Song: Love is War by American Young
This song reminded me of Rose and Dimitri. The lyrics are perfect. BUT I had to make Dimitri a bit OOC so he'd actually argue with Rose, so this Dimitri is pretty much the same except he's more willing to fight with Rose. So with that, enjoy!
Young lovers in a picture frame, ever notice how there ain't no rain, nobody hangs hard times on the wall. You won't see it in an 8 by 10, but there's a storm every now and then, a slamming door down the hall…
~*8~8*~
"Listen to me!" Rose shouts as she storms down the hall. "I've told you my answer time and time again, so stop asking!"
"Why not?" Dimitri shouts after her. This is the first time he's yelled at her, ever, and Rose finds it intimidating, but refuses to back down.
"Because, my answer is no!" she slams the door.
"Why the hell not?" Dimitri calls through their bedroom door, frustrated but unsurprised to find it locked. "Rose, we love each other. We're committed to each other, you've met my family and I've endured an interrogation from yours-"
"That wasn't my fault! I warned you! I told you to run!"
"Rose, you know that's not what I meant!" He rakes his hair back, frustration boiling over. "I just don't get it!"
"What?"
"Why you won't marry me!"
"Are you deaf? Comrade, I've told you!" She yells through the door.
"Saying 'you're not old enough' isn't a good enough reason!"
"It is a perfectly good reason! I'm eighteen, and you know how I feel, but you're still proposing to me left and right!"
"Why is eighteen too young? Rose, we were together before you were eighteen! Your father and mother almost shot me in the stomach when they found out!"
Rose wants to say that it's different, but she knows it's a faulty argument. "I just feel like eighteen is too young to get married. Why is that so hard to understand?"
Normally Dimitri would take that as an answer and drop the issue, but tonight he is tired and feeling hurt after another failed proposal. It doesn't make sense to him; they are in love, sworn to love each other and no one else, so why hesitate in making it legally binding and public to all? His mother and sisters and Yeva all brought him up to value marriage, to value its sanctity and to see it as the ultimate union of two committed hearts. It's stability, stability he never had.
Rose does not feel the same. She thinks marriage is old fashioned and meant to keep women subservient, although Dimitri would never dream of trying to oppress or limit her.
"It wouldn't change anything, Rose," Dimitri tries. "It's not like you'd have to give up your duty, and I don't expect you to settle down and be a homemaker-"
"Then why?" She shrills, getting frustrated, herself. "If it won't change anything, then why bother? It's just a piece of paper. What good does that do us? It doesn't add or say anything we don't already feel!"
"It's important to me!"
"Do you really want to have a teenage wife? Are you that crazy?"
"It's like I said, it wouldn't change anything," Dimitri shoots back. "And you agreed, so I don't get why we don't just do it already."
Rose practically screams in frustration. "GO AWAY! Do not twist my words at me! I'm too young, and that's it! Keep it up, and I might not marry you even when I hit twenty!"
Dimitri throws up his hands. He knows when to back out. "Fine!"
As he walks away, he stops and kicks the wall, and a picture frame falls. The glass doesn't shatter, but all the same, he hears Rose screaming. "WHAT DID YOU BREAK?"
"NOTHING!"
"OH, SO YOU'RE BREAKING THINGS NOW? REAL MATURE COMRADE. ARE YOU SURE YOU'RE NOT THE EIGHTEEN YEAR OLD?"
"I THOUGHT YOU WANTED ME TO LEAVE!"
"I DO!"
"FINE! I'M GOING!"
"FINE!"
He sets the frame down and looks at the picture inside and sighs. Lissa had taken it when they weren't looking. Lissa and Christian had taken a vacation to the beach in Florida, and naturally Dimitri and Rose went along. In the picture, Dimitri has thrown Rose over his shoulder and she's grinning at the camera, eyes wide and lips open mid-laugh.
Well, she isn't laughing now. Neither of them are.
