Four years after the conclusion of Last Sacrifice Rose and Dimitri are going strong, Lissa is a queen worth waiting for and Moroi combat magic is finally taking off. Life is good. Until someone from inside Court becomes a threat to Lissa. Now Rose must find out who among them has it out for the queen before they do something irrevocable. And there's also the little matter of a miracle to deal with.

I have had this story in my head since before the Bloodline series was published and finally decided to write it. As it is, I have decided to incorporate certain things from Bloodlines but not others. There was no discovery about dhampir-dhampir reproduction in this story.

General disclaimer: This is a pregnancy fic. However, there is much more to it than just Rose, Dimitri and a baby. Pregnancy doesn't come into play for a few chapters.

I know this is a common theme for VA fanfictions but I thought it was worth writing anyway. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Richelle Mead owns VA, I own this plot.

In a very bad breach of guardian protocol, he caught a hold of my hand and pulled me toward him. "And?" he asked, wrapping me in an embrace.

"I think she'd ask, 'What have we gotten ourselves into?'"

"What's the answer?" His warmth was all around me, as was his love, and again, I felt that completeness. I had the missing piece of my world back. The soul that complemented mine. My match. My equal. Not only that, I had my life back—my own life. I would protect Lissa, I would serve, but I was finally my own person.

"I don't know," I said, leaning against his chest. "But I think it's going to be good."

Four Years Later

Gentle fingers trailed over the bare curve of my hip and down to my knee before retracing the path up and up. They trailed over the swell of my breast. "Mmmmm," I moaned, eyes squeezed tightly shut, "five more minutes." The body pressed up against my back shook with silent laughter. Dimitri tightened the arm he had wrapped around me, pulling me closer.

"Trust me, Roza," he said in my ear. "I would love to stay here with you all day. But we have work to do."

I made a creative suggestion about what work could go do. Dimitri made a gentle sound of admonition deep in his chest before pressing a kiss just behind my ear. I shivered at the contact.

"Now," he said as he pulled away from me. I cried out in surprise as he slipped out of bed, flipping back the covers as he went. The cold early January air struck my bare skin and sent instant shivers through my body. "We promised Christian. And you were late last time."

I groped for the missing blankets but Dimitri had yanked them completely off of our bed. I opened my eyes to glare at him as he tossed them out of the bedroom door and into the living space.

Part of my mind stopped to admire the striking figure he made in the light of the setting sun that crept through the curtains of our apartment. Tall with lean, hard muscles and tanned skin. His hair was the most beautiful shade of brown and barely brushed his shoulders. His pajama pants rode precariously low on his hips. He was twenty-nine but didn't look a day over twenty-five, a result of his healthy lifestyle and the lasting effects of his time as a Strigoi.

The part of my mind that wasn't preoccupied with ogling him was debating the pros and cons of darting quickly across the room to retrieve the blankets. Our apartment wasn't big here at Court, only one bedroom and one bathroom. Cozy and perfect for us considering were rarely home to do anything more than sleep. The small distance seemed far too big at the moment to bother with, however.

"The shower's warm!" Dimitri called as he disappeared into the bathroom. I heard the sound of running water a moment later.

That decided it for me. As much as I loved sleep I loved the idea of a quick morning shower—and maybe something else—with Dimitri before the day officially started even more. And yeah, he was right. We had to be at the gym soon. We were helping Christian and Mia teach their Moroi Combat Magic class. It had finally gained Council approval last year (after everything that had come to light four years prior regarding Queen Tatiana's experiments with the subject). Now, in Lissa's forth year as Queen, the program had finally kicked off. Funding had been secured, teachers hired, and the first recruits located. The lessons had begun at the beginning of the month and it was necessary for both Dimitri and I to be there. We had actually fought side by side with Moroi before and therefore had valuable experience to share. Also, we were badass at our jobs and who wouldn't want to learn combat skills from us?

There were a few other guardians involved. Mikhail Tanner was one of them. He helped on occasion, when he wasn't on duty or caught up in the happy daze of domesticity with his wife Sonya and their two-year-old daughter. But the class was small enough for now, only five of each element users. There was a teacher for each element—Christian taught fire obviously, and Mia water—and the two of us, most classes.

Which meant that it was pretty important that we were there. With a sigh I slipped from the bed and headed to the shower with my ever so responsible boyfriend.

In the event, we were late anyway. Dimitri was scolding me for our tardiness but I hadn't heard him complaining earlier in the shower when we weren't actually showering. I rolled my eyes at him as he held the door to the gym open for me.

The class was milling around at the back of the gym, which was the space that had been allotted to our cause. Christian was there, dark haired and slim, leaning against the far wall with the same snarky look on his face that he'd had when we were seventeen. He'd changed a bit though. Where he had once been borderline scrawny he now had very subtle but definitely there muscles roping his tall frame. He'd been very diligent in his practices over the years.

