Disclaimer: I do not own VA and thank Richelle Mead for writing such an awesome series.

Sorry again for the late update – doesn't help having two kiddies who keep catching colds.

Since I posted Chapter 17 during the 'black-out' period (when people weren't getting alerts from FanFic) you may have missed out on a very large and important chapter – so read it first before you read this one.

This little gem was unearthed thanks to Llaria6 – I was struggling with my original chapter plan and then BAM she hit me with an inspiration stick….

Hope you like it…

Please note AN at the end of chapter.

Two rival restaurants and chefs – what happens when love joins the menu?

Restaurant Wars

CHAPTER 18

Karolina POV

It's a blessing and a curse to be a girl in the Belikov family.

A curse because you would never get the same recognition as a son – after all they were the ones who would carry on the family name & legacy.

A blessing because you weren't under constant scrutiny and therefore could slip under the radar.

Unless, of course, you did something stupid like me and fall in love.

I guess things were set in motion the day Dimitri was born.

My parents were over the moon – they finally had a baby boy who would carry on the Belikov family and take over the business. It didn't take me long to realise I was going to be pushed into the background. Sonya was already father's favourite and now with Dimitri in the picture I became obsolete – it's funny how even though I was the eldest, I was suffering from 'middle-child syndrome'. The final nail in the coffin, so to speak, came when Vika was born. I reluctantly accepted my fate and fell into obscurity.

Regardless of how I was treated by my parents, I loved them unconditionally and was immensely loyal to my family, which was why I went to culinary school – I wanted to work full time in our family restaurant.

It wasn't a big surprise that I grew close to our babushka over the years – she sensed my lack of 'standing' in the family and wanted to make sure I knew I was loved & cherished. She took me under her wing and taught me everything there was to know about our family business and, of course, how to cook. I'm certain she imparted more knowledge to me than she had with Dimitri, even though he was the one being groomed to take over from father. But most importantly, she was in my corner when my life changed forever.

I met him while I was at culinary school. He was tall, dark and handsome – a strange mix of European masculinity and Middle Eastern exotic flare. It wasn't exactly love at first sight, but we definitely noticed each other. We became cooking partners but it wasn't long before the partnership morphed to friendship that extended to partaking in activities outside of school like grabbing drinks/meals at cafés, attending food festivals & concerts.

One day, we were at an outdoor cinema, watching a black and white artsy French movie. It started off like any other 'friendly' outing but something changed that night – maybe it was the starry night sky or maybe it was being huddled together, sharing a blanket and a bowl of popcorn. It didn't matter what caused it – what mattered was that we shared our first kiss.

That kiss changed our dynamic yet again and our 'friendly' outings became 'dates' and we found ourselves opening up – sharing our deepest thoughts & desires. He confessed to the real reason behind him joining culinary school – he was trying to reconnect with his estranged father. Turns out his parents had divorced when he was 10 and though they separated on amicable terms, the fact his mum had moved them to another state made it very difficult for him to stay connected with his dad. He waited patiently for the right moment and when he turned 18 he told his mum he desired to re-establish his relationship with his father. Few months later he had moved to Sydney to attend our culinary school and had high hopes of proving himself worthy to work at the family restaurant alongside his father.

I felt like I had found my kindred spirit. I could see the pain and despair he felt as he spoke about the 8 years he had missed out on a father – puberty being the most difficult ones. I knew how it felt to crave the love of one's father – only difference being mine had just pushed me aside as opposed to not being around. I told him about my family and my own issues and he listened with no judgement or pity – just love. After that day we became each other's support systems and no longer felt deprived of a family – we were each other's family now. The night we graduated we celebrated hard and 2 months later I discovered I was pregnant.

The day I took the test, I was a tornado of emotions. I was scared, happy, terrified, excited – it was overwhelming. But the strongest emotion I felt was fear – I was afraid that once I revealed my pregnancy to him he would leave.

