Chapter 36

Two weeks later

"They're here!"

I heard the cry from the open living room window of Dimitri's family's house. I smiled to myself and waited for the front door to swing open – and it did; not three seconds later.

"Ah!" Viktoria squealed excitedly and flung herself into my arms. "Rose! I've missed you so much!"

"Me too, Vik," I replied, giving her an extra tight squeeze. I moved on to hug Sonya while Viktoria wrapped her arms around Dimitri. "Luka's missed his aunties."

"Where is he?" Karolina grinned, peeking behind us into the car. She gave Dimitri a hug and kiss and then moved past him to look through the car window. "Is he asleep?"

"Yeah, he fell asleep on the car ride over."

"Isn't he an angel?" I nearly laughed at the pride shining from Dimitri's face. Quietly, he opened the car door and unclipped the car seat so as not to wake the sleeping baby. He carried him inside carefully so he wouldn't jostle him, and left him down in the living room while he went to get our bags.

"Rose!" Olena came bustling out of – of course – the kitchen. "You look beautiful…" I highly doubted that due to the five hours of plane journey, as well as several hours of driving, but I thanked her for her kindness anyway.

"And Luka!" she gasped and crouched down beside his sleeping form. "My goodness, look how big he's gotten! It's hard to believe he's already four months!"

"I know," I smiled down at him, loving how peaceful he looked with his smooth eyelids resting passively and his pink lips enclosed around his blue pacifier.

"Is he laughing yet?" she asked me, her eyes shining with excitement.

"Not yet; he does a lot of smiling though. And he started rolling over onto his stomach last week – now we can't get him to stop."

"Dimitri was the very same when he was Luka's age," she told me, standing up again. "He never stopped moving!"

"What's that?" Dimitri walked into the room and placed our cases by the door. We tried to bring the least amount possible – Dimitri had told me one case only. But of course, we were going to be staying here for three weeks at a minimum…and how was I supposed to live off one, tiny suitcase for that long? And so I complied with his rules – one suitcase only…but Dimitri hadn't said anything about overnight bags.

And so I'd stuffed three of those in as well.

"I was telling Rose that you were a very busy baby," Olena went on, her eyes shining at the prospect of having her family back in the one house again. "You always had something to do or some place to go!" Just then, a 'ding' went off, and Olena scurried into the kitchen before whatever she was cooking turned black.

"Long time no see, bud," We both turned at the same time in the direction of the voice to see Ivan leaning up against the doorframe behind us, a relaxed grin at home on his face. "Tell me, did you bring your new hot nanny?"

"No, we did not," I told him. "And no, you may not sleep with her."

"Ah Rose, don't be like that…" he groaned. "Why won't you let me near her?"

"…Because we actually like her and don't need you chasing her away!"

"Chasing her? I am offended that you would even think that!" Ivan slapped a hand over his chest for emphasis of his mock offence. "I have never chased a woman in my life, and I'm not about to start now. I've never needed to actually, the always come crawling after me…usually on their knees, if you get what I mean." He winked.

I looked at Dimitri expectantly to see what he had to say. When he said nothing, I gasped.

"Seriously?" They both looked at me in surprise. "I'm not allowed mention 'S-E-X' in front of the baby, but he's allowed to talk about women giving him blowjobs?!"

"I never said the word 'blowjobs,'" Ivan argued, but there was amusement in his eyes. "I only said they were on their knees in front of me; that could mean that they were praying for all Luka knows."

"You're both sort of defeating the purpose of not saying any bad words," Dimitri interrupted, shutting us both up. He sat down on the sofa and pulled me down onto his lap.

"You guys aren't going to start making out right in front of me, are you?" Ivan grimaced and I rolled my eyes.

"Nah, we might wait a little while, you know, wait until you're least expecting it," I joked. He plonked down beside us, making the cushions bounce with his weight.

"When will junior wake up?" he asked, pointing at Luka. Dimitri shrugged.

"Not sure, but soon. He hasn't eaten since before we boarded so he'll be hungry soon."

"I'm so sorry, my dears," Olena walked back into the room suddenly. She had ridded herself of her apron and replaced it with a jacket. "But I have a prayer group that I couldn't get out of. I'll be back in an hour and we can all have dinner, alright? There's some pie in there if you're peckish and I made a pot of tea."