"Well well well, look who is late," he drawled as we reached his side. "And look how not surprised I am."

"Stuff it, Sparky," I snapped back. "Just because Lissa isn't giving you any doesn't mean you have to be jealous of us."

Christian glared at me. He wasn't particularly happy with how familiar I was with his love life. It wasn't my fault that Lissa confided in me. I may not be able to see into her head anymore but I was as familiar with the ins and outs of her personal life—and by extension, Christian's—as I ever had been.

"I don't know how you put up with it, Belikov." Christian made it clear that I was the 'it' he'd been referring to. Dimitri just chuckled and they moved off to call the class to order.

The two of them had come a long way since St. Vladimir's. They both had broken out of their anti-social shells and become fairly good friends. Of course, Dimitri was his sanctioned guardian so the two of them spent a lot of time together. Christian traveled a lot, whether with Lissa on business or on business of his own. While the Moroi combat classes were just kicking off he'd done a fair bit of traveling over the past several years, going from different schools to courts and other large Moroi congregations, first advocating for Moroi magic use and later recruiting victims—er—students.

Dimitri had been through everything with him. The two of them made an interesting team, one that I was reluctant to acknowledge. I already shared Lissa with Christian; I didn't like sharing Dimitri with him too. But it could be worse.

The two of them carried a mixed air about them, followed always by their pasts. Christian, his parents decision to turn Strigoi and then his Aunt Tasha's betrayal, Dimitri, his past deeds as a Strigoi and then orchestrator of the jail break for yours truly. But the good on their records outshined the bad and people listened to them.

I spent a lot of time traveling with Lissa, myself. School visits, royal functions and events, political unrest, the list went on. Everywhere Lissa went, I went.

And it was necessary, too. Over the last few years there had been an increase in Strigoi attacks. I didn't know if they were getting bolder or if there were just more of them. Either way it was always a risk to leave the safety of the wards. I was Lissa's head guardian but there were as many as ten others that accompanied her outside Court.

And she was off Court soil for more than just her queenly duties; she also went to school.

She attended Lehigh University as she'd planned with Queen Tatiana before her death. She would be graduating at the end of this semester. I still didn't know how she managed to balance running the Moroi world, exams and a social life but that wasn't my job. My job was to make sure that she stayed alive long enough to figure that out for herself.

It had been a good few years. Full of danger, yes, but good. Lissa had done so many great things for the Moroi and dhampirs since she'd been crowned. While nothing changed overnight there had been a subtle change in the treatment of dhampirs ever since she'd become queen. It sent ripples through our world and everyone could feel the effects. Dhampir's were no longer treated as second-class citizens.

That wasn't to say that we weren't treated as hired labor, though. Our population still relied on the interaction with Moroi and that was never going to change. We were inexplicably linked and therefore still had predetermined roles. Moroi were fragile and protected, dhampir's did the protecting. But there was a little more concern for our wellbeing and feelings towards the situation as a whole.

Lissa had also started to implement laws that gave more political power to the masses of common Moroi. Their influence was limited but it was an opportunity they'd never been afforded previously. Most of the royals were up in arms about it but the one benefit to Lissa not having a huge royal family at her back was that she wasn't forced to consider their perspective. She did what she damn well pleased and in this case, it was mending the rift between Moroi social classes.

The class had settled down as Christian called them to order. Mia stood by his side. She'd been as involved in kick starting the combat classes as Christian and Lissa. Her curly blond ringlets were pinned back and her face was set in a no-nonsense look as she studied her students. The students were a wide range of Moroi from all walks of life. There were young people barely out of school and a few middle aged Moroi who approached the curriculum with a lot less zeal than their younger counterparts. A majority of the students were in their late twenties though. There was also a fair mix of royal and non-royal.

Christian was laying out the day's exercises for them, instructing them to break up into groups and rotate through different stations, which would be manned by both Dimitri and I as well as Serena, one of the two original guardians who had participated in Queen Tatiana's trial runs. It had taken a lot of convincing to get Serena to agree to help. At first she'd been too torn up over the death of her partner Grant; she'd gotten over it eventually (as much as its possible to get over the loss of a great friend and mentor) and joined us.

We spent the rest of the morning walking the Moroi through the basics of self-defense: block this, hit that, aim here, stand like that. It would be a while until the class was well versed enough in the basics that they could move on to the stuff we were all interested in. Still, I found the work comforting and not all that unpleasant. When the class finally came to an end for the day I was somewhat disappointed.

I left Dimitri at the gym with Christian discussing an outing he had planned for later that day while I went to find Lissa. She had classes on campus later that day and we had to leave during the daylight hours (Moroi night) to ensure that there were no Strigoi attacks in transit.

