Merry Christmas :)

DPOV

I snuck out of bed as quietly as I could, but it didn't really matter at this point. Rose could sleep through World War III on a good day, but when she was pregnant- it would take a full blown Strigoi attack to wake her up. Well that and food. So there was no danger of me waking her up no matter how noisy I was.

I made my way down the hall and went into the kitchen to start making Rose breakfast in bed. When suddenly I was attacked!

"Daddy daddy! What are you doing up?! Santa won't come come if you're up!" I turned around and saw little Lissa standing behind me in her night clothes and looking like she was about to pull rank and order me back to bed. I smiled and got down to her level and waved at her to come over to me. She ran over and jumped onto my lap.

"Well you see Lissy, Santa runs on human time and right now all of them are in bed so he gives them their gifts now. But since we Dhampirs are different, he starts Christmas early for us and delivers our presents in the day time, so Santa has already been," I told her with a warm smile. She was only four and I didn't want her to lose her child like innocents just yet.

"So my presents are already here?!" she asked and squirmed out of my arms and ran over to the tree that we had set up on the first of December. I smiled and ran after her and I found her under the tree looking for the biggest present to open first.

"Woah not so fast Lissy, mummy is still asleep and I know that she will want to watch you unwrap your presents as well."

"Oh. Well then let's go and wake her up!" Lissy said and started to run to our room.

"Uh no Lissy, mummy is very tired these days and needs her sleep so we can't wake her yet."

Her little face crumbled and it broke my heart to see it. "But why don't you help me with a special surprise that I have planned for mummy," I said with a excited look. It worked. Her face lit up like our Christmas tree.

"What is it?"

"We're going to make her her favourite breakfast,that she can have in bed. Waffles," I said matching the excitement in her voice.

Lissy started jumping up and down. "Yay mummy loves those! Oh can we put ice cream on them!" she asked with such enthusiasm that anyone who saw it was sure to know that she was Rose's daughter. No one else could possibly get so excited about unhealthy food for breakfast.

I laughed and ruffled her hair. "Of course we can sweetheart."

We went in to the kitchen and started mixing the ingredients for the waffles. After it was mostly done, I gave Lissy the important task of mixing the batter while I cooked up some bacon and eggs to go on the side. And come on, it's Rose! Pregnant or not, there will be no left overs.

When we were done, I went outside and cut a beautiful bunch of purple flowers and put them in a vase and put it all on a big serving tray. Lissy ran behind me as we made our way up stairs to Rose's and my room. I gently knocked on the door and walked in.

"Merry Christmas mummy!" Lissy shouted and jumped on the bed waking Rose up with a start.

"What's wrong?! Wha-" she said instantly alert and reaching out for the stake that was at her bedside table even though she was eight and a half months pregnant and on maternity leave.

"Daddy made you breakfast in bed! Look! It's your favourite!" Lissy said with a smile so big it looked like she was the one that was getting the big surprise.

"Breakfast in bed for the wonderful mother of my children," I said with a huge grin and I set the tray on her lap avoiding her swollen belly.

"Well right now it's only the mother of your child, we're still waiting for the next guest at the party to arrive," Rose said affectionately rubbing her tummy. I leaned over and kissed it.

"Неважно, живые Товарищи и в там и я не могу ждать к мясу его."

(Doesn't matter, Comrades alive and in there and I can't wait to meet him) I muttered in Russian.

Rose had continued with her studying after we finished the mission at the school and was now almost as fluent as a native.

"Mmm this smells good enough to eat," Rose said as she started cutting up the waffles with a hungry look on her face.

"It's tastes good too, or so I've been told," I said with a smile as I watched my beautiful wife devour the food I made her. I nibbled a bit here and there, but I had already had breakfast down stars. It was better not to get my hands too close to Rose while she was eating when she was just hungry. But pregnant...forget it! You could lose a hand that way.

"Lissa and Christian are coming over soon aren't they?" Rose asked after she was done with most of her food and the speed that she had been eating at had slowed down to normal. Well normal for Rose anyway.

"Yeah, in about an hour so you had better start showering now so you don't keep them waiting too long," I joked and had to dodge a pillow for my troubles.

"Who cares it's Lissa, she's used to waiting for bathroom time," Rose grumbled as she finished eating and slowly started getting out of bed. I reached over and helped her, she was seriously getting big and looked like she would be ready to deliver any day now. But as eager as I was to see Comrade for the first time, I knew that she wasn't ready just yet.

"Oh yay! Will Alex be coming with them?" Lissy asked bouncing up and down on the bed a bit. Alexander was Lissa's and Christian's son, who was just a year younger than Lissy. The two had been best friends from birth and I knew that they would stay that way. Lissy was already talking about becoming Alex's guardian when they were older. I wouldn't mind, Lissy may be the first of her kind but she was just as good if not better as any Dhampir. But instead of sending her off to the Academy for training, Rose and I were going to take turns training her until she was older, then we would send her away for little trips at a time so she could spend time with other kids her own age. Both Rose and I wanted to be a big part in our children's lives.

I was a little worried that Lissy and Alex would become...a little too close. But that was years away from now so I didn't really need to worry about that just yet.

"Yes Lissy, Alex will be here so I hope that you have his present all wrapped," Rose said once she was finally out of bed. Lissy had been working very hard on making herself and Alex friendship bracelets and was very proud of her handy work.

"Yep! I got it under the tree and everything," she said looking a little smug.

"Well that's good. Why don't you go down stairs and get some breakfast while I help mummy shower," I said giving Rose a cheeky smile.

"Ok," Lissy said not finding anything odd about what I just said and ran out of the room.

"Oh that was bad Comrade," Rose said with a cheeky grin.

