Christmas Night by Candlelight

Here's the Christmas oneshot I promised! Thankfully I still have power here, so could get it done. To my fellow Brits, I hope you're all doing alright. These storms are insane.

Disclaimer: Vampire Academy belongs to Richelle Mead, not me.

N.B- January 7th is the day they celebrave Christmas in Russia.

"Dimitri. Dimitri." I hissed, leaning over his sleeping form. "Wake up Comrade, it's Christmas." Dimitri pressed his face further into the pillow, muttering something unintelligible. Since it was our first Christmas together and I hadn't warned him of how early I woke up on this morning, I'd cut him a bit of slack. But not much.

"Dimitri!" I shouted, jabbing his chest with my finger.

This time he shot up, eyes open, immediately alert. "What?"

"It's Christmas!" I bounced up and down on the bed, same as I had done since I could remember.

His gaze cut to the clock on his bedside table, frowning. "It's 6:30."

"It's Christmas." I said for the third time, thought where the first 2 were excited exclamations, this was an explanation. "And since when do you have any trouble waking up in the morning?"

"Since we were at Lissa's Christmas Eve party until 1 O'clock, then came back and..."

"Celebrated some more?" I added with a wink.

"Mm-hmm." He hummed, wrapping his long fingers around my wrist to pull me closer.

I resisted, instead breaking free of his hold to crawl to the end of the bed. Seeing the stocking hanging there, I let out a small squeal that I reserved for this one day in the year.

Dimitri, his mind still a little sleep-addled and fuzzy from the drinks we'd had last night since we weren't on duty, looked confused. "Where did that come from?"

I wasn't sure if he was referring to the stthing or the squeal! So I went with the former. "Lissa." I explained, grabbing the stocking by the toe and attempting to upend it onto the bed. Forget pulling out one present at a time, I was too impatient for that. "That first Christmas on the run, we didn't know anyone and Lissa didn't have her family, so I suggested starting a new tradition. We do each other stockings, part of the game being that if we wake the other up when putting them in the room, we have to forfeit a present."

Since most Moroi families were of Romanian descent, a stocking on the mantelpiece wasn't a big tradition amongst them. So, the new tradition had been a way to make a new start, and also escape the ancient cultural influences of the Royals in a way.

Finally, the blockage at the top of the stocking cleared, and torrent of candy, chocolate, makeup and other stockingfillers (mostly edible, though. Lissa knew me well) piled onto the bed.

"Mm, good haul this year."

Tearing the wrapper from around a chocolate reindeer, I shoved the entire thing in my mouth. Dimitri looked on, slightly disbelieving. "It's 6:30 and you're already eating?" He paused, reconsidering. "Of course you are."

His words didn't bother me. "Of course I am. You should try it."

I dropped a chocolate Santa on his chest, and proceeded to dig through the rest of the gifts. When I turned back to Dimitri, the chocolate had gone.

"See? Perfect way to start the morning."

He smiled, and lifted a hand. A sprig of mistletoe was twirling between his fingers. "Almost perfect..."

I covered his fist in my own, lifting it above our heads. "I like your thinking."

Leaning down, I pressed my lips to his. "Merry Christmas Comrade," I mumbled.

"Merry Christmas indeed."

It was almost 8 O'clock by the time we made it out of the bedroom, both still in our pyjamas. Dimitri had added a shirt, and me a hoodie over the shirt I'd stolen from him long ago, but aside from that, both taking advantage of the fact that we didn't have to get dressed for a good few hours.

In the kitchen, a yawning Christian was slaving away over the oven. He turned as he heard us enter the room, focussing on Dimitri.

"Hey, was it just me, or did you get woken up in the middle of the night as well?"

Lissa scolded him as she skipped past, kitted out in festive red and white flannel pyjamas. "Oh, stop moaning Christian. It wasn't the middle of the night, it was early morning."

"Exactly," I agreed, dragging the word out. "I get Dimitri being all old and boring, but what's your excuse?"

Both Christian and Dimitri looked equally offended. "All part of my cynical charm." Christian told me drily.

I rolled my eyes, and followed Lissa to the Christmas tree we'd decorated last night. Between the 4 of us, we'd been completely unable to agree on a theme, so had ended up using everything. The result was that it looked as though the fairy at the top had attempted to eat the star that was jostling for the same space, then barfed that stardust all over the tree. But it looked like home, and it was ours, something that Christian and I couldn't remember having, and that Lissa remembered well enough to miss.

"You know what I like most about having a Russian boyfriend?" I said to Lissa.

"The sexy accent?"

"Okay, you jealous? But aside from thatdiffer celebrating Christmas on a different day. 2 families, 2 Christmasses, twice as many presents. It's like a dream come true!" I exclaimed, and Lissa laughed. Dimitri and I would be flying out on the 4th to spend a week with Olena and th. Rest of the Belikovas.

