Only Him

Chapter 37

"I thought I lost you," I whispered, gently stroking a finger up and down Dimitri's bare chest, reveling in the slight tremors that my touch sent through him. We were curled up on our bed after a long night of debriefing and settling the attack in Boston. It was technically the middle of the vampiric day but we had no intentions of emerging from our apartment until the next day. Dr. Gibson may have restricted me from having sex but there were a few creative workarounds that we'd employed.

"I'm not going anywhere, moya serdtse," he assured me in a low murmur.

"Not by choice," I agreed. "But there's always a risk. When I sat in Hans office waiting for news I couldn't help but realize all of the things that I need your help making decisions about."

"Mmm?" he made a noise of inquiry.

I quietly told him about my conversation with Sonya the first night he'd been gone. We had talked on the phone since then but I hadn't wanted to admit my unwillingness to help create the vaccine.

"I feel terrible," I admitted at last. "Like by doing this I'm trying to prevent world peace or something. But I can't agree and make that choice for him." I hesitated. "Did I do the right thing? What would you want to do about it?"

Dimitri considered for a long moment before responding. "If I could stop even one person from experiencing the life of a Strigoi," he whispered, "I'd do it. But not at the expense of our son." I let out a sigh of relief. He continued. "It is a tough decision to make but I think you made the right call. Aleksey deserves the chance to grow up as normally as possible. If he chooses to do something about it later than it will be his own choice, not ours."

I smiled and nuzzled my nose slightly into the hollow of his throat before looking up at him.

"Aleksey?" I asked. We'd both liked the name a lot but hadn't outwardly made any decisions yet.

Dimitri looked mildly embarrassed and I was surprised by how sexy that was to me. He always seemed so sure and confident that these little moments when I caught him off guard were extra special to me.

"I know we haven't made a final decision yet," he admitted. "But I can't get the name out of my head. Every time I think about him," he brushed his fingertips over my stomach. "Well, it seems to fit."

I was tempted to continue teasing him, just to get more of a reaction out of him, but I decided against it. It was hard to tease him when he was being so honest with me.

"I agree. Sometimes I'll be thinking about him and I'll call him Aleksey without realizing it. I hadn't wanted to make the final decision until we saw him but..." I trailed off.

Dimitri shifted out from under me and moved so that his face was level with my stomach. I was as naked as he was so there was no need to push a t-shirt out of the way. Instead he laid both hands on either side of his son and spoke to him.

"What do you say, malen'kiy chelovek? Would you like to carry the name Aleksey?"

The baby always responded to Dimitri's voice and now was no exception. He gave a strong kick towards Dimitri's left hand. I let out huff of surprise at the strength behind the move and Dimitri laughed.

"I guess that answers that," I agreed.

"Happy Birthday, comrade," I said, kissing his temple as I came up behind his chair. He gave a pleasant hum of appreciation before turning his head to graze his lips across my own retreating lips.

"Thank you, Roza."

It had been three weeks since the attack in Boston and we'd returned to normal life as much as possible. Dimitri had taken a weekend off of work and we'd finally completed the nursery. I frequently found myself stopping by the room and standing there for a few minutes, just picturing my son sleeping within the beautifully made crib or playing within the four blue walls.