𝐀𝐍𝐘𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐇𝐄𝐑 ▸ Rose and Lissa have been best friends since kindergarten. Their friendship has grown and changed but they still have each other's backs - even as Queen and Head of the Queen's Guardians. Rose has always said she do '...
"We've finally got our lives back," Dimitri implored. "Lara is almost three. Maxim is coming up on two. Do we really need another baby?!"
"You heard Alberta. He's only four months old and orphaned. What do you think his life will be like if we don't take him?!"
Rose paused, hands on hips glaring at Dimitri. While she'd been in two minds when Alberta had called asking her to consider taking in an infant Dhampir whose parents had been killed in a Strigoi attack, as soon as she saw the photo Alberta had emailed though, she was sold.
"We're financially ok, the business is taking off, and I think it would benefit Lara and Maxim to have another child around. Especially an adopted one. I think, going forward, not being the only adopted child in the family would make Lara feel better."
Rose had pulled out the big guns! Despite Lara's loving relationship with Eddie, Rose and Dimitri's honest conversations with Lara about her biological parentage would be bound to create issues one day. Dimitri understood Rose's concerns that Lara might feel the odd one out – especially since he and Rose had started talking about another biological child.
"But if we take this baby, what about another pregnancy?" Dimitri asked. He loved Lara and Maxim equally, but something in him wanted to experience pregnancy with Rose again.
"He's four months now. Even if we fell pregnant right away, it would be no worse than what we went through with Lara and Maxim," Rose reasoned. She didn't want to admit it, but she was excited about the idea of being pregnant a second time. Yet she also knew that the little guy Alberta had called her about needed to come home to them. "Worse comes to worst, we could send him to the Academy at four years old..." Rose suggested.
Dimitri pfffed dismissively. "Just like the sick rabbit would 'only stay a week' and the goldfish would go if the kids did not take care of them?" he mocked. "The second that baby is in your arms, you won't let go," Dimitri predicted.
"He needs a loving home, and we have one," Rose reasoned. "Is that such a bad thing?"
"We'll never have sex again," Dimitri groaned, remembering how intimacy had taken a back seat when the babies were little, but knowing them adopting the dhampir orphan was a foregone conclusion. He was a pushover when it came to his wife.
"Remember he's just a little guy," Rose said sweetly, knowing victory when she saw it. "It would be nice to give him a little brother or sister not long after he joins us... Why don't we go practice?!"
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"Danila? This is Rose. You're going to stay with her for a while," Alberta announced brightly, passing the infant over to Rose. Danila looked at Rose, not giving much of a reaction. Since his parents had been murdered in a Strigoi attack two months ago, he'd been passed from person to person. For the last week, Eddie and a young female Guardian had been looking after him, his experience with Lara and Maxim serving him well. Now standing in Rose and Dimitri's living room, Eddie smiled when he saw Rose cuddling the orphaned infant.
