Rose and Lissa

"Thank you so much, Christian." Rose told him as she watched Lissa move around slowly in order to avoid hitting her stomach.

"Hey, if I can help progress a royal family, then I'll do whatever I can." Christian replied, also watching Lissa. Rose was making breakfast since she'd been taking cooking lessons and Lissa was thinking about what color the nursery should be.

"What color do you think, Christian?" Lissa asked, looking over at their guest. Christian and his girlfriend, Viktorya were staying with Lissa and Rose while their house was being fumigated.

"I think it should be green." He replied.

"Why green?" Lissa asked.

"Because it's Rose's favorite color and the color of your eyes. So your baby will feel protected either way."

Rose nodded to him. "He's got a point, Liss."

Lissa rolled her eyes with a smile. "What would you consider to be a good name?" she asked.

"Well, we won't be able to pick a name until we know what it is." Rose pointed out.

"But we won't know until it's born." Lissa countered.

"It wasn't my idea to wait until it was born to find out." Rose joked, making Lissa blush.

"Yeah well, you agreed to it."

"Only because you kept going on and on about it." Rose laughed, watching as Lissa's blush darkened.

Lissa shrugged and dropped the conversation, starting a new one. "How are you and Tory doing, Chrissy?"

Christian sighed at the nickname. "We're doing fine. She's getting moodier by the day and she barely wakes up anymore."

Lissa cocked her head in concern. "Well, maybe she's sick." She suggested.

"Maybe." Christian agreed halfheartedly.

"Are you two planning on making it official anytime soon?" Rose asked.

"The engagement?" Christian asked to which Rose nodded. "We don't know yet. Aunt Tasha still hasn't told us what She and Dimitri think of it."

Lissa felt a flash of guilt at the look of pain that swept across Rose's face. She looked down at the table and wouldn't meet either eye of the other two.

"Liss?"

Lissa shook her head and sighed. "I'm sorry."

Rose reached across the table and lifted Lissa's chin. "It wasn't your fault." Rose told her.

"But it was still me."

"No, it was someone acting as you. It's fine now because Dimitri's got Tanya and I have you."

Lissa nodded, but her frown stayed. Just then, there were footsteps on the stairs and everyone turned to see Christian's girlfriend, Viktorya walking slowly down the stairs. "Tory?" Christian asked slowly.

She glanced up, her red curls falling in her eyes a bit as she smiled. "Good morning Christian." She said hoarsely, her high soprano a bit deeper than normal.

"Are you hungry?" Rose asked, trying to keep her voice as light as possible so as not to set off Viktorya's mood swings; if Tory had a sudden mood swing, it would trigger Lissa's mood swing and that's the last thing any of them needed.

"Famished." Tory nodded. Rose stood to get Tory something to eat as Lissa cleared a space on the table for the redhead.

"So how are you feeling?" Lissa asked softly.

"I, uh, well there have been instances where I've felt sick to my stomach, but nothing too severe." Lissa nodded and said nothing more.

Rose brought over a plate of food for Viktorya and sat down next to Lissa again. "Are you pregnant?" the Guardian asked.

Viktorya looked up at her with a small flash of fear in her eyes. "How can you tell?" she asked softly.

"Mood swings, nausea, you're tearing up your food. It's the same thing Liss is going through. I can't wait to find out if it's a girl or a boy." She shot a wink at Lissa who smiled.

"Well, we'll just have to add another member to the family." Lissa said.

"Yeah," Rose whispered. "Our big happy family." She looked around at Christian and Viktorya before her eyes landed on Lissa and she grinned, leaning over to snag a quick kiss.

"Our love…" Rose murmured.

"…was compulsion." Lissa finished.