I am so sorry for the delay in update, my computer has been uncooperative as hell. This chapter has been edited only by me, there may be errors. I hope you all enjoy!

Let me know what you think!:)

A firm thumping against the door jolts me from my sleep and I groan. After our first round last night I brought out a few bottles of vodka and champagne that I bought in hopes that Rose would say yes. Given that we were in the mood to celebrate we drank most of it, and now my head is pounding. I put my hand to my head and blink, looking down at Rose, laying on her stomach with the blanket pulled up to her hips and hair fans over her back. I pull myself out of bed and pull on jeans and a shirt, shuffling to the door and mentally cursing myself for drinking so much last night.

I open the door to find an irate Abe standing there and he pushes past me into the room. What is with people allowing themselves in uninvited? Abe paces in our small kitchen for a moment before he opens his mouth, but I cut him off. "Roza is still asleep, so keep your voice down," I say quietly. Abe looks towards the closed door before looking back at me.

"We have a problem. Your friend Natasha contacted me."

I groan and sit down in a chair at the table, scrubbing my hand over my face. God why can't Tasha leave things alone for five minutes? What could she have possibly wanted from Abe? Voicing my thoughts to Abe as I move to flick on the abused coffee machine as Abe falters.

"She came looking for a contract," Abe says quietly, looking towards the bedroom door again. My heart stops for a moment as the severity of what he just said seep into my mind. I know what kind of "contracts" Abe offers, and they are not the good kind. Contract kills are rare in Abe's books, but they still happen.

I push down the rising bile and turn to look at him, my gaze hard and unwavering. Abe sits down at the table in my place, looking every much as an angry father as the next man. I pull two cups out of the cupboard and fill them with coffee before moving to sit across of him. Abe takes the cup with a nod and wraps his hands around the porcelain, his eyes staring down into the dark liquid before him.

"When?" I whisper, barely getting it out of my mouth. Abe looks up to me and chews on his lip. "Late last night. She obviously doesn't know my relationship with Rose, and I told her no right away, but she will be planning something else."

I cross my ankles under the table and play with the mug in my hands, no longer having the craving for the drink that I consume like water. I know that things have been rough between Tasha and me, but this is going too far, and now that she has threatened Rose... I don't even know what to think anymore.

"What can I do? Tasha is a royal, it's not like I could bring it up to the Guardians and they would do something about it," I express quietly, feeling slightly powerless in the situation. Abe clears his throat and looks back towards the door the separated us from his only child and then back to me.

"I will take care of it, but you have to understand, it won't be pretty."

I scoff quietly and look him in the eyes. "Abe, I'm marrying your daughter; all I care about right now is that she is safe."

Abe nods and finishes his cup of coffee as we sit in silence, both of our minds preoccupied. Though my thoughts are pulled when I hear a muffled thump and a quiet "Fuck!" through the door of the bedroom. Abe chuckles and stands up, clapping his hand against my shoulder. "I should probably get going. Don't say anything to Rose about this yet," Abe says quietly and leaves, closing the door gently right as Rose opens the bedroom door. Rose squints at me as she leans in the doorway hugging the sheets from our bed to her body, her curls a mess on the top of her head.

"Why are you up so early? You only slept for four hours," she grumbles through a yawn. I rake my eyes over her as I abandon my coffee on the table, striding towards her and cupping her face mid-yawn. I lean down and kiss her cheeks before her lips, moving so that she is between me and the doorframe.

A happy hum emits from her as my lips brush against hers and her arms wined around my waist. "Come back to bed," she murmurs and I pull her closer to me, leading her back to bed.

I rub my fingers over the bruising bite mark along my collarbone and catch Rose's guilty smirk. "You know, if I did this to you, I'd be sleeping on the couch," I joke and Rose groans, coming closer and sliding her arms around my waist.

"I said I was sorry! To be perfectly honest, I don't even remember doing that last night."

I smirk and turn around, gripping her hips and pulling them against mine, dipping my head down and pressing my lips against her neck. I move my lips against the sweet smelling skin as I travel up towards her ear, groaning as she squirms against me. "I can think of a few ways for you to make up for it," I whisper as I move a hand back and palm her ass, making her squeal.

Rose pulls out of my grip and wags her fingers at me playfully. "No, no, none of that. We are going to be late for lunch, and I for one am starving," Rose chides and slips out of the bedroom with me hot on her trail. Rose is already at the door stuffing her feet into her boots, hair falling down around her face. I follow suit and pull my shoes and duster on, holding her coat open for her as she slips it on. I lock the door and take her gloved hand in mine as we start our venture across court to Christian and Lissa's house.

