A.N: Hey Guy!!
I totally hope you are going to like this chapter I loved writing it.
If you want to see the ring go on my profile on the "Expect the unexpected" section.
Thanks to my sweet reviewers I love u guys!!
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Take care
Steffy =D
Chapter 23:
"Adrian?" I asked, totally stupidly seeing him sitting at the foot of my bed.
"It hasn't even been two weeks since you last saw me Rose," he said chuckling patting the spot beside him. "You already forgot how I look like?"
"How could I?" I said chuckling too but I couldn't be more serious.
I sat on a safe distance from him but turned toward him.
"Distance… Okay…" he said nodding but he didn't seem hurt by that. He smiled. "You know they liked you…a lot!"
"Andrei and Celia?" I asked pleased to make a good impression, it was pretty rare when you were such a wiseass.
"Yeah, they think you're the kind of girl worth fighting for… And I agree." He added moving slightly toward me. "I wanted you to see them…See that What you think I'll 'sacrifice' will be far from being the end world. It will be the exact opposite!" He added taking my hand. "Love is worth every sacrifice don't you think?"
I sighed squeezing his hand. "Adrian come on. Every time you fight for us it hurts even more. I---" I looked at his big emerald eyes full of love and concern. He needed to know my motives. Exactly why I was not fighting because it was probably the only way he would let go. "I would be ready to sacrifice it all to be with you." I finally admitted.
"All?" He asked like an incredulous child.
I smiled and nodded. "You are far more important than my guardian spot and you know it." I said kissing the hand I was holding. "I would even be ready not to see my friends anymore to be with you but," I shook my head "I will not put their own future in danger just for my happiness don't you get that?" I asked nicely.
He moved closer again and smiled brightly. "Oh, I did get that and I knew you wouldn't forgive yourself so I have it all figured it out!" He said like he had the winning argument.
"Oh you do huh?" I asked really praying for it to be true.
"Yes Ma'am!" He added, sliding even closer to me. "Well, with Lissa and Christian in Dartmouth the Queen won't have anymore power over their living arrangements and that's step one." He said winking.
"Oh, so you are the source of their admissions?" I asked really impressed but also scared of all the strings he could actually pull because if he could help, he could also destroy...scary thought.
"Well me and…well I had some help of a very influential alumni." He mumbled and I knew already not to discuss it anymore.
I smiled and nodded.
"Ok now, step two…" He said with a conspirator tone. "The guardian's assignations. I did check the rules and the laws," he said seriously and he did look like the Harvard graduates as he spoke. "Assignations cannot be changed unless the guardian or the moroi ask for it. So..." He scoot now to be completely against me. "We hide it till the moroi graduation, you get assigned to Lissa and…"
"Yeah about that…" I started as I needed to tell him that his plan was flawed as I will remove my name of the guardian listings as soon as I will have talked to Lissa.
"No, no wait. You get assigned to her and the week after we do an exchange. If both parties agree, it's done in the minute in front of a simple Moroi administrator. The Queen won't be involved and it's binding!" He said so pleased to have found the cracks in the system. "So, I've talked with Chris, Lissa and I exchange guardians and then if you really want to…" he kissed my forehead "and I wish you would, you could resign."
That's brilliant!! I thought really impressed. It could actually work!! We could be together. "Chris and Dimitri huh?" I asked chuckling.
"Well, yeah but she is the last Dragomir and she will be so, so protected! So safe and I know that's what you want almost more than anything." This time he kissed the tip of my nose. "Lissa being safe."
I kiss his lips very softly. "And then what… you would take me back?" I asked rubbing his cheek with my thumb. "After everything I said?"
He shook his head negatively. "I can't take you back silly," he said in a serious tone, "I never even let you go." He added opening the two first buttons of his shirt to show me the dog tag. "I retrieved it from the bin Rose." He said nicely. "I couldn't let go of you even when I believed you wanted Dimitri more I still wanted you I still loved you and it hurt so, so much."
"I'm sorry," I said as guilt overpowered me. "Hurting you was the last thing I wanted to do." I said sadly.
