Note: I haven't had a chance to edit entirely, but I think I caught all errors.

Rose.

The Royal Court. Chicago
May 1925 (Twenty-one Weeks Pregnant)

"We need to talk, Old Man," I said closing the office door promptly behind me.

All three men looked up, not noticing my arrival prior to me closing the door. They all wore the same grin on their faces. They had been planning something, and I immediately wanted in on it.

My father sat back into his leather chair, the chair groaning under his weight while he weaved his fingers together on the desk.

"I believe we do, Kiz."

I didn't hesitate. I just jumped straight into it. "I have a plan to get me and this baby out of Chicago alive. But I need all of your help to pull it off."

"Why, so do we. Why don't you have a seat and we can compare notes, Zmeyette?"

My father looked abnormally calm, his entire body relaxed and open for whatever he was expecting me to put before him. My father always seemed to be one step ahead of me always, and I believed wholeheartedly, that then was no exception to that.

"You know he threatened our lives?" I murmured while unconsciously rubbing my bump. "He said that he would take us away from Dimitri just like I took Inna away from him."

My father didn't show any sign of emotion, but he would know who I was talking about. He glanced down slightly at my stomach where I was still holding my hand protectively over top. I knew that he hadn't been exactly ecstatic about his only daughter being pregnant out of wedlock. It was extremely taboo even by our standards, and we were scantily clad dancers in a speakeasy.

He didn't say anything about being disappointed in me for this happening, but he knew that I wouldn't take back what was growing inside me, nor would I even consider it.

I quickly became impatient and annoyed at his silence. Why couldn't he just say something? Why did he have to be mysterious all the time? My brows rose while I stared at him, waiting for him to comment on the threat, or comment on anything at all.

His eyes flicked away from my belly and back to me directly. "I didn't know that actually, but it would explain why Dimitri wants to take you both to Russia before the baby is born now."

I blinked in shock. I didn't know about that. Why hadn't Dimitri talked to me about that? Then again, who was I to cause him of hiding things from me? I had been doing exactly that for months, and I wasn't about to make it any easier on us.

But I didn't have time to dwell. I needed to push on with the whole reason I was in my father's office to begin with.

"I don't want Nathan to follow us back there."

"And what makes you think he would follow you that far over the Atlantic, little girl?"

I scoffed at his dismissal. "Come on! Nathan is fucking insane and I doubt anything would stop him from wanting to end our lives. He won't rest until at least I'm dead. I ruined his life, he wants the same for me now."

"Is there something that is making you think that Dimitri will be unable to protect you and your child?"

"Of course not," I growled. "I have no doubts that Dimitri would lay down his life for us. But I don't want it to come to that and I don't want to take any chances. This time I'm not thinking about Dimitri and I'm not thinking about myself anymore. This is for my baby. I will put this child before anyone and anything. Dimitri would understand that."

He considered my words for a few silent moments, searching my eyes and face before grinning wickedly and chuckling under his breath. "What have you been planning, kiz?"

They didn't call me Zmeyette for no reason back in Istanbul. We were known as a family of snakes back home, each of us just as conniving as the next.

"It would take some bribes and forgery, but if we can lead Nathan and whatever followers he has left to believe I died, he would have no reason to chase a dead body."

My father's grin increased beyond what I thought was possible. I knew he would like the idea but it would just take a lot to execute it properly and without fault. He would have his questions, but I had already thought of every possible scenario for this to go askew.

"And the child?"

"Our child would also have to be pronounced dead. Otherwise, there is still a wheel for Nathan to follow."

"It's among your best plans, Rose. However, few women die during childbirth in this day and age. It may not hold without a further inquiry on the hospital." He thought he had me there, finding a hole in my plan and using it to challenge me.

I never backed down from a challenge though; I was my mother's daughter at the end of the day.

"They do with caesarean births," I said smiling sweetly.

I had done my research on the subject greatly. I'd picked the brain of the young midwife at the hospital during a check-up, scouring it for what she knew on caesarean births and their mortality rates.

She had looked as if she was about to drop then and there at my questions. She had immediately jumped to try and reassure me that everything was going well with my pregnancy, and I wouldn't require such a procedure.

But I didn't need reassurance. I needed information.

I eventually got it out of her that they wouldn't do the potentially fatal surgery unless the mother was already dead or not going to survive the birth anyway. If the mother didn't bleed to death on the table then and there, she would normally die of infection in the ongoing weeks or possibly days.

It was all I needed from her.

