One of the Family [[Rosa]]

Rosa was late, and she knew she was late! But it had not been her fault. Her boss had made her stay a bit later because she had messed up on a patient diagnosis and as punishment she had been forced to do an extra hour of rounds. So in short she owed Skan the biggest kiss in the world. Of course she gave them to him on a regular basis, but this one would be more special...why, she did not know...she just had a hunch.

Moving fast down the street she was finally able to make a hard left into the Leaky Cauldron and passed all the drunkards of London. She got to the wall, stepped through, then hightailed it straight to the robe shop her beloved had asked her to meet him at. She could see him there, looking as handsome as ever and it just made her heart melt. She loved him so much that words could not even describe it. With Shane permanently out of her life she knew that she had no choice but to lean on Skan. She had almost lost it...almost given up on hope...but then he brought it back to her and made her hold onto it tight, always keeping his hands tight on top of hers so she would not lose her grip.

Rushing to him she smiled and gently pecked his lips.

"Honey I am so sorry I am late," she grinned. "Aiden kept me late...I hope you aren't cross with me."

Pouting a bit she pecked his lips once more and held his hand.

"So, any particular reason you wanted me here?" she purred.

Rosa

Rosa had to lean on Skan for support when she heard exactly what his baby sister had said...Legacy? Skan had a legacy? She had never met his family before. All the years they had known one another and they never really got to talking about his side of the family. She had assumed that he was just...normal...well not normal but not a royal...or anything with a legacy to his name. God, this was so awkward. She was dating someone with stances to his name...and she was just a recovered druggie. Her hand shook a bit as she took Sky's hand and shook it.

"It...it's a pleasure...umm Skan?" she turned to her beloved. "You...you didn't say..."

She cleared her throat and turned to face him. She smiled, hoping to keep his sister from thinking what she was thinking. Keep her from thinking that Rosa was about to break down in both tears and temper. She just did not know what to do! Or how to react! She was not good enough for him before, but now it was CLEAR that they just...he was just three million meters above her! She didn't even have right to kiss his feet.

"Skan...we need to talk..." she said, out of breath. "We need to talk...later..."

And with a final breath Rosa collapsed against him.

Sky smiled politely as they shook hands. She noticed the shaking as they touched and it took everything in her to not roll her eyes. She had been trained how to keep a blank face, but this was really too much. She didn't understand why Alec his who he was. He was a Feodor that fact was never going to change. As the middle child he didn't even have much that much responsibility. She nodded as she said it was a pleasure to meet her. It was, actually, as the youngest Feodor sibling, she could get anything she wanted. That included her parents going easier on Rosa. "It is nice to finally meet you." she added. When the girl spoke again about not knowing that Alec was royalty she smiled slightly. It wasn't that she was making fun of her. It was just that it was so typically Alec to set up a meeting and not tell her not to mention anything or not tell Rosa who he really was.

"He doesn't tell anyone." she said softly, knowing that Alec would have no idea how to make things better. He was horrible at trying to fix things. He was horrible at relationships period. She gave Alec an endearing smile knowing that he was probably a little upset with her. Although, to be honest, it wasn't her fault. Sky was always honest about her heritage. It was advantageous on most occasions to mention it. It was how she had reserved the whole shop for the day. The owner knew that with her and her two brothers shopping she would make enough to fill this month's quota. After all Sky needed five dresses and several different day outfits for the week they were planning to spend in Russia.

Just thinking about her motherland made the girl smile, and made her wonder if Rosa was going to be in attendance as well. She better not mention anything just in case Alec decided he wasn't going to take her. She raised a single eyebrow as Rosa told her older brother that they needed to talk.

From then on it was kind of a fiasco as the young blonde collapsed onto Alec. "Huh -- that's not how I expected she would take the news." she said with a shrug. She rolled her eyes at her brother as she bent over to retrieve her wand from her purse. "Oh come on Alec. You should have told her. I was just trying to see." she said, waving her wand over the girl's face as she muttered the spell for smelling salts.

Rosa smelled something acrid and it had her pulling her face away and waking up. She looked up to Skan and smiled weakly, and for one brief moment she thought that she was back in that alley and he was saving her from an overdose once more. But then it all came back...everything...they had come to this robe shop and she was meeting his sister...his royal sister...and he was royalty...and she wasn't worthy of him...and tears were filling her eyes because he had tried to hide it from her. Pulling her knees up a bit she looked down. He was going to leave her...if not now then when she met his parents.

"Skan..." she whispered. "I...I just don't know what to say..."

She wanted to cry, but someone was there and she turned away from him and his sister and stood from the ground. She looked to the shop owner and asked if she could use the loo briefly.

"I'm sorry," she whispered to Skan. "Can you just excuse me for one moment?"

Leaving her beloved with his sister she went into the bathroom and locked herself in a stall. Sitting down on the toilet she pulled her knees up to her chest and cried. How could he hide this from her? Was it because he knew that his family would not approve? It had to be because he was embarrassed of her. He was embarrassed of her and because she had been a drug addict...and she would never blame him for that...because if she could go back in time she would just redo it all.