"I know that Rose, I really do know that." He said soothingly tracing my jaw line with his fingertips. "You only tried to do the right thing and I really do love you for that but then a little birdie told me that you did love me and that you broke up with me for something bigger. So I followed you to training and I heard you talk to Belikov." He shook his head "I will be grateful to this birdie for the rest of my life or I will be gone and I would have been longing for you for the rest of my life but if he was what you wanted I would have let you go." He had tears in his eyes now. "I loved you enough to let you choose who you wanted to be with without hurting you more, but when I discovered you wanted me, and that you loved me…" He shook his head vigorously "I decided to fight with all I had, I just did it intelligently" he added proudly.
"And this little birdie…" I said laughing. "Is he able to manipulate fire?" I asked winking.
"It's possible," said Adrian warily "but please don't get mad he just love you so much and he knew you would be as miserable as I would have been." He brought his hands to my hair "I need you more that anything else Rose and I know you need me to. This plan will work I'm sure of it." He added looking deep into my eyes.
"And what will happen once I resign?" I asked curiously.
"I'm glad you asked my Rose," he said with a wide grin. "You see, I'm sure now that it was fate that brought us together."
I snorted. "Fate? I thought it was my temper and your taste for cigarettes."
"Well…" He cocked his head to the side but I could read in his eyes was his love for me. "It did help but there were too many coincidences, it had to have been fate. I never should have met you and that outcome would have been worse than death! Going through life without loving you?! It's unbelievable!"
I opened the mouth to talk but he shushed me with a kiss.
"Let me explain," he said as I nodded. "You see my parents didn't want to go to the lodge for the Christmas meeting and I wanted to stay in Boston but of course once the Queen convinced them, they dragged me along. I had the excuse I was going to take an extra class but when it got cancelled, I didn't have an excuse anymore." He chuckled. "Then why did I choose to go to smoke on the rear deck huh?" He asked rhetorically. "I spent most evening doing so on the front one but there was that strange moroi girl pursuing me so I decided to smoke this one at the back and I was, for once, not too drunk so I could see your breathtaking aura. I mean Rose; it's more than coincidence right? It was just meant to be."
"Meant to be…" I just said, starting to think that maybe he was right. Maybe we were meant to be… We were meant to be all along.
"I know it will sound insane but I'm convinced now that I was born to love you and…" He hesitated to continue but when he saw my smiled he relaxed a bit. "I'm pretty sure that I knew we were meant to be the instant my eyes locked with yours. Love at first sight."
"I love you." That's all I could say. I wasn't good with words but I was pretty sure it was conveying enough.
"I know you do," he said taking a deep breath. "Now the question is…do you love me enough?" He asked and I could hear the apprehension in his voice.
"Enough for what?" I asked but I almost passed out when I saw him retrieve a small box from his pocket. "No don't --" I started but he ignored me.
"I won't pretend to be perfect as I know you don't pretend being perfect either. We both have flaws, issues and I can't swear that I will be able to shield you from every heartache but…" he glanced at the box for a second before looking back at me.
I just couldn't believe that what happening it couldn't happen! We were not ready!! He needed to know for the baby first.
"But please, you have to believe me when I say that I want you by my side. To hold your hand and treasure you from the moment I wake up, to the moment I fall back asleep with you securely in my arms. I want to hold you close to my heart for the rest of my living years and even beyond that if I have my say." He brought his hand up to cup my cheek after slowly drying the small tears that escaped my eyes. "I want to dry your tears and calm your most frightening fears, to fight your battles and show no shame to shout my love for you out loud all over the land." I kissed him slowly. "Rose, love me without fear, trust me without wondering, love me without restriction… A love like ours will be eternal. Rosemarie Elena Hathaway…will you marry me?" He asked opening the lid of the box revealing the most beautiful and insanely expensive ring I have ever seen.
I stood up and came to stand in front of him.
"Is that really what you want?" I asked seriously. "The wife? The children?" I cocked my head to the side and looked deep into his eyes. "Are you sure?"
Adrian smiled. "I can picture our family Rose" he said laughing. "I can see our children and I love them already" he said keeping his eyes on mine so I couldn't doubt him. "Look into my heart and see what I am saying, for my heart speaks the truth and the truth is I love you."
