"I've never heard of it," I said suspiciously to Dimitri. "Are you sure you're not making it up?!"

He laughed that warm, rich chuckle of his.

"I promise you I'm not, milaya. Romanian Measles is seriously debilitating to Dhampir. Moroi get a little sick, but it's much more severe for Dhampir. It's one of the only things that can really make Dhampir ill. There's been an outbreak at St. Vladimir's and now at Court. I rang your doctor today, and she said we're safest staying on the property without visitors and going to the human town if we need anything. She doesn't want to run the risk of you catching it."

I hardly left the property these days – but now I was told I couldn't, of course, I immediately wanted to.

"How long are we talking?"

"A fortnight at least," Dimitri said with a sigh. "Possibly a month."

"A month?! Stuck here?"

"Well we can go out into the human world, we just can't go near Moroi or other Dhampir until everyone recovers."

"Who do we know who has it?" I asked curiously.

"Pavel does," Dimitri chortled. "I rang Abe, and apparently Pavel is being a big baby about it. Alyce's boy has it too, although a milder case, so she's temporarily moved in over there and has the two of them bundled up together in the TV room at Abe's house in the guest accommodations at Court."

"Won't she get it?"

"You can only get it once, milaya. Like me, Alyce had it as a young child. Celeste rang from her parent's house earlier, and she's been recalled to St. Vlad's, so she won't be making her planned trip to Court next week. She's already had it too, so they need her back at the Academy because half the Guardians are down with it."

"Maybe I've already had it?" I asked hopefully.

"Afraid not," Dimitri said. "I rang St. Vladimir's, and there's no record of you ever having had it. But since you might have had it before you started there, I rang and checked with your mother."

"You spoke with Janine?" I whispered in surprise.

"I did," my Russian God replied, looking at me carefully to gauge my reaction. It had been a month since graduation. Over four months since I told her I was pregnant. And we still hadn't spoken.

"She said you hadn't had it as a child. She stressed how important it was you do not contract it while pregnant. It can be dangerous for the baby."

"Ok," I said shivering. I'd stay quarantined here for a year if it kept Junior safe.

"She'd like to speak with you. She asked me to let you know she'd like it if you called."

"She has a phone too, doesn't she?!" I asked peevishly.

"She does, but she didn't want to spring a phone call on you out of the blue. She said she'd leave the ball in your court."

"What does she want to say?" I asked him. "What did she say to you?"

"Not much. She mostly wanted to know how your pregnancy was going."

"She knows we're together?" I checked. I mean – after what happened at graduation, I'm pretty sure everyone knew Dimitri and I were together.

"Yes."

"And?"

"She just said she hoped I was taking care of you."

"That's it?"

"I know – I was expecting more, too," he admitted. "She sounded hopeful you'd call."

Dimitri knew when to take a step back and leave something with me, so for the next week, he focused on the cottage. Since the shooting, he was working like a man possessed to get the place ready. I wasn't fussed – I knew his arm still bothered him, so if we brought Junior home to the workshop flat it wouldn't be a disaster. We had enough space there.

But my Comrade saw it differently. He wanted our home ready and us in it. With the self-imposed isolation extended to the Guardians too, and things at a standstill for a little while on the big house as Abe was banned from visiting, so couldn't make critical decisions, the guys offered up their time to help with our little home. By the end of the week, the plastering was done, and Dimitri was able to arrange to have the external contractors start early on the final fix.

We were sitting on the porch swing on the verandah watching as my kitchen, bathroom and laundry cabinets were being taken off a truck by human workers and brought into the cottage ready for installation.

"I'll go inside and make sure they put them in the right places," Dimitri murmured, strangely possessive of our little cottage and keen to make sure everything was done perfectly. He said he'd be five minutes, but I knew if I saw him within an hour I'd be doing well.

"No time like the present," I mumbled, picking up my phone and flipping through it until I found my mother's number. It was 9 am, so she'd probably be at the end of her working day.

"Rosemarie," she answered on the second ring sounding surprised.

"Um hi. Dimitri said you wanted me to ring? Is this a good time?"

