Thanks for being so patient!

Rose POV

For once I'm on time.

Nervousness flows through me as I wait for their plane to land. I've never met Dimitri's family before, but I feel like I know them. Dimitri used to tell me so many stories, even some of the more embarrassing ones, like when his older sisters would use him as a life-sized doll and then drag him all over town. Whenever he talked about his family Dimitri's eyes would light up and he couldn't contain his grin; it was one of the rare times he was free to be Dimitri Belikov the Dhampir instead of Dimitri Belikov the Guardian.

I always loved when he told me about them.

It made me feel like I was getting away with something.

It made me feel special.

I hold up one of the cliché airport signs with BELIKOVA written on it with sharpie and grin as their plane lands. Before I know it someone is squealing my name and running towards me. Her arms wrap around me and I return the favor.

"Vika!" I exclaim. People start to stare, but I don't care. I let go of her right before another pair of arms surround me. I look up to see the same person who took care of Dimitri when he was a child.

Olena smiles at me, unshed tears shining in her eyes. "I can't believe I'm finally meeting the girl who stole my son's heart."

I laugh as she lets me go and I marvel at what just happened. A few seconds ago we were strangers and within the timespan of second I became a part of the family.

Or maybe I've been a part of this family for a long time…

"I'm so glad you could come," I say as we head off to find their bags.

"We're glad," Olena starts, "to be invited, dear." Her joy is contagious.

She was about to say something else, but Viktoria interrupts, her excitement clearly written all over her face. "Where's Dimka?"

"We are going to surprise him," I tell her.

She raises an eyebrow at me before giving me an evil grin. "He doesn't know we're here?"

"Nope." I pop the 'p' in the word and we both laugh controllably.

"There is so much damage we could do before he-"

"Vika, no," Olena laughs. "You are 32 years old. Do you really need to prank your brother?"

Vika and I both nod before falling into a giggle fit. For some reason I have a feeling Vika and I will get along just fine.

We grab their luggage and make the trek to the academy's Honda. "What kind of prank do you have in mind?" I ask while trying to keep a straight face.

Olena starts to mutter in Russian and Vika rolls her eyes. "Well, I'm thinking if I could get into his room we could move all the furniture over to the left a little. When he drags himself out of bed at whatever ungodly hour he does he'll be so disoriented he won't notice the change and keep running into everything."

That is… brilliant. "We could totally do that."

She smiles at me as we arrive at the car. Olena is shaking her head disapprovingly, but we both know deep down she's laughing. After carefully stowing the luggage in the trunk we're off.

In a few hours we'll be back at the academy and my plan will be in motion.

My phone vibrates in my pocket and I quickly get it out. "Dimitri's calling me," I say before answering it. His mother smiles at me from the front seat and Vika is snickering at me from the back. "Comrade, I'm in the middle of something important," I tease. "This had better be good."

"Do you know what our son has done?"

Uh oh. This can't be good.

I sigh heavily. "What did he do this time?" Please don't be something illegal. Please, please-

"He took down six Guardians at once."

"He did wha- Wait, what?"

I can hear the pride in his voice. "He took down Stan, Alberta, Roger, Meredith, Mikhail, and me single handedly during class. None of the Novices want to go near him."

I chuckle. "Well, what did you expect, Comrade? He is my son…" I can tell he's grinning one of his special grins. I wish I could be there to see it. "He takes after his father a bit, too. But don't tell him that. It'll go to his head." Dimitri's laughter starts to fill my ears and I never want it to end. "Is he behaving?"

"Roza, he's a teenager. Let him have some fun."

"I'll remember you said that when we find ourselves sitting in Kirova's office because someone just had to let the boy have some 'fun'."

He sighs. "He can't be that bad."

"What can I say, he's a Hathaway." Dimitri chuckles loud enough that his voice fills the car. His mother grins and says something in Russian and Vika replies rapidly.

Why can't I speak Russian?

"Is someone there with you?" Dimitri asks. "It sounds like-"

"I'm, uh," I try to think of a good lie, "I'm listening to the radio." I shoot Vika a menacing look in the rearview mirror. She just laughs at me.

"In Russian? Rose, you don't speak Russian."

