a/n: This is the follow up story to 'Fated.' There will be references to Rose and Dimitri's past, so I think reading that one will make this one more enjoyable :)

Roza and Dimitri will get their HEA in this one.

Thanks again to Anonymous Kaity for the title, and to everyone who took the time to review Fated! You guys make me wish I could write a mile a minute!

prologue

"How was your first day at the new job?" Lissa asked as Rose grabbed a can of soda from the refrigerator and followed her into the living room.

Rose shrugged as she sat down on the couch. "Typical."

"What does that mean?" her friend pressed.

"It means that it was just like my very first day at my last job," Rose answered evasively.

Lissa sighed. "You would think that with my psychology degree I'd be able to get you to open up."

Rose laughed. "It was amazing," she said gushingly. "I think I'm going to be BFF's with the girl at the front counter. Her name is Courtney, and—hey!" Rose said, rubbing her arm where Lissa had just socked her.

"I'm your BFF," she said with a pout. "And pipe down, or you're gonna wake the baby."

Rose leaned forward and peered into the bassinet at the mention of Lissa and Christian's new baby. She felt the now familiar leap in her chest at the sight of him sleeping soundly, his little cheek resting on a yellow blanket. She'd just put her arms forward to reach in and pick him up when she felt Lissa's hand on her forearm. "If you wake him up, I will kill you," she warned.

Rose grinned. "No, you won't. I'm your BFF."

Lissa gave her a glare, but Rose didn't care as she lifted Zander into her arms and cuddled him against her chest with a contented sigh.

Christian laughed as he walked into the room. "I will never get over the site of Rosemarie Hathaway holding a baby," he mused as he fumbled with the tie around his neck. "Willingly."

"But he's just so cute," she said.

"Rumor has it he looks like his father," Christian joked, then turned to his wife. "Lissa...help."

Lissa leaped up off the couch and pushed her husband's hands out of the way, then expertly knotted his tie for him.

Rose watched the exchange with a pang of envy; she hadn't realized how much she'd missed her friends until she'd arrived in New York City a few weeks ago.

Lissa reached for the rolled up sleeves on her husband's forearms and unrolled them, then fastened the cuffs at his wrists.

"What are you doing?" he asked in confusion.

She smiled up at him. "You look way too sexy like that for me to let you leave this house and go wait on drunk women. No skin," she insisted firmly.

"Are you...kidding?" he asked, and Rose had to bite back a laugh.

Lissa shook her head. "Christian, I'm sporting a baby belly and inflated breasts. If I can't look sexy, then I forbid you to."

Christian arched a brow at her. "Lissa, you know I love the-"

She leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. "Do you mind if Rose spends the night tonight?" she interrupted sweetly.

"Hon," he said in disbelief.

Lissa bit her lip and turned to Rose, a teasing grin on her face. "I got cleared to have sex today."

"Like I needed to know that," Rose muttered.

Lissa turned back to Christian. "I can be quiet," she insisted. "Besides—if Rose sleeps on the couch, she won't even be able to hear anything anyway."

The next morning after she'd dropped her keys and wallet in her assigned locker, Rose made her way out to the front counter and lifted her brows at the sight before her. "What's going on?" she asked.

Piper, the owner of Destination Fit, looked at her with a wide grin on her face. "We just made a mint off one of the local fire stations," she informed Rose.

"What does that mean?" Rose asked, taking a drink from her bottled water.

"It seems that Fire Station 252 isn't as fit as they should be," Piper said. "And guess who they've hired to get them into shape?" she asked excitedly.

"Ummm...us?" Rose guessed, anxious to get to work. She looked around the gym, wondering who her first client would be.

"Yes!" Piper said.

Rose nodded toward Courtney. "And what is she drooling over?"

Piper grinned. "The captain stopped by and dropped off a complimentary calendar of his men." She grinned widely. "She just discovered Mr. March."

"Oooh..." Rose said, playing along; she did love a hot man. "Let's see him."

Courtney sighed as she hugged the calendar to her chest. "OK. But there's something you should know first."

"What's that?"

"I call dibs."

Courtney reluctantly pulled the calendar away from her chest and turned it around. Staring back at Rose, his tanned six pack glistening with a sheen of sweat, his brown eyes boring into her as if they could still see inside her soul, was the only man she'd ever made the mistake of thinking she loved. And then, after taking a moment to even out her breathing and push any lingering feelings that tried to surface way down deep inside, "He's all yours."