I slept through the entire ride back to Pennsylvania. Dimitri had kept Nevaeh company and I would have done the same, but I was so tired and all I wanted to do was sleep. When we landed, Dimitri had to drag me out of the jet.
"Rose!" I heard someone call as I walked down the stairs. It was Lissa, and she ran into me, crushing me with her hug.
"Oww," I moaned. She pulled away instantly and I now had both her and Dimitri staring at me with worry.
"What's wrong? Did I hurt you?" she asked. I waved it off and crossed my arms over my chest.
"Ugh, no, it's just my boobs. They're sore. I'm supposed to get my period soon."
"Oh, you poor thing. I totally get it," Lissa said. Dimitri pursed his lips, feeling awkward from not being able to understand our girl problems, so he stayed quiet.
"Come with me," she said. "I think we should talk about something."
I wanted to know what Lissa was up to, but since bonding with Dimitri, I was no longer able to reach through her mind. All I could do was trust her, so I followed her to the back entrance of the court.
"So, how was Russia?" she asked.
"It was amazing. Dimitri's family is so sweet. Oh, and they have a baby!"
Lissa giggled, looking back at Dimitri who was chuckling behind us. "I thought you hated babies."
"Maybe I used to, but since taking care of Nev, I've changed. I think they're adorable." I stopped walking and picked Nevaeh up, startling her. "Isn't that right Nevie-boo?"
Lissa and Dimitri looked at me like I had grown three heads. I never talked like this, but I couldn't help myself.
"I'm not a baby," she complained.
"Oh, yes you are. You're my baby."
"But I'm four."
"Well then, you're not far off." I put her down and opted for holding her hand instead. I walked into the big building and helped Dimitri take our luggage to our room. We took Nevaeh to her room and tucked her into bed before heading out again where Lissa waited for us in the hallway.
"Lissa, what's going on?" I asked her when I saw the dreadful look on her face. She sighed and took my hand, leading me down the hallway to where she was staying. I walked into her suite and stopped when I saw Christian inside, his hand fisted into his messy hair.
He took a step forward and Dimitri moved in front of me for protection. Christian raised his hands in surrender. "Relax," he said. "I just want to talk."
"It's okay, Dimitri," I said, letting him know I was safe. Christian looked like an absolute mess, but he wasn't going to hurt me. Dimitri stepped away, but he stayed close and kept a careful eye on us.
Christian didn't say anything at first. He kept opening and closing his mouth, but no words came out, so I spoke for him. "Look, if you want to scream or shout at me, go ahead. If you want to hit or punch me, I can take it. You're hurting and I can see that. I paralyzed your only family member and I'm—" I reconsidered my next words. I thought about lying and telling him I was sorry for paralyzing Tasha, but I wasn't. I had sympathy for him, but not for her.
"I'm sorry you're hurt," I said sincerely. "As your friend, I didn't want to do that to you. I'm sorry for making you go through this...but I'm not sorry for what I did."
Christian clenched his jaw and I saw a look of frustration and helplessness cross his features. I felt bad for him. I really did. I just hoped he understood how much Tasha's actions affected us.
"I'm sorry," he gasped out. "I hated you for so long, Rose, but I can't keep hating you. For the longest time, I didn't want to admit it to myself, but she deserved it. I hate to say that, but she did. I'm so sorry for the pain she caused."
Christian came closer and threw his arms around me, and I was so stunned that it took me several seconds to respond. "I wish none of it ever happened," he went on. He sounded so disappointed.
"It's okay," I whispered, pulling away. "It's over now. I don't want us to hate each other."
"We don't have to," he said. I managed to smile, but there was another wave of emotions that suddenly had in me in tears. Christian's eyes widened.
"Oh crap, I didn't mean to make you cry—"
Dimitri was by my side in seconds. "Roza, what's wrong?"
"Nothing, I just—" I wiped my tears away with my sleeve and sniffled. "I'm just exaggerating."
