Hello hello! I hope you are all well. I figured I would post this early as it is Father's Day this weekend (here at least), and thought it would be best to leave the weekend free.
Let me know what you think of the chapter. I'm sorry is there are errors, I am the only one editing this story.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. *cries quietly cause I can't have Dimitri*
"You know, we just did two extremely corny Christmas things," I say rolling off Dimitri and onto my back. I curl into his side, sighing contently due to the heat of the fireplace on my bare back. He laughs and wraps his arms around me and kisses me lazily.
"How so?" he asks, and I place my hand over his chest, playing with the sparse hair there.
"Well, we got engaged on Christmas morning and we had sex in front of the fireplace. I can say I have seen both those things in so many movies in the last few weeks," I chirp kissing his shoulder lightly. I shift and wiggle my fingers back and forth, making the light catch the diamond and flicker softly.
"Please tell me you didn't pay a fortune for this," I say softly. A slightly smug smile splits across his face and he chuckles deep in his chest. He runs his hand through my hair and cups the back of my neck. He rubs the nape of my neck with his thumb and I groan tilting my head to give him more access.
"You're trying to distract me," I moan, and he laughs loudly. I know that I am right.
"Dimitri, I'm serious. Please tell me you did not spend a ridiculous amount of money on a ring," I groan, and he pulls me down for a kiss.
"I promise, less than $1,000," he says, I shake my head and crawl on top of him again, running my hands through his hair and along his scalp. He moves his hands down my back to my waist, moving his lips to my neck and sucking lightly before tensing, sitting us both up.
"What is it?" I ask seeing the slightly startled look in his eyes.
"Your parents are going to be here in," he says leaning back to look at the clock in the kitchen. "Ten minutes." He finishes grasping my thighs and pulling the two of us up, striding towards the stairs and leaving our clothes in the living room.
"Dimitri, they're going to know what we were doing if we leave those there," I giggle wrapping my arms around his neck and tightening my legs around his hips.
"I'll get them after we get dressed," he says climbing the stairs, holding me to him in his arms.
Leaning against the window and watching the snow fall in big fat clumps, I wrap my sweater closer around me and rest my head against the glass. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Adrian and Dimitri talking adamantly about the hockey game the two of them watched the other night - I know, the idea of the two of them doing something so mundane is hilarious - and Sydney is sitting with my mom while they look over a heavy catalogue I got Sydney about European Architecture. Mom is pointing out things that she's seen and explaining it to her in vivid detail.
Pavel and the other guardians are hanging out in the kitchen, and occasionally I fling a piece of popcorn at Pavel through the pass-thru
"That is a very beautiful antique," Abe says coming to stand next to me and I furrow a brow at him. He smiles and lifts my hand to examine the ring. I blush a little and bite my lip, I was going to tell my parents at dinner, but Abe and his eagle eye beat me to it.
"Antique?" I ask quietly. The ring looks brand new, and the style is quite popular now.
"Mmm. It's from the 50's, you can tell by the casing. Dimitri did a good job, I glad he didn't go with the ideas I showed him," Abe says looking at my ring before patting my hand softly.
"You knew?"
"Kiz, he spoke to both your mother and me about marrying you. He has strong morals, and he wanted our blessings. Your mother was a little apprehensive with him at first, but when he bought the ring and showed us, she softened a bit," he said with a smirk.
"Do you think she would have told him no?" I whisper, looking from her to Dimitri.
Abe laughs and shakes his head, wrapping his arm around me. "No. But she was still miffed about what happened when you found out you were pregnant."
I look at him slightly alarmed. He had never let on that he knew about Dimitri and I's short break, or that he knew things went badly when I found out. He had just given the 'don't hurt my little girl' speech. "Your mother told me in a fit of anger after the incident with the photos. I am not particularly happy about it, but I knew that you wouldn't have taken it lightly and if you could forgive him, then I would have to set it aside. You may have had a rough relationship with your mother, but she has always wanted what is best for you, so have I."
I ponder what he has said, resting my head on his shoulder and playing with the band of the ring gently with my thumb. Dimitri looks over to us and flashes a smile and I smile back at him, laughing in my head about how even now he still makes my heart flutter when he shows that miraculous smile.
"You would think that you two were teenagers with the way you look at each other sometimes."
I crack up loudly and turn my face into Abe's arm, trying to stifle my laugh against the fabric of his ridiculous suit. He paired a Christmas red suit with a gold satin shirt and a green cashmere scarf. He looks great but all I could smell was something putrid.
"Baba, are you wearing cologne?" I ask, pulling a face.
"Yes, why?"
"It smells disgusting."
