Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy, the amazing Richelle Mead does.

DPOV:

The next morning found me in the gym 45 minutes before lessons began, waiting for Rose to show up. While I waited, I read one of my favorite western novels.

A good half hour passed before I heard the sound of the gym door opening.

In came a female dhampir. She had long dark hair, which looked almost black in the lighting. I could tell she was much shorter than me, perhaps 5' 6, or 5' 7, a midget compared to my 6' 7 frame. She was very curvy, and her eyes were startlingly large and dark. She was wearing workout clothes consisting of black sweatpants and a red tank top, with a sweatshirt over it.

"Rose?" I hazarded a guess.

She took one look at me, and turned around. She walked out, slamming the gym door behind her.

I sat there, stunned. I had heard many things about Rose, a lot of very suggestive things. I had heard guys describe her like she was a piece of meat. What I wasn't expecting was how beautiful she truly was. I didn't understand her reaction, though. I realized I was just sitting there, and stood up from my seat, quickly going after her.

By the time I had come out of the gym, it appeared as if she was half way across campus. I followed her, trying to catch up. It was surprisingly difficult, due to the fact that she had a major head start, and she was fast! The added fact that I didn't know where we were going didn't help, either.

She swiftly made her way toward the administration building. I continued following her, mystified. I had gathered that she didn't like the school, and avoided the administration building like the plague. So why was she going toward it willingly?

Rose went inside, with me hot on her heels. She made a beeline to Guardian Petrov's office, barged in without knocking, and collapsed in a chair. I walked in calmly, and stood against the wall by the now closed door, observing silently.

"What the hell, Alberta?" she exclaimed, looking outraged.

I was surprised by the lack of title, but something told me it was the norm with Rose.

Petrov looked up, raising an eyebrow. Rose scowled.

"What seems to be the problem?" Petrov asked calmly. I was even more surprised that she didn't reprimand Rose for her rudeness, but once again, something told me that that wouldn't stop Rose.

"Why is he," she jabbed a finger in my direction, "my mentor?"

The other eyebrow now joined the first one on Petrov's face. "I see no problem."

Rose buried her face in her hands, mumbling her words so that I had to strain to hear them. She clearly meant for me to not hear.

"He can't be my mentor," she mumbling, her words barely coherent from where I was standing.

Petrov looked at her with a slightly concerned face. "Why Rose?"

Here, Rose mumbled so low that I couldn't hear all of it. The only words that I caught were, "comfortable," "man," and "pregnant." It didn't make any sense to me. I was completely lost, and it frustrated me. I had the oddest need to keep her safe. I looked at her as she sat, bowed down, and felt another shock course through me. From the way Petrov, her mother, even Kirova, talked about her, I had expected a fierce warrior, not this obviously broken teenage girl.

RPOV: (yay! Now we get to hear from the star herself)

I woke up this morning to the annoying beeping of my alarm clock. I opened my eyes, blearily looking at the clock. Why am I waking up at 5am? I thought hazily. I smacked my alarm clock until it shut off, then closed my eyes contently. But the reason why I was waking up this early kept nagging me, not allowing me to fall back asleep. It finally dawned on me that I had my first training session today with my new mentor. All Alberta had said was to be in the gym at 6 am. I groaned as I remembered this. God I hoped that my mentor was a girl. I don't know how I would handle having a guy so recently after -

I stopped the thought. No! Don't go there! I had been okay with guys in my classes, but that was mainly because they weren't really near me. And since I was pregnant, most guys stayed away from me; the ones who didn't answered to Eddie or Mason, two of my best dhampir friends, who had long since learned not to get too close and instead became overly protective.

I sighed, getting up and leaving the warm comfort and safety of my bed. As I got dressed, something felt off. It wasn't until I was in the bathroom that I realized what was different; for once, I wasn't waking up to morning sickness! At first, I thought that it was over, but then reality came crashing down, making me realize that I wasn't puking because it was too early for my body to even register that it was morning. I wouldn't go through morning sickness until 7ish. I sighed again as my hopes were dashed.

