ALL VA CHARACTERS BELONG TO R. MEAD.

D POV:

She had left. I couldn't believe that she had just left! Regret flowed over me: I shouldn't have pushed her away like that - what the hell was I thinking?

I was thinking that it would keep her away until the guilt was gone, that's what I was thinking. The possibility that she would leave had never been an option, I just wanted her to stay away until I was ready.

I don't think it really dawned upon me until I hours later. Rose wasn't coming back, at least not anytime soon. I might never see her again. The girl that I loved more than life itself was gone. The girl that had hunted me down at a great personal prize, who had delivered the news to my family, who tried to free me from my miserable existence as a soulless monster and lastly played the main role in my restoration, was gone. I didn't even want to think about what she must have done to be able to do that. Lissa sometimes hinted that she had done unbelievable things. Things that you wouldn't have thought Rose would do for anything but she never told me the whole story. Honestly, I wasn't sure I want to hear it. I didn't want to feel more guilty than I already did. Now she was gone, all because I had been too selfish to think about anyone but myself.

I stood up and pushed the chair to the floor in rage. I had to find her, I just had to. She had done everything for me, I couldn't just give up and let her disappear like that.

I slammed the door and hurried off to see the princess. She must be planning on finding her too, she had to be. Rose was her best friend and the most loyal friend anyone could ever want.

I knocked on the door and waited for her to open.

"Dimitri, what are you doing here," she asked. What was I doing there? I was finding a way to get the love of my life back for god's sake!

"We are getting her back!" I said storming into the apartment.

"Who?" She asked tonelessly.

"Rose, of course! Who else?" She got a bitter expression.

"She is not coming back, Dimitri. Let's face it - we lost her. Since when do you want to see Rose, anyway? I thought that's part of why she left. So she wouldn't be in your way. Wasn't that what you told me to tell her? That she should stay away? Well, now she definitely isn't coming back!" She sneered.

"It wasn't like that," I said with a quiet voice feeling like a child getting scolded.

"Yeah? Well, how about telling her that? Oh no, that's right, it might be a little difficult, eh? Considering that NO ONE KNOWS WHERE SHE IS! Or maybe she left you a phone number huh Dimitri? That you could call if you ever needed to be rescued again. Did she, Dimitri? Cause I sure as hell didn't get one!" I looked at her in shock. This definitely wasn't the always sweet Lissa I knew.

"Maybe your attitude was part of why she left," I said coldly before turning and slamming the door after me. I was going to find her no matter what. If the princess wanted to sit around believing it was over she could do that, but I would never give up my Roza.


Meanwhile...

Rpov:

The flight had been going rather well. We had talked and talked for hours. It is almost like the last three years didn't happen. Eventually, the plane landed back on the ground, and it was time to face reality. Standing on the doorstep I was more nervous than ever before. It had been three years since I had been in England, and so much had happened since then. Chelsea stole a glance at me, probably sensing my nerves. She reached out and took my hand in hers.

"We are in this together okay? No matter what I won't let you fall."

"You mean like the time when I tripped over the last step and fell on my ass?" She laughed. It was a rich genuine laugh.

"Yeah like that." My smile faded as I turned back to face the door. Squeezing Chelsea's hand one last time before letting go and walking out the door. Chelsea intertwined her arm with mine and lead me to a car parked at the end, and another old friend waiting outside of it.

I swiped my sunglasses down on the tip of my nose and made a snobby/surprised pose.

"Elliot?! Oh my god, you are so.."

He flashed me a boyish smile "Grown up?"

"Yeah."

I stepped up on my toes and gave him a hug "I missed you"

He laughed "Gone soft over the years?"

"Oh shut up!"

"Are you guys done?" An impatient voice sounded from behind looking back I saw Chelsea standing there with an amused expression.

"I don't know about you but I am getting tired of being in this place," she said and faked a snobby attitude that said 'oh it's so hard to be me, I am so rich and famous.'

"Yes, please your majesties, I am here to take you to your father's palace," Elliot said sarcastically. All three of us got in the back of the Rover.

Relaxing back into my seat, I sighed "I forgot how comfortable this life is."

Elliot pushed to me friendly with his shoulder "Well, get used to it princess, we are not letting go of you anytime soon."

It was good to be home.


A pov:

Part of me was devastated, another part of me was having the best day of my life.

My one true love Rosemarie Hathaway had just left my life for an unspecified amount of time, but she had also just told me that she loved me. Deep down I knew that if I really meant that much to her then she would have stayed, or at least tried to bring me along with her, but that didn't matter to me right now. What mattered was that she said that she loved me. And that she had called me before she left. Me, not Belikov, not Lissa but me. She may not have realized it but it meant that she somehow cared more for me than she did for him. It was a small victory but it was there and I was enjoying it. The look at Lissa's face when I told her only made my day better. Rose didn't call her best friend to tell her she was leaving but she called me. However that didn't change the fact that she had left, and I didn't know when she would return, didn't know if I should wait for her. She might not want me to but I think part of my heart would always wait on my little damphire. My precious flower. I didn't think she knew how deep my love for her was. That's when I made a life-changing decision for myself.

I slammed the front door open and ran down the hall, past my startled mother and stormed into my dad's office.

