Disclaimer: I do not, in any way, profit from this story and all creative rights to the characters belong to Richelle Mead.

The original content, ideas and intellectual property of this story are owned by Ms. Belikov. Please do not copy, reproduce, or translate without express written permission.

RPOV:

Dimitri pulled the SUV into a parking space and cut the engine. Exhaling deeply, he turned to me and grabbed both of my hands. "Are you sure you're ready for this?" he asked, clearly concerned.

My heart raced as I stared at the small orphanage that was located in a rural town in the woods of Montana, just a few hours away from St. Augustine's Military Academy. Oh, God. My son had been so close to me all this time, and I hadn't even had a clue. What kind of mother was I? Certainly not a good one.

"Yeah," I forced a brave smile and nodded. "I know I can do this. Everything could be worse, you know. Ivan could be dead. But he's not. I just have to keep reminding myself of that—it could be worse."

My fiance reached forward and gently tucked a lock of hair behind my ear. "I wish you didn't have to think like that." he said.

Capturing Dimitri's palm, I turned my head and placed a loving kiss to his warm skin. "I'll be fine," I assured him. "Now, let's go get our son and bring him home where he belongs."

Dimitri opened the glass doors for me and stood aside like the perfect gentleman. "Ladies first," he gave me his secret smile, the one he reserved only for me.

"Since when did I become a lady?" In spite of the nausea twinging in my stomach and the cold sweat blooming over my skin, a genuine giggle escaped my lips and I managed to grin up at the love of my life.

He rolled his eyes and shut the door behind us.

Entering the building, I was met with a blast of fresh, cool, relieving air conditioning.

I went paralyzed on the spot, feeling absolutely overwhelmed by the whole situation. The walls seemed to be getting closer all around me, smashing me into the small room.

The claustrophobia and sheer panic eased when Dimitri slid an arm around my waist and pulled me against his side. He knew I needed this type of contact right now and he gladly gave it to me.

Together, we walked up to the desk and rang the little silver bell.

An elderly lady with frizzy red hair and an adorable cat sweater jogged over and took a seat. "Sorry about the wait," she said with the kindest smile. "My name is Jane. How may I help you?"

"I'm here to get my son back," I said bluntly.

Dimitri cleared his throat and resumed an intimidating, in-charge stance. It was amazing, really, seeing him radiate that kind of power. It reminded me of the days when he was my general and I constantly gave him hell.

"We're here to adopt Conner," My fiance's jaw clenched. Clearly, he wasn't happy about having to say those words. He wanted as bad as me to run back there, grab Ivan up, and take him away. For God sakes, we were his parents! We shouldn't have had to go through all this trouble.

The instant the name "Conner" left his lips, Jane's pale, leathery face dropped and morphed into a slightly fearful one. "Oh, right..." she finally said, shuffling papers around, like she wanted to avoid eye contact. "Conner. You want Conner."

I lunged forward and slapped my hands against the counter, making her jump. "Is something wrong with him?"

Bless her soul, but Jane looked on the verge of having a heart attack.

"Speak to me, damn it!" I boomed.

Dimitri didn't try to interfere, which proved he had half a brain. Instead, he gave a small smirk and leaned back, letting his woman take control.

"No, no. Conner is just fine. He's healthy." Jane said, flustered. "Well, physically speaking."

My whole world concisely stopped. "What do you mean?"

Jane leaned forward and shot a glance of paranoia over her shoulder, checking to make sure the room was indeed empty. "Conner...is a very special boy." she whispered, like she was trying to keep control of a big secret. "He...oh, dear. How do I explain this in a way that you'll understand? That boy has got some issues."

My fiance's eyes blackened with anger. "What sorts of issues." Not a question. A demand.

"Gosh, golly! I'm not supposed to be disclosing this kind of information to the public. But...I trust you two to keep this private." Jane touched her cheek. "Conner has been one of the most difficult, troubled child this orphanage has ever seen. He doesn't get along with the other children. He has to be constantly isolated. He doesn't speak—not that that's a bad thing at his age, he's only fourteen months old, but still, it's concerning when he doesn't even utter a sound. He also has a violent tendency. Just last week, he bit another little girl named Melanie on the cheek, so hard, in fact, that we had to rush her to the emergency room."

