Lissa'sPOV
Dinner was set and ready to go. I knew they were likely be jet lagged and knew for certain they were on human schedule, but it would be nice for them to come home to this and it would serve as an easy way to reset their clocks. Eddie was meeting them at guardian headquarters then escorting them here, to the apartment Christian and I had purchased while my guardians had been honeymooning before the wedding... if they got married, that is. I knew marriage hadn't been something Rose had thought of for herself, but something told me for Guardian Belikov she just might consider it, consider marrying him...

"Are you sure about this, Lissa? What if one of their flights is delayed?" asked Tasha while she set nibblies on the coffee table.
"I'm certain. Besides, I know each flight left on time. They need this to help return to nocturnal schedule anyway."
"Hey, Liss! Shouldn't the champaign have been on the ice an hour ago?"
"Just put it in the freezer, Christian. It's easier and quicker," I called back.
"Frozen champaign?" questioned Adrian, aka the Moroi bar menu.
Mia laughed. "It won't be frozen, they're due home too soon."

Before we knew it Eddie was guiding Rose and Dimitri in the door. Their surprise showed and I knew it was all worth it.
"Rose!" I squealed and threw myself in her arms. "Welcome home. Never do that to me again. Got it?" I demanded. "Next time lover-boy whisks you away let me know. Never, ever freak me out like that ever again, Rosemarie Hathaway."
Rose laughed and hugged me back. "Thanks. This is too much, Liss. If I agree to never let Dimitri freak you out again, will you promise to never throw a party like this again?"
I let her go and noticed the others welcome Dimitri home. "Fine," I sighed reluctantly. "You know I like-"
Rose narrowed her eyes. "I know. But never again. Please? I'll drag Dimitri out that door right this second if you don't promise."
If she wasn't my best friend I'd be scared of her. She rarely made demands, so how could I say no? "Promise."
She relaxed and a smile replaced her pursed lips. "Thanks." A scowl played on her face when she spotted Tasha hitting on Dimitri. "Oi! Tasha, not my man. I'm giving you one warning. Try taking my man from me again and I won't hesitate to risk my career to make you pay. This makes the second time in little over half a year, don't do it a third."
Dimitri chuckled and pulled Rose into his arms and kissed her head. "I'm all yours, Roza. And don't forget, we've got that announcement to make." He briefly tightened his hold on her and she blushed. "I love you Roza, you know that."
"I do. I love you too, Comrade," she smiled up at him and batted her lashes flirtatiously. Dimitri melted. A soft smile graced his lips. "Can you blame me for being possessive of you when our jobs could take you from me at any second?"
Dimitri sighed happily and shook his head. "No, I can't. Not when I know exactly how you feel." He tipped her chin up and slowly brought his lips down on hers. Dimitri kissed Rose slowly, lovingly.
"Ew! No one needs to see you two doing that!" exclaimed Christian.
"Yeah, cradle robber. No one needs to see you kiss little dhampir like that. It's gross."
Rose snuggled into Dimitri's chest while shaking her head. "You guys are just going to have to deal. Dimitri's staying and that's final."
I laughed and nodded my agreement. "I'm happy for you, both of you. Now, Christian, how's that food coming?"

Once the pasta bake was served and the champaign distributed... to everyone but Rose, who'd come up with some weak lie as to why... we began eating. The chatting picked back up.
"So Rose, Dimka, how are you both going to handle being Lissa's guardian and in a relationship?" Oh, don't act like you don't know that Dimitri's up for reassignment, Tasha.
"Actually Tasha..." Rose started dramatically, "Dimitri's been reassigned to Court."
Tasha's questioning eyes darted to Dimitri.
He nodded. "Yeah, we got the call confirming our assignments just before we left Moscow."
"Speaking of your honeymoon," I teased, "how was it? What'd you do? Where'd you go? Did you meet Dimitri's family?"
Rose and everyone else laughed. Even Tasha, though hers sounded just a little forced. "Calm down, Liss. It wasn't a honeymoon." Rose looked at Dimitri for the who-knows-what time tonight, blushing. "Yeah, Dimitri took me to meet Olena, Karo, Sonya, Vika, Paul, Zoya, Nadia... and Yeva."
"Only one other boy?" asked an astonished Mia.
Dimitri nodded. "Don't know why it is, but the Belikov genes prefer to create Belikovas. Paul's my nephew, by the way."

