Disclaimer: The Vampire Academy series, its characters and plotlines are all Richelle Mead's property. I only played with them for a short while, from what I have no financial gain.
Rating: K+ (Or should it be a T? There's a mention of sex here)
Genre: Humor/Romance/Fluff
Characters: Rose, Dimitri, Lissa
Summary: Let's imagine that Rose and Dimitri could worked out what Dimitri visualized in Shadow Kiss, combined with the mirage Avery showed Rose in Blood Promise: Rose and Dimitri are living together outside the Court, while he is working at the Court, and she is Lissa's Guardian, while attending to college with her. And everything goes fine, until Lissa brings Rose into something she doesn't really keen on…
A/N: I wrote it more than a year ago, before Spirit Bound came out, as the second part of a one-shot collection. I didn't finish it in the end, only the first two pieces – should I upload the first as well? Not, it's way too kinky :P - , because I decided that the storyline was too childish, not complex enough (but I am gonna re-use the basic idea of it, spiked with some extra contents, in a rather long fanfic I'm working on at the moment). Then, a few months ago, as my VA-craze resurfaced, I found it again, and after a little touch-up, I'm uploading it :) I hope you'll like it :)
Side-note: its Hungarian translation came first on the first Hungarian Vampire Academy One-Shot Awards, hosted by vampirakademia. blogspot .com
Word Count: 5324
An Exception Makes The Rule Stronger
Actually, the first few weeks of college went smoothly enough. During classes I guarded Lissa along with another Guardian, called Jonathan. He was about the same age as Dimitri, but nowhere as hot or tall as he was; and Jonathan was also much bulkier. And cold and determined and professional. I doubt I have ever seen a trace of smile on his face, and it was impossible to have a decent conversation with him, unless it was about some kind of Guardian business. He stood out a little bit from the everyday university crowd with his serene expressions, outsider behavior and leather jacket (and the weapons hidden underneath it). But he really was good, good enough to be let near to the last Dragomir, so I didn't complain. We got a few stares from the fellow students when the three of us were together sometimes, and then what? We had had much worse.
So everything was fine, until that October day.
It was a usual Tuesday, just before lunch. One of the very few classes I had without Lissa had just ended (Russian – love makes you do some very crazy things), and I was walking towards that little on-campus restaurant where we usually ate. Simply, out of habit, I searched our bond on my way, just to make sure that Liss was okay. What I had found surprised and worried me at the same time.
She was nervous, a little bit guilty, and, in the lack of better words, afraid of me. At first I didn't know what to think of it. But as I looked deeper, I discovered that she'd done something, something that I won't be happy about. And her uneasiness just seemed to grow as I neared the restaurant.
Great.
I picked up my pace and arrived there in a record time. Lissa was sitting at our usual table, in front of her two untouched meals (she knew that it took me a little bit more time to get to the restaurant than to her, and she knew me well enough, so these days, by the time I got there, she had usually already ordered for me as well), looking through some of her notes, seeming totally calm. Too calm. Jonathan sat a few meters away, being too stiff and stern to look normal. I nodded to his direction, saying hello and signaling that from here I take the shift at the same time.
I slipped into my seat and blurted out before Liss could have even greeted me.
"Spill it out. Now." She looked a little startled, and I could feel that she was looking for the right words. "Liss…" I warned her.
"Okay. I know you're mad now, but please, please Rose, listen!" She pleaded.
"Just say it already." I urged her. It was frustrating, knowing hat she'd done something, but not knowing its nature. Even Jonathan's head turned into our direction.
"So, you know, there's this animal shelter in downtown, and they're always lacking helping hands, so they put out fliers all over the campus, looking for volunteers, and I singed up…" She rambled. I sighed with ease - so it was nothing serious. She was just being her old ever-helping, animal-loving self. I leaned back in my chair and took a sip from my drink.
But of course, it wasn't the end of the story. That would had been too easy.
"…I'm to help on Saturday and Sunday, but you know that's Jonathan's off duty days, and Christine and Alan could also use some rest" She continued; Christine and Alan were her other two Guardians. 'And I, of course, can't go alone, so I signed you up as well." She paused for a moment, to see my reaction. I simply spit my Sprite out. "Are you very angry?" She asked shyly, now really looking guilty.
