"I need help," I said finally, starting to choke up.

Olena came forward and wrapped me in her arms without saying a word. "You can tell us in your own time, Roza."

Hearing her call me that nearly caused me to lose it all over again, and it felt like I was fighting a losing battle.

"Have dinner with us," she said, guiding me towards the dining room, where plates were already set out.

Olena gestured towards a chair, and I sat down. Karolina got Zoya settled into her highchair while Sonya carried her daughter, holding her in one arm. I couldn't help but stare at her, mesmerized. It didn't take long for Sonya to notice me watching her.

"Do you want to hold her?" she asked.

I almost said no before I rethought. If I was going to have a baby of my own soon, it might make sense for me to get used to caring for one. I nodded, and Sonya talked me through how to hold my arms so she could put the baby in them.

"Her name is Katya," Sonya said after she handed her to me. I held her as Sonya instructed, ensuring I kept her head supported. Sonya beamed at me. "You're a natural, Rose."

I felt like anything but natural, with Katya's weight in my arm feeling awkward. I was terrified of holding her, scared that I might drop her or harm her in some other way. After a few more minutes of me holding her and internally freaking out, I asked Sonya to take her back.

Sonya did so, a smile still on her face. "You did great, Rose. But why the sudden interest? I remember you mostly keeping your distance from Zoya back in April."

I fidgeted, not ready to tell them the truth yet. Luckily, I was saved by Olena walking in with the last plate of food, announcing that dinner was ready. I hadn't noticed the other Belikova women carrying the food out while I had been holding Katya. As I put food on my plate, I could feel Sonya looking at me. It hadn't escaped her notice that I hadn't answered her question. Still, she didn't say anything as dinner continued.

After dessert was served, Olena turned to me. "What brings you back to Russia?"

I hesitated for a moment, not having thought out what I was going to say to the Belikova family. I wasn't sure if they had heard about Dimitri's transformation and wasn't sure how to break it to them if they hadn't heard yet.

Yeva mumbled something, and my head shot up. She had gone back to speaking in Russian, even though we both knew she spoke English.

Viktoria looked at her before looking at me. "Grandmother says that you should just spit it out."

I couldn't bring myself to just blurt it out, though, so instead, I said, "I lied. I lied about why I was here last time."

"What do you mean?" Karolina asked.

"I didn't come to Baia to tell you about Dimitri," I said. After a moment, I added, "I came to kill him."

I saw the Belikova women exchange glances before Olena spoke. "We know. We figured it out after you left. Did you succeed?"

I could tell how much it pained Olena to talk about her son, especially about the thought of killing him, even if he was a Strigoi.

I shook my head. "No, I didn't. I thought I did, but I missed his heart. He came after me, and thanks to Mark and Oksana, my friend, Lissa, was able to restore Dimitri."

"Restore?"

I nodded. "She's a spirit user. She charmed the stake, and instead of killing Dimitri, it turned him back into a dhampir when she staked him."

They looked at me with shock on their faces. Again, Olena was the first to speak. "He's a dhampir again?"

I nodded. "Yes. Fully dhampir, just like he was."

"You came all this way to tell us that?" Karolina asked, her tone suspicious. Lightly, she added, "We do have phones, you know."

I smiled in spite of myself. "No, there's more." I took a deep breath, knowing the family was waiting for me to speak. "Dimitri and I didn't continue our relationship. He was – is – struggling a lot with what happened."

"But?" Viktoria asked.

"But we both ended up at a bar a month or so ago, and one thing led to another," I said, avoiding looking at Olena. I'm sure the last thing that she wanted to hear about was her son's sex life. "I'm not sure how it happened because it should be impossible, but I'm pregnant."

The Belikova women stared at me for a moment, processing my words, before a rapid string of Russian left Olena's lips. I wasn't sure what she was saying, and I couldn't tell anything based on her body language. Yeva's gaze didn't leave me as I watched the women, and I knew without looking that she was pushing for me to tell them the rest.

"Oh, Roza," Olena said. "Thank you. I never imagined that my Dimka would be a father."

"That's the thing," I said slowly. "He doesn't want this."

Olena looked at me as if I had slapped her. "What? Dimka loves children." She looked like she was three seconds away from grabbing her phone and calling to give Dimitri a piece of her mind.

"He told me that he didn't want this, and he didn't want me," I said quietly. "I tried to tell him about the baby, but he wouldn't let me get it out."

"He doesn't know?" Karolina said.