Christian and I eventually served the tiramisu for dessert. Rose looked at Dimitri with an uncertain, questioning gaze. What was going on with her tonight? She was shying away from anything potentially containing the slightest, weakest hint of alcohol. I knew she'd taken to guarding seriously and turning down alcohol had become a part of that, and that was perfectly fine, that was her choice to make. But this felt different, this had a very odd and suspicious feeling about it.

"Thanks guys, but I think I'll-"
"There's donuts if you'd prefer," I cut her off. I knew her appetite and sweet tooth couldn't resist that temptation... could it?
Again Rose's eyes met Dimitri's before she nodded. "Thanks, Lissa. A couple of donuts would be brilliant." Dimitri laughed softly while Christian fetched the chocolate glazed donuts from the fridge. "Hey! Watch it, Comrade," playfully snapped Rose, "or none of this," she shimmied her hands up and down her body, "for a month."
Dimitri actually swallowed and blushed before nodding. "I'll behave!" he swore and threw his hands up in a sign of truce.
"You're whipped, Belikov," laughed Eddie.
"Completely whipped," agreed Christian.
"I still say you're a cradle robber, Belikov," added Adrian.
Rose groaned. "He's not a cradle robber, Adrian. How many times do I have to tell you?"
Adrian narrowed his eyes at Dimitri. "He's not perfect either, Rose."
"I never said he was. I know he isn't... well... except for... never mind."
"Right here, Roza."
"We don't need to hear about your overactive sex life at the table, Rose," chastised Tasha.
Rose narrowed her eyes at Tasha and I resisted the urge to groan. "It might be a hard concept for you to grasp, Tasha, but there's only one man I've ever had sex with and I have absolutely no regrets about waiting for him- and I do know about Dimitri's past. I know what nearly happened at the ski lodge, I know what happened not long after he graduated. So don't go acting like he would keep those kinds of things secrets from me. I do get what a seven year age gap implies about people's pasts. I might be eighteen, but I'm certainly not stupid."
Tasha looked to Dimitri in horror and in desperation. "Dimka, you didn't?"
Dimitri shrugged. "Why shouldn't I be allowed to be open with the woman I love, the one who can see the true me regardless? Why shouldn't I confide in the woman I plan to marry? Especially when she confides in me? I was taught a marriage is built on trust and I believe being open and honest is the ultimate sign of trust."
"But she's your student!"
Dimitri shook his head. "She was never just my student. She's the woman I was made for." Dimitri faced Rose and smiled. "It's time, don't you think, sweetheart?"
Rose nodded with a shit-eating grin in place. What was going on? She raised her left hand to the light in above the middle of the table and flashed a shiny, platinum banded diamond and emerald ring at us.
"What do you think, Liss? You think he spent enough on it?" Rose feigned seriousness before laughing.
I squealed in absolute delight and excitement. "It's perfect!" Then it truly hit me. "Oh my god! You're getting married!" I jumped out of my seat to hug her. "You're actually, legitimately, seriously getting married! Oh my god!"
Rose nodded with the happiest grin splitting her face. "Yes Liss, I'm getting married. The day has come where I, Rose Hathaway, have agreed to 'settle down'."
I grinned and squealed again, absolutely delighted for her. She deserved this. She deserved this happiness and love. "I'm so happy for you!" I turned to face a smiling Dimitri. "You too, Dimitri. Welcome to the family. And from now on, there's no escaping calling me Lissa. Don't make me compel you, I don't think your fiancée would be too happy with me if I needed to do that."

