Hello lovelies! I hope you all are well!
I just want to say in advance that Rose may come across as a little OOC in this chapter, but it ties into the storyline I have going.
I would like to take a moment to thank TheLittleSubmissive for reminding me of some of the stereotypical cultures found here in Canada. I added one to this chapter.
This chapter was only edited by me, and I apologize if there are any grammatical or punctuation errors. I really hope you all enjoy this chapter.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Propping myself up on my side, I run my finger down Dimitri's spine with a featherlight touch and watch his sleeping face. Most people would think that watching someone else sleep is creepy, but I like doing it. He always looks peaceful in his sleep, no furrowed brow or tension in his face. His cheek is pressed against the back of his hand on the pillow, his other splayed out beside his head, lashes dusting his high cheekbones and gentle breaths escaping his lips. I softly brush his hair back from his face and smile when he moves towards my touch.
"Morning," he whispers, snapping me out of my daydreaming. He cracks an eye open and pulls a smile over his face.
"Morning," I say and lean down and press a kiss to his lips. He rolls onto his side and cups my face, caressing my cheek softly.
"I had a very good dream last night," he says while running his thumb over my bottom lip and I kiss his finger.
"Care to elaborate?" I ask. He smiles and pulls me down onto his chest and runs his hand down my back and nuzzles my head.
"It was overall a happy dream, me and you with the kids. With a house of our own and we were a proper family. We were still guardians, but we were in a position where we had time to be with our kids," he says kissing my temple. I sigh against him and kiss his chest.
"Proper family?" I ask tilting my head up to meet his eyes.
He smiles sheepishly and tucks my curls behind my ears and his cheeks flush a light pink. "We were married… I know that we haven't really talked about that in depth, but I do want to marry you," he says sincerely. I smile at him and bite my lip. I like the idea of marrying him. Now if you had asked me a year ago if I would ever want to be married at 18 I would have laughed, but now being here in our own house with two kids on the way, the idea doesn't scare me.
But I wouldn't be who I am if I wasn't a sarcastic asshole.
"I think we got the whole proper family backwards. We had sex before we even dated, and we have two kids on the way before marriage," I quip at him. He chuckles a little and bites the corner of his mouth adverting his gaze from mine. I smile and cup his face, bringing it down to mine.
"But that doesn't mean that I don't want to be Mrs. Belikova," I whisper across his lips and pressing mine against his. He smiles into the kiss and cups the back of my neck, deepening the kiss, sighing into my mouth.
"You mean that?" he breathes, and I pull back and give him a dazzling smile. "You could honestly ask me right now with a ring pop and I would say yes. Sure, we haven't had the most conventional relationship, and we haven't been dating for long, but there is no one else I would want to spend the rest of my life with. You are going to be an amazing father to our kids, and I love you so much. You are my one and my only," I say rubbing the tip of my nose against his before kissing him again.
A look of relief crosses his face and he presses his face into my neck and twisting his hand into my hair. I stroke his head and I rest my face against the top of his head.
"As much as I love laying here and having for hold me, your child is pushing on my bladder," I laugh tapping his shoulder. He laughs into my neck and sits up, kissing my forehead and laying on his back, allowing me to slip out of bed. I pull my nighty back on and scuttle into the bathroom to relieve myself.
Walking back into our room I crawl back into bed to prolong our snuggling for as long as possible. We usually spend our morning talking about random things, about things we hope to achieve when we can go back to normalcy, possible baby names, how we might want to raise our kids. We even discussed how we would feel if either of them decided that they didn't want to be guardians.
Dimitri's favourite thing to do in the mornings for the last few weeks in lay across my thighs and talk to the babies, most of the time in Russian, stating he wants them to recognize the language and that it would be easier to teach them when they were older. I laughed when he said it but thought it was sweet and I enjoy it as much as he does.
"We should probably head downstairs soon, I'm sure Lissa will be up soon. What are they doing for feeders?" I ask standing and changing into a beige sweater and leggings.
