I hope you like this Chapter. as always That which is Rachael Meads is borrowed but that which is mine I offer to you.

Chapter 19: The Outside World

Adrian and I snuggled a little closer together under the blanket, looking up t the stars. I loved it out here by the pond. This was one of my favorite places to make love with him. I laid my head on his chest to listen to his heartbeat. Somewhere in the distance I heard an alarm beeping.

"2:00pm already?"

Adrian held me a little tighter and kissed the top of my head before the dream faded away. I opened my eyes and saw that we were roughly in the same position as we had been in our dream walk. His arms tightened around me. I knew he was waking up.

"I was just about to get another second wind before that thing disturbed us."

I pulled away to look at him. He was so sexy and even though we had already had more than enough fun for one night I had a hard time resisting him.

"Another second wind? Sorry I am seriously in danger of making Liss late for her first day of school." I kissed him and then I did the impossible. I pulled myself away from him. "It's really early, go back to sleep"

I took my clothes with me to the bathroom. I felt so much better after a hot shower, so much more awake and ready to deal with this day. I dressed in my new maternity Jeans and a slightly flowing blouse that I could use with the belly supporter to hide my stake. I took a minute to apply some makeup before pinning my hair up. I fully expected Adrian to be sleeping soundly when I went through the bedroom but he was gone and the bed looked made.

I went downstairs to the kitchen to get some cereal for breakfast. When I was close I could hear Adrian talking to someone. I walked in and saw him at the stove moving scrambled eggs around a pan. Helen our cook was at the counter cutting fruit. She had a medium sized cooler next to her.

"Helen, Adrian, you should both be in bed." Helen shook her head at me.

"Not a chance we are going to sleep through this morning. We both wanted to make sure you all got a good breakfast and lunch. Princess Lissa needs to fuel her brain so she can learn and her guardians must be sharp. Lady Ivashkov you need good food for your baby. I will not stand for you to eat cafeteria food." Helen was not much older than Janine but she was very motherly and took care of everyone in our home as if we were her children.

"Thank you Helen, as usual you are right."

Mom, Lissa, and Eddie soon entered the kitchen. Adrian served us all a plate of bacon and eggs with a multigrain toast that I love. He kissed me as he put the plate in front of me.

"Any chance I can convince you to stay home with me?" He looked sad and worried. He knew that it was no good. I would go out today no matter what. I understood his concern. We had not been away from the wards since the day that we had encountered the pack of Stigoi outside of the mall. He also knew that Dimitri would know where Lissa would be today, where I would be today. I placed my hand on my belly and looked him in the eye.

"I have to go but I promise you I will be careful. I won't fight if I can reasonably stay out of it."

He kissed me again and nodded. He turned and helped Helen with the food for the cooler. I knew that he was trying not to think of the danger I might be walking into today.

-- --

Lissa POV

The first week of college was almost over I really loved it but today I could not wait for my last class to be over. Christian was arriving tonight. He was going to be staying with us at the House on Cherry Hill. We have been talking on the phone every day, at least a few hours. We still were stuck in the friend zone, but the tone of our conversations has been changing. I know he misses me physically as much as I miss him. Well maybe not quite as much. Rose tries to keep me out of her head during intimate moments but sometimes her control is not perfect especially when she is dreaming. During the day Rose and Adrian are just so much in love that sometimes it is hard to watch. Damn I guess you could say that I am feeling a bit pent up.

Rose looks like she is ready for a weekend too. She is so cute pregnant, her belly is really starting to grow. She tries not to show it but I can tell that she gets tired. Standing around in classes you have no interest in has to be hard enough but to do it while being six months pregnant that must be really hard. Next semester she is going to be on maternity leave I think I am going to double up on my class load then. That way I can get as many of my classes out of the way before she comes back to work. Over next summer we can take some classes she will like. I glanced at the clock, 9:45 pm. Just five more minutes till class is over.

"Ready to go home Rose, I am. I can't wait till I see Christian."

"I am so ready. It's going to be so nice this weekend. I miss Christian and his smartass attitude. I hope that you guys make up and start being a couple again. I'd like to see you happy and in love again."

"I have been happy. I like living with you. I think everything worked out much better than we had planned."

The professor gave us our assignment and dismissed us. As we left the building I saw Rose tense up.

"Hurry up to the car we have company."