"Why haven't you discussed your grand plan with your other half?" my father asked curiously.

I did have an answer for him, but it wasn't one that I was necessarily proud of. I didn't want to bring this amount of pain onto those around me, but it would be short-lived if I knew him well enough and hopefully not too catastrophic.

"Dimitri's grief needs to be real," I sighed while looking down at my feet. "He can't know that we are still alive until he joins us. Grief is hard to fake, baba. You know that better than anyone, this needs to be as real as it can be."

My father's grin faltered entirely and his lips formed a hard and disapproving line. Being a father himself, I knew that he might openly object to what I had in mind once he found out it would require deceiving Dimitri. It would crush Dimitri emotionally to believe that I was dead. But I could only pray that he would be able to hold it together.

I wouldn't dare hold anything he did during our time of separation against him. I was bringing this on myself - but this was all for my child's life.

"You don't think it's cruel to put your fiancé through something like that?" my father asked with a grim look in his eyes.

Losing my mother had hit my father hard. It had damaged him more than he cared to admit. But to purposely place that kind of pain on someone who he now considered his family, was a big ask and would have to be executed cautiously and flawlessly.

We didn't know for sure exactly how Dimitri would take it no matter how delicately we executed it.

Would he self-destruct and lash out? Would he became numb and succumb to the darkness that our minds tried to pull us into during our most desperate times? We didn't know for sure.

"Where will you go?" he asked quietly as he started to piece together the different gears in my plan. It would take a lot of effort and grunt work, and most likely be emotionally tiring for everyone involved. But if it meant that we were safe for the rest of our lives, a few short months would be nothing.

"Still to Russia. I would like for Kadir to accompany me though. We can explain everything to Dimitri's mother when we arrive. I want you to push him to return home. Do whatever you need for him to leave Chicago and return to Russia."

My father cocked an eyebrow meticulously, "He will surely know something is wrong if he knows Kadir will be going to Russia," he said strongly, challenging me once more. "It's not exactly one of Kadir's regular haunts."

We went back and forth for almost an hour, planning how everything would fall around us. We planned how to get Kadir and me out of America without anyone knowing and then how to get Dimitri to follow without divulging the real reason. The most difficult thing to come to an agreement of was how we would tell Dimitri that I hadn't survived giving birth to our baby.

We mapped out an entire timing sequence of a premature labour and then getting to Baia before the birth. Hopefully, and only if our timeline worked, it meant that Dimitri would be back in Russia by the time I was ready to give birth.

I didn't want him to miss something as monumental as that.

Dimitri's Apartment
July 1925 (Twenty-nine Weeks Pregnant)

I woke up with a sharp intake of breath and quick sparks of pain in my stomach.

I clutched at my swollen belly as I waited for it to pass, but I was soon hit with another spike of pain that made me cry out and wake Dimitri instantly.

"Milaya, what's wrong?"

But I couldn't answer him. I could only think about how wrong this was going. I wasn't meant to give birth yet. It wasn't the plan.

"No, it's too early," I mumbled to myself, tears springing to my eyes as I saw my plan fall apart in front of me. "It's too early, it's too early," I repeated like a chant, a chant that would hopefully stop the contractions.

"Roza…what's wrong?" Dimitri repeated as he turned on the lamp on the nightstand.

"I-I don't know," I whimpered out once the pain dissolved, confused over how different contractions were than I had expected.

I expected them to be beyond painful and tormenting, but they felt like nothing more than uncomfortable pain, tolerable but they still hurt.

I swung my legs over the bed and went to stand up, only just catching onto the nightstand as the pain returned. I cried out again and Dimitri jumped into action, crawling over the bed, and preventing me from falling into a heap on the ground.

To hell with the plan, if this baby was coming now Dimitri would have to know about our plan. There wasn't another way around it.

"We need to go to the hospital," I gasped out as the pain stabbed at me consistently. "Something is wrong. I can feel it."

Surely this wasn't what labour was like?

Dimitri began speaking furiously in Russian, his words flying from his lips as he quickly dressed in his clothes from earlier in the night and wrapped one of his jackets around me. I didn't have a choice when he reached down and scooped me up into his arms as I began to feel tears stain my cheeks, not happy tears either this time.

I knew it was too early, I still had months until I was due and I was damned scared.

"Too early, too early," I kept muttering to myself as I blubbered in Dimitri's arms.

He ran out of his room and past where Ivan was sitting on the couch, not even giving him an explanation for our hasty departure. He tore onto the street where he hailed the closest Yellow Cab and directed him to the hospital.

