A/N: Hello, this is the longest chapter so far. Hope you'll enjoy it.

Chapter 18

After our little nap and the declarations of love, we got up and made something to eat. Being with him felt different now. I was more reassured about us, something I really needed after the big doubts I let overwhelm me in the past. Talking from time to time, we spent most of the evening cuddled up on the couch, watching a movie. A look at the watch told me it was time for me to head home but I wasn't ready to leave him.

"What would you think if I called my parents and ask if I can stay here tonight?" I asked hesitantly. He hugged me stronger and I was afraid he'd say no, but then he agreed. "I would love that." So I got up, looked for my phone and thought about which of my parents to ask. Deciding my mother would be the more understanding one I called her. Funny, how in the past I usually called my father but now, especially after he caught me with Dimitri that one evening, I now felt more comfortable calling my mother.

"Hay Mom, can I stay at Dimitri's tonight?" this question was met with silence. I knew my mother so I gave her some seconds to take my request in. "Don't do something dumb. If you have to give into your hormones, make sure to use protection." Was her only reply. "And be home by 7 pm on Sunday."

"Thank you Mom." And with that she hang up before I was able to say anything else. She never was one to have a long phone call, but I guess the nature of the topic also made her too eager to end that call.

"She even gave me permission to stay the whole weekend." I told him and busted out laughing, not really knowing why. He joined me and we got ready to pick up my stuff at home. I would need clothes and a toothbrush and everything. I got inside alone to quickly collect everything and prayed that no one would interrupt me since I wouldn't want to explain to them where I was headed and what we were up to.

Five minutes later I was done and went outside and back into Dimitri's car. When we got to his apartment again we felt so blissful and happy we directly went into his bedroom and celebrated our first weekend together until the wee hours.

Hours later we woke up from our short sleep and we made love for what felt like the thousandth time this weekend. Being with him intimately felt indescribable. I was glad I waited to be with someone I really loved and felt safe with.

I thanked God or whoever was responsible for making it possible to spent this weekend alone with my- …Dimitri.

Initially I wanted to call him my boyfriend. But was this true? Could I call him my boyfriend now? We haven't had this talk yet. Not after our short break up of sorts.

Dimitri must have sensed something because he opened his eyes and looked at me quizzically. "Your thoughts are so loud. What's bothering you?" his hoarse voice sounded very sexy.

"What's this here?" I asked before I would lose the courage.

"You're not talking about cuddling in my bed, are you?" his answer made me roll my eyes. "Of course not and you know that." Looking at the sheets I felt him sitting up against the bedpost. "I mean, what is this between us. We discussed this before, I know, but after we broke up and now simply decided we wanted to give each other another chance, does that mean we start from the beginning? Are we where we were before everything went downhill? Do you-" his hand over my mouth cut off my ramblings.

"Relax, Rose. Take a deep breath." He inhaled and I mimicked him. Exhaling I waited for him to answer one of my questions.

"I can only speak for myself, but I would love to meet somewhere in the middle. Start again, but not forgetting about what we've been through before." Locking his gaze with mine he continued. "And with your permission, I would love to call you mine again. My girlfriend." This somehow shocked me. "Don't look so surprised. Unlike what you might believe, I'm not doing what we've just done the past hours with just anyone… And we already confessed that we love each other, so I don't see what should be wrong with being a couple again." Now it was his turn to look nervous.

Leaning up to kiss him I pressed my lips against his. "I would love that." Smiling at each other, we made out for some time, before my stomach interrupted us. "Guess I should feed my girlfriend." He winked at me and got up and into the kitchen. Pulling over his shirt, I followed him.

Eating we made plans for today. Dimitri would have to join an online meeting, but other than that we would spent some more time on the garden house. The renovation itself was finished, but we still needed to go to an IKEA for some decoration. I really enjoyed the time together with him. While he was in this meeting, I was showering and getting ready for shopping.

At IKEA we found a lot for the cabin and even found the perfect bed. It would fit in well with the color we painted a wall in some days ago, the one where the bedpost would stand against.

Flashback

We cleared out most of the cabin to give all walls a fresh coat of white paint and gave one wall a beautiful shade of grey. Plastic foil covered the remaining furniture and the floor. Although we had only started painting the walls half an hour ago, I already managed to cover my clothes in paint and even hit Dimitri, accidently I should add, and his otherwise clean clothes were now covered by a white brush stroke.

"You did not just do that?" he said as my brush covered his shirt with paint. "I'm sorry, I wasn't intending to color you as well." A smile broke out on my face as I saw the mischievous glint in his eyes before he attacked me as well and we had a paint war.

It took us ten minutes to compose ourselves, but after that we finished the rest of the cabin and the results looked good, considering we fought and splattered paint everywhere.