RPOV
I collapsed into bed beside Dimitri, incredibly thankful for the room Lissa had insisted on having on hand for me. Much to Christian's chagrin, he couldn't deny her anything though. Not when she had already won the argument of paying.
Beside me Dimitri was sitting up and reading something other than a Western for once. He was reading adoption pamphlets.
"You know we don't need those, right?"
Dimitri sighed and placed them down to face me and gently caress my cheek. He smiled. "I know, love, I know," he murmured softly.
"Then why are you still looking?"
"What if we can't have a second?"
I shrugged. "One's hard enough, comrade. I'm still only eighteen, remember. And our pay isn't that good."
"I know, Roza, I know. But there's innumerable kids here that have been orphaned because of the recent Strigoi attacks. There's dhampir kids who are both parentless and not in the care of an Academy." The longing and compassion in his voice was compelling in its own right. He was going to make a great father.
I sighed. "You know the Moroi aren't going to easily let us seriously look into adoption until after we're married. It's going to be even harder if we've already got our own baby."
"I've got enough contacts to help us slip through some cracks if that happens. They're crying out for couples to adopt these kids, Roza..." The pleading, desperate look in his eye was too much. I wasn't one to be pushed around, but I had been standing my ground with this topic just as I had with the marriage one but I couldn't deny him this, not when he was appealing to my empathy, reminding me I understood more about what these kids were feeling than I thought I did.
"My parents are already going to find enough reason to kill you. Okay. Let's agree on a 'shot-gun' wedding and get cracking on taking in an abandoned kid. No babies but, Comrade. That's my only condition. Moroi or dhampir, I don't care, as long as they're over four. I couldn't handle two under two or three under three. A kid over four that Academies aren't taking."
"You won't regret this, Roza," Dimitri smiled and kissed me as if his life depended on it. Who knows, maybe it did. "Promise."

The next morning at breakfast we broke the news to Lissa and Christian. Not all of it, but the majority of it.
"Two weeks. Reckon you can help us get it done it two weeks, Liss?"
"I could possibly even get it done in one," she rocked her right hand in a 'probably but don't get your hopes up' uncertain gesture, "maybe one and a half at most."
Dimitri and I grinned. "That would be amazing. Thank you Lissa."
"Yes, thank you Lissa," Dimitri agreed and stood to help Christian clean up.
"So," Lissa grinned conspiratorially, "are we going for a low-key shot-gun wedding? Or a big statement shot-gun wedding?"

I groaned and collapsed my head on my folded arms on top of the breakfast bar. I knew she wanted me to have the huge wedding, she always had dreamed of me in a fairytale white dress with a glittering diamontied bodice and skirt with lots of netting to make said skirt puffy, and a veil that doubled as a train. In a church decked out with white flowers and cream ribbons. And sending out the most expensive possible glossy mocha colored invitations.

I raised my head just enough to meet her sparkling green eyes."I thought you promised last night to never overdo a party for me?"
Lissa shook her head adamantly. "No. You made me agree to never throw you a welcome-home party again. Besides, this is your wedding, Rose. It's a once in a lifetime event."
I groaned again and returned my forehead to its prior resting place against my forearms. "That's exactly why you shouldn't waste so much money on it."
"It's not wasting money, Rose. I want my sister to have the best possible special day because you're hardly going to get many other opportunities to dress up and you're never going to have another day that's all about you and the love of your life, about celebrating your happiness."
Did she have to make sense? I groaned again. Remind me, why is my best friend the last Dragomir Princess? "Shut up!" I whined tiredly.
Lissa laughed. "Come on then. Let's get dressed and get you and Dimitri to the church and see what can be done."
My head shot up in shock. "Lissa! That place is huge! We'd never fill its rows of pews and think of all the wasted ribbon and flowers!"
Her resolution sang through the bond. "It's just the right size. By the time you invite Adrian and his family, Christian, Tasha and their supportive cousins, Council and Camille Conta's family, all the Belikovas, plus your parents and cousins from both sides of the family and the just-graduated novices from St Vlad's since they won't be off on their assignments until after-"
"Okay, okay! I get it. I know more people than I think I do. This is still absurd, though, Lissa."
Liss shook her head while pushing her bar stool in. "Your wedding will be just perfect, Rose. You'll see."

There was so much to organize that as soon as we met with the priest and presented with a calendar for the next two weeks I was completely overwhelmed. I was guardian, for crying out loud! Big events were supposed to be my specialty. Then again... this was unchartered waters for the four of us- Lissa, Christian, Dimitri, and me. With help from the stuff Lissa had earlier printed from a couple of websites and guidance from the receptionist, we finally calmed down and focused enough to choose a date. Despite Saturdays being the most common day for weddings we went with the Friday. This coming Friday. Five days. We had five days to plan an event some spent years organizing. We had no wiggle room. Absolutely no wiggle room. And Lissa was going to have to really throw her weight around to help us out, not just her money.

