A/N: Heyah folks! Sorry for the wait, honestly meant to have this up a while ago. Didn't get around to finish editing it until today though, so here it is! A nice spicy chapter for yah~
Dimitri notices Rose blankly staring at her son tear into his pancakes. He had forgone any use of a fork two stacks ago.
"Someone's hungry," Dimitri, who's cooking over the stove, comments.
"Bacon please," Royce says around a mouthful. Instead of reprimanding him, Rose simply asks for more bacon too. These two peas in a pod. Complying, he shovels some more bacon on their plates, noticing that Rose was still working on the same one pancake. "Roza?" She glances up, meeting Dimitri's worried gaze. She had been too tired to talk for long last night after returning from Opal, but he had managed to get out of her that the mysterious man was not a stranger but her estranged father. Immediately after that short explanation she passed out in his arms. Now this morning she was barely eating. "Roza, you must eat."
"I am eating," she says, crunching on a piece of bacon.
"You can't just eat bacon."
"What kind of sacrilege is that?" Shaking his head, he continues to flip pancakes since it seems like Royce is not stopping anytime soon.
An hour later the kitchen is clean and they are all getting ready for the day. "Can you grab my wallet from the living room?" she asks him while heading with Royce to the bathroom. "I think I saw it on the coffee table." Dimitri takes a peek into the living room and doesn't see it. He passes them in the bathroom (Rose scrubbing the syrup from his...everywhere) and heads to his room to check her purse. A quick glance shows it sitting at the top.
"It's in your purse Roza," he calls. No answer. Walking back to the bathroom he sees Royce waving his wet hands around while Rose sits on the edge of the bathtub, her head resting against the wall. "Roza?"
"Mommy's sleeping," Royce whispers loudly.
"Not...sleeping," she grunts. "Did you dry your hands mister?"
"Yeah, see?" He shakes his hands harder.
"I meant with a towel."
"But this is faster."
Not arguing, she gets up and slides her way across the wall. Something's wrong.
"Roza?" he asks, for the second time today.
"I'm fine Comrade," she says calmly, but it comes out as a grumble.
He doesn't let it go this time. Keeping silent for the moment, he picks up Royce and carries him to his room. "Can you play with your toys for a minute while I talk to your moth-...mommy?"
"Okay. Can I open more gifts now?"
"Of course buddy." He ruffles his hair and walks back out. Luchik follows him back to Rose. I'm surprised he's not staying with Royce.
Dimitri finds Rose basically where he left her. She's still using the wall as support, slowly shuffling down the hall. "Roza, I'm taking you to the bedroom." Knowing she was going to argue and not hearing any of it, he easily picks her up so she's basically sitting in his arms.
"Put me down!"
"Ssh, you'll alarm Royce. Just let me carry you." At the rate she was going she wouldn't have made it down the hall for another hour. He keeps this thought to himself though, not wanting to invoke anymore of Rose's rage.
Once they reach the room he plops her down on the edge of the bed. The ensuing pout would be cute if he wasn't so worried about her at the moment. He places his hand on her forehead and his worries are confirmed. "You are hot Roza."
"Thanks Comrade, not so bad yourself," she practically wheezes.
"That's not what I meant and you know it. You have a fever, and it seems to be getting worse by the minute."
"I'm sick? I can't be sick. I haven't been sick since..." She takes a moment to think. "Since Royce was born! I can't be sick, I don't have time to be sick."
"Rose, you can afford to be sick. People catch colds all the time."
"Yeah but not me! I can't afford to be sick, I have to take care of my son-" A pause overtakes her and she slowly breathes out. After a seconds more thought she flops down on the bed, forearm over her eyes.
"Roza?"
"I think..." A sigh escapes her before she can continue. "I think I should rest for today."
"I think so too," he agrees. He was going to force her to stay in bed either way. "I will be right back, okay?"
"Mm." Luchik whines on the floor next to Rose. "I'm okay Luchik. Who's a sweet baby? You are. Come here sweet baby, come on." She pats the bed and he hesitantly hops up. Dimitri tries to get him to stay off the bed in his room. Looks like that was a wasted effort.
He pulls his phone out while leaving the room to make a call.
"Yes sir?" answers Lissa on the other line.
"No need for formality, this is a private call."
"Oh. Then what do you need?"
"Rose is ill, would you mind taking Royce out for the day? I don't want him to catch it-"
"Slash you don't want him to be in the way?"
"I suppose, yes." He peeks into Royce's room and sees him preoccupied with tearing at wrapping paper. "With all that's been happening of late, I believe Roza could use the downtime."
"She definitely deserves it, with how hard she works every single day. Christian!" he hears her shout before her voice fades back in. "We'll be there soon."
"Thank you Lissa."