"Me Comrade, or him Comrade?" I asked as I put a hand on Roza's stomach and felt a kick and smiled.

"You Comrade," Rose said walking in to the bathroom and getting undressed. I helped her with her nighty and made sure she didn't slip when she got in the shower. But once she was in, she turned around and looked at me expectingly.

"I thought you were going to help me shower," she said trying- and almost seceded at raising one eyebrow. I just grinned and took my clothes off and got in with her.

After a nice (but a little too quick for my liking) shower, I helped Rose out and left her to get dressed while I went downstairs to make sure that Lissy didn't set fire to anything (she was almost as bad as Rose but since she was so young I thought that there might still be hope for her in the future). I found her sitting quietly reading a book. She may look and eat just like Rose, but she definitely got her love of books from me.

"How is Scooby Doo going?" I asked after I looked at what book she was reading.

"Well in this picture he's eating a pizza, but here he's hiding from a ghost, so I'm not sure," Lissy said looking much older then four right now as she tried to read a story from mostly pictures alone.

"Well don't worry, I'm sure that the mystery gang will- " DING. I looked at the door then back at Lissy. "I bet that that will be Auntie Lissa and Uncle Christian," I said and watched her run over to the tree to get her gift.

But when I opened the door it wasn't Lissa and Christian. But Sydney and Adrian.

"Merry Christmas cradle filler," Adrian said proudly using his new nick name for me, he had been calling me that ever since he found out that Rose was pregnant. I suppose that the name could of been worse, but I didn't tell him that or he would make it his personal mission to find one that was.

"Hello Adrian, Sydney," I said smiling at her and the toddler on her hip. Little Jason was only two but he was just as much trouble, if not more, then the other two kids combined.

"Thank you for having us over Dimitri," Sydney said smiling back. I moved out of the way and let them in.

"Rose, Adrian and Sydney are here," I called up to her.

"Hey Jason," Lissy said walking over to the group that had just walked in the door.

"Issy!" Jason said not able to get Lissy's name right just yet.

"How's mini me doing?" Lissa asked as she and Christian walked in the door with Alexander beside there side. Lissa smiled down at her godchild.

"Getting hungrier by the day," I said with a smile.

"No surprises there. But I AM surprised that she hasn't eaten you out of house and home by now, especially now that she's pregnant again. I don't know how you cope," Christian said waiting for Rose to come downstairs so he could torment her in person.

"I heard that!" Rose called as she slowly came down the stairs.

"Woah! Easy there on the walking Rose! You could cause an earthquake with how heavy you've gotten," Christian said thinking that he was safe from Rose hitting him when she was so far away and unable to move fast. But Lissa had Rose's back and elbowed Christian in the ribs.

"Be nice or I swear we won't have any more kids," Lissa threatened. I knew it was a bluff but Christian's eyes widened and he kept silent.

"Well what are we all doing standing in the doorway for? Don't these kids have some presents to open?" Rose said loudly and everyone laughed and moved in to the lounge room.

Lissy gave Alex the bracelet and they both promised to never take it off.

Alex got Lissy a Where's Wally (that's what we call it in Australia) book and they both sat down on the floor determined to find where he was hidden.

Rose and I got Christian cooking stuff and Lissa some pink lipgloss (I don't know what the big deal about it was, but both Rose and Lissa absolutely loved the stuff).

Christian and Lissa got me a gift card for the book store and Rose some Belgium chocolates.

Adrian got Rose some wireless headphones that connected to the TV so she could listen to a movie or something when she was busy feeding or looking after the kids.

"Not the best parenting I know, but when the kid just won't stop screaming, sometimes you just need a little break," Adrian said with a smile and Sydney hit him.

"You had better not have use that on Jason!" she demanded.

"Only a few times when he was over tired and just wouldn't sleep no matter what we tried!" Adrian confessed and looked worried that Sydney would hit him again.

Sydney gave Rose an anti- stress bath kit that she had made up herself which I knew would come in handy after the baby was born. And we gave Jason a few DVDs that Lissy loved and that he might like too.

Then I gave Rose a pair of pearl earrings that had belonged to my great grandmother.

"Comrade," she breathed out when she saw them. "B...but I thought that we agreed not to give each other presents this year. I...I don't have anything for you," she said looking up at me with big eyes. I just smiled and kissed her.

"You have already given me more than I could ever possibly dream," I said and held her in my arms. I felt Comrade going crazy in her stomach and figured that he liked the gift too.

"Ok who wants lunch?" I asked and got up off the couch.

"I doooooo," Rose cried as she tried to get up and failed.

"Rose!" I cried and was by her side in a heartbeat.

"I...I'm ok," she panted, but she didn't sound ok.

"Huhhh Rose?" Christian said awkwardly. "I don't know how to tell you this but..."

"Then I will. Rose your water broke, you're having the baby," Sydney said in a calm voice.

"We need to get you to the hospital," I said and started moving.

Five hours later and it was all over. We had gotten to the hospital just in time and I held Rose's hand as she brought our son into the world. The moment that I saw him I was in love. I knew that, just as Lissy had taken after Rose, that Comrade was taking after me. I held him in my arms for the first time and I swear that it felt just as amazing as the first time that I had held Lissy.

"He's perfect," I said and looked over at Rose. She was lying in bed looking extremely tired but happy. "And he's all ours."

"Well then I guess I was wrong," Rose said and I looked over at her in confusion.

"Wrong about what?"

"I guess I did have something to give you for a Christmas present after all. Merry Christmas Comrade," Rose said and smiled at me.

"Merry Christmas Roza," This was by far the best Christmas ever!

And a very merry Christmas to all of you:)