DPOV
"Dimitri..." Rose started tentatively after I'd wheeled her into the garden and parked her next to me on a park-type bench. I had a bad feeling about this if Roza was this scared.
"Roza?"
Fear then resolution crossed her face. "You wanted to know why I ran, didn't you?" she restarted more confidently. "Do you still want to? Could you ever forgive me for being a coward?" Her eyes pleaded with me.
"Yes, I did. And yes, I do. And yes, I could. You've been gone too long."
Rose sighed then met my eyes meaningfully. "That's exactly what Johanna will say about you. I left when I realised I was pregnant with her. I ran because I was scared, Dimitri. I was scared and I thought I was protecting you and her-"
The pieces fell together. "You kept my daughter a secret! From me, from her. I would've at least thought you'd confide in Lissa, for heaven's sake."

Rose flinched and I realised I'd been yelling at her. Something I'd never done before, and I hated-no, I despised- myself for it. But then I was reminded just by looking at her: her taking my baby away had resulted in me being unable to protect them, landed my baby in hospital fighting for life.

"You'd've ended up in jail for god-knows how long anyway then had no career if I'd told you!" Rose cried. "And how would society have reacted, huh! What then, Dimitri! I'd probably have ended up jobless too. How would that have affected her? How would she handle being called names because of who she is and who her parents are? Would we have been able to afford her if you'd been in jail and me jobless? Or even if you weren't in jail? You have no clue how hard it was to simply pack up, drop out and walk away.
"I haven't even used the bond since I first realised. I haven't felt anything from it besides its existence."
I numbed in shock as tears fell down her face. I had no clue how to respond.
"For f**** sake, Dimitri! Say something, would you. Yell at me and tell me I'm no better than the child you met here a decade ago and walk away. Or tell me I damn-well make sense for once. Just stop being so unresponsive! I'm baring my deepest insecurity and secret right now, so at least have the decency to-"
"Shut up," I muttered and kissed her before I could rethink it. "I understand. Just, and I hate it, not you for hiding but the fact you had to. I also hate that I understand why I've had a secret love child out in the world I wasn't allowed to know about."
"Shut up!" Rose copied my earlier tone and kissed me. "I love you, so just, shut up." She kissed me again, and boy! Was it a kiss.
"I love you too, Roza. You've had me scared stupid ever since you ran." Taking my daughter with you.

Janine'sPOV
"Yes, Your Majesty?" I asked her when she called me in urgently.
"Rose has been found." I actually let out a sigh of relief. "She's in Our Lady's hospital in Portland with serious injuries. Guardian Belikov was contacted and he called me when he arrived. I haven't been updated in over 36 hours. It would be appreciated if you could be there, Guardian Hathaway."
Worry over my daughter meant I willingly and desperately followed orders.

"Hi, I'm Janine Hathaway, my daughter- Rosemarie- has been admitted," I told the receptionist.
She nodded. "I believe she's currently in room 329." I nodded and took off for the room... that happened to be in the paediatric wing.

"Mommy?" I heard a tiny, child's voice ask as I reached the door.
"Johanna, this is Dimitri Belikov, baby girl." So Vasilisa had been right about Belikov being contacted. My curiosity was as short lived as the child's within the room. "Your father." I took a step back in disbelief. It was biologically impossible, not to mention Belikov just wouldn't sleep with my child, his student, not with his morals, not with a clean conscience.
"Hi Zhannochka." I heard the would be nervous smile.
"You're who I heard!" the little voice squealed. "And what's a Zhan- ?"
I heard Belikov laugh. An odd sound, for such a stoic guardian and quiet, private man. "It's Zhannochka. Your Russian baby nickname, baby girl."
I sat in a chair in the hallway, not daring to interrupt the family bonding going on.

Sighing, I took my phone out and found my way to the nearby courtyard, punching in the number I hadn't used since he suspended the investigation six years ago.
"Before you Janie me, Ibrahim Mazur," I warned when he picked up, before he could speak. "Rose has been found. Alive."
I heard him let out his own sigh of relief. I hated to burst his bubble.
"She's in hospital right now, Abe."
"Where? Why? How is she?" he fired questions at me.
"Our Lady's in Portland, Oregon. I don't know why and I don't know how she is, I haven't seen her yet. She's currently busy with Belikov." The thought of him and a seventeen year old Rose getting intimate made me shiver and want to be sick.
"Why Belikov," he demanded.
"Apparently he's down as her next of kin from what I can gather."
I heard a growl and a fist slam down on something heavy. "Why would she do that!" he cried in anger and heartbreak. "She's supposed to have at least you down as next of kin! Why on f****** earth would she put Belikov down as family!"
"Ibrahim," I reprimanded. "Just get here would you! She needs to know her parents are here for her when she most needs us. We were absent too long before she flipped the table over on us."
"Fine," he grumbled. "You're both lucky I'm already in the States. Oregon no less," he mumbled. "And I swear to god, Belikov is going to pay for replacing us as next of kin in her mind even though she's been as absent from his life as ours." Just you wait and find out why. I don't blame her, but I can't say I was on her side completely. I wanted nothing more than to get more than a few simple good punches on him for impregnating his student, his underage dhampir student.
"Don't break his kneecaps, Mazur. Your daughter may just return the favour and I won't stop her... actually, if you're not careful I'll be on both sides of the equation," I threatened. Okay, maybe I was more on her side than I wanted to admit to myself.

Half an hour later he met me at reception and I again was directed to the paediatric room. She was still in with her very own daughter.
"Janine?" asked a worried Abe as he realised what ward we were in. "She's no longer a child. Why are we in the paediatric ward?"
"You'll see," I said evasively. "It's not my place to tell. She doesn't even know I'm here, I've only overheard a little bit." I checked the room number. "Right, here we go," I mumbled and knocked on the door.