I shook my head. "Not fully. I didn't get the chance to actually say the words before he was pushing me away."

I couldn't bear to repeat what he had told me about love fading, and I was hoping that they wouldn't make me.

"I came here because I was hoping you would help me," I said softly. "I'm not ready to be a mother. It wasn't something that I had imagined I'd ever truly do at any point, and especially not at eighteen. This child would be part of your family too, and they deserve the right to know you, even if Dimitri doesn't want this."

Olena didn't say anything for a moment, and she quietly studied me. "You want the baby to be raised here?"

I nodded. "Yes. I'm not prepared to raise this baby, but I'd ideally still make semi-regular visits when possible. I'd still want them to know me. And I'm not ready for the rest of the Moroi world to know about a baby with two dhampir parents."

"How long would you plan to stay after you give birth?"

"Enough to recover," I said.

Olena nodded, her lips pursed. She and Yeva shared a look before she turned back to me. "You and your baby are welcome to stay here for as long as you need. We'd be happy to help. But please reconsider talking to Dimitri? Maybe give him some time and try again?"

"Okay," I agreed, silently thinking that Dimitri would be waiting a long time to hear from me. I would tell him in due time, knowing that I truly wouldn't be able to keep this a secret from him forever, especially not with his family involved. "Can you give me some time to tell him? I'm not sure how often you talk to him, but can it be our secret for now?"

The women looked around at each other, silently having a conversation. I had to assume that they didn't talk regularly with Dimitri, considering that they didn't know about his restoration, and it had been over a month since that happened. But maybe Dimitri couldn't bring himself to call his family after everything that had happened.

The silent conversation must have come to an end because Karolina spoke. "We'll give you time. We agree that none of us will say anything – to anyone. But Rose, in exchange, please promise us that he'll know by the time you leave here."

I had estimated that I was only a month into my pregnancy, and I had asked Hans for a year to give my body time to recover, which meant that I had a year to prepare to tell Dimitri for real this time.

I nodded. "I promise."

Karolina smiled at me. "It's not as scary as it seems. We'll be here to help you."

I nodded again. "It's been a bit overwhelming. I've known for a week, and my plans to come here were kind of thrown together a bit hastily."

Sonya smiled, not unkindly. "We can tell. Have you been to a doctor?"

I shook my head. "No. Not yet. I'm guessing I'm around four weeks, but that's just based on math."

Olena tsked. "We'll get you an appointment in town. Nobody will suspect anything," she said. "Pregnant dhampirs are commonplace around here."

Sure enough, the next day, Olena let me know when I woke up that I had an appointment in town at 1pm, and that Karolina would accompany me to it. I thanked Karolina profusely on the way to the appointment, and she laughed off my thanks.

"What else is a sister-in-law supposed to do?"

She said the words lightly, but we both knew it was a touchy subject. When I was here in April, the other dhampirs treated me as if I were Dimitri's widow, and even though he was now restored, it didn't seem to have changed Karolina's mindset much.

"Plus," she said, pulling me out of my thoughts, "I've been through this twice now, so I can give you some advice."

She proceeded to do that as we continued walking to the appointment, and she offered to go back with me when the doctor called my name. I contemplated for a moment before nodding. It also became helpful because the doctor didn't speak much English, and Karolina was able to translate.

The doctor did a quick exam before explaining the ultrasound process. She used a transvaginal ultrasound wand, and I tried to ignore the awkwardness of having Karolina in the room during it. When the ultrasound appeared on the monitor, though, I forgot all about the awkwardness as I saw my baby for the first time. Karolina pointed out a few different things and reassured me that I would get copies of the ultrasound to keep.

The doctor confirmed that I was actually six weeks pregnant based on weird math with my last menstrual cycle. After explaining that I didn't have regular cycles, I provided the date of conception since there was only one possible day that could have happened. I would likely be due sometime in April, which was its own form of irony. I was also told that I would likely be able to find out the gender in a couple of months, something that brought its own anxiety.

On the way back from the doctor's, I noticed a craft store, and I asked Karolina if she would mind stopping for a moment while I ran inside. I didn't consider myself too crafty, but with the ultrasound pictures burning a hole in my pocket, I knew I had to do something with them. After an internal debate, I decided to make a scrapbook of my pregnancy to give to the baby when they're older. I stared at the shelf of scrapbooks, trying to decide between two different options. After a moment, I grabbed both. I would make a scrapbook for Dimitri, too.