DPOV
I didn't even care that Kirova had 'reduced me to 'child-minding''. I loved kids and a certain Miss Jenée Hathaway was going to be a delight to look after. As long as her mother played the game right. Which I'd learned a while ago almost never happens.

So, I waited outside the counsellor's office as Rose got her new timetable. Alberta was beside me and Jenée was asleep again. I was seriously sad about having up-ended her life. Her body-clock and day/ night training was going to be reversed and who knows what else.
"You do know Rose wouldn't hide the identity of Jenée's father without good cause, don't you?" asked Petrov.
I nodded. "It's just, that makes at least two secrets she's hiding."
"Give her time, Belikov. In case you didn't register, Everyone here- except her daughter and the Princess- is on her bad side."
I looked at said daughter and sighed. "Someone so young shouldn't be without a father."
"I never said she would be," slyly interrupted Rose as she strode up to me. She reached out to take Jenée. I shook my head but handed over the baby anyway. "I simply said no one can know." She nodded at Petrov before continuing on to wake her daughter. What was that distinction about? You would think I'd know her well enough to know, but no, she's changed more than the others realised.
"Momma!"
"Sorry, Jenée, but Momma's got to get her Princess adjusted to her new timetable. And that means keeping you up all night and asleep all day."
"Wha?" she asked as she rubbed sleep from her eyes. Far too cute for her own good. "Neber mind."

Alberta shot me a look as we walked behind Rose and Jenée, making sure they went to the gym. We fell back a bit to give them more privacy. "You know who'd make a good father for Jenée?"
"Her real one?"
"One who looks after her as you do. One who looks after her mother as you do. More importantly, one whom she trusts as much as she trusts you."
I shifted my gaze momentarily as Rose and Jenée entered the gym. What was with women and their riddles today? Alberta left me to trail in after Rose.

"Mr 'Mitri!" Jenée squealed adorably as she turned to face me, releasing Rose's leg in the process.
"Miss Jenée," I returned with a tiny smile when I lowered to her hight to reassure her I was the trustworthy person she felt I was.
"Oh, go on, Jen," Rose laughed after turning to find a pouting daughter. "I hope you can tame her curls, Comrade, 'cause I sure can't."
Jenée bounded into my arms with the hair tie I was being asked to use located on her wrist. "'Mitri." She hugged my neck tightly before I rose with her in my hold and passed Rose on the way to the observation deck.
"Be-have," I warned.
"Tell that to her curls while I kick some serious dhampir butt." Oh, good god. Did she never know how she tended to put sick images in the minds of the males around her even when she didn't try? Oh, shut up, Belikov! Her child's in your care- for heaven's sake, pull your head out of the gutter!
"Your Mother's a worry," I told Jenée in Russian. I felt Rose's glare as I walked up the steps... she burned a hole in my butt with her eyes. Hah. Serves her right for leaving.