No words could describe the sorrow I carried within me. I seriously wanted to die. This pain was too great. "When can we adopt him?" My loud voice made her flinch. I worked on taking it down a notch.

"Well, first you would have to fill this out," Jane handed me a packet that was thicker than a phone book. "That's the approval forum, which usually takes eight to twelve weeks to go through our system—some times longer if there's a problem with your information or our computers or something like that. Then, once we've thoroughly checked your criminal backgrounds and decided whether you're a worthy candidate for this adoption or not, you will receive a call and letter informing you of your acceptance of Conner—"

Dimitri cleared his throat harshly and smiled that menacing smile that made chills run up your spine. "See, Jane, with all due respect, that just isn't going to work."

As he went on to describe our situation in vivid, gruesome detail to Jane, I cringed and worked on differentiating the past from the present. As always, I had difficulty doing so.

I kept seeing a tiny, premature baby covered in blood being viciously and ruthlessly cut out of the safety of my womb by Tasha, then given into the arms of a stranger, her mother Marie, who also happened to be a neonatal nurse.

Numbly, I slipped a hand under my shirt and felt the jagged, vertical scar that went down the skin of my entire stomach. I had always believed it had been from the hysterectomy, but evidently, it might not have.

"Oh, dear," Jane said when Dimitri was done with the tale of our life story. The poor old lady had turned the color of a ghost, eyes horror stricken. I worried for her health, because she probably didn't receive these kind of shocks on a regular basis.

"We must call the police," she said breathlessly.

"I think that would be best." My fiance said, smiling tightly.

The police officers finished taking our report and had identical looks of disbelief and wonder as they stared at me. They couldn't fathom what I'd been through and survived. Neither did I, really.

Dimitri cleared his throat, obviously displeased with amount of male attention I was receiving. Draping an arm around my hip and pulling me flush against his side, I smiled smally at his possessiveness. If only he knew that no man could ever compare to him.

The dark-skinned officer spoke briefly into his radio as he stepped forward. "Trudy down at the station has confirmed the reports and calls made to nine-one-one over a year ago." he looked at me, and I expected to find pity on his face—after all, he now knew about Victor and Tasha and my mutilation and my son being hacked out of my stomach—but all I found was respect and utter sadness. "When would you like to meet your son?"

My eyes bulged. "What? I can...see him?"

The officer nodded. "Yes, you can. We just have to run a DNA test to confirm everything, and after seventy-two hours, we can immediately release Conner into your full custody."

"Ivan. His name is Ivan." I mumbled incoherently, eyes welling with tears. I looked at my fiance, seeing his blurry, towering outline. "He's ours, Dimitri. He's ours again!"

He leaned down, wrapped his arms around me, and hugged me like there was no tomorrow. "I know, Roza." he murmured. "I know."

Jane came out of the building, frail, pale hands clasped in front of her. "He's awoken from his nap. I can take you to his room, if you'd like to see him now."

A gasp escaped my mouth. I looked up to Dimitri, who stared at me for the longest time before giving a slight nod.

I smiled, grabbed his hand, and together we started to run. "What room is it, Jane?" I yelled as we nearly mowed her over to get to the door.

She yelped in surprised and jumped out of the way. "Uh. Room Seven. Second floor. Just go left after the stairs. His door's the second one."

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" I grabbed her face and planted a big one right on her lips. "You're the best! I love you!"

I gave the officers the same treatment, and they seemed to enjoy it a little more than Jane did.

"Come on, Comrade." I did the whole grab-and-run thing with his arm again, pulling him up two flights of stairs. "Let's meet our son."

We stopped at the door with the big blue 7 on it. There was muffled crying coming from inside the room, and fear slammed into me like a train.

He doesn't know I'm his mom.

What if he doesn't like me?

What if he's scared of me?

What if he won't get anywhere near me?

What if he hates me for not finding him sooner?

What if I'm not a good mom?

What do I do when I see him?

What do I say?

Should I hug him?

Should I kiss him?

Would touching him be too much at first?

A billion questions pounded in my head. My breathing picked up. I stared at Dimitri. "I don't want to go in there." I told him.

Something flashed in his chocolate-brown eyes. "Why?"

My bottom lip quivered, tears stung my eyes. "I'm scared." If I had ever spoken the truth, those two words were definitely it. I couldn't think of a better way to describe it. I was absolutely terrified. Not because of my son, but because of his reaction. I was a complete stranger to him.

