The Silver Ring

A/N: look who it is~ I have the next chapter for Taking Chances written and I'm just waiting on my beta to edit it because she does fabulous things to it so it's worth waiting for u feel me. Anyway, how is everyone? I have something for y'all, a two-shot, maybe three-shot, I don't know but it's nice and Christmassy and it has a big red bow and a tag with your name on it. No no no, you don't need to thank me, I already know. Alright, I'm just dicking around in this A/N, for some serious stuff read the one at the bottom. Enjoy :)

RPOV

"Oh, what about this one?" A large green candle was held up to my nose, and I got a good whiff of artificial evergreen. I kind of liked it, but not enough. I pushed the candle away from me with my hand.

"It's alright," I said. Lissa sighed and kept searching on the shelves. The Christmas season hit Court hard, and I can't help but wonder if every year was like this. By early-December, displays of hard working elves and snow-capped cabins had taken residence in nearly every store window. Mother Nature was getting into it, too; a thin layer of white covered nearly every surface of Court. Water fountains had stopped water flow, crystal ice forming over the structures. The pine trees that dotted Court were especially green, in contrast to the blanket of white that was thrown over the place. It was beautiful, really. I'll admit, it was kind of getting me into the Christmas mood too, even though I was a little reluctant to admit it.

My injuries were healing nicely. The fact that I was no longer shadow-kissed, and that my bond with Lissa was gone, I was a little iffy about her using spirit on me. I wasn't able to take her darkness away anymore, and the all around concept of magical healing was different to me now, somehow. I hadn't wanted her to heal my gunshot wound. So I was in for some slow, antagonizing, mundane healing, and a little bit of TLC from my friends. They were coming along enough that now I could move around on my own, I just couldn't do anything strenuous or drastic. Lissa was taking advantage of my leave from work and my mobility, so we were out Christmas shopping. We were in Bath and Body Works at the moment, smelling some Christmas-themed scented candles. Lissa was searching through the shelves determinedly, looking for something that would make her house even more seasonal.

I, however, was glancing at the door. In the more east side of Court, there is a little strip full of shops, and that's where Lissa and I were right now. We had several guardians around us, but we were in Court so we didn't really need that many. Maybe we would if you counted awe-struck onlookers as danger. I bought two scented creams, really for myself which crossed my name off the list. Sometimes, you needed to treat yourself. I wanted to look for gifts for Christian, Abe and my mother, something to send to the Academy for Alberta and Dimitri. Lissa I would have to take care of when I wasn't with her, but if I never got the chance my plan B was to tell her the bullet I took for her was her Christmas gift. I was thinking more of a gag gift for Christian, like a girly pair of oven mitts since he liked to cook so much. Abe, I wasn't sure since I didn't know him that well. Maybe a knuckle brace, which would be kind of cool. I ran through all the sayings I could engrave it with. I was thinking of a nice piece of jewelery for my mom, but I wasn't sure of what kind of thing she'd like. I had no idea what Alberta would want, or Dimitri.

Speaking of, our relationship had been going steady. I thought something would be kind of strange, since we had never actually been able to be together until after I was shot. There was always some kind of obstacle to overcome, something that prevented us from being together. Now that there was, well, nothing, it was kind of a strange feeling. It was a good feeling, don't get me wrong, but still unfamiliar. I was most concerned about his gift, because I didn't know what I should get him. My default gift for men was usually just a watch, but I don't think he'd make good use of it. I would just have to keep brainstorming, and hope I came up with something.

I shopped with Lissa for a bit more, but soon ended up in my own apartment examining my haul. I had a pair of pink oven mitts with kittens on it for Christian, a flashy scarf with green and gold patterns on it for the old man, and a pretty beaded bracelet for my mother. I put all of the contents in a bag and put it in my closet, content to deal with all of it closer to Christmas. Dimitri wasn't home, he was working in the office today, sorting through files and filling out reports and such, he probably wouldn't be back for another couple hours, the sun wasn't even close to rising. Until then, I cleaned up as much as my injury and attention span would allow. I showered and changed into some comfortable clothes, worked on a report documenting an interruption in ward security, and just as I sat down in the living room to watch some TV, the front door opened and Dimitri stepped through. I craned my head and looked behind me

He was covered in snow. He flustered a bit inside of the doorway since he was wearing so many layers, the tip of his nose tinged red and his cheeks coloured a similar shade. His winter hat was falling down his face and covered his eyes, and his jacket was starting to dampen from the snow that had started to melt. My heart warmed at the sight. I smiled and watched as he got himself sorted out, and when he leaned over to take off his boots, his eyes met mine and he gave me a warm smile. After shaking himself out, he walked from the entrance into the living room and joined my on the couch. His arms wrapped around me, though he was careful about my wound, and he pulled me to him. I relaxed into his embrace, and he pressed his face to mine. I tried to squirm away without hurting myself.

