Previously

….Rose let out a scream. Dimitri didn't think, he immediately reacted. Praying that nothing was amiss, he raced towards the living room. When a second scream followed, Dimitri's blood turned to ice…

When Dimitri saw what had happened, the glass he had been clutching in his hand dropped from hand and shattered to a million pieces on the floor…

Now

"He kicked me" was what Rose had uttered; the words that made Dimitri lose his grip on the water-glass and cause it to shatter against the wooden floor.

For a second, both Rose and Dimitri stood rooted to where they were, both their eyes fixed on the broken glass bits, and then Rose screamed again.

Dimitri recovered then and swiftly rushed to her side, brushing her shoulder comfortingly. "Roza, you scared the life out of me", Dimitri chastised half-heartedly. "For a second I thought…"

Dimitri trailed off, but Rose got the gist. Unfortunately, she was still adjusting to being used as a football by her baby to feel sorry for him.

"Excuse me, but there's a growing human being inside of me, one who's making a habit of kicking me", she bit out sarcastically, rubbing her tummy lightly, trying to soothe the weird sensation in her stomach.

"Of course, Roza. I'm sorry", Dimitri placated her. "Do you want to sit? Would you like some water?"

"Comrade, shut up", she snapped at him, feeling the weird sensation again, but this time limiting her reaction to a little yelp instead of the standard scream. Suddenly, the realization hit her. "Holy mother-trucker", she corrected herself hastily, remembering her mission to stop cursing. "I'm growing a human being inside of me"

"No, for real", she continued enthusiastically, turning to Dimitri. "Dimitri, I'm going to be a mom"

"Umm, isn't that what being pregnant entails?", Dimitri asked tentatively, instead of replying with a 'Duh' or 'I know', both of which-most likely-would have triggered her one of her now temperamental mood swings. The last time Dimitri had 'irritated' her, he'd ended up with a couple of bruised ribs (courtesy of her punching) and a bawling Rose, who was terribly sorry she'd done that to him. It had taken him four whole hours (and a tub of butterscotch ice-cream) to soothe her to sleep, and his frazzled nerves weren't really keen on a repeat of that event.

"Yes, I mean…you know, so far I was theoretically pregnant, but this cements the deal. Wow!", Rose continued, her words breaking his reverie. "Holy freaking candy mountain, I'm gonna be your baby mamma", she ended her tirade excitedly, then started laughing hysterically, making even Dimitri chuckle along.

"Oh", she stopped suddenly, her hands fluttering over her stomach again.

"What is it? Is he kicking again?", Dimitri asked quickly, eyeing her stomach.

"Yeah", she choked out a laugh, patting her tummy. Suddenly remembering that she wasn't the only eager parent in the room, she grabbed one of Dimitri's hands and placed it on her lower abdomen. "Here, feel this", she grinned, fixing her eyes on his face to catch his reaction.

Dimitri didn't disappoint. His hand had not been on her skin three seconds before the baby decided to showcase its fancy footwork again. The moment Dimitri felt her taut stomach flutter under his arms, his eyes flashed to Rose, who replied his unasked question with an enthusiastic nod. Instantly his face lit up with a smile, his eyes crinkling with genuine happiness, and his handsome features stunned Rose into speechlessness for a second.

"My god, Rose! He's kicking.", Dimitri gasped excitedly, lifting his joy-filled eyes to meet hers. "Our baby boy is really kicking. I bet he's gonna be one hell of a guardian when he grows up!"

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves", Rose patted his arm. "For all we know, he could be a she"

"It could be, but I don't think so", Dimitri replied with a smile.

"That's only because you're afraid of losing your little girl to another boy someday", Rose shot back, poking her tongue out at her. Dimitri grimaced slightly, making Rose chuckle again. Immediately, he leaned down and paced a soft kiss against her lips.

"Thank you, milaya. Thank you so, so very much!", he replied, gently gathering her into his arms and pressing kisses against her forehead.

Rose returned his hug wholeheartedly, nestling into his embrace and sniffing the smell of his aftershave-which, even with her discerning olfactory senses now, was one of her most favorite smells. He buried his head into her hair, still murmuring thank yous, and for a second, Rose swore she felt his tears against her skin. It made her only pull him closer and hold him tighter.

Dimitri could have stayed in that position for a lifetime, but Rose started squirming in his arms after a couple of minutes.

"Comrade, not to be a buzzkill or anything, but I really gotta go pee", she said sheepishly, stepping out of his arms.

"Can I feel it one more time?", Dimitri asked, eyeing her tummy again.

"I think it has stopped. For now", Rose explained, watching Dimitri's face fall slightly. "But if you want-"

"It's okay, Rose. We have a lot of time ahead to do this. You go do your thing now, and I'll clean up the mess I made", he said, pointing towards the glass shards on the floor. "Walk carefully"

"I should inform Lissa. She'll be pissed if I don't tell her", Rose sighed.

"But if you do, she'll show up here in two minutes flat and sit holding your stomach till the baby kicks again", Dimitri completed wryly. "Which could take some time"

"And I'm really tired", Rose quipped, yawning for effect.

"Go sleep. We'll inform Lissa the next time it happens", Dimitri chuckled again. "This'll be our little secret"

"Guardian secrets?", Rose teased, holding up her pinky towards him.

"Guardian secrets", Dimitri affirmed fondly, twisting his pinky around hers and pulling her closer for another kiss.

After the couple of threats I've received on my life already, I decided it was in my best interest to update ASAP, so here you go, lovelies!
This is a really short chapter, in comparison to the others, but the next one's gonna be pretty long (I have a few things planned), I promise. If you liked this, don't forget to leave a review.
Also, thanks to for naming the last chapter, and if anyone wanna name this one, feel free to drop a suggestion.
Cheers!