This is just something I've started working on. Post Last Sacrifice from Rose's perspective. Please review and tell me if it's worth continuing. Thanks guys.

Just a note; I don't own the Vampire Academy series or its characters.

One;

I often wonder who to thank for everything finally turning out. After Masons death, losing Dimitri to that wretched Strigoi, almost losing Lissa to spirit, my trip to Siberia to kill Dimitri like he made me promise, being framed, imprisoned and almost executed for Tatiana's murder, getting Dimitri back only to be pushed away while he worshiped Lissa. Well, after everything I guess I don't know who to thank. God? If there is a God I don't think he and I are on good terms. It's all confusing, not knowing what to think of my fairy tale ending. But I'm just going to roll with it like Rosemarie Hathaway always does.

Even with the chaos following Lissa's coronation - stubborn people still disagreeing with Lissa taking the throne, commotion over our reveal of Tasha Ozera's I guess mastermind plan - the feeling of waking up in Dimitri's arms every morning made me feel light as a feather. The way he'd look at me with those deep brown eyes, now untainted by the stress and sorrow of his Strigoi past. After I murdered an innocent, if that's what you'd call someone like Victor Dashkov, Dimitri had told me to forgive myself, told me it was out of my control and that it was the harshness of spirit overwhelming me. Soon after I'd convinced him that the same principle applied to his grief over what he'd done while Strigoi.

I woke cradled in one of his arms as he held an old tattered western novel in the other. I took the few brief seconds studying his face, the square of his jaw, the way strands of his brown hair always seemed to escape the pony tail behind his head. It was rare to catch Dimitri off guard, and even while relaxed his Guardian instincts still alerted him to the fact that I was awake. He caught me staring at him out of the corner of his eye and as he started to lower his book I quickly closed my eyes and tried to slow my breathing to give the illusion of sleep. I heard him chuckle beside me and place his book on the night stand. Even while feigning slumber I could still feel his warm gaze on me. He sighed happily and I felt the sheets rustle as he turned to face me.

"Ahh. Well maybe I should let my Roza sleep peacefully." He hummed close to my ear as he began to move the sheets to climb out of the bed. I fluttered my eyelids and looked up at him with a smile on my face, which he returned.

"Nice work comrade." I said softly, he smiled again at my old nickname for him, pulling me closer to him. He placed a hand on the small of my back while I rested my head on his bare chest and listened to the soothing sound of his heartbeat.

We lay like that for what seemed like hours, and I could have spent many hours more with Dimitri like that, in a peaceful serenity contained by his embrace. Most of that morning, which was really the end of the human day, was spent in silence, save for the few mumbles of jokes and whispers of sweet nothings in my ear. His accent would have made my knees weak if I were standing. If you'd asked me a couple of years ago I would have laughed at the idea of finding a Russian man attractive. But dear God this man was perfection in its purest form. Over six feet tall in all his glory, lean muscles, hands so deadly they could kill you before you'd realised he was there yet were gentle enough to tend to wounds - which he'd done a lot of for me back at the Academy, brown hair just past his chin, smouldering deep brown eyes that seemed to look straight into and consume my entire being. I'd risk my life for Dimitri, in fact, I had a number of times.

Dimitri was whispering yet another deliciously saucy yet still tasteful and sweet comment in my ear as his lips found mine and we moulded together yet again. It was like our bodies and our souls were designed to match perfectly. Nothing could keep us away from each other, nothing could stop us from being together. Not time, not societies views on us, not age, not our old strict teacher student relationship, not Dimitri being turned Strigoi, not Adrian. . .

Adrian. . .I felt a twinge of guilt and sadness for the guy. I'd done the wrong thing by him while I was on the run with Dimitri after breaking out of Court. He'd trusted me and he'd loved me. And I loved him too. I still did. But he and I would never work. For one, a Moroi Damphir relationship was even more scandalous than a two Damphirs getting in a serious relationship. And the fact that Adrian was an Ivashkov, a Royal, and I was the reckless Rose Hathaway, notorious for 'kidnapping' Princess Dragomir back in our Academy days, being convicted of murder and treason, breaking out of my holding cell and going on the run wasn't exactly helping. And two, Adrian was becoming a better person, trying as hard as he could to give up his vices, the alcohol and the cigarettes. But he was only doing it for me, not for himself. He acted like the victim whereas I would never let myself become the victim. I hadn't seen Adrian in days, almost a week now. Naturally I'd been worried since he'd first stormed out of my room but now I was really scared for him. He'd been seen around court, never sober, never without an entourage of girls.

