Hey I hope you guys like this chapter, I am happy I have finally gotten through a lot small details that lead up to the main plot and thank you for sticking with me. I hope that you will continue to read Nightmare to a Dream and leaving any feedback or comments. Feel free to leave suggestions, although I may not use them I would like to see where you guys would hope for the story to go even though I already know where it is headed.
Thanks again for all the comments.
Although these characters rock they come from Richelle Mead not myself.
"Hey, welcome back" Adrian said holding my hand in his.
"Hey" I croaked, bringing my hand to my sore neck. I was about to ask Adrian where we were when Dr. Olendzki walked in causing my memories to flood back. I was walking back to my dorm after a session with Alberta, so I could shower and grab breakfast when a sudden wave of nausea hit me. I knew what it meant, Strigoi were near but before I could see them they were attacking. There were four, three men and a woman and I seemed to be their only target. I scanned the group quickly to see if Dimitri was amongst them, I should have known what he said in my dream meant something. But he was no where to be seen, I immediately thought of Adrian. I never had the strongest faith, but at this moment I was praying to God that he was safe. One of the males charged at me, since I was just walking back from practice I still had my stake and I put it to good use bringing it down piercing his heart watching his body crumble to the ground. The next one grabbed me by the waist bringing me up slamming my body to the ground. I quickly recovered jumping to my feet when another one of the males charged. I quickly kicked him in the chest throwing him ten feet away. While he attempted to recover I moved to the woman she landed a punch to my cheek but she over extended her arm a common mistake I seen in many of my students. I quickly took advantage of her mistake slamming my arm down on hers, breaking it then I slammed the stake into her chest. The two remaining guys came at me at the same time. By now I was breathing heavily trying to keep my body moving. I moved out of the way coming up behind one of them staking him quickly. I was surprised by their lack of coordination and fighting skills but at this point it was keeping me alive.
"I heard you were a decent fighter" the only remaining Strigoi hissed at me getting into his fighting stance.
"To bad you won't be able to make it back to agree with whoever told you that" I said lunging at him. I punched him in the side, when he grabbed my hand twisting it behind my back. I was able to snake my leg around knocking him of balance enough for him to release my arms. With my back toward him he brought his hand down slamming my shoulder. I quickly re bounded swinging my body around to face him, then brought my leg up to kick him. It seemed he was ready for the move and grabbed my leg yanking me forward. I lost my balance my head slamming the ground, before I knew it he was on top of me. His hands went around my neck and he started to choked the life out of me. Using my hands I tried to pry his hands off when I realized it wasn't working, I tried to kick my legs up to get him to loosen his hold. But after two hours of fighting with Alberta and killing three other Strigoi I was warn out. Darkness started to fill my eyes.
"To bad I won't be able to kill you myself" he said leaning close to my face. My eyes blurred and faded out completely. I felt a release on my neck but felt a sudden jolt of pain in my leg. I could faintly here a fight before my hearing faded out completely.
"Rose" Adrian said loudly trying to bring my attention back.
"Sorry" I said trying to give him a reassuring smile. He looked tired like he had been up all night and his eyes were rimmed red. I had never seen Adrian cry and if he was it must have been pretty bad.
"You are ok?" I asked bringing my hand up to his face while my eyes examined his body.
He looked at me like I was still out of it "Little Dhampir you were the one attacked, why would you be worried about me?" he asked cupping my hand to his cheek.
"Something Dimitri said in the dream. Was there any other attacks at the school? How did they get in?" I asked taking a deep breath in, causing me to flinch from the pain in my chest.
"You should rest we can talk about that stuff later, but I will tell you nobody else was harmed. Albert had a few cuts and bruises from fighting the Strigoi that was on top of you" he said taking the hand from his cheek bringing it down to hold in between his hands.
"How long have I been out?" I asked looking at Adrian and Dr. Olendzki realizing she had remained quiet while I was questioning Adrian. Adrian didn't seem to want to answer so the doctor proceeded. "Rose, you were brought here five days ago. You had some significant injuries, you slipped into a coma because of the brain swelling" she said moving toward the side of my bed to talk.
"Why didn't Lissa heal me?" I asked turning to Adrian "or you" I added. I knew he wasn't the strongest healer but over the last six months I had noticed a lot of improvement.