"Something isn't right, Dimitri," I gasped out once the pain subsided again. "This-this isn't the plan. This isn't meant to happen." I cried as my tears began falling faster and harder than before.

Pure fear began racking my entire body and I could feel myself begin to shake. This wasn't how it was planned. I could feel my face contort with frustration and my tears were squeezed out, I sniffed and closed my eyes.

This wasn't how it's meant to go, I thought to myself as Dimitri tried his best to console me through the drive and then as we walked into the hospital. I caught the eye of Doctor Olendzki – the Doctor that my father had enlisted for our deception of the hospital system.

"She's in pain!" Dimitri exclaimed with a thick and heavy accent.

Olendzki looked at the both of us with recognition and I could see her posture change when she realised that it was my fake death certificate that she would be signing.

"Let's get you set up in a room them," she said before ushering the both of us to follow further into the hospital. On the way to a room, she caught the eyes of a middle-aged woman who scurried to her side immediately. They spoke in hushed whispers and occasionally stole glances back at Dimitri and me.

Dimitri had only just placed me on top of the bed when he was suddenly being pushed out of the room.

"Mr Belikov, I'm going to need to wait outside while I do a quick examination to see about these possible early contractions," Olendzki said while glancing at Dimitri. He glanced back at me hesitantly before nodding and disappearing out of the door.

Doctor Olendzki looked back at me and asked me to lie back. I couldn't stop the sob the slipped through my lips as I hit the pillow and I couldn't hide how scared I was for my baby.

I held my breath as she quickly examined me. A million thoughts ran through my mind in those few minutes - thoughts that became like cancerous tumours to my sanity. What if there was something wrong with my baby?

The flood of worries I let into my mine were put to rest when I saw Olendzki's previously worried face switch to one of relief.

"Miss Hathaway, you aren't going into an early labour. You're just experiencing something we call Braxton Hicks or otherwise known as a false labour."

"What's that?" I mumbled out while lifting myself up onto my elbows.

"They are contractions that can be felt during the later months of pregnancy. Many women have them and I expected you to be no different, however when your partner said you were in serious pain I did get quite worried for you."

My entire body relaxed and I rested my head back against the pillow. I attempted to calm my erratic breathing and heart rate but I was so worked up that I could hear my blood pumping in my ears.

"I have been in pain though! They hurt like a bitch," I groaned.

"Yes, well it's different for every woman. I can give you something for that pain, but there is something else I want to discuss with you."

I looked up at him curiously before she elaborated. "As you know, I'm the doctor that your father…hired…for your endeavour. I want to explain that there is a possibility for you to implement the plan now while he believes you are going into labour."

"Now?" I whispered while my mind reeled with the fact that I hadn't explained anything to those I wanted to. I wasn't ready to say my temporary goodbye to Dimitri.

She nodded a couple of times before continuing. "We can call your father and tell him what's happening. Once we pronounce you dead and Dimitri has left the hospital, we can get you back to your father's house." I gaped but nodded blindly. "Dorothy, can you please go contact Mr Mazur."

My midwife nodded and scurried out of the room quickly.

I could hear the confliction in my doctor's voice. She was here to save lives, not pretend that people had died. But she was getting a big payout for her forgery, one that not even a doctor could have turned down.

Twenty minutes ago, I had decided mentally that I was going to tell Dimitri about the plan. If our baby was coming now, I wasn't going to hide his child from him when we were in the other room.

"I was going to tell him," I whispered, looking towards the closed door. "I was going to tell him everything. I don't think I can do this to him."

Doctor Olendzki gave me a sympathetic look. "Rose, if you were truly giving birth tonight, your baby wouldn't survive."

It was as if the world around me came crashing down. An earthquake could have levelled the city around me, and I wouldn't have noticed. If tonight hadn't of been a false alarm, it would have meant the death of my baby.

"Why not?" I asked quietly.

"When a baby is in the womb, their lungs fill with a type of fluid that helps them grow and develop. During a regular full-term labour, that said fluid would be absorbed so that the baby is able to breathe. But with you being only shy of about thirty weeks along, the baby's lungs aren't developed enough to make that switch. He or she wouldn't be able to breathe on their own."

Before I could respond to her, another stabbing pain ripped through my abdomen and I cried out without thinking.

Within seconds, Dimitri crashed through the door like death in a cowboy duster. He was my knight but I was about to rip his heart out.

Baia, Russia.
September 1925.

