A/N: IF YOU GUYS WERE WONDERING WHAT ROSE'S MASQUERADE DRESS LOOKED LIKE IT IS ON MY WEBSITE! CHECK IT OUT; IT IS REALLY AWESOME!
Disclaimer:
I do not own Vampire Academy or any characters pertaining to Vampire Academy - Richelle Mead does. :)
Matt's POV
I was excited. I was going on a date with Avrika tonight. My Avrika finally mine again. I never stopped loving her for anything. I tried moving on several times but failed all those times. I couldn't forget her; she had been too rooted in me.
Tonight, everything would change.
I had forgiven her and vice-a-versa. We were going to start our relationship again for the sake of Andy. And for the sake of us.
I really wasn't paying attention to the road when I saw headlights in front of my car. A had a nanosecond of warning when I felt the heavy thud of the semi hitting my car from the front. There was a loud bang! I heard my skull crack and my ribs crack and my legs collapse.
The steering wheel stuck inside my chest. Blood gushed out everywhere. I was not going to make it. I didn't get the chance to show Avrika how much I loved her. Andy, I hope he would be okay.
I sat there at least ten seconds. My eyes were closing. I had not much left to live and I was grateful; it would take this pain away. I love you Andy and Avrika!I screamed with my mind. My world was going into blackness. Slowly, slowly, the darkness crept to me. I felt one last huge spasm of pain and then nothing. All faded to black. And there went my life. . . .
Yaritza's POV
"I was in kindergarten. Even though I was small I had status. Everybody liked me." Rika seemed lost in thought as she spoke up front. It was Matt's funeral. All eyes were on her and it was easy to see why she had had status when she was so young. "One day, we got the news that we had a new student. Poor thing looked like a mouse rather than a person. All was well, I guess. Even though we were small, we a;ready had the bullies of the playground. Once, I remember, they started ganging up on him. I was the toughest one there so I saved the kid. Poor kid; I towered over him. I asked, 'you want to be friends?' He nodded and we were friends till then."
"Matt and I were the best of friends. As we grew up he was looking less and less like a mouse but like a bad-boy. All girls wanted him. But he only wanted one girl." Tears slipped out of her eyes. It was sad to watch my ex-best friend tell her story. She claimed that Matt only wanted one girl; I was that girl. "We started dating after some time. I really loved him and he really loved me. It was wonderful."
"My parents never liked him and his parents never liked me. I was devastated when I found out I was pregnant with his child. My parents weren't the happiest; they kicked me out of the house. I had nowhere else to go but to live with him and his family. Several months passed and I gave birth to our son Andy.. I was supposed to leave him and if I didn't his parents would take away my child. I chose to leave by my own free will."
She shook her head sadly that you had to wonder if she was really sad or not. "One night, he started drinking again. His parents had given me little to leave so they set up a scene and forced me to go. It broke my heart but I had to do it. I had to do it for my little Andy and Matt." She looked away while thousands of tears poured from her eyes. "We forgave each other and we were finally going to give each other anther chance. On his way, to where we were supposed to meet each other, he was hit by a semi." Avrika broke down on the podium and there was nobody who would go to her. Finally gathering strength, I went to her. After all, she had been my best friend of all time.
I wrapped my arms around her and she cried on me. "Forgive me, Yaritza, forgive me." I nodded and my tears were like hers. Big and fat. I led her to where she was assigned to sit next to her son. Her new baby was with her adoptive mother, Vera. Rose was not here; Adrian hadn't permitted her to come since mothers were to be in a stress free atmosphere. He had to head back soon since she would be popping out that kid at any second.
I sat next to her through out the ceremony. She just sat there, crying on my shoulder.
It started raining again. Everyone was departing. I scanned the area but Rika was nowhere in sight. . .
Rika's POV
I stood over his casket. Matt's. Baby, why did you have to leave me? I love you don't forget. . .
I laid my head on the casket. I reached inside my purse. I pulled out a gun. I scanned for the person I had in mind. Unfortunately, he had left. My head still laid on the casket ,a lot of tears in my eyes. I gathered my strength, I looked for someone else who would get what he deserved.
There she was, looking distracted with something. I aimed the gun and fired.
But it hit in the direction that I was not intending. . .
Yaritza's POV
Where was she? There was distant rumble or maybe it was just the thunder.
I walked off to where the coffin was. Maybe Rika would be there.
When I got there, I screamed in horror. Rika was there, all right.
There was a pool of blood surrounding her. A gun was in her hand. She looked dead. I leaned down and checked her pulse. No pulse. But a there was a bullet on her forehead. . .
I screamed again and blacked out. . .
Rose's POV
I rubbed my stomach ,looking frequently out the window. There was only one guardian here. It had started raining again. The baby hated it when it rained. It moved until it stopped raining. I didn't know where Adrian was; he just had said that he had to go somewhere.
