Hey everyone!

Here is my new story. It is set five years after graduation but Spirit Bound never happened.

SUMMARY:
Rose and Lissa return to St. Vladimir's five years after they graduated. Lissa is teaching a class for Spirit Users of all ages and Rose is now teaching a combatives class. Things finally start looking up for Rose until she takes a trip with everyone for the holidays. She has to make a choice that will change everyone's life, Moroi and Dhampir alike. Will she be able to make the right choice or will her feelings get in the way?

I hope you like my new story and please review! They make my day ;)

I sat looking out the window as the plane started to land at St. Vladimir's Academy. It had been five long years since I had graduated and became Lissa's guardian. Lissa had been asked by Headmistress Kirova to come back and teach a class for spirit users. She gladly jumped at the chance and we flew out the next week. I wasn't too happy to come back here; it held too many painful memories for me still. I never had found Dimitri again after that painful trip I took to Russia. He had wrote me letters for months after I returned and then one day they just stopped. I didn't know if he was still out there or if someone had finally gave him the final death that he deserved. It was hard to think about someone else killing him, but it was better than letting him stay as a Strigoi.

I felt the tears starting to well in my eyes and I quickly wiped them away before Lissa saw them. I didn't want her to feel bad for making me come back here.

"Rose, are you sure you are okay with this?"

I turned to face her and gave a small smile. "I'm sure, Liss. This is a great opportunity, not just for you, but for the other spirit users."

"Not to mention that the novices get a badass guardian to train with now."

Kirova had given me a position as an academy guardian while Lissa taught here. I was looking forward to training with the novices everyday. It had been a while since I had a real fight, since we had been living at court.

After the plane had landed I grabbed my bag and followed Lissa off the plane. It was August and the air was warm. It was nice being back in the open lands of Montana. I turned around and looked out into the open fields. The sun was just starting to set and the vampiric day was just about to start.

We walked silently to the administration building and waited for Kirova to see us. It was nerve wracking because when I left I wasn't on the best terms with her.

"Princess Dragomir. Guardian Hathaway," Kirova said as she stepped out of her office. "Please come in and have a seat."

We followed her into her office. Lissa sat down but I remained standing at the back of the office. I may not be on duty right now but I couldn't keep from still acting like a guardian.

"I am so glad that both of you have accepted the positions I offered you. Classes will begin tomorrow but today we will get you settled."

Kirova talked for over an hour before we were finally released. Lissa was given a room on the other side of campus from me. We parted ways and I headed toward the novice dorms. I walked in to find Stan Alto sitting behind the desk. He looked up and I honestly thought he was going to faint.

"Well glad to see you haven't changed, Stan," I said with as much sarcasm as I could master.

"Ah, Hathaway. How I missed your charm." He picked something up off his desk and handed it to me. "Here is your room key."

I nodded and headed up the stairs to my room. I looked down at the key and saw what room I was in. My heart nearly stopped. Kirova had put me in Dimitri's old room. This school year was going to be harder than I thought. I carefully unlocked the door and stepped inside. All of the memories I had of him the night we were under Victor's lust charm came rushing back.

I tossed my bag down and sat on the bed. There was a fine layer of dust on everything and I could tell no one had been in this room since they removed all of Dimitri's things and sent it back to his family in Baia. I breathed in deeply as I tried to keep myself calm. I was finally starting to calm down when I got a rush of emotions from Lissa. She wasn't in trouble but her emotions were strong.

I quickly left my room and ran toward hers. I was coming upon her building when I saw her. She was standing in front of someone. I slowed down and made my way over to her. I didn't recognize who she was talking to, so I kept quiet.

"I can't believe you are here. When did you get in?" The man asked.

Lissa turned when I walked up and smiled. "We just got in a few hours ago."

"It's good to see you back here, Lissa. It's nice to see you too, Rose." He walked away after that. I hadn't really looked at him but his voice sounded familiar.

"Who was that Liss?"

She quickly turned to me. Her face showed she was shocked. "You don't remember him?"

"No. Who was it?"

"Rose, that was Aaron."

"Oh, wow. I didn't even recognize him. What is he doing here?"

"He's teaching Animal Behavior now."

Animal Behavior was one of my favorite classes when I came back with Lissa after we ran away. "Lissa, what are you thinking? I can tell you are blocking me."

I swear even in the little light we had out here she blushed. "Nothing."

"Come on, out with it."

"I was just thinking how good he still looks."

I groaned. Aaron and Lissa had dated a few times when we were still in school but she never really felt a strong attachment to him. I actually felt kind of bad for the guy. He was nice and all but just didn't have what it took to keep her with him. "Well, you can keep those thoughts to yourself. I'm hungry, want to go with me to get something to eat?"

"Rose, you are always hungry. But no, I think I am going to go have a look at my classroom. I'll meet you for dinner later though."

I gave her a hug and headed off toward the commons. I walked in to see that nothing had changed. Just as I was headed toward the line I heard someone clear their throat behind me. I slowly turned around and came face to face with a familiar face.

"Alberta! I didn't know you were still here," I said giving her a hug.