The pain was something I wasn't prepared for at all. Suddenly I knew the difference between really going into labour and the false contractions that I was experiencing back in Chicago.

But what hurt more was that Dimitri wasn't here yet.

There was no one else left in Chicago that knew that I was still alive – there was no one there to kick him out. We had to just hope he'd arrived here soon.

I wished that Dimitri was here to hold my hand through this, but he wasn't. I'd hoped that he would have been, but it seemed Abe's pushing wasn't enough to get him out of Chicago. He was most likely in his apartment, drinking away his sorrows and dreaming that I was still alive.

How could I have been so cruel and stupid? How could I have done this to Dimitri even though I had my child's life in my thoughts? Dimitri was still a person, and someone important to me at that.

Having Dimitri's youngest sister there was a blessing, and at that moment, she was my Dimitri. She didn't so much as yelp when I gripped her hand so tight that I was scared it would break. Nor did she falter in making sure that I knew I would get through this.

I didn't really know what pain was worse honestly. The pain of labour or the pain of knowing Dimitri thought I was lying in a casket somewhere.

I had to push those thoughts away at this time though. I needed to stay focused during this and make sure that I would be able to deliver my child.

Vika stacked pillows behind my back and neck while I cried and groaned in pain. While I didn't think that I would be giving birth to my child on the bed I slept in and that Dimitri had slept in as a child, it was better than having Nathan take away everything we had gained.

The Belikov women were my midwives as they worked at keeping me clean and comfortable while I gave birth. The spoke mainly in English around me, but I still caught Vika muttering Russian prayers beside me.

Childbirth was dangerous no matter what. I had no anesthetics and no concept of what was considered 'wrong'.

When the room was filled only with the cries of a newborn baby and my pained gasps, I knew that I had done it. I was exhausted both mentally and physically but my baby was safe and alive. Olena only told me what I already knew, confirming that I had a daughter being placed into my arms.

I knew that Dimitri and Adrian had been right all along. I knew that the child growing in me would be a girl - a mini-me just as he had wished.

I didn't even register that my baby was covered in blood and other fluids. All I cared about was the feel of her hot skin against my chest. I couldn't stop the tears as they feel free from my eyes. All I could do was stroke her damp and dark hair – hair that I knew would be thick and brown just like Dimitri's and my own.

When she had quietened down, Olena took her back so that she could clean her up a bit. "We will see what we can do about getting her to accept some milk as well. How does that sound?"

I nodded without thinking. I'd do anything Olena asked just to be able to hold her again.

In no time, she was back in my arms as Olena helped me breastfeed for the first time. After a few laughs and annoyed sighs, my daughter latched on and I could see she didn't have any intention of letting go.

I looked down at the small baby in my arms, my tears coming back as I looked into the deep brown eyes that were caught between my own and Dimitri's.

She was perfect.

She was our Sofya.

February 1926.

Kadir and I trudged through the fresh layer of snow that covered the path leading back to the house. He had cleared this for us early this afternoon before seeing a paediatrician in town, but it had already been covered once again in a fresh blanket.

Olena had appreciated having Kadir around to help significantly these past months. He was an extra set of hands that could do things that we women just couldn't do, unfortunately. Small things that creaked or leaked were fixed and Kadir found more that he could do to provide maintenance help.

We made our way up the porch and unlocked the door entering the warm but unusually quiet house.

"We're home!" I called out into the house but got no response back.

My mind bounced with theories of where everyone was, but I focused myself on unwrapping the warm bonds that had protected my five-month-old daughter from the harsh cold and winds outside. In this weather, the best thing for me to do was to bind her to my chest.

It had taken some practice, but eventually, I was able to ensure that Sofya wouldn't fall out of the bottom. She giggled happily as she came back into view, her gurgling filling me with so much happiness that I felt ready to burst.

I cooed easily back at her while I pulled on the final tie that had her pressed flush against my chest. In the past five months, she had already grown so much more than I had expected. She had a full head of thick brown hair and endless brown eyes framed with long dark lashes that I got lost in daily.

When I had first met Dimitri, I hadn't known what I was getting into as I began falling in love with him. But I knew that I would have done anything for him.

However, after looking into the eyes of my baby girl, there was something different there. She was part of me. She had a piece of me with her at all time, and me, her. She was me and I would do everything in my power to ensure that she would never have any harm come to her.

"Where is everyone?" I asked Kadir softly.

"I have no idea. Perhaps they went to the market?"