Damn, Adrian. Get here fast.
I walked back to the bedroom. I was laying on the bed when the baby made the mistake of hitting me too hard. I had to go pee now. I stood up and scuttled to the bathroom. I was done with my business in seconds.
I was standing in front of the mirror. There a loud thunder and all the lights when out. I was scared; the baby was scared.
To make matters worse, I felt a horrible pain in my abdomen. This was not normal labor pain; this worse. I reached for my phone. I threw it against the wall when I noticed it was dead. Shit, who was I going to call now?
Then I remembered Guardian Willett downstairs. I was about to move when the pain doubled in intensity. I gasped out in pain as something moved the wrong way in my stomach. I leaned against the wall while I tried to stand up straight to walk out the door.
I took one agonizingly small step. I was not even an inch close to the door. I screamed out in pain. It was horrible. I wanted to die in that second. My feet started to cramp up. The cramp pain was too unbearable. Without my legs supporting me, I began falling. I put out my hands in order to make the fall less hurting. Bad luck, I crashed with the ground. My stomach hit the ground. More pain convulsed through me.
I began screaming for help. I saw some blood on the floor. Oh, no, please don't let me loose my baby. Take me instead.
I felt the baby's head began to slide. I screamed and screamed. Oh, God, it was so painful. I took deep breaths, trying to calm myself. I felt a hug contraction. It was so painful that my stomach actually cramped up.
I started shaking and my skin started getting hot. I was getting a fever. Nausea rolled over me. I laid my head on the tile and a hand on my stomach. The cool feel of the tile made my head a little better. But the shivers were uncontrollable. I did little pain-filled gasps as small contractions started through me.
If Adrian didn't come soon, I would give birth to our son in this bathroom and I would possibly die. Or worse, our son would possibly die. . .
Adrian's POV
I heard my sister's scream.
I ran to where Rika and her lay. A river of blood around both of them.
Oh, God, let her not be dead.
I looked around for Dimitri. I needed him fast. My little dhampir needed me. I felt her pain. I needed to get to her.
I spotted him with their two kids. "Dimitri! Get over here." He handed the kids to Ervin's nanny. He was there in ten seconds. "Take care of her; Rose is in danger!"
I ran off and to my nannies yelled. "Take the children to the house!"
I got into my Audi. I pressed on the gas like there was no tomorrow. . .
I ran all over the house. Rose was nowhere in sight. I heard a faint gasp from our bedroom. And then I heard a scream. I walked inside my bedroom. The bathroom door was open. And what I saw before me was horrible. . .
Rose's POV
God, make this pain go away please.
The baby kicked and his leg had gotten stuck inside one of my ribs. It hurt so bad. I probably had it broken but I didn't care as long as he was okay. He was scared, I knew enough for that.
I laid back against the tile. It was cold but it felt good. I had another contraction and I screamed and gasped.
That's when Adrian came inside the room. "Rose! Babe, it's going to be all right come with me." He picked me up into his arms. I was crying as he carried me. I was still too young to experience this pain. I was only twenty two. I needed to stay alive for my three kids. But that didn't stop me from blacking out. . .
When I regained conscious I was staring at a hospital light. I no longer felt pain. I did ,however, feel panic. I looked to my right and saw Adrian. "Adrian were is my baby?!"
He grinned. I wanted to choke him. He pointed at my stomach. "In there."
I looked down and noticed that my stomach was still big. I recalled what had happened. "Adrian, is the baby alright?"
"Yes, more than fine actually. He doesn't want to come out yet." He chuckled.
"All that pain for not—
I stopped. Pain was filling me once again. I squeezed my eyes hoping the contraction would pass soon. "Ow, why doesn't this pain go away?"
Adrian grabbed my hand. "The doctor said the baby was ready to come out but you weren't ready to push him out." He rubbed my stomach soothingly. "She said you've only dilated to six. She said walking would help it open up faster. She also said that she was going to provoke it if you didn't dilate today."
"How long have I been out?" I asked, while I tried to sit up.
"Two days." He said, as he helped me up. I painfully threw my legs on the other side of the bed. He helped me stand up. I needed to walk; my legs were so stiff. He slipped on my brown slippers.
"Why so long?" I asked, not really wanting to know but to hear him talk. I put a hand to my stomach and spoke to it. "Baby, you need to come out already. It hurts mommy when you move the wrong way."
Adrian chuckled and put a hand on my stomach. I put both hands on my back as I waddled down the hospital. They made me walk to whole hours. I was ready to do more but my water broke.
Adrian had a flash of joy on his face as he saw the water dripping. Finally, our baby was coming! Adrian caught me in his arms as a big contraction took me over. He picked me up in his arms and I started pulling his hair when the stupid painfully bad contractions filled me. Since I had walked at least the whole freaking floor Adrian had to carry me a good three minutes to my hospital room.
