RPOV
The sand was so soft between under my feet. It was cool and relaxing. Actually, I was completely relaxed ever since I got here. I wasn't too far from the cabin. It had been a year since we've been here in our little hide away, a former FBI safe house and I still couldn't get used to the view or the smell of the ocean.
It was always so beautiful after a storm.
I relaxed and breathed, sloshing my feet in the light waves.
I jumped, surprised, by the familiar embrace of Dimitri's arms around my waist.
He ran his hands along my skin and over the cotton nightgown Victoria had bought me so many months ago.
"You should be in bed," he murmured into my hair, his lips brushing along my skin.
"If I sleep any more, I'll be dead," I joked.
He stiffened at that but relaxed when I turned over in his arms, locking my hands in his hair. He wore it a little shorter but it still had that silky feel.
"It's been a year. Relax. Don't be so tense and over protective."
"Rose, I almost lost you once. That's not going to happen again," he said seriously. I leaned up on my toes and kissed him once on the lips.
"What was that for?"
"I need a reason to kiss my husband?" I asked laughing.
"Of course not."
"I just love you," I told him pecking him on the cheek again.
"I love you too."
I leaned against him and we watched the waves push and pull against the sand, remembering Dimitri's proposal and our wedding.
I rolled over on the wide bed of the cabin, the cool air from the beach blowing from the window against my bare-back. My feet were tangled in the sheets along with Dimitri's long legs. It's been a week since he got here and we've been all over each other.
I couldn't stop hugging or kissing him whenever he was around or he couldn't stop just holding on to or touching me.
I scooted over, landing on Dimitri's chest. He gave out a light 'oomph' from the surprise of my weight. His arms embraced me, hugging me close to his bare chest and I felt his lips kiss me lightly on my forehead.
"I don't think I'll ever get over how much I've missed you," he whispered.
"Me either."
He ran a hand along side my stomach where I was bandaged.
"This entire year has really opened my eyes," he murmured.
"You sound like a woman in a chick flick," I giggled. "Dimitri Belikov you are a true romantic."
He squeezed me tightly and sat up in bed pulling on clothes.
"If that's true then you'll love this. Come with me."
"Where?" I asked excitedly.
"You'll see just come on."
I hopped out of bed, the clink of our necklaces and of my charm bracelet the only sound in the room. I pulled on a sundress I had been wearing and Dimitri pulled me out of the room and out of the cabin both of us bare foot, Dimitri shirtless.
He stood me in the sand a few feet from the bluff that surrounded the cabin. There were rocks in the sand surrounded by candles in a weird arrangement.
"Did you do this? When did you do this?"
He only chuckled and lit the candles, illuminating the shapes the rocks were in.
I gasped and brought my hands to my face.
Marry me Roza, it read.
"Will you?" he asked pulling me close to him.
In his hands in front of me he opened the clasp of two shells and revealed a ring. It glimmered and sparkled, little petals engraves at the sides of the three diamonds. On the inside was engraved, always.
"Of course I will!"
I jumped into his arms then and he caught me, both of us falling to the ground. He slipped the ring on my finger while I laid on top of him. "It's beautiful," I murmured.
"It's a family ring. I'm actually the first one in my family to get married since my grandmother so it means a lot. They thought it would be only fitting for you to wear it."
Tears swelled in my eyes and I smiled bringing my lips down on Dimitri's.
The next day Dimitri found a minister to marry us right on the beach.
"What about our friends and family?" I asked. It was the first time I had been able to use those two words in a while.
"They said they're planning a party for us whenever we decided to come back to reality and we'll invite them to our vowel renewal. Christian even said he'd be happy to walk you down the aisle," Dimitri comforted. He was outside of the bedroom door. I was leaning against the other side crying.
"Rose…"
I sobbed and wiped my face.
"I'm here. I'm just scared…so much change. But this is good change. You and I are soul mates."
"Always my Roza," he said against the door. We were enacting the not seeing each other before the wedding.
"And Forever."