"She attempted to, but it seems your body was rejecting her" he said rubbing small circles on my hand, he always did this to calm me. "I tried as well and had the same result" he said looking down, I could see disappointment on his face like he had failed me.
"Hey, it's not your fault" I said tugging on his hand so he would look at me.
He gave me a small smile then continued "we are not sure why it wouldn't work but Dr. Olendzki said you were in stable condition and it was best that we not try unless it became necessary" he said.
"There are a few things that I need to speak to Rose about privately. So if you don't mind stepping out Lord Ivashkov" Dr. Olendzki said. The seriousness of her voice was freaking me out, but I tried to remain calm. Adrian started to get up when I grabbed his hand.
"It is ok for him to stay, if you want to" I said looking up at him.
Dr. Olendzki looked a little worried when Adrian retook his seat.
"If that is what you want" she said shifting from one foot to the other. I felt like she was trying to get me to make him leave but I didn't want to be without him. I had spent the last five days in darkness and he was my light.
"Well like I told you, you had some brain swelling that has gone down dramatically the last twenty-four hours, you also had a fractured tibia that has been placed in a cast. You will have to use crutches for a couple of months. Maybe Lissa can attempt to heal your leg again at a later time. You had quiet a few cuts and bruises, but those are healing up well on their own. I know this may seem strange but I need to know when your last period was" she said catching me off guard.
"What, why?" I asked wondering how we went from cut and bruises to my period.
She took a step closer to the bed glancing at Adrian and back to me. "When you were brought in we ran a lot of test to check how badly you were injured. During the ultrasound we picked up an fetal heartbeat. Now I need you to try and remember when your last period was" she said.
My eyes were locked on hers in shock, I couldn't bring myself to look at Adrian. I was freaking out on the inside I couldn't imagine what he was feeling. I felt like I was going to be sick. Then he pulled his hand from mine causing my stomach to drop from the loss of contact. I debated on whether to look to see if he was leaving. When I felt a light pressure on my stomach. The hand that was holding mine was now lightly positioned over the hospital gown. The look on his face was love and amazement. His strength seemed to be filling me. I took my hand and placed it over his. He looked away from my stomach and looked at me trying to calm me with his smile.
"Is our baby ok?" he asked without looking away from me. The way he was already referring to the baby as ours warmed my heart but also made me want to vomit again. I was only eighteen I graduated a few months ago. I was stuck between happiness and the brink of breakdown. I looked away from him to look at the doctor waiting to hear her answer.
"Well that is why I was asking about your last period. We can determine where the heart rate should be based on how old the fetus is" she said staring at Adrian and my hand that was still on my stomach protectively.
"Umm I can't remember the exact day, but it has been kind of irregular the last year or so because of all of the training and the last few months from the stress. Just give me a second, I will remember" I said closing my eyes trying to think. "I think it was a couple of months ago maybe three or four, but like I said it has been really irregular lately" I said annoyed that I may have been pregnant for three months and not even know.
"Well the baby's heart rate was in the one sixties, based on that I am going to say that you are closer to three months pregnant. I am going to want to do another ultrasound to make sure everything is still ok. If you don't have any questions I am going to grab the ultrasound machine and I will be back in a few minutes" she said taking a step toward the door. We both just gave her a silent nod. I had now clue what to ask I was still trying to wrap my head around being pregnant. As soon as she was out of the door Adrian turned toward me.
"You had me so worried, I don't know what I would have done if anything would have happened to you" he said sighing like he had been holding his breathe for the last five days. "And then when Lissa and I couldn't heal you, I thought I was going to go crazy" he said sitting down on the side of the bed bringing his forehead to mine.
"I don't plan on going anywhere" I said cupping his face with my hands bringing his lips to mine. I needed to feel him, to feel like everything would be ok.
He pulled away, bringing his face down to my neck. "Gosh Rose I have been so worried. I tried to get into your dreams but it was just black" he sobbed into my neck. I brought my arms up careful not to pull the iv's out and hugged him tightly. "When was the last time you ate, slept, or left this room" I asked holding him to my chest.
"I am going to say two days ago, hasn't, and rarely" Lissa said pushing the door open. Following her in was Christian, and Eddy.
