Chapter 9:

So here we are. Sitting in Adrian's guest quarters. Adrian would sort of mediate with Randall. I was sitting next to Dimitri and he was fidgeting. I don't think I have ever seen him this nervous. Hell, I don't think I have ever seen him nervous at all.

Sydney was making tea and Declan was running around. Eddie made a nod in my direction but he had excused himself to run errands. Adrian and Sydney didn't come to court very often and when they did Eddie would make the most of his free time. Or spend it with Jill or relaxing. Right now, though I suspected he wanted to give us some privacy.

"hey Auntie Rosie, look what I got."

Declan showed me the toy car and was making car noises while 'driving' it through the air.

"Ooh. Is that a new one?"

He nodded.

"Well aren't you being spoiled."

He nodded eagerly. He had a big grin on his face. He was such a cute boy. With his big brown curls. I was wondering though how they were able to convince people that he was their son. Because he looked nothing like his parents.

"Declan, honey, come on. We are going to make some cupcakes while Daddy talks with uncle Dimitri, aunt Rose and their guest."

He was walking towards his mother when half way he turned around and walked back to Dimitri. He handed him his car with outstretched arms.

"Here uncle Dimitri. Cars always cheer me up."

I was about to cry, he was so cute. I could see Dimitri look up. He hadn't realized he was 'showing' his inner struggle.

He was actually relaxing a bit, when the bell rang. And the tension was back. Adrian opened the door and Randall walked in. I had only seen the man once and he was very drunk back then. He also seemed completely oblivious to the fact his son loathed him and simply kept up his drunk chatting. The man standing before me now, was a different man.

He seemed to have aged dramatically and the look in his eyes was one of shame instead of jolly as it was when we first met in the commune a few years ago.

Adrian directed him to the couch opposite us and I saw Dimitri's knuckles turn white with strain. His first instincts were still to simply deck his father.

When we were seated nobody knew what to say. I think a few minutes passed before he Randall finally pierced the silence.

"Adrian explained a bit about all this spirit stuff. I know what I did can never be forgiven but I want you to know how sorry I am. I loved your mother and I feel very ashamed of what I have put her through all those years because of my own weakness. Adrian explained about medication I could try. I have an appointment with the doctor in the morning."

Dimitri couldn't look at him. I knew he was processing his words, but he wasn't able to speak, so I spoke for him.

"Why didn't you leave?"

It has been bothering me since we found out he was a spirit user.

"When you felt like you were losing control, why didn't you leave?"

I repeated when he didn't respond.

"I don't think you can really judge me. You don't know what it was like. I needed to be around the people I loved or I thought I would go insane."

I was getting irritated and so was Dimitri. I knew what he was talking about. But I would have left if Dimitri hadn't been there. Dimitri could handle me both physically and mentally but otherwise I would have locked myself up.

"Actually I do know what it was like. I was under the influence of spirit darkness for years. I killed someone while under the influence. I know exactly what it does to you. And when I figured out what was happening to me, when I noticed I was losing control, I took measures to ensure I wouldn't hurt the people I loved."

I was getting upset. I stood up and was about to begin a tirade towards the man when his eyes almost bulged out of his head. His expression went from shock and irritation to outright anger.

"Who are you to lecture me about this. You betrayed my son!"

I did what now?

It was such a sudden outburst I was momentarily shocked into silence. That didn't happen very often.

"Don't deny it. I can clearly tell by your aura. And I thought you two had some sort of grand love story."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

The man was delusional. Years of spirit exposure must have really messed him up.

"You're pregnant and I know it can't be Dimitri's."

All my anger dissipated and made way for shock. Pregnant?

I looked back at Dimitri and I saw the same reflected in his eyes. All his anger towards his father momentarily forgotten and he was just staring at me. My aura, my aura showed I was pregnant.

"Adrian? Is that true?" I asked desperate to know the answer.

Adrian was speechless but shook out of his stupor and honed in on my stomach. I could see he had a hard time reading it as he was squinting his eyes. A moment later he recoiled back a smile on his face.

"Yup definitely knocked up."

This couldn't be happening.

A smile crept its way up to my face and I turned around to Dimitri, I was trying hard to resist the burning of tears behind my eyes.

He closed the few feet between us and kissed me hard. When he pulled back with the biggest goofy smile on his face. I assume I had a similar smile but it immediately turned to fear. Fear for my children.

"What are we going to do? I mean we sort of discussed it wouldn't happen and now? When? I mean, we were so careful."

Dimitri took a moment to think a about it.

"You were off birth control a week in the bunker before Nathan tattooed us. And we did have a bit of a wild night before he did."

He looked almost sheepish admitting that. We had made love all night, thinking we never had a chance again, and now it resulted in me being pregnant.

Something occurred to me then.

"The baby saved me. The baby must be immune too, just like Declan. The baby saved me when he or she was only a few cells big."

He nodded.

"The doctor did say it was weird you were suddenly seeing the tattoo as 'self'. And the immune reaction stopped."

Something else occurred to me then.

"Oh God, what if the baby was hurt because of what Nathan did?"

