*Steps out of the abyss. * Hello? Is anybody even still here? Do I have any readers left? Hold your fire I know it's been a really, really long time y'all I'm so sorry. I really don't have any excuses to give except that I have been really unmotivated which I hate because I've missed writing and I've missed y'all. I hope everybody is doing ok and if not hang in there y'all I know it's been a really hard year for a lot of us. I know people's mental health has been slipping mine definitely has been but I'm here to try to bring a bit of holiday cheer! So, here's a Halloween one shot that I literally started writing since like, last year and only just finished right now. Yes, I know that Halloween has come and gone and so has Thanksgiving bear with me y'all. I hope it doesn't suck!

No summary because the title is pretty self-explanatory this really is just pumpkin carving and fluff and a tiny bit of madness because Rose Hathaway is involved. I apologize for any mistakes and such this is unedited. Also, I don't own VA! It all belongs to the beautiful and talented Richelle Mead!

Pumpkin Carving and Family Fluff.

"Aunt Roza are you ready yet?" Paul asked me for what literally had to be the thirtieth time in just about as many minutes. Luckily for him, I actually was ready this time. Kissing the baby's head, I set her gently in the cradle next to the bed.

"Yes," I said opening the door to mine and Dimitri's bedroom at last and stepping out. "Is your uncle back yet?" I asked, going back inside to make sure the baby monitor was on. Dimitri and I had welcomed Liliana Alissa Belikova into the world 6 months ago, and, as could be imagined, she had every single person wrapped around her tiny fingers.

So much so in fact, that the Belikovs had left their home in Russia and moved to court so they could be closer to us. Olena of course kept her house, saying something about how Russia would always be home and I had to admit I was glad about that. I loved that we had somewhere to go when we went back to Russia, a trip Dimitri and I decided that we'd take at least once for the year as long as our jobs permitted it. Not only that but I loved that house. I had made a lot of memories there, from when I had gone to Russia to try to kill Dimitri when he was strigoi, to sweeter ones that Dimitri and I had made together when he had been restored and we had taken our first trip back. Perhaps one of my most priceless memories was the looks on the Belikova women's faces when they had walked out to see Dimitri standing in the full light of the midday sun.

"Yes!" Paul said excitedly, bringing me out of my thoughts. "He's been back for ages aunt Roza. You're the only one we were waiting for."

"Hey," I said ruffling his hair. "You weren't waiting for me; you were waiting for your cousin to go to sleep." As it was Halloween, we'd switched our schedules around. We had all gone out today, in the middle of what was supposed to be night for us, deciding that the kids as well as the adults needed a bit of fall festivity. So, we had gone on a hay ride and a corn maze which was run by humans and, thanks to Christian and Adrian's insistence, had brought home a pumpkin which we were about to turn into a Jacko lantern.

Liliana had been so into all the activities and perhaps thrown off by the change in schedule, that she'd simply refused to take her naps today. She was so exhausted by the end of it, so tired that I thought she would be asleep by the time we made it back to court. But no. As tired as she had been, she decided that she was just going to fight to keep her eyes open and throw a fit and I couldn't blame her. I'd be grumpy if I was missing out on carving a pumpkin too, but I knew I had to put her down for a nap or deal with her being cranky until she eventually went to sleep. So, a bath with her lavender scented bubble bath, a bottle of warm milk and countless cuddles and kisses and cooing in the rocking chair later, I'd finally gotten her to go to sleep.

"Ok fine," Paul grumbled running his hands through his hair trying to fix the mess I had made. "But did she have to take so long?"

"I don't know," I said chuckling at his complaining. "You have a little sister who was once a baby, you tell me." I added as I followed him downstairs to where everyone was gathered. And ok, yes. It felt amazing to walk into my living room to the sound of rapid Russian, but it was that beautiful smile of pure radiance that lit Dimitri's face as he talked to Karolina that truly melted my heart and made me happy about the Belikovs recent move. The extra hands and Olena's fabulous cooking aside, it was the happiness that being around his family brought out in Dimitri that made me the happiest about this.

"Took you long enough," Adrian said looking as eager as Paul and Zoya And Katya, Sonja's little girl. Declan was sitting in his lap and I had to admit that even after almost 3 years of knowing Adrian and Sydney were parents, the idea of Adrian being a dad still threw me for a loop sometimes. Don't get me wrong, it's not like he wasn't good at it or anything because he was, but he was also one of the goofiest persons I knew. Then again, that was what made him such a favorite among the kids.