"The work really looked like some professional painters worked here." I noticed, my voice filled with real pride. "Sure, some really good professionals." He said teasingly, not really meaning it. "Hey, talk for yourself there, Cowboy. This is the first time I've ever done this and I am very satisfied with how it turned out."

Laughing lightly he stood behind me and embraced me. "You're right Roza, it looks perfect, you're a natural at this." Not sure whether he was teasing me again, I just decided to take this as a real and honest compliment. "Thank you."

"Now every time I look at these walls I'll think of the amazing woman that helped me paint it." Looking at him with wonder, I couldn't understand how I got so lucky to get this man for myself. "Let's get inside and I'll make you my famous salat." With that he took my hand and we went inside, having a shower, separately and afterwards eating his really delicious salat. It was just a simple salat with three ingredients, but somehow it always tasted better when he made it.

End of flashback

"Oh, what about this picture for the wall above the bed?" I showed him a beautiful picture of a clock. It was a close up and showed part of the dial, which looked old and broken. The black and white made this aesthetic picture fit in perfectly with the rest of the bedroom. His gaze shortly wandered over it. "Sure." That was all he said and I put it back immediately. "Then not." I was disappointed he didn't show more interest. It was a beautiful picture and the only thing I actually felt immediately connected with. I know it's just a silly picture, but somehow for me it was one of the few moments in life where you know that you need to have this piece. He however didn't seem to feel the same. Deciding how to decorate his bedroom in the cabin together was a huge thing for me. It felt right and showed me that my opinion mattered to him.

"What is wrong? Why don't you take this?" he asked perplexed. "I don't want it anymore." I answered irritated. "Don't be silly, Rose. Just take this picture, if you like it that much, then-" but I cut him off. "I said I don't want it anymore. You don't seem to care about it, so why should we buy it for your cabin." And with that I continued walking ahead. My mood was down for the rest of the trip. This wasn't usual behavior for me. Normally I wasn't so attached to things or set on my own suggestions, but today appeared to be one of those strange days.

Dimitri was quiet as well and when we picked up all the things we needed, I went to the toilet while he paid for everything at one of the registers. Driving home was a quiet affaire as well. We unloaded the car and I immediately started decorating.

The bed was surprisingly easy to install and after that I continued decorating in the kitchen.

"Rose, could you please help me with something in the bedroom." Sighing and still angry I got into the bedroom to find Dimitri standing in front of the grey wall, hanging up a picture over the bed where I suggested. And not just any picture. It was the one I showed to him earlier. "What?" was all I managed to get out.

Dimitri smiled at me sheepishly. "When you went to the toilet I went back and picked it up. You seemed to love this picture and the look on your face when I haven't shown you enough interest, it crushed me. I really love this picture and I love you, so I bought it. And now every time we lay here in the cabin, we can look at the picture and I get to enjoy the happy look on your face." He declared and I simply got onto the bed and gave him a kiss.

"Thank you Dimitri. I'm sorry, too. I shouldn't have reacted so harsh, I don't know what's wrong with me. It looks perfect on the wall."

With that my mood lightened again and we enjoyed the rest of the evening. After we finished the cabin completely now, we headed in, had dinner and watched a movie.

When the movie ended Dimitri turned to face me. "Do you want to talk to my family and officially meet them?" this question surprised me, completely. Isn't his family currently on a visit in Russia? Wasn't it too early for this? We just decided to be in a relationship again, how could I face his family, so shortly after what I did to myself and everything else. Besides that I've already met his family before.

Not officially though.

"Calm down. You don't have to. I told you I always talk to my family once a week and we agreed to skype today since they are currently in Russia meeting some family friends, so I thought why not meet them. They'll love you." As if he could read my thoughts he eased my worries. "They already did last time you've met, but now that they know what you mean to me, they love you even more." His sweet words always made my knees weak.

"Okay." Was all I said and watched as he got his notebook and opened Skype.

"You're ready?" I nodded and took his hand for strength.

"Dimka!" Our call was answered and four women talked rapidly in Russian before they noticed me next to Dimitri.

"Oh this is your Roza? I'm happy to meet you again, my dear." the middle aged woman, Olena, said. I remembered her from the first time I met his family at the game. "Yes, this is Roza, my girlfriend." One of the other women said something in Russian which I couldn't understand, but which was met with chastising words from Olena. I've met them once at Paul's soccer game and we've talked when we went to have ice cream, but it was different now that Dimitri was my boyfriend.

"I'm so happy my brother finally managed to talk to you about his feelings. He was unbearable ever since he had a crush on you." Dimitri shot daggers at his sister on the screen. "Stop this."

I laughed and rubbed his back. "Thank you, Karo. I'm happy too. Good to know he went through the same I did, before we managed to overcome whatever kept us from being together." His gaze turned lovingly and he gave me a kiss on the cheek which made me blush.