Dimitri felt my hesitation in our kiss and pulled back, studying me with those brown eyes now filled with curiosity and worry. Damn it Rose. I thought to myself. He ran a hand through my hair, pushing the tattered mess back from my face, cocking his head slightly to the side he asked me softly.

"Rose. . .Rose what's wrong?" He asked me. His eyes widened with shock, his voice spiked from barely a whisper to almost a yell. "Is it Lissa?" Dimitri asked before he could stop himself. It ached that that was the first conclusion he'd come to.

I was shocked, and I was sure he could see It on my face. It was weird not having the bond with Lissa anymore, not being able to sense her emotions, not knowing if she were in danger - it was also a small freedom, and I tried to convince myself that his sudden rise in worry was because he was so used to my warnings about Lissa's safety from the bond and his usual guardian instincts flaring up at the sign of any danger. Sadly we both knew the truth, the bond spirit had forged between Lissa and Dimitri when she saved him and turned him back into a Damphir was still strong. He didn't look at her romantically but more as a deity, a goddess. Either way it was still something I'd have to work around.

Dimitri looked down at the bed, he'd seen the hurt in my eyes. I silently cursed myself for not being able to hide behind an emotionless mask like Dimitri did so often, now being one of those times. I couldn't torment myself over his relationship with Lissa. I'd accepted that Lissa and Christian would share something Lissa and I never could, and that worked both ways. It was the same with Dimitri and Lissa. She had something I could never have with Dimitri but I gave Dimitri something Lissa never could.

Knowing I'd have to be the one to break the silence I brought us up so we were sitting upright and lifted his chin. I gave him a warm, forgiving smile. He stared at me with a sad look in his eyes, anyone else would have missed it, mistaken it for a simply neutral expression, but I saw it. He opened his mouth to apologise but I stopped him with a kiss. I'd taken him by surprise and knocked us both off the bed, landing with a thud. Sheets spilling after us and landing on top of us. I pulled the sheets away and looked down at him, he was smiling, his eyes were bright as we both laughed. I was straddling him and as he leaned forward to push my hair from my eyes I pushed back on his shoulders hard, pinning him. Leaning in towards him I kissed him lightly on the lips.

"And you thought running in the cold was a good exercise." I smirked and continued to untangle us from the sheets, I stand and help him up. Still smiling at each other as be leads me back to the bed and sits down, pulling me onto his lap. His smile still light and loving, his eyes betraying him once again.

"Roza, about what I said...I-" He began before I'd cut him off.

"No. We told ourselves that we wouldn't let regrets and guilt rule our lives anymore, that we wouldn't grieve over the past and what can't be undone." I stop myself there, feeling like the Zen master when Dimitri is usually the one lecturing me about life. I give him another warm smiled and leaned into his chest, inhaling his scent.

"Back in Spokane last year, when Mason. . .died. . ." I almost choked on the word as I cringed at the memory of his limp body being tossed so carelessly to the floor by Isaiah. "When I was convinced it was my fault you told me you'd first thought I'd never recover from something like that. But I have. I love Mason and I always will but I recovered." I paused briefly to look up at him, he stared straight ahead, a look of sorrow on his face. Spokane wasn't something anyone liked to bring up. I took a breath to steady myself and continued.

"Dimitri. . .you and Lissa will always be connected, in a way we won't be but I have to live with that. I was upset when she first got together with Christian but I knew there was something he could give her that I would never be able to. She's not divided by Christian and I and you aren't divided by Lissa and I." I stood before him, forcing him to look at me. "You need to let this go." I said simply.

Dimitri closed his eyes and sighed, nodding. I brought my lips to his and wrapped my arms around him, trying to extinguish any regret inside him. We got dressed and he took my hand to lead me out the door as someone hastily knocked. Dimitri opened the door and a familiar, and nervous, voice drifted around him.

"Err. . .hi, is Rose here?" My eyes widened as I recognised the voice, I saw Dimitri tense, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the door. I pushed past his attempts to keep me behind him. I forced the famous Rose Hathaway bravado that this particular person was familiar with in spite of my shock.

"Well I'll be damned, Jesse Zeklos."