New Beginnings

Chapter 1

I woke up the next morning feeling completely . . . well blissful really and just a little sore. I turned over to kiss Dimitri good morning, but he wasn't there. I propped my head up on my hand and saw a folded piece of paper. I picked it up and opened it. It was a letter from Dimitri:

Dear, Roza

I've been called to accompany Christian to a meeting. It might be awhile before I get to see that beautiful face of yours again, but don't worry I'll be there later to tell you every second just how beautiful you are. Until then keep this small token of my love to remind you of me.

Happily Forever Yours,

Dimitri

Next to the pillow was a single blood red rose, my favorite.

"He's so romantic." I sighed like a love sick teenager from of those movies. Don't judge me. My chest started to tighten with deep emotion. I knew I was just acting like a hopeless romantic but I didn't care. My face stretched into a smile so big that my cheeks began to hurt. I jumped out of the bed, but then stumbled over a bit with a little head rush. But then that head rush quickly rushed to my stomach. I nearly tripped running to the toilet to empty the contents of my stomach.

"Well there goes last nights dinner." I said while wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. I closed my eyes for a minute to pull myself together. I don't know how long I sat there, but someone came and gently nudged me on the shoulder.

"Rose are you alright?" I'd known that voice long enough to notice it anywhere. It was Lissa.

I picked up my head to see her staring at me wide eyed with worry. I wiped my mouth again and tried to stand up. When I was on my feet I suddenly got this weird craving for peanut butter and strawberry ice cream with chicken soup.

"I'm OK, it's probably something I ate last night, that's all. I'm actually kinda hungry now." I said shrugging my shoulders trying not to think too hard about what happened. People get sick all the time and I'm not and different. Right? Lissa just looked at me with a mixture of relief, confusion, and worry. Then she started shaking her head smiling.

"I'm not surprised, you barfed like half of your guts out." She started laughing.

I flushed and looked at the toilet a little more confused. This hasn't happening to me before. Is there something wrong me? I pushed the thought away for now and went to go take a shower and get dressed. After I was finished I went into the living room to get my phone. Lissa was sitting on the couch watching tv while waiting for me. When she heard me come in she looked up at me with a weird look on her face.

"What are you staring at?" She continued to look at me but then her eyes trailed lower and this time her facial features had morphed into downright confusion.

"Your stomach is getting a little big. I think you should cut back on the sweets. There's also something strange going on with your aura." My aura? How am I supposed to respond to that? Still not know what to do I contemplated doing two of the things any women would do when question about there weight; shrug it off or get defensive. Me being the Rose Hathaway I did a little of both.

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with what I eat and I'm sure your just seeing things. Now come on, I'm starving." I took my phone off the charger and put it in my pocket. I headed for the door with Lissa behind me.

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We decided to eat at a restaurant in the mall on court grounds being that Lissa is the queen she can't go anywhere off court grounds without a whole slew of guards. We were sitting at a table outside when the waitress came to take our orders.

"Umm I'll have a Philly cheese stake sandwich with pickles, anchovies, and black olives, a smoothie with apples, pineapples, strawberries, cucumbers, lettuce and tomatoes, and peanut butter and strawberry ice cream. Oh and chicken soup." Lissa turned to me with a look of shock while the waitress just stared at me with disbelief.

"What?" Why are they looking at me like that? I kept turning my head between the two.

"Are you really going to eat all that?" She asked me skeptically.

"Umm yeah that's the plan. Why?" I said still kind of confused.

"Its just . . . well you don't even like half of the stuff you ordered."

"So, I like them now." By then the waitress had already left and was back with our food.

"Here's your food." She said staring at me again and then quickly scurried away. Lissa had a simple ham sandwich with a coffee. She was watching me stuff my face with food.

"Are you sure you're OK?" She asked me with a look of worry and confusion.

"Yeah. Never felt better." I said in between bite of my sandwich. Mmm it was so good! The look she was giving was really starting to bug me. A lot. I was shocked at the anger that just spurred up in me and quickly shook it off. She's my best friend and just worried about me.

Lissa was still watching me. It was like she was looking for something.

"What?" I finally insisted said. "Why do you keep looking at me like that?" I snapped. She stared at me shocked. It seemed to snap her out of her trance.

"Well mainly your aura. It's all distorted and split. Almost like you have two different ones. " She finally said with that look back on her face.

"And?" I still didn't know what she was getting at.

"You know your kind of eating a lot and stuff." She sounded like she was trying not to hurt my feelings. But for some reason what she said mad me burst into tears. It was really weird because in usually not the crying type. But here I was, crying.

"You think I'm fat, don't you?" I was bawling at this point. Lissa was obviously unprepared for this reaction because she was sitting there with an expression of complete and utter bafflement. I don't blame her it takes a lot to make The Rose Hathaway cry. But she recovered and tried to comfort me.

"No, no! I don't think your fat. Please, stop crying. I just think something might be wrong with you." Her comforting made me feel a little better.

"So what do you think is wrong with me?" I sniffled wiping the remainder of the tears from my face and started eating my soup. Lissa sat still for a moment, concentrating really hard. Then she finally spoke.

"Well if it's my best guess I'd say you're pregnant." I was so shocked that I nearly choked on my soup. I looked at her skeptically. I couldn't be pregnant that's impossible. Or is it?

"That can't be right. I can't be pregnant . Its not possible!" I said reasonably. Ok maybe not so reasonable. I was kinda frantic at this point. This was not possible.

"Well you have to acknowledge the facts, Rose. I mean, your throwing up, you've gotten this bizarre appetite, gaining weight, and your getting kind of moody these day." I looked over the facts in my head. After a minute I realized she was right. Which meant . . . Oh God. I might be pregnant.