(Rose and Dimitri)

*Vampire Academy; Richelle Mead*

"Just what do you think you're doing out here?" a voice said in my ear. I jumped and spun around to find Dimitri beside me, crouched down to wear I sit in the snow.

"Jeez, Comrade," I said. "Don't sneak up on me like that."

Dimitri didn't answer, he just stared down at me. Yeah, even crouched, Dimitri still looked down on me. He was just that tall.

"What are you doing out here?" I asked, avoiding his question.

"I'm patrolling, it's my shift," he said. He checked his watch. "It's almost over."

Oh. Now I felt dumb.

To cover it up, I said, "Well, I have as much reason to be out here as you do."

He raised an eyebrow. Something I still haven't learned to do. "Is that so? Well, Roza. Why are you out here, then?"

My body warmed when he called me by my affectionate nickname. "Because I can."

I didn't expect him to laugh, and when he did it was a sweet sound. I wanted to melt. I'd gotten Dimitri to laugh. Tough, Guardian, Zen life-lessons giving Dimitri. Go me.

I was so into the moment, I didn't care that we were in the freezing snow and that we were closer than we should be. I wanted to move closer, but before I could, a voice called out.

"Dimka?"

We both froze.

"Stay behind me," Dimitri said in a low voice. We both stood up, and I kept behind him. I noticed that he'd shifted to move away from me. I groaned. Why did Tasha have to come and ruin my moment?

"Dimka, there you are!" Tasha crooned as she drew nearer. She stopped so that she was within kissing range of Dimitri, and I couldn't help it, jealously shot through me, drowning away any warmth I'd gotten from Dimitri's laugh.

"Do you need help?" Dimitri asked, slipping back into Guardian mode. But I noticed a smile was playing on his lips. He was always serious with me, but with Tasha, it was all playfulness, even on duty.

"No, no. I was just wondering when your shift was over. I wanted to go get some coffee," Tasha said.

I waited for him to say that his shift was almost over, that he'd join her, but to my surprise, he didn't.

"Sorry. I need to get Roza back to her dorm, then I have a few errands to run for Tatiana."

My body grew warm again when he used 'Roza' in front of Tasha. Score one for me, Tasha zero.

Her face fell, then lifted again. "Alrighty. Another time, then. See you, Rose."

She waved and left. I glared at her back. It was so hard to hate someone so nice. Well, I didn't hate Tasha, I just didn't like her going after Dimitri. But there's not anything I can really do about it. Dimitri and I may have a role of mentor/student in front of everyone, but when alone, it was a whole other story. A story we had to keep hidden.

Once she was gone, I turned to Dimitri. "You don't need to walk me, I can go alone."

"And get past the dorm security on your own?"

"I snuck out, didn't I?"

He sighed. "And that's exactly why I'm taking you back."

"Hey, I'm not-" I stopped myself from saying a child.

He looked at my face and knew what I was about to say. "No, you're not. But you're still a student. And students tend to do things they aren't supposed to."

I caught the double meaning. I scowled and stomped ahead. He easily caught up with me, making me scowl again.

Once we got past the dorm security, who put up a good yell session at me for sneaking out past curfew, Dimitri and I got to my room.

"Thanks for walking me back," I said frostily. I was about to go inside when Dimitri suddenly grabbed my arm.

I jumped and glanced down the long corridor uneasily. Usually Dimitri would never do something so risky, especially if someone were to come around the corner and see.

"Can we talk?"

I glared up at him, suddenly wishing he wasn't so tall. "I don't know, isn't it a bad idea for a teacher to enter a student's room?"

He sighed. "Rose . . ."

"Fine," I said stubbornly. I let him in, then closed the door behind me, trying not to over exadurate about the fact that he was in my room, and we were alone.

And that he was sitting on my bed.

"What's up, Comrade?" I asked, crossing my arms.

He sighed. "Would you stop calling me that?"

"Umm . . . nope."

"I wanted to talk to you . . . about us."

I groaned and turned, leaning my forhead against my wall. "Oh, here we go. 'Here's why we can't be together, we should just move on,' yada yada yada. Jeez, Dimitri, don't you think this is getting a bit old? My God, it's been almost a year now. No one knows about us. What now? What Zen life-lesson are you going to give me this time?"

He let me ramble on with a carefully controlled blank expression. When I was finally silent, he started, "Roza, there's too many problems popping up. A few of the other teachers are becoming suspicious. We have to move on from the impossible, Rose. Because for us it's just not possible."

I took a few deep breaths and tried to keep my voice even. "You think that'll solve everything, don't you? No . . . " A horrible thought dawned on me. I slowly turned around, my temper rising. "It's Tasha, isn't it?"

Dimitri looked stunned. "What?"

"Tasha. I know, Dimitri. I know she asked you to be her guardian. That's why, isn't it? You're lying to me to make a clean break for yourself."

Dimitri's jaw clenched. "You don't know what you're talking about."

My fists clenched. I wanted to swing at something, but I held myself in check. I wanted Dimitri to leave so that I could be alone.

I turned again so that he wouldn't see the hot tears coming out of my eyes and leaned my forhead against my wall. "Get out. Go. Go on that coffee date with Tasha. It's what you want, isn't it?"

"Rose-"

"Get out!"

I took deep breaths. I heard his footsteps. I waited for the door to open and slam shut again, for Dimitri to leave and go out with Tasha so that I could just crawl hopelessly into bed and cry.

Instead I felt a hand on my shoulder. The grip was strong but gentle, and he slowly turned me around. I kept my face down and hid behind my hair so that he wouldn't see my traitor tears.

He cupped a hand under my chin and tilted my face up. He gently wiped away the tears dripping down my cheeks and brushed my hair behind my ears and out of my face. I tried to turn my head away, but his grip was firm.

"Roza, I would never leave you."

I stared straight into his eyes. I hated what I was about to say, but I needed to stop being selfish. I needed to think about Dimitri.

"I-I think you should."

"I should what?"

"Go. With Tasha. To be her Guardian."

He let go of my face.

"It's a big opportunity for you. You shouldn't pass it up," I said, staring out my window at the falling snow. I recalled when Dimitri and I had once made snow angels, and felt pain in my chest that those days would be over.

"Roza . . ."

I sighed, but still looked out the window. "It's okay. Alberta can just train me. I'm sure I can-"

But I was cut off when Dimitri bent and kissed me.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him closer, savoring the moment. My body melted into his.

When he finally pulled away he leaned his forhead against mine. "I'm not going anywhere," he repeated.

I swallowed and nodded. I took his hand and led him to the window, where the snow was gently falling to the ground.

We stood there together until the sun was starting to rise. I yawned.

"Time for bed," Dimitri muttered from behind me, his arms wrapped lovingly around my waist. Since the moroi slept during the day, we did, too. Unless you were on Guardian duty.

"Time for bed," I agreed, suddenly loving the idea of sleeping.

I followed Dimitri to my door. Before he could open it, I reached up on my tiptoes and crushed my lips to his, not knowing when I would be able to do so again.

"And you should really go on the coffee date with Tasha," I whispered.

"You want me to go?" he asked.

"It would make people less suspicious about us."

He laughed. "Alright. And, Roza?"

"Yeah?"

"I'll see you later."

I smiled. "See you later, Comrade."

*Cheezy, huh? Don't forget to review. Flames accepted. Sorry it was so short and sorry for any errors. I don't feel like going over it to catch every little mistake.*