Chapter One

/ Set after 'The Ruby Circle' - Spoilers Ahead!

Rose's POV.

I awoke to the sound of my alarm clock sounding loudly beside me on the bedside table. I suppressed the urge to groan as I reached over and hit snooze for the second time. Usually, it was easy to get up – I loved my job of being Lissa's guardian, but today, I felt exhausted.

With all the commotion going on lately, it was probably to be expected. Before I pulled the covers off me, I felt a set of strong, warm arms wrap around my stomach. "Good Morning Roza," he whispered, his Russian accent tainted with exhaustion as well. Dimitri had worked the night shift – which was really the day shift in the Moroi world, and I was working the day shift this week, so he probably only had about an hour worth of sleep, but he always made sure to see me off in the mornings.

Smiling, I turned and wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him into a kiss. "Morning, comrade," I teased. "Go back to sleep."

"Have a good day, I'll see you when you get off."

It was Friday. We were both off for the weekend, and I was excited to spend some time quality alone with him. It seemed that lately we always had opposing shifts or one of us was always away – a Guardian's work was never done.

"I can't wait."

I rolled out of bed and went into the joined bathroom, shutting the door. I hopped in the shower quickly, knowing that I was already short on time thanks to my second snooze. Halfway through washing my hair, I felt a weird, nauseating sensation come over me and I took a deep breath. Unfortunately, the hot steam from the shower didn't do anything to calm the feeling. Quickly, I finished rinsing the shampoo out of my hair before stepping out of the shower, into the slightly cooler bathroom, which my stomach seemed to appreciate. Weird.

Quickly, I dried my hair, tied it up and got dressed in my formal guardian attire before putting my hand on the knob, ready for duty – after slipping on my white-gold diamond engagement ring and smiling at its beauty. Dimitri had done an amazing job picking it out and the thought of marriage, with him, was a welcome one – even though I was continually pushing off picking a date. Wedding's were a lot of work, after all, and we were perfectly fine the way we were right now. Just as I was about to step out of the bathroom, the nauseated feeling hit me again and this time, it threw me to the floor in front of the toilet.

Thankfully, I hadn't eaten anything yet because my stomach refused to settle down. I checked my watch a few minutes later and knew I was going to be late if I didn't get up off the floor. With my stomach reasonably sated, I managed to exit my and Dimitri's room without waking him up. I slipped into the hallway and practically ran to relieve Serena from duty.

"Sorry I got tied up or I would have been here sooner," I said, catching up to them in a small café just outside the royal suites. Lissa was eating breakfast, just having woke up herself.

Serena gave me a curt nod before we did a quick de-brief and traded places.

"You look terrible," Lissa said suddenly as I sat beside her, scoping the area silently.

"Good Morning to you, too," I returned offensively.

Lissa studied me for a moment before sipping her coffee. "Seriously… you sure you're okay?"

"Fine," I said passively. "Eat your breakfast."

"Have you eaten?"

"No, I'm fine-" But as soon as the words were out of my mouth, Lissa had called over a waitress to grab me something to eat. "Seriously," I persisted once the girl left. "I'm fine."

Lissa ignored my comment and moments later, Adrian and Sydney joined us. Eddie trailed behind, in full Guardian mode as well.

"How's marriage?" Lissa asked happily as we made room for two more.

Sydney flushed, but Adrian just grinned. "Better than sex, though, that's good, too." It earned him a smack on the arm from Sydney, but Lissa just rolled her eyes and I laughed it off.

"How's being in charge?" Adrian returned to Lissa, engrossing her in conversation.

I knew that I should open the floor to Sydney for a conversation, but I was still trying to keep my focus on our surroundings and scope everything out so that I didn't miss anything. That, and trying to pacify my stomach, which was still not happy with me.

The waitress came back with my food and I thanked her as she left. Unfortunately, the smell of the eggs and toast wasn't sitting well with my stomach, and I pushed it to the middle of the table, further away from me.

"What's wrong?" Lissa asked, seeing my reluctance to eat. "You must be starving."

"I'm not feeling the best," I admitted. "But it's nothing – just not hungry."

"You're never sick," Lissa pointed out – thanks to my Moroi genes, it wasn't common for us to come down with anything.