"Having a father with a private jet to ferry you there and back's pretty good too."

"Not to mention the expensive presents he buys me to make up for the last 18 years of absence," I joked.

By now, Dimitri had almost downed his cup of coffee, and already seemed to have mustered some more Christmas cheer. Dropping down beside me on the floor beneath the tree, a small, contented smile had found purchase on his lips.

"Hey, Chris. You ready to start opening the presents yet?" I called.

"Just coming," he replied, and a moment later he appeared from behind the sofa carrying a plate of warm mince pies.

"You angel," Lissa said, reaching out to take a pastry. I beat her there, grabbing two and downing them in about 3 seconds flat. This time, Dimitri didn't look surprised.

I turned to Lissa, who was sitting on my other side. "How's this going to work? Youngest first, or just grab one and see who it's for?" I'd shot down Dimitri's suggestion of stacking presents by recipient, saying it would take all the fun out of the guessing. What they didn't know yet was that I'd forgotten to label who my presents were for.

"The second one." Christian chose.

"You just don't want to have to wait until 3rd for your turn."

He just shrugged, not bothering to deny it. After checking with Lissa and Dimitri, who agreed to that plan, they gestured to me to pick up the first present.

Spotting one that I had wrapped, distinguishable mostly by the crappy wrapping job, I passed it to Lissa, hoping that removing one of the unlabelled presents first would help the situation.

Lissa, gentle as ever, slid a candy-cane striped nail under a piece of tape, trying to save the paper. After realising that the tape went all the way around, she just went to rip it off.

I was excited for everyone to open my presents- this year, I'd bought everything online from a really cool website, my Royal Guardian salary meaning that I didn't have to stick to dollar store gifts like last year.

"World's most powerful laser?" Lissa read off the box.

I nodded. "Yup, it's true. Aside from looking totally badass, it'll even slice through a Strigoi. Christian can set them on fire, you can slice their heads off with a laser. If it proves to be good, I'm totally taking the idea to the Guardians. Oh, and I customised it."

Lissa opened the box and tipped it, catching the laser as it slid out.

I'd painted the handle with pink nail varnish and added a couple of temporary tattoos over that before sealing it in clear varnish, and I'd glued a small gold crown to the end. The result was what princess Barbie would use if she was ever on a spaceship. Badass.

"This is actually... really, really awesome!" Lissa exclaimed. "Can I try it out?"

I nodded, pointing to the window. Everyone followed, entranced by a high-intensity laser, and watched as Lissa pointed it out the window. After lining up the low-intensity beam that served as a sight, she brought the power up and sliced a bauble clean off the Court's Christmas tree.

There was silence for a moment, before Christian broke it.

"That is the sexiest thing I've ever seen." He clutched at his chest above his heart.

"Yeah, until she gets angry and decides to slice his balls off," I whispered to Dimitri.

He nudged my side to get me to be quiet, but I could see the corner of his lips twitching up into a smile. I was about to try and say something to bring out a full smile, but at that moment Lissa crashed into me.

"Thank you Rose! This is definitely the coolest present you've ever got me."

I returned the hug. "And I've set a pretty high benchmark over the years. But having a weapons expert for a father certainly makes sourcing awesome stuff like this easier."

By this point, Christian was eager to return to the tree. "Can we break the order? I want to see what Rose has got me."

"How do you know it's not socks and baggy Y-fronts?" I teased. Christian looked horrified, and this time Dimitri did laugh. I narrowed my eyes at him. "Same might go for you, Comrade."

He shook his head, wrapping his arms around my waist and reeling me in. "Yeah, but you love me. Plus, unattractive underwear would impact you as well."

"Alright, you got me. Have to keep that ass looking sexy." I pulled away, but now before slapping his ass lightly as I walked back to the tree. He wrapped his arms around me again from behind, and I laughed as we sat down awkwardly, me landing in his lap.

Christian turned to Lissa, whispering, "is it just me, or does Dimitri seem a bit different today?"

Dimitri himself answered."Must be the festive cheer."

Well, that or the really great morning sex.

I immediately tried to tear my mind away from that image, knowing that it would show on my face and Christian would have many snarky comments to add. Instead, I picked up a parcel from under the tree and threw it to him. Crappy Moroi reflexes meant it hit him in the face, but as it was a squishy parcel, he didn't complain too much.

He tore off the paper with a speed that almost rivalled mine.

"So you don't look like a complete pussy when your girlfriend's teaching defence classes or zapping Strigoi." I explained.

I'd bought Christian a top-of-the-range elastic band gun, and a T-shirt that had fake muscles sewn in, kinda like a superhero fancy dress outfit.

Christian grinned, holding up the gun. "You're going to regret this, Rose. What were you thinking?"

Feigning nonchalance, I reached behind a sofa cushion and withdrew a gun of my own. "That I have better coordination than you. And this will be fun."

