Disclaimer: Richelle Mead owns Vampire Academy
A/N: As always, I hope you enjoy!
Time Elapsed: 7 Days
Rose groaned in frustration as she tried her very hardest not to scratch her stitches.
Her bandages were in need of changing and because of the angle, it was difficult for her to do it properly herself. Where were her friends?
She'd been cooped up in her bed - her prison, it felt like - for hours without company. Lissa was constantly in and out to see her, always rushing away when a possible sign of contact from the outside world came through their radio, but it had been some time since her last appearance.
Adrian had been away for a couple days now. She knew he had to be an absolute wreck. They all were. It's why was Lissa was keeping herself so busy. If she wasn't constantly working on figuring out what was going on above the surface, Rose was certain she'd be an uncontrollable sobbing mess.
This was how Rose usually coped, by keeping herself busy. Find a solution and work towards it. Dimitri had taught her that... But, she was out of commission, and unfortunately for her, that meant she was left to her own thoughts.
To Rose's surprise, Lissa hadn't completely closed her wound with spirit like she had initially thought. A guardian, one Rose didn't recognize by name, had apparently found a first aid kit and stitched Rose up after Lissa had controlled the bleeding and any internal injury.
Rose had no complaints. She'd already realized that things would be difficult for Lissa moving forward. Lissa didn't have an endless supply of medication to help control her darkness anymore, and now that Rose was no longer shadow-kissed, Lissa would have to take it easy.
She was already thanking her lucky stars that Lissa was smart enough to grab what pills she had left before they hightailed it out of the Dragomir's vacation house. Rose sighed heavily, remembering the events of that day like it was happening in that very moment.
Groaning again as the itchiness persisted, she grabbed the paperback book from the vacant side of the bed and held it in her lap, running her hands over the cover like she'd done many times over the past week.
When Rose was more mentally sound after waking up from her two day sleep, she'd burst into tears when she realized she'd never picked her small bag off the ground after her tussle with the Moroi man.
When she could finally get the words out to explain to Lissa and Adrian why she was so upset, as if being forced into a bunker and possibly losing Dimitri wasn't enough, Adrian left the room in a rush and came back with both of the bags they'd had with them that day in Court.
"How did you-? When?" She reached out her hands, not making any effort to wipe the streaks of tears running down her cheeks anymore.
Adrian hurriedly gave her the bag and then dropped his own bag at the foot of the bed.
"I grabbed it after you-" a moment of understanding passed between the two of them as they held eye contact. After you killed the Moroi.
It was an unspoken agreement between the two of them that they wouldn't tell anyone about what had progressed between Rose and the attacker after Lissa was taken away. It would only cause trouble and confusion, and it was something Rose was trying to forget. She had done what needed to be done.
"Thank you, Adrian," Rose said sincerely, sniffling. "Really, thank you."
She didn't think she would ever be able to repay him for all that he'd done for her that day. Their relationship had come a really long way.
As Rose examined the novel's cover again, she found herself plagued with thoughts of Dimitri, not that he was ever gone from her thoughts for more than a moment or two. His face was ingrained in her brain, the way he stared at her with complete adoration as they joked around together, as they sparred, as she said I do, as they cuddled in bed after making love…
Rose opened the book, purposely avoiding the inside of the front cover where she knew Dimitri's name was neatly written, and went back to the page she'd left off on. She'd been trying her hardest to continue from where she was forced to stop that day a week ago, but she could never make it past a couple sentences.
She didn't know what it was that prevented her from reading more. It might've been a stressor for her, a trigger. She had been reading the book after all when her whole world was turned upside down. Or, she thought, maybe it was because this book had Dimitri written all over it. It was his face she saw on the cover, his voice she heard in her head as she read, his aftershave wafting out from inside the pages.
Lissa had demanded Rose stay in bed until she was more properly healed, so naturally, she was miserable and this book was the only thing she had to entertain herself. She cherished the thing and detested it at the same time. It was one of the only things she'd had left of Dimitri and she was pissed at the thought.
Nuclear bombs and westerns aside, Rose would've hated being quarantined to her bed regardless, but add in the fact that Dimitri was probably a pile of dust and-
"Ugh, damn it," Rose cried, not wanting her thoughts to go that way. She tried to avoid picturing Dimitri's last moments, but it was proving to be very difficult. She could let her thoughts dance around what had happened to him, but when she started to truly picture what had transpired, she felt a pain in her chest worse than any bullet had ever caused. She needed a distraction, but apparently no one had thought to put some cable or better yet, wi-fi, in this damn-
"Get it together, Rose," she mumbled in frustration, patting gently on her bandages for temporary relief.
