Sorry for such a long wait guys. I moved in the middle of May, and I got to be honest...I was a mess with homesickness. I sobbed for almost two days after moving and went back to my parents' house to visit after three days. It was brutal. I was so unlike myself, and I was in a bit of a funk. And that included writing as well.

But I'm back! My bridal shower last weekend helped take my mind off the homesickness.

DPOV

I had hoped that Rose would have put on her usual self-confident bravado, but she didn't have the energy. Everyone in the office noticed how quiet she was, how despondent and unlike herself. I had never seen her in a funk for more than a day, but three days made me worry.

Syndey walked past the office with a file clutched to her chest, but by the way she moved, I could tell that she was watching Rose with an eagle eye. When she noticed me watching, she frowned and tapped on the glass, making Rose look up from her laptop.

"I left my lunch at home. Want to go down to Burger Bar? We can get those deliciously disgusting potato poppers!"

Rose thought about it for a moment before nodding and smiling softly. It didn't reach her eyes; hell, it barely made her cheeks move, but it was a smile.

"Sure," she said and got up to go to the printer. I raised my brow at Sydney.

"You didn't leave your lunch at home. I watched you put it in the fridge."

"I got the girl to smile, and she's going to eat food. I'm going to take this as a win."

I shook my head. "Syd; you live on a sole diet of coffee and protein bars. You aren't one to talk about making someone eat," I jabbed playfully. She rolled her eyes at me and turned on her heel.

"Just say thank you!" she called out as she left.

I laughed to myself.

"Thank you," I said to myself as I picked up my coffee mug. I took a sip as my desk phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Mr. Belikov. You had asked me this morning to forward Rose's calls to you. I have Abe Mazur on the phone."

I told the receptionist to hold on as I went to the door, catching Kirova's attention as she passed. I pulled out my wallet and handed her my credit card.

"When Rose comes back this way, ask her to go get coffee. I have a call on hold that I don't want her to overhear," I said, hoping that she would understand. She took the card and nodded, turning on her heel and going towards Rose. I went back to my desk and picked up the phone again.

"Put him through," I said and waited for the click to come, "Hello?"

"Dimitri! I was hoping to speak to Rose," Abe said, his usual carefree tone firmly in place.

"She's not available at the moment," I said, leaning back in my chair with a quiet sigh.

"I know that things ended poorly, but I wanted to talk with her about what happened."

"Abe, she didn't speak for four hours after dinner. She barely got out of bed all weekend. I can't entice her with food. I think that you and Janine need to give her more time. She's having a hard time processing all of this. I'm having a hard time processing this, and it's not my life that turned upside down," I explained as I rubbed my brow. I smiled at Rose as she walked past the door, waving at me as she went.

"I know. I wanted to tell her sooner, but it just never came about."

"You've had years to tell her. You should have told her when she was a young teenager. Dropping this on her at dinner like it was a casual conversation did a lot of damage. As her husband, I'm not about to force her to speak to either of you until she is ready. And I'm asking you to please respect her silence. Let her come to you when she is ready."

There was silence on the other end of the phone and I turned to make sure the call didn't disconnect.

"Abe?"

"I understand," he said quietly. "I don't want her to hate me. If I could redo things, I would."

"I know," I said, "I'll keep you updated on her mental state. But please let her come to you. And the same for Janine. Her relationship is stronger with you. But she also feels betrayed that she never got to grow up with her father."

I ended the call and rubbed my hands over my face with a groan. If I could grab both of them and give them a good shake I would. But that wasn't the kind of person I was. But ultimately, they hurt the one person in the world I had to protect.

If it meant being a buffer between them, then that's what I would do.

Three weeks since the explosive dinner, Rose had just started to perk up. She was still bitter and betrayed about what happened, and I didn't blame her for it. I could only imagine what was going through her head.

Tonight though, Rose was curled up in bed, her eyes moving quickly over the page. It always made me laugh that she was in this field despite not being a reader, but there were a few books that were on the bookshelf that belonged to her.

She seemed to have a preference for World War Two novels but had a taste for supernatural too. We had takeout for dinner and now she was ready to pass out from food pleasure, but she was taking some time to unwind. I found that she usually read when she was stressed out.