I shrugged while carrying a gurgling Sofya closer to the kitchen. She would need a feeding any time now, but I wanted to get warm before taking her upstairs and begin to breastfeed. Just the mere memory of Olena teaching me the tricks to breastfeeding made me chuckle under my breath.

That had been an ordeal on its own.

I still held Sofya close to me as she played with my nose, her tiny hands seemingly warming my cold face. If it hadn't of been for the grip that I had on her, I might have even dropped her at what met us in the kitchen.

I froze in the doorway staring at the back of an abnormally tall man who was staring down at the windowsill above the kitchen sink. My thumb unconsciously brushed up against my bare ring finger. I'd forgotten to put my ring back on after doing chores earlier that morning.

I'd left it on the windowsill.

I knew whom it was facing away from me without having to acknowledge the duster, nor the shoulder length hair, which had grown longer since the last time I had seen him.

Feeling his mere presence in the room seemed to stop the ever-persistent dull ache inside me. He was what was missing in my life now. I had had everything these past months except for him.

I knew that there was no chance this would go a calmly as I had dreamed it would, but I didn't care. It wouldn't take long for him to know that I was here, and not a figment of his imagination.

"You're home," was the only coherent thought that I was able to manage. I held my breath as he turned to face me and I watched as his eyes went wide with shock at seeing us.

"Roza?"

Hearing his voice almost broke me, it took every ounce of my willpower to not to throw myself at him and into his arms. I had to pace him here. I couldn't rush into anything and as he stared at me like he had seen a ghost, I had to remind myself that he probably thought he was seeing ghosts.

"We've been waiting for you, comrade."

It was dead silent for at least a solid minute. Not even Sofya made a sound.

The air around us was thick enough to suffocate someone. No one dared move or blink at the risk of it breaking the spell around us. I could only stare at Dimitri and get lost in his eyes.

The look in his eyes broke something in me. He had heavy bags under his eyes – bags that were dark with both a depression and lack of life. Bright red lines danced in his eyes, lining the beautiful brown and proving that he had experienced countless sleepless nights.

It killed me that I was the one who put that pain there.

"You're dead," he eventually choked out, his eyes still locked solely on mine. "This is a trick," he whispered, raising his hand and pointing his finger at me. "It's just a trick my mind is playing on me."

My heart broke at his words. I had driven him to the brink of insanity by making him believe I was dead. It was cruel and I hated that I did it, but I did it for the life of my daughter…of our daughter. He had to understand that eventually. He had to...

"I'm not dead, Dimitri," I whispered softly, tears beginning to brim in my eyes. I was careful to not make any sudden movements. I didn't want to scare him or god forbid, anger him.

A man on the brink of insanity was unpredictable. He could lash out in any way and at any moment. I was still holding Sofya and there wasn't anything in this world that was going to make me put her in a possible warpath.

But it seemed he didn't need me to move to lash out. All he needed was my voice. I watched in horror as all the shock dissipated from his eyes and soon fill with disgust and resistance following my voice.

"Shut your mouth, child of the devil!" he yelled and I swallowed his words with a brave face, trying not to express how much his words really frightened me.

"Dimitri…" I began, but I didn't get too far before his hard eyes focused on the young girl in my arms.

Without delay, Sofya was terrified by the look in his eyes, the same look that I was only able to withstand because I'd known this would be coming. Sofya had no such preparations though – all she saw was a very scary looking man.

She latched onto my hair with her small hand, yanking it as she scrambled in my arms to escape Dimitri's glare. She screamed as well, and while it wasn't a necessarily loud scream, it hurt a lot seeing as it was directed right into my ear.

Glancing slightly around the room for Kadir, my eyes passed over Yeva whose smug smile had become one of panic. No one had anticipated Dimitri to scare Sofya like that.

I needed to diffuse this situation, but I couldn't do that with Sofya threatening to rip the strands of my hair out.

I placed a hand over her tiny one and softly pried it from my hair. She didn't resist and I quickly handed her into the waiting arms of Kadir beside me. I watched as Dimitri's eyes followed the movements of our daughter, the fire in his eyes softening slightly the more he looked at her. That must be a good sign, right?

Any progress we had made quickly dispelled once again as he locked eyes with Kadir. "You," he gasped, blinking slightly as if he was seeing yet another apparition. Oh boy.

"You were there! You were there when they said she was dead!" he thundered while taking a few loud steps towards Kadir, causing Sofya to shriek once again and this time I wasn't having it.