"Thanks Mama," Dimitri smiled at her; one of those beautiful smiles he reserved only for me, Ivan or one of his family members.

"Oh Olena?" She paused at the door when I called her back.

"Yes, Rose?"

"Ivan was wondering if he could go with you? He's oh so intrigued about women praying." Olena chuckled – probably picturing the image of Ivan at her prayer group – and grabbed her car keys. Ivan thumped my leg.

I hit him back.

"Shit, ow!" Ivan held the spot on his arm where I had thumped him. "When did you get so strong?"

"I've always been this strong," I told him, sticking my tongue out.

Apparently, Luka hadn't been too impressed by our messing or by Ivan's yelp of pain, and had woken up crankily. Dimitri shifted me off his knee so that he could pick up the baby. Dimitri tried quieten him as I made up his bottle and Ivan stuffed his face with Olena's homemade pie.

"You'll choke yourself," Dimitri nudged his best friend with his elbow before taking the bottle from me. Luka drank hungrily, guzzling down the formula as if he hadn't eaten in days; not hours.

After he had finished, we moved back into the living room and were joined by Dimitri's sisters. While everyone chatted happily, I couldn't help but watched the way Dimitri rocked slightly as he paced around the room, patting our baby's back. He wasn't really listening in on the conversations going on around him either; he was gazing down at Luka's face in what could only be described as utter happiness.

It was a few more minutes before he realised that I was watching him, and he sent me a small sweet smile that made me want to melt to the ground in a puddle at his feet. His smile had been a small one, but everything he was thinking and feeling was portrayed in his chocolate brown eyes; his love for our baby, his happiness that we were together, his joy at being reunited with his family, his love for me.

"Hey, why don't we take the kids to the park?" Viktoria suggested. "I'm sure Paul and Zoya would love it!"

"I'm sure they would," Karolina agreed. She looked from me to Dimitri. "Are you guys too tired? We can do it another evening instead if you'd like?"

"No, that sounds good to me," I told her, looking at Dimitri to make sure he was okay with it too. He smiled his consent and then went back to gazing at Luka.

"You can use Paul's old pram," Karolina told us, standing up and stretching. "We bought a new, girly one when we found out we were having Zoya."

Before placing him into the stroller, I pulled out the diaper bag and helped Dimitri wrap Luka up in some warmer clothes, as well as a blanket. When we were both finally satisfied that we had gotten his choice of clothing right – to make sure he would be warm, but not to overheat him – Dimitri put him into buggy and I shoved the bag in the space underneath it.

Once everybody had been wrapped up in hats, coats, scarfs and gloves, we finally set off, choosing to stroll and enjoy each other's company rather than walk quickly. Neighbours waved cheerfully as they spotted Olena Belikova's children and grandchildren pass by; to which we all waved back.

"I miss you guys."

I looked at Viktoria, who had spoken so quietly that I doubted anybody else had heard her. Although the face that Dimitri also looked her way suggested he had too.

"We miss you too, Vik," he replied and lifted one hand off of the handle of the pram so he could give her a sweet side hug.

"No, really," she went on. "I've talked to Mama about it – and to Abe…and I think I'm going to ask for a transfer to the New York branch with you guys."

I think it was fair to say that the look of shock on Dimitri's face more than likely mirrored mine.

"I won't come and live with you or anything like that," she went on quickly, seeing the looks of our faces. "…I'll get my own place obviously. Abe thinks that it would be a great experience for me, and that I'll be taken more seriously as an agent if people have seen that I've worked in a Brooklyn branch. Plus, it wouldn't harm to already have my big brother there to protect me." She shot him an overly sweet smile, quite obviously hoping for his blessing.

"So what do you think?" She asked a little nervously when he said nothing. Dimitri continued to stare straight ahead of him, his eyes thoughtful as he thought this through.

"Are you sure that's what you want?" He asked her eventually, breaking the long silence that had built up.

"More than anything."

"And you've thought about it thoroughly? It's not something that can just be tried out for a few days and forget about when you get bored. And you know you won't be able to come home and visit whenever you want?"