"So? What if I'm trying to learn?" He pauses, probably because he's trying to bite back more laughter. I roll my eyes before speaking again. "Listen, I'm going through a tunnel. I have to go." We say our goodbyes and I finally hang up.

The two Russians in my car bust out laughing and before I know it I'm laughing too.

We're barely ten minutes into the trip and I can already tell it's going to be a blast.

"Welcome to St. Vladimir's Academy," I tell my guests as soon as we're within the gates.

Vika and Olena both say it's beautiful as they take in their first glimpse of the gothic style buildings that form main campus. They're still oohing and ahhing when I park the car, which I find highly amusing. The academy is beautiful, there's no doubt about that, but I can easily forgot how beautiful it is through new eyes.

I get out of the car and unload the trunk as my guests join me.

"Can we see Dimka now?" Vika asks. She tries to give me the puppy dog eyes and it doesn't work on me.

"We can try to find him," I tell them, "but before we do I need to tell you something." Vika and Olena look at me expectantly and wait for me to continue. "I have a-"

Olena expectantly cuts me off by screaming, "Dimka!" Vika turns around at the same time I do, only we see two different people.

The Belikovas see the man they haven't seen in years.

I see my teenager.

Before I can even say anything, the women beside me start running towards the boy. Vika gets there first and flings her arms around him. I laugh as Vlad returns the hug, muttering a quick hello in the process before the same exact thing happens again with his grandmother.

When they let him go he comes over to me and whispers, "Mom, who are these people?" I try not to laugh, but I fail. "Why are you laughing?" In a moment of pure impulse I pinch his cheek, just like my excharge used to do when he was a toddler. He smacks my arm away. "Mom!"

"You're just so cute!" I laugh. He rolls his eyes before I look towards my guests. "Vika, Olena, I want you to meet my-"

A voice interrupts me midsentence. It's a voice I know all too well. "Mama? Vika?" Dimitri's body comes running from nowhere before he attacks his family with a hug. "What are you doing here?"

Their eyes go wide for a moment, but it quickly passes. They hug Dimitri for a few moments before he breaks away and repeats himself. "What are you doing here?"

Vika starts to answer, "Rose-" but he cuts her off.

"Roza!" Without warning he's picking me up and twirling me around. "I can't believe you did this!"

"I-" He kisses me, effectively shutting me up. My arms wrap around his neck as his circle my waist.

Vlad clears his throat. "I don't want to see this."

Dimitri turns his head and looks towards our son, noticing him there for the first time. He turns back to me. "Did you…?"

"I was about to. Then he showed up. Then you showed up. You guys are ruining my plan," I tease.

He rolls his eyes as we let go of each other. Vlad laughs as we walks towards his father who puts his arm around him. "Mama," Dimitri addresses, "Vika, this is our son, Vladimir."

The world seems to freeze at that moment. The Belikovas stare at Vlad for a few seconds before Vika breaks the spell. "Son? You have a son?" She glances towards me before looking at her brother. Her guardian mask replaces itself with a giant grin.

Olena comes up to Vlad and once again hugs him. "My grandson!" she proudly exclaims.

Vika walks over to me and throws her arms around me for the second time today. "You really are part of the family!"

Dimitri blushes. He actually blushes. "Vika!"

"What?"

He mumbles something in Russian and Viktoria starts mumbling back and within a few seconds it turned itself into a yelling match. Olena finally lets go of Vlad and they both walk towards me. "Are they always like this?" I ask her.

"No," she replies. "They're much, much louder, dear. This is nothing."

I shake my head as she starts to chuckle. I look over to Vlad who is watching his father and aunt with great curiosity. I wonder if this is how he'd act if he ever had siblings…

Oh God no.

I don't think the world could handle two of him.

I definitely couldn't handle two of him.

I glance back towards Vika and Dimitri and can't help but smile. They are grinning and hugging it out, just like Liss and Andre would do after a fight.

I've never seen Dimitri like this before; he's practically beaming.

The Belikovas are going to be the perfect distraction for both the men in my life.

Good.

I can set my plan into motion.

A/N: I'm going to try to get back to a somewhat regular updating schedule, but as always I make no promises. Thanks for reading and don't forget to review! :)