"Do you want to go back to our room?" he asked, rubbing my arms. I nodded and he wrapped his arm around my waist, leading me to the door.
"I'll call you guys later," I said, sniffling again as I walked out. Dimitri kept me close to his side as we walked through the hallways of all the suites, but I stopped him halfway.
"Do you mind if we grab something to eat first?" I asked.
"Not at all," Dimitri said, flashing me a comforting smile. "You can choose."
It took me a while to find the place I was looking for, but I finally found it after dragging Dimitri around. It was a bakery with fresh desserts, but they also had wraps, sandwiches, and sweet drinks. I ordered two doughnuts and a wrap for myself, and one wrap for Dimitri. We took the food and decided to eat it in our suite as we were both tired from the earlier ride on the jet.
As soon as I flopped down on the bed, I grabbed the maple doughnut and took a bite, moaning at the sweet taste. "You have to try this, Comrade."
Dimitri shook his head. "It's all yours. I'm good."
I shrugged and kept eating, finishing the doughnuts within minutes.
"You are those pretty fast," Dimitri said, tossing out the remaining garbage.
"But they're delicious. I'm going to have to hit the gym later before I bloat. You're going with me. Hey, maybe we should bring Nev with us too. I think it's time we teach her some self-defence."
Dimitri laughed and finished the last of his food. "Give it an hour, and we'll go."
I took Dimitri's advice and waited for an hour since I had eaten quite a lot. When we were ready, we took Nev out to one of the empty gyms at the court.
"That's a big ball," she said once we got in, pointing towards one of the yoga balls in the corner. Before I knew it, she let go of my hand and ran to the ball, trying to wrap her small arms around it. It was too big for her, and she fell back on her butt as the ball bounced away.
"Careful, hon," Dimitri said, helping her get back on her feet before sitting down in front of her.
"We're going to do some activities to get you warmed up, and then Mommy's going to teach you some moves later on. I want you to follow her, okay?"
"Okay," she said. I tied her hair up into a low ponytail and tightened her shoelaces so that she wouldn't hurt herself.
"First, we're going to teach you how to run." Dimitri briefly looked up at me when he said this and I understood the double meaning behind his words. Nevaeh knew how to run, but he wanted to teach her how to really run if something bad ever happened. It was the first thing he had taught me. Back then, he was teaching me how to run from a strigoi. Now, he was teaching Nevaeh the same thing, but it wasn't only from strigoi. He wanted her to be able to run away from...other situations. It was sad, really.
"We're going to play a game. You're going to find a really good hiding spot, and if I find you, you have to run as fast as you can. You have to stay in this room, but I still want you to run and hide again—and make sure you're quiet. The game will only go on for five minutes. Are you cool with that?"
"I have to run from you?" she asked. She almost sounded sad. "But you're not the bad guy."
"I know," Dimitri said. "It's just a game and we're only pretending. It's for your safety, Nev."
Nevaeh nodded in understanding and Dimitri kissed her forehead before standing. "We'll give you a minute to pick your hiding spot. Whatever you do, don't let me catch you."
Dimitri came up to me and I pulled out my phone to start a timer. We turned away to let her wander around the room.
"How do you feel about this?" I asked him.
"I don't know," he said. "Sometimes, I wish I didn't have to teach her these things. I wish we could just teach people not to attack or assault others instead, but unfortunately, that's not how the world works. She's vulnerable, so this might be good for her."
"She'll be a little warrior when she grows up," I said softly.
"I'm ready!" Nevaeh called. I set a five-minute timer and sat back as I watched Dimitri look around the room. It took him about a minute before he found her crouched behind a huge pile of mats. She ran away and I saw a smile on her face as she looked for another hiding spot. It was easy for Dimitri to find her with how loud her footsteps were and he started chasing her around. He was making her run fast so that she could get her muscles warmed up for later.