I knew he smiled then and I felt better. I was ready.
I cleaned my self up and traded my silk robe for my wedding dress, a simple white dress that hung low to the floor and off my shoulders, the lace sleeves encasing my arms and hands and the body tied back at the waist.
I pulled my hair back loose and low at my neck, the curls framing my face and even accenting my scars. I wore the necklace Dimitri and I both wore and a pair of heels.
I was ready.
Somewhere in the background, as I was walking down the path to the beach where Dimitri and the minister waited, there was background romantic music playing but the sound of the waves and the breeze was enough.
I was given the pleasure of seeing Dimitri's eyes widen and then soften at the sight of my arrival. He took my hand the rest of the way and we stood before the minister, ready to be married. The best part was that it wasn't just a marriage it was a promise ceremony and I didn't want to married or promised to anyone except Dimitri.
When the minister finished we thanked him and embraced on the beach. Our wedding night and the honeymoon followed for how many days, I lost count.
I just knew I was the happiest I'd ever been and I was finally with someone who love me as I loved them.
Dimitri ran a finger over the rings we were, his was engraved with forever and it shone in the moonlight, pulling me out of my reverie.
"Come on, let's go inside," he coxed, pulling me off of the sand.
"Yeah, we shouldn't leave the baby for too long."
Sometime during our long honeymoon I had actually gotten pregnant and low and behold, nine months later, we had a baby boy, Jensen, we named him.
We treaded into the house and stood over the crib beside our bed.
He had a full head of curly brown hair and thick cheeks.
Dimitri tucked the blankets tighter around him and kissed him on the cheek.
After I gave him my own kiss he pulled me back to the bed and laid me down beside him.
"You had a baby less than a months ago. You should be in bed."
"Okay, okay," I whispered. "Don't be so pushy," I giggled.
He laughed softly puling me against him.
Giving birth was the hardest thing I ever had to do. I remember even now the pain but I made I through with Dimitri by my side.
We had called a doctor and a few nurses to help deliver our baby at home but at the time I had wished we'd gone to the hospital where all of the marvelous medical drugs were.
"I can't do it!" I shouted. I was sweating and crying like crazy. My hair and the cotton dress I was wearing clung to my skin.
"Roza, I'm here. You can just breathe. I'm right here," Dimitri soothed. He pushed my hair back away from my face and ran kisses along my forehead and hands.
"W-what if something's wrong?" I cried.
"We'll get through it together. Me and you," he promised.
Obviously everything turned out okay because now it was me, him and our little Jensen.
We were happy.
Things were calm.
We had each other.
It was new beginning, a fresh start.
Eventually Dimitri would have to stop working from home and we'd have to go back into the city but for now, things were fine and they would stay that way.
The day that followed was the same as any other. Dimitri was working in the home office and I was rocking in the chair in the living room reading one of those young adult novels about vampires and guardians.
Someone knocked on the door, most likely the mailman. Dimitri came out to get the door so I could still relax.
"Good book?" he asked laughing.
"A page turner. What's really weird is that the characters have the same names as we do."
"Hmm," he said shrugging his shoulders.
He opened the front door and Dimitri actually gasped. I tossed my book to the side and checked on Jensen, sleeping in his basinet near the chair before going near him.
When I saw who was at the door my entire world shifted.
"What the hell are you doing here? How did you find us?" Dimitri shouted at my mother.
She looked aged beyond her years and haggard but she still looked the same in certain ways. "I was married to the most notorious mob boss in the world. I learned how to track people," she smiled. She didn't look like the weak woman I had known as a teenager. She looked different. Maybe stronger.
"Get out! Go!" Dimitri shouted.
"I came to see my daughter," she said.
I was so stunned I hadn't really moved. I didn't know how to react.
"Your daughter? You didn't want her as your daughter growing up and now you suddenly want to play good mother? No. Rose is a lot better off without you," Dimitri told her.
She didn't falter.
She had to have guessed such a reunion.
