Chapter 21: Why do You Smell Like Garbage?

Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy.

Hey guys. Sorry it has taken a few days to update. I was working on a new story that just popped into my head. Check it out. It's called Fifteen Again. There are three chapters posted so far. It's not quite as heavy as the other two I've written. It's mean to be slightly humerous and probably won't be as long.

Here's a little filler leading up to what will be a couple of big events. Hope you like it. Also check out my profile for a few new pics of Rose's cute pregnant clothes.

RPOV

"So Viktoria, Dimitri's birthday is September 7th and since he is turning 30 this year I was thinking we should throw a little party or something. What do you think?" I asked her. It was really hot outside as it was mid July. The sun was beating down on the Royal Court with a vengeance and to keep cool us girls thought it would be a fun day or rather night if we sat by the pool. Viktoria and I being the only ones who could enjoy the sun decided to make a night of it. We'd been lounging here for the better part of the day or well night really. Adrian had pouted because he couldn't come. I laughed because he was so much like a child. I wondered who would mature faster him or my baby.

"That's a great idea Roza. He'll be so embarrassed it will be awesome." She replied with a devious grin. We had used the blender to make fruity drinks non alcoholic of course, but still it was fun to sit and sip them by the pool. It gave the illusion of relaxation. I was so happy to have a female dhampir that I was close to to do normal stuff like this with. I think Lissa was slightly jealous that she wasn't my only female friend anymore.

"Great so I thought we could do it at your place. We could hide the decorations, the food, the cake and presents and stuff there because you and Adrian spend all your time at our place anyways. He would never suspect it."

"Wait how are you going to keep it a secret from my know it all brother? He can tell everything through the bond." She asked raising her sunglasses to give me a look. Man did she look like Dimitri when she did that.

"Nah he won't be able to tell this. I can usually block the small stuff. I mean this will be fun, but it's not so exciting that I'll be crazy about it or anything." I reassured her. "I'm not Lissa after all." I said with a grin.

"Yea I see your point. Plus if we keep it from Lissa for a few weeks she won't be able to act all giddy and bubbly about it in front of him." I told her.

"That makes sense. That girl is something else I'll tell you." She commented.

I had to agree. Lissa and Christian had decided on the first week of October for their wedding. I could just kill her for picking a month where I'll be huge as a house. She'd assured me after I'd complained profusely that she'd find me a bridesmaid dress that wouldn't make me look like a cow. I'd agreed reluctantly just happy that they'd worked things out and the date was set. Although since it was only three months away it was wedding mania around here lately.

Sparky had agreed to cut back on his extra practices and Lissa agreed to let him drop his online classes at the end of the term so he'd have more time. Compromising wasn't easy, but in the end they'd figured out what worked for them.

"So who all should we invite?" asked Viktoria.

"The usuals I guess. You and Adrian, me, Lissa and Christian, Eddie and Mia, my parents, Pavel, maybe a few of the other Guardians here that he works with." I responded taking another sip of my drink as I stroked my not so tiny belly.

"Have you thought about names?" she asked trying to sound uninterested.

"Aren't we nosy?" I asked.

" Oh come on Roza you haven't thought about it at all?" She probed.

"I didn't say that. We aren't really decided yet, but we have a few in mind. Don't get any funny ideas about getting them out of us. Lissa has tried everything in the book including trying to penetrate my mind while I'm sleeping." I warned her.

In reality we were pretty sure we'd picked suitable names for a girl or a boy. Dimitri had pretty much picked the boy name and he'd let me pick the girl name.

"Geez what's with the secrecy? You two owe me one. I've forgiven you for your fake affair with my boyfriend and all." She wheedled.

"Still not telling." I said with a smile. "And boy was it one hot fake affair let me tell you! Ohhhhhhhhhhh Adrian." I moaned dramatically.

"You are so bad Roza and mean!" she said throwing her towel at me. I caught it before it hit me.

"Don't I know it?"

DPOV

It was nearly August already and I was becoming more and more uneasy with each day that passed that we hadn't found the perpetrator that had set the explosive device to blow up the wedding trolley. When Abe and Janine had returned from their honeymoon and heard the news he was livid. He'd put anyone and everyone that had ever worked for him on the task of finding the person or person's responsible. He'd muttered something about how "No one would ever threaten the life of his precious kizim and her family."

His heart was in the right place, but seriously the guy was more than a little off the deep end sometimes. He'd even been so bold as to suggest that Rose have personal body guards. She of course had laughed in his face and told him to quit being overprotective. He in turn had secretly ordered Pavel to follow Rose inconspicuously around the Royal Court. She'd caught him tailing her after only a few hours as I knew she would and threatened him to within an inch of his life. I'd had to pull her off of him literally.

She reluctantly agreed to have him escort her places when she was alone, but only if he would walk next to her as a friend and not as a body guard. Instead of facing the wrath of Abe he had agreed to her proposition.

Roza was a little over five months along now and with each day that passed I was becoming more and more anxiety ridden about being apart from her. The whole Royal Court was ablaze with the news of Rose's torrid affair with Lord Ivashkov and the things that the Moroi especially the royals were saying about her were ghastly. But what was really awful was how the Dhampirs were shunning her and giving me looks of pity. They were angry that she's been with a Royal Moroi when she'd fought so hard to be with me. They treated her as a traiter to our race.