"It is, can you hang on a moment?" I heard her cover the mouthpiece with her hand and in her usual emotionless tone tell whoever she was with she was clocking off her shift now. "All yours," she continued back on the phone.

"So where are you?" I asked, no idea what to say now we were speaking.

"Baltimore," she replied. "Lord Selzsky has us holed up here because of the Romanian Measles outbreak."

"Yes. Dimitri is the same. He hasn't let any of us leave the property all week."

"Well, he's just looking out for you," she said, a strange tone to her voice. I waited for her to say something more. She's the one who asked me to call.

"He's the father, isn't he?" she blurted out.

"Yes. It's too much to go into over the phone, but he is."

"And you love him?"

"I do."

"How long has it been going on? Obviously while you were still at school?"

"Yes, but nothing really happened until he was reassigned. He was sent on a mission he wasn't expected to return from. We spent the last few days before he left together."

"Well it's none of my business, but I'll glad you're making the best of things together."

"We're both excited and happy. It wasn't the way either of us planned things, but some things are worth changing plans for."

"What does that mean?" she asked defensively. She thought I was having a dig at her, but what I was saying was about my choices, not hers.

"I mean that I never thought I'd fall in love or find anything that meant more to me than being a Guardian. I thought I knew the path I was on, but that's changed. My priorities have changed. It's a bit frightening, but it's wonderful too."

"So will you work as a Guardian? Later on?"

"I'm not sure. It's a risky business, and I'll have a child depending on me. I miss being part of that life, and I was good. Really good. But it's not the sort of job you can half do. I get that now."

"Well things are changing," Janine said sounding mollified. "And you have time on your side."

"I do," I acknowledged. I had no idea why she wanted to speak with me.

"Rosemarie, I know things aren't right between us, and I know that's my fault. I want to try and work on things. I don't think I have it in me to be a proper mother. If I'm honest, it scares me and always has. But if you're willing to try, I thought maybe we could find some sort of way to interact that works for us?"

I stopped to think about what she was saying. She was right. It was too late to try for a mother/daughter relationship. That ship had sailed. But maybe there was an alternative? Maybe if we took the expectations off, it would leave room for something else to develop?

"I'd like that, Janine," I said, my voice only quivering a little. "You can start by calling me Rose."

"So I thought we could go to the mall today, milaya."

"Really?!"

It had been almost three weeks since the Romanian Measles outbreak, and to say cabin fever had set in would be an understatement. Dimitri had taken me on several country picnics, just to get off the property, but I'd not been anywhere with other people for ages.

"Yes," my Russian God said with a smile. "The cottage is ready to be painted inside. The interior decorator left a list of suggested colors; I thought we'd pick up some sample pots? And we will need some essentials for the baby. A car seat. A pram. A cot. There's probably another week of things to do before we can move in, but we're at the stage where we can start ordering what we need."

Squealing and throwing myself at my man I almost dragged him down the stairs and across to the cottage with a tape measure. He was right – the place was almost done. The cabinets and countertops were in, the utilities connected. The bathrooms needed to be finished off, and I still had taps and a few fittings to choose, but other than the painting and putting in the window coverings, we were pretty much done.

Buying things for the baby was a concession from Dimitri. In Russia, the tradition was to buy nothing for the baby until after it was born. There was no way I was going out shopping with a brand new baby, and I didn't like the idea of Dimitri choosing everything, so we'd agreed to go with the American tradition of setting up the nursery in advance.

For the rest of the cottage, we'd decided we liked vintage furniture, so we'd be doing a lot of the furniture shopping at Murray's. He'd alluring referred to a couple of mammoth sheds where he stored the mountain of stuff he couldn't fit in the shop – so we'd be checking that out before buying much new. But I knew I wanted new beds and sofas; the stairs to the flat being so tricky we'd decided to leave our current ones where they were to furnish the guest space.

Dimitri drove the dual-cab truck in case we needed the tray to bring anything back with us. Equipped with a pen and notepad, I jotted things down as Dimitri listed off what we'd need to look at. Mostly baby stuff, but some hardware things and then general stuff like the beds and sofas.

"That means another bed to break in, Comrade," I observed in a sultry tone, rubbing my hand on my Russian God's inner thigh. He groaned something under his breath in Russian that piqued my interest.