"Hey" I said smiling up at her. She walked to the side of the bed that Adrian wasn't on and kissed my cheek. "You had us all worried" she said sadness feeling her voice and the bond.
"I am sorry I couldn't heal you, I don't know what is going on. It just wouldn't work with you but it worked fine with Alberta. I don't know what is wrong with me" she sent through the bond. "It is not your fault and I won't let you blame yourself for it" I said watching Adrian sit up to look at me like I was crazy before he realized I was speaking to Lissa through the bond.
We sat and talked for a few minutes until Dr. Olendzki came back with the ultrasound machine. "Is everything ok?" Lissa asked looking at the machine. I wasn't ready to start telling people about the baby until I knew it was ok.
"Yeah they just want to do a few more test to make sure everything is ok" I said hoping Adrian and Dr. Olendzki would catch on that I didn't want to tell anyone yet. Clearly they did when she asked them to step out and told them to return in a hour when all the test would be done.
"Lissa will you make sure my mom knows I am ok, and make sure she calls my dad" I asked her before she walked out.
"Yeah I think she is with your dad now, I will see if I can find them" she said walking out of the door pulling it closed.
"My dad" I said wondering why he would be at the academy. The last six months we had grown closer but he hadn't mentioned coming to my school.
"He came when he heard you had been hurt. He is as scary as they say he is. It was not fun meeting your dad when you were passed out in a coma either, he looked at me like he wanted to kill me" he said smiling before scooting off of the bed so he could see the ultrasound machine. "Yeah he is defiantly going to kill me when he finds out about this" he said grabbing my hand to intertwine our fingers.
"No he won't because I will damned if I am going to raise our baby alone" I said giving him a quick kiss.
After squirting some extremely cold gel onto my stomach Dr. Olendzki used a wand and started to move it around my stomach. "Breath" Adrian whispered into my ear. I couldn't help it, as short as I had known about the baby I already loved it.
Then she stopped, turned the volume up and we got to hear our baby's heart beat for the first time. She started to move it around and pointed out the baby. It was tiny and I couldn't make much out, but it was our baby. Adrian gave my hand a squeeze when she pointed out the heartbeat, I tore my eyes from the image to look at him tears filled his eyes as he watched out babies heartbeat. She printed off a couple of pictures adding captions above them like I love my mommy and daddy and hi. Adrian and I laughed while she wiped the goo off of my stomach. We discussed prenatal vitamins, which she said she would have to order since nobody usually got pregnant at the academy. Then told me to take it easy so I could continue to heal and not put any stress on the baby. She said she would see me later and left the room.
"Well I guess that explains the hunger, being tired all the time and feeling sick. Oh and don't forget the emotions. Man I should have known when I couldn't stop crying" I said looking at the picture of our baby, amazed that something so small could cause so many changes. Adrian laughed at my outburst.
"I think it is a girl" Adrian said holding the ultrasound picture.
"Why would you say that? You can't see anything yet" I said staring at the picture squinting my eyes like it would help.
"I guess it is more wishful thinking, a little girl that looks just like you would make me the happiest man in the world" he said moving closer to my stomach. I hadn't pulled the gown back down so my bare belly was still showing. With the amount of exercise that I did daily it was still extremely flat, but I knew that would be changing since there would be no more training plus I was on crutches so that eliminated even running.
"Hi little baby dhampir" Adrian said to my belly. I couldn't help but laugh.
"What are you doing?" I asked watching him lightly touch my stomach and talk to it. "I am making sure our baby knows my voice" he said smiling at me before retuning his attention to my stomach.
I sat there and watched him with amazement. A year ago I couldn't imagine Adrian with a baby, although he was really attentive and caring with Jill when they were at Court. But the way he touched my stomach so gentle afraid he would hurt me or the baby, the way his voice was filled with love for something we just found out about. There was no question whether he was going to be in this baby's life. I rested my eyes while he continued to talk to the baby about how wonderful I was, if I wasn't so tired and my brain running a hundred miles an hour over what we had found out the last hour I would have been objecting.
