“You’re in my spot.”

She laughed and said, “You’re lucky I kind of like you.”

Erik smiled. “I am lucky.”

Reese shot him a grin as he scooted in close to Piper, moving a piece of hair off Dimitri’s forehead. It seemed like a waste for Dimitri to have so much hair, since he was a boy, but then again, Piper loved it.

“Look up, guys,” Elli said.

Piper did as she was asked to see that Elli was holding up her phone. Putting her hand up, she said, “Ew no, Elli. I look like poo.”

Erik laughed as he pushed her hand down and said, “You look gorgeous, now smile.”

Piper looked at him with a half grin and he smiled back, before leaning over to kiss her softly on the lips. Parting, they both turned to grin at the camera but Elli wasn’t looking.

“Elli!” Piper complained.

Elli looked up and laughed. “Oh, I took it of y’all kissing, but I’ll take this one, too.”

Satisfied with her picture, Elli said, “I’m putting it on the team’s Twitter so everyone knows about the addition to the Assassins family.”

Shea smiled over at them and said, “Erik, I’m pretty sure Dimitri will be a great right winger.”

“I think so, too. Look at those shoulders. Those are hockey shoulders.”

Piper laughed as she rolled her eyes. “Y’all are nuts.”

“You didn’t know that by now?” Fallon said with a laugh.

Erik smiled as he leaned into her, taking Dimitri’s little hand in his. “Tell Mommy, say, ‘I could fight for days with these fists, boom, boom,’ ” he said, pretending that Dimitri was throwing a punch. Piper shook her head as she laughed.

“Not to be rude,” Reese said, standing up and clapping her hands together, “but I think we all need to leave Mommy and Daddy alone with their baby.”

Piper wanted to jump up and kiss her sister.

“She’s right, we’ll come and bother y’all once you’re out of the hospital. Get some rest, Piper, and congratulations,” Elli said as she smiled down at them.

“Thank you, everyone, for coming,” Piper said as Erik stood up, hugging and shaking hands as everyone started to leave. Finally the room was clear and when Erik turned to grin at her she said, “Thank God.”

“Right?” he asked, coming to the bed and sitting back down, but right as his butt hit the bed, the door opened again and in came Alla and Cooper.

“For fuck sakes,” he whispered as he looked up at his parents.

“We’ll be quick, I promise,” Cooper said with a shake of his head.

Alla laughed. “We just wanted to bring y’all some dinner and to kiss Dimitri goodbye before we went home.”

That was when Piper noticed the bags they held. It was takeout from Virago, Piper’s favorite sushi place. Looking up at Alla like she had just given Piper a check for a million dollars, she said, “Oh God, bless you.”

“I know you said you missed sushi, so we went and got all your favorite rolls. Figure once you put the baby down for a few minutes, you two could eat.”

“Thanks, Mom,” Erik said as Cooper came to the bed, kissing the top of Piper’s head.

“Good job, kid; he is gorgeous,” Cooper said, taking Dimitri’s hand in his.

“Thanks, Cooper. He looks just like your son,” Piper said with a grin.

“Sure does.”

“He is just too cute for words, I can’t wait to get him home and play with him,” Alla gushed, pushing Erik off the bed so that she could get closer to Dimitri. Erik made a disgruntled noise as Piper giggled.

“Babushka will spoil you rotten.”

Piper leaned in to Alla and said, “What the heck did you say?”

Alla laughed. “Babushka, ‘grandma’ in Russian.”

“Oh, that’s neat, but don’t expect him to say that for a while,” Piper said with a grin.

Alla shook her head. “He’ll get it; don’t you worry about that.”

She took his little fist in her hand and smiled as she looked down at him.

“You two are very blessed; he is a beautiful miracle.”

Piper nodded as she looked up at where Erik was leaning on the wall and said, “Yeah, we are.”

Cooper leaned over and kissed Dimitri on the head before standing up. “All right, come on, woman, let’s go. These two need to eat and spend time with their little guy.”

Alla made a sound of protest but did as she was asked after giving Dimitri and Piper a kiss. Standing up, she hugged Erik tightly and said, “Call us if you need anything.”

Erik smiled as they said goodbye and when the door shut, Erik asked, “Should I go lock it?”

“Can you?”

“I don’t know,” he said, glancing back at the door before grinning over at her. “The nurses might need to get in.”