"That's what I said!" Paul said to Adrian. "She blamed the baby." Now they were all looking at me like I had committed mas' murder.

"Jeez," I said, rolling my eyes. "I didn't blame the baby; she really did take a while to go to sleep. And Adrian, you're just as bad as Paul." Adrian rolled his eyes at me.

"Hey the kid had every right to pester you to hurry up okay?" He said. "You were in that room for so long I started wondering if maybe Lily had put you to sleep instead."

"Adrian," Sydney said in that universal tone that wives had for telling their husbands to shut up without actually saying shut up. "Leave her alone."

"But I'm just saying, Sage," he said and I groaned as they started making googly eyes at each other. Luckily Dimitri chose that moment to pull me into his arms and pressed a kiss to my cheek.

"Oh, come on!" Paul grumbled. "Let's go already." Laughing, we all followed Paul and the rest of the kids to the kitchen.

Unsurprisingly, it was Adrian who grabbed the knife first. For a second, I thought he and Paul were going to argue about who got to remove the stem, but Adrian looked at Paul and grinned.

"Hey Paul," he said. "We should definitely do this together since your aunt Roza made us wait so long right?" Paul nodded eagerly and I rolled my eyes.

"Oh, real mature," I said chuckling at Adrian. "How the hell are you a parent again."

"Oh, it's a really interesting story actually," he said. "I'll tell it to you some time. Anyway Paul, want to help me with this?"?" Paul's grin was answer enough, and the rest of us stood there and watched as Paul and Adrian took off the stem.

"Uncle Dimka," Zoya called looking up at Dimitri. "Mama and aunt Sonya said that you're really good at scooping out the pumpkin because they used to make you do it for them to cook at their dolls wedding so I think you should do this."

"Oh yea," Paul said. "I remember that story,"

"Yea and remember how they said that uncle Dimka used to marry the dolls too when he was done?" Katya asked looking so innocent and so very adorable. I grinned, because I definitely remembered having heard that story and had actually been wondering if anyone was going to mention it.

"Looks like the Belikovs love trading childhood stories down generations huh comrade." I said looking at him my grin only growing at the slight blush I saw.

"I don't think that was fair though," Katya continued missing her uncle's adorable blush. Her gaze drifted to her mom and aunts. "Y'all are mean because you made uncle Dimka do too much work." "That was his wedding day too you know." Everyone laughed at that, and, I couldn't help but remember how feisty Sonya had been when I had first gone to Russia and how it had taken her the longest to warm up to me. Katya was every bit as feisty as her mama, but she had her grandma's charm which coupled with her natural adorableness of still being so young meant she warmed up quickly to people. I hoped she would always stay that way.

"Oh no Katya," Karolina said to her. "Your uncle actually liked doing it. Ask your mama, she'll tell you."

"Yes," Sonya agreed. "He did like doing it, so technically it wasn't really work right?"

"Right," Viktoria said easily catching on to what her sisters were doing. "Because he had so much fun doing it that it didn't feel like work."

"Ok so if it didn't feel like work will you scoop this one out uncle Dimka?" Paul asked and Dimitri rolled his eyes, but he was already going over to the pumpkin.

"Bet you wish you hadn't been so nice to your sisters now huh?" I asked him with a chuckle watching as he started scooping out the pumpkin guts.

"Exactly," he said. "I should've let y'all cook your own food at your dolls weddings." He grumbled playfully. And then he lightly flicked the melon baller, effectively throwing some pumpkin insides at his sisters. They squealed and Viktoria got a mischievous look in her eyes.

"Pumpkin guts fight!" She yelled and grabbed a spoon, scooping some guts out and promptly hurling it back at Dimitri. And suddenly there was an actual pumpkin guts fight going on between the siblings. And it wasn't long before someone accidently hit someone who hadn't been playing, and then we were all grabbing spoons, all in the middle of said pumpkin fight.

"Excuse me," I said glancing around sternly at each of them in turn and then at the kitchen floor covered in stringy pumpkin guts and seeds. "I hope you know you guys are responsible for cleaning that up off my floor. I grumbled even though I was currently trying to get some guts out of my hair.