Mom must have heard us because she starts laughing, and I have to say I have rarely heard the laugh, but it is beautiful. She is clutching her stomach as she continues to laugh, which then has me laughing and triggers Adrian to start. Eventually everyone in the house is laughing contagiously before Mom composes herself somewhat.
"I told you it was horrible Abe!" she chortles and I laugh even harder, remembering the conversation we had on the plane here that Mom made him throw it out during her pregnancy. Abe laughs and rubs the heel of his palm across his forehead.
"I'll keep that in mind," he groans. I move away to sit next to Dimitri and Adrian, Dimitri pulling me down to his lap. I lean into his chest and rest my head on his shoulder. He moves his hand and rests it on my belly and kisses my head.
"Having fun talking about Canadian sports?" I quip and he snorts a laugh, Adrian shaking his head at me.
"Yes, we are. How are you doing Little Dhampir? Got anything to share?" Adrian replies with a glance down to my hand. I shake my head, extending my hand for him to look at. He places his glass of whiskey on the glass, why he is drinking that at 11 in the morning, I will never know, and moves my hand closer to his face.
"Very nice, good job, cousin."
I smirk, taking my hand back and stand up to wander into the kitchen. I squeeze behind one of the guardians; Moore I think his name is, and start picking veggies off one of the plates lining the counters. Andrews steps towards me and gives me a hug before I can stuff the snap peas into my mouth.
"Thank you again for the certificate, I love it," she says, and I return the hug. She had been complaining about her back being sore for a few weeks, so when Mom and I went into the city the other day I stopped at one of the spas and bought her a certificate for a massage package. In turn, I also got some things for the guardians that I interact with on a day-to-day basis. Ballard is obsessed with reading, so I bought some books for him, Langton got a beard kit, and I got Pavel a new chain for the pocket watch he keeps secure in his pocket. He told me that it belonged to his moroi grandfather and carries it everywhere with him as a good luck charm.
"You're welcome! I knew that it would help with your back; it's for two sessions," I say happily.
I know that Abe gave all of the guardians in his payroll a bonus, including Dimitri – which he sent part of to his family as a little extra - and I still wanted to do my small part in showing them that I appreciate them.
"Hey, do you know what Pavel's first name is? His is the only one I don't know," I ask Andrews and she snickers. "Pavel is his first name," she says, and I quirk my brows at her.
"Then what is his last name?"
"Pavlov."
I snort loudly, drawing the attention of the men in the room. I bite my lip to try and stifle a giggle that is bubbling in my throat. "Your name is Pavel Pavlov?" I ask Pavel, my face turning red as I try to contain myself. He looks over at Andrews who is sporting a guilty look on her face and she cracks a smile too.
"Yes. My parents thought it was a brilliant idea," he says with a chuckle. He steps over to us and gives Andrews a look, to which she squeezes my arm and walks out to the living room with Langton.
"I have something for you and Dimitri, but it will have to wait until later this evening. I also got something for the babies," he says.
"You didn't have to do that," I protest softly, and he waves me off. When I had been asked by Andrews what I wanted for Christmas, I told her that I did not want any of them spending their money on me, and just having their company was enough. Apparently, Pavel missed that memo.
"I consider you my niece. Humour me," he says, and I shake my head and smile at him.
"Fine," I reply and take the plate of veggies from the counter and walk back into the living room. Setting it down on the coffee table, my phone starts ringing in my pocket. I pull it out to see a video request from Lissa. Excusing myself and I step into the office. I answer it with a large smile.
"Merry Christmas!" Lissa squeals happily and I wish her the same. She has her hair pulled up into a twist at the back of her head, and her make-up is done lightly. A set of earrings dangle from her ears, and I already know who bought them for her.
"I told Fireboy those would look good on you," I point at the jades on her ears and she blushes and touches one.
"I love them! Oh wait, Christian is waving," she says and stands up and turns so I can see Christian over her shoulder sitting on the couch. I wave as she backs up to sit down next to Christian and he leans his head in. Lissa rests her phone on something on the table and sits back on the couch.
"What's up preggo?" He says and Lissa smacks the back of his head, throwing him a stern look. He yelps and rubs the back of his head.
"Haha, very funny. How is your Christmas so far?" I say to them and settle myself down onto the plush desk chair.
"Good, had a really nice morning. Tasha is just checking on the food in the oven. How has yours been so far?" Christian say wrapping his arm around Lissa's shoulders. I may not have liked him in the beginning, but he really does love Lissa, and he isn't such a bad guy when he isn't being a sarcastic dick.
"Oh... well, it's been eventful," I say nonchalantly as I prop my phone up on the desk and hold my hand up to show them the ring on my finger.
Five, Lissa's eyes widen.
Four, her mouth drops.
Three, her lips split into a smile.
Two I turn down the speaker on my phone.