“Yeah, just leave it.”

He nodded as he came back to the bed, and held his arms out for Dimitri. Piper smiled brightly up at him before handing Dimitri over to him. Once he was comfortable in Erik’s arms, Piper shook hers out while watching Erik kiss Dimitri’s head.

Sitting down beside her, Erik asked, “Are you hungry?”

“Not really,” she answered.

“Okay,” he said as he held Dimitri’s hand in his. Nothing was said as they both watched their son sleep. It was such a beautiful sight to see and watching him love his son made Piper love him a little bit more. Looking up at the side of his face, she smiled when he looked over at her.

“I think we need to talk.”

He smiled and with a nod said, “Yeah.”

When neither one of them said anything, Piper laughed nervously as she looked at her baby. Knowing that she needed to know what their future held, not only for her but for Dimitri, too, she started the conversation. “Are you coming home with us tomorrow?”

Looking up she saw Erik nod. “I want to.”

“For how long?” she asked, as her heart started to beat louder than a drum.

“Forever if you let me,” he said softly.

Her heart stopped as she looked deep into his eyes. “Really?”

He nodded. “You know what I was thinking yesterday, during the wedding?”

She paused, expecting him to tell her he loved her and never wanted to go anywhere else again, but like always, he never said what she thought he would.

“What?”

“I was thinking that I want that. I want to stand in front of all our friends and let them know how much you mean to me, how I never want to be with anyone but you.” He looked her deep in the eyes, and down at their son, Dimitri. “How my life wouldn’t be complete without you and Dimitri in it.”

Her eyes started to cloud as she asked, “You were?”

He shot her a devilish grin. “Yeah, and I was also thinking about how hot you looked.”

She giggled. “All that, huh?”

“But most of all, I thought about how much I love you.”

Her lip wobbled as a tear escaped down her cheek. Choking back a sob, she asked, “You do?”

“God yes, baby. I love you so much it hurts and I can’t go another day without you. Hold this guy for me, real quick,” he said, handing her Dimitri as he got off the bed.

Taking him in her arms, she glanced down and saw that nestled in Dimitri’s small hand was a beautiful, platinum ring with a large round diamond surrounded with little diamonds. She took in a sharp breath and brought a hand up to cover her mouth. Swallowing in her sob, she glanced over at Erik to see he was on his knees looking up at her. His eyes were filling with what she swore were tears.

Erik Titov did not cry.

“Erik?” she asked, her heart pounding against her chest, her eyes holding his gaze.

His lip curved up to the side and he said, “I want to take the right steps to make everything right between us, and since I did this the wrong way last time, I think it’s time for me to do it the right way.”

Piper couldn’t breathe as she watched his every move.

“No prenup, no lawyers, I just want you,” he said, and then he cocked his head toward Dimitri and said, “and that guy.”

Piper was speechless. Slowly, Erik brought his eyes back up to Piper’s and smiled.

“I want to wake up every day to see your beautiful smile,” he said softly. “I want feel you laugh when I hold you and read with you every night. I want to be there when you decide to change careers and I want to support you when no one else will. I want to be the person to listen to all your ideas and to kiss away the doubts that I know could keep you from succeeding. I want to be the man you deserve, and I want to be the only person to ever hold that sweet body for the rest of your life, which basically means I want to make love to you every single day. Multiple times, probably every hour on the hour.”

She giggled as her emotions took over. Erik then touched her cheek saying, “I don’t ever cry, and I have never told anyone I love them, but you, you’ve changed everything, Piper. You’ve made me realize that I can love, that I can be a great father. I couldn’t have done this without you and I don’t know if I can go on without knowing that you are with anyone else but me.”

“It won’t be easy,” he went on, smiling up at her. “I’m hard to love but when I mess up, I promise I’ll do everything to make it better because I want you. Only you. For the rest of my life. I love you, Piper Titov, and you are mine. Marry me … again, and know that I will love only you for the rest of my existence.”

Piper closed her eyes. She had waited for this day since the very first moment she set eyes on this man. As she opened them she knew there was only one thing she could say.

“Yes, Mr. Titov, because you are the only man I want to give my heart to.”

Grinning, Erik stood up, pressing his lips to hers. Her hand came up, holding his face as she deepened the kiss. She knew she would never get enough of his kisses and would love this man forever. Drawing her face back from his, she grinned just as Dimitri stirred in her arms.