For a few moments, the only thing I could do was chocking, so even if I had known what to say, I wouldn't have been able to talk. So Lissa continued.
"I know that you don't really like animals and all, but Rose, I promise it won't be that bad. Anyway, you could do some good to the community at least…'
"Liss…' I spoke finally, cutting in. "It's not that I hate animals, really. They are the ones who hate me. Me, and every dhampir in general. Just remember Jeremy's cat, or Victor's psi-hounds. We don't really get on well." I shook my head.
"Oh, but Rose… they're just cats… and dogs… poor little souls, thrown to the streets. They won't do any harm, really. Anyway, when was the last time when we did something together which wasn't some kind of college or Guardian stuff? Oh, please!"
That was where she got me. I could feel her longing through the bond, and I lost the battle.
"Okay, I'll go with you." I said finally. I could see the joy in her eyes; she knew she would win in the end, but she didn't even dare to hope that it would be this easy. God, I'm totally becoming a sunk in sloth. "But I'm holding you responsible for everything what happens there. If some 200-pound cur attacks me, and I die, it'll be your fault."
Lissa giggled in delight.
"Don't worry, I'll take care of anything that wants to harm you." She told me, smiling.
"Great. Now we're switching roles. Absolutely great." I said ironically. But when we looked into each other's eyes, we burst out laughing.
We weren't friends for more than ten years for nothing.
Saturday came a little too fast for my liking.
It was pretty overcast as I was driving to the Court, which was a little depressing, but also good for Lissa. The less sunlight the better. It was tiring enough for her to be out during the day five days a week. Now this little "community work"… It took a lot out of her, but she didn't seem to care about it. She was lot tougher than most people gave her credit for.
We were to arrive at the animal shelter in a little less than an hour, so I was running a little late. I knew Liss won't be happy with me, and that my lateness crashed my plans of seeing Dimitri before my six-hour long torture. Sometimes our schedule made our relationship a little tricky. I almost always worked during the Moroi night and he, thought he was always switching shifts, usually during the Moroi day. In spite of living together, I hadn't actually seen him for more than a day. By the time I got home yesterday, he was already asleep, and he was already gone when I woke up this morning. But he was supposed to pick me and Lissa up in the end of the day, and it was the only thought that made me go through the day.
Finally, I made it to the Court in a little less time than I usually do – okay, I was speeding a little. But I was still ten minutes late, and by the time I got there, Lissa was already waiting for me with Jonathan by her side, and she was a little bit pissed off. And I didn't even need the bond to feel it.
"Rose…" She started menacingly. Liss has always been the nice one out of the two of us, but sometimes she could be so fierce that you forgot it. This was one of those times.
"Then I think I'm not allowed to pop in and say hi to Dimitri…" I said in a small voice, while getting out of the car. Lissa just shook her head and smiled. Her anger disappeared immediately.
"Rose, you'll never change." She said.
"Does that mean that I can go?" I smiled back at her.
"No."
I left our car in front of the main Guardian building, so Dimitri could find it easily, then got into Jonathan's car. According to plan, he'd drive us to the animal shelter, then leave, and Dimitri would pick us up when his shift ended. This was the bad side of the two of us owning only one car: it took good balancing, and sometimes a little rumpus about who would be using it that day.
On our way to the town, I wrote a text to Dimitri, saying that I was sorry about not being able to see him, that everything is alright and that I love him and miss him. He wrote back about ten minutes later, saying only "OK love you too". One of those many little facts I learned about him since we were together is that he wasn't a big fan of texting. If he had to use a cell, he'd rather call the person than text them. Maybe this was the reason why I sent him so many texts.
We got to the animal shelter in about half an hour, barely getting there in time. It was your typical animal shelter: a rather small brick building, with big backyard, full of cages and kennels, which were full of cats, dogs and maybe other animals. I barely stepped into the building, I could already hear the animals outside and in the room in cages barking, meowing and giving other horrible sounds. They sensed the enemy already; me, the dhampir. Lovely.
There were about half dozen volunteers there, including us; of course, we were the lasts to arrive. A young, normal looking, insignificant guy came in, wearing the uniform of the animal house, with a wide smile on his face. I hated him already.