"No problem boss. Good luck getting this pass Rose." She hangs up leaving Dimitri wondering if she is ever going to stop calling him boss and how she knew he has not quite told Rose about his plan.
Thinking it might help smooth things over he grabs Royce from his room, newly unwrapped Rubik's cube in hand, who happily obliges to seeing his mother.
"Mommy!" he shouts upon seeing her laid out. He tries to climb but the frame is too high. Dimitri picks him up but does not put him on the bed.
"Royce, your mommy has a cold."
The boy looks at his mother then back at him. "More blankets?"
Oh. "Not that kind of cold," Dimitri chuckles squeezing him. "She's sick."
"Flu?"
"Yes."
"No," they hear Rose groan. "I just...need a nap. And some aspirin. And like, five blankets."
"More blankets!"
What Rose needs is rest, not more blankets, but he is not going to argue it at the moment. There were more pressing matters.
"Until your mommy gets better, we have to let her rest, okay?"
"Okay!" Dimitri quickly puts his finger to his lip. "Okay," he whispers this time.
"Okay. So that she can get all the rest she needs, we're going to go out for the day, yes?"
"Yeah!"
"What?" Rose croaks.
"Is it okay to go out with Aunt Lissa and Uncle Christian?"
"Yeah!"
"What?"
Dimitri puts Royce down who runs off saying he needs to get his markers (for whatever reason). Dimitri turns back to deal with the problem at hand.
"Lemme guess, Liss called?"
"Uh, no. I actually called her." Before she can say anything he continues with "I just do not want him to catch anything, especially with him starting school so soon."
"Right, right, school," she sighs. "And I've got work in the morning." A shiver racks over her body. "Augh, kill meee."
"Not today." He kisses her forehead chuckling, but also concerned with her temperature. "Let me get Royce ready and wait for Lissa. Then we will get some medicine in you. I promise you will feel better by tomorrow."
"You promise, huh?"
"Of course Roza." He pets her head for a bit until it looks like she dozes off.
Royce is in his own room trying to get into his shoes with a haphazardly packed bag next to him. Dimitri organizes the toys and crayons inside a little better and grabs a travel bag from the hallway closet to pack some clothes and other essentials. Fifteen minutes later Lissa and Christian are at the door. "I get it!" Royce runs for it.
"Hold your horses buddy." Royce asks who it is then waits for Dimitri to open the door.
"Hey Dimitri," Christian greets.
"Hi boss. Is Rose okay?"
"Yeah, she will be okay."
"Auntie!" Royce cheers and Lissa immediately picks him up and hugs him tight. He sure is loved.
"Hello my sweet angel baby!" She kisses him all over while he giggles. "Are you ready for some quality Auntie-Uncle time?"
"Yeah!" He covers his mouth quickly and whispers "yeah!"
"Why so hush-hush?" Christian asks, taking Royce from Lissa.
"Mommy cold."
"Right. She'll be okay bugger. Dimitri here will make sure of that."
"You promise?" he responds with upturned eyes toward Dimitri.
"Of course Royce." He kisses his head as well. "Did you two want to see Rose before you left? I believe she's fallen asleep, but..."
"I don't wanna disturb her," Lissa says. "But maybe I'll just pop my head in real quick, make sure she's alive."
"Pop head too!" Royce says reaching for Lissa. After handing Royce's things to Christian, Dimitri follows them into the bedroom.
"Remember, quiet voice," Lissa whispers.
"Hush-hush," he responds, and Lissa sits on the side of the bed next to Rose with Royce in her arms, careful to keep his shoes off the coverlet.
"Rose, you awake?"
After a few seconds they hear a grunt, and she flips over. "Liss..."
"Hey chickie," she soothes. "I'm gonna take Royce for the day and possibly for the unforeseeable future."
Dimitri is confused for a second before understanding that she was rephrasing "keeping him until tomorrow". Dimitri had packed the overnight bag just in case of that.
"Take him, I'm useless anyway," she mumbles.
"Mommy's not useless!" He makes a dive for his mother so Liss quickly snatches his shoes off.
He snuggles into Rose's breasts and says something incomprehensible.
"Honey, I love you too. I'm not going anywhere. I swear I will be right here when you get back." More mumbling and a sniff. "Right here, in this spot. I miss you already."
"I miss you more!" he says clearly, and begins to cry. Rose instinctively goes to snuggle him but contains herself.
"Take him before I get him sick. Or I start crying. Or both."
Liss scoops him up (after prying his little fingers from Rose's shirt). He immediately cries into Lissa's chest and they both leave the room.
"Are you okay?"
"Hm? I'm fine. This is the usual. I'm actually surprised he didn't put up a bigger fight."
"I am surprised you did not put up a bigger fight."
Rose shrugs, closing her eyes again. "What you said made sense. I'm too tired and sick to argue."
"So you admit you are sick?" Dimitri smiles.
