Internet worked for 5 minutes, was able to save this chapter to the site. Now uploading it from my phone and it keeps crashing, so you're spared a long AN. Apologies for any weird formatting as a result of this. Hope you all had a great Christmas :) Disclaimer: VA is not mine.


Chapter 2

"You stole decorations from the tree at Lissa's Yule Ball?"

"Yup." Christian leaned back against the sofa, acting oh so cool. "The Tarus tree, to be exact. You should have heard the fuss they were making about having donated it. 'Oh, each bauble is made from Italian glass and was designed exclusively for us in Venice.' The smug pricks had it coming."

I looked down at the red and white swirled bauble in my hand, and shook my head slowly. "I have to admit, I'm impressed. You have my respect. But repeat that, and I'll tell Rufus what you did."

Christian smirked. "Deal. And I won't tell anyone that you paid the chef to give you an extra portion at dinner."

"I did not pay Gary! I just told him how much I loved his cooking and made him realise how much more I appreciated it compared to the Moroi. He was more than happy to give me extra."

"Yeah. Keep telling yourself that."

Lissa suck her head around the corner from the hallway. "Are you two going to help us, or just sit there and chat?"

"Um..."

"I'm staying here," Christian said. "Miss Muscles can help."

"Miss Muscles will punch you if you ever call her that again."

"Proving my point..."

I knew Christian was just going to piss me off if I stayed here, so I went to help Dimitri and Lissa get the boxes in. The tree had already been put up, but we had all the decorations still to put on.

I set the box Lissa had handed me down on the floor by the fireplace, and Dimitri put his next to mine. One contained the stuff we'd bought from the store, the rest was from the Dragomirs' storage unit. Lissa hadn't wanted to face it, so I'd gone with Christian this morning to liberate the decorations. We'd made a truce then, but he'd been pissing me off ever since to make up for it. I wished I hadn't said I was impressed with him stealing the decoration now.

Almost as soon as the boxes touched the floor, Lissa was down there tearing it open. Tinsel garlands arched into the air as she threw them, and I watched as they torpedoed back to the ground like shooting stars. I took a step back as one went high, sailing up to loop itself over one of the arms of the chandelier. That stopped Lissa's crazy fit, and she sat back on her heels, looking perplexed.

"I like it... but it's wonky." Raising her hand, she tried to use her weak control over Air to move the tinsel where she wanted it. The glittery strands danced in the breeze, but she wasn't strong enough to move the metal wire where she wanted it to go. Lissa dropped her hand, looking disappointed.

Beside me, Dimitri reached up and caught the trailing end of the tinsel, stretching up on his toes to give him the extra boost needed to wind the garland around circumference of the chandelier.

"See that, Lissa? I brought home a useful man. Yours, on the other hand..." Christian had found a decoration that claimed to be inflammable, and was trying to prove the label wrong by engulfing the bauble in a fireball.

"Christian!" Lissa exclaimed when she saw what he was doing. "Stop doing that!"

He smiled at her. "It's cute that you're so confident in my ability to make this combust."

She glared. "It's not that, I don't trust you not to get distracted and accidentally set fire to the sofa instead!"

The fire went out and Christian wore his best wounded puppy face. "Lissa..."

Her glare immediately softened and she dropped the tinsel she was holding, hurrying to Christian's side. "I'm sorry Chris," she said as she sat beside him. "I know you could make it catch fire eventually, I just don't want you tiring yourself out in the process."

Christian took Lissa's hand and leaned in to kiss her. I turned away, rolling my eyes. "Unbelievable." I ripped the tape from the flaps of the second box of decorations. Stupid Christian. Lissa never forgave me that easily.

I smelled aftershave before feeling Dimitri sit down beside me. "It's not like we're so different," he said reasonably.

I knew he was right, but Christian had been more irritating than usual all day, and it was starting to get to me.

"We're allowed to be like that, because it's our first Christmas together. Those two were all over each other last year as well."

Understanding dawned in Dimitri's eyes, and I had the feeling he had discovered something about my feelings that even I hadn't recognised yet. He shifted closer, putting an arm around my waist.

"You're not the only one being haunted by ghosts of Christmases past," Dimitri said quietly. "I know it's hard not to compare this year to last year, but for us, this year is about good beginnings. It's our first Christmas together, like you said. But it's Christian's first Christmas without Tasha, and despite the things she did, she's still the only family Christian had."

I glanced behind me to where Lissa and Christian were busy making out. It made sense now- I was grumpy because last Christmas had been crap and I wanted to make sure Dimitri had a better time here with me than he had with Tasha last year. It was silly, but explained why I had been so worried about finding the perfect present for him. It had taken Dimitri's perception to help me realise that.