Sometimes loves is a white flag, sometimes love is standing tall, sometimes love is a feather, sometimes a cannonball, but it's worth fighting for. Baby, sometimes love is war…
~*8~8*~
He returns later that night with takeout, knowing she must be starving. He's also brought her a chocolate cupcake from her favorite bakery, as a peace offering of sorts.
"Roza?" Dimitri knocks tentatively on the door.
Nothing.
He leans his forehead against the door. "Roza, I'm sorry I got angry at you. You're right, I'm rushing you into something you're not ready for, and that's not fair. And you're right, it won't change much. But marriage is important to me," he continues, "and I hope you'll say yes one day. And I'm willing to wait forever for that day, if that's what it takes."
Nothing.
He sinks to the floor, his back against the door and sighs. "Are you hungry? I brought you some dinner."
Nothing.
"Rose. Roza, please talk to me. I'm sorry."
Finally, the door creaks open and he rises to his feet in a flash. Rose stands there in the doorway. Her eyes are red rimmed from crying. His heart breaks, knowing he's the one who made her cry, and the old loathing from when he was Strigoi comes rushing back.
Rose sees it. She always does. She sniffs and wipes her eyes before touching his arm. "I forgive you. I'm sorry, too. I'm being stubborn."
He doesn't say anything, just lets her continue.
"And I didn't really mean it when I say I wouldn't marry you when I hit my twenties," Rose rushes on. "I love you, Comrade, and I do want to marry you, just not now. I'm eighteen. And, I'm going to be honest with you, when I'm twenty I might not want to get married then either."
His face falls.
"But," she grabs his hand. "A lot can happen in two years." She smiles wryly. "Who knows? Maybe you'll change my mind."
Dimitri cracks a smile and gently enfolds her in his arms. "I hope to," he whispers, kissing the top of her head. "I'm sorry," he apologizes again. "No more proposals for a long time. I promise."
Rose smiles up at him and pulls his face down for a kiss. "I'm sorry too."
An old couple on a front porch swing, on a walk down memory lane, been through the fire and back again. Through the clear and the cloudy skies, still love in each other's eyes, sometimes love is war but sometimes you win…
~*8~8*~
Rose and Dimitri Belikov are officially retired. After serving the royal family for forty years, they moved into a small home nearby Lissa and Christian's apartments at Court.
A new king had been elected two years ago – Lissa and Christian's son, Alek, and he is proving to be a successful and popular monarch.
Now, they sit on the front porch of their home in the swing as they watch their son, Luka, play with their grandchildren on the front lawn.
Time had been good to them. Rose still packs a punch and has managed to maintain her small, curvy body. Her hair is still dark brown, albeit streaked with gray, and wrinkles line the edges of her eyes and forehead, but she refuses to acknowledge them, and Dimitri claims that he can't see them at all.
He has aged well. He could give George Clooney or Harrison Ford a run for their money with his salt and pepper hair, bright eyes and wiry physique. Age has not stooped his shoulders, and he still stands tall and proud.
Their son, Luka, is their only child, but he is their miracle child and for him they are eternally grateful. He was treasured, but not spoiled, he is fiery and stubborn like Rose, but he can be wise and protective and gentle, just like Dimitri. He has made them proud, becoming an important guardian and more importantly, a loving husband to his wife and a loving father to his own children.
There are only three of them, two boys and a girl, and the girl has the same spark as Rose.
"Granna! Granpa! Look what I found!" She cries, running over and showing them the caterpillar she found.
Rose smiles at her. "Very nice, sweetheart."
Dimitri presses a kiss to her forehead. "That's wonderful, vnuchka. Go show your papa."
She runs off, her long brown hair flapping behind her.
Rose refuses to be called Babushka, because 'it reminds her of Yeva, that old witch who made Rose's life miserable on purpose up until the day she finally kicked the bucket, and Rose won't have her grandchildren calling her the same thing as that mean old cow'. Or so she puts it. Dimitri just laughs whenever she explains it to anyone.
