Another shot (A Vampire Academy Fanfic)

Another shot chapter 2

I spun with Stasiya in my arms and placed myself in front of Rose. Those two women in the same room was not a good idea. Far from it- it was asking for trouble.

"Dimka." I hated that nickname.
"Lady Ozera."
"Dimka, why are you here?"
"What? At the academy?" Like it wasn't obvious. "I'm going back to being a guardian for the academy. I'm taking a break from the field." Getting away from you is more like it.
"But you're my guardian. You can't leave me. You can't leave us." Us? As if.
"What are you going on about? There never was an 'us'."
"Yes there was. There is. I'm pregnant." Can't be mine.
"Give me proof, Natasha. Test results- blood and DNA too. Moroi or dhampir as well. I know your games. I'm not going to be played."

Six years guarding her had opened my eyes and hardened my heart to her games. I knew what to look for. I could tell Stasiya was mine without tests. She looked like the perfect combination of Rose and I. The timing was perfect too.

"Why? Don't you trust me?" God. She was more of a child than mine.

Speaking of which she was far too quiet. I looked at her, the look on her face was a dangerous one. It was Rose's 'I'm planning something' face through and through and I could see the wheels turning. She had Rose's logic apparently and if it was amplified by my strategy and patient planning she was definitely up to something dangerous. She took one look at me and slipped a guardian mask into place and turned back to Tasha. The wheels still spinning. Oh shit! My five year old had a guardian mask and was a mastermind. I had my work cut out for me as her father and her trainer. She was studying Tasha and planning underneath that mask.

"Rose?" I focused on Tasha. "What's she like when she has her mask on?"
"A force to be reckoned with. If she's wearing my 'I'm planning something' face she just dangerous. If her mask is on... Well try amplifying my craziest plans by your well thought out logic and a timeline. She'll be thinking of a multistage plan with certain timings. I've been on the wrong side of it- not too long ago. Just for missing one postcard, present and phone call." Uh... oh!
"What does she know of our guest?"
"A bit." That meant basically everything. Tasha was in for it and there was nothing I could do. I didn't know how to react to my own daughter.
"Who is she?" Tasha came back into the conversation.
"Who?"
"That little keychain bloodwhore attached to you. Staring at me with a blank face."
"She has a name and her mother is not a bloodwhore so don't you dare call either of them that."
"You didn't answer the question."

I looked at my little girl with mask still firmly in place and wheels still spinning. A plan was developing in her head and I had no clue how to stop it forming.

Here goes nothing. "Anastasiya Louiz Belikov." Don't kill me for dropping the Hathaway, Rose.
"Pft. Like she's a Belikov."
"She is every bit a Belikov" Rose spoke up. She's every bit a Hathaway too. I didn't dare say that out loud though.
"Ahh. Her bloodwhore mother speaks up."
"Lady Ozera you will not say that about my mother." Stasiya was clearly starting to enact her plan- whatever it was. Her voice was sickly sweet. If she were an older Moroi I would have said she was using compulsion.
"What do you know. You're a child! One whose mother is never around!"
"She is around. She is never at Court when she's not on missions because she's with me. Easter and Christmas breaks she's always here with me. She spoils me rotten- I almost need another room for all the postcards and presents. I get a call before and after each mission to check on me and let me know she's alive." She maintained her composure. Her voice remained even and steady.

Cool, calm and collected- on the outside. Inside I could tell she was boiling. She really was my daughter. She was reminding me of the calm before the storm that was me when my father abused my mother. She knew injustice when she saw it and had a plan. A very dangerous, well thought out and perfectly planned one.

"Lady Ozera I suggest you leave before you have to face the Belikov wrath. From the three of us." I pulled Rose into my side and wrapped an arm around her waist.
"Fine! But I'll be back for you Dimka." Oh... bring it, Tasha! My five year old could probably whip your ass in a five card draw. She stormed out slamming the door behind her. Much more of a child than mine.

"Daddy? Mommy? This is just the start isn't it? She really doesn't like us." She was right and it broke my heart my little girl knew it.
"No baby girl. She doesn't," Rose answered. "Although you're already just as cunning, if not more so." I couldn't agree more.

"Stasiya. Would you go to your dorm. Mommy and I need to have some time alone." Didn't we ever. I wanted to take Rose back to the cabin but I wondered if Tasha had commandeered it.
"Mommy?"
"Just go Stasiya. I'm here for a few days."
"Kay Mommy. Night Daddy!" she kissed my cheek and I let her down to say night to Rose. She left.