I had only been in the recording studio a few times, and not since the beginning of our relationship. But today, I was in the booth and not behind the glass.

"How did that one go?" I asked.

"It sounds perfect. How does your incision feel? Do you need to sit or need something to hold pressure?" Karleen said with a smile.

I rubbed my hand over my abdomen but shook my head.

"No, it feels okay," I reassured.

Karleen nodded and said we were going to go over the harmony. I nodded and smiled at Dimitri, waving my fingers at Oliver. He obviously couldn't see this far yet, but Dimitri kissed his ear and Oliver's face twitched in his sleep. It wasn't a smile.

"Bring your baby to work day is the best," I laughed into the microphone.

"I love 'bring your baby to work day'," Karleen said before signalling that we were going to go again. I nodded and we went over the harmony. While the music had been turned down on Karleen and Dimitri's end, Oliver still slept like a rock.

By the time I did the harmonizing and went over the melody one more time, I was exhausted from standing. I could have done it all sitting, but I wouldn't have been able to use my diaphragm. I set my headphones on the hook and came into the sound booth.

"Hi handsome boy," I cooed as I took Oliver from Dimitri, sinking down into the chair next to him with a sigh.

"I'm guessing you're talking to him and not me?" Dimitri chuckled.

"I would say man if I was talking to you," I chirped and kissed Oliver's head.

Dimitri smirked and stood up, taking his turn in the booth. He had a single that was coming out at the same time as mine. He kissed me and ran his hand gently over Oliver's hair. Once Dimitri stepped into the booth, Karleen turned towards me.

"How are you feeling otherwise?" she asked as she spun lightly in her chair.

"Good. I had issues getting Oli to latch, but it's improving. Thanks for the flowers by the way," I said as I rocked in my chair gently.

"I'm glad to hear that. You don't look exhausted either, I'm a little jealous," she teased.

I snorted a laugh and rubbed my nose over Oliver's head.

"Greta sent me flowers," I said after a moment.

"I know. She called me and wanted to make sure you weren't allergic to any," Karleen said with a smirk, "She was almost antsy after you left. She asked at least once an hour if you and Oliver were okay."

I nodded to myself. "Is that completely out of the norm? I know that you don't like to work with her."

"I don't, but, when it comes to it, she can be a decent person. She does volunteer work at a children's hospital in Washinton. She'll go in and do like book reading in the children's ward."

I smiled to myself. I was glad to hear that there was a real person underneath everything else.

"Did you enjoy your Thanksgiving?"

"Oh I definitely ate way more than I should have," Karleen said after she set Dimitri up to record, "Did you two get to have a Thanksgiving?"

"Yeah, um, Andrew made dinner and had already been prepared to cook for me and Dimitri. He packed it up and brought it to us once we got home. And then there was soup. Lissa made soup and brought it over when she came by with precooked meals for us. We were in food galore," I chuckled, "It was nice not having to think about cooking."

She nodded. "How's your mom doing?"

I glanced at Dimitri and then down at Oliver. "She's in the hospital. She has an infection."

"Oh no. What kind?"

"Pneumonia," I said, "It's pretty bad. I'm trying not to dwell on it. I can't."

Karleen reached for me and rested her hand on my knee, her brows pinched.

"I'm sorry, Rose," she whispered, "I know that this is hard on you."

I nodded and sniffed, trying not to let the fear and anxiety that had been creeping up on me since last week take hold. Karleen reached for my hand instead and gripped it tightly.

"It's okay to be upset about this. You've had a lot of change in the last few weeks. You're a new mom, and your mom is sick. You've got every right to be upset. Dimitri's not-"

"No, he's been perfect. He's gone to see her when I haven't been able to. I've had a cold and I can't risk it," I whispered. I glanced up at Dimitri again and smiled softly at him, trying to focus on his smile instead.

"It's just a lot," I whispered.

Karleen squeezed my hand again. "I get it," she whispered before telling Dimitri that he did great and that we were done for the day. I sighed and closed my eyes for a minute. Dimitri came back in and smiled at me softly, asking if I wanted to get lunch now that we had finished.

"How long will it take until the edits are done?"

"About a week or so. Maybe more? Depends on how long it takes to get the right levels done," she said, "Go relax and snuggle that baby of yours before I steal him from you."

Getting time to do Christmas shopping without my husband hovering nearby was hard. But I managed to convince him to put up the tree so that when I got home we could decorate it together.

Target wasn't my first thought when I came to Dimitri, but I knew that they sold the socks he preferred and nowhere else did. Plus, they had his favourite chocolate bars on for dirt cheap. And he wasn't exactly a materialistic person.

But there were a few things here I could pick up for everyone else before I went to another store. And, it felt normal to go out with my baby and do something mundane as Christmas shopping.