"What did you say?" I asked.

"Nothing," he mumbled, the tips of his ears and his neck going red. A sure fire sign my love was embarrassed.

"Tell me. Please?" I asked giving him my best pouty look.

"I just observed that we were well matched sexually."

"It didn't sound like you said that," I noted, his ears getting even redder. "What's the closest translation?"

"That we both like to make love."

"Comrade?!" I said lifting my eyebrows. My lover was almost beetroot with embarrassment now. "Tell me, or I'll ask your mother to translate when she gets here…"

"No!" he gasped in horror. "I said I'm blessed with an angel temptress who likes to fuck as much as I do," he admitted in mortification. Dimitri never swore in English, except when we were having sex.

I slid across the bench seat closer to where my man was driving.

"Yes. Yes, I do," I replied with an indulgent smile, leaning across to give his shoulder a little kiss.

Dimitri drove in embarrassed silence, although I had no idea why he was ashamed. I adored our intimacy, whether it was romantic and loving or more base and animalistic. I didn't care if people knew we were having sex. We were young and in love – I figured people probably realized we were all over each other every chance we got.

Mentioning Olena reminded me I'd be meeting her in person soon. We were nearly halfway through July now, and we'd arranged to leave for St. Vlad's in three weeks time where we'd be meeting Olena as well as the bulk of Abe's Guardians from his other houses. With my due date in six weeks, I knew I should be on weekly doctor visits by now. But with my blood pressure ok and no untoward symptoms, the doctor at Court and Dr. Olendzki agreed it was safer for me to stay at home than risk coming to Court with the measles outbreak still current.

"In six weeks we'll probably have a baby," I murmured to Dimitri, looking up at him in alarm. My little freakouts were becoming more and more frequent, and I saw him suppress a smile as he dropped one of his hands from the steering wheel to stroke my hand reassuringly.

"I'm looking forward to it Roza," he said with such emotion it was impossible not to share his excitement. "We'll need to buy some baby clothes. It's probably easiest to order most online, but we can take a look at some today if you want?" Dimitri had tempted, inadvertently touching on a sore point. Alyce had advised me to hold off buying much until after my baby shower to save doubling up on things for the baby. But with Lissa and I not speaking, and Alyce my only female friend at Court to invite anyway, there wouldn't be any baby shower.

I tried not to let it bother me. Our baby was half Russian, and baby showers weren't done there. But it did upset me that at a time when an expectant mother typically wanted to be around her Mom, female friends, and relatives there was a conspicuous absence of all of the above. I knew it would make Dimitri feel sad and guilty if I mentioned it, so I didn't tell him just how cut-off I felt from the support of other women just now.

Despite my mood, shopping had ended up being fun. We did hardware first, then new furniture for the house. We'd done appliances when we'd ordered the kitchen, so that was one less thing at least. Dimitri took me to lunch, after which we hit the baby store. Abe had told me some time ago my father wanted to pay for the baby's equipment as his present for the new arrival, and that I was to spare no expense. Taking that on board, and using Dimitri's knowledge of what we'd need thanks to his sister, we stocked up big on my father's credit card.

Since we didn't know gender, we bought neutrals, but I picked the linen and nursery décor I wanted for a boy and a girl. The store wrote it all down for me and assured me they'd package whichever was required and deliver it – all I had to do was call and do an over the phone credit card payment when we knew if we had a boy or a girl.

We spent ages in the store looking at all the different options. Dimitri interrogated the assistants for half an hour discussing the finer points of car seat safety, but we were eventually able to settle on a top of the line newborn seat with three bases – one for each of our cars as well as one for the van or to be taken with us when we traveled. We also bought two prams. One a stroller for use in shopping centers, at Court and other flat areas, the other was the pram equivalent of an all-terrain mountain bike. Dimitri and I both liked running, so the hope was after the baby arrived we could take turns pushing the pram as we did our morning laps.

After that, we'd selected the cot, mattress and change table for the nursery, then a range of baby clothes to take to St. Vladimir's with us. Since we didn't want to have to go to Missoula to buy anything while we were there, we bought everything we might need, including bottles and formula – just in case.