For the last minute, Nevaeh hid underneath one of the benches at the side. She was easily visible, but Dimitri acted like he had no idea where she was. Nevaeh smiled mischievously under the bench as he slowly walked around her, stopping where she couldn't see him.
"What do we have here?" he said, startling her when he suddenly grabbed her feet. He pulled her out from under the bench, making her laugh once again.
"Time's up," I said, walking over to them. Nevaeh's hair was messier now, and she was panting from running around and laughing so much. While her muscles were still warm, I helped her with some light stretches.
"What am I learning today?" she asked enthusiastically. I sat behind her and grabbed her hand, closing her fingers into a fist. I extended her arm and rotated her wrist a little bit, mimicking a punching gesture.
"This," I said. I gave her a brief explanation of what it was and had her go through the hand movements in slow motion at first. She seemed to get the gist of it after a while, but she hesitated when Dimitri put both of his palms up and told her to practice on him.
She held her hands together, eyeing Dimitri's palms. "Will it hurt you?"
"Not at all, sweetheart. Give me your best shot," he encouraged. Nevaeh couldn't hurt Dimitri even if she tried. The man was made of steel and her baby-soft hands felt like pillows against the skin.
Nevaeh gave it a try, lightly punching Dimitri's right palm. I didn't expect anything hard of course, but she was too timid.
"Use your whole body, Nev. Don't be afraid," he said, sounding more like a mentor now. She tried again, using a little too much force with her body which caused her to miss her target. She fell forward, but Dimitri caught her and kept her up on her feet.
"Sorry," she said.
"No, no. You're doing great. Try again."
And she did. Her movements were sloppy, but she was doing her best. Dimitri and I were both proud of her for following along. Every time she missed, she'd do it again until her hit was better than the one before. Dimitri gave her tips while I demonstrated the movements for better technique.
"One more," Dimitri said. "Hit as hard as you can. Don't worry about me. Just go for it."
Nevaeh braced herself, putting her fists up in front of her chest and chin. After letting out a deep breath and concentrating on Dimitri's palm, she struck her target and I finally heard a loud thud.
"Good job!" I said to her, hugging her from behind. "That was amazing. I'm so proud of you."
"Really?" she asked, scratching her head.
"Yes, really. You're a tough little fighter."
"No one will mess with you," Dimitri chimed in. "Why don't we go get something for you to eat?"
Nevaeh gasped. "I saw cookies somewhere. Can I have a cookie?"
I laughed. She was too cute. Dimitri smiled and stood up on his feet. "Maybe after dinner, you can have one as long as you eat your vegetables too."
"Fine," she sighed, tugging on her hair tie. I stood up from where I was sitting and covered my mouth as I felt a slight wave of nausea wash over me. This wasn't nausea I experienced when I sensed strigoi. This was the type of nausea that made me feel like throwing up.
"You okay?" Dimitri asked. I sat down on one of the benches and leaned my back against the wall.
"Yeah. Just a bit nauseous," I replied.
Dimitri frowned, sitting beside me while Nev played around with the yoga ball. "Again?"
I shrugged, pressing a hand to my head. "It's probably from all those doughnuts I ate earlier."
"But you've had those before, and you were nauseous when you were in Russia too. Maybe you should see a doctor."
"I'm fine," I protested. "Don't worry about me, Comrade. As I said, it's probably the doughnuts. I had a lot of sugar." For whatever reason, thinking about sweets made me feel even worse and I had to cover my mouth.
"Maybe you should go back to our room and get some rest," he insisted. "I'll get Nev some food and bring her back to her room, and then I'll be with you."
"Thank you," I said appreciatively. Dimitri stayed with me until the nausea started to go away and I stood up, grabbing my water bottle, key card, and sweater.
"I'm going to go take a nap. Have fun, you two."
Another week passed and I hadn't gotten any more nausea for the week. I thought I was completely fine again until this morning when I woke up feeling so much worse. I had slept in much longer than I had thought.