"WOW! You look fantastic, Rose."

I turned at looked at the person behind me. There was a vague familiarity to her, but I couldn't place it. The woman took off her sunglasses and I nodded.

"Hi, Greta," I said.

She smiled at me and peeked into the stroller "Oh my goodness. Look at you! You look just like your Momma!"

I chuckled and moved the blanket so she could see him better. "Looks like me, has his father's appetite," I chuckled.

"Oh, that sucks," she deadpanned and looked up at me, "How are you feeling?"

"Good," I said as I rolled the stroller gently, "Thank you for the flowers. They were beautiful. And potted, so I can it."

"You're welcome. I'm glad to know that you two were okay," she said before shifting, "Do you have a minute?"

I nodded and we found an empty table near the Starbucks. She offered to buy us drinks and slipped up to the counter. I took Oliver out of the stroller, laying him against my chest. Greta came back to the table and set my refresher in front of me. I reached for my purse but she waved her hand at me.

"My treat, don't worry about it," she said as she sipped her latte, "I wanted to apologize to you."

"For?" I asked as I sipped my drink.

"That is a long list," she said slowly, "A lot of how I acted was under Victor's influence and it took a long time to unlearn that behaviour. I've been trying to work harder at it, but you deserve an apology, and so does Dimitri. But it's just easier to apologize to you first," she explained.

I nodded. "Dimitri said that you were a good person, but you had just made poor choices."

She nodded. "Victor talked me into signing on my own. I was running on the high of the fame that I let him talk me into it."

"Victor is very manipulative, but I thought Abe signed you?"

"He signed my contract, but it was Victor," she explained as she traced her finger over the lid, "I did hear you sing though. I went to one of the concerts here and you did well. I know that you don't want to make a career out of it, but you would be a huge hit."

I smiled. "I'm thinking of sticking to writing. I have a lot of pieces that are just sitting around, and I think I could probably sell some of it," I explained.

"You really could give it a try. You'd be best to speak to Abe about getting into the right channels," she said.

I nodded and looked down at Oliver when he started to fuss, shushing him gently. Greta had a soft look on her face.

"Congratulations on your marriage as well. I'm happy for the two of you," she said as she leaned forward on the table, her eyes on Oliver.

"Thank you," I said as I fished for a bottle in the diaper bag. Greta got up and came around the table, pulling the bottle out of the side pocket for me. I smiled at her and took it.

"Do you need warm water?"

"No, he likes the bottles cooler. He's a strange baby," I chuckled and rubbed the nipple against his lip, smiling when he opened his mouth. I cooed at him quietly and felt like my cheeks were going to fall off from smiling so much. They were actually starting to get sore lately.

"Were you and Dimitri invited to that holiday bash thing?"

"Yes, and I'm dreading it. I'm not looking forward to all the backhanded comments about my body that everyone knows will happen," I muttered almost bitterly, "I think I had a delusion idea that I would be back to what I was by now."

She frowned. "That's bullshit. Honestly, you would think that people would have a little more compassion. Your body went through so much, it's not elastic; it takes time. But you look good, all things considered. Is your incision healing well?"

I nodded and pulled the bottle away from Oliver so that he didn't drink too quickly. He made a noise of protest before I gave him back his bottle.

"Yeah. It gets sore a lot though. It's a vertical incision instead of a traditional one. I guess because of how quickly we needed to get the baby out to stop the bleeding, this gave them easier access," I explained.

Greta nodded her head. "I mean, the pain is worth it though, right? To save your life and Oliver's?"

I smiled. "It was definitely worth it," I said.

"How did Dimitri's family take all of it? The birth and the marriage? I think I saw Olena at the grocery store the other day?"

"Olena is ecstatic. Karolina and Viktoria are thrilled. Sonya on the other hand…"

"Turned into a raging bitch?"

I snorted a laugh as I drank my refresher. "How'd you guess?"

"Because Sonya hates anyone that her brother dates. She called me a gold digger when we started dating when I had already been established in my former line of work as a chemical engineer. Dimitri hadn't made his break yet," Greta said with a shake of her head and a grin.

"So, it's not just me?"

"God, no. She's bitter with anyone. She did the same thing to Ivan once. But you've got a huge pair of balls for eloping. She's your problem now," she laughed. I rolled my eyes but was glad to know that it wasn't just me.

We were only going to be here for two hours, three tops, but I was so over the bullshit of the night. Karleen was doing a fantastic job of keeping anyone who was associated with the paparazzi away, but there was one who managed to get by.

The holiday bash was a fundraiser. The proceeds were going to a children's hospital and everyone brought a gift with a tag for a gender and age group. Olena offered to watch Oliver, but I knew that Millie really wanted the opportunity to watch him.