"Probably just… I don't know, stress? Exhaustion? It's been hectic around here."

Not our normal hecticness, of course, but with Sydney and Adrian having come to visit with Daniella, Eddie, and Declan, Lissa had been busy with their accommodations and safety while at court – the young boy in particular, considering that he was a dhampir spawn through and through. That, and my and Dimitri's opposite schedules didn't leave a whole lot of free time. When we got home, our moments of passage were usually consumed with us consuming each other – and what little sleep we did get left us guzzling coffee to stay on high alert. It was tiresome work, but it was never done and we both loved and valued our positions too much to begin to question the absurdity that happened around here or complain. We always adapted.

"Do you need some time off?" Lissa asked.

"No! Of course not, I'm fine, seriously…" I was about to argue further when my stomach decided I wasn't pacifying it any further. I gulped back the rising bile in my throat, not wanting to do this here, in public, especially at breakfast. What the hell was wrong with me?

"You're green, little dhampir," Adrian said uneasily. "Are you sure-"

I couldn't answer him, largely because as soon as I choked back the nausea, it came back, ten-fold and I immediately got up from the table, spotting a small trash can by the mini-bar, and grabbed it, before my stomach jolted forward.

"Rose!" Lissa cried, getting up to run over to me.

Guardian's surrounded us, so realistically, I knew that Lissa was safe. A guardian that I had gotten to know very well, Sansa, was there, at Lissa's side in an instant, taking over her guard.

"I think my appetite is spoiled," Adrian said uneasily, staying at the table.

"What's wrong with her?" Sydney asked curiously.

"No idea, Sage."

When my stomach was empty – and the spectacle that I had caused faded, I felt Lissa's hand on my shoulder and I turned, my face apologetic as I faced my charge. "Liss, I'm sorry…"

"What for? For being sick? Don't be silly. You need to go rest. When did this start?"

"Just this morning – maybe I ate something bad."

"Go home and rest," she turned to face the other guardian. "Sansa will stay with me until I call for another guardian, okay?"

"I'll stay with you until one of the other guardians show up."

Lissa had a team of them, of course.

"I'm safe," Lissa laughed. "There's guardian's all around, Rose."

"I promise," Sansa said easily. "I will be here with her until someone from her guard comes. Go rest. Better yet, you may want to check in with medical."

I hesitated, but succumbed to their pleas, mainly because I felt the nausea again and groaned inwardly.

"I'll drop by later," Lissa promised. "To check on you."

I agreed and said a quick apology and goodbye to Adrian and Sydney before I retired back to my room. When I got up there, Dimitri was still asleep – rightly so, and in efforts not to wake him, I turned on the television in the small living area and kept the volume down. I squirmed out of my guardian attire and let my hair down before slipping into pajama pants and a tank-top and threw the blanket over me. I still didn't feel quite right, but as I relaxed, I felt the nausea die down quite a bit and I sipped water through-out the morning to stay hydrated.

Around mid-day, I heard Dimitri get up. He threw on his robe and went into the kitchen, bypassing our living area and doing a double take seeing me there. "Rose? Aren't you supposed to be with Lissa?"

He came into the living area and I held my hands out in defence. "Don't come too close," I warned. "I'm not feeling well."

Dimitri raised a brow, but ignored me warning and came over, sitting beside me as I made room for him. He reached out, letting a finger brush over my cheek. "What's wrong?"

"Lissa sent me home," I sighed. "I woke up and I wasn't feeling well. I got sick after I got out of the shower, but I felt okay, so I went to relieve Serena and ended up… kind of spoiling breakfast."

Dimitri pondered this, brows furrowed, for a long moment. "How are you feeling now?"

"Alright," I admitted. "A little nauseous, but nothing like this morning. Just… tired."

Dimitri kissed my cheek but frowned. "Have you been to medical?"

"No, I figured I just ate something weird."

"I ate the same as you yesterday."

I shrugged, "Maybe it just… didn't sit well with me."

"I've seen you eat everything," he chuckled. "Rest for the weekend."

"No! I can't."

"You need to rest."

"I have to go tomorrow. Lissa's counting on me."

"She will understand."

"No, this isn't up for debate."