Once the church was booked for Friday afternoon- Moroi afternoon, of course- Lissa had us headed straight for the major restaurant in Court, determined to book the whole venue out for the reception.
"Lissa, be reasonable," I pleaded, "you can't waste all your money on my wedding."
"My wedding won't be for years, Rose. By that time I'll have recovered the expenses of your wedding. You're getting nothing but the best."
I met Dimitri's eyes desperately. His chocolate brown orbs only held amusement and resignation. Could I hit him? Better not ruin that perfect, godly body before the big day, I suppose...

"A guardian wedding is unheard of, Princess," argued the manager.
Lissa narrowed her eyes dangerously. "This is my best friend and guardian's wedding to a court guardian. Guardian Rose Hathaway Mazur will have nothing but the best for her wedding and its reception this Friday. I don't care if I have to have Adrian Ivashkov sweet-talk Her Majesty, I want every inch and every corner, every nook and cranny of this restaurant reserved for the wedding reception of the century. Are we crystal clear?"
I turned to Dimitri in surprise. "Told you she was stronger than you give her credit for," he gloatingly teased in my ear.
The manager's expression and whole demeanour changed as Lissa threw her Princess weight around. No doubt the mention of my notorious father unbalanced him a bit too. "Of course, Princess Dragomir. We're happy to serve you."
Lissa narrowed her eyes once more after smiling and nodding in satisfaction and delight. "You're not serving me, you're serving my friend and her fiancé. I'm just organizing meetings and paying. They're your clients," Lissa nodded toward where Dimitri and I sat beside her.
"Of course, Guardians Hathaway and Belikov," his gaze finally met ours again. "What would you like us to do for your special day?" His smile was strained but he was now obliging nonetheless.
"Well..." I started while thumbing through the folio of Lissa's printouts of guides. I handed it back to Dimitri. I knew what step one here was. "As Lissa said, we want this entire place booked for the coming Friday. All day. And into the early hours of Saturday. Say two Saturday morning? Moroi time." The royals and my old classmates knew how to party.
The manager- Henry, I believe his name was- fiddled with the laptop in front of him and booked it in. "It's in," he said, not sounding too pleased about all this fuss. Normally guardians hid their relationships then resigned and ran if they wanted to get married. Dimitri and I took our duty too seriously to do that. Hence Henry and everyone else being put out of their comfort-zones to accommodate the wedding Lissa wanted us to have.
"What other services do you normally provide and help arrange for wedding clients?" Christian, surprisingly enough, asked.
Henry looked as though he'd forgotten our favourite rebel pyromaniac of a royal Moroi was on Lissa's other side.
"We've got catering and decorating partners..." Henry went searching through his cabinets and pulled out a few heavy-looking books. "And here's our copy of their most recent catalogues." He placed them down in front of us. Dimitri thumbed through the first of three catering ones while I looked through the first of four decorating ones.
"What color scheme, Comrade? And not black. We aren't doing guardian black and white and that's final. Nor red. Red's been overused recently as far as I'm aware."
"How about green?" he suggested and tugged on my chotki and played with my engagement ring pointedly. "The Dragomir emerald green." Dimitri nodded to where my nazaar hung on my chest. I needed a new bra ASAP. "And blue?"
I smiled at him and nodded, too stressed to think of anything else. The colors had meaning and that was all I needed in order to agree with him right now. "Okay, green and blue it is." I opened up the folio of Lissa's printouts and made a few new notes where the worksheets asked for the details we'd just locked in.
"Why don't I make those notes for you as you go?" offered Liss. I all-too happily surrendered the folio.

"Are we going to go with an alternate drop for each food course?" asked Henry when we got around to that.
I nodded. Lissa wanted all-out, and I was getting on-board with it if only to treat Dimitri's family. Lissa had already booked the flights online on her phone while Dimitri and I had been deciding on room configuration and table layouts. "Might as well," I shrugged and met Dimitri's eyes to see if he was okay with it. He was.
"How many alternate drops can we do?" he asked.
"Due to the mix of Moroi and dhampir, I'm going to say they'll allow you to do four alternates- two for Moroi, two for dhampir. And of course, you two can specifically choose your plates now."

Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Lissa typing and swiping away madly on her phone. What was she doing? Worried, I tried to check the bond. She was blocking but I got enough from her slips to gather she was iMessaging with Adrian, who was meeting with the... the photographers and videographers. That should not have surprised me; he was into the arts after all. Reassured all was under control between the two of them, I refocused on my present task.