He greeted us happily, and told everyone what to do. Thank God, he told me to feed the dogs outside; it was still a little bit risky for a dhampir, but it was still better than, for example, bathing a 150-pound dog. Now, that would be interesting. I surely would end up with some injuries. I'm not ashamed of it: I was a little scared; the memory of the psi-hounds was still too fresh.
So I got a huge bag of dog food and a big… thing, which looked like it was the love child of a spoon and a shovel. Moving from kennel to kennel, portioning the chow, I got barked at, growled at, and a warlike little sausage-hound even went after my ankle, tearing the leg of my jeans. I shook the mongrel off, and shut the door of the kennel before he could have attacked me again. Did I say that I didn't hate animals? Forget it. I totally loathed them.
Time went by, and the line of the kennels seemed endless. Slowly, I became oblivious to the dogs; they were barking and growling, and then what? They couldn't reach me if I was fast enough - and I was fast enough. I thanked God for my guardian training. And of course, there were dogs and cats and such, that didn't even try the attack, instead they cowered in the corners, some cats barely brave enough to hiss at me. It was the other reaction I caused among them: fear. And maybe, it was better than the attacking.
It became a nice pattern, and I started to get used to it. After all, it wasn't half as bad as I expected it to be. Then I entered one of the last kennels. It was a bigger one, full of puppies, maybe two or three litters altogether. And of course, being small and defenseless, their surviving reflex kicked in, and the hid at the first sight of me. It was okay for me; less trouble.
But then, as I bent down to give them their food, something caught my ankle, and started to pull it. I sighed in annoyance, and looked down, ready to shook the little mongrel off. But as I caught sight if it – him? – I stopped in my tracks.
The pup wasn't at all offensive, as I expected him to be. There he was, first legs bent, butt in the air, tail wiggling, the whole dog almost bouncing up and down with excitement.
He was playing. With me. Of all people.
Like I wasn't any different to him than some random human.
It was interesting. I have never met an animal before who behaved like that towards a dhampir.
Anyways, he wasn't really a pup. I'd like to say, he was rather a caricature of a pup. He looked mostly like a German Sheppard, but it was easy to see that there was at least one or two other breeds in him. His tail was too long and too massive for his tiny torso, ears pointing to different directions, and paws comically huge, signaling that one day he will be really big; bigger than a German Sheppard.
"Hey, buddy." I called to him. He released my jeans, sat down on his hind legs and looked up at me with huge, brown eyes that looked way too much intelligent for a dog. "What's up?" he tilted his head to one side. When I didn't say anything else, he yelped at me, jumping to all fours. I bent down to pet his head; he grazed my hand.
Okay, I admit it: I kind of liked him. When animals didn't try to attack me, I hadn't got a problem with them. And this little guy was really irresistible.
When I finished feeding the puppies and left the kennel I felt a tiny bit better; the little guy made me see my day a shade brighter. After finishing the portioning the dog food, I was assigned to sweep the yard; it was a calm enough job, so meanwhile I could slip into Lissa's head to make sure that she was okay. God, Stan would get a heart attack if he could see me now – I thought. Here I was, on duty, and couldn't even see my charge. Yeah, surely, he would be really mad.
I chuckled at the thought.
Liss was inside the building, and it was easy to feel that she was really happy. Her job was to bathe some of the dogs. She was working in pair with another girl, who looked harmless enough to doesn't worry me. They were squealing and laughing hysterically as the dogs shook themselves to get rid of the water, soaking them – at least they were having fun.
I sighed and slipped out of her head, going back to my job. Maybe, just maybe, coming back tomorrow wouldn't be so bad.
I didn't took me a long time to finish my task, and when I asked what else could I do, the instructor said that there weren't really anything else I could help in. Most of the volunteers had already gone home, only Lissa, me and that girl remained here. Maybe I could help Lissa in the bathing, if I really wanted to do something, the instructor said at last, but I declined vehemently. Unleashed animals could mean attacks; and I didn't want to ruin Lissa's mood.