I nodded. "I need to tell you something Adrian," I said taking deep breath, "and then you'll decided if you still want to marry me." I brought my hand to his cheek. "If you ask me if I need you, the answer is forever. If you ask me if I will leave you, the answer is never, even if you change your mind. If you ask me what I value, the answer is you. If you're asking if I love you, the answer is I do."
"I can't see anything that would make me not want to spend the rest of my life with you but you go ahead," he said very sweetly.
"Well, you said you wanted it all but what if it's already in action?" I asked evasively.
He furrowed his eyebrows with confusion.
"I'm…pregnant Adrian… I'm expecting our little baby." I said holding my breath.
His eyes widened with surprise and he looked at my belly. "Pregnant? Really?" He asked looking back up to me but the wide grin on his face surprised me.
I nodded with a shy smile.
He reached for me to bring me closer in front of him. He put a hand on my hip and he rested the other one on my belly.
"Our baby… Our little creation of love." He said with so much tenderness in the voice. "A little part of you and me… The proof that we were meant to be." He added gently lifting my shirt to tenderly kiss my stomach. "I'm going to love you so much." He whispered against my belly and his warm breath made me shiver.
He then hugged me carefully, resting his cheek on my belly as I lovingly caressed his hair.
"How far along are you?" he asked and I never thought it was possible but there was even more love in his voice than before.
"Ummmm About 6 weeks based on Olendzki calculation." I said still caressing his hair.
"So…in the cabin…our love created life?" He said moving his head slightly to kiss my stomach again just a bit longer this time.
"Yeah… our first time was the time I guess." I said chuckling leaning down to look at him. I didn't think I could love him more than I did at this exact moment. "I love the sun for days, the moon for nights and you forever." I simply said.
This time he rested his hands on both my hips and started to give me butterfly kisses all over my stomach.
"Your heart and mine are forever one now." He said between kisses.
I simply chuckled. I loved to feel his joy, love and desire for this baby. I also did enjoy feeling his soft lips on my skin.
Suddenly his hands slightly tightened on my hips and his lips stayed frozen on my skin.
"What's up?" I asked surprised.
He very softly push me away still keeping his hands on my hips but I guess he wanted to have a good look at my face.
"When did you find out about the baby Rose?" He asked his eyes slightly narrowed.
I mentally cringed. I knew only too well where he was going with that. "The day after the Ball."
"Ok so…about 2 weeks ago?" He said still looking at me but there was some sadness in his voice now. "I get it now! Why you didn't want to train with Chris anymore," he said lost in his thought. "You were trying to keep the baby safe." I nodded.
Adrian stood up and brought his hands to my cheeks in order to have a good look at my eyes. "I know you'll be honest… Did you even intend to tell me about the baby?" He asked but I perfectly knew that he already had the answer to that.
"No I didn't," I said in a breath "but I intended to give this baby the best life ever with all the love I had." I added quickly.
"That's not the point." He said still calm, but I could hear the underlying anger in his voice. "Don't you think I had the right to know?" He asked rhetorically.
"Of course but…" I blushed slightly under the discomfort. "At the Ball, I thought we agreed you needed to move on and I didn't want to add the baby to your worries as I thought it wouldn't change anything anyways as it was not your will to be away from me… It was the circumstances that was keeping us away." I rested my hands on his waist as he still had my face secured in his. "And you know Dhampirs women have babies with moroi all the time and it's never a big deal…" I shrugged slightly.
"Not a big deal?!" He said stunned and the anger was even more present in his voice. "You are not any dhampir, you are my Rose! And…" he shook is head. "I'm not any moroi. I'm Adrian the man who is desperately in love with you and who want nothing more than spend the rest of his life to make you happy."
"I'm sorry…" I said, as I didn't know what to add to that. "I truly believed I was doing right by you and everyone else." I added as I truly believed that.
"My Rose…my silly 'miss sacrifice' !" He said shaking his head with reprobation. "You know I'm angry with the Queen for trying to take my heart away from me but now…I'm simply infuriated as she almost took all my dreams away!"
"I know it won't make it better but I would have, and still will, love that baby with everything I have! It will have been the most precious thing in my life." I said with conviction.
He finally let go of my face and pulled me with him on the bed making me sit on his lap, cradling me against his chest.
"I know this baby is just blessed to have you as a mother no matter what the situation is." He said kissing the top of my head. "I can't believed I could have missed this pregnancy, seeing you glowing as our baby will grow inside of you." He held me tighter.