I saw fear across Dimitri's face as well. I turned to Adrian with my question ignoring the very confused Randall.

I saw Adrian look at my stomach again. Squinting even harder now.

"I don't know little Dhampir, It does look different from Lissa's pregnancy, but maybe because she is further along? And I don't actually know what your child would look like. I never saw Declan until the last few days of the pregnancy. I do know the colors are similar to your own though, but there is something new mixed in there."

"What the hell is going on here. Why aren't you angry?"

This question was directed at Dimitri.

Dimitri glared at his father. But I was wondering what to tell him. Would our story hold with him that Adrian was the baby's father through a fertility clinic? Will anybody actually believe us now? I mean we were kind of off the radar when we conceived.

I looked at him panicked and Dimitri sighed deeply.

"Randall, stop insulting my wife. The child in mine."

Shock came across his face and so did a bit of confusion.

"Children actually."

"What?"

"She is carrying twins, so children. Actually one of each. A boy and a girl."

I panicked again and turned to Adrian to conformation. He just shrugged.

"Sorry, little Dhampir I can't see the difference."

I sat down overwhelmed. I mean don't get me wrong, I wanted this but it was a lot to take in.

"Look son, I don't know what she told you but Dhampirs can't procreate together."

Anger crossed Dimitri's face. The look was actually quite funny combined with an eye roll. Everybody knew that.

"Don't call me son, and neither Rose or I are actually normal Dhampirs. We have known for a while it was possible for us to conceive. Your mysterious element making it possible."

Randall was just beginning to see what spirit can do. I saw he was looking at Adrian to confirm it.

"He is right uncle Randall. Dimitri is a restored Strigoi. When Lissa brought him back she infused him with spirit. It is why he could survive my father's experiment and how he was able to knock her up."

Randall finally seemed to grasp that he had insulted his son's wife with adultery while he was apologizing for years of torment of his mother. A look of horror and shame was once more plastered on his face.

"Our little Dhampir here is also something special. She was shadow-kissed, meaning died and brought back by a spirit user, then died again and broke the bound."

The way Adrian said it made my miraculous struggles for survival look like a walk in the park, but I suppose he was right in essence.

"Yes you mentioned something like that in the list spirit users can do. You yourself have a shadow-kissed bondmate, isn't that right."

"I do. But she is enjoying college somewhere."

"It is amazing what spirit can do. I am sorry Dimitri. I didn't mean to…"

Dimitri had turned from wonder about his children to outright anger again.

"No, you jumped to conclusions; you let your temper get the better of you. It doesn't matter if you are a raging drunk or not, you still have no control over your emotions and you ruined what should have been a wonderful moment with my wife."

He grabbed my hand and walked towards the door.

"Adrian, make sure he keeps his mouth shut. We will see you later."

With that he practically dragged me out the door and home. It wasn't until we reached our own room he let his rage subside. He sat on the bed and motioned me towards him. He hugged me tight and his rage was replaced by an almost goofy grin.

"I know this wasn't the way we wanted to find out but that doesn't mean I am not happy."

I smiled back. Reality was sinking in. I had no idea how to handle all of this but I knew we could do this.

"I'll be right back."

I told him. He looked at me funny but knew by now that he needed to trust me. I walked out of his arms and over to Lissa's bathroom hoping she still had one or two test lying around. She did, one left.

I grabbed it and walked back towards our own bedroom down the hall.

Dimitri kept looking at me funny when I entered the bathroom without saying something.

I unpacked the test and read the instructions. I had seen enough movies to know you had to pie on the stick but I was wondering about the timing and what would show up on the screen. After I did my business I capped the test again and walked back into our bedroom and sat down on the bed next to Dimitri.

"Dimitri, I have been feeling weird lately, so just to be sure I took one of Lissa's pregnancy tests."

Dimitri looked confused for a moment, until he realized what I was doing. I was acting out how it should have been.

"Dimitri, the test is positive" and I showed him the test. I hadn't even looked at it myself, when two spirit users tell you: you are pregnant, you are pregnant.

The test confirmed it and the smile was back on Dimitri's face. He picked me up and spun me around.

"We are going to be a family."

"Yup, little Rose and Dimitri running around."

I looked happy first and then thought better of it. A look of horror came across my face.

"Oh God a little Rose, We are doomed."

He laughed and so did I. Although I could tell both of us were a little more apprehensive after that.

So yeah, some people had already guessed what was going to happen. Not really that big of a surprise. And if you have read Wrong Fairy Tale you would have known they were twins and their names. I know I am hardly the first. I think it is an appealing idea for a lot of people to have two babies at once. My husband is actually part of a boy-girl twin, although he and his sister aren't very close. As a matter of fact we aren't really on speaking terms at the moment. So maybe it is my way of writing how a relationship between twins should look like, and for a thousand other reasons. I also noticed that published authors aren't shying away from the twin thing either. There is something romantic about siblings sharing everything including a womb. (not in a Cersei and Jaime way ;). In the sequel to both crimson power and wrong fairy tale you will see why I wanted twins. And although my own pregnancy wasn't very hard, I think I would have preferred two in one go and simply be done with it ;)