Dimitri

I slept on the couch that night, I gave Rose space, but when I woke up the next morning, I slowly went to our room and opened the door a creak. Rose was lying peacefully under the blankets, her arms wrapped around her daughter – our daughter. Rose started to stir and sigh, putting a hand on her forehead.

"See something you like, Comrade." She mumbled. Aly stirred. I gave her a smile. She felt the girl's neck and smiled. Aly woke up straight away and jumped around Rose, picking up my pillow and hitting Rose.

"Mommy! Time to get up!" Rose laughed, and took the pillow.

"Aly, that's your daddy." Rose pointed towards me. Aly smiled and nodded. Rose leaned back into the pillows on the bed with a smile.

"Good luck!" Rose said as she pulled the duvet under her chin and closed her eyes.

"What-" I didn't get to ask what she meant, before a small bundle of Dhampir came barreling off the bed and latching to my leg.

"What's for breakfast?" She asked looking up at me. I gave her a little smile and scooped her up.

"Let's see what we have." Aly smiled and crawled around my back giggling as I walked her down the stairs and into the kitchen, sitting her on the counter. "This is your grandmama, great-grandmama and your aunties." I pointed to the oldest women of my family. "And these are your cousins." I pointed to the Paul and the girls.

"Do you have any fruit? Mommy makes me fruit bowls." Aly asked with a smile. I straightened my back and rubbed my neck, shacking my head.

"No, I don't-"

"Ignore her, she's just trying to be funny." Aly giggled and stuck her tongue out. "She eats everything." I pulled out a bowl and cereal, putting it on the table. Aly smiled as I helped her down from the island and she ran to her chair.

"Can we call Grandma and Grandpa?" Rose nodded.

"After you eat." Aly nodded and began to happily eat her cereal. Rose leaned against the door frame and pulled something from behind her back.

"Sally and Tom made this for you." She put the thick photo album in my hands.

I opened it on the counter and started to look through it.

"That's when I got out of the hospital after the accident." Rose pointed. "That's Aly, she was two hours old there." She pointed to another photo. "This was when she took her first step and this is when she spoke her first word." Rose pointed. "It was 'Mommy'." I smiled a little. "This was her first day of school."

I smiled at her, looking through the photos. I never got to see any of this. I missed out o four years of first's.

"Are you working today? I was thinking we could spend the day with Aly, let you get to know her." I give her a smile.

"I'd like that." She let out a breath and closed her eyes. I put a hand on her shoulder before she opened her eyes and looked at me.

"I'm sorry." I wrapped my arms around her and rested my chin on the stop of her head.

"I missed you." I whisper and she pulls me closer. Rose sighed.

"I better get dressed." She murmurs. I nod and watch her leave. Aly was babbling away talking about her favorite book in between bites. I smiled at her. She really was a beautiful child. She looked over and smiled at me. Mama took her in her lap and was bouncing her away when there was a knock on the door. Before I could answer it, the door was opened and the rest of our friends walked in the house. I thought the house was a decent size, but when you pile in about fifteen to twenty people, it gets too feel a bit small. Lissa greeted me with a smile, walked into the kitchen to see Aly. I went up the stairs to talk to Rose.

Her hair was damp but she was dressed. She was walking around the room, holding her phone out as she talked.

"She felt sick again last night." Rose was saying. I leaned against the door frame. "That's not normal, she's never been sick before."

"Was she fine after?" Said a voice. Rose nodded. "It might be the stress of the upheaval. She'll be fine. Now, what about you?" Rose shrugged, took a pill and swallowed it.

"I'm fine, just worried about her." Rose looked over her shoulder. "I'll call you back." She hung up the phone. "Hey." I smiled and walked into the room. Rose rubbed her arm.

"Are you okay? Like really okay?" She looked at me and shook her head. I walked towards her, wrapped my arms around her shoulders. She rested her head on my chest beside her hand.

"It's weird." She began. "Dimitri, you're a dad. That's all you wanted and you don't even know her." I tightened my grip.

"There was nothing we could have done."

"No Dimitri. That day, that day there was just so much darkness. I tried taking a little but something happened and I took too much. I couldn't out run it, I couldn't punch it out. I couldn't breathe, Dimitri. It was suffocating!"

"Roza-"

"No, Dimitri. You were working, Eddie was working but Lissa wasn't. I tried to call her but I could have just tried to find her to talk to her. But I couldn't - I was going to hurt someone Dimitri." She sniffed, rubbed her eyes and sighed. "So, I left. I was going to come back – but then my gas was running out and I drove the whole day and then the crash-"

"Rose." I grab her arms and push her away at arm length, still holding on. "None of this is your fault. I'll get to know our daughter. We'll be fine." Rose nodded and rubbed her cheek.

"She likes strawberries and her favorite color is pale yellow." I smile and pull her close again.

"God, I missed this." She smiled.

"After I remembered, I missed this too." I laughed but before I could answer, her lips met mine. I froze for half a second before I cupped her face in my hands. We didn't separate until we both needed air. We were both breathing fast.

"I missed that too."