Lissa was hosting a small party tomorrow evening to welcome Adrian, Sydney, and Eddie back to court, and I had promised I would help her set up – or well, keep her company while she ordered everyone else what to do. Queen privileges. Dimitri and I were also supposed to attend the party together, off-duty and have some good, normal fun with our friends.

"Fine, we can see how you're feeling in the morning, okay?" He reached over to grasp my hand and kiss it. "Rest. Do you want anything?"

I shook my head and laid back on the couch as he got up, going into the kitchen.

The rest of the day was uneventful. I woke up around dinner time and still felt a little off so I declined the food that Dimitri offered, but the weird part was, when he was eating, I found the smell so nauseating that I had to leave the room to settle my stomach. Lissa popped in for a few minutes later that evening while I was asleep and Dimitri promised her that I would be fine – even though he didn't know why I was sick, either.

The next morning came quickly, and Dimitri kissed my cheek, down to my jawline and to my neck, waking me up. Any other morning, I would have welcomed the intimate gesture and probably insisted that we roll around bed a little longer than time usually allowed, but this morning? I felt sick as soon as my eyes opened. I squirmed away from Dimitri and immediately grabbed the small waste bucket by my side of the bed and urged my stomach to behave.

"You're still not feeling well?" Dimitri asked, clearly alarmed. He was out of bed and by my side in an instant.

"You shouldn't see this," I said finally when my stomach seemed to soothe a little.

He responded with a chuckle, "We've been through death and back, literally. You think you being sick is going to push me away?"

There was humor there, but the way my stomach was clenching made me gag again, killing any Rose-worthy quip. Dimitri pushed my hair back, rubbing my back until finally, I felt okay enough to put the bucket back on the floor, rubbing my face. "Feel better?"

She shook her head, "Not really."

"Let's get you to the infirmary."

"I have to meet Lissa."

"Lissa is fine, Roza," he said softly. "She is perfectly capable, and you need to get better."

"I'm going," I said forcefully before getting out of bed. I got myself cleaned up and re-emerged into our bedroom as Dimitri grabbed some breakfast.

He didn't argue with me but I knew that he hoped I would change my (stubborn) mind - he was worried, I could see it in his face. I sat at the table as he handed me some scrambled eggs. I wore tight, black jeans that were ripped at the knee and a long-sleeved thermal and sick or not, I knew I looked good. "Try to eat."

I nodded and shoved some fork-fulls of egg into my mouth, happy that my stomach seemed to be receptive of them. I finished them quickly and gulped back some orange juice before getting up and kissing Dimitri's cheek as he buttered toast. "Gotta go, comrade-"

"I'm coming with you."

I barely noticed in my haste that he, too, was fully dressed and I knew he was only going to keep an eye on me. "Fine."

He ate his toast quickly before shrugging on his duster and then we both left and went down to the meeting room in silence. I felt a little better, thankfully. Lissa, Adrian, Sydney, Sonya, and Christian were already inside waiting for us, guardians around against the walls.

I joined the group of my friends that were gathered.

"How are you?" Sydney asked softly.

"Fine," I lied. "Just must have been a bug or something."

Dimitri eyed me but, then, the doors opened, and Eddie and Jill walked in. I smiled seeing them approach, hand in hand. Eddie was off duty today, too, and very absorbed in Lissa's half-sister next to him. She was a little older now, and neither made any further efforts to hide their infatuation with one another. Despite her young age, she had been through a lot and had matured very quickly.

"How's it going Castile? You and Jill finally make the leap and decide to shack up? Where will it be? Court or Maine? Half and half?"

Jill's cheeks immediately heated up and Eddie chuckled, shaking his head. "We're not all the love story that you and Belikov are," he teased back.

"You do realize moving in together is as simple as moving furniture, though, right? Not necessarily as binding as a marriage licence."

"You don't know anything about marriage licences, since you keep pushing off applying for one," Lissa teased. "It's time for us to set a date – then we can throw a real royal bash. People will come from everywhere."

Dimitri's expression was composed, and I sighed inwardly. "That's the problem."

When Dimitri looked down at me, I knew he understood entirely – though he hadn't realized that was the only reason that I had been stalling considering I joked with him all the time about our ages and status at court. Engaged or not, people liked to talk – not that it bothered me, exactly, but laying low after everything that happened seemed like the best option right now.