But I wasn't the only one thinking of Tasha. Whilst she was The Bitch That Stole Christmas in my eyes, she was more like Santa Clause to Christian. The last link to his family childhood Christmases was gone, and in such a horrific way too. She was in a cell in Tarasov, still awaiting her penalty.

"Oh," I said. I looked back at Dimitri, who was already watching me. "Do you miss her too?"

The words surprised me as much as they did him, but Dimitri took them in his stride.

"Not like that. We hadn't seen each other for a while before last year, and I'd already accepted that I probably wouldn't see her again after Ivan's funeral. In reality, that's pretty much the case. She might have acted the same on the outside, but the Tasha I knew was gone long before I saw her again last year." He paused. "I mourn the friend I lost along with Ivan, but the person who murdered Tatiana and framed you for it is a stranger."

Christian cleared his throat behind us, which was a bit hypocritical considering Lissa's tongue had been down there about a minute before.

"What are you two whispering about?" he asked, eyebrow raised.

"Things that would scar you for life if you heard," I said. It was probably true, just not in the way he thought. "Come on. Get up and help decorate, and I'll even give you one of my chocolates."

Christian blinked. "Has it been on the floor? Has it been poisoned? Does it contain explosives?"

"Nope. Just Christmas cheer. It's making me feel generous today."

"Wow. I guess Christmas miracles really do happen."

I really wanted to shoot back a sarcastic response, but that would defeat the object of being nice in the first place. "I guess they do. Make the most of it."

VAVAVA

It took about an hour to get the tree decorated, layered up with lights, tinsel, and a billion ornaments. Christian hid the one he had stolen from the Ball at the back of the tree, because he was too scared to face Lissa's wrath.

I had no such qualms.

"I always hated this angel," Lissa said. She held up the porcelain doll that the Dragomirs had always given pride of place at the top of the tree. It was quite hideous. "I thought I wouldn't mind it anymore, but if anything, I hate it even more now. I wish I'd got something else at the store."

"We could always modify a star decoration from somewhere else," Christian suggested, not wanting to see Lissa upset.

She shook her head. "It would be too small. It'd look stupid."

I reached under the sofa and removed the box I had stashed there two days ago. "No need to panic, Lissa. I knew this would happen."

With a flourish, I lifted the lid of the box to reveal the gold star inside. Real gold, as in the precious metal, not just the colour.

Lissa stared, wide-eyed. "Where did you get that?"

"The Ozera tree at the Yule Ball. I figured since a quarter of our tree belongs to Christian, it wasn't really stealing as it wouldn't be leaving the family." Christian reached into the box and removed the star, which was heavier than it looked, being solid gold and all. "They didn't even notice it was gone- just ordered the cleaners to remove the tree from the ballroom and put the decorations in storage."

"How the hell did you manage to get this down?"

"Guardian secrets," I said with a wink. Secrets that involved a dart gun from one of the luxury Christmas crackers available at the Ball, a blob of chewing gum, and some dental floss.

Lissa and Christian still looked incredulous, but Dimitri didn't look surprised. In fact, he looked like a man who'd given up altogether on having an opinion concerning certain peoples' dubious activities.

"It's really pretty..." Lissa conceded, and I knew I was off the hook.

"Do you want to put it on the tree?" I asked. It had always been her job in the past, and she'd joked about how much she wanted to drop the ugly, scary angel.

But it seemed Lissa was ready for new traditions. "No," she said as she shook her head. "You got the star, so you should be the one to put it at the top of the tree."

Grabbing the star from Christian, I ran to the base of the tree and stretched up, trying to reach the top. My excitement faded a little as I realised that the height of the tree combined with the wide base meant that I would never get close enough to put the star on the tallest branch.

Suddenly, something gripped my legs. My immediate reaction was to struggle, but another arm wrapped around my waist as I was hoisted into the air. I relaxed a little as I realised what was happening, just in time to hold in a squeal that Christian would have teased me about forever.

"Don't hit me," Dimitri laughed as he let me go, now sitting somewhat safely on his shoulder. I clamped one arm around his neck for stability, squeezing just a little too tight for just a moment.

"It's a good thing I didn't have my stake on me!" I looked down at him, intending to keep up the rebuke, but his smile caught me off guard. He looked so happy, so full of delight at the stunt he'd pulled that he reminded me of a little boy on Christmas morning. Maybe the rainbow coloured fairy lights were throwing me off, but I was sure I felt myself fall a little more in love with him right there.

His smile turned out to be contagious. "Get me a bit closer, then. I don't want to miss the tree and drop the star on your head."

Dimitri complied, and I held tight as he walked another couple of steps closer. Keeping hold with one arm, I reached out and aligned the hole at the bottom of the star over the top branch of the Christmas tree, before carefully lowering it into place.