"Talking to yourself, little dhampir?"
From the door, Adrian stared at her with a lazy smirk on his face. She could tell he was trying to keep the mood light, but she knew better. She could see right through it, they both could, but it was better to pretend for their own sanity that everything was normal.
"And here I thought I was the crazy one," he joked, before joining Rose on the bed.
This was the distraction she needed.
"I feel like every other thing I say to you is thank you," Rose moaned contentedly, "but really, thank you."
Adrian chuckled and got up from his position to toss Rose's old bandages in the trash.
"Anytime. Just call me your nurse," he joked, before reclaiming his spot beside her. Rose's mood soured as she remembered a time she'd similarly joked with Dimitri about being her nurse just after she'd been shot.
"This can't last long, can it…?"
Adrian studied Rose intently as she flipped the book she'd been reading for days over, turning it so the back cover was facing up. He'd noticed she never seemed to make any progress with it. The small placemaker she used to keep her spot never seemed to move from its current position.
The horse on the back cover and the man dressed in a cowboy hat he'd seen on the front cover were enough to tell Adrian this book probably belonged to Dimitri. The man was famous for his leather duster after all. Adrian had cracked more than a couple inappropriate jokes about that.
He knew she was aching for him the same way he ached for Sydney. It wasn't fair, not knowing if they were okay. His only comfort was the chance that maybe she'd made it over the border and was somewhere in Canada worrying over him as much as he was her. Rose had no such thing to hold onto.
Lissa had told him where Christian and Dimitri were when the first bomb was dropped. At damn ground zero.
He felt guilty for ever hating the man for loving Rose at the same time he did. He felt guilty for ever wishing she'd been successful in staking him. Hell, he even felt guilty for the things he'd done to Christian - purposefully flirting with Lissa while he was around to get on his nerves, to name one.
Yes, those things were in the past, but the past had a way of rearing its ugly head in times like these.
"It'll do for the next day or so," he explained, gesturing to her fresh bandages, "but don't worry, I'll change them when you need."
Rose frowned. "That's not what I meant-"
"I know," Adrian sighed. He played with the frayed edge of the blanket that covered Rose. It was a beige color, a color he'd come to despise. Everything here was beige. Beige and downright bleak.
Would it have hurt the people who'd designed this place to add some damn color? Some design? Anything?
He knew it wouldn't have mattered. The place could've been better designed than some of the 5 star hotels he'd stayed in and it wouldn't have mattered one bit. If the place was covered in jewel tones, he was sure he'd learn to hate those colors too.
He was coping. He was angry, targeting his frustrations at inanimate objects, instead of the people who had deserved it. The damn humans who were responsible for this mess.
Because of Sydney, he was somewhat informed about what had been occuring in the human world. It's important to know what's going on in the world, she had told him one day when he begged her to turn the television to something interesting and not news-related.
As he sat beside Rose, terrified because he'd started to see the colors of her aura appearing, he found himself thinking that being informed hadn't gotten him anywhere. He was still confined to this bunker. The humans still went nuclear crazy. And now, he was out of meds.
So, yes, Adrian was angry.
The days passed on at a glacial pace.
Rose had since learned that there were a total of nine people in the bunker. There was Lissa, Adrian and herself, which made up three, and the rest were guardians. Four of them were guardians that Rose worked with regularly - other members of the Royal Guard. The other two were Court guardians that luckily had been appointed to guard the bunker's entrance that day.
Rose remembered Dimitri explaining Court shifts to her one day when she was complaining about having to do an office shift the next day. Paperwork was Rose's least favorite thing to do. At least you aren't guarding the bunker, Dimitri had said. Rose's attention piqued at that.
Dimitri gave a knowing smile as his comment earned the desired effect he'd wanted. Yes, Rose was his equal where it mattered most, but she was still a somewhat green guardian when it came to court protocol and downright lazy when it came to reading, to his amusement. This meant he knew much more than she did when it came to Court history and Court information in general.
He'd urged her many times to read through the packet Hans Croft had given her when she had started her first "official" day as the Queen's close guardian.