"Where else would I go? You weren't thinking about eating in there, were you?" She asked as she pointed to the line.

I shrugged. "Where else would I eat?"

"Oh, Rose. You aren't a novice anymore. You get to eat with the big kids now. Come on. I'll walk with you to the guardian cafeteria."

We walked in a comfortable silence to the guardian building. Even after five years of being in the field I still felt a little awkward being in here. I sat down with Alberta after I had found a few donuts and some orange juice. "So what class am I going to be teaching?" I asked as I took a bite of the delicious, chocolately donut.

"Advanced Guardian Combat Techniques."

I never thought that I would get an advanced class. "Why are they giving me that class?"

"Rose, you are one of the best guardian's out there. Why wouldn't they?"

I shrugged. "I just figured I would get something like Bodyguard Theory and Personal Protection or something."

"Stan still teaches those classes."

"Poor guy. No wonder he looked like he wanted to kill me when I saw him earlier."

We talked for a little while longer until she had to leave to go get things ready for the classes that were starting the next day. I stood up and threw away my napkin and cup and decided to head over to the gym. I opened the door and saw that someone was already there. They were fighting with a punching bag and the punching bag was definitely losing.

I stood there watching him as he moved. I couldn't see his face, so I couldn't be sure if I knew him but there was something familiar about him. He moved gracefully as he fought. His long, lean, toned arms striking as quick as a cobra. His black hair was soaked in sweat. He didn't have a shirt on and I could see his muscles in his back flexing.

Finally I cleared my throat and he stopped punching and slowly turned around. When I saw his face my jaw dropped.

"Close it Hathaway, you might catch a fly," he said with a smirk.

"Well, well Christian, never thought I would find you in a gym. What are you doing back here after all this time?"

He grabbed a towel and wiped the sweat from his face. "I teach a defensive magic class now. What are you doing back here?"

"Lissa was offered a position to teach a spirit user class and I accepted to work with the novices."

"Oh, Lissa came back with you?"

I nodded. "I'm meeting her later for lunch, if you want to go."

"No, I don't think so."

"Christian it's been five years. Come have dinner with us."

"I'm sorry, Rose. I Just can't see her yet. But I will catch up with you later okay?"

I nodded and gave him a quick hug as he walked out. I don't know why he couldn't just get over everything and come have dinner with us. I mean it had been five years since they broke up. I would have figured that he would have forgiven Lissa by now.

I sat down on one of the benches and looked around. There were so many memories in this gym. This is where I had first trained with Dimitri, where we had fallen in love, where we had shared some of our few kisses. But this time as I thought about it, I didn't cry. I thought about the happy things we shared together and smiled. I leaned back and closed my eyes. I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I remembered was Lissa gently shaking me.

"Rose, come on wake up," she said gently.

I opened my eyes and blinked everything into focus. "What time is it?"

"A little after five. When you didn't meet my in my classroom I came looking for you. What were you doing in here?"

I stood up and stretched. Remind me never to sleep on a bench, I thought to myself. "I'm teaching a class in here. I came in to set some things up but I saw Christian and then I guess I fell asleep."

"You saw Christian?" I nodded. "What is he doing here?"

"He's teaching a defensive magic class. Come on let's go get dinner."

As we walked to the teacher's lounge I could feel Lissa thinking about Christian. She felt sad and hurt that he hadn't came to see her when he found out we were back.

"Liss, don't worry. One day I'm sure he'll come around and talk to you again."

"I know. It's just weird with us both back here. I still love him, but I don't want to be with him anymore. Too much time has passed. I just wish that we could be friends at least. You know?"

I put my arm around her shoulder and gave a small squeeze. "I know."

After dinner I made my way back to my room and collapsed on my bed. I was tired and soon found myself in a deep, peaceful sleep. Well until I was rudely interrupted when the scenery changed into the ski resort we had taken a trip to my senior year.

"Hello, little Dhampir."

I turned around to see Adrian in the same spot where I had first met him. "Hello Adrian, and what do I owe this pleasure to?"

"Can't your ex-boyfriend drop in every now and again?"

I laughed. "Normally an ex-boyfriend drops by in the real world, not in someone's dreams. What are you doing here?"

"I just wanted to see how you were doing being back at the academy." He motioned for me to come sit on the bench next to him. I sat down at looked into his beautiful green eyes. We had tried dating a few years back but we decided that even as much as we loved each other, being together just wasn't right for us. I still saw him every now and then around court but we rarely got to spend anytime together.

"I'm doing alright. They gave me Dimitri's old room, which is a little strange but I am dealing with it. I've seen a few people that are still here and even ran into Christian. He's teaching a defensive magic class if you can believe it."

"I'm glad to see you are doing good, Rose," he said as he wrapped his arm around me. I leaned in and cuddled close to him. Even though we weren't together anymore we were still close. "You know if you need me, you can call me no matter what it is about, right?"

I smiled. "I know. But things are really going okay for now. I start teaching in the morning and I am actually looking forward to it."

"That's good." He kissed my forehead. "I love you little Dhampir. I will talk to you later."

"I love you, too, Adrian."

The dream slowly faded to black and returned to my dreamless, peaceful sleep.