RPOV
After a couple of bank and builders meetings and a week later, Dimitri and I were signing off on the five-hundred thousand dollar, upwards, project. I slid the document across the desk to Patrick with a smile and relieved sigh. Then came the first payment. We'd had it arranged that Patrick would take the payments and distribute them accordingly. I couldn't be sure if our trust in him was foolhardy but he was trying to get us on our feet as soon as possible.
That meant a huge deposit and a couple of advanced payments. As it turned out, the Dragomirs had a clause in their Will that said I was to inherit André's share, should he be unable to... meaning if he was killed first. Let me say this, that account was massive. I could pay for three houses and still have too much money to rebuild the Royal Court four times.
So, I started with the first advanced payment— a cheque for a good two and a half grand. The second advanced payment I transferred online. One of the bank meetings had been to allow me access to my inheritance and increase my online transfer limits. This transfer was an advance payment double, which totalled five thousand. I mean, I had the money, so why couldn't I use it to get my home ready sooner, not for my sake, but for Dimitri's and my child's.

"Hathaway!" exclaimed my boss, "You've got work to do!"
"I'm doing it, Croft!" I returned while watching the cement truck pour the mix into the layout that was to soon become the slab of my home.
His hands landed on my shoulders in an attempt to turn me away. I pulled out of his grasp and stepped aside. "Hathaway," warned Hans.
"Croft, I already told you, I'd be in later today."
"No, you didn't." He glared at the worksite in front of us. "And what the Hell is this about?"
I groaned and rubbed my baby bump with my right hand and used my left to support my back. I did only have eighteen weeks left, after all, and then I'd be holding my Belikov baby in my arms. I'm allowed to be in pain. "This 'hell'," I snapped, "is the foundation stone of the Belikov family home. Or did you not get the memo from the land office and Patrick?"
"I thought they'd mixed up Ivashkov and Belikov."
"Nope."
"You mean to tell me the luxurious two storey building they're erecting belongs to you and Belikov?"
I nodded. "Yup."
"How on god's green earth did you afford it?"
I smirked. "Connections, Croft; connections." I technically didn't need to work for the rest of my life. I mean, inheriting half the Dragomir fortune would do that to a girl. But still, I wanted to—and had the plans in place that once the build was finished half the remaining funds were going into a trust for the kids... well, just the baby we currently were cooking, so far. That way, we were still living on the normal guardian income and budgeting as every other guardian had to. I sighed. "I'll be at my desk in an hour and a half— at most."
Hans gave a gruff huff of annoyance and returned to running the guardian ranks worldwide.

I hated having a desk job. But Dimitri had already spilled to Hans that we were wanting up to five in quick succession. So Hans had, of course, decided I wasn't going to be trusted to be a stable bodyguard for anyone and had ignored and destroyed all requests for me. He'd even gone so far as telling me he wouldn't consider me for ward duty until all of my children, how ever many that ended up being, were in an Academy. That had pissed me off.
The only good thing about this desk job was that I had started before assignments had been released. Translation: extra money, extra early. Well, early. Dimitri wasn't letting me work overtime. Though he was fine with getting up and heading to work just six hours after we went to bed. It was madness.

But at least I always knew where and how he was. He hated being away from us for so long. Yet he was constantly calming himself by telling himself that it was going to get extra paid leave to help move in before Bubby was born. He trusted me to keep the build on track and builders in line. He refused to think about how easily I could wave a financial incentive at them to keep them working. My money intimidated him. It made him feel more inadequate, less able to provide for his family as he should.

"About time you made an appearance, Hathaway," called Guardian Tanner. His name rang a bell but I couldn't place it.
"Shut up, Mikhail! I'm a pregnant guardian building a house, cut me some slack."
"Tanner," warned Dimitri, brown eyes blazing. "Don't pester my Roza." God. Just shut up, Dimitri. Get back to work. The power and protectiveness pulsing through him made me want to take him on my desk right now.
"Comrade. Don't you have ward shift in two minutes? Plus, you're yet to see the foundation slab."
Dimitri whipped his head around and smiled at me. "Is it perfect?"
I grinned and nodded. "Of course. Now go," I murmured, "before I lose it at you."
One look in my eyes told him all he needed, to get the innuendo. He gulped and nodded. I got a chaste kiss on my lips before he left.

Before we knew it, Lissa was stealing Eddie and bunch of other guardians— including Meredith— and going off to Lehigh. Summer was over and Dimitri and I had been so preoccupied with baby prep and house building. And work, of course. Extra work to vainly attempt to recover building and baby costs. It wasn't until Christian joined us for every meal for a week did Dimitri and I realise how focused we'd become on our house and our baby. We welcomed his company, though it did get frustrating at times when the builders kept ringing up with last-second checks before adding this or installing that and buying this, that and the other thing. I just kept throwing  part-advance payments at them to shut them up and keep them working.

