A/N: Yes, you were all right…it was Joshua. I was originally going to have Rafe use Caleb as the enemy in his story, but I didn't want to go there for obvious reasons. There's no way in hell I'd ever have Caleb fantasize about Alison, even if it's just for a story! But let's not go there, icky thoughts!

Then I thought I could use an evil witch as the enemy in Rafe's story, based on Livvie, but oh wait, Livvie is NICE in my story! Haha, so that wouldn't work. So that's how I came up with Joshie. He never has actually made an appearance in my series of stories which is fine with me but he did give me an idea of who to base someone evil on ;)

Okay, before we go on, some notes for this chapter:

Vorbiţi englezeşte: Do you speak English?

Also, when Rafe calls room service, he orders waffles, bacon, eggs, orange juice, and a bowl of strawberries, just in case you wanted to know :) Oh and of course syrup b/c Katrina and Alison will eat it no other way! ;) But that's quite obvious b/c apparently, there is no Romanian word for syrup lol

PS: I am no expert on the language of Romania, so forgive me if the translation is not exact!

Until 17!

Chapter 16

The flight to Romania had gone well, but unfortunately, Rafe seemed to forget one important aspect of traveling overseas: time change.

"I'm sorry. I forgot it would be one in the morning here," Rafe apologized when Alison realized the time.

Since it was so late and they were all tired from the trip anyway, Rafe decided the best thing to do was to get a hotel room for the night and head to Kovich Manor in the morning.

While Rafe paid the cab driver, Alison approached the man at the front desk. "Um…vorbiţi englezeşte?"

"Yes. How can I help you?" he asked.

"My husband and daughter and I need a room for the night."

"Do you have a reservation?"

"No. Did we need one?"

"There's a local festival this week, so unfortunately, most of our rooms are booked. I'm afraid I can only offer a single room. It's a bit smaller than our other rooms and there's only one bed."

"That's fine. My daughter's young. That's all we really need anyway."

As the man began looking up something on his computer, Rafe finally came over. Katrina was asleep in his arms, resting her head on his shoulder. "Did you get the room yet?"

"Just about. Where's our luggage?"

"The bellhop's loading it onto his cart."

"Name please?" the man asked.

"Kovich," Alison answered.

The man looked up from his computer, staring at Alison, then at Rafe, as if he wondered if he heard her right. "Did you say Kovich?"

"Yes."

"Excuse me for one moment," he said, then suddenly walked away from the counter.

Alison watched as he pulled aside a coworker and they whispered in hushed tones. The second man glanced over at them, then whispered something else to him.

"I think they're talking about us," Alison whispered.

"They're talking about me," Rafe said.

Alison looked at Rafe, about to ask him why on earth would they possibly be talking about him, but then it occurred to her. The name Kovich was obviously known around these parts.

The man finally came back, looking a lot more friendlier then he had before. "It looks like we can give you the suite instead. Bellhop, can you take the Kovich's luggage to Suite 402?"

"I thought you said you only had single rooms," Alison said.

The man smiled. "It just became available. Besides, I'm sure the suite will be more to your liking."

"The single room is just fine. We're only here for one night," Rafe said.

"Please, take the suite. I insist. And at no extra charge. Enjoy your stay!"

"Okay…thank you," Alison said, quite confused at what had just happened as she followed Rafe and the bellhop to the elevator.

"Your room," the bellhop said, opening the door and letting Rafe and Alison walk in.

The room was exquisite to say the least. There were two beds, side by side, an adjoining living room with a couch and TV, and a small kitchen area as well. Not to mention the bathroom, which was larger than any other ordinary hotel bathroom she had seen before.

The bellboy quickly unloaded their luggage and gave them a nod.

"Thank you," Alison replied, reaching into her purse to give him a tip.

The bellboy shook his head and smiled, refusing to except the money. "No, no. My pleasure. Have a good night." And with that, he was gone.

"Okay…that was strange. What just happened?" Alison asked, sitting her purse on the dresser and taking a look around the room. "First they hook us up with us this incredible room at no extra charge when they're already booked, and then the bellboy doesn't except my tip? Are people always this friendly in your country?"

Rafe pulled the covers back on one of the beds and carefully put Katrina down to sleep. "Well, my family is highly respected in this part of the world, if you know what I mean."

Alison nodded. She knew what he meant. Smiling, Alison walked over to Rafe, putting her arm around his waist. "I'm so glad we're here. I can't wait to see where you grew up."

Rafe pulled her closer, giving her forehead a kiss. "I can't wait to show you." Rafe looked down at Katrina, who had been asleep ever since the drive over to the hotel. "Look at her. She's out like a light."