"I believe Abe is sending some over," Dimitri says getting dressed as well and walking out with me to the kitchen. I walk to the fridge and pull out a carton of eggs and some veggies, cheese and ham and place them on the counter. I have slowly been learning how to cook under Dimitri's watchful eyes, and so far I can make a decent omelet and fried eggs with toast, but other than that I am still clueless.
Standing next to him whisking the eggs while he heated the pan, I bump his hip lightly and stick my tongue out at him as Christian and Lissa walk into the kitchen.
"I'm sorry, is Rose Hathaway cooking? Should we be concerned about food poisoning?" Christian asks, recreating the Home Alone face before plastering a snarky smirk across his face. I whip a piece of pepper at him and laugh.
"Rose isn't going to poison you," Dimitri says with a deep laugh and offers them both coffee. Lissa declines as she sits at the island and chats away with me about how amazing dinner is going to be tonight.
"Do either of you want something to eat?" I ask them and they both decline, Christian stating that there was a feeder on the way. I nod and pour the eggs and veggies into the pan along with the ham, turning the heat down a little. Dimitri looks out towards the front when the bell rings and gives me a pointed look to stay put. I nod flipping the omelet over and adding the cheese. Dimitri walks back into the kitchen with the feeder and my mom before escorting the moroi into his office down the hall.
"Hey Mom," I say turning the pan off and folding my omelet onto my plate and moving to sit. Mom sits down next to me and eyeballs my food with a smirk.
"Moved to egg cravings have we?" she jokes and I roll my eyes at her, lifting to fork to her. She takes the bite of my food, nodding while chewing.
"Tastes good, I used to eat those all the time when I was pregnant with you. I used to add hot sauce to it," she says with a smile.
"So I was planning on going into town with Lissa to get some extra things for dinner tonight, do you mind coming too? Give Dimitri a little break," I ask shoveling another bite into my mouth.
"I have no problems with that," she says.
"So… how are you and Baba doing?" I ask nonchalantly, giving her a sly glance out of the corner of my eyes. Her cheekbone flush a little and she shift in her seat, making me chuckle and drop my fork onto my plate. I turn to look at her with a smirk.
"We are fine. Things are different now; we aren't young kids anymore," she says and I raise my brows at her.
"And Dimitri and I are?" I laugh and she shakes her head and props her head up by leaning her elbow on the counter.
"That's different, you two have something a lot stronger than we had. We barely knew each other when I found out I was pregnant with you," she says with a small smile and tucking a curl behind my head. I nod and stand to bring my plate over to the sink.
Dimitri, Lissa and Christian return to the kitchen and I smile at them as I pull mugs out of the cupboard and pour coffee into one for Dimitri then putting hot chocolate mix into the other and plug in the kettle.
"Do you want a cup, Mom?" I ask.
"No, I need to escort the feeder back. I'll be back in an hour," she says and walks towards the office to collect the feeder.
Dimitri raises his brow at me and I explain to him about going into town with Lissa and Mom. He nods with a smile and presses a kiss to my temple.
"Maybe you, me and the lot can head out too?" Dimitri says to Christian.
"Sure thing, we could head out in a bit."
Dimitri and Christian left about twenty minutes ago, and Lissa and I have been compiling a list of what we need for the dinner and a few other things we want to pick up.
"Shoot, this pen is dead. Can you grab another one," Lissa says dropping the dead cartage into the trash can, opening the drawers looking for another pen. I yank open a few other drawers but I can't find any.
"I'll be right back." I say and head down the hall to the office and walk in, striding the desk and pulling a couple of drawers open. I the first one just held a bunch of papers and I routed through them to see if there were any pens under them, but just found one of the more explicit photos of Dimitri and me, causing me to furrow my brows a little. Why would he have these in his desk?"
Yanking open the second drawer I grin in triumph when I see a few pens roll to the front of the drawer, but my eyes spot something else in the drawer. I inhale sharply and yank a pen out before slamming the drawer shut and scuttling out of the office.
"Found one," I say dropping it on the counter.
"You ok? You look a little flustered," she asks with a puzzled face.
"Yep, I'm fine."
She bites her lip and raised a perfect brow at me then shaking her head and finishing the list and folding it and shoving it into her purse.
