A cute, fluffy AU/AH one shot!

When I started working at the FBI as a technological analyst, I had my life planned out in front of me. I expected to live my life with casual relationships, being the fabulous aunt to my friends' kids, and the one person in my group who would spend all of their free time travelling.

And then I got assigned to shadow the new recruit for another team for two weeks. Dimitri Belikov.

He was quiet and a little stubborn, but there was something about him that made me want to know him more. He was joining the Behavioral Analysis Unit and was instructed to do a 'ride along' with me to get a firsthand look at what happens during cases and day to day work.

He teased me about my quirky phrases when I answered calls from my team, or the memes I had printed and posted around my computer. I poked fun at his leather duster and his accent but eventually told him that I thought the accent may help him in the field. I mean, with a voice like that, any woman would spill their dirty secrets.

After those two weeks, I could still smell the lingering cologne in the air. I didn't want to be the weird coworker who asked another out on a date, but when he called my direct line and asked me to meet him when he got back to head office, I smirked behind my screen and accepted with poise.

A year after that first coffee date he proposed and did it with the help of the other tech analyst on the floor, hacking into my computer and closing all the screens in order to hide his proposal in code.

I thought it was a joke until he opened the door, a smirk on his face when he realized I figured out the secret message. The sneaky devil even got a copy of the surveillance footage of when he proposed.

Being married to Dimitri was everything I had ever hoped for. He was my rock, and he was the best thing in my life. Three years of being married to the man that made my heart speed up and made me smile with the least amount of effort. He patiently taught me how to cook and I pulled him up for spontaneous dance parties in our living room.

We managed to balance our professional lives with our private lives. But for the last six months I felt like something was missing. It was shocking when I finally realized what was missing in my life.

"You want to what?"

I licked my bottom lip and slipped my hand into his.

"I want to adopt a baby. Or even a young child. I just… I feel like I'm missing something," I said, biting my lower lip. Dimitri raised his brows at me with a slightly stunned expression before leaning back into the couch. I knew that this would not be something he thought I would say, but the more my friends had babies, the more I found myself drawn to them. Drawn to the smell, drawn to the way their laugh sounds, the faces they make when they're happy. Even the little quiver in their lips when they're about to cry.

It made me realize that I did have some material feelings. Despite knowing I would never be able to carry a child. I had known that I wouldn't be able to have a baby since I was sixteen after a car accident with my best friend Lissa, and her family.

Dimitri cleared his throat and looked at me before smiling softly.

"How long have you been thinking about this?" he asked, stroking his thumb over my knuckles.

I tucked my legs under myself and scooted closer to him. "A few months. Ever since Mia had her son," I said honestly. Dimitri nodded and pulled me closer to him, wrapping his arm around my shoulders. I leaned into him and looked at him patiently, knowing that he was mulling it all over in his head.

"And if I know you the way I do, you've already started looking into it," Dimitri said a few moments later with a tender smile. I laughed softly and nodded my head.

"Alright, show what you've found so far."

"Really?" I asked, my heart fluttering in my chest.

Dimitri nodded and leaned in to press his lips softly to mine. "Yes. I thought it was strange that ads kept popping up on the computer about baby stuff, but now it makes sense," he said.

I nodded my head as I pulled my phone out of my pocket, opening the notepad I had already started. Dimitri chuckled and took my phone out of my hand, scrolling through the list. He had a playful smile on his face as he did before turning to look at me.

"What?"

"Did you think that you were going to have to sell the idea to me?"

I shrugged slightly. When we started dating, he had casually brought up the idea of kids, and I was upfront with him about that not being able to happen. I thought that it would be a deal-breaker for Dimitri. But he showed up at my house a few days after our discussion, telling me that it didn't really matter to him. We worked in professions that wouldn't be best to have children with. He seemed happy being the favourite uncle to his sister's children and our friends, but I always worried that eventually, it would cause a problem.

"Roza if I had known that you were thinking about this, I would have brought up the idea earlier," he said.

A flicker of excitement flowed through me.

"So?"

"So," Dimitri said cupping the back of my neck, "Let's start the process for adoption."

After eight months of waiting, home visits, and interviews, we were finally approved for adoption. I slipped my hand into Dimitri's as we headed towards the group home, a smile on my face. Dimitri opened the door and gestured for me to go ahead of him, heading towards the front desk.

"Hi, we have an appointment with Jane Andrews. Rose and Dimitri Belikov," I said to the man at the desk. He looked up with a small smile and nodded his head, directing us to sit as he called Jane to the front room.

Jane looked exactly like I pictured her. Short and plump with greying brown hair and kind blue eyes. She looked like a warm grandmother.

"Mr. and Mrs. Belikov, it's nice to me you. Follow me," she said shaking our hands.

"What age are you thinking?" Jane asked.

"We were thinking anywhere from newborn to a year. We want to experience all the milestones," Dimitri said as he rested his hand on my knee. I smiled at him and rested my hand on top of his.

"It's a good age gap. We don't have many children here with that age gap, but you are more than welcome to come and meet some of them," Jane said standing up and pulling out a few files from the filing cabinet. She pulled out six files before returning to her desk. Jane took the time to go through the potential adoptions, explaining each child in explicit detail. All children interested us, but my thoughts kept coming back to one at the end.