"Your face is cold!" I exclaimed, laughing. He laughed, too.

"No it isn't, not that much," his arms tightened slightly and I couldn't escape as he pressed his red and freezing face into my neck.

"Maybe not to you because you have a natural, built resistance to cold, but I don't so back away," I warned, though we both knew I didn't really want him to back away. He laughed again.

"How is your chest?" he asked me, his voice concerned.

When I first got shot, Dimitri was all on me, and not in the fun way. He was always at the apartment. He didn't smother me, though, he was at the apartment or if he stepped out he always made sure to tell me to call, but his ankle wasn't shackled to mine. It was kind of sweet, actually. He always made sure that I was as comfortable as I could be. He entertained me when I was bored, which didn't take much, really. I was happy just to sit and watch some TV with him. He made me something to eat when I wanted it and he took the doctors orders more seriously than I did.

"I'm fine, I went shopping with Lissa today," I said as I reached my hand out to the coffee table for the remote to turn the volume on the TV down.

"Oh? Get anything?" He asked.

"Yeah, a pair of pink oven mitts with cats on them," I said seriously. He pulled back and looked at me with an eyebrow raised.

"They're for Christian," I said, but that caused him to look even more confused. I giggled and laid into him even more. I turned my head and buried it into his chest.

"For Christmas," I stated, my voice muffled by the fabric of his shirt. Once I said 'Christmas', he stiffened.

"You were Christmas shopping?" he asked, and I pulled back to look at his face, confused.

"Yes, why? What's wrong?"

He shrugged, "Nothing, don't worry about it. I was just thrown off that you were Christmas shopping so early."

"That's not the whole reason," I told him, and it wasn't. Maybe he would have been surprised, but hey, the season was thrown over all of us and it's hard to resist getting caught up in it. He had no reason to be, well, upset.

Dimitri sighed. I moved away from him a little, so I could look at him properly, but a lot of me was still touching him. The contact was meant for comfort, he could tell me anything, and it would be okay.

"I'm just not exactly looking forward to Christmas," he admitted, not looking into my eyes. I stared for a couple of seconds, hurt hit my chest and I moved away a little further. He was dreading Christmas? What about it? The whole commercialized aspect of it? I expected him to be happy that he was going to spend the season with me. So much had happened, so many special occasions had been tarnished...I thought it would be nice to finally have a day that was meant to be special, not be ruined. And he wasn't even looking forward to it. Was he the problem, or was I? I hadn't done anything wrong, I've been doing nothing but making mistakes and I was losing things and people I cared about because of it. I wasn't going to do that this time. I had made sure that I was doing things right, and I wasn't going to be on my toes and try and pin something that wasn't my fault on myself for the sake of Dimitri. I was better than that, if not then, I was now. With that conclusion, irritation was overpowering my hurt, although it was still there.

"Why not?" I asked, not bothering to mask my inner emotions.

"I know what you're thinking, Rose, and it's not that. I want nothing more than to spend time with you, and finally spend some time feeling happy with every aspect in my life, but I'm not. I miss my family. And this will be the first Christmas where they think I'm dead, if the news hasn't reached them. This holiday is about family, from any angle you look at it; Catholic or not. And mine is mourning me and all that I've done. I miss them, so much. It's been so long since I've seen them, and the idea that Christmas is coming and we'll be apart is not making me look forward to the day as much as I should." Looking into his eyes, I could see he was telling the truth. Slowly, I've been learning almost all there needs to be know about Dimitri's time as a Strigoi, though it was difficult at first, I never judged him for what he did and it was easy for him to talk about it with me now. There are still some things we need to get around to, though, like his family. I'm sure they must have heard about what happened to him, I don't know how they couldn't have, but if they did know it certainly wasn't because Dimitri called them up to say hi. We talk about it a lot, we consider the different ways we could tell them and how they would react and what will happen after. Mostly, Dimitri has just been putting it off because he's scared his family will ask about his time as a Strigoi, because he'll have to tell him. Because he's so gorgeous and he's good at distracting me I've been going easy on him, but he knows that I won't be babying him for long.

"Well, then, let's go see them!" I jumped up, but a bit too fast. I gasped and hunched over, clutching a hand to my chest. A lick of pain seared through the closed, scabbed and healing wound. It lingered for a moment before dulling at the starting point and slowly fading through the veins of pain that was coursing through my body. Dimitri stood up beside me and rubbed my back until the pain subsided, and tried to help me sit back down, but I wouldn't let him.

"Rose, we can't do that," he said gravely. I laughed.

"Yes, we can! I'm not saying let's pack up and hop on a plane right now, Dimitri. I'm not fifteen anymore where I probably would have. We don't have to go there, we can, I don't know, Skype them or something. This has gone on far too long, Dimitri, your family should have been your top priority when you were saved. When they thought you had died, you should have seen the despair that had fallen over them? And now? You're going to allow them to stay under it? You're going to deprive yourself of the support your family can give you? C'mon, Dimitri, be real. How long do you think this can last?"