She was feeling a bit better these days, and Andrew said that he would stay at the house just as a backup.

Dimitri and I each brought a gift, and I made a separate donation from him. I wanted to do something with the inheritance I got from the Dragomirs. I put some of it away, and used some of it towards the house, but I wanted to help make a difference.

I was enjoying the first glass of wine I'd had since having Oliver, admiring the Christmas tree. A member of the publicity team came up, wanting to do a quick interview. What I thought was going to be a decent interview, turned into what I could only call an insult conversation.

By the time he implied I still looked full term, my grip on my wine glass was almost breaking.

"I can't believe you had a baby almost a month ago! You can barely tell you were pregnant!" Greta exclaimed as she came up, almost all but butting the interviewer out of the way. The woman who was there taking pictures was just as embarrassed about the interviewer's question and had some relief on her face.

"Thank you," I said as Greta hugged me. Dimitri was approaching and had a surprised look on his face, but he wasn't all that surprised. He was when I told him about her approaching me at Target, but he was appreciative of her gesture.

"'Rena, Merry Christmas," Dimitri said politely, referring to her first name. She smiled at him and gave him a quick hug.

"Thank you. Merry Christmas to you both. I was just telling Rose how fantastic she looks," she said while throwing the interviewer a nasty look. The photographer was smirking behind her camera before asking to take a photo of us. Dimitri nodded and Greta situated me between the two of them, angling me in such a way that I looked slimmer.

Once the photographer took our pictures, she all but dragged the interviewer away, mouthing an apology. Greta rolled her eyes and winked at me.

"He's one of the worst interviewers I've ever met. If he can make a jab at someone's weight, he will. Don't sweat it. You don't look full-term," she said and Dimitri's brow furrowed.

"He made comments about your body to your face?"

"Easy, no need for you to go caveman," I reassured, "Besides, I'm pretty sure that his photographer is going to either quit or hit him. She looked mortified."

Dimitri shook his head and kissed my temple, "You look fantastic. There are many things I could say about how fantastic you look," he said into my ear. I squirmed under the tone in his voice. He had told me many times in the last week about how good I looked, even groping me. Not that I complained.

The dinner was good once we got to it. I had missed eating scallops during my pregnancy, and as soon as I saw them on the menu I almost squealed. And as much as I loved my son more than life itself, I loved having adult interaction that didn't involve conversation about Oliver.

That wasn't to say I wouldn't completely gush over him any chance I had, but it was still nice.

Mostly people brought up the topic of our wedding. Many people went out of their way to congratulate us on our marriage, most saying they loved the intimacy of our elopement. A few people gushed over my ring, and I was happy to show it off.

By the time dessert rolled around, I think both Dimitri and I were tipsy. I had pumped between feedings earlier in the day, so there would be enough for Oliver in the morning. One of Dimitri's friends came over, a man named Mitchell, and wanted to pick my brain about songwriting.

His questions were basic, and I was more than happy to help him with tips on his next piece. I could see the glances shared between other people at the table. When he got up to go back to his table. I raised my brows at Dimitri.

"Why are looking at each other like that?"

"He was over here sizing you up. He's been trying to find someone to write a hook for him," Greta said as she passed the table, "He was making sure you were what everyone has cracked you up to be."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Sometimes other artists hear pieces that other artists haven't released yet," Dimitri said, "He has heard a few of our demo pieces that I didn't release. I was looking for another musical opinion.

I furrowed my brows and Dimitri leaned down, whispering in my ear who he was. As he told me, my mouth dropped and my eyes bugged out of my head.

"What?!" I exclaimed quietly. There was laughter around the table. I may be Dimitri's wife, but I was still somewhat of an outsider in this world.

"So if he's sizing me up?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if his manager contacted Maria in the next week," Karleen laughed as she sipped her martini.

I leaned back in my chair and ran the idea over in my head. I had a possible job opportunity coming my way from one of the best DJs in the US.

"Holy crap. I might be able to actually use my degree, not that I haven't used it with you, but make money with it," I laughed, the realization settling in. There was more laughter around the table as my phone rang. I tried not to choke on my laugh as I pulled my phone out of my clutch.

"Hey, what's up?"

"It's Mom," Andrew said gravely, "I hate to ruin your night, but I had to take Mom to the ER. She was complaining of a headache and then she collapsed. The doctors think she had a seizure."

I gripped Dimitri's forearms, taking in a slow breath and nodded to myself.

"We'll be there soon," I whispered.

Very rough edit, my apologies if I missed anything. I just finished this chapter. the last chapter was the last one that was pre-written, so it may be a longer wait until the next update.

I hope my Canadian readers enjoyed their Thanksgiving!