There was a light knock on the door, Adrian shifted away from my stomach and pulled the hospital gown down to cover it. Then moved toward the door and opened it. My mom walked in having her usual no emotions mask on, which was disappointing. I know I sound petty but it would have been nice for her to show a little bit of emotion or concern. My dad followed her in walking around her to come to my bed side. It was still weird thinking that he was my dad, he always looked tough but tonight I could tell he had been worried.
"Rose, how are you feeling?" he said while inspecting my body. Adrian moved away from the door and retook his seat next to me. My mom continued to stand at the end of the bed, her body tense her face angry. It was starting to bother me, if she had come to yell at me for being attacked she could just leave. I wasn't in the mood to be yelled at or slapped. Pulling my eyes from her I looked at Abe.
"I am feeling ok, a little bit of pain but other than that good" I said trying to give him a reassuring smile and ignore Adrian's tense body when I said I was in pain. I was sure Dr. Olendzki had held off on all the strong painkillers for the baby's sake and I was grateful for that but my head was throbbing.
"I can speak to your doctor about giving you something stronger, there is no reason for you to be in pain. I am sure they can afford some decent pain medication with the amount of money I donate to this school" he said looking toward the door like he was about to go find my doctor right then.
"No really it's ok, it is not that bad" I said. I knew I was going to have to tell them about the baby. Maybe being almost killed and laying in a hospital bed would help calm their anger. But me lying in a hospital bed would not help Adrian any.
"Rose don't be stubborn just get the pain medication" my mother barked at me not bothering to be nice about it.
"I said I was fine, now if you are just here to be rude and yell at me you can leave. I don't know why you would be mad at me, I get attacked inside the school gates and almost got killed. But I am sure you can find some reason why that is my fault" I yelled at her. My head was pounding so bad my eyes were starting to blur.
Adrian quickly stood and grabbed my hand "Rose" he said softly trying to break my death stare at my mother. When I didn't look at him he squeezed my hand and said it louder. I looked at him the anger still smoldering I could feel it inside my chest ready to combust, but when I looked at him it started to defuse itself.
He moved his face closer to mine, "I need you to calm down ok. The anger is not healthy for you or the" he shifted his eyes to my stomach and back up to my eyes. When he mentioned the baby the rest of the anger dissolved. I was not going to let my mother issues affect our baby. My mother and father stood there watching us, neither one of them saying anything. Turning my body away from Adrian's I looked up at my dad "I am happy you came, but my head is really bothering me. Will you still be here tomorrow?" I asked hoping he would say yes. I missed him and wanted to tell him about the baby just not tonight.
"Of course I will be here until you get out of the hospital maybe a few days after. But I will leave you tonight so you can rest" he said bending down to kiss my forehead. "I take it you will be staying with her again tonight?" he asked staring at Adrian.
"Yes sir" Adrian responded looking away from me to meet my dad's eyes. "Ok, you have my number call me if anything changes or if she needs anything" he said before turning and walking out of the room.
"I think it is best if you go too" I said to my mom, wishing she would just leave and not argue with me anymore. And I got my wish, she turned and walked out of the room without saying another word. I sat in silence staring at the door.
"Are you really sleeping in here tonight?" I asked not wanting him to leave me. I knew he was tired and sleeping in our bed would be better but I couldn't be without him.
"Of course, now go to sleep and rest" he said standing to kiss me then turned the lights off. I heard him settle back into the chair next to my bed.
"Adrian you can share the bed with me" I said into the darkness.
"You need your sleep and that bed is not big enough for you to be comfortable with me in it" he said.
"The bed is the same size as the one in my old dorm, now stop arguing with the mother of you child and get up here. I need to feel your arms wrapped around me" I said shifting my body to one side of the bed toward the iv pole. I heard him sigh and then his shoes fall to the floor. The bed shifted with his weight, he keep asking if he was taking to much room and kept shifting to the edge. "Stop scooting over or you are going to fall off the bed" I said taking the iv free arm pulling his body back to mine. The iv made it difficult but I was able to get enough slack in the line to turn my body toward his, burying my head into the crock of his neck.
"I love you more than words could say" I said kissing his neck before laying my head down.
"Little Dhampir you have made me the happiest man in the world with your love and with the gift of this child" he said placing my hand over his heart while putting his hand on my stomach.
"Will you love me when I get fat, emotional, and cranky?" I asked.