Dimitri's voice raised a few notches.

"Oh, you think I like doing this? You think I like going on not speaking to my family, not even knowing if they know what I've been through? What I've done? You don't understand how hard it is, Rose. You don't."

I blinked. It was a long time before I spoke again. When I did, my voice was barely above a whisper.

"You're right. How could I understand? How could I understand owing myself to my family, when I barely even have one." Tears pricked my eyes, but I held them back. I wouldn't allow myself to cry, not in front of him. That was something weird with me, after everything that happened, I didn't want Dimitri to see me cry, ever. I had cried so many times in front of him, and I had only seen him cry once. And...that wasn't even for me. It was for Lissa. That made it weird for me, if he wasn't comfortable enough to be that vulnerable in front of me, why should I for him?

His face softened, but he could only get my name out before I turned my back and walked out of the living room.

My side of the bed faces the window. Dimitri didn't put up much of a fight for it, which is his loss. The window is huge, the edges are frosted by the coming of winter, and moonlight shines through, casting a beautiful silver light over the bench seat under it. I made my way over to the bench seat and sat down on it. I love our view.

Our window faces a pine forest. It's particularly beautiful now, because there is a large expanse of trees. Tress upon trees, all you can see are the tops. Pointing out into the black and crystal sky, are tall pines and evergreens with white, glittering tips. The full moon hung high in the sky, making the whole winter world silver as a low fog settled over the forest. Everything was so still, so silent, I was trapped in a crisp winter painting. I opened the window, which was stuck a bit from the frost, and was met with the stillest cold breeze. It was a wonderful feeling. I was so heated from the yelling and my head was so frantic and my chest was burning. There was nothing like the cold soothing my burns, freezing my fears. I breathed out white smoke. All I could hear was my breathing. The pulled-open window reflected my face, and my eyes were ringed with silver, a reflection of the dead night. The sight was so eerie, so beautiful, that I stared a moment. I felt privileged to have a piece of this, reflected on me. I used to despise the night, of all that came with it, but there was no one around now. The sun was almost going to rise, it was pretty late, everyone had packed up and went home. And when the snow is unbroken, when nothing has torn through the silence, and everything is still, you don't disturb it. You don't want to be the one that disturbs the dark peace. You don't want to ruin that silver night.

"You're going to catch a cold."

Dimitri's voice made me flinch from surprise, and I sighed. I turned around to face him, and closed the window without looking. He was wearing navy blue sweats, his hair was let out of its ponytail and was spilled out over his shoulders, and his hands were stuffed in his pockets.

"I'll be fine," I said, and leaned my forehead against the cold glass. He came over to sit opposite me on the bench seat. There was a moment of heavy silence before he spoke.

"Rose, you have to understand that I'm facing the fact that everyone knows about what I did as a Strigoi. Not what happened with you, or how far most of it went, but most people can piece together that I killed people. How else would I have survived? That's what Strigoi do; they kill people. And it's kind of okay, that these strangers know that, I don't need them to understand. But my family knows that now, too. And that thought...it scares me. What if they look at me differently, knowing what I've done?"

Understanding filled me, and propelled me forward to wrap my arms around him.

"Dimitri, I met your family. And I'm going to tell you something you don't know about them: they'd kill to have you come back to them. When you're gone, they act as though a part of them is missing, and I guess it is. You need to give yourself back to them, open yourself up to their forgiveness and love. When you do, you'll see that all that was in the past is pardoned and you'll be able to have the holiday you want. The holiday you deserve."

Dimitri didn't hesitate to nod his head in agreement and acceptance.

"You're right. We should both spend time opening ourselves up to our families this season."

I said nothing to that, because I knew he would mention something about what I said earlier in the living room about not having a family, but I wasn't in the mood for any more arguing tonight. Looking at the sky again, I saw a shading of lighter blues in the night sky. It was getting late, the Moroi night was approaching.

"I'm going to bed, alright?" I said as I stood from the bench seat. His arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me back down, where he kissed me.

"Thank you," he whispered, and the passion he was showing me left me breathless. His gratitude was crystal clear in his eyes, as dark as the night sky, and in one is a silver ring, a reflection of the dead night.

A/N: idk when I'll have the next chapter up, but I'm working on it. I said I wasn't sure if it'll be a two-shot or three-shot but I'm leaning towards three. Also, I said that I had some important things down below and I DID BUT I CAN'T REMEMBER WHAT I WAS GOING TO SAY ugh I'm sorry guys I'm a horrible person. Not to mention this fic I mean when I first wrote it I thought it was good but now I think it's just mediocre and I could do a lot better. Lately my attention span has been spastic. Blame tumblr. AND IF ANY OF YOU DON'T REVIEW I WILL CRY IN A CORNER AND NEVER WRITE AGAIN