"Dimitri," I called, stirring in bed. He came over and tried to kiss me, but I held a hand out. His brows furrowed and looked down at me with concern in his eyes.
"Is it your stomach again?"
"Mhm," I mumbled. "I feel like hell."
"Rose, I really think you should see a doctor. This is the third time."
"Or maybe I just need some anti-nausea meds. I should go to the pharmacy."
Dimitri narrowed his eyes as I struggled to get out of bed. I knew over-the-counter medications weren't problem-solvers if I had some kind of underlying issue, but I needed to get rid of this feeling.
I was so tired and sick to my stomach that I didn't even dress up nicely. I put Dimitri's T-shirt on along with a pair of tight black leggings, leaving my hair down despite the mess.
"I still think you should see a doctor," Dimitri said on the way to the pharmacy. I sighed, knowing he was probably right, but I had been in a hospital so many times this year that I was getting tired of it.
When we rounded a corner, I bumped into my mom. She was surprised to see me, but the look in her eyes made me believe she was happy too.
"Rose! I haven't seen you in so long! Oh god," she said, pulling me into a tight hug. I thought I was going to vomit all over her, but she pulled away before I could.
"I've missed you a lot, you know. I've been wanting to talk to you—both of you—but I wasn't sure if you just wanted some space."
"It's fine, Mom—"
"I'm sorry about how things happened the last time. I feel like I constantly screw things up and I feel like I just keep failing you, but I promise I'll be a better mother."
"I know." I was getting more and more nauseous. I would have taken her words seriously if I was feeling normal, but I wasn't.
"You know, your father and I are slowly getting back together. Just the other day, he was talking about helping you get a house around here—"
"Excuse me," I interrupted her, slamming a hand over my mouth. I eyed the garbage can behind her and rushed towards it, leaning over as my stomach convulsed. I vomited heavily into the large bin and felt Dimitri's hands on my hair, holding it out of the way as his other hand rubbed my back. When there was nothing left, I stood up and panted, trying to catch my breath.
"Are you okay?" Dimitri asked. I nodded, feeling a lot better than I did before even though I felt empty and weak. My mother was already worried and started feeling my skin for any signs of a fever.
"What's wrong? Are you sick again?" she asked.
"No. My stomach's just been weird recently."
"You're going to the clinic," Dimitri said. "Even if I have to drag you over there myself, you have to go. This isn't normal."
"Fine," I groaned, leaving my mom gaping as Dimitri gently took my arm. The hospital here wasn't busy, so I was able to get into a private room only a few minutes after I walked in.
"I need some Gatorade," I muttered, lying down on the cot as Dimitri held my hand.
"We'll get you something once we figure out what's going on with you," he said. I smiled at his choice of words.
"I like how you say 'we'. It feels like...teamwork," I said lazily, nearly falling asleep.
"That's because we get through things together. In sickness and in health, remember?"
I chuckled. "Aren't those wedding vows? We haven't had one yet, Dimitri."
"I don't have to say it in a ceremony for it to be true, do I?"
"No. I suppose you don't," I admitted, knowing very well how truthful Dimitri was. The door opened and an Asian moroi walked in, wearing a lab coat. She held a tablet in her hands which I assumed she was going to use for taking down notes.
"Hi there," she said, closing the door behind her. "I'm Dr. Lee. You're Rose Hathaway, right?"
I slowly sat up on the table, feeling Dimitri's hand on my back. "The one and only."
"And this is your guardian? Guardian Belikov?"
"Correct," Dimitri said, kissing my hand. "Well, fiancé too."
"Oh," Dr. Lee said, raising her eyebrows. "Congratulations. I would celebrate, but that's not what we're here for. Why don't you tell me what's been going on?"
"Well...about two weeks ago, I started feeling nauseous, but I didn't think anything of it. When I came back from Russia, I felt it again after I ate some doughnuts. I thought I was fine, but a week later—just this morning—I threw up."