"We don't have to do this now. Not if you're not ready." Dimitri lovingly ran his thumb over the back of my hand. His gaze was full of nothing but support and understanding. "I'm scared, too. Just as much as you are."

"You are?" I croaked, not bothering with wiping away the fallen tears that traveled down my cheeks and throat.

He nodded. "We'll only go in there if you're ready, Roza."

Doubt and unease twisted in my chest. "But...but what if he doesn't like me?"

"Then he doesn't." he said frankly. "This is to be natural, so let what is suppose to happen, happen. Okay?"

I nodded as he traced my cheek with his fingers. "Okay." I whispered, continuing to nod. "I want to go in there."

"Are you sure?"

I gave my signature Rose Hathaway I-can-do-this smile. "Positive."

I reached forward and wrapped my fingers around the gold knob, took a deep breath, and twisted. The white painted door creaked open slowly, revealing a baby blue room with clouds painted on the walls, a single white crib, a dresser, hardwood floor, and a moon rug with a little fire truck toy on it.

The wailing got louder as I hesitantly entered the room and Dimitri closed the door to give us more privacy.

God, this is what it all came down to. This moment. It meant everything.

I followed the oddly familiar sound to the crib, where it was the loudest.

My heart skipped a beat.

Ivan was just like he had been in my dreams, absolutely identical, every feature. Unruly, ridiculously thick, curly hair. Dark, bottomless eyes. Button nose. Pouty lips.

"Oh, my God." I put a shaking hand to my mouth. "He's so beautiful."

Ivan's cries came to an abrupt stop the instant he saw me. Reaching up, he rubbed his red nose with his chubby fists, then he rubbed his eyes, like he wanted to make sure what he was seeing was real or not.

Ivan then did something that stunned me.

He outstretched his arms towards me and began to ball.

It was so natural for me to reach down and cradle his tiny body in my arms. I was suddenly overwhelmed by this maternal instinct and need I had to protect my son. If anyone even dared to hurt him, I would kill them. No questions asked. Because he belonged to me. He was mine.

"Hi, baby boy," I murmured, gently trailing my finger down his cheek. His skin was incredibly soft. "Don't worry. Mommy and daddy are here now. We'll protect you. You're safe." There was a smile on my face that absolutely no one could wipe off. I couldn't remember ever being this happy. Not in my whole life.

Ivan stared up at me with a kind of puzzled, wonder-filled expression. His brows crashed down in concentration as he wrapped his fingers around a lock of my hair and lightly tugged. A giggle bubbled out his mouth, exposing the most beautiful smile, and eight pearlie whites.

I made a weird sound, a mix of a hysterical laugh and cry. "Look at him, Dimitri! He's smiling! He's smiling!" I yelled victoriously.

A tear slid out of Dimitri's eye, he quickly wiped it away. In all the years I had known him, I'd only seen him cry one time. This was the second. It was such a rare thing, and strangely beautiful, because a man like Dimitri never showed his emotions. Apparently, he was on overload right now.

My fiance came forward. "May I hold him?"

My automatic response was to say no. I never wanted to let go of my son. But Dimitri was his father, and I trusted him with Ivan more than myself. I also needed to see what it looked to have Ivan in his arms. I don't know why, I just had to make sure all of this was real and not some cruel dream I was about to wake up from.

The sight of Ivan in his fathers arms was something that I'd ingrain in my brain and remember forever. Our son was so tiny cradled against Dimitri's body. As my fiance spoke loving words to Ivan in Russian, I scooted closer and rubbed his little feet that were covered by the cloth of his blue feety pajamas.

"He looks just like you," I smiled wistfully.

"Are you kidding?" Dimitri was careful not to squish Ivan between our bodies as he leaned down to pour all of his emotions into a lingering kiss he gave me. It took my breath away. "His face...all I see is you. And it makes me so incredibly happy. Look at this hair..."

I ran my fingers through it and laughed. "It is pretty ridiculous. He inherited the wicked Mazur hair."

Anger flared through my body, colder than ice yet hotter than fire at the same time. I didn't know who I was mad at, maybe myself, maybe Fate, maybe the whole universe, I wasn't sure. The only thing I knew was that Dimitri and I had lost so much time with Ivan. We'd missed those precious, crucial moments of our son growing up.