"Such a silly question Rose, you will not be fat but pregnant, you know I love your emotions, your smile is what gets me through the day, your laugh rings in my ears when I am away from you, your attitude is one of many reasons why I feel in love with you. Your tears break my heart but have made you stronger. And you my dear have your cranky moments even when not pregnant and I am still here. I love you, don't ever doubt that or I am clearly doing something wrong" he said kissing the top of my head. "Now go to sleep, I will see you on the beach" he said chuckling.
For the first night in the last five nights the darkness faded and the sun brightened the sky. Even in dream mode I felt exhausted, we were laying on the beach Adrian thought it would be funny to put me in a tiny black two piece. I realized his motive when he laid his hand on my stomach, he didn't seem like he could put them anywhere else.
I closed my eyes feeling the sun warm my whole body while Adrian's fingers made trails up and down my stomach. I listened to him talk and even sing to my stomach, I had never heard him sing but it was beautiful and soon I felt myself drift further into the dream to complete rest.
Every few hours I was pulled out of the dream when the nurse would come in and check my vitals and make sure I wasn't in any pain. Adrian woke up every time.
"You should go to the room and get some sleep" I told him realizing that he was definitely sleep deprived.
"I am fine, I will sleep in our bed when you can" he said tucking my body back into his before he started to hum me back to sleep.
Do you ever have that feeling that someone is staring at you, well that is how I woke up the next morning and the feeling was probably because my room was full of people staring at me.
Adrian had moved from the bed to the chair next to my bed. I felt bad because the longer I slept meant the longer he had to sleep or be in a dream mode to keep Dimitri away. I had just seen him in my dreams but still when my eyes fluttered open the first thing I wanted to see was him.
"Morning Little Dhampir" he said standing up to give me a kiss, it was funny how yesterday he was scared my dad was going to kill him and here he is kissing me not only in front of him but my mom.
My mom had keep her word not to interfere but that didn't stop her from telling me that I shouldn't move in with him, or was not taking my responsibilities as a guardian seriously.
"Adrian I have morning breath" I said trying to cover my mouth.
"So do I so we will be a good match" he said moving my hand to kiss me. I decided not to worry about it if he wasn't and enjoy the kiss.
"How are you feeling Rose?" my mom asked when Adrian sat back down grabbing my hand in his. We had agreed that it would be best to wait a few days to make sure that everything was for sure ok with the baby and try and pinpoint a due date to tell everyone.
"Better, I am hoping I will get discharged today or tomorrow" I said looking at her
realizing she still had her emotionless face on. I sighed this was her and I should know better than to expect more.
"Do you want my to try and heal you again?" Lissa asked standing up out of the chair that was next to Adrian's.
"No, it's alright. I am feeling better and the doctor said I won't have the cast on to long" I said. Adrian and I had talked about why their healing wouldn't work on me. I thought it may be my body trying to protect the baby. Adrian agreed that the baby most likely had something to do with it and we made the decision that there would be no more healing attempts while I was pregnant.
"Is anyone ready to tell me what happened yesterday?" I asked hoping since I was in stable condition and feeling better they would finally give me the details of the attack. I had asked Adrian about it but he said they wouldn't give him any of the details.
"There was a break in the ward, an alarm was sent out but it was to late they were already in and attacking you before it got to Alberta. She found you and suffered minor injuries before killing the last Stragoi" my mother said.
"I think Dimitri had something to do with it" I said hearing my voice shake as I said it. Adrian stood up looking at me, he as everyone else knew that Dimitri was alive, but we never had a chance to talk about what he had told me in my dreams.
"Why would you think that?" my father asked stepping closer to the bed. It seemed like everything went silent while waiting to hear my answer.
Taking a deep breathe I knew there was a lot to explain and I was not looking forward to it. "I think he can dream walk like Adrian" I said before my mother interrupted me.
"What do you mean dream walk?" she asked staring at Adrian like he had some type of disease. She had been a guardian for a long time but since there were only three spirit users that I knew she knew little about them.
"When I go to sleep he can come into my dreams, we can talk, have contact, he can manipulate the dreams to change the location" I tried to explain to her. Eddy was surprised to hear about it but Lissa had already known and I was sure she had told Christian. My dad seemed to just nod so I assumed he knew what it was.