"Your Mom is going to be here any moment," Lissa says walking towards the door and I follow her, shrugging my coat on and sitting down on the bench to pull my boots on. Locking the door and walking towards the car, I climb into the front seat beside mom and pull my seatbelt on.
"Ready?" I ask.
"Yep."
Brining the bags into the kitchen with Lissa, I laugh at her because she doesn't understand the appeal of a Coffee Crisp chocolate bar that she eyeballed wirily as I loaded a dozen onto the conveyor belt.
"It's not funny. I don't understand why people like the taste of chocolate and coffee together," she whines making me laugh even harder.
"Stop, I'm going to pee myself," I shriek clutching my stomach. Lissa drops her bags onto the counter and narrows her eyes at me and looks over to see Dimitri, Christian, Mia, Eddie and Adrian sitting in the living room.
"If you think those are weird, you should have come a week ago. The market a few towns over pours hot maple syrup onto fresh snow and makes this toffee-like thing. It's very Canadian, but it is so good," I snicker and Lissa screws her face up in disgust.
"Had fun?" Mia asks and I start laughing all over again. I plonk down on the stool and try to compose myself. It may be weird to Lissa, but Coffee Crisps happens to be one of the few chocolate bars Dimitri will eat, probably because they are coffee flavoured.
"Yes lots of fun, Lissa is discovering all the delicious treats that seem odd to her," I say with a chuckle.
"Is the turkey already in the oven?" I ask while unloading all the groceries and putting them on the counter.
"Yep, we aren't letting you touch the bird. We'd like to actually eat it," Adrian says with a chuckle and I roll my eyes at him.
Dimitri stands up and walks into the kitchen, trading places with Lissa as she walks into the living room. Coming to stand behind me while I cut up carrots and he wraps his arms around my waist, resting his on my shoulder.
"Want some help?" he asks feeling the rubble of his chest against my back. I move my head over and kiss his cheek.
"You can peel the potatoes. I put your chocolate stash in the freezer," I reply and he smiles and kisses my shoulder before moving to the sink and washes his hands.
"Thanks," he says and gets to work.
"Hey Adrian, come make yourself useful!" I call out to him and he rises from the couch and puts his glass on the counter. I point at the bag of green beans for him to pick the ends off. "Why do I have to work, I'm a guest," he says pulling a bowl out to put the beans in. I narrow my eyes at him.
"Because, if you want to eat, you help," I huff and continue chopping. He rolls his eyes but continues on and look at Dimitri to see a smirk on his mouth. I look over to see my friends conversing in the living room and I think about how nice it is to have a somewhat normal life, hosting Christmas dinner for my friends and family.
"Kiz," I hear Abe call from the foyer and I yell to tell him where we all are. He walks in with Mom and Pavel in tow and they greet everyone. Offering them a drink, they join the others in the living room and I crouch down to grab a pot, gasping when I feel a twinge in my lower abdomen.
"You ok?" Adrian asks leaning over to look at me. I nod and stand up and fill the pot with water and place it on the stove, rubbing my hand against my stomach.
"I'm fine, just a cramp," I said.
Dinner was probably the best meal I have ever eaten, and the company was even better. Sitting around the table until late into the night sharing memories and stories until the point where some of us were laughing so hard we had tears in our eyes.
I recounted the scavenger hunt our final year at St. Vladimir's and the others around the table were shocked to know that the only reason I got the high-ticket items was because Dimitri helped me. Eddie just about fell out of his seat when Dimitri explained that Headmistress Kirova was hitting on him while I had to climb out the bedroom window so I wouldn't get caught.
Some of the best ones were from my parents, it's clear that I get my rebellious streak from Abe from the stories he shares about things he did in his teen years, and Mom told stories about Scotland that I clung to intently. I never got to hear about her life or her childhood, so I drank in as much information as possible.
"Want to set the call up with your family?" I whisper to Dimitri and he smiles excitedly before pulling his phone out and pulling up the Skype contact for his family. His mother answers the call with a smile and Dimitri speaks to her for a few moments before setting the phone up against his glass so that we could see the screen.