Christian paled, and Lissa grabbed the nearest present, reading the tag before passing it to me.

"Let's keep this moving, can we?"

An hour later, all the presents were unwrapped and I'd eaten my way through 3 bags of chocolate coins. Dimitri was reading the back of the new western I'd (reluctantly) bought him for the third time, clearly desperate to start reading it properly. Christian was shooting at random objects, trying to get the elastic bands to hang off protruding edges, and Lissa was trying to get him to stop doing that whilst getting the place ready for the arrival of my parents and the rest of our friends. In true Rose style, I sat back with the food and watched the chaos around me.

Realising the time, I picked up the new curling iron Lissa had bought me and headed for the bedroom to get ready before people started to arrive.

But once I was in the shower, my mind had time to wander down paths I had been intentionally straying from all morning.

This time last year, I'd been miserable and crying over my broken heart. This year, that was fixed, but there was someone missing who'd never get the chance to cry again. I cried for him now.

When I finally left the bathroom, fluffy white towel wrapped around me as I still didn't know what to wear, I realised with a sinking feeling that the shower hadn't covered my sobs as well as I'd hoped.

Dimitri immediately got up off the bed and wrapped me in his arms before I'd even taken a few steps. As I leaned into him, I was pleased that I'd already blow dried my hair but hadn't put makeup on, as it would have been a shame to ruin the nice shirt Dimitri was wearing.

He led me back to the bed, and I sat in his lap with my arms locked around his neck. He rubbed my back, stroked my hair and whispered words of comfort.

"He should be here," I finally choked out. "It's not fair."

"I know, I know." Dimitri murmured, kissing my temple gently. "It's not fair. But that's why we do what we do. And Mason would be so proud of you."

I sniffed loudly, tucking my head under his chin. "I know. But it doesn't make it right."

"Nothing makes it right. All we can do is keep fighting, so that more people don't join them."

There was silence for a few seconds. "Do you miss Ivan?"

It was a stupid question, of course he did, but Dimitri seemed to know what I was asking. He always did.
"Yes. That first year, I didn't spend Christmas with my family. I was ashamed to. Ivan had been killed 2 months before, and there was nowhere I could go. So I went t Novosibirsk and killed as many as I could find. I managed to save a Moroi couple, but it wasn't enough. I didn't even shed a tear."

I leaned up, looking into his eyes, urging him to go on. "Then last year, you lost Mason, and I almost lost you. January 7th, and everything I hadn't let myself feel the year before hit me. The pain, remorse, sadness, everything. I cried." He admitted, but not like he was ashamed of it. "But then I saw you, looking the same as I did, and I realised something." Placing a finger under my chin, he tilted my face p to his. "You were still alive, and I wasn't going to let you go. And we're still alive. We have that to be thankful for, and that's what today is about. We've been given another chance, and though some people aren't so fortunate, we're still here with the people we love, still here to remember those who aren't. So remember them, but don't feel guilty. Mason died to save you. Be grateful for his sacrifice and enjoy this day as a way of saying thank you."

Despite everything, a smile found its way onto my lips.

"Thank you, Dimitri. That made more sense than anything Deirdre ever said." He laughed at that, dropping his hand from my face to find my fingers. "I'm still alive, I still have you, and we still have those idiots who will be crowding through our door in the next hour."

"That's the spirit." He kissed me quickly, moving to stand up and let me get ready. But I stayed where I was, holding him in place. For a moment, I let myself get caught up in that feeling of 'I can't believe this amazing man is mine'. All the Christmas presents in the world couldn't make up for-

That was too sappy, even inside my head. Cutting off my inner monologue, I decided to voice my thoughts in the simplest way possible.

"I love you, Dimitri."

The no-longer-so-rare, beautiful, full smile lit up the room like the Christmas tree lights we'd had so much trouble getting to work last night.

"I love you too, Roza. Merry Christmas."

Merry Christmas indeed.

That night, as we sat cuddled up on the sofa, bundled up in blankets with mugs of hot chocolate in our hands, I looked away from the TV to the windowsill where a row of candles burned bright. Christian had found a way to make the flames burn different colours in the darkness.

2 ice blue, 3 green, 1 deep indigo and an orange-red burning the brightest, not needing any magical enhancement to be recognisable as the person it represented.

Flames in the darkness, stars in the night sky. They say we never see the light from a star until it has already died. That may be true with some people, but at least for that last candle on the windowsill, nobody could deny that he had shone in life as well.

But now, that light and all those other lights would go on shining forever, guiding us forwards in life, like the Star of Bethlehem all those Christmases ago.

I didn't intend for the Mason thing to come up, but hey, the guy wanted to be in it, and I couldn't deny him that :)

Hope you enjoyed this oneshot, it's nothing amazing since it was written quickly, but hey. It's Christmas :D

Merry Christmas,
Hollie xx