I looked between Lissa and Dimitri and sighed. "You want us to have a big bash, but the more people here, the more of a security risk. Do you think I can let loose and have fun with court doubled in visitors and guardians? It's too risky."

"Rose," Lissa sighed. "I'll be fine-"

"The answer is no," I said firmly. "If you want us to pick a date, I will, but only with the consolation that there won't be a 'big bash'."

"Small and intimate," Eddie smirked. "Doesn't scream Rose Hathaway to me."

"It screams safe," I retorted. "I don't need a big party. Lord knows I've had enough attention the past few years. I just… want simple."

"That rock doesn't look too simple to me, little dhampir," Adrian teased, nodding to the diamond on my hand.

"Well I can't be too boring," I joked.

"You're never boring, Roza, that's for sure," Dimitri grinned.

"Rose is right," Sonya entered the conversation. "Especially if Declan will be involved. The smaller the better."

Lissa sighed, "Fine, small and intimate. We can have it on the court grounds out back. Close friends and family only."

"So… whoever are here right now?" I teased.

"And your parents."

"My mom is probably too busy protecting the world. Plus, my dad is… well, I'm not sure. Probably off somewhere doing something he isn't supposed to."

"He's with your mother," Adrian said firmly.

"What?"

"I ran into him last week here at court, when Sydney and I first got here. He said your mother had some vacation and he was meeting her."

"Vacation?" I exclaimed. "Janine Hathaway taking a break!? That's even more shocking then them… what… meeting up?"

"Hooking up, you mean," Eddie laughed.

"Okay, okay, unless you want to start talking about your love life, please leave my parents out of this," I grimaced. "No way…"

"You saw how they were together," Lissa grinned. It occurred to me that Dimitri was holding back a grin, too. "She loves him."

"She loves being a guardian, saves a little for me when it's warranted, and that's it."

"And Abe Mazur," Lissa teased.

"Okay, okay, stop!"

Dimitri laughed, "Your mother is a woman, too, she's-"

"No, enough of this conversation. Gross."

"Didn't you see them together when you came back?"

"Yeah, my dad threatened Dimitri and my mom strongly disapproved but accepted it because she likes Dimitri. Ever since then I've only seen them separately."

"Your mother," a new voice entered. "Is very much in love with Abe. Always was."

"Alberta!" I smiled seeing her enter. "What are you doing here?"

"Extra security for your party. I had some time off and wanted to check in with all of you, so I figured you could use some extra hands here."

Dimitri nodded his welcome, and my brow furrowed. "So… my mom and dad…"

"Were together when they were about your age. For a while."

"So it wasn't some fling?"

Alberta laughed, "Why don't you ask her? She'll be here later, as well. With him."

"Why am I the only one who doesn't know this," I groaned.

"Too busy with your own romantic interludes and protecting the Queen?" Adrian offered.

I groaned and turned my attention to the people running all over the throne room, decorating and completing sound checks.

"So," Alberta said. "Engaged? That's… unsurprising. Congratulations."

Alberta hugged me and Dimitri, "Thank you, Alberta."

Everyone joined in conversation then, and Dimitri kept an eye on me the entire time to ensure that I was okay. Lissa consulted with the decorators, Dimitri and Sonya caught up with Alberta close by on who the newest trouble makers in school were (now that Lissa and I were gone), Adrian and Sydney called to check in on Declan, and I sat on the steps in the room with Eddie and Jill. It was nice to have an easy conversation, but as Lissa called me over, I got up and the motion caused a wave of dizziness to spread over me, further irritating my stomach.

"Rose?" Sonya asked, coming over to grab my arm as I stumbled – Dimitri immediately grabbing the other.

"She's probably dehydrated," Adrian supplied. "She was sick yesterday."

"And this morning," Dimitri added.

Sonya studied her aura and was glad Adrian's ability didn't surpass hers – or was nulled by the medication, because in that moment she knew that she was sitting on some sensitive information – something she had seen days prior, too. "Rose…"

"What's wrong?" I asked, sensing that Sonya knew something – my aura always gave things away to her, including my and Dimitri's romantic interlude on the way home at the hotel that awkward morning.