I could see in the corner of my eye, Kadir move to shield Sofya from Dimitri's wrath and even Olena scurried around the table as an extra line of defence.

"It was the only way, Dimitri," I whispered to him, standing in his direct line, shielding Sofya from him and moving slowly towards him, closing that gap that had once been thousands of miles long.

He practically skidded to a halt, trying to keep his distance from me. He knew that Kadir was alive and very real, but I was still Satan's servant to him - a devil child in his eyes sent here to taunt him. If I didn't get assertive enough though, I wouldn't be able to prove that I was really in front of him.

I began walking towards him, and for every step I took, he took one back. I pushed down the hurt that his rejection stirred inside me, knowing that I deserved it.

His back hit the bench, and panic seized up in his eyes. He didn't want me any closer than I already was, but I wasn't going to stop. Once I was close enough to feel the heat radiating off his body, I carefully brought my palm up to rest again his right cheek, attempting to cradle the growing stubble in an attempt for him to see reason.

He immediately tried to recoil from my touch, most likely expecting my skin to be cold and hard like the devil child he thought I was, but I needed him to know I was the exact opposite. I was warm and loving and I was very much alive and waiting for him.

As my palm connected once more with his skin, I felt a hum through my body. A sigh of happiness fell from my lips.

It took a moment, but soon I could see his expression change as the warmth of my hand seeped through the facial hair and sunk into his skin.

"You were meant to be home months ago. We were waiting."

His eyes softened and his lips parted slightly, but no sound followed out. I could see those eyes that I had missed so much and yet seen every day for the past five months glaze over, water filling them as they slowly spilled over.

He brought his hand up and placed it over my own, sighing deeply and closing his eyes before pushing my hand harder into his cheek.

"It is you," he whispered croakily. "I thought I lost you."

He dropped to his knees in front of me, wrapping his arms strongly around my torso and burying his head in the curves of my cleavage. I didn't delay in returning the gesture, wrapping my arms around his head, and combing my fingers softly through the loose strands, scratching his scalp slightly with my short nails.

"I promised I'd see you soon," I hushed leaning down slightly to kiss the top of his hair.

I felt his body rumble with his silent sobs, his shoulders shaking as he tightened his grip around me. I didn't care that it was getting too tight and I didn't care that he would threaten to crush me. All I cared about was his arms finally being around me. I glanced slightly at Olena and Yeva who looked swayed by the demise of Dimitri's control.

I continued to comb my fingers through his hair until his tears subsided and even then, he didn't let me go. He clutched me like I would disappear if he let go. I had missed the warmth of his body for several months, so I didn't want to let him go any time soon.

My own tears were falling down my cheeks and I could feel my shirt soaking through with his. I didn't care who watched us at that moment, to me; we were the only ones in the room. It was just us in our small bubble of reconciliation.

He eventually heaved himself from his knees, never breaking our eye contact. We both looked like equal messes. My lips twitched and his eyes searched mine as he cupped my cheeks with both of his hands.

"Don't leave again," he whispered, his voice breaking slightly.

"Never," I gasped hurriedly, reaching up on my toes to capture his lips with my own.

There was no time delay like before. As soon as my lips touched his own, he reacted instantly. He pulled me closer with the grip he had on my cheeks and he stole every bit of breath I had.

I had missed him so much and feeling his hot lips against mine was like feeling rain during a drought. I could taste the salt of both of our tears, but neither of us minded. All that mattered was that we were back in each other's arms, and we were going to be okay.

He wasn't rough as he became reacquainted with me, but the brush of his beard and the urgency of his kisses were to die for.

All was quiet until Sofya let out of soft giggle, bringing both Dimitri and me out of our little world and our attention to her smiling face.

I glanced up at Dimitri who was locked on Sofya in Kadir's arms. He looked scared but I could see the longing in his eyes for the child. I untangled my fingers from his hair and leaned out slightly.

"Would you like to meet your daughter, Comrade?"

He dropped his hand from my face but kept an arm latched tightly around my waist. He stared dead ahead as Kadir walked over to us and passed Sofya over into my arms.

In my arms, Sofya stared up at the unknown giant to her, but I could almost see the recognition in her eyes as she stared at Dimitri.

She knew exactly who he was.

"This is Sofya," I introduced, trying to hold back my own tears.

An unrestrained smile appeared on Dimitri's face and Sofya reached out for him, placing a hand on his cheek exactly as I had done before.

So, do you all forgive me? Next chapter is the final Dimitri POV, followed by the Epilogue x