There was an amusing moment when the assistants were trying to fit Dimitri with the wearable baby carrier. I'm sure it didn't take four of them to figure out how to fit the straps across his lean, buff chest and back; yet there we were - me sitting in a supremely comfortable but truly ugly glider watching in amusement as my long-suffering Russian God was swarmed by shop assistants eager to help him with the task.

Eventually, Dimitri helped me back into the cab of the loaded truck. Between house stuff and baby stuff, the back was loaded, and I was ready to go home.

"We'll store all this in the workshop until the cottage is finished," Dimitri said, kissing me lovingly as I yawned. At thirty-four weeks pregnant I was getting tired more easily now, so while it was only 4 pm, it had been a busy day, and I was ready for a nap. I was asleep by the time we'd reached home and was barely aware of Dimitri carrying me up the stairs, partially undressing me and putting me into our bed.

"I love you, milaya. I'm always going to love you," he'd whispered before going to put test patches up on the walls of the cottage so they'd be dry for me to inspect in the morning.

"So are you ready, milaya?" Dimitri asked, a scarf wrapped around my eyes.

"I am." I was trying not to be snarky. I'd spent the last few days at Abe's house at Court with Alyce ordering all the stuff we'd need for the cottage. A similar process to what we'd done with the workshop flat, it was more a matter of working out what we'd leave in the flat and what we'd reorder.

Dimitri had warned he'd be working long hours the next few days, so I'd stayed two nights at Abe's. I'd found it hard to sleep without my Russian God beside me, although truth told, the more pregnant I got, the harder it was to sleep anyway. I'd had a hissy fit the other night when Dimitri had inadvertently moved one of the five pillows I'd made a nest from, thereby ruining my only comfortable sleep position.

With my eyesight impeded, my other senses had taken over. Being led away from the van, I could smell paint, fresh soil and I could hear the sound of sprinklers. There was the crunch of gravel underfoot as Dimitri carefully led me towards the cottage. Over the sound of my pounding heart, I realized this could only mean one thing.

"You've finished the cottage?" I gasped.

"As much as I can without the lady of the house adding her little touches," Dimitri agreed. I could hear the pride in his voice. Stopping me, he stood behind me, wrapping his long, toned arms around my abdomen, stroking my now gargantuan stomach. "This is for the love of my life, and our baby she's carrying," he whispered huskily. "You can look now."

Pulling the scarf from my eyes, I looked in awe at our cottage. The Guardians mustn't have slept in days, because it was done. And it was perfect! They'd painted the outside a pretty white. Contrasting with the darker stain on the deck, it looked fresh and welcoming. The front door was black, and there were black shutters on either side of the windows. My porch swing had some pretty floral cushions and a throw on it, the colors matching the flowers in planters on either side of the front door. The supports and balustrade were in, also white, and there was a side table conveniently placed beside the swing with a pitcher of lemonade and a couple of glasses beside it.

"Oh, Dimitri!" I said, eyes widening in surprise. The place looked amazing.

"Let's look inside," he suggested lovingly, guiding me along the new brick edged gravel path then up the stairs, pointing out the new garden beds surrounding the verandah just waiting for me to decide what I'd like planted in them. Opening the front door, I was stunned to see everything inside and set up. All the furniture we'd bought at Murray's, the stuff we'd ordered in town and even the things Alyce and I had ordered the day before yesterday.

"You mustn't have stopped since I left," I gasped looking around.

"No, we haven't," he said with a weary smile, pointing through the windows to where the Guardians from our property were standing with Abe, Pavel and the interior designer from the main house who'd also helped us choose our colors and fittings. "The guys and I moved it, and Lindsay got all the little extras and arranged things. If you don't like anything, she can change it or take it back."

We walked hand in hand into our small formal lounge, which was joined via an archway into the formal dining.

"Take a look at the table, milaya. Murray called and told me about it. It seats six, but can be extended to seat twelve! I thought it would be good for Christmas? We can push the sofas back and extend it through the archway but the rest of the time keep it set up for six."