She had one hand on her hip inches away from her stake. Janine and Eddie followed suit. We were surrounded by human students. They couldn't just whip out weapons in front of humans unless we were under attack. As we hurried along she started to talk to herself, or at least that is what it looked like.

"How many are there?... Yes I can feel it now… How far away? …. Are you sure? …. Thank you."

Into her earpiece she said. "A ghost is telling me that it's Dimitri. He is alone, about 200 yards away and his intent is to spy on me. I don't think he is planning to attack." She paused for a heartbeat. "Let's get the hell out of here."

We practically sprinted to the car. She stayed by my side the whole time. As soon as she reached the car she turned the engine. Janine and Eddie had just seated and not had time to buckle before she had the car in gear and out of the lot. I could see that she was shaking. Her eyes were on the road with both hands on the wheel. Even without trying I could feel how tumultuous her emotions were. Rose pulled the car over as soon as we were behind the wards. She leaned her head back and began to sob, both her hands held protectively over her belly. I opened up to her but the power of her emotions made me cry. I leaned over and held her.
Eddie and Janine reached over the seat to touch her shoulders.

"You make the right decision, it's ok."

"Rose, sweetie, we were not ready to face him yet. Running was the only choice for you and the baby."

Janine's voice was calm and soothing. Rose closed her eyes and took a deep breath. I could feel her gather all her strength and get control. Suddenly I was cut from her emotions. When she opened her eyes her Guardian mask was up. She put the car in gear and drove home in silence.

-- -- --

Rose POV

As soon as I got home I went to Adrian's office and told him what had happened. I still had my walls up but he tried to comfort me anyway. I pulled out of his embrace. I knew that my action must have hurt him, but I just could not deal with my emotions yet.

"I need to spend some time in the library; if I had known what to do maybe we could have had this taken care of already."

He held my hand and searched my face; I could feel my mask waver momentarily. It had been just long enough for him to glimpse the pain I was hiding.

"OK" There was sadness in his eyes. He wanted to help me and the fact that I was not allowing it hurt him deeply. Right now I had nothing left to give him. It took all my control not to breakdown.

I spent most of the rest of the day in the library skimming though books. After a while other members of my family came in to help. Adrian was the only one who did not come in, but I think he wanted to give me the time I needed to deal with my thoughts.

At one point Eddie looked up from the book he was reading. I could see through my periphery vision that he almost tried to talk to me but must have changed his mind. Instead he grabbed a pad of paper and wrote some notes.

"Eddie, did you find something useful?"

"No, just something I thought was interesting but it can wait till later." I just nodded and went back to the book in my hand.

-- -- --

Christian arrived just before dinner time. (If I was in a better mood I would have teased him about coming for the food but right now it would have come out as a real insult instead of our friendly banter.) He seemed to be happy to see all of us. I could tell he was about to comment on my not so cheerful face when Lissa gave him a quick look with a shake of head. Instead he hugged me and told me I looked beautiful. I thanked him but did not converse more than that. Helen stepped into the room and called us to dinner.

"If you all would excuse me I am not hungry, but please enjoy dinner and I will visit with you later."

I went to the practice room adjacent to the garage. Ivan followed me but stayed just inside the door. It was touching how much he and Nicolai protected me but it was annoying as all hell too. I chose one of the dummies and began beating on it. I alternated between punches and kicks. I was very involved in my exercise but I could still hear Adrian's footsteps as came onto the room. It occurred to me that I hadn't even known Adrian for a whole year. Hell at this point I still wouldn't have known Dimitri a year yet ether.

"Want to spar with me; Ivan and Nicolai have been working with me. You might be surprised at my progress."

I nodded and moved to the mat as he put some gloves on. When he joined me on the mat I got into a stance and he mirrored my stance. We didn't really spar, it was more like taking turns kicking and blocking or punching and blocking.

"Rose I think we should talk about this"

"I am not ready and I don't think you really need to hear what is going on in my head."

"Please Rose; you can't keep shutting me out. I am your husband, you are my wife. We are supposed to work things out together."

"You really want to know what is going on in here." I pointed to my head.

"Yes I do, even if it hurts to hear it."