I was curious though. I stepped from around Dimitri and saw my mother in full view. She looked me over the way…the way a mother would and smiled slightly.
"Hello Rose. You look…well."
"I am."
We stood in an awkward silence, Dimitri shooting me warning glares but I ignored them, patting his arm.
"Come in."
She seemed surprised and didn't hesitate. She stood in the living room of the large cabin and looked around.
"You're much well off than before."
I just nodded and moved to where Jensen was, blocking his bed with my body, form view.
"I'm glad."
"What do you want Janine?" Dimitri asked leaning against the doorframe of the front door.
She sighed and sat on the edge of the couch ignoring the evil glare Dimitri was giving her.
"I had to know."
"Know what?" I asked.
"That you were alive and well. There was a lot of talk on the streets about whether or not you survived; about what happened the day I supposed Dimitri arrested your father but I to know for sure."
"Why?"
She looked down at her hands and her feet.
"I haven't been the best mother," she laughed briefly.
"No kidding," Dimitri muttered. I gave him a glare.
"I'm the worlds worst mother but…after I escaped your father, when I realized he was a changed man, he was going to kill me, I had sort of an epiphany and I realized that all of those years I had a daughter I treated her like garbage."
"Worse than that."
"Dimitri!" I hissed.
I rolled his eyes and slammed the front door. He came to stand beside me, also blocking the crib from view.
"I deserve that. I deserve a lot worse-"
"You deserve to be arrested," Dimitri muttered.
"Yes I do. And if you're going to, fine but I just wanted to see my only daughter…I had to say…sorry. That's not enough of course but…"
I relaxed my shoulders, tensed since she walked in.
"It's a start."
I had tried to help my mom so many times and she shut me down and even pushed me away but if this really was a fresh start then…I had to learn to forgive and forget. As for my father and all of his henchmen I would never forgive but I could forget if I tried hard enough.
Dimitri looked down at me, reading my face and staring into my eyes and he saw the change within me.
"Tying up the rest of our loose ends," he murmured. I nodded and he sighed so heavily I thought the house shook.
"As far as I'm concerned, the statue of limitations for certain crimes committed is far gone. I'm not going to be the one to arrest you," he told my mom calmly, the earlier hostility in his voice. "I don't like that you're here but…I won't stop Rose from trying to be any more happy than she already is."
I grabbed his hand and squeezed.
"If you hurt her though-"
"I won't. Honest. Clean slate," Janine said.
We all nodded and stood for a moment in thick awkwardness. It was a few moments before Janine smiled.
"So…I have a grand child?"
Dimitri and I glance at one another.
He sighed and we moved apart, revealing the crib behind us.
Slowly she came toward it, Dimitri reluctantly moving away.
"He's beautiful. Can I hold him?"
A few moments passed before I nodded and lifted Jensen into her arms.
She rocked and held him in a way I could have never guessed she was capable. She took to him quickly.
"I'm glad you're giving me this chance," she told us.
"Clean slate mom," I said. "It doesn't mean I forgive you but…it's a start."
"I'm just happy I can be apart of my grandchild life and…yours?" she asked unsure.
"Yeah."
After she left, promising, after asking, to come and visit Jensen as often as possible and make up for time Dimitri and I relax on the couch, staring into nothingness.
"I would have never guessed that this is how my life would turn out," I told him snuggling against his chest.
"Me either but I'm glad I ended up with you beside me."
"Me too."
"I'm happy," he smiled, kissing me on the nose. I ran my hand along his and clasped his fingers.
"Happy…at last," I smiled.
A/N: Thanks for all of the reviews and followers! It really made my day to come home and see new messages and reviews on my page. I'm sorry for the weird spacing between updating. I'm glad everyone liked the plot and I am also apologizing for grammar/spelling errors. I love writing but spelling isn't exactly my thing.
I was going to add more to the story but I decided it would be best to let Rose and Dimitri have their happening and maybe I'll cause problems for them in a new story. Again, THANK YOU all so much.