I woke up surrounded by a warmth I haven't felt in almost month. Strong arms were wrapped around my waist, holding be close to his chest. I yawned softly and snuggled closer to the inviting heat. It was still dark so I must be pretty early in the morning. Soft snoring and gental purrs filled the silence of the room. I layed on the bed completely content at the moment.

Untill I felt my stomach lurch.

My eyes shot open when I realsied I forgot about one little problem when staying whith Ivan. My morning sickness. As quickly and quietly as I can I untangled my self from his arms and darted out the room. He had his own privet bathroom attached to his room, but I didn't want to risk waking him. So I whent to a bathroom just down the hall. I locked the door and dove for the toilet.

I made it just in the nick of time too. Seconds after I opened the lid everything from last nights dinner made a reappearance. It lasted for about seven minutes before I threw up everything in my stomach. I then sat next to the toilet trying to catch my breath. From the other side of the door I hear footsteps, then a knock.

"Fredka. Are you alright? What is going on?" He asked through the door.

"I'm fine. I think I ate something funny though." I said trying to hide the real reason why I threw up.

"Really? You ate something funny?" He siad with skepticism in his voice.

I walked to the door and opened it up. "Hey. I'm not throwing up on purpose. I'm not like that anymore. That is behind me. I know I tricked you before, but please believe me when I say I am not doing this on purpose."

He looked into my eyes trying to see if I was lying. I held his gaze completely open to him. After a minute he relised I wasn't lying. He gave me a small smile and pulled me into a hug. "Maybe it's all the hot sauce you're eating?"

"Don't you dare blame this on my hot sauce." I playfully yelled at him. He snorted in response. "What time is it anyways?"

"It is seven thirty." He told me.

I looked out the window at the still dark sky. "No way it's already seven thirty. It's way too dark for this late in the morning." I said in disbelief.

"Sunlight does not last long in Russia during the winter. Sun rise won't be untill nearly ten." He told me with a small chuckle.

"Seriously, where'd you put the sun?" I dead panned.

"I am telling you the truth. How did you not notice yesterday?" He asked me confused.

"I was too focused on seeing you again." I told him with a blush. "Dude. Your people must get winter depression bad." I said with a wince. "They have no sunlight to make them happy."

"We will survive." He said pulling me out of the bathroom. "How about we make some breakfast to replace what you just lost?"

"Sounds awesome!" I said excitedly as my stomach rumbled. "I'll get my hot sauce!"

"Nyte!"

We made a simple breakfast of sausage and toast. Well, he had a simple breakfast of just sausage and toast. I had the sausage, toast, eggs, some apple, and my hot sauce, all wrapped up in several large pancakes I made. It has been by far the least disturbing mess of things I have put together, but it still earned me a look from Ivan. Not that I cared, this tasted like heaven to me.

After we ate he brought me to this large room at one end of his house. It was painted white with bright yellow trim. The floor was a light brown carpet. Large, beige couches faced each window. A small brown coffee table stood in front of each. Their were large windows on all three sides that gave you a grate view of the surrounding forest. It also provided beautiful view of the sunrise I soon learned. The way the morning light shined on the trees, making the snow sparkle like diamonds was breath taking. We sat in silence for a good hour as we watched the sky turn from black to blue.

The cats slept peacefully on the cushion next to us. The kittens played on the floor around our feet. The only one not playing was my little runt Snow Pea. She was instead curled up on my lap, sleeping. I absentmindely stroked her tiny, fluffy body as I watched the sunrise.

Ivans arms were wrapped around my waist in a tight hug while I sat on his lap. My head rested on his shoulder. A happy smile stayed on my face the entire time. I sighed happily and looked up at him. I was surprised to see him looking down at me with a soft, fond smile on his face.

"What?" I asked him.

"You're so beautiful." He said just above a whisper. A slight blush crossed my cheeks and I turned away. He gently took my chin in his hand and tilted it so he could look at me. "You have no need to be shy with moya lyubov. Do not hide."

"How can I not when you say things like that to me?" I asked with a small giggle.

He answered me with a kiss. It was gentle, soft and sweet. I closed my eyes, kissing back happily. We were content to keep the kiss just how it was.

After a while we broke apart. We stared into each others eyes, bright sapphier blue on deep amthest. I could see all the love he had for me in his eyes. All his joy and passion. I could see his intensity and ferocity too. His strong spirit, his determination, all his inner strength. Every thing that made him the nation, the man, he is today. Everything about him that I fell in love with.

And I was going to have his baby.