"Do you know how lonely it is now she's at Lehigh?" repeated Christian that dinner. The fifth in as many days. Ugh.
Guilt surged through me. I'd been playing happy family all week so only Christian had been around to remind me she was away. Well, that and her text updates in the middle of my nighttime. "Just say it," I snapped at him, knowing he wanted to get mad at me. "Just say I'm a self-obsessed pregnant bitch, Christian, and get it over with."
Genuine shock and compassion radiated from his eyes. "Rose... I wasn't going to say that. Yes, I'm jealous you've got Belikov with you, and yes I'm jealous you're in the process of starting a loving family with him and building a house while I'm left here with her off at a high-calibre university. But I'd never call you a self-obsessed pregnant bitch. You're busy and excited. And I get that. I get what it's like to look forward to having a kid," Christian took a shaky breath and blinked away wetness from his ice blue eyes, "Mom... Mom was pregnant just before they turned. Four months. She miscarried and it took its toll on them. I don't think Tasha knew— they weren't going to tell til six months. I'd never begrudge you and Dimitri focusing on your family because you both deserve to be happy and because I don't doubt, when the time comes, Lissa will be all baby focused and I won't get a word in about anything, let alone you. But it does get lonely with only Mia as the other nice one around, and even then she's busy with her private meetings."
I laughed. "Oh yeah, I've seen her in a few of them. She's a slave driver, that's for sure."
Christian smiled and nodded. "Just promise me, Rose, the next time Belikov kicks your ass out of the office you'll bring me with you to boss those builders around and go baby and grocery shopping with you."
I studied Christian carefully for a moment before smiling and agreeing. "Promise. But only because I hate going shopping alone and I suspect the builders are starting to resent taking orders from a pregnant guardian and her guardian boyfriend."
Christian laughed. "I bet."

"I think we've already lost the guest room," I groaned into Dimitri's shoulder when we went to bed a week later. Christian was practically living with us already. I never knew he could be such a clingy baby. "To Christian!"
Dimitri ran a hand through my hair, kissed my forehead, then laughed.
"It's not funny," I mumbled out my protest. I was too exhausted too put more effort into it.

I'd just hit the seven and a half month mark and was huge. I felt like a whale that was trapped in a house and making it bulge. At bare minimum I felt like I was looking that way. The disapproving stares I got around Court from the Moroi and guardians and the sympathetic gazes that Dimitri earned from the same aforementioned were really pissing me off now and making it that much harder to keep everything balanced and on-track. Even my maternity clothes felt uncomfortable, which only served to make me feel more miserable. To add to my list of grievances, Hans was about to put me on mat leave. He'd already tried four times in the last four weeks. You'd think he'd learned after the first one that all it would earn him was a hissy fit on my part. Childish and embarrassing once I'd calmed down, I know, but there was nothing else for it between pregnancy hormones and my hatred of being inactive.

"Oh Roza, you know he's going to be staying with Lissa when they're over."
"They're not staying in the same room, Comrade! Our child will not be exposed to their overactive sex life."
Dimitri chuckled his sexy chuckle and kissed my forehead again. "So, what? It's fine for Bub to be exposed to our baby-making, but not Lissa and Christian's? That makes a lot of sense, Roza."
"Go to sleep and shut up, Dimitri, or I'll never have a child of yours ever, ever again." I yawned.
"You'd never survive, babe. I know you too well," he murmured just before the dreamland pulled me under. Finally.

"Roza, stop throwing money at them," Dimitri requested again after I'd sent through another advanced payment to convince the builders and contractors to keep working weekends.
I groaned before snuggling into his side while watching our home come together from his office window. "Do you want it ready in time or not? We're pushing it for time as is."
"Of course I want it done in time, Roza, I just wish you would slow down on emptying our bank account."
I laughed. "Oh, Comrade, this will hardly leave a scratch on the surface. Besides, wouldn't you prefer to pay it off now? Before interest costs come into play?" We'd been offered a very generous deal by the bank here at Court: interest free repayments for the first three months. Why we even had a building loan I have no idea.
"Of course, Roza." It's just you feel intimidated. He felt even more inadequate and less worthy of me the more money I threw around. Especially considering Lissa was paying off her donation at the same time.
The only way I felt I could reassure him was by kissing him. And boy, was it a kiss! "I love you, Comrade. I only want the best for you and our family. You don't have anything to worry about. Got it?"
He nodded sheepishly. Mission accomplished.

Two weeks later, and feeling more and more like I was ready to burst with my expanding stomach, I was shaking hands with and thanking Patrick and the builders and contractors. They left and Dimitri supported my back while we inspected our home.
"It's perfect, Dimitri. Thank you so much." I smiled up at him. He couldn't agree more. He leant down and kissed me. It was a slow and tender kiss, full of love and meaning. He finally made peace with and was grateful for and humbled by me throwing my money around to push for this to be accomplished on time.
Once we pulled back to breathe he chuckled softly against my lips. "Guess what we have to do now?"
I grinned knowingly. "Furniture shopping."
His smile made me want to swoon. He was even hotter than ever with that happy, excited, SAPPY smile.

"I'm paying for delivery and installation, honey. No arguments. I'm not accepting you lifting a finger for the next month." Dimitri's determination to protect me and our baby from stress in the last four weeks before I was due. Ugh. I hated doing nothing. But I knew I was always too sore now to do anything. So, I let Dimitri get away with his plans. It wasn't like he could block me from his mind, so he knew he couldn't surprise me with his decorating plans, but he could try his best to not let me into our new home until he was done.
"Fine," I sighed, "but only because your child has clearly inherited your height and I can't do anything because I'm too huge."
Dimitri chuckled and smiled his heart-stopping full smile and shook his head ruefully and in amusement. I wasn't the only one at fault for Bub, babe. I rolled my eyes at his internal dialogue.