I was pleasantly surprised when the opposite happened – he was ecstatic and had kissed me so deeply & lovingly that I was left breathless. He knew firsthand what it felt like growing up without a father and he had promised himself he would never deprive his children of such love. Even though we had just graduated and had only recently started working at our first 'full-time' jobs, in our respective family restaurants, we knew we could handle anything so long as we were together. I went to babushka for help, knowing she would give me the support I would need to reveal the news to my family. I hadn't been prepared for the advice she gave me instead.

"You cannot tell anyone who the father of your children is. The future is uncertain but I'm hoping a time will come when you can feel safe about revealing the truth. Trust your babushka on this and say nothing about him to anyone".

It was the strangest advice she had ever given me but she had yet to steer me wrong, so I heeded it without argument. My boyfriend, on the other hand, wasn't impressed and wanted to meet babushka to convince her otherwise. We may not have been ready to get married, but he wanted to show he wasn't the type to run away from his responsibilities.

It was during this little meeting I finally understood why babushka had insisted I never reveal my baby daddy's identity – turns out I had fallen in love with Ambrose Mazur!

Because he had been raised by his mum, Ambrose had been going by his mother's Greek maiden name, Megalos. And since he never mentioned the name of the family restaurant or anything specific about his extended family – like names, I would never have guessed he was a Mazur. Even though he knew I was a Belikov he hadn't connected me to the Russian restaurant that was directly in front of the one he worked at. Again, I became worried he would sever ties with me – now that he knew I belonged to the family his family were supposedly feuding with.

But he surprised me yet again – he embraced me tightly and told me he would leave his family in an instant to look after his new one. I was about to make a similar promise when babushka spoke up.

"Neither one of you will need to undertake such drastic measures. I've seen a possible future where the feud is no more and love between the families will return. If ever this future is threatened, I will personally help you both to start new lives somewhere away from the poison that inflicts our families. For now have faith and keep things hidden".

It all sounded simple and easy, but life rarely allows you to have things go your way. When I revealed my pregnancy to my family – cause I'm sure they would have noticed the big belly in a few months – father demanded to know who the baby's father was, but I held my tongue and when things looked like they were going from bad to worse babushka stepped in and basically told father to mind his own business and that she was still the head of the family.

I hated the secrecy and the tension it had bought into the family but I trusted babushka's wisdom. Ambrose was still involved, just hidden from everyone else. Mama tried to be supportive from afar, not wanting to come in the middle of the cold war that was between father and me. It was better this way – babushka and Ambrose were all I needed and when I went into labour they were both by myside throughout the ordeal.

We had kept the gender a surprise, so when I found out I had given birth to a boy I couldn't stop grinning, envisioning a mini-Ambrose. As we cooed over our baby boy, Ambrose confessed to having told his father, Pavel, everything that had happened between us – wanting to lay it out all on the line before he got too invested in his father and the restaurant. It seems Pavel thought the feud between our families was 'stupid' and therefore didn't care who his son had fallen in love with. Because of his unconditional support and love, we decided to name our son Paul as homage to his loving grandfather.

Mama, Sonya and Vika also visited but not father. Things were still strained between us, but it didn't matter since I was planning to move out and live with Ambrose in an apartment his father had bought for us – stating no 'grandson of his was going to be homeless'. Dimitri sent me a large care package from Russia (he had already left on his culinary tour while I had been 7 months pregnant).

Father's way of eventually accepting my life choices was to let me return to the restaurant when I was ready to go back to work – though something told me that decision may have been influenced by babushka.

It's been 5 years and to this day neither one of our families knows about us. We kept them away from our apartment – everyone except babushka and Pavel. I had another baby with Ambrose, Zoya, who was turning 1 this year. Again I kept her parentage a secret – much to the frustration of my parents. It killed me I couldn't tell the world about my love for Ambrose and what a wonderful father and partner he was.