It was a brilliant idea, and I told him as much. After that, I admired the finished powder room, laundry and then my open plan meals, kitchen, and living area. Taking up half the downstairs, this area was beautiful and bright. We had a huge country table for eight as well as three massive sofas that could accommodate a similar number. The kitchen was bright and airy with a center counter. The open design was so practical; we'd be able to cook, entertain and supervise Junior all in the one area. The TV was Dimitri's particular joy. He'd confessed that growing up as a child they'd crowded around a tiny portable television, and he'd always wanted a huge one.

"I was thinking maybe come February we could have a party for the Super Bowl?" he said, seeing me look at the TV in amusement. "I'll have built the outdoor space by then, and I know the guys would enjoy ribs and beer and to watch the game…"

"Who are you and what have you done with my anti-social boyfriend?" I laughed, loving the idea of Dimitri bonding with his male friends.

"I just never thought I'd have a house of my own before. Or a girlfriend. Or a child…" He looked so happy it was infectious.

Looking around, I could see all the little things we'd chosen at Murray's and elsewhere, as well as new things like the rug and cushions in the living room. I would never in a million years have picked things so colorful and patterned, but with everything else, it looked phenomenal.

"Who chose the rug?" I asked.

"The designer Lindsay. She came in yesterday morning and suggested where to position the furniture and unpacked all the stuff, and then went to town yesterday afternoon to buy little things to finish it off. She's waiting outside to walk through with you in a moment to discuss what she chose. All the tags are still on, so if you don't like anything, she can take it back."

"So far I love everything!" I said, and I did. It was like everything I dreamed of but on steroids. She'd taken the things we liked and woven them together to make it look like a real home. "Do you like it?"

"It feels like us," he said simply, causing me to smile. "Now come on my love – let's go upstairs!"

We climbed the wide u-shaped stairs, stopping on the landing to admire an enormous frame. It had thirty or forty identical square cutouts, each featuring a black and white photo. There were family, friends, photos of Dimitri and I at various ages, before and after pictures of the cottage and some of us together.

"Lindsay took our photo albums and boards and had this made up," he said, cuddling me from behind as I looked at all the people in the photos. "I know a lot of our loved ones live away," he explained. "I thought this way we'd be able to look at them every day."

"It's perfect," I whisper.

"Some are double or triples," he explained showing me how some of the photos had been repeated. "The idea is we can replace those over time with other photos."

Grasping my hand, he showed me upstairs to our bedroom. Opening the double doors, I understood what Dimitri had meant earlier about feeling like he was home. This couldn't be anyone's bedroom but ours. The twin reading chairs on the left of the bed, the little writing desk and a cradle set up on the right. It was beautiful.

The linen I'd chosen was on the bed, a stunning artwork I hadn't seen before above the bedhead, and a rug in similar tones on the floor. It was straightforward and beautiful and so us. Dimitri opened the closets to show me all our clothing had already been brought across.

We walked back to the landing, and I looked into the bathroom, gasping in amazement.

"Comrade?!"

"We moved things around a bit, and there was room," he explained seeing me looking at the large clawfoot bathtub with undisguised longing.

"There was a bath in one of the places we lived in Chicago," I moaned in excitement. "Nowhere else I've ever lived has had one."

"Well now you have one," Dimitri said, dropping a loving kiss on my nose.

We went to one of the bedrooms – the one we'd decided to make the guest room. With a queen-sized bed and comfy reading chairs, it was like a miniature version of our room but decorated in pretty yellow and gray. It would never have picked the colors together, but it worked and was so welcoming.

"Are you ready to see the nursery?"

I nodded. This was the room I'd been wanting to see. Dimitri opened the door, standing back to let me go through first. The first thing I saw was the rocking chair. A cushion had been added, and a soft throw draped over one arm. There was a little bookshelf ready for some books to be added. The cot and change table were set up, and the dormers featured matching built-in window seat toy boxes. There was a plain rug on the floor.

"I knew you'd want to finish this space off yourself," Dimitri explained, spinning to look at me. "Is it what you hoped?" he asked.

"More," I whispered to him. "Everything is so very much more. Thank you, Comrade."

"Anything for you, milaya," he said lovingly, pulling me closer and leaning to kiss me.