The though brought another blush and smile to may face. I was going to have his child. I was going to have a mini him. A mini us. Warmth filled my chest, starting at my heart. A bright smile stretched across my face.

"Why are you smiling?" He chuckled.

"Just thinking about how much I love you." I purred as I pressed a kiss to his cheek.

He snorted and got off the couch after moving me from his lap. "I have surprise for you today."

"Oh? What is it?" I asked with a tilt of my head.

"If I tell you it would no longer be a surprise." He told me with a teasing tone.

"Yea, yea." I huffed as I moved the tiny kitten off my lap. She gave a small mew on protest, but quoted down when I placed her next to her mom.

"But I will tell you this; it has to do with outside." He said leaving the room.

"Outside?" I asked surprised as I followed him. "But it's too cold outside."

"Not if I bundle you up." He grinned.

About an hour latter, after we've had something to eat, I stood pouting outside the front door wrapped in enough clothing to cover an army. Despite the amount of warm clothing I had on I was still cold, I was not happy, and I made sure he knew it. However, he found amusement in my pouting at being out in the cold. He chuckled and I shot him a glare that could put the icicles to shame.

"You will enjoy this, I promise." He said shifting the bag on his shoulder.

"I better." I said still pouting as I snuggled into the scarf wrapped around my neck. "Lets get moving before your country's weather freezes us in place."

"Da. We only have about four hours of daylight. Then the temperature will really start to drop." He told me as we headed in one direction. He picked up an axe that was laying on a wooden stump.

"Really? Only four hours? That means you only have six hours of sunlight in the winter." I said amazed. "It must have been hard for your people in the winter here."

"Da, but my people are strong. They always manage to pull through." He stated proudly, a smile on his face.

Then a some what worried look came over my face. "What will happen if we don't get back before dark?" I asked him as I fallowed him through a path through the forest.

"Do not worry. I know the way back. It will only become really cold." He reassured me as he pulled me into a hug.

"So, how far away is wherever you're taking me?"

"Hmm, about half an hours walk." He said thoughtfully. I groaned loudly, but continued to fallow the gleeful nation.

We walked through the snowy forest somewhat in silence. The only thing breaking the silence was the crunch of our boots on the snow and the occasional 'look at this' as we painted to something interesting. We were happy just to be next to each other. We continued the walk through the forest out to a small field. When we were about half way through it I stopped and cocked my head, listening.

"Alfred?" He asked looking back at me when he noticed I stopped. "Do you hear something?"

"Yea. Uh, what kind of animals live in this field?" I asked him as I started tracking the sound.

"In winter only small rodents, but they are burried under the snow." He said confused.

He watched me move around a little as I tried to get a fix on the little squeaking sound I keep hearing. Finally I found the small hole leading into a burrow. I waited a few moments before a small, white, fluffy head popped out of the ground. It slowly crept out and came up to me. I smiled down at the tiny thing as I recognized what it was. A Russian dwarf hamster.

"You were able to hear that tiny thing through a foot of snow, underground?" He asked amazed. He said it quietly to not scare off the little guy.

"Yea. I spent years being blind, remember." I reminded him as I watched the little guy roam around. "As a result my other senses got stronger. My hearing, smell, touch, and even taste. All of them got better to make up for my lack of vision."

"But I sneak up on you often?" He told me.

"That's when we are in the city and it's noises drown you out. Or when I'm focusing too much on a task to be aware of my surroundings. But out here, I guess old habits kicked back in." I told him with a shrug.

"What old habit?" He asked gently.

"Keeping an ear out for danger. It was my job to listen to the surounding area to hear for danger." I told him as I refocused on the small hamster.

I opened out my palm to the tiny thing so it hopped in. Once nestled on my hand I reached into my other pocket and pulled out a baby carrot. I brought a bag of them to snack on during our walk. I handed it to the little guy who accepted the unexpected food eagerly. It hopped out of my hand and dragged the carrot to it's burrow, disappearing from sight.

"That was cute." I heard him say with a hint of tease in his voice.

"What, I'm just good with animals." I said with a blush.

"Da, and I love it. It means you are a good person." He said helping me stand up. "Animals know when a person is bad or good."

"Hmm. Yea, I think you're right." I told him thoughtfully.

"Come now. The place is not to far from here." He said with his hand still wrapped around mine.

I blushed slightly at the lingering contact. We never really held hands since we never really had a reason to. We are either in other rooms, other countries, or don't really have a reason to when we are together. So having him keep my smaller hind in his big, warm one felt really nice. I smiled and walked closer to him. He noticed and leaned over to press a kiss to my head.

