Excitement bubbled up in me. Soon enough, we would know the gender of our babies. We would be able to plan names and make some customized decorations for their nursery. I couldn't wait!

~ Chapter 36 – Babies ~

We sat in our car after the doctor's appointment, neither of us saying a word. I could see Dimitri was alternating between being happy to looking torn. He had very much wanted two boys, even if he used the same cookie cutter line of "as long as their healthy." He's been watching how Christian had been reacting to the news that they were having a girl and he wanted nothing to do with that stress. The other day, Lissa had mentioned that she hoped her daughter wouldn't be as emotional as she was on her period and I have never seen Christian so pale. You'd think someone that spent that much time around blood wouldn't be frightened by something as trivial as the female reproductive system, but it certainly freaked Christian out.

Dimitri had certainly advocated for both babies to be boys and my argument that there was nothing we could do about it at that point had fallen on deaf ears. I was ecstatic, this was my best case scenario. I knew Dimitri wanted two boys, but he's still thrilled about the babies. And I think part of him is grateful we're only having one girl and not two. He's already incredibly over protective of her and she hasn't even been born yet. I had my suspicions that he had been taking classes from Christian. His emotions take a complete 360 when he thinks about his son. The expression on his face when the doctor told us we were having a boy left me secretly wondering if I was going to have to save my baby from Dimitri's fascination with westerns.

I am overjoyed. I can't keep the grin off my face and it was starting to make my cheek muscles feel tight, but I couldn't help it. Dimitri was driving us to Lissa's apartment. Lissa had probably been just as excited as me to find out the sex of my babies. When Dimitri and Christian weren't with us, we fantasized about our future children falling in love and uniting our families. I knew Liss would chew my head off if I waited to tell her what we're having, especially with her mood swings. We're both pretty bad, but Lissa's pregnancy was hitting her hard. I'm behaving exactly how you would expect someone with twins to act – it's supposed to make me more emotional than the typical pregnancy, but I'm not nearly as bad. We went out to dinner a few nights ago and she broke down when the waiter asked her if she wanted dessert. She insisted he was trying to call her fat and was implying that despite the food she had just eaten, she was still hungry. She's not big by any standards, not nearly as big as I am, but she's used to the slender form that's common for Moroi. Having something that protrudes so noticeably from her stomach was getting to her. I knew the feeling. We quickly decided to avoid anything that could potentially cause another breakdown. I know Dimitri's waiting for me to get that bad. I personally didn't think I was going to.

Finally, we arrived at Lissa and Christian's apartment. Dimitri helped me out of the car despite my feeble protests. He knocked lightly on the front door and waited patiently for them to come. Me, not so patient. After waiting about thirty seconds, I started to bang on the door as if something were chasing me and this was the only way I could avoid it. Dimitri put his arms around me to restrain my arms.

Christian opened the door looking disheveled and I didn't want to know what I had interrupted. "Lissa here?" I asked him, walking in. Dimitri waited for him to invite him in before entering the house.

"Yeah, she's upstairs. I'll go get her," Christian said.

"No need. LISS!" I shouted loudly. Christian winced and shot me a glare.

"Rose?" Lissa asked excitedly.

"Who else would it be?" I asked.

She appeared in the hallway. "What's the verdict," she asked me, motioning towards my stomach.

Dimitri groaned. "We're having a girl," he told her. Christian looked at him sympathetically.

Lissa looked at us confused. "I thought you were having twins. Actually I know you we're having twins. It's all you've been talking about. You bought two cribs," she pointed out.

"Yeah, but Dimitri's not upset about the boy. He's just freakishly worried about the girl," I explained.

"Well if she turns out anything like her mother, I have every right to be worried," Dimitri teased me. I didn't think that would be all that bad. Dimitri told me over and over how amazing he thought I was and I felt a little anxiety as I wondered if he had been making that up to make me feel better. I covered that fear with sass.

"And you don't think I'm worried? What if one of them inherits your weird cowboy obsession?" I retorted.

"I don't have a weird cowboy obsession," Dimitri said trying to look hurt.

"Should we leave?" Christian asked jokingly. I realized me and Dimitri had been getting closer to one another as we argued without even realizing it. Now we were face to face.

I took a step back and made a face at Christian.

"Oh, I hope you don't have plans tonight," Lissa said. We had both been putting up a mental block through the bond since our hormones kicked into overdrive, so I hadn't realized that there had been more to her excitement than a gender reveal.

I looked up at her confused. "I don't think we have plans," I glanced at Dimitri to confirm. He shook his head to indicate we didn't have anything going on.

Lissa squealed with delight. "Great! Because we're having a girl's night out!"