"Yeah and the mood swings and cravings!" I said trying to lighten the mood. "I'm already totally unbalanced. Consider yourself warned," I said looking up to him with all the love I felt.
He laughed his throaty laugh that I loved with every fiber of my being. "I can't wait to live it all. I wouldn't want it any other way." He said looking back at me lovingly.
"So you say that now!" I said with a wink not able to muffle a small yawn.
He sighed and put me back on my feet reluctantly.
He stood up and looked at me for a couple of second. "You need your sleep my Rose but I'll see you in the morning," he said, kissing me tenderly.
I looked at him as he slowly walked to the door and it was just too painful to be separated. Now that I knew we had a way out, I couldn't stand to see him walk out the door, not tonight at least.
"Adrian?" I tried.
"Yeah?" He said expectantly turning around.
"You know, I have the room all to myself and I have a pretty big bed…" I shrugged. "Would you like to sleep with me tonight?" I asked.
Adrian sighted with relief. "Geez I thought you'd never ask!" He said quickly reaching for the closet taking out his travel bag. "I don't even have a room!"
I burst into laugher. "It was your plan all along?!" I said really impressed by his confidence.
"Well," he shrugged. "I hoped that you needed me just as much as I needed you and then once we did discuss a solution you wouldn't want to be away from me anymore."
I smiled and walked to him. I stood on my tiptoes to kiss his lips softly. "You are perfectly right."
"Well, let me clean up and I'll be with you in no time." I said pointing to the bathroom.
"Maybe we could share." He said encircling my waist lovingly.
I thought about it for a second. "Why not…" I said dismissively bringing my hands on top of his.
"After you," he said kissing my neck.
We stepped into bed about 15 minutes later and being securely in his arms, my head on his chest listening to his calm and slow heart beat I felt like I was living again.
"I missed being in your arms." I said while caressing the side of his chest with my fingertips.
"I know what you mean. I missed waking up and seeing your beautiful face each time I opened my eyes." He added tightening his embrace. "And those PJs…I don't know how I could live without them!" he said chuckling.
"I know right…" I said chucking too. "It's a present from Christian." In fact Christian bought me the summer version of the pink flannel flying rabbit PJ I wore while I was staying with him. It had cotton large bottom and a tank top baby pink of course with the same pattern.
"Wait!" He said releasing me.
"No stay here!" I whined, "I thought you missed me!" I said pouting falling back on the pillow.
He came back almost straight away and sat on the bed.
"You didn't give me your answer Rose Hathaway," he said opening the lip of the ring again. "Will you marry me?" He asked looking at me expectant.
"If it's really want you want then yeah Adrian Ivashkov…I would love to be your wife." I said as he slid the ring on my fourth finger before kissing my hand.
"Thank you," he said with emotion.
I smiled and kissed him. "Come back to bed." I said moving slightly.
He jumped on the bed making me laugh. I lay on his chest again looking at the ring.
"Don't you like it?" He asked thoughtful. "We can change it if you want."
"Oh no, no!" I said quickly. "It's perfect. It's the most beautiful, refined ring I have ever seen but when I see the size of the diamond… It's just crazy!" I kissed his chest. "Probably cost a fortune and what saddens me the most is that I won't be able to wear it for one more week when I want to shout to the world that I'm yours."
"I can't wait either… I'm so proud you chose me and that you're going to give me a family" he said gently caressing my back.
"Now the question is how the others are going to react to our plan," I said starting to slowly drifting into sleep.
"They'll be thrilled Rose" he said calmly.
"Yeah, I'm sure Dimitri is going to love the idea…" I said drifting even more into sleep. Nothing could go wrong now that I was with the man I loved.
"He apologized to me." Said Adrian softly but I was too well to move.
"He did?" I asked sleepily.
"Yeah he did but sleep my heart, my love. We'll talk tomorrow." He kissed the top of my head and tightened his embrace. "Now that I have you back my Rose, securely in my arms, I will never let you go again."
"That's good," I mumbled. "Since I don't plan to go anywhere."
He started to sing softly to me what I recognized as being Lullaby by the Spill Canvas.
I was fast asleep before the second verse.