I had to find something to do with my time, since there was still at least an hour till Dimitri could come for us. After wandering around the yard aimlessly for a few minutes – I couldn't go to Lissa, in fear of the dog she was currently washing would go wild; I knew from her emotions that this one was a new recruit, and was a little nervous. There were already too many strangers around him; a dhampir would be only fuel to the fire. I also knew from Lissa's head the he was injured; and I knew that Liss was using her power on him as well. But I didn't really care. Lissa had gotten stronger in the past months. She still somehow managed to practice with Adrian everyday, even now, that she was attending to college. Oh and yeah, did I mention that her relationship with Christian was still blooming? I swear, I'll have to take lessons from her about balancing my life.
After some time, I ended up in front of the pups' kennel. My little pal somehow sensed me, and by the time I got there he was already at the paling, wiggling his tail like a madman – er, dog. I didn't know what he saw in me, but it felt good. This was the very first time in my life when I had a good relationship with an animal. Peeking at my watch I decided that I still had plenty of time, so I opened the gate and slipped into the kennel. The other pups immediately cowered into the corners and the far ends of the place, quivering. But not the funny little dog.
I took seat in the corner closest to the door. He galloped to me, and tried to climb into my lap; I pushed him back gently. He tried again. And so the game began.
I've never played with an animal before - not even when Lissa got a rabbit for her seventh birthday. I was staying at the Dragomirs' that summer, and I remember that usually the rabbit was very content in Liss' arms, but when I went closer… I remember crying because of it. Hey, don't judge me! I was seven, and still had a soft spot for cute, fluffy animals. It really hurt that the first cute, fluffy animal I met in my life wanted to run away from me.
Then after about three weeks, the rabbit had enough of me, and somehow found the way to run away one night. We cried in union with Lissa next morning. I haven't got much to do with animals ever since then.
But back to the present. The pup was still trying to jump up to my thights, and when I pushed him back, he playfully tried to bit my hand. Once he did it successfully, but it didn't hurt at all, in spite what I expected it. After all, he was playing; not attacking.
We kept up this little dance for a while. He jumped, I pushed him back. Not once he ended up lying on his back. He was yelping, I was laughing. But after some time he got tired; his leaps became smaller and his pushing weaker. Finally, I let him climb into my lap and he curled in there peacefully, and fell asleep a few minutes later, while I kept stroking his pate. After a few minutes I must have dozed off as well, because the next time I opened my eyes the sun was considerably lower on the sky and Dimitri was standing a few meters away from me, outside of the kennel, looking slightly amused.
"Nice." He teased. "Sleeping in, leaving your charge unprotected." He tried with his old mentor voice, but his lips twitched upward, betraying him.
"Why should I worry, when there's already another Guardian on the scene?" I said, putting down the pup and stepping out of the kennel. He woke up immediately and started barking in a high voice, demanding me to go back. "Anyway, the sun's still up, and it's a more-or-less secured, public place, with witnesses. We both know that this was merely a precaution, me coming here." I told him, standing on my toes to give him a light kiss on the lips; he bent down, helping me, our lips meeting halfway. God, I'll never get tired of it. Never.
"The princess is at the lobby, waiting. We should get going." He said, lacing his fingers with mine. "By the way, who's your friend?" He asked, looking down at the lil' dog inside of the kennel. He was still almost pressed against the fence, looking at me with big, sad eyes.
"Oh, he? Well, I'd like to say that he's just a random dog, but he's not. He's at least as insane as I am." I said jokingly. Dimitri crouched down and held out his hand so the dog could get a sniff of his smell. He started yipping in an instant and tried to lick his hand. It seemed that he not only didn't have any problem with me, but he didn't have a problem with any dhampirs. Or it was just that Dimitri smelled way too much like me. It was a possibility.
"He doesn't seem to be afraid of me." He stated, sounding maybe a little bit surprised.
I leaned down beside him.
"He isn't afraid of me either. I told you, he's insane. Mentally impaired." He chuckled.
"Now come on. Let's not make the princess wait. I'm sure she's tired.' He said, smiling slightly.
"Hey, Comrade, I'm tired as well. Shouldn't you be concerned about me, too? Just a little? A tiny bit?"
"Roza, I'm way past over worrying about things like this. If you're tired, you're going to rest, no matter what. You've just proved it." I elbowed him and he laughed. He bent down and kissed my forehead.