Rose was trying to be strong and it really didn't surprise her much or bother her when the Moroi made snide remarks, but when her own colleagues the ones who used to be her friends in the Dhampir community treated her like she was a common blood whore it bothered her much more than she would admit.

Yesterday as I was walking back from the grocery store I was pulled into her head. She was walking home from the office with Pavel at her side when two of the female Guardians she'd been friendly with verbally attacked her.

Flashback

"Guardian Callaghan, Guardian Ashton." Greeted Rose with a smile.

"Well well if it isn't Adrian Ivashkov's bloodwhore." Commented Guardian Ashton giving Rose a distasteful look.

Rose's eyes widened in surprise.

"Yea poor Guardian Belikov. I wonder if he's looking to even the score?" Guardian Callaghan said suggestively.

"Yea he could do better than some slut that's knocked up with some other man's bastard child. Hey Rose why don't you go join one of those Dhampir communes. You'd fit right in. " Guardian Ashton said laughing and pointing at our child shoving into Rose's shoulder as she passed by.

I could feel the humiliation and anger welling up inside of her, but most of all I could feel the lonliness and isolation she felt every time someone she knew laid into her.

Pavel was trying to console her, but she just pushed him aside as tears began welling up in her eyes. She took off running and didn't stop until she was deep into the woods. I dropped the bag I was carrying and took off in the direction she had run.

When I reached her she was sitting on a tree stump with her head in her hands. Her shoulders were shaking violently.

I sat down next to her and sensing I was there she turned around and threw herself into my arms.

"Why do I let them get to me?" she cried in frustration.

"If I really had done something like that then I guess I would understand their reactions. It's just hard to stand there and take it when I know I didn't do anything wrong."

"I know Roza. I've been having a hard time as well." I told her stroking her hair softly.

"Yea it must be so hard having woman offer themselves to you so you can even the score and giving you looks of pity and asking if you want to talk and baking you pies." She said through her tears.

I laughed ruefully. "Yes those things are bothersome, but what really bothers me is that everyone thinks my wife is a whore and it's hurting her feelings." I told her holding her close. I opened myself up to her and let her know how much I loved her and our child. She smiled slightly at this.

"Don't worry about me Comrade. I'll be fine. I'm just making a big deal out of nothing." She sniffed wiping her eyes on my shirt sleeve.

"You don't always have to be so brave Roza. It's okay to have feelings." I told her. I knew she didn't like feeling weak. She needed to realize that having feelings made her part human not weak.

We walked back to our townhouse hand in hand. We didn't talk,but both left ourselves open to each other's feelings. I could feel that she'd recovered from the incident and had begun to relax. She was a tough cookie my wife.

We were sitting in our living room watching the news when Adrian and Viktoria burst through the Narnia doors.

"Hide me Little Dhampir." Cried Adrian completely out of breath.

"Why are you covered in garbage?" gasped Rose. I surveyed him and my sister and they were both covered from head to toe in garbage.

"And what is that smell?" she asked wrinkling her nose at them both.

"Well funny thing happened on the way home from the office today." Said Adrian sarcastically.

"What?" I asked not really sure I wanted to know the answer.

"An angry mob of Dhampir's tried to lynch me for making a fool out of my girlfriend and her brother." He cried.

"Oh my God what did they do to you? Did they throw garbage at you?" asked Rose slightly perturbed by the situation.

"Haha no they didn't throw garbage at him. He ran away from them like a little girl when they started threatening him and hid in a dumpster behind the café." Laughed Viktoria.

"I had to go and fish him out and then I fell in too." She said sheepishly picking a piece of moldy lettuce out of her hair in disgust.

I couldn't help but laugh at the situation that is until Rose burst into tears again.

"This is all my fault." She sobbed.

"No it isn't stop crying Little Dhampir. It really wasn't that big of a deal. It's just a little garbage." Adrian said giving me the why the fuck is she crying over this look.

I shrugged. She cried about everything these days. The stress and the hormones were really getting to her.

"Oh my God what is that smell?" exclaimed Lissa as she entered the room followed closely by Christian and Tasha. She had her big wedding binder in her hands and I could feel Rose's internal groan as she looked at it with the intent that if she stared at it long enough it would burst into flames.

"Did you take a bath in garbage?" asked Christian with a guffaw.

"No we were hiding from the mob." Groaned Adrian.

"Who Abe?" asked Lissa. We all chuckled a little.

"No not that mob."

"Hey don't sit on our couch with your dirty clothes. Go home and freshen up." I ordered him.

"Don't worry this will all be over soon. You know that there's always something new to gossip about around here. Give it a few weeks and there's bound to be something more interesting." Said Lissa giving all of us a sympathetic look.

"Yea who knows maybe I'll turn Strigoi or something like everyone's been waiting for. That should take the heat off." Said Tasha with a smirk.

Everyone burst out laughing because as bad as this was for us we all knew that she'd faced worse.

So did you like it? Poor Rose an Adrian hehe. Dhampirs can be mean. I found it hilarious that Viktoria and Adrian were playing hide and seek in the dumpster. Hehe! Last one to review is a rotten banana! Remember to check out my other new story called Fifteen Again.