I climbed into bed beside her and kissed her temple, glancing to see what she was reading. I smiled to myself and picked up the manuscript I was almost finished. I wasn't sure about it at first, but now that I got through the first chapter, I was hooked on it. It had a good plot and a creative idea. It was about a man who could see the world as pure as it was. He could see auras and could see whatever people were feeling.

It was an interesting concept.

"How is it?"

I tucked my arm behind my head. "It's good. I'm almost finished," I said with a smile.

"Who wrote that one?" Rose asked as she turned her head towards me.

"A. Vash," I said as I looked on the first page, "I'm guessing it's a pen name."

Rose nodded and went back to reading and I crossed my ankles. After a few minutes, Rose sighed quietly and put her book on the nightstand, rolling onto her side as she readjusted her pillows.

"Do you want me to go into the living room?" I asked gently.

She shook her head and closed her eyes.

"No, it's fine," she said as she rested her arm over my stomach. I smiled at her and read a few more pages before looking at her again. She wasn't asleep, but close to it. I carefully got comfortable in bed after putting the script down and turned off the lamp.

As I moved, Rose moved with me and snuggled into my side. I rested my hand on hers as I closed my eyes, licking my lips. We laid in silence for a moment before Rose huffed as she rolled away from me. I raised my brows and winced when she turned her lamp on, sitting up with another huff.

"The nerve of my mother," Rose started and I sat up too, moving my pillow so I was supported against the headboard.

"Are you talking about the dinner, or something else?"

"She called me this afternoon," Rose said with a shake of her head. I frowned and rested my hand on her knee, squeezing it gently.

"She acts like everything is fine! Like she didn't just drop a bomb on me! And then! Oh, you won't believe this one; asked me whether or not we were thinking about having kids anytime soon because 'I'm not getting any younger'" Rose exclaimed, her voice climbing as she spoke.

I shook my head but let Rose get it out of her system. She had been quiet when we got home, so I wasn't completely surprised, but Janine's questioning was out of taste.

"I'm surprised she asked that, considering we've only been married for a short time," I said and Rose scoffed, rolling her eyes.

"I mean, I didn't tell her that we go at it like rabbits, but still! Does she really think that I would offer up that kind of information right now?! Like yes Mom, we're gonna pop one out in eight months, but I didn't really want to give you that information! At least my child is going to know who their father is right from the get-go!" she ranted, running her hands through her hair and closing her eyes.

"At least we have a while until we need to worry about that," I said softly and she bit her lip and nodded her head hesitantly.

"You'd think that she'd respect our requests to let me make contact," she said quietly before laying down again and turning off the light. I laid back down too and wrapped my arms around her when she cuddled against me.

"The only thing we need to worry about right now is you coming to terms with this. They can wait," I reassured softly, kissing her hair. She nodded her head again and sighed, closing her eyes to go to sleep.

"Do you want kids?"

I smirked to myself in the dark.

"Yes, but we worry about that when the time comes."

The conversation I had that night with Rose had lingered in my head. She was stressed out, and almost emotional. Given her situation, it wasn't surprising, but the level of emotion was what shocked me. It was almost irrational. Janine had called me, but I gave her the same speech I gave Abe.

Rose had been a little squirrely this morning. I had asked her twice if she was alright, but each time she waved me off and said she was fine. But I could see the difference in her. Like she had a secret.

"I'm dying for a Bennie. Want to get some at lunch at Dina's?" I asked Rose as I set the manuscript I finished last night back into the case. I watched Rose's face and it furthered my confusion. She looked excited for a moment before her face fell. Eggs Benedict was one of her favourite breakfast foods.

"No. But I could go for one of they're BLTs," she supplied after a moment.

"You don't want eggs benedict?"

She shook her head. "No, my stomach has been weird the last few days. Eggs aren't agreeing with me, but that's happened before when I was a teenager," she said offhandedly but turned her eyes back to the laptop. I raised a brow to myself and finalized an appointment with the author when Rose left the office.

The link I had wasn't working so I got up and walked towards Rose's laptop. I moved my finger over the mouse pad to wake it up and saw what was on the screen. My fingers still over the mouse pad before I went back to my desk, and sat back down.

