"I have a feeling I'm never going to live this down," I said with a sigh.

~ Chapter 38 – Lissa's in Labor ~

About six weeks before I was due, I got a call around noon. Being the hormonal pregnant woman I was, I pushed Dimitri out of bed and made him go answer my phone. I was extremely lucky he was willing to put up with me, because I had reached a new level of emotional. Having two babies suck the life out of you apparently has a pretty serious impact on your hormones. Who saw that coming?

He got up off the floor rubbing his head and answered it. He came back a few moments later, alert. "Rose wake up. Lissa went into labor," he told me. It was the only thing that could have roused me. I was up in an instant and we both got dressed hastily. I eyed his bare chest. We had long gotten past the point where I didn't feel comfortable having sex anymore, but it was definitely taking its toll. I missed being with him in such an intimate way.

I spent five minutes trying to find my shoe. Finally I just sat down on the bed and started to cry. "I can't find my other shoe," I sobbed.

"I'll look for it," Dimitri offered.

Instantly I stopped crying, another emotion taking precedent. "Are you calling me incompetent?" I asked him angrily. I was at the stage in my pregnancy where my mood swings were pretty severe, worse than Lissa's had ever been.

"Absolutely not," Dimitri reassured me calmly. He didn't hesitate and left no doubt that he would love nothing more than to look for my shoe.

Just like that, I was happy again. "Okay," I said with a grin. I sat on the bed, rubbing my stomach. When the doctor had told me I would have to take it easy as I got further along, he hadn't mentioned I would want to take it easy. Something little, like being on my feet for two minutes, caused me to be inexplicably exhausted. It was impossible to believe that I would be getting any bigger. I felt if my stomach expanded anymore, that my babies would simply burst out.

Dimitri breathed a sigh of relief. I knew he couldn't wait for the babies to come just so my mood swings would stop. He coped with them well, but I could only imagine how stressful it was. He quickly found my other shoe hiding under our bed and put in on my foot as if I were Cinderella

We rushed to the hospital and joined Christian in the waiting room where he was pacing back and forth.

"Why aren't you in there with her?" I asked him confused.

"She's not quite there yet. They had to give her the epidural. They said they would call me in when she's ready to actually have the baby," he explained nervously. He clearly didn't like the idea of not being with her and I was surprised that was a thing in the first place.

As if on cue, one of the doctors walked into the waiting room. "Christian Ozera?" They called. Christian walked towards the doctor, his face pale. "Follow me."

Christian walked out leaving me and Dimitri in the waiting room.

Lissa going into labor made my pregnancy seem more real. It scared me more than I could say. I'm going to be a mother soon and I hardly felt ready for it. Within the last couple of months, my mother and I had salvages something of a relationship, but really, we were still rocky. I fought to hold back my tears as I became overwhelmed with the knowledge that I had no idea how to raise a kid. What if they ended up all screwed up because of me?

Dimitri pulled me into his embrace. I buried my face in his shoulder, not wanting any of the sleep deprived people in the waiting room to see me. "What's wrong Roza?"

"I just realized that I'm going to be a mother really soon. And… I'm scared," I admitted into his shoulder. I clutched him tighter.

He pulled back so he could look in my eyes. "What are you scared about?" He asked me seriously.

"What if I'm not a good mother?" I asked him nervously. "I wasn't raised by my mother, I was raised by the Academy. That was a whole team of people. I just... I don't feel good enough."

"Roza. You won't be a good mother, you'll be a great mother," he told me. There was so much sincerity in his voice.

"How can you know?" I asked him uncertainly. That's what it came down to. I had no way of knowing if I truly had the skills to be a good mother.

"Because of your compassion and your love. You are going to be the best mother our children could ever hope for, because you want to be the best mother to them. I've already seen how you've changed your lifestyle for them. You ate broccoli the other day... willingly! If that's not love, I don't know what is," he told me. I laughed, and immediately felt cheered by his statement.

I spent the rest of our wait leaning into Dimitri's chest. After what felt like an eternity, Christian came back into the waiting room. He had thick bags under his eyes, but the joy on his face stood out more than his fatigue did. He motioned for us to follow him. He led us into Lissa's hospital room.

Lissa was sitting up on her bed holding a beautiful baby girl. The baby had Christian's black hair. It creeped out from under her little hat. She had Lissa's jade green eyes. She was fast asleep in Lissa's arms. I just stared. She was impossibly small. When we walked in, Lissa smiled at us.

"What's her name?" I asked Lissa.

"Danya Rose Dragomir. It means gift from God," she said grinning at me. I stared at her. I had never expected my name to be thrown in there. "Will you be the godmother?"

I almost burst into tears at her request. As it was a few slipped out. "Of course," I promised. I may not be religious, but for the little girl I saw in her arms? Well, I would be anything she needed.