Disclaimer: I am not making any money off of this. The only character that I own is Zachariah Salazar.

All Men Are Babies-

Chapter 4: Main Attraction

The afternoon sun of Paris was warm, almost too warm for Dimitri who had lived his entire life in St. Petersburg. As of now, the young conman that had found and restored the Princess Anastasia to her grandmother wassitting on the front steps of Sophie's place. His companion, Vlad, commented that the normally good humored young man was awfully down at the moment. Dimitri's forearms rested on his knees as he bowed his head.

"She's buying us a house," he said.

Standing before Dimitri, Vlad didn't seem to hear what the young man had just announced. Being to engrossed in the fact that Dimitri and Anya were in Paris, almost blinded Vlad to the rest of the world. Yet, the man had an excuse. His best friends were finally back after eloping.

"It's so great, my boy, to see you kids again," Vlad announced.

"She's buying a house," Dimitri repeated. "The Dowager Empress is buying me a house!"

"Only because of the girl," Vlad reminded him.

Dimitri couldn't believe it. The Dowager Empress was going to buy him and Anya a house and was refusing to be paid back. Anya was obviously right, maybe the Dowager Empress did like him. If she didn't, she wouldn't buy them a house, would she? Dimitri was grateful, but he was shocked. He was more than positive that the empress wouldn't give them the money and-

"Sophie wants to take us shopping!" Anya's squealing voice pulled Dimitri out of his reverie. Dimitri didn't respond, wondering if shopping was all that Sophie did. Anya noticed the solemness of her husband and took a seat on the steps next to him. "What's wrong, Dimitri?"

Dimitri looked at his wife and smiled. "Nothing," he denied, "it's nothing."

Anya didn't believe him, yet she didn't push the matter. "Shopping in Paris! Can you believe it?"

Rolling his eyes at her, Dimitri mumbled, "girls."

xXx

Sophie dragged her guests in shops all over Paris. No! No! No!" the blonde woman exclaimed, scrunching her nose at the dress Anya was trying on. Throwing another dress at the girl, Sophie pushed her back into the dressing room.

"We've been doing this for four hours," Dimitri complained to Sophie. "Can we please stop?"

"Vlad!" Sophie called. "How about you take Dimitri and find something suitable for him to wear to dinner and Anastasia and I will meet you at the restaurant." Vlad agreed and was about to leave with Dimitri when Sophie said in a low voice to him, "he's a party pooper."

xXx

"I don't think that dinner is such a good idea," Dimitri said to Vlad a few hours later when they arrived a the restaurant. "I still need to scam a place to sleep tonight!"

Vlad pretended not to hear the young man as he looked at his watch. Smirking, Vlad thought about Sophie's plan to keep the young couple out on the town as long as they could. Impeccably dressed in three piece suits, the two men waited outside for their women to arrive. It was about 7:00 and the men were hungry. The evening air was comfortable and the sky was starting to darken.

"Lovely night out," Vlad commented changing the subject.

"Yeah."

"So when did you decide to elope with Anya?"

"That is none of your business, Vlad!"

"When did she agree to elope with you?"

"Vlad!" Dimitri warned.

"Oh come on Dimitri," an all too familiar voice taunted, "Vlad has a right to know."

Dimitri turned his head to the left and saw his beautiful wife and Sophie walking up to them. Anya wore a beautiful and expensive dress that Sophie had obviously picked out. Smiling at her, Dimitri took her arm and said, "you are nothing but trouble, you know that?"

Anya nodded. "I was constantly reminded in the orphanage and Grandmama says that I caused quite a bit of trouble in the palace as a child."

"Yeah," Dimitri agreed. "Because of you I went to bed hungry some nights!"

"I want to hear this story!" Anya exclaimed clearly interested about a time in their childhoods.

"I'll tell you tonight, okay?" Dimitri promised giving her a quick kiss.

Sophie and Vlad smiled walking ahead of them into the restaurant. The french restaurant was quite marvelous with waiters and house attendants dressed in black tuxedos and the live entertainment. "Only the richest of the rich eat there," Sophie had told Anya earlier while they were shopping. She was right. The place, the dresses, the jewels, the people all had a bit of a stuck up atmosphere about them. Anya and Dimitri glanced around in awe at it. This was definitely not their world.

"The princess Anastasia and company," Sophie announced their presence for their reservation.

"Ah yes," the man said in a thick french accent and bowed to Anastasia. "Your highness," he said. "We have a table prepared for you and your friends right this way." He led them more towards the back of the restaurant so as not to be disturbed by the other customers. Their table had a wonderful view of the most famous church, Notre Dame.

"You gave the reservations using my name?" Anya hissed across the table to Sophie when the man that led them to their table and returned to his duties.

Sophie shrugged pretending it not to be such a big deal. "Do you know who gets in here?"

"Only the richest of the rich," Anya hissed, "you told me."

"You also don't get in unless you're somebody important. Like you. You're a princess, I'm just the cousin."

"Sophie!" Anya hissed again and was about to say something more, but Dimitri held onto her arm and whispered into her ear.

"Just enjoy the night," Dimitri said.

Anya sighed, Dimitri was right. She shouldn't be mad at Sophie for getting the reservations by using her name and title. After all they probably won't ever eat at an extravagant place like this again; not with the kind of money they have-which is next to nothing. Easily, she allowed Dimitri to take her worries away. They chatted about everything under the moon, they always had something to talk about. Every so often, Dimitri would sweetly steal a kiss from her lips. Yes, Dimitri was a master of making her forget life for a few moments.

While Anya and Dimitri were content to be in their own little world, Sophie was content to be known and the center of attention. When a man came up to their table to ask for a dance, Sophie flirted, loudly. Vladimir sighed in content as he watched his "cream puff" steal the show.

"Voila!" Sophie exclaimed as she kicked a leg into the air and her high heel went flying through the air. Vlad's eyes went wide as he ran to retrieve it for her. Dimitri laughed as he saw his friend running through the crowd after the shoe. He and Anya laughed harder when the shoe hit a musician playing the violin. Anya held onto Dimitri's arm so he couldn't go stop Vlad from apologizing to the musician over and over again. They couldn't understand it, but there was something about Sophie and wanting to be the main attraction.

"Miss Sophie," the waiter said coming up to their table and bowed. "There is a phone call for you." Sophie looked at her friends before hobbling after the man, in one shoe.

"Yes?" Sophie asked into the receiver the waiter motioned to. After a brief pause, she asked, "How long should I keep them?"

And that my friends is the end of chapter 4! I hope this chapter was what you were looking for. I hope you enjoyed this fluffy chapter of shopping and dinner mishaps. Please review and tell me what you thought of this chapter. I would really appreciate it!