"I want to go back to college!" That's the first time I've ever seen my father taken aback by anything. Political drama, my mother's strange hobbies, all the times I got in trouble and this was what surprised him. After pulling himself together he looked carefully at me as if to look for signs that I was joking, apparently he didn't find any. After a long pause, he finally said something, "why?"

"I can't waste my life like this. I want a future, a bright one. I want to live up to the family name, I want to be an Ivashkov." He seemed like he was still trying to find out if I was serious. He didn't know that I had never been this serious in my entire life.

"Very well I suppose you'll want to go back to art studies? I'll call the principal he'll get you back in." I shook my head, he didn't get it.

"I don't want to go back to art studies." Now he looked at me like I had lost my mind completely.

"Then what do you want to study?"

"Whatever if better for our family. I want to go to med or law school, even economics if you want me to." Now my mom decided to pip in, I hadn't even seen her enter the room.

"I can call a few contacts and get you into law school, maybe even secure a job for you when you are done. Your grades can't get you into med school." She said honestly and I almost choked at her bluntness. I walked over to her and placed my hands on her head and gently kissed her forehead.

"Thank you, mother." Stepping back and turning around to look at my dad.

"Law school, it is then?" He nodded

"Law school, it is. I'll make the call and pull a few strings but I'm going to need you mom for that so if you'll excuse us." I nodded and held up my hands

"Of course, thank you." My mom nodded

"You're welcome, honey. We are proud of you for wanting to do this." She offered her usual support. I turned around and walked out, leaving the door open, I was halfway down the hall when my dad called out

"Adrian?" I turned around to face him through the open door. He looked at me for the first time in forever with some kind of approval.

"I'm proud of you, for doing this, taking responsibility for your life."

"It is something I should have done a long time ago."

"It is without a doubt but you doing it now and I'm proud of you for that."

"Thank you," I said not very loud but clear enough for him to hear it.

"Is this… If this is something that Rose has convinced you to do then I must say perhaps I was wrong about her. You have my approval, your relationship I mean, I approve of it." I smiled, this was so ironical. "It is but not the way you may think." He shot me a questioned look. "Rose left, she is going to England where she'll be attending a university herself. I think that made me realize I need to do something with my own life now that she does."


R pov

I was standing in front of what I used to call home when I was younger and I felt like I was about to shit my pants. How would they react? Yell at me? Or tell me to leave? Oh well, only one way to find out.

Elliot where talking to John the, well, let us call him the housekeeper. He and his wife Olga had taken care of the house as long as I remembered.

When Veronica - Chelsea's mother - were still living here she always tried to interrupt and tell them how to do their job. Charles almost killed her for it a couple of times. His new wife -Molly- wasn't as controlling, she pretty much let them do their job without interrupting.

Molly was the 28-year-old, high beautiful blonde model my dear godfather decided to marry about 3 years after Veronica left. Charles and Veronica got divorced when Chelsea and I were 7. Chelsea took it pretty hard deciding she didn't want to see her mother again - of course, she was forced to. Right after the divorce, Veronica moved in with a man called Alexander. In fact, I think he was the reason for the divorce. He was an Ivashkov as well to make matters worse, and even though the Ivashkov line was big and they properly didn't share much DNA, it was still marrying your cousin.

I personally didn't mind Alexander: He was like an uncle to me, but Chelsea hated his guts. The few weekends spent at their house had been awkward and uncomfortable. Chelsea and her mother were constantly fighting and she was being unnecessarily rude to Alexander but I couldn't blame her. In her mind, he was the reason her family fell apart and she, her mother, had broken her father's heart. Honestly, I think we all knew Charles was better off without her. He and Molly loved each other even though the age difference were alarming, and Molly was indeed a girl you couldn't do anything but love. She had become more of an older sister to Chelsea than a stepmother, and I truly had a feeling that they liked each other.

Chelsea came up beside me smiling brightly not sensing my discomfort. "Home, sweet home," she sighed happily.

Elliot took our bags from the trunk and handed them to John. "How did the… Oh, I give up!" I said seeing the bags that had magically appeared in the trunk. Elliot flashed me a smug smile and said, "that's properly for the best. See ya, princess." He jumped back in the back of the Rover and it drove off. Chelsea was already sprinting up the stairs, eager to see her dad again but I was walking behind her at a slow pace a bit afraid of what might come.

What awaited inside wasn't anything like I had expected, Chelsea threw herself into her father's arms squealing, "Daddy!"

"Oh, honey it's good to see you welcome home my dear," he said, tightening his arms around her before pulling away. He kept one arm around her while he turned to look at me.

"Rose."

"Charles." He gave me a big warm smile and held his arm out in a welcoming gesture inviting me into his embrace.

"Come here, my darling." Letting my bag fall to the floor I ran into his arms.

"It is so good to have you back."

"it is good to be back." We stood like that in a family reunion hug for a few moments before a feminine voice interrupted.

"No, no we are not happy to see her either." I turned my head to see Molly and Chelsea's brother Jake standing there. I broke from the group hug and ran over giving them both a hug.

"Oh god, I missed you so much," I said while pulling away.

"We missed you too, Rose," Molly said.

"Let us catch up in the living room shall we?" Charles gestured towards one of the many doors in the castle. Yes, they had a castle. I know its extremely awesome!

We spent hours in the living room talking about everything and nothing. For the first time in a long time I felt home.