"Saucy," said Christian from below, and I lost it. I choked on a laugh and wobbled precariously, so Dimitri had to do an emergency evacuation. He pulled me from his shoulder and caught me bridal-style, his smile now one of amusement. He went to put me down, but I held on tighter. This had never really happened when I was conscious before, so I was going to enjoy it this time. Dimitri shifted me to a more comfortable position, but didn't let go.

"That wasn't even meant to be that funny," Christian said, giving me a strange look.

"And that's why it was. When you try, your jokes are crap. With the right timing, it's easier to make someone laugh," I explained sagely.

"Are you saying I have natural talent?"

"Yes," I said. "For saying inappropriate things at the worst possible time."

Christian shrugged. "I'll take it."

VAVAVA

Later that evening, after we'd made it through Lissa's Christmas music playlist, a cheesy film, and copious amounts of mince pies, Dimitri and I were getting ready for bed. I picked out a red shirt to wear (his, of course) to get in the festive spirit. It also happened to be the one Dimitri had been intending to wear when he got out of the shower (which we'd shared) so I got to see him walking around in a towel for an extra minute whilst he got a different T-shirt to wear (which was always a bonus).

"I'm sure you do this on purpose," Dimitri said as he rummaged through the chest of drawers.

"What?" I asked, tearing my eyes away from the drop of water slowly making its way down the valley of his spine.

"Hide all my good clothes at the bottom of the drawer so it takes me longer to find them." He turned around, and I forced myself to keep a straight face.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"You're a terrible liar, Roza."

"Only to you."

Dimitri smiled, this time looking about as far from an innocent little boy as possible. That smile could mean only one thing, and I was more than happy to see it. I shuffled backwards towards the headboard as Dimitri came closer. The end of the bed dipped under Dimitri's weight as he knelt on the covers, crawling closer.

It was shaping up to be a very merry Christmas eve indeed.

VAVAVA

"Dimitri," I whispered. I was sure I could feel him breathing faster than he would be if he was unconscious. "Are you awake?"

"Mmm," he hummed in response. I took it to mean 'sort of'.

"I can't sleep," I said before extricating myself from his arms. He grumbled some more as I sat up, sighing as he realised I wasn't going to shut up and stay still.

"What's the matter?" he asked, sitting back against the headboard and pulling me closer again.

"Nothing's really the matter. It's weird. You know when you're young you have the whole 'wanting to sleep so Santa will come but you're so excited and so scared of not being asleep that you can't actually sleep' thing?"

"I guess..."

"Well, I have that kind of panicky can't sleep feeling now, which is ridiculous and just really irritating. It's like I know there's no need to panic or be so excited, and I'm not even actually registering those emotions, my body's just responding as though I am. It's like... I'm one of Pavlov's dogs, and the Christmas bells ringing are making my mouth water even though I know there's no food anywhere." I took a deep breath when I finished. Man, I was starting to sound like Jill. It would be a miracle if Dimitri had even understood a word of that.

"That's very deep for..." he leaned over and checked the clock on the bedside table, "1 O'clock in the morning."

It was, actually. If only I'd been able to remember so much about Pavlovian response in my Animal Behaviour final.

I looked away from Dimitri's face, which was just visible due to the light seeping in through the gaps on either side of the heavy blackout curtains. It was well into Christmas day already for the rest of America.

"Sorry," I sighed. "I'm being weird. You should just go back to sleep."

"It won't be any use if you keep wriggling around like you were before," he said, turning my face back to his. "I obviously didn't tire you out enough earlier."

I smirked, turning my cheek into his palm. The air outside the cocoon of the duvet was cold, but his hand was warm. "I don't think that's the problem. My body's tired, it's just my mind that refuses to settle down."

Dimitri looked sympathetic, stroking my cheek before settling back down into a lying position again. I lay down as well, resting my head on his shoulder, and hoping that this time I'd actually be able to get to sleep.

"You're not going to have much luck if you keep your eyes open," Dimitri said, the words reverberating through his chest. "Just empty your mind and focus on counting your breaths or your heartbeat. Re-start after every four."

I decided to count his heartbeat instead, but quickly lost track when Dimitri's fingers started combing through my hair in gentle, rhythmic strokes. I leaned into the pressure, wondering why I hadn't thought of this before. It felt so good that my brain couldn't do anything but get lost in the feeling.

"Sleep, Roza," Dimitri murmured, before saying something in Russian. At least, I thought it was Russian. It could very well have been English, but I was already too close to the edge of consciousness to understand.


Will get next chapter up ASAP, Internet dependent. Hopefully before New Year. Thanks for your patience :)