We stayed at the ball until the servers began cleaning everything up and Cal and I were the only two still spinning around the dancefloor. We got strange looks from the people on the council, but they were the ones that said we should give the people a good show, so that's what we are doing. I was elated, on cloud nine and more just being in his arms.

I'd kicked off my shoes hours ago and when the last plate was cleared and they began turning out all of the lights I thought we'd have to leave, but Calvin had other ideas.

"Leave this one lit." He'd called out when a man came to put out the candles on the chandelier over the dancefloor. The man bowed his head to Calvin and exited the room, leaving us all alone in the cleared out ballroom. Calvin took my hand, kissing it again before he spun me around again, my dress fanning out around me and my hair swirling around my shoulders. I felt carefree and light as a feather. The light happy song played out and I was out of breath when he released me and gave me a look. "Don't dare move." He whispered.

"Never." I smiled.

He disappeared into a back room and when he came back a nice slow romantic song began to play out over the speakers and he walked to me slowly, stopping to bow to me before offering me his hand. "May I have this dance?" He asked, his charm on high.

I curtsied to him and took his hand, and then gasped when he yanked me over, pressing our bodies close together. He put his hands on my hips and lifted me slightly, placing my bare feet on top of his shoes as he began to waltz us around the dancefloor in the lingering candlelight. I leaned my head against his shoulder and breathed him in. "I missed you." I sighed and he stopped moving.

I glanced up at him and his eyes were watching mine carefully as he snaked his hand up from my waist to the side of my neck. "I missed you." He breathed, leaning down slowly. I closed my eyes and parted my lips, expectant, but instead he sighed, brushing his fingers across my lips. "Later." He whispered and I opened my eyes in time to see him turn towards the large double doors as they opened and Octavia rushed in, already changed into a much more casual outfit, her hair unbraided and wavy around her shoulders.

"Sorry to interrupt," She grinned as she came to me. "I've got a call for you."

She passed me the phone and I couldn't stop from smiling. "Hello?" I said happily.

"Momma!" Rose's warm voice filled my ear. Octavia bowed her head to us and excused herself. "What are you doing?" Rose asked.

Calvin sat down on the marbled floor and tugged my wrist, pulling me down to sit in his lap. "I was just dancing." I told her and I could hear her smile in her giggle.

"But you don't know how to dance." She laughed and Calvin chuckled beneath me.

"That's not true at all, missy." I protested. "I'm a great dancer."

Rose laughed a little more. "Ok, momma." She said then she paused just a second. "Pigheaded." She giggled and Calvin widened his eyes at me.

I mouthed 'Pedro' to him and he nodded with a wide smile in understanding. "What are you doing beautiful?" I asked her.

"Petting my puppy." She said happily. "I named him Prince."

"Prince?" I repeated her.

"Yep." She said quickly. "I love Prince."

I smiled, shaking my head. "What does Prince look like?"

"He's brown, but he has one white foot and one white ear." She told me. "Papa Pedro said he was goofy looking, but I think he's cute."

"I'm sure that he is very cute." I told her, already dreading having to start puppy training a dog when she and I are back together. I heard her yawn loudly into the phone and I pictured her sleepy eyes in my mind, wishing I could brush her hair out before bed like she loved so much. "Are you sleepy, baby?"

"Yeah." She said softly. "I've been very busy." She said like she was an adult who has just finished working a 40 hour week and did the laundry too.

"I have heard that." I told her. "Are you still having a lot of fun?"

"Yeah." She said. "Papa Pedro bought me a lot of new toys." She said, her energy coming back a little. "I got a pretty fairy Barbie that can fly!"

"Wow!" I said. "That's so cool, I can't wait to see it."

"I miss you, momma."

"I miss you, angel." I sighed. "So much, and I love you up to the sky the moon the sun and the stars."

"Love you to the sky, moon, sun, and stars." She repeated. "I've got to go to sleep now."

"Alright, honey, sweet dreams."