"I know Dimitri," she breathed out, causing a cloud of white condensation to form in the air around her mouth. "It's all I've thought about since you guys left, and it's not like I'll be alone – you guys will be there to help me settle in. And I'll get to see Luka more often!"

"Well then," he paused. "I think that's great."

"Really?" she squealed and jumped into his arms, making him instinctively let go of the stroller to catch her. I grabbed it just in time before it started rolling. "Rose! Now we can definitely be work buddies!"

"Hell yeah," I grinned. "We'll show the boys how it's done."

"Great," Dimitri cheered sarcastically. "Now I have to deal with not one, but both of you at work and at home."

"Not yet you don't," I reminded him. "I've still got about three weeks before I'm back from leave."

"And it will probably be after New Year's before my transfer papers even go through," Viktoria added. "So you've still got a couple of weeks of peace."

"I'd better make the most of it while I can then." I hit his arm – playfully, not hard – and allowed him to take control of steering the pram again.

"Come on, slowpokes!" Paul's voice rang back to us. Nineteen month old Zoya looked at her older brother with interest from her own pram and attempted to copy what he said – only it came out more like gibberish. Paul laughed and ran through the gate of the park; Vika readjusted her scarf and then took off after him; leaving Dimitri, Luka and I to be the last ones.

"Happy to be home, comrade?"

"Very," he pulled me in front of him so that I was positioned in between his body and the pram, helping him steer it.

"I wish you didn't have to work though," I mumbled as we entered the gate of the park. Karolina and Sonya had already located an empty bench and had sat themselves down while Viktoria and Ivan were playing on the jungle gym with Paul and Zoya.

"I won't be working all of the time," he replied, steering the stroller towards his sisters. "If I get what I need soon, I won't have to do much work Thanksgiving week; then we can spend all day every day together."

"If you told me what it was you were doing, I could help you get it done twice as fast," I grumbled.

He smirked. "Nice try, Roza."

"Don't be so smug," I pulled his face down so it was a mere two inches from my face. "I'll get it out of you soon enough."

I let go of his face – not before giving him a quick kiss – and then sat down beside Sonya and Karolina.

"Roza!" Paul came running over. "Roza, can Luka come play with us?"

"Luka's a bit small yet," I told him, crouching down beside him. "But Uncle Dimka might if you ask him nicely."

Paul turned to Dimitri with his wide, pleading Belikov eyes.

"Of course I will, buddy," he ruffled Paul's hair. He parked the pushchair beside the bench and followed Paul over to where Ivan was playing with Zoya.

I sat there quietly for the next hour, not really feeling the need to join in on Karo's and Sonya's conversation. I was much happier spending the time watching Dimitri chasing and tickling his nephew and niece – and even Ivan at one stage.

We didn't get home until it was starting to get dark. Luka had long since fallen asleep after whinging crankily for twenty minutes straight. Dimitri had taken a break from playing with Paul to walk around the perimeter of the park with me to calm Luka. Thankfully, the steady movement of our footsteps had lulled him into a deep sleep.

"You can put him down in Zoya's cot," Karolina told me, showing me her daughter's room. "I hope Luka won't mind that it's pink."

"I don't want to put Zoya out of her cot," I told Karolina seriously. "Luka can just sleep with Dimitri and I in the bed."

"Not at all," she insisted, opening the door to the very pink room. "Zoya's going through a phase where she's staying in Paul's bed with him. He loves it – says it makes him feel like a big, strong brother." She laughed gently, and I smiled along with her. "Here."

"Thanks, Karo," I smiled at her when I had tucked in the loose covers around Luka's small frame.

"It's no problem."

There was a quiet knock on the door, and Dimitri poked his head in. Karolina excused herself to try and get her own kids into bed.

"Is he still down?"

"Yup," I replied, leaning on the wooden frame of the cot. "Should be down for the night, I'd say. He's tired from travelling."

"So am I," Dimitri said, a yawn emphasising his words. I turned and walked slowly over to him.

"Oh yeah? That's a shame…I had plans for us tonight, but if you're too tired then-" His hands spun my entire frame around and I found my lips connecting with his.

"I'm not that tired," he murmured against my lips when we broke apart for some air. A grin spread over my face at the thought of what was surely to come.

"Come on then." I took his hand and dragged him down the hallway to our assigned bedroom.