We would never get the luxury of having the normal family experience—the birth, bringing him home for the very first time, changing his diaper, getting up at three in the morning to feed and burp him, watching him learn to crawl—but we had him now, and I wasn't about to waste anymore valuable time I had with my son. From now on, I was going to treasure every moment I had with Ivan and Dimitri and make up for wasted time. Ivan wouldn't remember any of the things that happened to him, and I was going to make sure that the memories he would remember, would be the best.

There was a knock at the door. Our heads snapped over, and I could have sworn that I heard growls come from Dimitri's and my own mouth. My fiance turned his body and brought Ivan behind his back, shielding him, protecting him.

I guess you really didn't mess with Papa and Mamma bear.

Or Dimitri Belikov and Rose Hathaway, for that matter.

Jane peaked her head out. "Hi, uh, I'm sorry to interrupt, but the folks downstairs are here to take your DNA sample."

"Can we bring Ivan?" I asked.

"We're not leaving him alone." Dimitri added.

"Yeah," I said. "We're not leaving this room unless he comes with us."

Jane smiled kindly. "Of course, honey. You can bring him. He's your son."

Downstairs, I didn't even feel the pinching pain of the needle as the nurse drew blood from my arm. All of my attention was on Ivan, who was currently playing patty cake with the back of Dimitri's hand.

The police officer took the vial of blood the nurse handed him and dropped it in a bag, then he wrote a number and my name on it.

"You're up next," The nurse told Dimitri, snapping on a fresh pair of gloves.

We switched positions, swapping Ivan in our arms and sharing a not so quick kiss.

"Ahem." The nurse cleared her throat. The officers just grinned.

"I love you," My fiance gave me the smile that he reserved just for me. I felt a rush of heat between my legs and had to force myself to sit down.

"I love you, too." I said blissfully.

"Luvvvvv yewww."

All of our heads snapped down to Ivan. His voice was angelic, soft, so tiny you could hardly hear it.

Jane gasped and put her shaking hands to her mouth. Her eyes began to water. "My God."

It was the first word he'd ever spoken. I couldn't believe it, and clearly, no one else could either.

I smiled and brushed my fingers down his cheek. "You did it, baby boy."

Three days later, while Dimitri and I were feeding Ivan in his room, Jane burst through the doors without warning. "The results are here!" She held up a manilla envelope. "Umm...I know it's confidential, but I kind of peaked."

Dimitri and I jumped up.

"What did they say?" I ran over to her and grabbed the file.

"They came back positive! You can take him home! He's yours!" Jane screamed excitedly.

The dark-skinned officer politely knocked on the open door before entering the room. The first thing he did was grin victoriously at me, and I felt complete relief and out of this world happiness.

"You just have to sign a few documents," he said. "Then we can release him into your full custody."

1 month later...

"Look at him!" I put my hand to my mouth in awe. "He's standing all by himself."

Dimitri wrapped his arms around me from behind, my body becoming engulfed in his large, safe, and warm haven. I was in heaven when he started placing kisses up my neck, his nose nuzzling my hair and skin.

"Go, baby boy!" I cheered, breaking from my fiance and kneeling down. "Come to mamma! You can do it!" I opened my arms, encouraging him to take his first steps.

Ivan giggled and bounced up and down on his feet, using the edge of the coffee table to support his weight. When a few strands of his curly brown hair fell into his dark brown eyes—ones he'd inherited from his father—he blew air up in frustration, getting annoyed with the unruly locks.

"Come on, son," Dimitri's voice was so deep. "Go to your mother. She's waiting for you."

Ivan beamed at his father. Then, obviously wanting to make his papa proud, resumed a determined expression and released his death grip on the table.

I could only stare in wonder as our son slowly and uncertainly put one chubby foot in front of the other, wobbling towards us with the biggest smile on his face, flashing his eight small pearly whites.

Beside me, Dimitri was so quiet and still as he stared out Ivan take his first steps. The expression on his face stole my breath away. I had never seen anything so intense, so…

Happy and proud.

"You're doing it, Ivan!" I shouted, clapping my hands. "You're almost there. Just one more step!"

Our son leaped into my arms. I picked him up and twirled him around in the air. "You did it! You took your first steps!"