"What's the matter agápi mou? You've been awfully quiet today…"

I was curled up next to Ambrose, the kids still asleep. We were having a rare family day, with both of us having the day off. It was the Monday after the food truck challenge and my mind was busy processing what I had seen over the weekend – when I had dropped by, covertly, to check on Dimitri and Rose. Ever since the competition had started something had changed with Dimitri. He may have a closer relationship with Vika but I knew him the best. He had endeared himself to me when he came into our lives and after mama I'd babied him the most. Of all the people in the family, I had wanted to tell him the most about Ambrose and I knew he really wanted to know who the father was – more so to make sure the guy didn't abandon his responsibility. But babushka had stopped me, telling me 'it wasn't the right time' – whatever that meant. So I had to appease him with the partial truth – that the father of my children was involved in their lives.

As I lay in Ambrose's arms my mind filtered through everything I had seen and heard since the competition began. I recalled how Dimitri had stopped 'partying' with Ivan, how he was intense and focused in the kitchen but every so often something would make him sigh and look into the distance. I knew the look of love – I had seen it many times on Ambrose, especially the night he proposed to me when Zoya was born. He declared that night he no longer cared about how our families would react – we had two kids and he wanted to show he was committed to our family.

As I thought about the beautiful proposal, my mind fast forwarded to the lunch when we had shared our engagement news with babushka and Pavel. They had been happy for us, but babushka gave us the same advice about not sharing our relationship with our families, though this time she followed up with a cryptic riddle.

"The earth-lover has yet to find and fall for the flower and when they finally merge your love can come out of the shadows".

I had half-heartedly listened to her, not understanding a single word, but now, as I recalled them and thought about Dimitri and Rose it all finally clicked into place. Gasping in shock, I bolted upright, startling Ambrose who had been busy nuzzling my neck. He sat up too, worried about my strange, random reaction.

"What's wrong babe?"

I scrambled out of bed, almost losing my balance as my legs got tangled in the sheets. Ignoring his pleas for my attention, I grabbed my phone off the dresser and called babushka with shaky hands. I didn't even bother with greetings or pleasantries as I breathlessly confronted my grandmother.

"You were talking about Dimitri and Rose weren't you?"

Brief silence was the initial response I was given to my startled outburst. Before I could say anything more, babushka spoke.

"I'm assuming you are at home and so is Ambrose, yes? I will be there in 30 mins".

And then the line went dead.

I was a jumble of nerves as I shuffled back to bed and sat down next to my confused and anxious fiancé. Patting his hand to comfort him, I let him know babushka was on her way. He noticed the tense muscles in my posture and pulled me to him, giving me the strength and love that I desperately needed. Staring into the distance, I finally dared to voice what was on my mind.

"Today we will finally find out what babushka had meant with that stupid riddle. Today we find out who will help us bring our love out of the shadows".

Google Translate

Agápi mou = my love (Greek)

Ok so a much shorter chapter – but hey did you see how long the previous chapter was?

And yes – this coupling (Ambrose and Karolina) is totally new but it kind of came to me so I went with it. And in this story Paul is 5 (not 10) and Zoya not 1 yet.

I always wondered how someone who seemed so level-headed in VA had two kids but no partner. I can understand falling pregnant once but twice, and in an environment where the family was relying on Dimitri's income just never made sense to me. So I guess this little side story was my way of explaining how Paul and Zoya came to be – her finding a proper partner but one she had to hide.

Also, in my story Ambrose is Pavel's son and Abe's nephew (Pavel being Abe's brother) and since I saw Paul was a variation of Pavel, everything else fell into place.

Oh and I know now a days a family's name can be carried on by a daughter as well, but since I'm a traditionalist (I took my hubby's surname) and the Belikovs are super 'old-school', I'm going with the whole 'only sons carry on family name' thing.

So as you can gather, Karo (and soon Ambrose) will be made aware of Dimitri and Rose's little love affair.

Next chapter will be Rose's POV and the Farmer's market challenge – so don't forget to give your suggestions on main exports for the 'countries' left in the competition.