I felt like this was a glimpse of what my future could look like. Showing Dimitri around my family home, introducing him to my family – even though he met them before could do that. Dimitri had said so many times that he had wished he could have met me earlier in life. This was the best I could give him.

Dimitri walked through the house with amusement, looking at every picture on the wall and asking questions as he went. He had been here for a week but hadn't really looked at much.

"How old were you here?" Dimitri asked, pointing at a picture of me. I came closer and found which one he was looking at.

"I think I was five. Maybe four?" I said. It was me and my mom out on the trail behind the house, me on her shoulders.

"I was five," I corrected, "Because I had fallen and knocked my two front teeth out a few days after my birthday," I said pointing to the missing teeth in the picture. I had done what my mother told me not to and climbed the tree. I slipped off the branch and smoked my mouth off it as we crashed down.

Dimitri chuckled and moved further down the row of pictures. He stopped at one of my baby photos and reached out, running his finger softly over the photo.

"You okay?"

Dimitri looked away and nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine," he said but his eyes still lingered over the photo. I came up and rested my hand on his shoulder.

"She looked just like that," I said quietly.

"She?"

"The baby. It was a girl. Because of how far along I was, I had to give birth to her. She had your nose and your lips though," I explained.

"You had to go through that alone?"

I shrugged. "I wasn't alone. Adrian was there."

Dimitri nodded but I knew that it upset him. "I'm sorry. I should have told you earlier."

Dimitri turned and slipped his arms around my waist, tucking me into him. "Don't be. It's hard to talk about either way. Thank you for telling me."

I nodded and kissed his shoulder. "I named her Grace. Just like you wanted," I whispered, hugging him tighter to me. I could hear his breath catch in his throat and he nodded again, let his breath stagger out. I hadn't told anyone her name. Not Adrian, not Lissa, nobody. I didn't breathe her name to anyone, and I hadn't wanted to because it would make everything real.

"Lissa said that you had a box at her house with things about the baby. She said she packed it," Dimitri said into my hair. I nodded and pulled back, cupping his cheeks.

"Yeah. Pictures and stuff like that. We can through it together," I whispered, stroking his cheeks with my thumbs. Dimitri gave me a soft look and squeezed my wrists. I gave him a small smiled and stretched up on my toes to press my lips to his, squealing lightly against his lips when his hands slipped from my and latched onto my waist, pulling me flushed against him.

"You have no idea how happy I am that you're back," Dimitri said against my lips, fisting my shirt in his hands. I hummed in agreeance as he carefully walked me back into the wall, hands now slipped under the bottom of my shirt.

"You know, I don't think I agree with this much public display."

Dimitri and I tore our lips away from each other, both turning to find my mother standing at top of the stairs.

"Sorry, Mom," I said with a blush, glancing up at Dimitri with a smirk.

"It's fine, just don't need to see it," she said turning and heading down the stairs, "Lissa and Christian are here."

I gave Dimitri another smile and pecked his cheek before towing him towards the stairs.


Lissa kept smirking at me as she sipped her tea, her hand delicately placed on her stomach.

"What?"

Lissa shrugged. "Nothing."

"Liar," I sighed and glared at her.

"I just understand now what you meant about the weird hormones," Lissa said with a smirk, "I went from hating you, to missing you, to wanting to jump Christian's bones all in the span of ten minutes last week."

I snorted a laugh and tucked my legs in so that Adrian and Dad could move to sit beside me on the couch.

"Yeah, that's just the start," I said as I got comfortable on the couch. "So. What is the game plan?"

Everyone was situated in the living room. Dimitri standing behind me, his hands resting on my shoulders. Mom and Cassie were sitting on the armchairs, Christian sat on the piano bench, Eddie leaning against the wall. Pavel lingered near Eddie, silent as the grave.

"With Carver dead, it should be easier to infiltrate Division. There are multiple weak spots, and with three skilled Watchers on our side and a shadow, I think we can get in and out in under thirty minutes," Dad said.

"I'm not that skilled, but thanks for the vote of confidence."

"I wasn't talking about you, Rosemarie. I was talking about Pavel," Dad said dryly, ruffling my hair. I shrunk away from him and glared at him out of the corner of my eye. Mom chuckled and smiled at me kindly before looking at Dad.

"So when you say get in and out?"

"I mean destroy the severs and break the link."

"The link?"

Dimitri squeezed my shoulder. "They have a very powerful push that essential is keeping multiple agents under the illusion that becoming agents was their idea."