"What about when we get home I'll take care of you? Only you?"
"Is it a threat or a promise?" I asked with a sly smile.
"Take it as you want." Was all his answer. I fought the urge to elbow him again.
Hours later we were lying in bed, our naked forms wrapped around each other. His statement turned to be more like a promise, and let me tell you, by now I was really exhausted, at the verge of sleep. Dimitri was softly caressing my back, up and down, but didn't say a word. It was an amazing feeling.
Just before I could have dozed off, he spoke.
"You know, as a kid, I'd always wanted a dog." He said simply. I muttered something unintelligible into his chest; I had no power to say anything in normal English. He just chuckled and started to elaborate.
"When I was a little, about seven or eight, I decided that I needed a dog. I mean, in my eyes, they were cool; they were on television, there were books written about them. I tried to convince my mum about getting one, but she was unrelenting. You see, growing up in a dhampir community I didn't meet too many animals. All of my friends were dhampirs, and they didn't keep pets. I didn't understand it then; I didn't know then that the animals weren't on good terms with us." He paused for a moment. "But I didn't let my dream go. I still tried to persuade my mother, watched every show on TV, even the old ones, you know, like Rin-tin-tin, the ones in black and white? Back then, I hated black and white shows, but I watched it eagerly, if it had a dog in it." Now, I have to tell you something: usually, Dimitri is not the man of big speeches if it's not about some lecture, wisdom or something like that. In front of big audience, I doubt that he could say two proper sentences in a row. But then sometimes, when we are alone, he would start talking and talking and talking and never seeming to stop. This is one of the many little things for what I love him so much. "And I read every book I could get."
I popped up myself on my elbows.
"Don't tell me that you've even read Lassie!" I said teasingly.
"Oh, yes, I did." He answered almost proudly.
"No way!" I exclaimed.
"You have a problem with that?" his voice was full of glee; I expected him to burst out laughing in every second.
"No, it's just… I've never thought that you were a "Lassie, come home!"-type of guy. I thought that you were only reading bad west-" I couldn't finish the sentence, because he put one of his hands on my mouth, while he started tickling me with the other.
"Stop it! Stop it for heaven's sake!" I said laughing when I could finally pry off his hand from my mouth.
"Now, will you let me finish my story, or should I continue this?"
"I'll do anything, just stop it!"
"Okay." And his hands were off of me in an instant.
"So… what about the end of the story?" I asked him, while I wiped away the tears caused by my laughing from my eyes with the corner of the sheets.
"It was not a lot after Viki was born. Mum's few friends from the hospital came over to see her, humans, Moroi and dhampirs alike. One of the old ladies from the town had this little lap-dog, a Westie, I think, whom she carried with her to everywhere. I was fascinated by it. So when she put it down to admire Viki, I went to the dog to play with it. Of course, by then it was tense enough, with all that strangers and dhampirs around; and anyway, small dogs are usually more aggressive than the big ones, have you noticed that? So, long story short, the first thing it did was to bite my hand. It ended in a big commotion: I cried, mum was yelling at me, at the dog, Viki was crying because of the fuss we did, and that old lady was so offended that she never came around again. And I still have that scar, look!' he showed me his right hand and I took it into my palms. True, right there, on the arch between his thumb and forefinger there were a fine line of barely visible scars. I traced them lovingly.
"Ah, poor baby." I cooed.
"Don't exaggerate it." He chuckled, then leaned down and gave a small peck on my lips.
"And what happened after that?" I asked; I was interested in the end of the story.
"Not much. I was afraid to go near any dog for years; Then I started my Guardian training, and realized that there were greater things to be afraid of out there, so this fear slowly faded. Anyway, back then, a pathetic little lapdog might have taken me, but now?" He laughed.
"Yeah, you're the alpha-male now, don't ya?" I teased him, earning another sweet kiss.
After that, we fell into comfortable silence again. We stayed that way for minutes, then an idiotic idea came into my mind. And of course, being me, I had to say it out loud immediately.
"Why don't we adopt that pup?" I blurted out.
"What?"