"You said that Elenora has been in three foster homes? And she's only seven months?" I asked, pointing down to the file. Jane frowned slightly and nodded her head.

"Yes. She's a sweet child, but just had a lot of bad luck. The first two only lasted a few weeks because the foster mother got pregnant, the last one the couple split up."

"And her biological parents?" Dimitri asked.

That was another thought I kept circling back to. A slight fear that the biological parent would come back wanting to take their child back.

"Left her here two weeks after birth with only a tag with her name."

I let out a slow breath of relief and squeezed Dimitri's hand.

"You two don't plan on having children of your own? I just ask because I would hate for Ellie to go through the same situation again," Jane asked delicately. I swallowed roughly and looked down in my lap for a moment before looking back up at her. Dimitri shifted in his seat and squeezed my hand, rubbing his other hand on mine.

"I was in a car accident when I was fifteen. I had a lot of damage to my pelvis and reproductive organs, I can't have children," I explained slowly, looking Jane in the eye. Jane had a look of regret on her face before quietly apologizing.

The three of us were quiet for a moment before Dimitri broke the silence.

"Can we meet Ellie?"

Jane nodded and stood up, gesturing us to follow her. I smoothed my shirt down as we followed while meeting Dimitri's slightly amused expression. I rolled my eyes at him and brushed my shoulder against his as we walked into what looked like a playroom.

It was quite sweet with bright colours and paintings all over the room, toys and books filling the cabinets. There were two other workers in the room and they turned to us as we approached, soft expressions on their faces.

The younger of the two was holding a red-headed girl with thick wild curls, curling into the worker's chest. Jane walked towards her and spoke quietly before scooping the girl into her arms.

I looked at her and knew instantly. It was like everything fell into place around me. My missing piece was right in front of me with bright green eyes.

"Where did the nickname Ellie come from?" I asked as I bounced Ellie in my arms gently.

"She loves elephants. She sees a stuffed animal and will reach out for it. Plus, Elenora may be beautiful, it is a bit of a mouthful," Jane said. I nodded and cooed at her quietly, turning enough for Dimitri to be able to see her better.

I nodded and looked down at Ellie again, smiling down at her. "Hi, sweetheart!" I cooed, shifting her in my arms so she was at eye level. She seemed to shy away from me, unsureness showing on her face. Dimitri came closer and dipped his head down so he could look at her.

"Hi Ellie," Dimitri said, reaching out to stroke his finger over the back of her hand.

Ellie looked from me to Dimitri and reached for him. I chuckled and handed her over to him, smiling at him as I watched Ellie curl into Dimitri, her little face resting in the crook of his neck.

"She is so precious," I said to Jane, bringing my folded hands to my chin. Dimitri nodded as he spun around in a circle, bouncing her gently from side to side.

"When would we be able to take her home?" I asked, my enthusiasm clear in my voice.

Jane blinked and gaped at us. "You've already made your decision?"

I looked at Dimitri and smiled at him. I could tell by the look on his face that we were in agreement the moment we met her. She was our girl.

"We want her."

Elenora Georgia Belikova was welcomed warmly and enthusiastically into our family. Lissa, just about keeled over in excitement when she met her. Mom and Abe were also excited, Mom commenting on the fiery curls of her new granddaughter. My teammates were ecstatic about the newest 'team member' and spoiled her rotten, buying her toys and gifts galore!

Dimitri and I were already wrapped around her finger. She had dimples for days and her first teeth were breaking through, so her gummy little smile was even cuter. Her green eyes sparkled when Dimitri tossed her up in the air, or the sweet look she gave me when I pulled her out of her crib every morning.

Because of the information Jane gave us, Dimitri and I took a week to decorate the new nursery with elephants; elephant decals on the wall, bedding, stuffed animals, mobiles, books. Ellie may not be able to speak yet but her squeals and babbles when she saw all of it was perfect.

"How could she be so perfect?" I whispered to Dimitri as I tucked Ellie in, brushing her coppery curls away from her face. Dimitri hummed quietly and kissed my temple, resting his hands around me on the crib rail.

"The same way you are. Because she was born that way," Dimitri whispered in my ear, rubbing the tip of his nose against my hair.

"How could someone part with her? I mean, look at her! I couldn't imagine bringing her home and then letting her go! Even if we did have a baby by some miracle, I'd still want to keep her!"

"I know, Roza. I know," he said gently, "but she's ours. She isn't going anywhere."

By the time Ellie was four, Dimitri and I had decided that we wanted another child. So we were back at the group home with Jane, going through profiles. We had opened up to the idea of age ranges.

"These two are clipped together," I pointed out to Jane as I spotted a file just off to the side.

Jane nodded and tapped her fingers on the folders. "We are trying to keep them together. Brother and sister. Oliver is fourteen and Adele is eight. We've had a lot of people inquire about Adele, but not so much for Oliver."

I looked at Dimitri and raised my brows. Fourteen was a little older than we had thought about, but I knew that the general population rarely adopted teenagers. And we were stable. I was taking fewer hours at the bureau, and Dimitri was transferred to work in the same building as me.

"What do you think? Think we could handle three?"

"I think if we can handle what we do at work, I think we can handle three," Dimitri said with a smirk, "we have the room. You insisted on a big house."

I looked at Jane and smiled. "How about we meet Oliver and Adele?"