I made my way down to the gym, recognizing the fact that for the first time in a long time I was going to be on time. I couldn't help but snort at the thought. Go figure, the one time I'm not late is because of a baby I didn't want in the first place, and wasn't even sure I wanted now. No, scratch that. I didn't want the baby, not now, not when I found out, not ever. All it did was remind me of what happened, something I wanted to bury deep down forever. But I just couldn't find it in myself to kill it. It was taking an innocent life, something I was not at all comfortable with. At least it's one more guardian for some spoiled, rich Moroi who thinks they can have everything they want and get away with taking it, I thought bitterly. As usual, I felt a pang of loss for not being able to give the gift of my virginity to a man I loved. But, the past is the past. Can't change anything. After all this, I somehow doubted that I would ever find a man I could love, whether I could give him my virginity or not.

I shook off the thoughts as I entered the gym, looking around. I spotted a dhampir sitting in a chair, a book in his hand that he had obviously been reading.

"Rose?" he asked. I took one look at him, then turned around and walked out, slamming the door. I speed walked across campus, trying to get away from him. I needed to talk to Alberta. There was no way she could make him my mentor. The last man to touch me, or even get close enough to touching me had sent me into a panic attack so severe I had passed out. Having a male mentor, touching me, and getting near me on the daily basis made my skin crawl and my breathing speed up just at the thought.

I heard footsteps behind me, and knew that he was trying to catch up. I sped up slightly, making a beeline for Alberta's office. I barged in, the thought of knocking not even crossing my mind. I collapsed on the chair in front of her desk. HE came in, shutting the door behind him. Only two things kept me from having a major melt down at that very moment: 1) HE stayed by the door and didn't get any closer, and 2) Alberta was right there, and I knew that no harm would come to me while she was here.

"What the hell?" I exclaimed, outraged.

Alberta simply raised an eyebrow, something I have never been able to achieve. I scowled, feeling like she was throwing that ability in my face.

"What seems to be the problem?" she asked calmly, too calmly.

"Why is HE," I pointed toward HIM, "my mentor?"

"I see no problem." The other eyebrow join the first.

I buried my face in my hands, ashamed of my weakness. My words came out muffled, and I hoped HE couldn't understand what I was saying. "He can't be my mentor."

"Why Rose?" I could hear the concern in Alberta's voice, and that just made me feel worse.

This time I lowered my voice so that Alberta had to strain her ears to hear me, assuring me that HE couldn't hear me. "I'm not comfortable around men," I mumbled. "It – it has to do with my – my pregnancy." I peeked at her from between my fingers.

Her expression was thoughtful.

"Hmm..." she hummed. She looked as if several things had fallen into place in her mind. "Well, Rose," she continued after some thought, leaning towards me so that HE couldn't hear her low voice. "How about this: you let him train you, but I'll let him know to keep contact to a minimum. You can use dummies for demonstrations, and maybe you'll get used to him after a while and be more comfortable. It will also help get used to men in general so that you don't have another panic attack, like last time."

Alberta looked at me hopefully. She must have read the hesitance in my face, however, because she continued. "He's a very good guardian, Rose, one of the best for how young he is. He can teach you a lot, and he can help you with your pregnancy; he has experience through family, or friends, or so I assume. And if you don't feel comfortable within the next month, or don't believe it's going to work, let me know and we'll try something different. Besides, you might as well get used to him because he is going to be your guarding partner when you're guarding the Princess. He's been assigned to her."

I thought about it for a few moments. She made good points. From the brief look I'd gotten, he was certainly hot. And I needed to get used to him if he was going to be Lissa's guardian. And I did need to get used to guys again. I sighed at the logic. I didn't like logic.

I turned around, looking at him. I studied him for several moments. He was tall, way taller than me, with a duster encircling his body. His brown hair was tied back, but strands were escaping, framing his face. His eyes were beautiful, deep and brown, like liquid chocolate that I could gladly drown in. All in all, he was hot. I definitely could have gotten a worse looking mentor. He was watching me watch him; it was kind of funny in an odd way. I felt self conscious under his studious gaze.

"What's your name?" I asked suddenly.

He jerked his gaze up to my eyes, surprised that I had spoken to him. "Dimitri Belikov," he answered after a beat of silence, his accented voice filling the room. He was definitely Russian.

"Well, Dimitri Belikov, I'm Rose Hathaway. Welcome to Hathaway Hell," I smirked.

A/N: in this story, their school day is going to officially start at 8 am, b/c that's when most school days start. So breakfast is going to be the hour before (7 am-8 am) and their training will take place the hour before breakfast (6am-7am) just to save confusion. (: thank you to all who reviewed. I will make sure that I mark any M rated spots, if I have any. If you would like to write one for the story, I'll gladly fit it in somewhere.