"Well at least the pumpkin has been scooped," Paul said and Dimitri's grin said this was exactly why he'd thrown pumpkin at his sisters in the first place.

"Well played, comrade." I said and then grumbled. "But that was a waste y'all. I'm sure Christian could've used that to make something delicious."

"Probably Rosie," Christian told me, looking for all the world like he was relieved that we hadn't actually saved the pumpkin. "But now we'll never know." Before I could tell him off or hit him for calling me Rosie, Dimitri looked over at the kids.

"Ok here Declan, Zoya and Katya," he said setting some chalk on the table and turning the pumpkin to just the right side. "You can decide what the pumpkin is going to look like.

"Daddy will you help us?" Declan asked flashing a toothy grin at the others. "You guys my dad's really great at painting." He informed the other kids. As one, they all grinned looking beseechingly up at Adrian.

15 minutes later, Lissa was stringing a length of LED lights inside the pumpkin and everyone sat looking in awe at the finished product. As I'm sure you can imagine, our Jacko Lantern did not at all look like your typical Jacko Lantern. After all, the kids had tasked Adrian with designing duty, but even I had to admit that it was unique and honestly kind of beautiful. Because Adrian had carved the face of a pirate into the pumpkin with a parrot sitting on his head. Somehow, he'd managed to make it look like the parrot was hurling flaming throwing stars at everyone.

"That is so cool," Paul said grinning. "But not very scary though."

"I've got something that's scary," Lissa informed, gesturing to the living room. Squeals followed that statement and then all the kids were racing off after her.

Curiosity led the rest of us to follow them and ok, I have to admit that the huge ass spider hanging in the middle of my living room and who actually reminded me of Aragog, that spider who had a taste for human flesh and had once belonged to Hagrid from Harry Potter was definitely a lot scarier than our very cool Jack-O-lantern. If the way the kids had shrank back and were staring in horror was anything to go by, I wasn't the only one who thought so.

"Well, is that scary enough for you Paul?" Christian asked flashing that familiar smirk of his. Paul just nodded, his eyes never leaving the spider.

"Aww you guys," Lissa said. "He's not that scary, look." Seemingly out of nowhere, she pulled out a stick and swung it hard at the ginormous spider. At first, nothing happened. But a few more hits with her stick and the giant spider started to break a part and candy started falling to the ground. More squeals ensued and Lissa gave the kids the stick.

"Oh, my goodness," Karolina said, looking horrified at all of the candy scattered all over the rug on the living room floor and at all the kids clustered around and stuffing their faces looking like Christmas had come early.

"No amount of water is going to quell that sugar high," I said groaning softly but relieved that Lily was too young to be able to eat any of those sweets.

"Well, we should ship them all off to Lissa's and Christian's tonight." Sydney said and I had to agree. After all, giving them all that candy had been their idea, but Dimitri stepped in and put an end to the madness, telling the kids that they first needed to eat actual food.

Later as we left court, now early morning for us and prime time for humans, on our way to a pizza place that let you make your own pizza and of course was ran by humans, I would remember how Rhonda had warned Jill and I to be careful when she'd found out that we were leaving court. She'd said something about how the vail between worlds was thin on Samhain. I had rolled my eyes, not having the foresight to take her warning seriously.

But the second we drove past the protection of the wards, I felt it. One look at Jill said she did, too. A headache started throbbing at my temples even in spite of the spirit charmed necklace that hung around my neck.

The rest of the gang started insisting that we turn around and head back to court the second they realized what was happening. Something that Jill and I shut down almost instantly, because yes, we could feel the presence of ghosts, but the pain wasn't yet bad enough that we needed to go back to court. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on who was telling the story, that didn't last.

We were sitting in a cozy and thankfully secluded booth at the pizza place, piping hot pizza which we had put the toppings and source on ourselves spread out on the table before us when it happened. The pain in my head went from a dull throb that I could ignore to a jackhammer pounding in my scull that if not for the fact that I was already sitting would have brought me to my knees. Suddenly it was like I was a student at St. Vladimir's academy and was being hit with the ghosts for the first time all over again. It was like the necklace around my neck was just a regular one and not charmed with spirit, because it had no effect on the swarm of ghosts and restless spirits that were suddenly swirling around me. Not even when Lissa took my hand and channeled spirit into me did it help. If anything, it seemed to make it worse.

