Three months went by without much trouble. Ivan and Annabel spent time together whenever possible. The only difficult part was keeping their relationship hidden from the rest of the world. In the end they wound up telling everyone during a would meeting. As expected, Alfred was more than enraged to find out that his only sister was engaged to that "Commie bastard." (Mt. rainier was rumbling... just to give you an idea) Ivan stayed with Annabel after the meeting had ended to help calm her down and settle her rage so that she didn't kill her twin brother.

~the following morning~

The sound of birds chirping could be heard outside the window as the morning sun cast a shaft of light onto the bed. Annabel, still tired from last night, turned away from the window and snuggled closer to Ivan, who shifted and pet her hair.

"Good morning, my little sunflower," he hummed, lightly peppering her lips and jaw with kisses.

"G'morning Ivan..." she muttered, opening her eyes half way for a moment before trying to go back to sleep. He shifted closer to her, though, and gently sucked on her earlobe. Groaning softly, she opened her sleep blurred eyes and put a hand on his shoulder. "Ivan..." He only smiled and pet her back, his teeth teasing the lobe a bit as he sucked. This earned further protesting groans from her as she push lightly against his shoulder. "Ivan... stop..."

He pulled away slightly, blinking a bit. "Du do not like it?"

"It's not that..." Gently she placed a hand on his cheek and kissed him tenderly. "I'm just still tired from last night...Someone's at the front door"

His face turned from pouting to a bit of a frown. "How do du know?"

"I can just tell..." The smile on her face disappearing as she spots the red-tail hawk perched outside the window. "Oh that's right, it's Ina!" Suddenly wide awake, she was out of bed and scrambling to get dressed. Ivan blinked blankly, no clue at all what or whom she was talking about.

"Who?"

"Ina, my mother..." Her words slightly muffled as she tied the laces on a green silk corset. "You saw her the other day at the meeting remember?" Bringing Ivan's clothes over to the bed before putting on her dress. He froze, getting a bit paler than he normally was. Ivan didn't even remember his own mother. How was he supposed to react to his fiancee's? "...She must be here to discuss how that yankie brother of mine has been dealing with things, or lack there of...Also I might have mentioned that I wanted to tell her something..." She continued as she brushed her hair out before braiding it. Ivan just curled back up on the bed, pulling the covers tightly around his large body and over his head. Turning around, Annabel sighs when she sees this. Smiling softly she walks over to the bed and pulls back the covers. "Ivan, you promised you'd meet her...We discussed this last night."

He whined a bit, hanging on to the covers tightly. "I know...but..." He resembled a teenager who refused to get up for school.

Still smiling, she sat down next to him and kisses him tenderly on the cheek. "Please Ivan?" Lightly she placed a hand on his face and began to softly caress his cheek.

His eye twitched a bit as he tried to steel himself against those sweet, adorable eyes. "...gah..."

"...You promised..." She whispered softly, looking at him with doe eyes. (cause the phrase "Bambi eyes" is over used)

"Mm...gah...Da..." He sighed and pulled her in for a kiss.

Annabel smiled sweetly and softly whispered, "thank you" as she lovingly kissed him. Her fingertips brushing lightly across the back of his neck.

"I cannot say no to du..." he purred softly, petting her back. Annabel blushed a little at this, trailing soft kisses along his jaw as she traced her fingers down the back of his neck. He groaned softly, really not wanting to get up yet, but for different reasons than before. "...Can we not stay in bed and not be here?"

Sighing softly she shook her head, brushing a hand through his hair. "It would not work. She knows I am here and Ina isn't shy about coming in to wake me up..." Annabel cringed as she thought of what Ina used to do when she or her brothers refused to get out of bed when they were little.

He groaned again. "...I do not want to do dis..."

"I know darling... But it Has to be done." She hugged him, kissing him on the forehead and lightly petting his wonderfully soft hair.

He gave another heavy sigh and reluctantly got up. "Da..." He found that Annabel had already brought his clothes over for him, and he started dressing.

Standing up, she smoothed out her dress and using the mirror above the dresser, twisted her long braid into a bun. Even as she was pinning her hair into place she found it difficult to keep herself from watching her fiance dress.

Almost dressed now, Ivan reached for his scarf, but stopped mere inches above it, a puzzled, contemplating look on his face.

As she pins the last few strands of hair into place, Annabel notices the look on his face in her mirror. Raising an eyebrow she turns to face him. "Is there something wrong Ivan?" She wondered if something had caused a stain on his scarf.

"For once, I do not need coat or scarf...but..." He let out a sigh as he picked up the scarf and looked at sunlight from the window falling onto the time-faded pink scarf.

A gentle, understanding smile appeared on Annabel's lips as she walked over to sit beside him on the bed. "It's alright Ivan, you may still wear them if you wish. I'll make you a lighter scarf later, alright?"

He frowned more, his hands tightening a little on the scarf. "But..." His fingers caressed the scarf lovingly, savoring the familiar and comforting feeling.

Still smiling, she gently and carefully took the scarf from his grip. "Don't worry, you may still keep your scarf." As she said this, she lovingly placed it around his neck and kissed him on the cheek. "I know how much it means to you and I would never dream of taking it away." She whispered, placing a hand tenderly on his cheek as she looked into his soft violet eyes.

"Thank you sunflower..." Nuzzling her hand and giving her a small grateful smile as he pulled her onto his lap. Wrapping his arms around her in bear-like, childish embrace. "It is strange to me to not nee it..."

"You don't have to only wear it because you need to. You should wear it because you want to." Lightly draping her arms around his shoulders, returning the embrace.

"Maybe I will not when I have spent more time here, da?"

"Perhaps" leaning close to kiss him softly.

sorry it took so long to get this up, i still need to finish the chapter but i wanted to put up what i have so far. enjoy!