Adrian POV:

I woke up for the second time to loud banging on my door. Why can't people just wait until I go out to have breakfast? I see these people like every second that they aren't in classes and yet they always intrude on my alone time.

Very slowly I made my way over to the door, which I'm sure seems to get further away from my bed each time I look at it. Creepy.

I pull open the door sleepily and am surprised to find a very depressed looking Rose standing there. Damn, I was going to go and find her this morning but I slept in! Wait, I look at the clock to see that it is only 5 in the morning! 5! I should be sleeping still.

"Hey Rose, what wrong?" As soon as the words left my lips I grimaced, that was the wrong thing to say. I already knew what was wrong.

"Adrian..." That one word was filled with such agony that I wanted to crawl into a ball and just die. "I don't think that I can go through that, seeing him again in only one week..." her voice broke on the last word and at the same time a single tear escaped and fell down her cheek.

I took a large stride forward and pulled her into a tight hug, crushing her against me. "I'll be there, did Lissa tell you? I promise you that I will be there for you, okay?" I reached down to her chin and pulled her face up so that she had to look me in the eyes. A moment passed and then mutely she nodded and satisfied I released her.

Rose smiled weakly at me and I lead her into my room where she proceeded to burst out laughing. I stopped and just stared at her for a moment, she was...laughing. At what?

"Look how messy your room is! I thought that mine was horrible, but yours..." she cracked up again, her face still pale and covered in tears but now tears of a different kind joined them.

I smiled as well, Rose was happy. Even if it only lasted for only another minute it had still been there. This meant that she could heal. Maybe even in a week, in time for the trip.

After another minute of laughing she finally stopped and sighed, her good mood gone immediately, as fast as it had come. She walked over to my bed and brutally shoved all of the junk from it onto the floor, before sitting down and patting the spot next to her.

Now it was my turn to sigh as I slowly walked over and plonked myself down next to her, the whole bed shook and Rose stuck out her tongue at me. "Fatty." I gasped in mock outrage. "Moi? Fat? I don't think so, I mean look at this body!"

I tried not to show how I felt when Rose did exactly that, slowly checking me out from head to toe. "Not bad." She muttered when she had finished and I grinned at her. "That's all I get? I'm hurt."

I waited for the smart response back but all she did was sigh and turn to me expectantly. Well that good mood sure did end fast. "Rose, you know that you do have to go. For Lissa's sake...as well as your own. If you keep avoiding the subject then you will never really get over it. Just jump into the deep end and get it over with."

Rose sat for a moment in silence and then leaned forward and gave me a hug, it amazed me still how many hugs I seemed to be getting from her lately. "Who knew that Adrian Ivashkov would be able to give good advice?"

"Hey, I have given a lot of good advice in my time."

She snorted. "Yeah, like what alcohol makes you the most drunk."

"I have given a lot of better advice then that."

Rose sat with both of her eyebrows raised; she apparently still couldn't lift only one, as she waited for an answer. "Yes? And that advice would be..."

"That you need to face your fears to get over them." I said, changing the conversation from cheerful to serious in one second. Rose didn't frown like I expected her to, instead her smile changed into a thoughtful expression.

"Yeah, maybe." Huh. I got the feeling that Rose wasn't all here right now, so we just sat there in comfortable silence. I didn't interrupt her thoughts, she needed her time. In the end though it was Rose that stood up suddenly, making me jump slightly.

"I should probably go now, I left before Lissa woke up and I still need to tell her why I was... upset."

I stood as well. "Yeah, Lissa came here and I told her that you where just worried about guardian stuff. She won't mention Belikov-" Rose flinched but kept on listening. "-for a while so it should be good."

Rose sighed in obvious relief and gave me a genuine smile. "Thank you for that, I don't know what I would have told her." I smiled as well; her happiness was just so contagious that I couldn't help it, but then my smile dropped.

"The truth. You know that you'll have to tell her it sometime."

Rose sighed and walked towards my doorway. "I know I will, I know."