"Bye, Momma."

The line went dead and I handed the phone over to Calvin, some of the buzz of my perfect night deflating in me.

"She sounds smart." Calvin whispered, pulling me back to the present. "Like her mom."

I smiled at his compliment, but then I leaned into his chest, letting him hold me closer. "I miss her so much it hurts." I told him. "Even knowing she's having fun, it is still hard to not be near her."

"I know what you mean." Calvin whispered and I gazed up at him as he sighed. "What's she like, Rachel?"

I sat up and held his face in my hands. "She is very bright, and tough as nails, and funny, my god, that kid is funny. She has such a big heart, and I sometimes look at her and have to ask myself what on earth I could have done in my life to have deserved such a perfect little girl. She doesn't have a mean bone in her body, but at the same time she can be a little sensitive. Sometimes she is shy, but after she warms up she opens up more."

"What does she like to do?" He asked, the genuine curiosity about her warming my heart.

I shook my head smiling. "Everything." I sighed. "She is always excited to do anything. She loves school, reading, playing with dolls, she loves swinging at the park, and movies. She has a very extensive collection of movies."

Calvin smiled, pulling one of my hands into his and rubbing the top of it with his fingers. "How does she eat?"

"Hates Brussel sprouts." I said, making a face.

Calvin chuckled lightly. "Are you sure she hates them, and not just you?" He quipped and I smacked his arm lightly.

"You hush." I scolded him. "She doesn't like them, but literally anything else she is good with. She loves to snack on humus and veggie chips, but she also loves pizza. She is a pretty well rounded eater, always has been."

Calvin grabbed my hand back, putting it back on the side of his face and leaning into it. "What's her favorite color?"

"That would depend on when you ask her." I told him. "She goes back and forth between yellow, purple, and pink."

Calvin widened his eyes and brought a hand up to his chest and faked shock and horror. "Not pink!" He exclaimed. "Does she not know how much her mother detests the color?" He laughed, teasing me about the first time we talked and I had a crying fit about my pink room. His smile faded after a moment and he looked at me more seriously. "I'm so proud of you, Rachel."

"Thank you." I nodded.

"I mean it, you've done such an amazing job with her, and I hope to meet her one day." He sighed.

"I want that." I told him and he looked at me carefully, like he wasn't sure if I did or not. "I want you to know her, and her to know you." I said honestly. "When she is old enough to understand I want her to know the full truth. I want her to know that you are her father." Calvin ducked his face slightly so that I couldn't see him well, but I repositioned in his lap and leaned down to look into his guarded eyes that were trying to hold back tears. "She'll love you." I whispered to him. "Just like I do."

He smiled at me, sadness still hanging over him, but he was trying to push through it. "I hope to deserve the love of you both." He said. "My first priority right now is to keep her safe, and get you out of here."

"I know that." I told him. "I know you'll be successful too."

"I hope you're right." He sighed. "But, I honestly don't know what to do. Not anymore." He added.

"You'll do what you have to do, and I'll do what I have to do." I told him.

Calvin hugged me to him. "God, I have missed you." He sighed into my hair. "How different my life could have been had I let you stay here."

I leaned back to look him in the eyes. "Calvin." I sighed his name. "I know I've spent the last five years trying to be angry with you, but in all honesty, I know that it was right. I needed to leave here, and Rose needed to be raised elsewhere. I was just angry about the way you went about it." I admitted. "You did do the right thing, just the wrong way."

"How would you have wanted it?" He asked softly.

I shrugged my shoulders. "I would have said I wanted to stay with you, and called my mother and seen her, letting her know I'm alive, but I would have stayed here, at least until I found out I was pregnant." I told him. "I would have wanted to leave then, but I would have wanted to keep you in my life, and in hers."