When Rose came back about ten minutes later, her eyes were a little red, but I didn't mention it.

"I can't get the meeting link to work. Can you please override it?" I asked her. She nodded and sat down, typing on the keys. My phone pinged once she overrode the invite.

"Thank you," I said as I smiled at her. She nodded and bit her lip.

"You know what I could really go for?"

"What's that?" I asked her.

"Indian food. A good samosa and tika masala," she said with a satisfied groan.

"I can make that happen," I mused as I stood up, kissing the top of her head as I passed.

RPOV

I twirled my pen between my fingers as I read the manuscript. Dimitri asked for a second opinion, and I was really starting to get hooked. He was in a meeting with Arthur, so I was using some of my free time to read.

I reached for my phone blindly as it rang.

"Rose Hathaway," I said as I took a sip of my water.

"Hi, there is an Ivan Zeklos here. He said that he's here to meet with Dimitri, but I don't see any meetings for him."

"You can send him up. He's his best friend," I said and hung up, heading towards the elevator to meet Ivan. I had only met Ivan a few times, but he was the witness for Dimitri's signature on our wedding certificate. When I got to the front of the department, Ivan was standing by the elevators. When he noticed me, he smiled and approached me for a hug.

"Hi," I greeted and smiled up at him.

"Hey, how's married life?" he asked with a chuckle.

"Good, crazy to think that we're married. What are you doing here?"

Ivan's brows raised. "Didn't Dimitri tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

"That I was coming down and that we were going out tonight?"

I rolled my eyes. "No. And he didn't put it in his calendar. Come with me, you can hang out in the office until his meeting," I said and gestured for him to follow me. He did, smiling and nodding at people as we walked by. I pushed the door open and gestured for him to sit on the couch.

He sat with a sigh, slouching as he ran his hands over the couch.

"This is nice. Have you two soiled it yet?"

I bit my lip. "No. Sadly not," I said while trying to suppress a laugh. The thought had crossed my mind though. It simply hadn't happened.

Ivan smirked. "So, what are the fancy perks of being the boss's wife?"

I kicked my feet up and crossed my ankles as I thought.

"Not a whole lot. I mean, I get coffee whenever I want, and I don't feel as guilty if I need to take a sick day. I have a bit more time to focus on writing again lately, so that's a plus. I just read a manuscript that both Dimitri and I are very impressed with this guy," I explained, twiddling my thumbs as I leaned back in my chair. I didn't want to make any outward appearance that the smell of Ivan's cologne was making my stomach roll.

"Dimitri had mentioned that you were really sick recently. You doing okay?"

I nodded and waved him off. "Fit as a fiddle now," I said with a purse of my lips.

Ivan nodded and drummed his fingers against his stomach, blowing his lips as he looked around the office. After a few minutes, he stood up and wandered around, plucking a picture off Dimitri's desk and grinning.

"Looking a little red, eh?"

I craned my neck and laughed. I did look pretty red in that photo. It was from our honeymoon, and I had quite a sunburn when we came home. Usually, I would just turn golden brown the next day, but that one lingered for a few days.

"Just a bit. Dimitri had a slight burn, but nothing like mine," I grinned. Ivan shook his head and set the picture down as the office door opened. Dimitri smiled at me and then noticed Ivan.

"Did you forget to mention something?" I teased.

"Yes, I did," he said sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his neck, "I also forgot that Ivan was coming."

Ivan scoffed loudly and put his hand over his heart.

"You wound me."

"Get over it," Dimitri said before turning to me, "Do you mind if I head out early?"

I raised my brows at him. "You're the boss. Why does it matter if I mind?"

Dimitri shrugged and leaned down, pecking my lips gently before standing up.

"Come on, let's get you out of here before you get too curious and start harrassing my staff," Dimitri said and Ivan rolled his eyes, but followed him out of the office, waving at me as he went.

"I promise he will be home at a decent time tonight," Ivan called over his shoulder as he left.

I shook my head and reached for my water bottle.

"Fat chance of that," I muttered to myself.

Ouuuu...A Vash anyone? ;)