"Alright..." Dr. Lee paused while she wrote everything down on a tablet. "Those are the only times you've experienced nausea and vomiting?"
"So far, yes."
"Have you experienced any fatigue? Feeling tired or sleepy?" she asked.
I nodded. "Quite a lot, actually."
"And have you noticed any cramping in your lower abdomen?"
"Well, yes, but that usually happens when I get my—" I paused. I was supposed to get my period a week ago.
"Is everything alright, Ms. Hathaway?"
"My period," I said out loud. "I usually get a little nauseous and tired on my period, and I get cramps too, but it's late."
Dimitri's hand tightened around mine. He was worried. Dr. Lee asked me a variety of questions which included breast tenderness, mood swings, and frequent urination. I had every single one of them.
"Are you sexually active?" she continued.
I blushed, giving Dimitri a side glance. "Um, yes, but only with him."
The doctor put her tablet away and pulled out a cup from one of the cabinets, writing something on the outside. When I realized what it was, I rolled my eyes and curled in on myself.
"I have to pee in that thing," I said in embarrassment and she handed it over to me.
"Here's the thing," Dr. Lee said. "You two are not the average dhampir. Your bodies have changed, and if this is the only man you have been sexually active with, pregnancy could be a possibility. It's never happened between two strigoi dhampirs—at least not that we know of—but it's not impossible with your changes."
I looked over at Dimitri again. He was blank-faced. In his mind, he was confused and worried. None of us considered or even thought about pregnancy.
"I'll be right back," I said quietly, stepping out of the stuffy room. I found an empty bathroom and did as I was instructed before heading back. While the doctor took the sample for testing, I sat down on the cot.
"Dimitri...I swear you're the only person I've ever been with," I told him when he didn't speak. He parted my legs and stood in between them, wrapping his arms around my waist.
"I know," he said. "The bond doesn't lie, but I know you wouldn't either. Even without it, I'd still believe you, but I'm just a little overwhelmed. I don't understand how this is possible."
"I don't either," I admitted. When I felt Dimitri again, I didn't only sense confusion. There was a spark of hope and excitement too. Was he hoping I'd be pregnant?
Dr. Lee came back in and Dimitri stepped away but kept one hand on my back. "So?" I asked, bracing myself. She smiled, slipping her hands into the pockets of her lab coat.
"Well, we usually have to take a blood test for better confirmation, but there were high levels of HCG in your urine," she explained. I had no idea what that meant, but I took her word for it. "Congratulations, Ms. Hathaway. You're pregnant."
I didn't know what to say. I was speechless. I was actually pregnant. I was so young and I had no idea how to take care of a baby. I took care of Nev, but she was old enough to do things a baby couldn't. I wasn't even sure if I was ready, but regardless, I was pregnant with Dimitri's child. For the love of God, he had a smile on his face.
"I'll, uh, give you two a moment," the doctor said, respectfully leaving the room. Dimitri's wide smile only lasted a few seconds as his excitement started to mix with worry.
"Dimitri," I said anxiously, shaking his shoulder. "You're not mad, are you?"
"Oh, baby, no. Of course not. I'm happy. I'm really, really happy. Believe me, I am, it's just..." Dimitri shook his head, chuckling nervously.
"Just what?" I asked.
Dimitri cupped my face in his hands, kissing me softly as a tear fell down my face. "Your father is going to kill me."
Thank you for reading! I wasn't sure how people would feel about the pregnancy, but I really wanted to add it in. However, I don't plan on turning it into a big pregnancy story, so most of it will be fast-forwarded.
I've never been pregnant (well, I might have been but I think I miscarried) so I apologize if some things were inaccurate.
This story will be coming to an end soon (only a few chapters left). I might do a bonus chapter after the epilogue, maybe one that's set in the future and in Nevaeh's POV. Let me know what you think of that.