Dimitri wraps his arm around Rose and pulls her into his side, pressing a kiss to her temple. He takes her hand and begins to absently play with her wedding ring.
"Still think it was a good idea to marry me?" Rose teases.
"Of course, Roza," he says, bringing her hand to his lips. "It was the best idea I'd ever had."
Rose examines their clasped hands, scarred and callused. Together they've weathered many storms. Rose has a patch of skin on her hand that is forever damaged, where a Strigoi caught her with a hot coal while she and Dimitri were on a camping trip in North Dakota. Dimitri's missing the tip of his left pinkie, where it had been sliced off during a knife fight with some rogue guardians. Rose still has the scars over her heart from when Tasha shot her, and Dimitri has similar ones from when Lissa staked him as a Strigoi and brought him back to life.
They have been to hell and back for each other, navigating their fights, troubles, doubts, fears, and trials with love that only grew with time.
Their love has been tested on many occasions, but it is strong. They beat the odds, against everyone's doubts, and they triumphed together.
They won.
Sometimes love is a white flag, sometimes love is standing tall. Sometimes love is a feather, sometimes a cannon ball. But it's worth fighting for, Baby, sometimes love is war…
~*8~8*~
They still have their fights, being a quarrelsome old couple. She is still just as stubborn and he is still just as patient, but patience often wears thin after awhile, where stubbornness does not, and they inevitably butt heads.
They always make up, of course, both being able to apologize and work through it.
It is usually Rose who comes to him, bearing the white flag, because it is usually her who causes the arguments. Dimitri always accepts her apology and apologizes himself, because that's what you do when you're in love.
Some days, they argue about who used up the milk, and others they argue about whose turn it is to take out the garbage.
Luka comes by to check on them, to make sure the chores get done, because Dimitri has acquired Rose's stubborn manners over the years and sometimes nothing gets done if Luka does not intervene.
But that is love, sometimes it is war.
Sometimes love is all that can save us, sometimes love can kill a man, sometimes love is a soft touch, sometimes love is a pistol in your hand…
~*8~8*~
In the end, Dimitri dies for Rose.
The first time she had died from Tasha's bullet, Dimitri thought there wasn't any other pain on earth that could compare to his pain, watching her die.
He was wrong. He has to watch her die twice, and when it is their time to go, she passes first.
He wishes it were him.
The day that she passes, he is right there beside her, holding her hand and pressing a kiss to her forehead. She smiles weakly up at him, whispering her last words to him and only for him, I love you Comrade. See you on the other side.
And two days later, Dimitri goes too, his heart and soul tied forever to Rose's, following her to the grave as he would have followed her to the ends of the earth. There is nothing for him left if she is gone. Luka is grown and has his own family to take care of, so Dimitri dies unburdened. He knows Luka can take care of them all. He is so much like his father.
And when Dimitri gets to the edge, he sees her waiting there for him, young and beautiful like she had once been, and he is suddenly just as young and just as beautiful.
She takes his hand, and together they step into the unknown.
Sometimes love is a white flag, sometimes love is standing tall. Sometimes love is a feather, sometimes a cannon ball. But it's worth fighting for, Baby, sometimes love is war…
~*8~8*~
Two gravestones stand side by side, casting shadows on the green lawn as the sun sets over the horizon.
The first says: Rosemary Hathaway Belikov, beloved mother, wife, and guardian.And beneath those words, are the words Sometimes love is war.
The second stone says: Dimitri Belikov, beloved father, husband, and guardian. And like the first, it has words under it too – But it's worth fighting for.
And if there were any phrase to describe Rose and Dimitri Belikov, it would be that.
Sometimes love is war, but it's worth fighting for.
Yes,'vnuchka' is granddaughter in Russian. It's the best I could do, courtesy of Google Translate.
And I mention Luka in other drabbles in my drabble collection, Test Tubes and Babies parts 1 and 2. Hope you liked, and didn't cry too hard!