Rose sighs and wraps her arms around my arm and rests her head against it as we walk, the snow catching in her hair. I look down at her with admiration and take a moment to let the feeling of bliss seep through me. "Did you tell your mother yet?" Rose asks as she tilts her head up to look at me.

I nod and reach down to kiss her head, pulling my arm few and wrap it around her shoulders instead. "Yes, I spoke to her while you were in the shower. She is very excited for her newest daughter," I say.

Mama isn't the only one excited about a new family member. I could hear my sisters screaming in the background when I told Mama.

Rose smiles brightly as we reach the house and she does her usual knock and enter, pulling me into the house with her. The sound of shouting startles both of us and we rush into the house to see what is going on. Rose skids to a stop in the living room and I come around the corner to find Christian and Lissa closest to us and Tasha across the room. I take in the people in the room and take a step closer to Christian, putting myself slightly in front of him.

"What's going on?" Rose asks, mimicking my position in front of Lissa. Lissa sniffles loudly and wipes at her face, so I turn to Christian who looks furious.

"Tash was just leaving," he bites, his eyes unwavering from Tasha's. I look over at her as she stands behind the couch, her arms crossed over her chest and her glare trained on Christian before it lifts to me.

"No. We aren't done talking," Tasha snaps, her glare turning colder by the second. Christian huffs and brushes past me, pointing his finger at her. "Yes we are. I have had it to here Tasha. You cannot come into my home and berate the people I care about," Christian shouts. I flick my eyes to Rose, who has know put Lissa completely behind her, and she has an equally concerned expression on her face.

While Tasha may have raised Christian, he has confided that their relationship isn't as close as it appears, and he regularly complains about her being overbearing and selfish. But whatever has happened before we arrived was the breaking point.

Tasha rolls her eyes and puts herself in an offensive stance, ready to throw back a retort, but Lissa's firm voice silences everyone. "You are family Tasha, but so are Rose and Dimitri. We have all witnessed you continuously try to upend their lives and relationships. If you cannot grow up and see the fact that you don't have a chance, then do not come back to this house. Until then, you are not welcome. We will not ask you to leave again. We will have you removed."

Hearing Lissa speak in a tone that commands notice and respect is not something that I hear on a daily basis, in fact I've only heard it once or twice since we've met. It's not something I want to hear often. She sounds less the fun-loving, easy-going Lissa and more the Royal Princess Vasilissa Dragomir.

Tasha sneers at Lissa with a subtle shake of her head before grabbing her coat that is flung across the couch and stacks towards the door, shoving past me with a glare. The door slams loudly as she exists, and my posture relaxes a fraction. I look over to Rose who is leading Lissa out of the room and up the stairs, presumably to the bedroom. I go to stand in front of Christian who is paler than normal and has a look of fire in his eyes.

Christian rolls his shoulders back and clears his throat, his eyes darting up to mine. "I'm so sorry about that. This is not what Lissa and I had planned to congratulate you and Rose on your engagement," Christian says, scratching the back of his neck. I shake my head and follow him as he wanders into the kitchen, pulling bacon and eggs out of the fridge, preparing to make the meal we intended on having.

"Christian, none of that was your fault. What happened?" I ask but he just shakes his head. "Honestly, I'd rather not repeat the words she said about someone I consider my sister. Rose has been more family to me than Tasha has in a long time."

I haven't been able to get what Tasha said out of Christian, but from the weird behaviour Rose has had since that day, I think it's safe to assume that Lissa told Rose. If Rose isn't sharing, it's probably because it's worse than I could imagine.

I was really hesitant about Rose going back to Lehigh, but there was no way Rose was letting someone else go with Lissa. I mentioned to Guardian Meyers who was going back with the girls what has gone one since graduation from St. Vladimir's and that Tasha was not to approach either of the girls for any reason. Promising me that he would keep that to himself and not alarm Rose, I have felt a little bit better.

But not as good as I am going to feel when Rose gets out of class to find Christian and I waiting in the hall. Myers has had a smirk on his face since we showed up five minutes ago, and I am counting down the minutes until the hour is up. I half expected Rose to be the first one out the door but I wait a few moments, and neither of them come out. I poke my head around the door to see the girls standing with a graying older man and a few other classmates, one of which is a boy her age that is staring unashamedly at her chest.

