With An Addition (VA Fanfic)

Repercussions Part 3

RPOV
The next morning I was in the middle of painting Jen's toenails when there was knocking on my door.
"Momma will be right back, baby girl so stay here, please."
I pecked her forehead and answered the door. There I found a member of the hotel's staff with a large box in both his arms.
"Rose Hathaway?"
"Yup?"
"Here."
I took the big but light box from him. I wondered about tipping him but he left before I could do anything more than thank him and shut the door.

"What that, Momma?" Jen asked as I sat back in front of her on the floor and placed the big box beside us.
"A gift. Momma will open it after finishing your nails, cutie pie."
Jenée giggled. My heart swelled hearing the sound. The sound of my daughter happy despite it all. Her being happy made me happy. She needed a sister or bother... or both. I wanted her to have both. I wanted to have another two babies of Dimitri's. I suddenly craved to be pregnant again. I craved the family life. For Jen's sake, I told myself.

A short while later while Jen's nail polish was drying I grabbed a pen and stabbed and hacked off the tape that prevented me from opening my gift. My struggles earned laughter from my baby girl. At least my exasperated expressions did. Finally I learned it was full of perfume. It had to be thanks to Adrian Ivashkov throwing his money around. I was left with three options: tape them back up and return it to Adrian or smell them all and maybe take one, or possibly even keep them all. I immediately tossed aside that last idea, if Dimitri and I flew Jen anywhere anytime soon then I'd have to get rid of most of them anyway. Taking one of them could send the wrong signal... though I couldn't deny I wanted to see if any of them would be the one to complement me like Dimitri's aftershave made him intoxicating. I resisted the temptation and instead put it aside to return to Adrian once Jen's nail polish was dry enough to take her with me.
"What they, Momma?" Jen pointed to the thirty little bottles before I could put the lid back on them.
"Perfumes. Adrian sent them to Momma to try take Momma from Papa."
"Momma! Stay wit Papa!" Jen begged with pleading, teary brown eyes.
"Always, Jen. Always."
"Good!" Jen hovered her hand over all the little boxes then handed me one. "This Momma's."
I removed the red bottle to humour her. I took the lid off and sniffed. Sweet, but not overly. Floral, but not too powerful. Fruity, but not out of place. It appealed to me. It was the perfect blend. Jen was right: this was mine. I read the label. Amor Amor. I grinned then kissed Jen's forehead. If I liked it Dimitri was going to go mad when I wore it. And to think Adrian thought it was bringing me closer to him. His attempt was going to backfire on him.

I used the service desk's packing tape to reseal the box and find directions to Adrian's room. It wasn't far from Tasha's, as it turned out. With the box taking up both of my arms I let Jen ride her trike a little off to my left. We soon found his room and Jen knocked on his door.

"Hey baby dhampir, little dhampir. What brings you two here?" He was far too cordial. I couldn't wait to get Jen out of this toxic world. Then again, I was scared and sad to leave the people I'd grown up with.
"No more." I thrusted the box into his arms with such fervour that he staggered back. "I'm taken."
"Rose? Jen?" Lissa's voice came from further inside the room. What was she doing here? I'd blocked the bond this morning, readying myself to leave this life behind.
"What are you doing here?"
"What are you doing here? You have a boyfriend and a baby."
"Aunty Lissa!" Jen abandoned her trike to sprint into Lissa's arms.
"Hey sweetie. Did you have fun last night?"
"I'm trying to get a message through playboy here's head because I'm well aware I have a boyfriend and a baby."
"Ladies please, no need to fight over me," he teased. "And I'm hurt, little dhampir."
"We aren't fighting," I glared. "I'm trying to figure out why my best friend is in your room when she has her own lover-boy to look after."
A waft of aftershave hit me before Jen ran to the door babbling in Russian.
"Hey Jen," he scooped her up and kissed her cheek before shushing her and shooting Adrian a very scary glare. "What are you doing with my charge, student, and daughter in your room, Ivashkov?"
Adrian laughed in kind of an unhinged way. "I'm surprised you're lecturing on underage girls. One's marked with life, the other with death while the baby is marked with purity. We're the young ones. Worry about you, dhampir." Adrian's expression normalised and he moved to the window while opening up his cigarettes. "You ladies should probably go. Doesn't baby dhampir need breakfast or something?"
"Don't call her that," Dimitri and I growled in unison.
Adrian laughed, edging on a crazed sort of laugh. "You two really are her perfect parents."