I sat down on the mat with my legs crossed. "I am wondering how the hell I got here. I am 18, married to one man pregnant from another and I haven't known ether a whole year yet. I have to find some miracle in a hay stack to save him because I can't kill her father. (I pressed my hand over my belly.) I don't know what the hell I am going to do with him if I do save him, all of this, (I gestured around suggesting the property and house and at Adrian and I) is going to hurt him."

Just then Misty Blue came into the room and straight to me. I picked her up and began to cry. She rubbed against my face in a comforting way. Adrian sat next to me. I could see that though he was hurt about the things I said but he still wanted to know what was bothering me.

"This morning when I felt that a Stigoi was near, my first instinct was to find it and kill it. Something felt different, familiar. Then a ghost of someone I knew came to me. I asked her how many and she told me it was just one. That it was someone who owned part of my soul." I looked at Adrian. "I wish that when I married you I gave you all of me but part of me died with him. I have said that before but I thought I was being figurative, now I know it was true." He took my face in his hands.

"It is hard that so much has happened to you this year. I wish we could have had a normal courtship and taken our time to get to where we are. The thing is I think that God has something planned for you and all of the things you are going through are getting you ready for what you have to do. I will be here with you through it. I suspect that even though some things will hurt Dimitri but he will want to be here to support you too." I was mystified

"Are you telling me that if I can find a way to save him that Dimitri should live here?"

"Yes. I love Theresa Marie, to me she is my daughter but because I love her like my own I can imagine how I would feel if someone else were to be raising her, how I would feel if I couldn't be in her life."

"I have thought about that a lot. I was glad when you added the B to her name because I knew you meant for it to be Belakov Ivashkov."

"I know that it might be an adjustment for us but if we can find a way to save him and he is willing I want him to live here close to Theresa. I think that he and I can work through the difficulties and learn to be friends."

"You just say that because you already have me."

"Yes I do, and it is my job to take care of you and our little Dhampir. You have to eat something. You haven't eaten since you had a break between classes."

We brought Misty Blue back into the house with us. As soon as we got in she jumped out of my hands to do her kitty crazies. Poor thing probably pulled a lot of darkness away from me.

-- -- --

Sometime in the middle of my dreams with Adrian I got pulled out of myself and into Lissa. Christian was in Lissa's room and they were about to have a battle of their own.

"Oh man! I am glad you guys made up. Now can I get back to my own fun?" Lissa stopped mid kiss. Christian gave her a look but she held her hand up to tell him to hold on a moment.

"Oh Jeez I am sorry I will try to remember to put up a wall before we get frisky." A moment later I was back in my own head and in my dreams.

"Were did you go my Lil' Dhampir? I got worried because you were still asleep but I couldn't find you."

"Lissa and Christian are making up. I got sucked in." I made a face. Adrian laughed

"Glad to know you aren't into threesomes." I gave him a playful punch in the arm and ignited another battle between us.

-- -- --

At breakfast I asked Christian. "So Sparky, what was wrong with your room?" Lissa gave me a look.

"The room is fine but the bed squeaks"

"Oh no, I can't have that. You and Lissa might keep the whole house up with a squeaky bed. I guess you will have to move into her room."

"I was thinking the same thing." He gave Lissa a smile and she blushed. I was happy to have Christian here. Lissa was completely happy and I was glad that Liss would not have to be alone while I was happy with Adrian.

Helen came in with the mail and handed it to me. One thing caught my attention. It was a fat manila envelope marked with Roza and nothing ells. I nudged Adrian. He looked over and put his fork down. I opened the envelope Inside there were pictures of me all taken over the past week while guarding Lissa at school. In most of the pictures it was clear that I was more than a little pregnant. I had seen a human with a camera on campus but I had thought nothing of it. I took a deep breath, beside me Adrian was tense. His hand trembled as picked up one that had writing on it. There was an arrow pointing to my belly and a notation that Adrian read in a whisper.

"Who's your Daddy?"

"I am quitting school we are not going back there next week." Lissa looked horrified.

"No Liss, you are going back, he is just toying with us. I'll know when He is making plans to attack. I have ghosts watching him and … I can feel him a little."

I was not about to tell her that I knew he was making plans.

what did you guys think?

Why did Rose flip out so bad when she found out Dimitri himself was spying on her?
What was in the book Eddie had?
What made him look at Rose in a funny way?
How do you think Rose is going to handle Dimitri?

Let me know what you think cus I love to hear what you think will happen next. and because I am a REVIEW HOG lol