A.N
I know that fics with Rose's pregnancy are not for everyone, but for all the anon reviewers/guest reviewers that have been commenting things like "Boo pregnancy" and "I hope she isn't pregnant because I was really starting to like it", let me let you all in on something.
I write because it makes me happy. This is my way of unwinding and destressing from a very stressful job. This fic is based on the idea Carrying You, which was about a baby right off the hop. And I enjoy writing about pregnancy and children because it gives me a little bit of joy, while knowing that there is a high possibility that I will never be able to have children due to a disease I have.
I get that it's not canon, but this is fanfiction. If you don't like it, don't read it. Besides, there is way more to this than the possibility of Rose being pregnant.
Dimitri's childhood bedroom was what I expected it to be. It had a large bed pressed up against the wall, a hand-made quilt spread over it. There was a desk tucked under the window and a bare dresser against the other wall. There were a few posters on the walls, and a lone guitar in the corner by the closet.
After a hearty home-cooked meal that I could barely eat fast enough, we all retreated to bed. I ran my fingers over the quilt, admiring how soft it was after all the years.
"If you want, I can sleep on the couch," Dimitri said, making me turn.
"You don't have to if you don't want to," I said softly, "I don't mind sharing."
Dimitri nodded and laid another knitted blanket over the end of the quilt.
"I just wanted to be sure," he said and pulled the blankets back. I climbed in beside him and curled up on my side, tucking my hand under my cheek.
"Your home is perfect," I whispered as Dimitri flicked the light off. I could see his smile in the light of the moon as he lay down beside me.
"It is," he whispered quietly, "We didn't have much, but it always felt like enough."
I smiled at him and he mirrored my position, rolling onto his side to face me.
"Have you heard how Tash's doing?"
"Yeah. She and Ivan have nicknamed you the outbreak monkey. Both of them have the flu now," Dimitri chuckled. I shook my head with a chuckle.
"Did you ever bring any girlfriends up here?" I asked with a giggle as I looked around the bedroom.
"No, none other than you," he said with a grin.
"So, you never had to sneak any girls out the door?"
"I would never have gotten away with that," he said with a grin, "My sisters are nosy. I had next to no privacy. Sonya used to throw a fit that I had a lock on my door and she didn't."
I snickered quietly and shifted to get more comfortable in the bed.
"Are you sure she wasn't just jealous that she couldn't sneak boys into her room?"
"Oh, I am very much sure that that was the problem," he laughed quietly, mindful that his mother was asleep downstairs. His arm slipped around my waist, and he settled closer to me, his face just before mine on his pillow.
"I hate fighting with you," he whispered softly. I let my toes brush against his shin, and I rubbed my nose against his.
"I do too," I whispered, moving closer to him.
Dimitri nodded softly and his forehead pressed against mine. I stretched my neck out and pressed a tentative kiss to his lips, sighing quietly as he kissed me back. I sighed quietly when I pulled back, resting my forehead against his again.
"I'm sorry," I whispered.
"You have nothing to apologize for," he said tenderly as he ran the side of his finger against my cheek.
"I should have just told you," I said but he pulled back enough to shake his head.
"I should have respected that you didn't want to talk about it. You were jumpy about it too. I should have paid attention and understood that there was more to it than what I thought. We both made some mistakes."
I cupped his face and rolled onto my back, my fingers ghosting along the skin as they travelled down his neck. He braced himself beside my head so his full weight wasn't on me, his thumb brushing over my brow.
There were so many things that I wanted to say to him, but the words wouldn't move past my tongue. But the way he looked at me….it made me feel like he already knew what I wanted to say.
I felt on edge when I opened my eyes. I could tell that I was being watched. I moved my eyes towards the end of the bed and held my breath. There was a woman sitting at the end of the bed, a pair of knitting needles in her hands. I recognized her face from the photos downstairs, but I was slightly stunned that her knitting needles didn't make any noise as they clicked against each other.
"Hello?" I whispered, casting a glance at Dimitri but he was still asleep.
Yeva glanced at me as she worked, a furrow set between her brows.
"You're not a stupid girl," she said to me, her voice thick with an accent I had become familiar with being in Russia.
"Thank you," I said as I sat up.
She glared at me. "That wasn't a compliment."