"Never," she breathes out, flipping back over.
Dimitri takes the chance to walk out to the front where Lissa and Christian are getting ready to leave.
"We're outta here boss. Take care of Rose."
"Of course." Dimitri rubs Royce's head. The little guy is still smothered to Lissa. Royce takes this as a chance to jump into Dimitri's arms, who luckily catches him in time.
"I stay with Ditri and Mommy," he whines.
"I know buddy. We will miss you so much, but you know what?" He waits for Royce to look up from his chest. "You are the best little boy in the world. And your Mommy knows that too. So that she can get better and we can all be together again, she's gonna need just a little time to recover. Can I trust you'll be good while you're away?"
After sniffling, he nods his head. "I'm a big boy. Mommy gets better if I sleepover with Auntie and Uncle."
"You got it." He hugs him close and kisses him once more on the head. "That one is from your mommy."
"Yay!" He gives Dimitri a kiss in return. "That one's for Mommy!"
Dimitri chuckles. "I will be sure to give it to her."
Christian mutters something that results in an elbow to his side by Lissa.
"Alright angel, time to skedaddle."
"Yeah squirt, we're cutting into precious Auntie/Uncle time."
"Okay!" He wiggles for Dimitri to put him down. "Bye Ditri!"
"I will see you soon," he responds. And because Rose isn't here to tell him, he feels compelled to say it. "Love you buddy."
"I love you too!" He hugs him around his long legs then grabs Lissa's hand and waves until they're out the front door.
Dimitri sighs, heart full. Not waiting for too long, he goes into the kitchen and puts on a kettle for tea and grabs some medicine from the bathroom in the hall. Ten minutes later he's back in the master bedroom where Rose still looks worse for wear.
"Roza, I made some tea."
"Don't want..." he hears after a second.
"I have some fever reducer too. You have to at least take that."
With a grunt she finally sits up and takes the medicine from Dimitri's hands. "Water?"
"Take it with the tea," he says, handing her the mug. A quick sniff makes her nose wrinkle.
"It smells weird."
"It will help you feel better. I promise," he adds since that seemed to make her happy before.
Obliging, she puts the pill in her mouth and takes a tentative sip. "Huh. It's actually good."
That makes him chuckle. "Family recipe. Smells bad but has a good taste." He places a kiss upon her forehead and gets up. "I'll be right back. Are you comfortable?"
"... I'd be more comfy if you were in bed with me."
Wow. How could he refuse such an invitation?
Continuing his trek, he quickly grabs two bottles of water from the kitchen and returns, placing them on the bedside table. Finally able to relax with Rose, he gets in the bed so he's sitting against the headboard. Rose immediately crawls into his lap, still pretty much lying down. She sighs and...smells his shirt? "Now I'm comfy."
"You look it," he chuckles. "Did you want to watch something?"
"You can put a movie on but ten outta ten I'ma fall asleep," she says around a yawn with her eyes closed.
Dimitri puts on an old western that Rose falls asleep to before the opening credits finish. He idly runs his thumb over her cheek, just enjoying having his girlfriend cuddled up to him. My girlfriend. Dimitri feels odd calling her that way. What he felt was so much deeper, so much more real and serious than the simple title of "girlfriend".
They have been sleeping in the same bed for months now, but nothing has progressed further than that. He never wants Rose to feel rushed or pressured so he has not brought his own rising desires to her attention. But here in this moment, with them being the only two in his house and Rose snuggled down on more...sensitive areas, she wasn't making it easy.
The movie comes to an end and Dimitri feels like he missed the entirety of the second half. Which is impressive seeing as how the whole thing was three hours long. Rose slept soundly through it all, with the occasional groan or readjustment. Dimitri had to do some readjusting himself when Rose had turned her head right into his pelvis.
Attempting to distract himself, he put his palm to Rose's forehead once more. She did not feel so hot anymore, so he figures the fever medication worked. Her breathing sounds less raspy, though he cannot assure that until she awakes.
As if on cue, she stirs, turning her head back and forth on his stomach.
"Morning sleepyhead," he chuckles softly.
"Mmm, abs," she sighs, making him laugh.
"Yes, yes. Are you ready for some more medicine?"
"Mmmno," a groan comes back, and her arms tighten around his waist. "You stay here."
"I understand, but we have to get out of bed eventually."
"Says who?" Finally she picks up her head and sits so that she is straddling him. His hands immediately go to her thighs and he knows he's in trouble.
"I believe Royce will have something to say about that when he gets back."
"Please," she scoffs. "The little scuttlebutt would hop into bed right with us." Thinking about it seems to make her laugh. "It would be terrible if we were up to nefarious things."
Every laugh and chuckle is causing Rose to bounce up and down. She is certainly not making this easy.
Feeling a bit nefarious himself, he lets his hands slide up her thighs towards her hips. "Are we?" he's compelled to ask.
