Disclaimer: Richelle Mead owns all and any VA content used. The plot is mine.

I'd like to say that I didn't allow Jesse and his gang to get to me, but unfortunately, that was nothing but the truth. Everything dampened after our encounter and my good mood from earlier plummeted downhill. Fast. I was still fuming with rage and tried to push it out of my way but it consumed me. I fought it and worked hard to make sure that nothing came across my face. That blank face I'd been practicing finally got its use. It was extremely hard, trying to make your thoughts just disappear from your mind. It was extremely hard trying to skirt around the anger that filled me.

Concentrating on the ceremony wasn't that hard or at least I didn't think so. Part of it was that I was partially out of it. Names flew by and Moroi went up on stage, collected their diploma, and shook Kirova's hand, all while showered in an abundance of cheering and applause. That was Moroi commencement. It was as flashy as ever. The dhampirs didn't have a commencement. Instead, our small ceremony was after the Moroi one and hardly anyone stuck around for that. As quickly as Moroi arrived, they left.

Only a few stayed. There were some scattered here and there, including my Moroi: Lissa, Christian, Adrian and of course, Abe. Instead of sitting in the back rows, I moved up to the front this time, the space dictated for dhampirs. Numbly, I let Dimitri come and walk me up to my seat, which was placed alphabetically and shook off his concern for me when he saw my face, void of all emotion. I didn't know what was wrong with me but I didn't like it.

Rather than Kirova, Alberta took her place, as Head Guardian. I clapped along with the rest of my peers but unless you were really looking at me, you couldn't tell that my heart wasn't into it. I blinked my eyes, clearing my head from the black dots that were dancing spaciously along in my vision.

I felt a sharp pain in my lower abdomen and winced. It sure was strong. I moved my hand down to where one of the twins kicked. As soon as it was gone, another followed in its wake. "Ow," I whispered under my breath. I rubbed my stomach gently, soothing the pain and calming them down. I gritted my teeth as another one came.

The next one left me hissing in pain and a couple glances in my direction. I needed to get up and walk it off. Lately, I'd found that they liked walks, so often, at night, I would take a ten minute walk before bed. Luckily for me, Alberta chose that moment to call my name.

I couldn't have jumped quicker out of my chair when I heard "Rosemarie Hathaway". Not my best moment. Because I got up so fast, the blood rushed to my head which was not too good an idea since the black spots had never really disappeared. I stumbled for a second before regaining my balance, somewhat. As I walked, I noticed questioning eyes never left me and I wondered that was about. My head was still swimming and I wasn't thinking or seeing clearly.

When I walked, it felt like I was super drunk, like Adrian drunk. I was stumbling all over the place. Maybe that why everyone was looking at me weirdly? I placed a hand on my forehead, having no idea how it'd stop the pounding behind my eyes. I tried to ignore it while walking up the stairs.

And suddenly, I was seeing doubles. I blinked, clearing my vision, and took deep breaths to calm my breathing. What was happening to me?

"Congratulations, Rose," Alberta said, grasping my hand in hers and shaking. Her voice sounded like it was miles away and I couldn't focus on her. My other hand reached out to grab my diploma. I missed and almost fell to the floor.

"Rose? Rose?" I heard Alberta call my name, it was fuzzy and there were multiples. "Rose, are you alright? Rose, can you hear me?"

I raised my lowered head up to look at Alberta. My eyes went wide and this time, I did fall to the floor, everything turning black.

DPOV

After the commencement and all the Moroi and their families had left, the guardians swooped in and cleared the area, only leaving a few rows for the graduating dhampirs. I took this chance to walk over to Rose, who'd been looking pretty damper throughout the ceremony.

As I moved over to her, I took the time to study her. She was truly magnificent, taking my breath away every time I looked at her. Tonight, with her deviled looks, drove me over the edge, her sexiness taunting me. Those call me red lips were whispering my name and my fingers were itching to run through those locks that were left down framing her face.

"Roza," she looked up at me, surprise that I'd caught her off guard. I placed a hand on her lower back and gently pulled her along. "You alright?"

She nodded, it was almost mechanically. Rose made no attempt to speak as we continued on our way to the front. And that's when I knew something was wrong. Her eyes held misery and her silence was deafening. When we got to her seat, she mumbled a quiet thanks and sat down.

I kept watching her, concerned whenever her face morphed into one of pain. I saw her rub her stomach and figured one of the twins kicked. Every night when Rose was fast asleep, I'd kneel down as slowly stroke her bump, whispering words of love to my children in my native tongue. Sometimes, I'd feel them kick in response, most of the time, they'd just move around.

I saw Rose squeeze her eyes shut and press a hand to her forehead. When Alberta called her name, she jumped up like lightning and made her way over to the stage. She wobbled and stumbled, losing her balance a little before shaking hands and receiving her diploma.

As Alberta congratulated Rose, she didn't look like she was there. Rose looked like she was being sucked into Lissa's head but it was different. She stumbled, her legs shaking. I heard Alberta ask her if she was alright and that's when I started walking.


RPOV

I squeezed my eyes shut and then opened them. Blinking a few times and clearing my vision, a white tiled ceiling came into view. Looking down, I saw myself in the worst possible situation. I was lying in a hospital bed.

I groaned, or at least tried to. My throat was dry as hell, so I settled for an eye roll. I sat up slightly and looked around the room. Like the ceiling, the walls were an off white and space was bare, save for the side table beside the bed and the not so comfortable looking chair across the room. The room was also private, which wasn't normal for the clinic.

