"You must have short term memory loss," I said as I walked into the Gym to find Dimitri reading the same old west novel he's already read before. He glanced up at me and raised his eyebrow.

I threw my bag onto the ground and pulled on my new training gloves. "Why would you read the same book again? It's like knowing the future. Totally boring."

The corner of his mouth twitched as he put the book away. "Sometimes I find that I missed things the first time...or maybe I just want to relive a specific moment,"

"Yeah, I understand that part," I sighed. He frowned slightly but ignored my hint.

"Don't you re-read a book just because you enjoy it?" He asked, studying me. I shrugged, "I don't really have time to read with being Lissa's guardian and practicing with you everyday." He had turned and was now rummaging through his bag for a practice stake. I wanted to keep him talking so I asked, "Got any good suggestions, Comrade?"

He stood and tossed me the practice stake. "For you? Read Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. You and the main character are very alike,"

"So," I shifted my feet to fight, "She's totally awesome, right?"

He actually smiled, "Yes, She's pretty awesome,"

My first vacation away from Lissa and I felt completely horrible. It's not like I didn't know exactly where she was and what she's doing through the bond but not being right beside her felt wrong. I sighed and refrained myself from getting into her head.

I had rented a hotel room for the next three days. It was sort of crappy but I didn't really matter to me. Not if Dimitri was coming. Of course there is always that off chance that something will come up and we won't see each other but I wasn't trying to dwell on that.

I had just hopped into the shower when I heard the door click open. I had just told the concere at the front desk to bring up some extra pillows so I ignored the sound. A moment later I heard another noise and quickly shut off the shower. A shadow was moving across the shower curtain and I stiffened. Damnit, why didn't I bring a stake in the shower with me?!

I slowly wrapped my fingers around the shower curtain to push it open and another hand shot out from behind it and grabbed mine. I screeched and fell out of the shower right onto Dimitri. We both fell to the floor and he started laughing. For a second I didn't move because of shock. Once I got it through my head that there was no Strigoli I punched him in the arm. "What the hell was that for!?" I yelled, "You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

He gazed up at me smiling, "You weren't nearly as quick as I thought you'd be, have you not be practicing since I've been away?" He sat up on the bathroom floor with me in his lap.

"Oh great, I'm getting everything wet!" I tried to get up but his hands grabbed my naked waist and held me there.

"If I had wanted you dry," He whispered against my neck, "I would have waited to ambush you," I twisted my head around and kissed him.

Suddenly this vacation wasn't so horrible. :)