"Are we what?"
"Up to 'nefarious things'." He moves his hands from her body to do the air quotes.
A glint passes over her eyes before they narrow in what Dimitri prays is lust.
She slides a finger down his face before letting it rest on his lips. "We could be."
And with that Dimitri's self-restraint is dispelled.
.o.o.o.o.o.
"Wow," Rose lets out on a breath. Dimitri chuckles making Rose bounce on his chest a bit. Both of their clothes had been lost to desire about an hour ago. Now they are cuddling under the sheets. Dimitri didn't think he was a cuddle kind of guy, but anyone who had a Rose in their bed would surely become one. "We could have, you know…done more," she relents after a moment.
As tempting as the idea is to become one with Roza, she had a fever up until this point. Though it did break through her nap earlier, he did not want to chance her recovery. However, this did not keep him from performing other pleasantries. "How are you feeling?"
"Like I haven't had sex in years and would like to very much," she sighs but doesn't make any attempt to move.
"I am more than happy to oblige." Rose sits up quickly, grinning. "When you are feeling better."
"Jerk," she groans before flopping back down. He just had an amazing experience with a beautiful woman who is begging him for more. Roza can call him whatever she wanted.
He wraps his hands in her hair, gently running it through her long strands while she hums, "I never wanna move again."
"That can be arranged."
"How I wish," she chuckles. Her chin rests on his chest so their eyes meet.
"When do you want me to go pick up Royce?" he asks.
Her temporary silence shocks him. The answer following it stuns him even more. "We can pick him up in the morning."
"Really?"
"I'm sure Liss would be fine keeping him the night."
"No, I meant." He sits up, dragging Rose with him. "I thought you would want him back as soon as you woke up."
She snorts and rolls off of him to grab some article of clothing from the floor. In Roza's own words, "boo".
She ends up with his polo that was discarded earlier. Pulling it over her head, she returns to Dimitri's lap. "Do you think Royce and I are attached at the hip?"
He does not know how to answer that without ending up in the deep end. Gulping, he returns Rose's stare.
Finally she burst out in laughter. "I mean, you'd be right. He's my little man, we've never been apart for long." She sighs, nuzzling her head into his neck. "Am I over-bearing?"
"Not at all Roza," he reassures. A huff escapes her before he starts rubbing circles on her thighs. "You love your son more than anything in the world. Honestly, you care and raise him with all the love he deserves. You are an amazing mother. It is part of the reason why I fell in love with you. Never question your love for Royce." He kisses her gently on the lips and is surprised when she doesn't reciprocate. A quick glance shows that both her eyebrows are raised and her eyes are open wide. "What is wrong?"
"You…" she stutters. "You…just said you were in love with me."
Ah. "…that I did." No use in denying it now. "Do not let it upset you or scare you away."
"I'm not scared. I just…"
"I expect no immediate answer from you. It honestly just slipped from me. Please do not worry too much about it. Okay?"
"…okay." Dimitri can tell she is going to overthink what he said into its grave, but there isn't much he can do about it now.
"Do you want to tell me about what happened last night? Your father apparently?"
"Oh yeah, I never finished explaining that, did I?" A long breath leaves her and she scooches over so that they are sitting side by side. "Yeah. My mom, she…never told him about me. He only found out I existed recently, which is why he popped up all of a sudden." Dimitri offers his hand for comfort which she takes. "Can you imagine that? For years I spit his name, which is Ibrahim by the way. Didn't know that until yesterday either."
"What happened after, then?" Dimitri inquires.
"Ah, he left. He said he was in the states for the time being, and wanted to meet up again soon. Said he wanted to meet you and Royce."
"That sounds like it would be nice."
"Yeah…" she sighs. "I wanna meetup with him again before we do that though. I have a lot of things I want to talk about, and I don't want Royce to be there for it."
"I understand," Dimitri agrees. He tightens his grip on her hand before asking, "how are you feeling about the whole thing?"
"Honestly? Peeved." In response, her free hand runs through her hair aggressively. "I mean, how could my mom not even tell the man he had a child? Why did my mom even keep that from him in the first place?" The hand flops back onto the bad. "At the same time she did her best to raise me on her own, and I care about her so much. I'm pissed, but I can't be pissed, which is making me more pissed."
"It seems the unwarranted anger towards your father has no place to go now," he responds. "What are you going to do?"
She stares out the bedroom veranda for a while before turning back with a smile. "Let it go, I guess. No good it's doing me now. Never done me any good in the first place now that I think about it."
This. This is why he loves her. Better to not say that out loud, lest I scare her again.
"What are you grinning about?" she asks with a smirk.
"Just thinking about how happy I am with you." He hugs her to him once more, snuggling into her hair.
"Funny, I'm pretty happy myself," she laughs whilst returning his embrace.