I furrowed my brows and cocked my head a bit. "Then what was it supposed to mean?"
"That you should stop hiding things from my grandson. He's thick-headed, he needs to be told the truth."
I shook my head slightly and she looked back at her knitting, the blanket resting in her lap as she knitted. I looked at Dimitri again, but he was still fast asleep.
"You shouldn't put all of your faith in the things you've been told. You'd be surprised what happens as you heal."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
She rolled her eyes in a way that made me think that Dimitri learned it from her. She set the knitting in her lap and looked at me dead on.
"Nothing is ever certain. You never thought that you would meet your father, and yet, you have. Have some faith in life. Let yourself open up to someone for the long run. Let someone love you and love them in return."
I blinked a few times when I woke up, slowly glancing towards the end of the bed. Nothing there but the knitted blanket Dimitri put there last night. I sat up slowly and tried to think about my dream, but it was slipping away from me. I glanced at Dimitri and found that he was still asleep.
I slipped out of bed and got dressed before slipping down the stairs, covering my mouth as I yawned. When I walked into the kitchen, I was surprised to find Olena already sitting at the table with a coffee.
"Morning," I said quietly as I sat down across from her.
"Good morning," she returned with a smile on her face. I smiled at her and blinked as I looked out the window, the rain falling softly against the glass.
"Did you sleep well?" she asked with an amused look and I blanched for a moment.
"I did, but I had a strange dream," I said as I got up and got myself a cup of coffee.
"Oh? Why's that?"
"I had a dream about Yeva sitting at the end of the bed," I said with a furrowed brow, "It felt so real."
Olena smiled with a slight chuckle. "She used to do that to Dimka; sit on the end of his bed while he was sleeping. She'd do it in the morning when he was supposed to wake up."
I chuckled quietly and took a sip of my coffee, watching a van pull up in front of the house. I watched Dimitri's sisters get out of the van, a few kids following them out. I brushed my hair out of my face and waited for them to come in.
There was a knock before the door opened, and Karolina called out to let us know that they had arrived. I called out so they knew where we were, crossing my legs in the chair as they came into the kitchen. Paul was tall like Dimitri, almost the same height as his mother and a spitting image.
"Paul, Zoya, this is Rose. She's Uncle Dimka's girlfriend," Karolina introduced us, running her fingers through her daughter's hair affectionately. Zoya seemed a little shy, but Paul smiled and waved at me.
"Your uncle is upstairs if you want to go wake him up," I said to Zoya with a smile. Zoya took off with a squeal, climbing up the stairs and calling for her uncle. I smiled to myself and sipped my coffee. Sonya didn't seem all that happy to see me, but the feeling was slightly mutual. Karolina and Victoria greeted me with smiles and hugs.
Sonya sidestepped me and sat down at the table, earning an eye roll from her sisters. I shrugged and sat back in my spot at the table, sipping my coffee as I heard playful screams overhead and then the sound of feet hitting the floor. They were followed by the sounds of lighter footfalls and then more screams, accompanied by a roar from Dimitri.
I smiled as he came down the stairs with his niece and nephew over his shoulders. I smirked and chuckled into his coffee as he came into the kitchen, tossing them around in his arms before setting them on their feet.
"Morning," he said as he scratched the back of his neck.
Sonya rolled her eyes. "God, put a shirt on," she grumbled as he walked around the table. Dimitri rolled his eyes and ducked his head down, catching me in a kiss that was mildly not appropriate for the breakfast table.
"Morning, Roza," he said softly, kissing the tip of my nose.
"Morning," I said a little breathlessly. He winked at me and I caught his mother's amused expression as he went to get himself a cup of coffee.
"Sleep well?" Karolina asked as she sat across from me, "I don't think I remember you ever sleeping in this late."
Olena smirked at me and my cheeks went bright red. Dimitri raised a brow at me and I cleared my throat.
"He slept well," I supplied. Dimitri smirked and sat beside me, resting his arm on the back of my chair. I yawned. Dimitri and Karolina fell into easy conversation while Viktoria watched them with a happy smile on her face.
"How is Nikola?" Dimitri asked Viktoria.
"Oh, um, we're kind of on a break," she said, "We got into a fight a few weeks ago."