"How does that have anything to do with Dimitri?" she asked when I was done with my explanation.
"When I go to sleep if Adrian does not come into my dreams Dimitri does. It has only happened twice. The first time he tried to kill me" I had left out the part about the rape there was no need to let everyone know about it.
"But that was about six months ago. Then the day before the attack I came home during lunch because I was not feeling well, so I ate and decided to take a nap. I didn't think about Dimitri because it has been so long, but when I closed my eyes I found myself in the room Dimitri had keep me in. He said I smelled differently and used compulsion on me when I wouldn't tell him what it was. I told him it was Adrian since we lived together I assumed he would smell him on me. He freaked out and said I was his and that he would be coming to get what belonged to him" I finished and watched everyone's eyes widen. Between all of the guys in the room their bodies tensed, I could feel Lissa's uneasiness.
"If that is the case why didn't he come when the others attacked" Christian asked.
"I don't know, but the Stragoi that was choking me said he was sorry that he wouldn't be the one to kill me. I think he was planning to take me with him" I said feeling Adrian's grip tighten on my hand.
"I need to go speak with Kirova and see about increasing security and see if we can call in more guardians. We can not have another attack on this school, we will not lose anymore lives. Although I don't buy your theory Strogios got past the ward, that is what we need to focus on" my mother said before walking out of the room.
"I am going to make a few phone calls myself and see what I can do to help and make sure you are protected" my father said patting my foot before walking out. It was a little awkward but still comforting.
"Our classes are staring in a few minutes" Eddy said gesturing to Christian and himself and excused themselves after telling me how happy there were that I was feeling better.
"Maybe you can see about getting a bath soon" Christian said making a gesture like something stunk before closing the door. It made me laugh until I realized that it had been five days since I showered. I tried to not be obvious and took a whiff of my armpit.
"You do not smell bad Little Dhampir, the nurse's came in and gave you a sponge bath at least three times" he said leaning in so Lissa wouldn't hear what he was saying.
"You should go feed, Lissa can stay here with me until you get back" I said cupping his face into my hand. He looked exhausted.
"I am fine" he said placing his hand over mine leaning his cheek into it.
"Adrian just go, I promise I won't leave her until you get back and if anything happens I will call your phone." Lissa said.
Adrian glared at her before looking back at me. "I will be right back, do you want me to get you anything? You haven't eaten in a while" he said standing next to the bed.
Now that he mentioned it I was starving "I have to ask Dr. Olenzski if I can eat now or if there are any restrictions" I said hoping she would give me the all clear because I could really use a slice of pizza.
"I will ask her on the way out" he said bending forward to kiss my forehead and began to walk out of the room.
"Baby" I called after him.
"Yeah" he said turning from the door.
"Maybe you can take a quick shower and shave" I said wrinkling my nose before winking at him. He didn't smell I was just trying to give him some time to himself so he could process everything.
Lissa started to laugh when the door closed.
She took the seat right next to my bed where Adrian had just been sitting.
"So you really think it is him?" Lissa asked watching my face for a change.
"Yeah, I should have known when he didn't die he would come back" I said closing my eyes and laying my head back trying to get my thoughts together.
"Lissa I have an idea but I need you to stay with me and wake me up after a few minutes" I said opening my eyes to look at Lissa.
"What? This does not sound like a good idea" Lissa said. I could feel her fear but there was only one way to find out what Dimitri was doing and if he had anything to do with the attack on me.
"Lissa, this is the only way I can talk to him and I know Adrian won't let me do it. If we do it now I will be awake before he comes back" I said pleading with her. I knew Adrian would have no part in it and I was sure this was the only time he wouldn't be with me for a while.
"Fine but I am waking you up in three minutes I am serious Rose, ask him quickly because I won't do this again" Lissa said standing up to stand next to my bed.
"Ok" I said closing my eyes. Due to the injuries my body didn't fight the sleep and soon I was fading into darkness. After a minute I didn't think he was going to show up until I felt his cool breath on my neck.
I jumped forward to get away from him but winced from the pain in my leg. Last night in my dream with Adrian the injuries were gone, but Dimitri keep everything the same. The fractured leg the hospital gown and the throbbing headache.
"They didn't do a good job" Dimitri said chuckling.
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