I looked upwards at him. "What?"

"I'm pretty sure Carver was planning on using you for that too. You can push multiple people at once. Who's to say that if you were hook up to the machine that you wouldn't be able to push dozens at once?"

I furrowed my brows and looked at Christian. "Did you know about this?"

He shook his head. "No. That was classified. I wasn't that high up."

"This machine, what is it exactly?"

Mom took over. "Well, the closest thing I can compare it to is that machine you liked so much in those X-Men movies."

"It's like Cerebro?"

"In a sense," Dimitri said, "It doesn't reach that far, but it's connected to the tattoos. Once agents have been there long enough, they can't break through the push on their own. That's why they want the most powerful they can find. The stronger, the easier it is to hold the link."

"Where do I come in," I asked.

Everyone looked uncomfortable.

"We need an equally strong push to break the push on the link," Dad said slowly, stroking his beard.

"I'm lost," Lissa said piping up from her chair.

"The push controlling the link was most likely pushed by the previous link holder. Abe isn't strong enough to break it, but Rose is."

I leaned back in the cushions and rubbed my face. "This whole thing is riding on the fact that I need to stop the push from pushing people?"

"Yes." Five voices said.

Great. No pressure there.

"You should start drinking some of that tea," Dad said, "We don't know how much resistance you have now that you've received the drug."

Cassie perked up in her seat. "We don't know what will happen if she drinks that. It may react with the drug and immunosuppressants," Cassie said urgently. She got a few looked, but everyone seemed to buy it. But I knew why she was hesitant.

"Lissa, you also shouldn't drink it. Some of the compounds aren't great for you to be ingesting," Cassie pointed out, standing up from her seat. Cassie was agitated all morning, and I could see her starting to spiral. I looked up at Dimitri and flicked my eyes towards her, but he shrugged. He didn't know what had her wound up either.

"Why not?"

"Because Juniper and Elderberry are a few herbs used in the tea. Pregnant women are told to avoid ingesting them," Dad said as he stood up, stretching a little. I could hear his back and shoulders crack as he did so, and I cringed. It sounded like he was going to hurt himself.

Dad started talking about logistics and floor plans of the headquarters but I couldn't focus on anything other than the look on Cassie's face. Her eyes glazed over the slightest bit before she blinked back into reality.

Cassie caught me looking at her and stood up, heading out of the living room and into the kitchen. I excused myself and followed her, crossing my arms and leaned against the counter. She was searching for something in the cupboards.

"Cass?"

"I'm fine."

"You're not. What's wrong?" I stated, coming towards her. She opened the top cupboard and jumped when she saw the tiger mug and she promptly turned it away from her, rummaging further.

"Cassie," I soothed but she shook her head as she opened another cabinet, finding what she was looking for. She pulled the bottle of Sherry off the shelf. I walked up to her and promptly pulled it out of her hands, holding it out of her reach.

"Hey!"

"No. I'm not letting you turn yourself into an alcoholic. Talk to me. Tell me what you're seeing."

"I just see the damn tigers! Okay! I keep drawing that fucking tiger!" Cassie screamed; her cheeks flushed. I sagged a little and set the bottle down, wrapping my arms around her instead. Cassie flinched back a little but I pulled her tight, resting my hand on the back of her head.

"I won't let that happen to you," I whispered. I had seen the tiger too, but not since before the drug.

"You don't know that you can stop it," Cassie said, her chin resting on my shoulder. There was a drop of hot wetness on my shoulder and I pretended that I didn't notice it.

"I can do whatever I can to try," I said, trying to soothe her. In the short time I'd known her, it became clear that she didn't like asking for help, or even showing any form of weakness, but a part of me felt that I needed to protect her. She was still a kid, as much as she liked to act like she wasn't.

The longer we stood there, the more her shoulders started to shake. I just held her tighter and let her cry it out. Dimitri poked his head into the kitchen but I shook my head, letting him know that I had it under control and to go back. I couldn't help the tears I shed too, listening to Cassie cry in my arms.

I didn't take into consideration how hard this would all be for her. She had to watch me get back both my parents and my boyfriend, while her mom was still trapped in Division. Cassie sniffed and took a deep breath, pulling back from me. She looked away while she wiped her face, smearing the thick eyeliner under her eyes.

"Go up to my bathroom, there's stuff in there you can use," I whispered.

Cassie nodded and gave me a mute smile. I gave her a small one too and pull her towards me, kissing her cheek.

"I know that we can't replace your mom or your dad. But we are your family too, and we protect our family. Okay?"