Crying her heart out for a good ten minutes she went back into the main room, her eyes red and moist from sobbing. She stood to the side and swiped at her now, itchy eyes. She just couldn't look at him right now...or her. She probably thought that she was a moron. All these years of knowing Skan and she had never known he was a royal.

"Sorry," she whispered. "I didn't mean to take so long."

Skan looked down at his beautiful girlfriend with a weak smile. He knew that he should have said something before this. Then again he hadn’t expected his half wit of a sister to open her mouth with that introduction. She was smarter than he had given her credit for but still it didn’t make him any less angry at her. He sighed softly brushing her hair away from her face. He didn’t know what she was thinking and it was driving him mad. He knew he had made a mistake but her face didn’t show any anger that he could see.

“I’m sorry. There’s nothing to say. I made a mistake I should have warned you,” he said softly. He didn’t want to hurt her, but that was all he seemed to be good at. Despite how hard he tried he could never protect her.

He nodded and turned to his sister as soon as she was gone. “How do I fix what you so graciously broke?” he asked her knowing that despite this she would be the best to fix this mess. Skan wasn’t good at this. His whole life he had never loved anyone the way he loved Rosa. Things had been easy and that had all changed when he met her but he wouldn’t change it. She was the love of his life and he was afraid he was losing her.

He shook his head as she returned, his heart beating faster just seeing her the way it always did. She was his life. He didn’t know what to do without her and he never wanted to have to find out.

Rosa was still frozen. Meeting a royal family, going to a ball, she had no money. Hell, Skan didn't even know that she was basically homeless half of her life. She didn't want them buying her a dress, she wanted to buy it on her own...or get Aiden to buy it for her. He said that he looked at her like she was his daughter, surely that meant spoiling her once in a while. She didn't want Skan's family to think that she was a leech. She would get the dress herself, even if she had to spent a month's worth of pay...even if Rosa had to sell all her clothes and jewelry...she would pay for her own dress.

"Red," she sighed. "But don't worry...I will get my own dress...my dad will take me shopping. Thank you for the offer though, Sky, I really appreciate it."

Of course she was referring to Aiden, but Skan did not know that. Skan really didn't know that Aiden had taken her under his wing. And Rosa, knowing Skan's hatred for her superior, never brought it up. But she knew that Aiden was rich. He inherited a fairly large fortune after his parents deaths, was Head of St. Mungo's hospital, and had a wife that also brought in a fairly large sum of money with her private music lessons. The Showers family were rich...cheap...but rich.

"Skan, maybe you can come with when I pick out my dress..." Rosa smiled taking his hand. "I would really like you being there with me, so we can talk more."

Talk more about this situation, talk more about why he had never said something to her, talk about what their future would hold after this ball, talk about how she had basically let Aiden Showers adopt her. They had much to talk about and not nearly enough time to do it in.

Rosa smiled gently at Skan from over their light candle light dinner. She had to admit that even with just recently learning her beloved was royalty today had been a good day. Gently reaching over the table she took his hand and held it on the deep, auburn, table cloth. She loved him, but things were about to get very complicated. And she was somewhat scared that this would end them. And Rosa knew that if that did happen she would fall into bad habits. Skan kept her clean, he was her drug now.

"You look very handsome tonight," she grinned. "Granted...you look handsome every night."

Feeling her cheeks turn a faint twinge of pink she chuckled and took a sip from her wine glass. She was worried about this dinner, worried about his parents, worried that he would leave her. What if he chose his family over her? Rosa didn't have any family to speak of so she couldn't say that she would do something like that...but it didn't change the fact that she was any less worried.

"Skan," Rosa sighed, her face turning slightly serious. "I'm a little scared to meet your family...I know they are going to hate me...and...and I just want to know now...are you...are you going to leave me?"

Rosa smiled warmly at the man in front of her. He was so handsome, so perfect, and so strong. Sometimes Rosa thought that Skan couldn't see himself the way she saw him. He didn't see himself as a knight in shining armor, didn't see himself as her prince charming, didn't see that without him her life was truly meaningless. Gently stroking the top of his hand with her fingers she sighed.

"They won't kill me will they?" she asked softly. "I mean...Russia...what if they have an assassin shoot me in the head or something? I really don't want to die on this trip."

Rosa felt that she was joking, but in the back of her mind she could not be sure. What if they were like the Russian Mafia, what if they just shot her dead the moment they got off the plane? The thoughts made her feel violently ill and as soon as her food was brought out Rosa gently pushed it away. She was no longer hungry and the very sight of food turned her stomach. Squeezing her hand she sighed as it quivered slightly in his strong grasp. This was never going to work for them...they needed to break up...she couldn't let him go through with this. All the things Andrei had said to her was right.

"I..." she sighed. "Skan...I..."

She looked away, she couldn't break up with him. Even if it was for his benefit... even if it would make that smug, asshole, Andrei happy. Why should Skan be punished for what he wanted? Why did Andrei feel the need to ruin everyone else's life just because he could not find his own happiness.

"I'm not hungry anymore." she whispered dejectedly, her head gently bowing.