One, Lissa lets an earsplitting shriek pass through her lips.
"HE PROPOSED!?" She screams at me and I laugh at Christian when he flinches beside Lissa and looks at her with an incredulous look.
I nod and she latches onto Christians arm that fell from around her shoulders and shakes him, shrieking over and over 'They're getting married' at the top of her lungs. I start laughing at the look of fear crossing his face as Lissa shakes him like a ragdoll, who would have thought little Lissa would have so much strength in her.
"Yes, this morning. And you need to stop shaking him or he is going to get whiplash," I say loudly to cover her screeching. I look up as the office door opens and Dimitri pokes his head in.
"I heard screams?" he says hesitantly, and I point my phone and beckon him in. He steps in and closes the door before striding towards me and looking over my shoulder to the phone to see Lissa still shaking Christian.
"Why is she shaking him?" he whispers into my ear and I laugh. "I just told them," I reply.
I stand and let him sit on the chair before perching on his lap, him grasping my left hand in his and placing the other on my thigh. I kiss his cheek before returning my attention to the screen.
"What is going on in here?" I hear a voice ask on the other side of the call and Tasha walks into the frame. She notices the phone and she smiles when she notices Dimitri on the call, and her smile falters a little when she sees me.
"Dimka! Merry Christmas," she says sweetly leaning over the couch to move into camera view, throwing a perturbed look towards her nephew and Lissa.
"Merry Christmas Tash," Dimitri says kindly with a smile but tightens his hold on my leg in a soothing gesture. We had a discussion after the dinner party with Tasha, and I expressed my dislike for her and why, to which he understood and promised that as long as I was civil as possible he would keep her at a distance.
"So, what is all the commotion about?" she asks moving her arms to rest on the couch and pushing her small breast together and bats her eyes at him. I roll my eyes openly and Christian laughs at me.
"You want to tell her?" I ask Dimitri sweetly and he smiles picking up our intertwined hands.
"I asked Rose to marry me," he says happily. Lissa starts her squealing all over again, wiggling in her seat with excitement. Tasha's eyes flicker from his face to our hands, to my face and back to his. He moves to kiss my temple, missing the scathing look Tasha has thrown in my direction.
"Aren't you moving a little fast? I mean, Rose only turned 18 in March, and you two haven't been together long," Tasha stammers, flames dancing in her blue eyes. I stare at Tasha with narrowed eyes. Leave it to her to try and ruin a happy moment, not that I expected anything less from her.
"I think the words you're looking for are 'congratulations'" Christian says bluntly, nudging Tasha's arm in a gesture to say, 'knock it off'. Tasha ignores his gesture and raises her brow at us. "Not to mention, this will bring up a lot of questions about the two of you when you were at the academy. You two were awfully close from what I heard."
Dimitri tenses up and I place my hand on his arm, stroking it in a soothing gesture, but it doesn't seem to do much. I can see his face in the small window at the bottom of the screen, his eyes are cold as he looks at a longtime friend.
"Did you really just say that?" he asks coldly, and I see Christian shake his head at his aunt before looking at the screen again, making eye contact with me, his eyes showing his apologies.
"I think that this is wonderful. You two deserve to be happy," Lissa pipes up, trying to divert the intensity of the turn of attitude but fails.
"I think you, a well-respected guardian, should be a little more concerned about your reputation. Marrying someone like her will definitely tarnish it, and you could kiss any good charge goodbye. I'll be surprised if your private allocation will continue when they hear that you are marrying a dhampir," she snaps at him and I take a deep breath, knowing that this is not going to end well. That was a low blow, even for her.
"Maybe we should continue this another day," Lissa says but Tasha shushes her with a flick of her wrist.
"Tasha," I say sharply and she scoffs at me.
"You think that she is going to make you happy? She's a child," Tasha says coldly and stalks from the view of the camera and there is a bang that echoes through the speaker.
The four of us sit in silence, Lissa's eyes moving from Christian to her phone, Christian holding his head in his hands, me looking at Dimitri with furrowed brows. Dimitri on the other hand, his face is completely blank, his mask yanked firmly in place but his eyes showing many emotions.
"I am so sorry," Christian murmurs from his hands and lifts his head to look at us. "I did not expect that to happen."
I nod and squeeze Dimitri's hand, trying to comfort him but I know that he is trying to keep his composure.
"I'm going to call you back later," I say softly and end the video call. I stand to perch on the edge of the desk, moving to sit at Dimitri's direct eye level.
I caress his cheek softly and leans into my hand, placing his on top of mine and closing his eyes. I hook my feet around the seat and pull it towards me so that he is closer.
"I'm sorry," I whisper and his eyes snap open to meet mine, the brown irises swimming with hurt. He wraps his arm around my waist and move his face out of my hand and rests it against my chest, then wrapping the other arm around me.