"Oh my fucking Adrian!" I screamed when he laid me down on the bed. A bunch of nurses came ,rushing trailing the doctor.
I put one foot one of the peddle like things and the put the other one on there. The nurses slipped the hospital gown all the way to my chest; they got frustrated at trying to slip it off so they took it off completely. I could care less for the world right now; I wanted the baby out and for him to be well.
The doctor put her gloves on and her outfit was covered by one of those white coats. I swear I almost slapped her; she was taking her time on coming over to me and taking this damn baby out.
"Okay, Rose, on the count of three I want you to push." She looked at the nurses and nodded. Luck was with me. The nurse that helped me get Ervin out was there to help me get this baby out. She pressed on my stomach and then I pushed.
Adrian held my hand and I gripped it so hard it's really a wonder why they didn't fall off. Another push and I wanted to kill him instead of breaking his hand. I didn't shout out insults like I had been doing when I was pushing out Ervin. According to Vera, if you wasted your energy on insults the pushing out part would last longer. So I kept my mouth shut like a good girl. I could get Adrian later. My main was focus was the baby.
"Rose, darling, you are doing so well. The body is out, it's just the legs still in there." The helpful nurse said; Sasha was her name. She wiped my sweat with a white towel. I rested for a second before doing one last final push. As planned, the baby came out; I was so happy.
Once out, they took him to a corner of the room and did the newborn tests they always had to do on newborn babies. I closed my eyes and rested. My hands went off the rail and landed limply against my sides.
I felt soft, warm lips touch my chapped ones. I opened my eyes and met Adrian's joyous ones. He smiled that intoxicating smile that took my breath away. "Thank you, Rose. You have giving me better things than anyone else in this life. I will find a way to repay you." His lips touched mine again. We parted our lips when we heard crying from the other side of the room.
I grinned this time. "That baby is going to be such a complainer. I'm glad you are the one who is going to take care of him." I laughed. I saw one of the nurses wipe all the blood off my baby's delicate face. After she was done with that, she wrapped him in one of those annoying baby sheets.
She was done and she was walking towards Adrian and I with a smile on her face. She held out the baby who was still crying. I wanted to cry too. As it was, I did cry. It was amazing at how much joy these little creatures brought with them. "So who wants to do the honors?" The nurse asked while admiring my baby.
I was too tired. "Give him to his father." The nurse went to Adrian and handed him his new son. Adrian had a tear here and there as he took his son in his hands. Why is it with births that everyone wants to cry? Adrian cradled the baby in his hands.
I reached up and stroked his brown hair. I looked at Adrian. He looked down once more and handed me the baby, who was now had his eyes closed. I looked at the precious baby in my hands.
His eyes went open as he was passed to a different pair of hands. He, like all my kids, had green eyes. And like my other kids, he looked like his father. He looked like Ervin, except Ervin had been a little bit smaller when he had born.
The door burst open and Ervin and Taylor ran into the room with Vera and Jack behind them. Jack was carrying David, there one year old child and Andy on his other hand. What was up with that? In her hands, Vera held a beautiful little girl which I assumed was Rika's daughter. She really was beautiful; like Taylor. She looked like Andre.
"I want to see my brother!" Ervin squealed running to me and Adrian.
Sydney walked in behind them ,holding Andre's hand. I looked at her and smiled mischievously. I couldn't believe it! Sydney and Adrian. I was glad for them; they both had had hellish lives.
Vera walked up to me and we exchanged babies. "Oooh, Rose. Ah, so cute!"
I smiled happily. "I know." I gazed at the baby in my hands. She smiled at me; she really was precious; she reminded me of Taylor so much. I want another girl. Then I remembered Andy in the room. "Hey, sweetheart." Some tears spilled from his eyes as I spoke to him. Andre hugged the kid.
"What's wrong with him?" I asked Vera who was busy cooing at my son.
Vera looked down for a second and then looked around to see if Andy was hearing. "Matt died a couple of days ago and then Rika killed herself."
I nearly had a heart attack. I can't say I felt bad for Rika but I did feel bad for Matt; he had been such an awesome guy. He would truly be missed. "So your taking care of Andy?"
"Yeah, Rika left it all planned out, I guess. Her last wish was to leave her kids with me."
"Oh, God. How horrible. Poor baby."
"I know." Our expressions were like everyone else's in the room. Sad.
"Although, it is bad that she left, I am glad the you kept the kids."
"Yeah. Poor kids, though."
She nodded her consent. She handed me back my baby. As I looked down at my baby, I never wanted to let go. How had Rika done it? How had she been able to take her life away when she had two precious things in her life? I didn't have answers and I was not so interested in them. As, long as I had Adrian with me, Ervin, Taylor, and this new baby everything would be okay. Well, what was done, was done. Nobody could do anything to change that. God be with you, Rika. . .