"When we're back again, you two need to come over for dinner." Olena invited us. "Sue, we'll do that." I accepted immediately. I loved how his family was so welcoming, especially in comparison how my family took the news. Admittingly they had a more difficult start considering how they found out about us.

Dimitri's grandmother Yeva just sat in the back, knitting and stared at me with her intense eyes. I couldn't help the shatter that ran down my spine.

Dimitri had already told me that his grandmother was always like this to strangers, but that eventually she would warm up and stop constantly speaking Russian even though she knew damn well I couldn't understand her. Trying my best to ignore her I listened to Dimitri and his family. For most part of the conversation I listened and let them talk. Hearing them talk was really warming my heart. This close relationship he had to his family was something I've always wished for and only recently started to develop.

We continued talking to his family for almost an hour before we excused ourselves and went sleeping.

"Your family is really nice." I told him as he enclosed me in a bear hug.

"And they love you, just like I told you. Vika in particular seemed to like you." In his voice I could hear he liked the fact that his family liked me.

"I like her too. All of your family actually. Even though Sonja seems to hate me." This was met with a chuckle. It was clear she disliked me for some unknown reason, but maybe it had just to do with her pregnancy.

"She'll come around." Kissing each other we made ourselves comfortable in bed and drifted off to sleep.

In the middle of the night I woke from cramps. Heading to the bathroom quietly, not to wake up Dimitri, I went to the toilet and then realized why I had been so cranky today. My period started, so I got my hygiene products and took a pill to ease the cramps. The pain was so bad, I couldn't think of going to sleep again, so I went into the living room and watched some tv for a while. I would've made me a hot bottle of water for my pain, but I didn't know if he had a hot-water bottle and I didn't want to wake him up.

Somehow I must have fallen asleep on the couch because the next thing I noticed was that Dimitri carried me into the bedroom again. "Comrade?" I said sleepily.

"What are you doing in the living room, is everything alright?" he asked while he opened the bedroom door.

"I just woke up from cramps and after that I needed to wait for my pain killers to kick in, so I went to the living room, so you could sleep." I explained. Somehow I didn't wanted to tell him I was on my period, although it was something completely normal. I hoped he got the memo anyway. "I woke up and panicked where you were and what you might be doing." His admission woke me up a little further. "Comrade. I'm sorry. But I swear, I won't do something like that again. It was a weak moment and I felt like needed to do that to feel something again and to end my struggle."

Shaking his head slowly, he put me down on the bed and laid next to me. "Yes, I know that, but after your mood plummet today so drastically, I was simply afraid. I couldn't live if something happened to you." He gave me a kiss. "Yeah, my mood was all over the place today, but it was just because of my… uh you know… monthly visit." My cheeks heated and he simply said. "Oh." He put a hand on my cheek. "I probably shouldn't always assume that you'll do something to yourself, but it really scared me and I still need to process everything that happened." With that we got under the cover, snuggled close to each other and I whispered reassuring words until we fell asleep again, holding on to each other as if our lives depended on that.

The next morning his door bell woke us up.

"Comrade." I grumbled, still half asleep. "Who the hell is here at this ungodly hour in the morning?"

Rubbing his face he yawned before getting up. "Don't know." Slowly heading towards the door I turned around and tried to fall asleep again.

"Hay Dimka, took you long enough to open the door. Thought I had to call the police or kick your door in myself." I heard a man's voice. "How come you're still sleeping? We were supposed to meet half an hour ago." I've never heard that voice before and I got curious so I covered myself in the bedsheets and walked into the living room where I heard Dimitri speaking.

"Sorry man, I totally forgot you wanted to come over." Scratching his back Dimitri didn't notice me, but the guy in front of him noticed me and grinned boyishly. "Oh, I see why you forgot." And with that he motioned his head in my direction. "Morning." I greeted them.

Not knowing what to say we stood there for some seconds before the unknown man cleared his voice. "Since Dimka seemed to have forgotten his manners, I'll introduce myself." He took my hand and kissed it. "I'm Ivan, Dimka's best friend. Although I'm not sure about this anymore because he haven't told me about you..?!"

Giving Dimitri a quick look I introduced myself. "I'm Rose. Nice to meet a friend of Dimitri."

"Yes, this is Roza, my girlfriend, and this is Ivan my best friend, who I completely forgot. Apparently we had plans for today." Dimitri got out of his perplexed state.

"We already introduced ourselves." Ivan teased him. "And I'll forgive you for forgetting about our plans. But only because of this beautiful woman, who obviously spent the night with you in your bed." He wiggled his eyebrows and Dimitri hit him in the stomach.

"So what are the two of us doing today?" Ivan asked, while winking at me suggestively, as if he hadn't been hit moments before.