He murmurs against my skin, but it's too muffled and his voice is too thick for me to understand. I rest my cheek on the top of his head and stroke the back of his neck softly, while he lets out a deep sigh against my skin and pulls back to look at me.
"You have nothing to apologize for," he says and peaks my lips softly. I smile sadly and run a finger over his cheekbone, he is trying to hide his hurt from me, but I know him too well for it to work. "Nothing anyone says will change my mind about you. It just hurts that my friend can't be happy for me," he says sadly, his accent thicker than normal and I rest my head against him, cupping the back of his neck. A soft knock at the door disturbs us and the door cracks open, Adrian standing on the other side with a concerned face.
"You two ok?" he asks quietly, and I look between him and Dimitri.
"Moroi hearing, remember?" he says with a half-smirk and slips into the office. I frown and rest my head back against Dimitri as Adrian walks over and rests his hand on his shoulder.
"If it helps, I am extremely happy for the two of you, and I know that you two will make a perfect family. And if anyone says anything different, I will tell them to go fuck themselves" he says with a smile. Dimitri nods with a sad smile before letting go of me and standing, clapping Adrian on the back.
"It does, thank you," Dimitri whispers and walks out of the office. I look at Adrian sadly and he sighs. While Adrian and Dimitri are the closest of people, Adrian tries when he can to make their friendship better.
"I wasn't expecting to hear Tasha say that to Dimitri, that is low for her. Implying marrying you is such a bad thing," Adrian sighs heavily and flops down in the vacant chair.
"You know how the Moroi can be, you are a Royal after all."
"Sometimes I wish I wasn't," he grumbles.
I huff and turn over onto my side for the millionth time tonight, not being able to sleep. My whole body aches and I can't get comfortable. I slid out of bed and grab one of the decorative pillows and get back into bed, shoving the pillow between my knees and shifting gently on my side to get comfortable. I place my hand softly on Dimitri's chest and gaze at him enviously at the fact that he is sleeping deeply, and I haven't been able to fall asleep.
The rest of the day went better after we returned to our guests, Adrian doing his best to distract Dimitri from the conversation while I re-laid what happened to Abe. We had dinner shortly after and Dimitri seemed to be in better spirits, even had a drink with my father and conversed with Pavel about politics in Russia. At the end of the evening, Pavel pulled the two of us aside and gifted us a certificate for us to go for dinner and dancing at a prestigious club that is hard to get into, and two beautiful blankets for the babies; white wool woven into a diamond design.
Dimitri stirs roughly, jolting me out of my thoughts, and I can feel his heart rate rise under my palm. I rub it in small circles trying to soothe him a little, but he stirs a little more his breathing becomes harsher until he jolts awake, his hand flying to the one I have on his chest. He whips his head towards me and lets out a heavy sigh, taking my hand and bringing it to his mouth and kissing my fingers lightly.
"Nightmare?" I whisper and he nods, rolling over onto his side and pulling me to him. I rub his back gently and he sighs into my hair, tangling his fingers around my locks.
"I'm sorry I woke you," he says and I snort at him.
"I wasn't sleeping. I haven't been able to fall asleep," I say into his shoulder irritably and huff again, wincing at the tightening in my lower abdomen. Noticing the wince, Dimitri moves his head back to look at me and strokes my cheek.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing, just a cramp. It's no big deal," I groan and snuggle closer to him, shifting the pillow out from between my knees and flinging my leg over Dimitri's. He moves a hand down to rest on my leg, stroking it over the blanket.
"Has it happened a lot?" he asks, clearly more awake than he was a moment ago.
"Not really," I reply trying to get comfortable in his arms. He looks at me with concern and kisses my forehead gently.
"Want to tell me about your dream?" I ask quietly a few minutes later and he just shakes his head no. I close my eyes and try to clear my head, and I am almost asleep when I feel a firm nudge at the front of my stomach. I can feel Dimitri's laugh vibrate through his chest and I tilt my head up to look at him.
"I felt that," he says with a smile, moving the hand that was on my leg to my stomach and stoking it in a soothing gesture to appease the small foot or fist that is pushing against the front of my stomach.
His faces softens as he continues the paternal gesture, and a small smile graces his lips every time one of them moves.
"I can't wait to meet them," he whispers and I place a hand on top of his, mentally agreeing with him.
"I just hope neither of them has my attitude," I groan and he chuckles at me. "As long as they have your hair," he says kisses me slowly and I lean into him.
Of course, he would hope they have my hair; he's obsessed with it. I nip his lip and he growls quietly. I smirk into the kiss as he moves his hips closer to mine, moving his hand around to cup my ass and he moves to kiss my neck.
We are definitely both awake now.