I gesture for Christian to come with me and we step inside the door and wait. Rose is speaking to the older man, presumably her professor when her eyes flick to me and she stutters. She finishes her sentence and nudges Lissa before breaking free of the group. Rose drops her bag on the floor and jogs towards me, flinging herself into my arms with an excited laugh. I chuckle at her antics and wrap my arms around her, squeezing her tightly and kissing the side of her head. "What are you doing here? I thought I wasn't going to see you until my birthday," Rose murmurs into my shirt. I squeeze her tightly once more and set her down on her feet.

"I couldn't wait to see you. The two days in February weren't enough," I say as I tuck the rebellious curl behind her ear. Rose smiles before taking my hand and pulls me back towards the group she broke away from.

"Professor Pytor, this is Dimitri. Comrade, this is the man who puts up with my horrible accent on a weekly basis," Rose says as she introduces me to her teacher. I shake her teacher's hand with a nod before pulling back and putting my arm around Rose's waist.

"Ah yes, the Russian boyfriend. I've heard much about you," her professor says with an amused expression, though his eyes move from me to the boy who was gawking at her earlier. Apparently, I am not the only person to teach that picks up on those ques.

"Fiancée now," Rose says lifting her hand with a small smile. I squeeze her side gently as she melts slightly against me not noticing the jealous look her classmate has on his face.

"Were you born in Russia?" Pytor asks me in my native tongue, drawing the attention back to him. I smile at the opportunity to speak in my first language and dive in, explaining that I was raised in Siberia and moved to the States a few years ago.

I look down to see that Rose is managing to follow along with our conversation to a degree while the other students standing with us seem lost.

"Do they all look this clueless in class?" I chuckle, gesturing to the side of me, making Pytor laugh. "Unfortunately. It seems like only a handful understand full sentences these days," he replies.

Rose pokes me in the side with a scowl. "Hey! I understand some of what you're saying!" she frowns and I laugh again. I might need to spend more time speaking with her around the house in Russian.

"Anyways, we should get going before my stomach eats itself," Rose interjects, and I give me a small smile. "Of course. It was nice to meet you, Professor," I say shaking Pytor's hand again.

"Pleasure is all mine; you are welcome to come by again anytime. Give the students a real native speaker to listen to."

I nod and pick up Rose's discarded backpack, hoisting it up over my shoulder and taking Rose's hand. She waves back at the classmates still in the room before turning back to me and resting against my arm as we walked.

I catch Lissa and Christian standing up ahead with Meyers and I nod to him and the three of them proceed down the hallway. "Why didn't you tell me you were coming?" Rose asks as we headed back towards her dorm for the day.

"I wanted to surprise you. It's not often that Christian and I can make a week-long trip up here, but we both wanted to surprise you two," I say holding the door open for her, setting her bag down on the floor. Rose hums and wraps her arms around me again, pressing her face into my neck as I pull her closer to me.

I pull her towards the couch and sit down with her, pulling her against my side as she tucks her legs up beside her. Rose rests her head in my lap and looks up at me with a smile, running her fingers over my hand that rests on my stomach. "I'm really glad that you are here," Rose whispers to me with a small smile, her eyes bright and cheery. I smile down at her and rub my hand in a circle over her shirt, feeling the rock-hard skin beneath it.

Rose places her hand on top of mine and interlaces her fingers. "So, I have an idea."

I hum and rest against the back of the couch. "Oh boy. That's dangerous."

Rose gives me a mock scowl and smacks my chest with the back of her hand. "That's not nice. I was thinking maybe we could get married in Baia," Rose says with a small laugh, biting her bottom lip as she stares up at me.

I wrap my arm under her shoulder and pull her up towards me, pressing my lips to hers firmly. "I think that is a perfect idea."

A solid thud of something heavy hitting the floor and groan startles me from my doze. I look over to find Rose sitting up in bed with her bedside table lamp on, notebook open in front of her. I roll over and rest my hand on her folded knee, running it from there up to her thigh. "What's wrong?" I mumble into the pillow, squeezing the firm muscle under my hand.

Rose huffs and slumps back into her pillows. "I didn't mean to wake you," Rose whispers. She runs her fingers through my hair, and I moan quietly at the blissful feeling it leaves. "It's just this stupid assignment for my Russian Lit class. It makes no sense," she grumbles quietly. I push up and knock her notebook off the bed before reaching over and flicking the light off. I tug Rose down into bed and rest my head against her shoulder.

"I'll help you in the morning. Go to sleep Roza," I mumble into her neck and press a kiss there. I pull myself closer to her and she sighs against me. "Ok," she says through a yawn, snuggling down into bed with me.

Finally I will get a decent night's sleep now that I have my Roza in my arms.