I found her in her office. It had once belonged to Queen Tatiana (and presumably all previous kings and queens). My first memory of the room had been from the time I'd been ordered in front of the old bitch and chewed out for my then non-existent relationship with her great-nephew Adrian Ivashkov. The room looked completely different now, decorated to Lissa's less grand tastes but the bones were still the same. I glared accusingly as the spot where Tatiana had once stood before making my way over to where Lissa sat behind a large mahogany desk.

The desk was cluttered with heaps of papers. Looking over Lissa's shoulder I watched as she signed one document with a flourish before flipping to another document and crossing out a few lines, initialing by the changes, and setting it in a different stack. After that she pulled out yet another paper, this one her Political Science homework. She knew I was there but she didn't say anything until she scribbled down the answers to the final two questions and slipped the paper into her backpack, which was tucked under the desk in her leg space.

"Busy day?" I asked her. She leaned back heavily in her chair and exhaled, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. She looked immaculate as always, corn silk hair pulled back into a neat bun, sweater-dress unwrinkled and tailored to perfection. She gave me a bleary smile.

"The beginning of the new year is always hectic. People trying to submit new changes before the Council resumes and all that."

"Take a break with me," I suggested, moving to clear her desk of papers.

She cried out in protest.

"Rose," she exclaimed. "Those were all sorted out. Now they're mixed up!"

"You know me," I said blithely. "Bringing chaos to order for the past twenty-two years."

She gave me a weary look. "I'll never get those all sorted before we have to leave for class."

"Oh good," I said. "Then no point in wasting time trying. Come on," I pulled out her chair from the desk and gave it a shake. "Let's grab breakfast, I'm starving."

Dimitri and Christian found us at our favorite café, coincidentally it was the one that I had been arrested in and charged for the murder of Lissa's predecessor.

They each pulled up a seat. Christian filched a croissant from Lissa's plate as he dropped a kiss onto her cheek.

"I didn't think you'd ever get away from your work," he said to her as she snatched the pastry back. It tore in half and they both looked okay with the result.

Dimitri hadn't dared to try and take my chocolate éclair from me, instead contenting himself by wrapping his arm around my shoulders and pulling me closer. I leaned in happily, inhaling the soothing scent of his aftershave.

Lissa mock glared at me. "It's Roses fault," she responded. "She made a mess of all my papers."

I shrugged deprecatingly, unbothered by the accusation.

"Someone had to get you out of that office," I said. "You've been hold up in there for too long. We were beginning to forget what you look like." I hadn't been lying earlier when I accused Christian of being jealous of Dimitri and my intimacy. I knew his own love life had been lacking the past few weeks in accordance with Lissa's overly busy schedule. She was working ungodly hours and dropping into bed at the end of each day, exhausted.

"It will slow down when the Council convenes in a few weeks," Lissa assured us. "The paperwork up until then is crazy but once all topics for discussion have been properly submitted and approved the only work I'll have to do will be during the actual meetings. Outside those chambers I'll be a free woman."

"Thank God," Christian agreed.

"Have you heard from Jill lately?" Dimitri asked after a few minutes lull in the conversation. Jill, Lissa's half sister, went to school in California under the ever-watchful gaze of her guardian/boyfriend Eddie Castile, her bond-mate Adrian Ivashkov, Adrian's wife/Alchemist/badass witch Sydney Sage-Ivashkov and a backwoods Keeper turned guardian, and was supposed to visit winter break but had decided last minute on a romantic get away with Eddie instead. I didn't blame her. Court life was not something Jillian Manstrano-Dragomir was made for.

While she had been an awkward girl in her youth she'd really come into herself during her time in California. All of the drama she'd gone through with the Alchemists, the Circle of Light and an ex-Strigoi/crazy boyfriend had helped her mature. She was now the picture of confidence and a large proponent for Moroi combat magic. But she sill wasn't one hundred percent comfortable with her relationship with Lissa. That too had gotten better over the years but things could still be tense. She was also supposed to be coming to Court at some point in the near future to help out with the magic training.

"Yes," Lissa answered. "I talked to her the other day. She's coming out over spring break. She said she wanted to celebrate Rose's birthday while she was out here." She turned a flashy smile in my direction, one I returned. A visit from Jill and the gang would be nice. There were always fun stories to exchange, whether they be about awkward situations when she used to get sucked into Adrian's head (something I found extremely funny when it wasn't happening to me), anecdotes about something crazy Angeline did, or spells Sydney had been experimenting with (something even I found hard to believe but couldn't refute once I'd seen it with my own eyes). Plus, a birthday celebration sounded fun. I loved a good party, particularly one where I got presents.

We finished our meal in peace before moving on with the day. Lissa and Christian went off together (I hoped they would sneak in some alone time), and Dimitri and I headed off to our shifts with the Court guardians.

This chapter was to sort of set the stage for everything to come. Action is coming!