Cassie nodded and stepped around me, heading towards the stairs. I sighed and wiped my face with a sniffle, finding Mom in the doorway.

"You're going to be an amazing mother," she said quietly. I tensed up a little bit. Mom pushed away from the frame and took Cassie's spot in front of me.

"I'm so sorry you missed that opportunity with Grace," she said softly, tucking my hair behind my ear.

"You heard that?"

She shrugged. "I saw you naming her, while I was in Division. I knew you were going to lose your baby before you did."

I nodded and leaned back against the counter. "That must have been hard to watch."

"It was, but it would have been harder to be in your position. I know what that feels like too," Mom said.

I furrowed my brows at her and shook my head. "What do you mean?"

"Before you," she said, "Why do you think you think your nursery was done up in rainbows?"

"I thought it was because it was complex to paint and you liked painting it," I snorted. Mom laughed and shrugged, but not to disagree completely.

"Were you really bunkmates with Cassie's mom?"

Mom nodded and reached around me, picking up the bottle of Sherry and putting it back in the cabinet. I watched her move around the kitchen, pulling out a tin of tea and then filling the kettle.

"We were. There were days when we were lucid. Sarah would talk about Cassie, and I would tell her about you. She used to see this man helping Cassie, keeping her safe, teaching her how to shoot a gun. When Dimitri walked into Division she was absolutely stunned. She didn't know what to think."


I could feel ice setting into my veins. In front of me was a wall of tigers. Large, vivid tigers starring back at me.

I heard a distinct click behind me and I stilled. It was a sound you couldn't confuse. It was the tell-tale sound of a gun locking a bullet into the chamber. My hair swayed the slightest bit as I turned, my breath coming out of my nose loudly but slow.

I came to a stop and found myself starring into a pair of ice-blue eyes.

Tasha was vibrating as she stood in front of me, her gun aimed perfectly between my brows.

"You made me look like a fool in front of everyone!" She exclaimed and I watched her finger move from the side of the gun and onto the trigger.

I bolted upright as my stomach rolled, my shirt sticky with cold sweat. I looked beside me and found that Dimitri was still asleep. I took a breath and crawled out of bed, and grabbed a set of clean clothes. I showered quietly and then padded down the stairs. I pulled a bottle of water out of the fridge and wandered into the living room, cracking the seal as I went.

I rested my head against the cold glass of the bay window, watching the trees sway in the wind. My skin and stomach were still crawling.

"Can't sleep?"

I turned and found Christian leaning back on the couch, coffee cup in his hand.

"Nightmare, vision. I don't know. You?"

"The reality of becoming a father set in about thirty minutes ago," he said with a sigh, "Did Dimitri get anxious like this?"

I smiled to myself and sat on the other end of the couch. "He kept the panic to himself, but around the three-month mark, he freaked," I said with a chuckle, "Dimitri had no male role model. His dad was a drunk and barely around."

"My dad was an agent," Christian said quietly, "That's why I became an agent. Because I thought that was an amazing opportunity. But after being in…What if I screw up as a dad?"

I smirked and tucked my knees up. "I don't think you'll screw it up."

"You don't?"

I shook my head. "No. I think you'll be an amazing dad. You have good instincts, and you have a big heart, even if you don't like people to know it."

Christian sighed and nodded his head, but still looked unconvinced. I chewed on my lip and looked back out the window, twisting the bottle in my hands.

"What was Tasha like?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Because she was part of my nightmare," I said looking back at him.

Christian sighed and sat up, setting his coffee mug down on the coffee table. "Tasha has always been a very determined person. She was never someone who was fun, I guess. To be honest, she enjoyed being in Division too much. She was a bit of a bully actually," Christian explained rubbing his thumb over his brow.

I nodded and sighed. "I was worried about that."

Christian chuckled dryly. "I know what you and Dimitri discussed."

"Pardon me?"

"About how she's the reason you lost your baby. I know what you Dimitri agreed on."

I frowned. "I'm sorry. But-"

"You don't need to apologize. I was her biggest target as a kid. And she did something terrible to you. If it were Lissa…Well, I would do the same."

"But she's your sister," I said quietly. Christian held his hand up to stop me.

"She hasn't been my sister in a really long time," he said with a huff, "And you should know that if you two do do it, I won't hold any ill feelings against her. She's dangerous."

I nodded and looked back out the window, letting his words sink in. If Christian, he didn't worry about anyone, thought Tasha was dangerous. How dangerous was dangerous?