly. The queen pursed her lips.

"Yet you don't care?"

"Of course not. I wouldn't trade Roza or Immanuil for anything," Dimitri stared down Tatiana. She sighed.

"I haven't reached a decision on the matter yet. You two are good people, I don't necessarily want to see you...or the child...being punished. Still, you can't deny your actions were wrong."

"We have not denied them at all," Dimitri said calmly and earnestly.

"I realize that, Belikov," Queen Tatiana looked frustrated. "Just...get out of my sight. I'll call you back upon finding a conclusion."

Rose stood up quickly and she and Dimitri left the room before Tatian could change her mind.

"That...went better than I thought it would," Rose commented as they walked back into the open air.

Dimitri nodded. "I'm kind of relieved that she doesn't believe that Immanuil is mine. That way we don't have to explain the dhampir/dhampir genetics. I wouldn't even know where to start!"

Rose agreed. "It was short, though. Does she normally call people up to talk to her for five minutes?"

Dimitri frowned. "You're right, that was extremely short. I hadn't noticed, I just wanted to get out of there. Now that I think of it, she's not usually that stubborn, either. She would have normally believed that Immanuil was a dhampir and dhampir child."

Rose began to get worried. "Did the Defenders lie to me? What if—"she stopped, mid sentence, spotting someone ahead of them.

"Markus?" She called hesitantly. He turned around. It was Markus! His face went completely blank.

"Rose? What...how?"

She and Dimitri hurried over to where he was standing, forgetting her previous worries and in the excitement, Immanuil woke up and started crying. Rose started rocking him and shushing him in a soft voice while Markus watched.

"You're alive," Markus told her. She nodded.

"Last time I checked, yeah," she responded, still trying to calm down Immanuil. "What are you doing here?"

"I live here now...but what are you doing here? With him?" Markus asked, pointing at Dimitri. "And the baby? Don't tell me he's yours and you were pregnant while we were on mission."

"Well...if it makes you feel better, I didn't know at the time..." Rose said sheepishly. Markus groaned.

"Now I feel horrible! I would have treated you so much better if I had known—"

Dimitri stopped him. "Hey, man it's fine. None of us knew. I wouldn't have even let her leave if I had known."

"Fair," Markus replied.

"Guys, come on, I was pregnant, not incompetent," Rose complained. Suddenly, she felt a rush of queasiness, almost like what she had felt at the beginning of her pregnancy, but more intense.

"Dimitri..." she clutched her head with one hand, holding onto Immanuil tightly with the other.

"What's wrong, Roza?" He asked worriedly, immediatly sensing the change in atmosphere. Markus watched them, worried. Rose was trying to place the sickness she felt, and then it snapped.

"Strigoi," she muttered. Dimitri's eyes snapped up as his hand flew to his stake, as did Markus. And Rose was right. The ten red eyes met the six white eyes in the dark as they surrounded the trio. Rose's heart pounded. She and Dimitri wildly met each other's eyes and they both knew that they would both die here before letting anything happen to Immanuil.

"How did they get in here?" Markus asked, sounding panicked as he pointed his stake. None of the strigoi were attacking. They were looking for an opening.

"That's not really a concern right now," Rose responded, equally panicked, as just at that moment, one of them lunged, triggering a reaction from all of them. Two flew at Markus while two more went for Dimitri and one eased it's way towards Rose and Immanuil.

It grinned slowly at her, and everything around her faded. It was just her, Immanuil, and this strigoi.

"Such a pretty little boy," the strigoi taunted. "Such a shame that it won't live long enough to grow into a pretty man."

That was his first mistake. You don't threaten Rosemarie Hathaway's son. His second mistake was not expecting her to be able to stake his heart while holding a baby. Because she was more than willing to, and and more than able to. He was dead before he could say another word.

She quickly turned to the two men. Dimitri had finished off one and was in a furious battle with the second strigoi. Markus was fighting one, but Rose couldn't see the other one anywhere. She would have to worry about that later, though, because Markus was being overpowered. She believed Dimitri could handle himself.

She carefully jumped over to help Markus, and Immanuil started crying. The strigoi turned at the sound, giving Markus the opening to stab her through the heart. She fell, dead, and the two turned just in time to watch Dimitri fell his second strigoi. Rose dropped her stake, tired.

Dimitri hurried over to wear Rose was standing, breathing heavily. "Are you okay? Is Immanuil okay?"

Rose nodded, but something still didn't feel right.

"Hold on. I killed one, right? Dimitri, you killed two?"

Dimitri nodded.

"How many did you kill, Markus?" Rose asked him.

"One," Markus gasped, realizing what Rose had realized. There had been five. They killed four. Where was the fifth?

Time slowed as Dimitri and Rose turned at the same time to see the final strigoi leaping towards them, specifically Rose, which meant Immanuil. Rose felt completely and utterly helpless. There was nothing she could do. Her stake was still on the ground and there was no way she could reach it in time. She shielded her arms around Immanuil in a tiny attempt to protect him.

But she also hadn't taken into consideration the fact that Dimitri could leap in front of her. She hadn't taken into consideration the fact that Dimitri would then get slammed to the ground, skull first by the strigoi. She hadn't taken into consideration the overwhelming feeling of despair as blood began to trickle it's way down his face as he went unconscious. She couldn't move. They hadn't even been reunited for a day. This couldn't be happening!

She fell onto her knees as Markus staked the strigoi ovwr and over and dragged it off of Dimitri. She crawled weakly over to him, Immanuil crying again. Did he realize his dad was fatally injured? She began to gasp tears and started screaming.

Screaming at the unfairness of this all, screaming in pain, screaming for help. She couldn't even hear her own voice, or Markus's, all she could focus on was the life slowly fading away from Dimitri as his son cried in her arms.

xXxXx

Oopsie. Review! What do you feel about this development?