I stand up with Dimitri with a smile on my face.
"So, we have some news to share with all of you. We found out last week about the genders of the babies," I say placing a hand on my belly and looking over my family seated at the table, and then down at the ones squeezed together on the screen.
My mom gives me a knowing look as she raises her glass to her lips and the others seated at the table look over at us intently.
"We are excepting a boy and a girl, and after meeting with the OB, we have found my due date is June 6," I beam. The room fills with noise and I cover my ears for a moment. Lissa is out of her chair squealing, wrapping her arms around me before launching at Dimitri, congratulating us. The Belikovas congratulating us over the phone, Mia grinning widely and shaking Eddie's arm.
Abe stands up and wraps his arms around me, congratulating me and expressing his excitement over his grandchild, vowing to spoil them rotten. After the room dies down a little, we speak with Dimitri's family before hanging up and we move to the living room.
"I wish we could stay right until Christmas, and that we didn't have to leave tonight," Lissa says resting her head on my shoulder.
"I know, but at least we got to see you guys. I know you have obligations back at court. Will you and Christian be spending Christmas with Tasha?"
"Yes, but she's been a little odd lately. I think it's stress with work. She's very… agitated," Lissa says, and I frown at her.
Lissa hops up from the couch and dashes to the tree picking up a box and handing it to me.
"Liss, you did not have to get me anything. I didn't have time to get you anything," I say sadly, trying to give it back.
"Stop. You are giving me a niece and nephew, so open it," she says sternly. I sigh and take it into my lap, taking the lid off the box carefully.
Inside is a silk black and green kimono and nightgown, with a pendant nestled on top.
"Liss, is this what I think it is?" I ask, lifting the chain from the box. A simple teardrop pearl necklace, one that I had seen around Rhea Dragomir's neck many times.
"Yes. She had so much jewelry, but I remember how much you loved this one. She would have wanted you to have it," she says placing her hand on my lap. I thank her and lean forward to hug her.
I wish I had known that they all were coming, I would have gotten them all gifts as well. But they all waved me off, stating that they didn't need anything.
Saying a tearful goodbye to Lissa – on both of our parts – and hugging the rest of my friends, making them promise to call me when they are all settled in, they take leave with one of Abe's guardians. Adrian went back to his place along with my parents, leaving the two of us alone.
"Thank you," I say to Dimitri wrapping my arms around his neck and kissing him softly.
"For?"
"Organising to have my friends here. It really means a lot," I say. He smiles and kisses my nose, pulling me closer to his embrace.
"Tomorrow is Christmas eve, I can't believe it. Things are so much different than they were last year," I say rubbing my face against his chest. He runs his hands up my back and hums. Pulling back to look up at him, I weigh voicing the question that's been running through my head.
"I found something in your desk this morning I wanted to ask your about," I say.
He furrows his brows at me and I reach up and run my thumb along the crease in his forehead. "Ok?"
"Why did you have one of those photos in your desk? I thought Abe took all of them," I voice gently. He signs and pulls me to sit down on the couch and pulling me to his chest.
"I saw them before he did. I took a few of the more…vulgar… photos. I didn't want anyone seeing you exposed like that. And I can guarantee that your father may have killed me if he had seen them," he said slowly, looking for the right words to describe the photos.
I was curious why he had taken them. I mean, I thought that if we had consensually taken the photos I would have enjoyed them, but not when someone took them to scare me.
"Ok," I nod against him. He pulls both of us back to lay down on the couch and I shuffle around to lay on him comfortably, and he pulls the blanket on the back of the couch over us. Tucking my head under his chin, he grabs the remote and turns the T.V. on, scrolling through the channels until he finds one of the Christmas movies I've come to like and putting it on. I chuckle and tug the blanket up and tuck it up to my neck.
I have come to love this particular black and white moving about a man who is saved by an angel and shown what life would have been like if he had never lived. I'm not too proud to admit that it made me tear up, but I like to play it off on hormones.
"I love you," he says tucking strands of hair behind my ear.
"You too, Comrade."