Calvin nodded his head and then he shot his eyes up to the doors again before they opened, the same man from earlier checking to see if we were still in here. "Come on in." He called to him. "We were just leaving." He helped me from the floor and ran to grab my shoes for me before taking my hand in his. "Let's continue this conversation in a more private place." He whispered to me and I nodded my head. When we got onto the elevator Calvin brushed my hair back over my shoulders and kissed the tops of them gently. "Have I told you tonight how beautiful you are?" He whispered against my skin, sending little chills across my skin.

"Only about ten thousand times." I smiled.

He was suddenly standing upright, his hand cupping my chin and tilting it back. "That's not nearly enough times." He breathed, leaning down to press his lips to mine then pulling back slightly. "Beautiful." He muttered, the lifted my hand, kissing it too. "Beautiful." Then he tilted my head to one side, my hair falling away from my neck and he pressed his lips to the side of it. "Beautiful." Then he tilted my head back, arching my neck and kissed the hollow of my neck. "Beautiful." The elevators stopped and I finally remembered to breathe as the doors slid open, blowing welcomed cool air into my face. "Come on." Calvin whispered, and pulling me to his suite.

We passed the guards and he led me over to his couch, plopping down and tugging me to sit closely beside him. I fluffed up the bottom of my dress and pushed it back so that I could sit on the couch with my feet up beside me. "Where were we?" I asked, my mind in two places- the conversation in the ballroom, and his lips on my skin.

Calvin pulled my hand into his lap and looked at me hard in the eye. "I refuse to make the same mistakes I did last time, Rachel." He said firmly. "This won't be like the last time you were here. I will never lie to you again, and I will never make decisions for you, or assume I know what you want, unless it is about food, in which case I am sure that you will always want it." He smiled to himself. "I mean it though, total transparency. I need to know what you want, and I will make it happen."

My heart was fluttering around in my chest. "Thank you, Calvin."

"So I am just going to ask you," He said carefully. "What do we do about this competition?" He sighed. "There aren't many options."

"I know." I sighed, looking down at my hand in his, wishing it was just as easy as that.

"Do you want to be queen?"

"No." I answered easily and he nodded his head, like he expected that answer.

"You would never want to bring Rose here, right?"

"Right."

He nodded again. "Do you know what that means?"

"I have to lose the competition." I answered him after a couple of seconds. "And you have to marry Lexton." Just the words on my lips stung and left a bad taste in my mouth, but I knew that was the only option. "I know." I sighed, holding his hand tighter. "Rose can't grow up here, locked up, always in danger. And I can't be away from her. You'll do what you have to do."

Calvin reached out his hands, holding my face. "I think that is the right decision." He nodded. "I grew up here, and I hated it. I want Rose and you to have a normal life, or as normal as it can be. You know that I love you, I don't want to do this at all."

I nodded my head to him. "I believe you."

"You should know, since you left, Lexton and I never-." I held my hand to his mouth.

"I don't want to talk about her." I said. "I want to enjoy every second I have with you."

"Are you sure?" He asked, seeming surprised this time.

"I'm positive." I smiled. "I know that you love me."

"I do." He sighed. "In your perfect world, what would happen this time?"

I chewed my lip, thinking hard. Can I have a life with no Calvin? Again? "I don't know." I sighed. "We have some time to figure it out." I pointed out.

"We do." He agreed. "Whatever you want to do, that's what I'll do."

I felt relieved, and comfortable here for one of the first times. Having him promise to tell me the truth, and let me be in control of my own life gave me an ease to the stress I usually feel here. "So when I lose, the council will clear me to leave, and then what?" I asked. "I mean, when do I get Rose back?"

Calvin furrowed his brows, but he held my eye contact. "I wish I could give you a definite answer to that. It all depends. Because no one is supposed to know about her, forming a unit to go after the rebels was hard, and I only found ten that I trusted enough with the information." He explained. "The thing is, we know that the rebels are stationed out of Britain, but we don't have a clue yet on their numbers. They could be a very small faction, or there could be thousands in on it. She won't be safe until I've hunted down all that know about her and they are dead. It could take some time, but I swear I will find a way to get you to at least visit with her until she is in the clear. Just try not to worry about it. If anything changes I will be sure to let you know first. She's totally safe right now with Pedro." It was more than I wanted to think about. My sweet little tiny girl being hunted by vampires. I closed my eyes tightly trying to not focus on that, and only picturing her in her nice little spot with Pedro and the puppy Prince, happy and having a great time. "She's tough like her momma." He whispered, brushing his thumb over my cheekbone. "I will protect you both."