There was so much information in there that she would've been fascinated with, but because it required sitting down and reading, Rose was putting it off. He swore one of these days he'd finally get her to sit down and read one of his westerns all the way through.
"Wait-did you just say bunker?" Rose pulled the book from Dimitri's hands and set it down on the armrest of the sofa they were sharing. She needed his full attention.
Immediately, he reached around her with his long arms, retrieved the book, and reopened it. "Yes, Roza, I did." It took everything in him to contain his laughter.
He could tell she was pouting from the other side of the book that he now held in front of his face, blocking her from view. He was teasing her on purpose. He loved doing this to her. He found her reaction to be undeniably cute.
He didn't mind admitting that he liked still holding some of that mentor role in their relationship. He liked being a fountain of knowledge for her. He liked that she came to him with her questions, and he liked that she wanted to learn from him. He knew she didn't always need it, but he liked being there for her in that way when she wanted it.
Rose knew what Dimitri was doing. Playfully frustrated, she grabbed the book from his hands once again and tried not to laugh at the shocked expression on Dimitri's face.
She looked down at the book and scoffed. "Comrade, really? Tales of the Western Front is not more important or more interesting than what you're about to tell me." She discarded the book and crossed her arms. Yup, there was the pout.
Dimitri chuckled and pulled her in for a kiss, taking Rose by surprise. Her pursed lips softened at the feel of his mouth on hers as she lost herself in the kiss.
Since coming out publicly with their romantic relationship a couple months ago, the two had shared many kisses like these. Kisses that didn't make either of them feel guilty or like they had something to hide.
Yes, they'd shared many of them, but each one always seemed to feel like the first time. Rose felt incredibly lucky to have Dimitri by her side. It was something she'd wanted for so long, and the two of them had overcome insurmountable adversity to have days like these.
When Dimitri finally pulled back, Rose was in a happy daze. Her whole body had gone incredibly warm with feelings of fuzzy joy.
"What was it you were saying, Roza?" Dimitri chuckled again and kissed the tip of her nose as she gazed lovingly at him. "Ah, yes, the bunker."
All ears, Rose cleared her throat and straightened up, but with a softer look to her face now.
He explained to her that a couple decades ago, a bunker had been built in case of emergency to keep the Queen safe. Its design was modeled after human-made structures that were constructed for a similar purpose, to keep the most "important" individuals safe from whatever may be happening on the surface, like nuclear warfare or biological weapons.
Rose listened, completely entranced with the information he was feeding her.
"That's so cool! I'd much rather be doing that that filling out paperwork." She smacked her shoulder gently before grabbing his hand in hers. A part of them always seemed to be touching, and that was just how she liked it.
"It's not that exciting," he shared. He'd done it a couple times. "It hasn't been put to use, so a lot of the area is overgrown. It helps to keep it hidden from those who don't know about it."
Rose continued to ooh and ahh much to Dimitri's amusement. She paused.
"Wait, so you know where it is? You've done that shift before?"
He nodded, and found it amusing that she was so fascinated by the fact that he knew the bunker's location. Nevermind the fact that she'd know as well if only she'd read the packet. It wasn't some huge secret, at least not to most guardians, but why not let himself have a little fun?
"Paperwork is a much more useful way to spend your time," he said plainly. He knew every job was important in upholding the structure of their world, the bunker shift included, but he honestly did find it to be the most boring shift he'd ever done. At least with paperwork, he was able to keep his mind busy.
"Ugh," Rose groaned, "Way to show your age, Comrade."
Dimitri chuckled once again and went back to his book. Rose sighed, sad that the conversation was seemingly over. Before he started reading though, he lowered the book, and gently lifted Rose's chin with his hand.
"Next time we have the day off together, I'll show you where it is, okay?"
Rose grinned ear to ear and nodded. He kissed her again and this time, when he started reading, she didn't try to steal the book away from him.
Thinking back to their conversation, Rose wished that she had somehow known then what was going to happen. She probably would've fought to have routine upgrades to the bunker's technology. When she finally had read through her guardian booklet, she learned that the bunker had just been sitting there dormant for many years since its creation.
Now they were stuck with an old fashioned radio that barely seemed to function.
Rose sighed, recalling a human phrase she'd heard Sydney use more than once. Hindsight is always 20/20.