"I mean… once, you wanted a dog. I sort of made friends with one. One, who is on good terms with dhampirs. Here's this house, this garden; all empty. It could really use a dog. I don't think it would cause much trouble. Hell, if we can manage this relationship, I'm sure a dog will be nothing." He watched me with big, thoughtful eyes.
"I think you're saying something."
"And," I continued. "How many guardians do you know who has a pet? It would be another way to go against the grain." I said, laying back on the pillows.
"It wouldn't even be you, Rose, if you didn't think that way." He chuckled.
"But you love me for it, don't you?" I asked, looking at him from under my lashes. He shook his head, but answered nonetheless.
"What's not to love?"
"So then?"
"So then what?"
"So then will we get that dog?" I asked, batting my lashes.
"I don't know, Roza… is it a good idea?"
"When my ideas aren't simply fantastic?" I asked, playing offended.
"More often than I'd like." He laughed whole heartedly. I loved to make him laugh.
"Don't make me leave you here!" I threatened him jokingly. "Oh, c'mon, Comrade! Let's seize the opportunity! How often we find an animal like that? What can we loose?" It was so me. Clinging to a sudden, impossible idea with such a force, until I get what I want.
"After all… it could end up well…" he mused. "And at least you could have a company when I'm on mission.'
"Is that a yes?" I asked, hoping.
"Yes." He said, defeated. Forgetting all my calm guardian ways – do I have them anyway? – I jumped into his neck, squealing. "After all, it might be fun. Maybe it'll bring some life to this house." He said absently.
The thing none of said out loud was that if we could never have a kid together, we could at least have something to look after, filling the space.
The next day I went to the animal shelter in a much better mood. I told our plans with Dimitri about the pup Lissa in the car, and she was overjoyed; she liked the idea of us having a dog.
Upon arriving, my first thing to do was to talk about this with the volunteer who instructed us the last day. He said that there would be no problem with adopting a pup; I think he was even happy about it. I told him which one we wanted, and in return, he told me about him. He arrived at the shelter about three weeks ago - he was found on the streets. They also thought that mostly German shepherd blood was in his veins, but they guessed that he had a wolf or two among his ancerstors. Maybe it was the explanation why he was so smitten with dhampirs: he was a lovechild of two species as well.
I got the same duties as the last time: feeding the dogs, and then sweep the yard. This time the afternoon seemed to go faster. By the time I started to feel bored, it was already five o'clock, and Dimitri had arrived; he had human-time-afternoon shifts all week.
"Ready to go?" He asked when he found me. I was in front of the pups' kennel, playing with my little buddy.
"Yeah, sure." I answered, getting up. I opened the door of the kennel, and let the dog out. I didn't have to carry him to the lobby - he came after us on his own.
The adopting process was easy enough - we had to fill out a form, pay in some money, and we got the papers about his vaccinations and stuff. While I was filling out the form Dimitri was standing behind me, dog in his arms, trying to restrain him, because he was wriggling uncontrollably, keeping trying and licking Dimitri's face, who took it good naturedly.
At one point I stopped and looked up from the form to the wrestling pair.
"We need a name; they ask for it." I held up the paper to Dimitri so he could have a look at it.
"Hm…" He looked down at the dog in his arms. "We surely can't call him Fluffy, or something like that." He said absent-mindedly. I chuckled.
"Why, it'd suit him so well!" I joked. Dimitri looked at me with admiring eyes, with a hint of a smile on his face.
"Then what about something royal? Like Rex or Caesar?"
"No, they're way too common. Anyway, this way we could name him Prince William or Prince Harry." I mused. Then an idea stuck into my head. "I got it! What do you think about Tsar, hm? It's still "royal", as you put it, but not nearly as common as Rex. And I think it fits.'
Dimitri thought about it for a moment.
"Tsar, hah? Not bad. What do you say about it, little one? After all, it's your name." He said, looking down at the pup. He was an adorable thing to see – they both were.
The dog gazed at up him, stilling for a moment, then barked in his high voice, wriggling his tail.
"I think he likes it." Dimitri said.
"Then Tsar it is." I decided, and wrote it down.
From that moment, we officially had a dog. And the first time in life, I felt like I was just like any human.
A/N: Liked it? Hated it? If it's the first case, then stay tuned for my other works, because there's more VA stories on the way!