"Can you wait here for a moment? I'll be right back."

Sonya was in motion before I could move, and I instantly hated being left out.

Everyone went back into their normal conversations and I sat back on the steps again, by Jill, who took my hand. Eddie went over to talk with Christian and Lissa sat on the other side of me, hand rested on my knee, asking me questions about how I felt as I tried to pacify her. Dimitri looked over at me every couple of minutes to ensure I was still alive, and again, his worry was visible. Sonya was gone for about fifteen minutes before she came back. "Can we talk? In private?" Sonya asked.

I hesitated and shared a look between Dimitri and I before nodding. I followed Sonya out into the hallway, and she pulled a small bag out of her purse. "There's a bathroom down the hall."

I opened the bag, looking inside and immediately froze. "Sonya…"

"Just take it and see," she urged. "This is the only real reason you'd be sick and, well, your aura… Just humor me."

Dimitri and I had practiced safe sex ever since finding out about Declan – just to be safe, even though my spirit bond with Lissa was broken and we assumed there was no longer spirit in me. Dimitri knew how much the information of Declan's conception unnerved me, questioning the historic and biologic rules we knew and grew up with our entire lives, and pacified me when I obtained birth control – even though I had gotten a weird look from the doctor in medical. He probably thought I was cheating on Dimitri considering everyone knew we were together and couldn't get pregnant, but I wanted to ensure our bases were covered and condoms were a nuisance – as well as a little impractical considering sometimes our intimacy was… well, less than orthodox. When you had little time, you learned to get creative and Dimitri's creativity never ceased to both surprise and please me.

"I'm not infused with spirit anymore, the bond's broken –"

"You're always infused with spirit, child. Lissa saved your life, it may have broken the bond, but there's still spirit surrounding you – and Dimitri. Have you been safe?"

"Yes. I'm on the pill."

"Religiously?"

"I never miss it!"

"Just take it," Sonya said sweetly. "If you've been safe, it should be negative. I'll be right inside if you need me, okay?"

"Keep Dimitri busy," I said hesitantly before going down the hallway and finding the bathroom, disappearing inside. I locked the door before pulling the small, white stick out of the pink box and gulped, feeling my heart racing a mile a minute. I read the back of the box and took the test before setting it down on the counter, washing my hands, and looking at myself in the mirror. I had bags under my eyes – which I had attributed to sleep deprivation, and I did look paler than usual, but surely, this wasn't the cause, right? I just wasn't feeling well.

I tried to go through everything that I ate – any possibility of what could really be making me sick and finally, once the time was up, I looked back to the stick, and saw two, very prominent, pink lines. I immediately felt sick again, but this time, it was for a different reason. No, no, no, this couldn't be happening…

I sunk down on the wall, sitting against it, knees pulled to my chest, test between my fingertips, staring at those lines. Pregnant. No way. The test was faulty! I wasn't sure how long that I was in here but finally, stunned, I put the test in my pocket and managed to get enough strength up to get off the floor, just as someone knocked on the door.

"Roza? Are you okay?"

Suddenly, through my shock, hearing his voice, I felt a lump rise in my throat and tears sprung to my eyes immediately. "Fine," I said, my voice wavering.

"Can I come in?" I went over and opened the door, letting Dimitri into the small but lavish bathroom. "Are you sick again?" I wasn't sure what to say. Rose Hathaway was speechless, and my confusion and shock must have radiated on my face, because Dimitri reached out and put his hand on my arm. "Rose, what's wrong?"

I couldn't speak. My throat was dry, and I felt warm tears burn my eyes at his concerned tone. I tried to blink them away, but it was useless. Tears fell down my cheeks, alarming Dimitri further – I didn't cry. He was about to ask again when I reached down, into my pocket, producing the small, white stick and handing it to him. There was no witty remark I could currently think of as I could barely consider this reality. As I wiped my cheeks dry, Dimitri holding onto the small stick in wonder, I found my voice.

"Congratulations, comrade," I whispered, "You're going to be father."

/ I thought this would be a cute little short story! Richelle has already tainted the dhampir/dhampir procreation rule, and of course, we know that it was for Rose and Dimitri in the future, so let's play!

More to come; reviews appreciated!

~ Becca