I put my hand on top of his on my cheek. "I trust you." I sighed. I looked into his smoky blue eyes and then smiled at his lopsided bowtie, reaching out to take it off for him.

Calvin leaned forward and kissed me again. "You'll let me know when you've come to decision on what your long term plan is?" He asked.

"Why do you sound like I won't see you for a while?" I asked, raising my eyebrows and he smiled guiltily.

"Because you won't." He sighed. "I'm not happy about it either." He huffed. "I'm going to be in meetings for the next forty eight hours before the competition begins...meetings that you no longer have to attend since the council plans to replace you anyway." He shrugged then leaned in again. "Too bad they don't know that you, Rachel Montgomery, are irreplaceable."

I rolled my eyes at him. "I forgot how cheesy you could be." I giggled.

"I didn't forget anything." He said seriously.

"Calvin, you asked me in my perfect world what would happen, but I wonder what your answer to that would be." I said, cozying up to him.

He ran his hands through my hair and furrowed his brows in thought. "I'd like to have some part of you." He said finally. "Even if you can't be here, and I can't have you, I can't not have you at all like before. I'd at least want to write you letters and you write me too. Then you said when Rose is older..."

"Yes." I nodded.

He looked confused. "Yes?" He repeated.

I nodded again. "Yes, I want that too." I said. "I can't go back to wondering if you ever really did exist or if I'd just made you up in my head. I want something, and if you're willing to do that, then yes, I want that too. That's my decision. Also, as soon as Rose is old enough to explain things to her, I want you to be a part of her life, and in turn, a part of mine."

"You mean it?" He asked carefully.

Instead of answering with words, I wrapped my hand around the back of his head and pulled him over, laying back on the couch as I pulled him to me. The weight of his body on mine was sinfully perfect. I'd missed him. All of him. I pulled his mouth to mine greedily, pulling at his shirt and tangling my hands in his hair as he kissed me. I felt his cold hands all over me, leaving icy trails and chill bumps in their wake, but it felt good against my heated flesh.

Suddenly he was across the room and I was panting on my back on the couch. I sat up on my shoulders and laughed when I saw him standing with his hands on my knees and his eyes black as he tried to get his breathing under control.

I got up, adjusting the top of my dress and went to him, pulling his hands up, and looking into his jarringly black eyes. I put his hands on the sides of my face. "Breathe." I whispered and his eyes faded back to normal.

"I'm sorry." He smiled. "It's been a long while."

I nodded my head, then inched up on my toes to kiss him sweetly, not as insistently. "It's ok." I whispered.

"I should walk you to your room." He sighed.

"Ok." I whispered and he took my hand, taking me and my mess of a dress into the hallway, over to my door. I put my back against the door, still breathing a little heavily. He leaned down to kiss me one last time, but I reached out to hold him in place longer, taking more from him greedily. While he was distracted by the kiss, I slid one hand down to the knob of my door and went to turn it, but his hand caught me, and he pulled it away. I huffed that I'd been caught, but he put his hands on the door behind me on either side of my head.

"I told you why I can't go in there." He sighed, his need written all over his strained face from holding back. "I can't control myself."

"I don't want you to." I whispered.

"Rachel." He sighed my name, leaning further into me.

I put my hands on his chest, playing with one of his buttons. "You said you couldn't come in here unless I was yours." I sighed. "Calvin, I'm yours."

His mouth was on mine instantly and he held my face with one hand, and pushed open the door with the other, slamming it shut behind us.