Like the chair across the room, a similar one that resembled it was placed on my right side and in it, sat none other than Dimitri. He was bent forwards, sleeping, and his hair in disarray. I took the hand he was not gripping and stroked it back, calming the messy strands.

I smiled when I saw his eyes open to reveal those beautiful brown irises. My hand ran down the side of his cheek and using my thumb, I rubbed soothing circles. "Comrade?"

"Roza, you're awake." He smiled. "I'll go call the doctor."

"Not yet, comrade. Stay for a second." I said, taking both his hands in mine. "Why am I in here?"

His eyebrows bushed up. "You don't remember?" I shook my head. "You fainted, Roza."

My eyes widened. "When?"

"When you went up to get your diploma from Alberta."

"In front of all those people?" I groaned. "What else happened?"

"I don't know, you tell me." Dimitri laced his fingers with mine, squeezing gently.

"I don't remember." I mumbled dejectedly after a few seconds.

Dimitri looked at me, his eyes pleading. "Try, Roza." He encouraged.

I nodded and tried, but I just couldn't. Dimitri sighed, giving me a soft smile, and got up. Minutes later, Dr. Olendzki came into the room, Dimitri following.

"How are you doing, Rose?" She asked.

"Like I just got hit in the head with a pile of bricks. My head hurts and I can't remember anything, it's…blank."

"That's perfectly normal, considering what happened. Other than some temporary memory loss, you're got a clean bill of health, Rose. Once you're up to it, you're good to go."

"The twins, are the good?" I asked.

"Perfectly fine."

"When should she be starting to remember?" I heard Dimitri ask.

"In a few minutes, really. If she doesn't by the end of the day, I advise that you should bring her back. It might be more serious than I thought."

"Alrighty then!" They both turned to look at me. I shrugged my shoulders. "Comrade, I'm just about ready to blow this joint."

Dr. Olendzki laughed and Dimitri smiled wholeheartedly. "Okay, Roza."


"I still can't believe that I fainted in front of all those people! That's so embarrassing!" I threw my arm over my eyes and fell back on the bed.

Lissa laughed and I glared at her, effectively shutting her up. "Rose, seriously, shut up. But hey, at least you know that no one is going to forget who Rose Hathaway is." She laughed again and I threw at pillow at her.

"Haha very funny."

Apparently, after I fainted, everyone went into a state of shock. Alberta, thankfully, caught me before I landed on the floor and Dimitri came rushing into action. Without a moment to doubt, he scooped me up in his arms and ran to the clinic like his pants were on fire.

It took a few minutes, but everything went back to normal and graduation picked up where it left off. Well, that's how it happened according to Lissa. She wanted to come with me but guardians wouldn't let her, saying Dimitri had it covered and they didn't need to involve Moroi. It was bull.

Apparently my fainting had put a damper on Abe's plans. He supposedly was throwing a graduation party in my honor after the ceremony. That never happened. He called it off and the Badicas' threw an unplanned party in spur of the moment. Right now, everyone was in the woods getting drunk off their asses.

Well, except for Lissa and Christian. Lissa was in the cabin bedroom with me and Christian was outside in the living room doing who the hell knows. I think his only reason for being here was that he didn't know what to do without Lissa around. Though, I think Dimitri was out there making lasagna 'cause I said I was hungry about an hour ago.

"Can I? You know…?" Lissa was biting her lip. I rolled my eyes and she squealed. I lifted up my shirt, revealing my bump and immediately Lissa put her long and skinny fingers on it. I hummed in content when I felt the babies move around.

"So…you really don't remember?"

"I really wish I did. Dimitri's been checking up on me every half an hour, hoping that I'd remember something. Poor guy. But all I can recall is the blackout."

Lissa frowned. When my stomach rumbled, she looked up at me in confusion.

I smiled. "Dimitri!" I called.

A few seconds later, I heard a 'yes?' and replied, "I'm hungry!"

I didn't hear a response so I decided to go to the kitchen with Lissa following. "Oh my god, that smells so good, comrade." I moaned.

"Watch it, Rose. I think you have some drool coming out the side of your mouth." Christian smirked and I slapped him upside the head. "Ow!"

I left Lissa sitting at the island on a bar stool with Christian and started setting the table. Dimitri set the casserole dish in the middle as well a huge salad bowl. I walked into his opened arms and pressed a kiss to his lips. "I love you."

"I love you too, Roza." My lips wandered back to his and I don't think we would've stopped if it wasn't for my stomach. Dimitri laughed. "I think we should go eat," he pecked my nose and pulled out my chair for me and then pushing me in once I was settled down.

Lissa sat on my right, Dimitri sat on my left and Christian sat in front of me. "Comrade?" I said, holding up the wine glass.

"Try it." I raised my brow at him. "Roza, you'd really think I'd give you alcohol while you're pregnant?"

It wasn't actual wine. Just sparkling grape juice. Dimitri cut a slice of lasagna for me and placed it in my plate and did the same for him. Christian did the same for Lissa and himself.

Lissa raised her glass, "I'd like to make a toast. To us, may this be the first family night of many!"

I brought the glass to my lips and sipped. I looked around the table seeing Lissa delicately eating her lasagna, laughing with Christian and Dimitri, Dimitri's hand in mine across the table and him smiling down on me.

I could see this for the rest of my life. I picked up my fork, spearing a piece of this no doubt delicious pasta. As I brought it up to me mouth, something went through me, like a rush. I gasped, holding a hand to my chest.

"Oh my God," I whispered… and the fork clambered to the floor, landing with a loud clank…

A/N- Hey Guys! Sorry I been away for so long! School has been kicking my ass! Hope this chapter made up for it though! Leave me some reviews on your way out!