We whent through a much smaller strip of woods to another, larger field. I let out a small gasp when the valley came into sight. Their was a big, beautiful frozen lake in the middle. The afternoon sun made the untouched snow shine a soft yellow on top of the small mounds, follows by shadows of clam blue. It was honestly a really beautiful place.

"I know you like to skate, and since England kind of ruined your ability to go back to your rink, I thought that you might like to skate here." He told me with a small blush as we walked down to the lake.

I was about to agree when a thought crossed my mind. As safe as skating is normally it can be a danger to me right now. I subconsciously placed my hand protectivly over my stomach. A worried expression came to my face.

"Alfred. What is wrong, are you feeling sick?" I heard him ask.

"Uh, yea, a little." I lied. "But I think I'll be fine if you keep me close." I smiled at him.

"Da. I will make sure you do not fall." He promised.

We used a stump to put on the skates that he had brought in the bag. Then, using each other for balance, we wobbly walked to the lake. I was a bit nervous at first since anything could have gone wrong. I could have sliped, the ice crack, or I could have pulled the both of us down. Ivan gently kept reassuring me that everything would be fine though.

Once I calmed down I started having fun. I did small circles in the area he had cleared. We skated around each other, doing small tricks. The cool breeze felt nice even if I was already cold, but with the exercise I was slowly heating up. I started laughing in excitement when he starred doing more complex tricks. A small part of me though he was showing off, but I brushed it off. He was probably just enjoying the ice.

I did smooth dances instead of fancy tricks. I swayed my hips and skated to a rythem in my head. I was skating in complex swirls, spining around in circles. When I finished my little dance I heard someone clapping behind me. I turned around with a blush to see that Ivan had stopped his skating to watch me.

"I didn't know you could dance so elegantly." He said with fondness in his voice.

"Well, I don't feel comfortable dancing like that in front of just anyone." I told him shyly. "It isn't manly to dance how I just did, so I never really dance like that in front of others so they wouldn't make fun of me."

"Well, I won't make fun of you. I thought that was beautiful." He said skating up to me.

"Thanks Vanya." I giggled and placed a small kiss on his lips. "So, how about we stop all these tricks and just skate with each other?"

"Da. That sounds nice." He told me with a smile.

We skated for about two hours before calling quits. When we got did the ice my ankles were killing me. I sat on out stump trying to rub the aches out of my feet. Ivan looked over at me concerned.

"Fredka, are you alright?" He asked me as I sliped my boots back on.

"Yea, my ankles are just killing me. I can't wait to get back and lay down for a while." I said stretching and stood up.

"Well, their is one morw thing we have to do first." He said with a smile as he brought his axe up to rest on his shoulder.

"If you plan on murdering me have fun digging a hole to hid my body in this frozen place." I said with a teasing him as I gestured to the snow covered valley around us.

He rolled his eyes but had an amused smile on his face. "Nyte, I am not planing on killing you. I had something else on mind."

"What is it?" I asked with a slight tilt of my head.

"We are going to pick out a Christmas tree." He said pointing over to where some young pine trees grew.

Excitment courses through me as a big grin broke across my face. "Really? We're going to pick one out?"

"Da. Any one you want." He told me as he followed me to the small grove.

"Oh, they're all so nice." I said looking around at the blue green trees. "These are Scots Pine, correct?" I asked him.

"Da. For any other kind we would have to go hiking, and I do not believe we have time for that." He said looking at the setting sun.

"No, I don't think so either." I agreed.

He waited patiently as I stated from tree to tree. I took my time, but kept in mind that we don't have much time. I was judging them on their color, fluff, and smell. Eventually I settled on a more green then blue, fluffy tree that smelled nice. It was also small enough to fit in his house with not trouble.

"Vanya! I want this one." I said calling him over.

He found me behind a row of young trees. When he saw which one I was poitning to he gave me a smile. "This one?"

"Da." I giggled.

I watched him cut down the tree, excitement still in my veins. I thought of all the ways I could decorate the tree. Traditonal ornaments, lights, maybe even popcorn strings if we can keep the cats away from them. My heart skipped a beat when I realised this time next year I'll be doing this kind of stuff with a baby in my arms.

I looked at him and love swelled in my heart. When he brought the tree down I walked over a placed a kiss on his lips. I pulled back with a soft, loving smile.

"I love you." I said in just above a whisper.

"I love you too." He said as he pulled me in for another kiss.

____________________________________

Sorry for the delay. I really should have had this up way sooner. Both g really stopped me from finishing this otber them layzyness.

I'll just go sit in my corner of shame.

Also, credit to fujoshiwriter3 for helping me out with this chapter.