"Liss stop, please!" I damn near cried out pulling my hand out of hers and closing my eyes. I heard my baby girl's cries and Olena's calm voice gently soothing her and then I was in Dimitri's arms, the smell of his aftershave wrapping around me and his heartbeat thudding strong and steady as I laid my head on his chest.

I think I must have passed out after that, because when I next opened my eyes, I was still in Dimitri's arms, but we were no longer in the pizza place. He had brought me back to the SUV. "Roza," he said gently, but the worry I heard in that sweet accented voice made me look up at him. "What's going on love are you ok?"

"Well, my head doesn't so much feel like it's going to explode anymore," I said. But was I ok? I wasn't sure just yet. Tentatively, I turned to look out the window.

And right into a pair of familiar blue eyes that still sometimes haunted my dreams.

"Roza?" Dimitri said. "What are you looking at?" For a few seconds, all I could do was stare. He looked just like I remembered, if a little frantic, but the freckles and the crazy red hair that stuck up everywhere was the same.

"Rose," Now it was Eddie's voice calling my name, and he sounded agitated enough that I knew if I looked back at him his stake would be in his hand. "What is it?"

"M-Mason." It was the only thing I could get out around the lump in my throat.

"What are you talking about?" I heard Eddie ask but I couldn't answer. Because Mason flashed me that familiar smile of his and I felt the tears that had been stinging my eyes slide down my cheeks, but Mason's ghost shook his head and his smile was replaced by that earlier frantic look.

"She's right," Jill said. "I can see him too. And I don't think this is a casual visit." She was right I realized, so wiping the tears away, I looked back at my family and friends who had become family.

"I think Jill's right." I said and then my attention went back to Mason. "What is it?" Mason said one word that had me pulling my shit together and getting out of Dimitri's lap so he could drive us back to court. "Strigoi."

I kept catching sight of Mason in the rearview mirror the whole drive back home. At first, I wondered if maybe he had another warning for us, but I soon realized why he was following us. He was keeping the ghosts at bay thus making it easier for Jill and I to be out of the wards. Once again, Mason had been here at just the right time, just like he had been when the strigoi had attacked the academy all those years ago. Only this time, me and my family were able to make it back to the protection of the wards before anyone got hurt.

It was late, especially for me and my family who had been up for almost a full 24 hours, but while everyone else had gone to bed, I couldn't make myself go to sleep. Dimitri had known it in that way he always did and had simply looked into my eyes and said: "go, Roza."

So, I had but I'd made him come with me. Now Dimitri hung back as I went to the edge of the wards. I stood just inside the protective barrier and as if he knew I'd come back, Mason stood just outside waiting for me. He flashed me another one of those smiles of his, this one as pure and as beautiful as I remembered. "Thanks, Mase," I said softly. "You saved us tonight."

"I'm sure you would have been able to handle it. You've learned where the heart is now haven't you, Hathaway?" I couldn't help but smile at that.

"You know I have," I said. "And it's Hathaway Belikova." Now it was his turn to grin.

"I know," he said. "It suits you. You suit each other." I started to notice that he was starting to fade and I couldn't help the tears that filled my eyes even if I wanted to. "Take care of yourself and of Lily's little brother. I love you. Be happy."

"I love you Mase," I said the tears running down my face now. "I miss you but I hope you're at peace wherever you are." And then the rest of what he'd said sank in and I went back to Dimitri with a huge grin on my face. He wrapped me up in his arms and kissed my tears away and as I told him that we were expecting baby number 2 Dimitri swept me off my feet.

"I love you, you beautiful, beautiful woman," he said twirling me around in the air and making me squeal and giggle, and then he carried me home and showed me exactly how much he loved me. My last thought that night as sleep pulled me under as the sun came up was how I had no idea that pumpkin carving and a day filled with family and fluff could have turned out to be so interesting.

Well, my lovelies I hope you liked this one! I know that Rose isn't supposed to be shadow kissed anymore but I really wanted to write that part with Mason, so I hope y'all don't mind too much! I know it's been forever and I promise to try to fix that! Leave me your thoughts and any prompts y'all would like to see get turned into a story please and thank you! Seriously, could you guys please leave me some prompts it would give me some ideas for more holiday one shots which would hopefully make it easier for me to write. Until next time my loves

XXX

Roza