"Have you ever seen anyone sleep that good before?"

"Yeah. You," he said with a laugh.

"Come on, let's go to bed too."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

When Alison awoke, she realized it was morning. The curtains were closed but cracked just enough to let a little sunlight into the room.

Looking over at the bed across from her, she noticed Katrina was not there. Alison closed her eyes again, feeling too sleepy to get up now, even though everyone else was.

In the background, she could hear footsteps, then voices.

"Daddy, can we go here?"

"Shh, not so loud. Your mother is still sleeping."

"Can we go visit this place, Daddy?" Katrina whispered.

Alison opened her eyes, watching them from across the room. Katrina was holding up a travel guide to Romania that she must have found in one of the drawers. She was pointing to some attraction in the book. Rafe took the guide, getting a closer look. "Sure, we can go see that."

"Today?"

"No, not today. But we'll go soon, alright?"

"Okay. Daddy, I'm hungry."

"Well let's order up some breakfast, shall we?"

Katrina nodded, grinning big.

"What do you want?"

"Um…some bacon! And some waffles! And lots of syrup!"

Rafe laughed. "Coming right up." Rafe picked up the phone, dialing the number for room service. "Hallo, serviciul de cameră?" Rafe patiently waited while he was put on hold.

Katrina laughed. "You're talking funny, Daddy!"

Rafe smiled. "I'm speaking Romanian. Da, I trec de la will asemănător trei ordine de la plăcintă platou. I trec de la will asemănător un ordine de ouă, slănină, şi suc de portocale. A putea I de asemenea a lua un bol de căpşuni? Oh, şi syrup. Cameră 402. Mulţumesc." Rafe then hung the phone up.

Katrina rolled with laugher. "Daddy, you sounded so funny! Say something else!"

Rafe scooped Katrina up in his arms and held her close to him. "Te iu besc, frumos prinţesă."

Katrina smiled big. "What did you say, Daddy?"

"I love you, beautiful princess."

Rafe gave her cheek a kiss and set her back down on her feet.

Katrina looked over towards her mother, still sleeping in bed. She decided that she had slept long enough. "Mommy?" Katrina said, climbing up on the bed and crawling over to her mother. "You still sleeping?"

Alison's eyes were closed, but she was awake. She smiled. "Yes."

Katrina laughed. "No you're not, Mommy!"

Alison opened her eyes, seeing Katrina's face just inches from her. "Okay, I'll get up. But only after I get my morning hug and kiss."

Katrina laughed again as her mother wrapped her arms around her and pulled her closer. She gave Katrina a kiss on her cheek.

Katrina kissed her mother back, then pulled the covers down and kissed her mother's belly. "Hey, Gabe."

Alison smiled as she watched Katrina run off to the other side of the room, digging into her suitcase full of toys.

"So do I get a morning kiss and hug too?" Rafe asked, taking a seat on the bed.

Alison grinned, putting her hand on his chin and bringing his mouth to hers.

"I ordered some breakfast. It should be here in a little while."

"Is that what you were doing? I thought I heard you on the phone."

"I ordered our favorites."

"Well I can't wait. I'm starv…oh!"

"Are you okay?"

Alison threw the covers off of her and ran towards the bathroom. "Yeah, I'm fine! Gabe's kicking my bladder!" Two seconds later, the bathroom door closed.

Katrina looked up from her toys. "What did Mommy mean? What's Gabe doing?"

"He's making her have to pee," he whispered.

Katrina giggled. "Oh silly Gabe!"

About fifteen minutes later, there was a knock at the door and a waiter wheeled their breakfast into the room. He neatly set the table before them, laying out all of their breakfast items before leaving.

As the three sat down for breakfast, Katrina began to tell her mother about how her father ordered it all up.

"You should have heard him, Mommy! He was speaking Ro...Ro….um…what is it, Daddy?"

"Romanian."

"Oh yeah! That!"

"Well you certainly ordered all the right stuff because this is just heavenly," Alison said, taking a bite of her food.

"You should try the strawberries," he said.

"Hey, Daddy!"

"Yes, Princess?"

"I can speak Romanian too!"

Rafe grinned. "Oh you can?"

"Yeah! Wanna hear?"

"Sure."

Katrina started spouting out all kinds of gibberish. "Gla ba la blah, blah, blah! Sala de la gee bee bee tra la la!"

Rafe laughed until his stomach hurt, and Alison laughed so hard she had to spit her juice out.

"You know what I said?" Katrina asked.

"What did you say, Princess?" Rafe said, still laughing.

"I said let's eat! This food looks GOOD!"