"What about the drinks?" prompted Henry after Dimitri and I had agreed on the four options for entrée, mains, and dessert. "Are we going to go with a bar tab? And champaign for speeches?"
"We'll go with a tab, don't you think, Roza? And the champaign for toasts is a must?"
I narrowed my eyes accusingly. He knew that agreeing to the toasts' Champaign was unfair on me. I agreed nonetheless. I was still exhausted from Lissa's surprise dinner last night... and jet-lagged. "Fine. But for the alcohol the Moroi have a four drink limit and the dhampir have one pre-drink. Soft drink and water jugs on all tables and we'll put a thousand dollar soft drink tab on." My cousins had lots of kids and we wanted to keep the dhampir guests as sober as possible should an attack occur. Even if the non-guardians couldn't kill, they could still fight- I knew enough to know they were all still fit and you never really forgot guardian combat training. Karo had told me such.
Henry nodded and added the notes to our file on his laptop. I nudged Lissa and she took down the same notes on the worksheets in the folio.
"Entertainment?" Christian enquired.
"You," I joked. He scowled. "I'm kidding, Christian!"
"You'd better be."
"Seriously though," Henry refocused us, "what do you want to go with?"
"DJ," Lissa said automatically. "I've just gotten a reply from one who's been doing weddings and concert-type shows for over twenty-five years. You guys want a party, don't you? Well, he's the best I can find. I can tell from the videos and photos he's sent that he knows his stuff. He also says he did Mom and Dad's wedding. What do you say? Go with him and the package he said my parents went with, the one they wanted for my wedding when it happened?"
I once more met Dimitri's eyes and shrugged. "Not just a dude with one laptop and pre-programmed solely-remixed soundtrack? Not a dude who's more interested in standing there and looking hot? Not someone who doesn't know Dimitri's '80s and country music?"
"He knows his music, he responds to the crowd, and he's not interested in being there to look hotter than the groom. If I'm right he may have even been the same person who did my thirteenth birthday and André's eighteenth- remember him? Remember how much fun we had?"
I nodded and laughed. "Yes! Okay then. I trust your judgement- we trust your judgement- so book it."
Henry's eyes betrayed his unhappiness with us deciding not to go with a twenty-year-old with one laptop and one light. I couldn't care less right now how long he wanted my wedding reception to run. I wanted the most memorable time possible, especially for our guests, so he will just have to deal with it.

Henry printed out a copy of our plans. We took it and a list of cakes with us when Christian, Lissa, Dimitri and I met up with Adrian for a late lunch. He was going to explain the two photo and two video packages he and Lissa had narrowed it down to.

After much debate and to Lissa's disappointment Dimitri and I chose the value video and budget photograph packages. With that decided, we finished lunch and parted ways to work on the next steps. Christian and I were going cake taste-testing. Lissa hadn't been pleased about Dimitri and I choosing to part ways, me taking Christian to cake tastings as he had a trust-worthy cook's tongue and Dimitri was going with Lissa to the printer's to make sure she didn't overspend or make the invites, maps, thank-you's, place cards, and envelopes too elaborate and fancy or underestimate the number of which needed printing. We had at least 120 on the invite list already. I didn't see why we couldn't just go with one of the digital packages for the invites, maps and thank-you's. She wanted to do both. And she wondered why Dimitri and I were splitting her and Christian...? Adrian, meanwhile, was returning to where he'd come from and locking in the packages. He even said he'd pay the upfront costs as an engagement present- only the best for his little dhampir, apparently. Of course, Dimitri had tensed in a moment of irrational jealousy, but he had accepted the offer in good grace and thanked Adrian nonetheless. Olena had trained my Dimitri well; I could only hope that if we had a boy somewhere down the track or now we could rear him to be a gentleman too.

I was in desperate need of an all-night nap by the time we got back to Lissa's apartment. I was so exhausted but so relieved to have so much of the wedding organised. But I didn't have much time to nap and relax before I had to meet Mom and the old man for dinner... and they'd strictly instructed I bring Dimitri. It was just as well because we were handing them their non-digital invite tonight anyway. Yes, Lissa had gone with both the digital and the print packages and thrown money at the printer's to have it all done by close of business. Dimitri had talked her into a less-expensive option, only for her to spend twice the cost of her ideal invite and accompaniments design package on ensuring it was ready to be in tonight's post. That girl was maid-of-honor-zilla on a caffeine and sugar high. I swear.