"Oh," Dimitri said with a furrowed brow. Viktoria didn't feel great with the topic and turned it to something else quickly. I listened along and silently got up to help Olena in the kitchen, but she waved me back to the table.
"Nah, they need some bonding time," I said and leaned against the far counter. She looked like she was making some kind of pancake, and I switched between watching her and watching Dimitri and his sisters.
Olena asked me to put the kettle on to make tea and I was surprised when I felt little arms wrap around the back of my leg. I exclaimed and looked down, finding Zoya attached to my leg.
"Privet," I chuckled. Dimitri had taught me the basics. Hello, goodbye, please and thank you.
"Vverkh," she said and I looked to Olena for the translation.
"She said 'up'," Olena said. I smiled at Zoya and picked her up, perching her on my hip as I pulled teabags out of the cupboard and put them into the teapot. Zoya rested her head on my shoulder, her thumb tucked into her mouth.
I glanced down at her and smiled softly. She looked like so much like her mother, and her eyes were framed with beautiful thick eyelashes.
"She was restless last night," Karolina said when she noticed us.
"That's okay, I don't mind cuddling with her," I said as I swayed slightly. Zoya sighed happily and I rested my cheek on top of her head. Dimitri had a soft look on his face as he watched us.
Olena plated the thin pancake-looking things onto a plate and brought them to the table. She put some jams and honey on the table too. Olena came over and took an almost asleep Zoya from my arms, telling me to go eat.
I sat next to Dimitri and crossed my legs on the chair. Dimitri wrapped his arm over the back of my chair, his fingers twirling the ends of my hair. The feeling almost felt natural now, and I was starting to get used to the feeling of it.
I was a little sad to leave Baia. I knew that Dimitri was sad to leave, but I was also looking forward to Turkey. Abe wanted to show us around while we were here, and took us to some spots that were almost hidden from tourists but gems all the while. After we were in Turkey, we started to round back so we could fly home. The way Victor scheduled the tour, despite Dimitri's protests, we were heading back toward the east coast instead of flying straight back to the States.
We accepted an invite to a party and despite my exhaustion from flying, we decided to go. I was a little starstruck that I was sitting next to Lady Gaga at this event, but I was trying to keep my cool. Dimitri smirked at me every time he caught my eye, knowing fair well that she was one of my idols.
The party was more of a show of sorts, I was half asleep when Maria and Tasha were prepping us beforehand. I couldn't shake the stomach bug I had. But at least today I felt a little better.
I swirled the wine in my glass before taking a sip, still not sure how I felt about it. It was supposed to be a good Shiraz, but it tasted bitter to me. Maybe it was because I was also stuck listening to Laslo Minik. He was an actor who was a known womanizer. He was a pig, and I knew that Dimitri had had spats with him in the past. He tried to go after Viktoria once and it didn't end well.
He was going on some spiel about the Constitution, and I was actively trying to tune him out, but when he pointed his questions at me, I simply raised my brows at him.
"This is not a conversation you want to have with me," I stated dryly as he turned the topic to pro-life vs. pro-choice.
"And why's that?" he asked with a cocky tilt of his head. He may have thought that the raised brows and smirk were charming, but I found it mildly disgusting.
"She cannot have children," a friend of Dimitri's spoke up, another actor. I could never remember his name despite meeting him a handful of times. All I could remember was that it started with an E.
"So your stance must be pretty clear. You probably agree that it's disgusting that women will so carelessly dispose of their children."
I stand my glass down a little firmer than necessary.
"No, what I think is disgusting is that white-privileged men have continuously made decisions for women without actually speaking to them first. A rich, white man took away my choice in whether or not I could have children. So why would I ever take away that choice for another person? Also, they are not disposing of their children, they are using their bodily autonomy in regards to an embryo in their bodies. People forget that we are not human incubators, we are people too. You cannot take my blood without my permission, so why should you be able to tell me what I can and cannot do with my body?" I all but snapped back at him.
There were a lot of surprised faces around us, and I picked up my wine glass and took a long drink from it before I set it back down.
"I told you that this was not a conversation you wanted to have with me," I ground out as I turned my attention to Dimitri. He gave me a calming look while I felt a hand grip mine that was resting in my lap. I looked to my right and smiled smally at Lady Gaga, who had gripped my hand.
Don't throw hate if you have a different opinion! I'm not here to get political.