A/N:Hey-oh! I have returned (albeit very very late, many apologies) but here is the next installment, enjoy!

"So I see you were having a good time up here," Ivan snickered to his friend after dragging a chair over.

"I was before you got here," Dimitri scoffed, but he couldn't help the grin that adorned his face.

"Look at you, all happy. That must have been one hell of a woman that was just here." One hell of a woman was right. It was a shame that she had to depart so quickly. No thanks to Ivan.

"Speaking of, I didn't realize Vasilisa was here," Dimitri said.

"Neither did I until I came up here to check on you. But don't let her catch you calling her Vasilisa," he chuckled.

"It's Lissa Ivan." They both turned to see Lissa back at the top of the steps. "And that's strike two."

"Oh what? But I was just-!"

"Strike two, Ivan."

Both Lissa and Dimitri laughed at Ivan's expense.

"So boss, what brings you to this fine establishment tonight?" Lissa asked.

"What? How come you talk to Dimitri with some form of respect?" Ivan whined.

"If you start signing my paychecks then maybe I'll start showing you some respect too," Lissa responded with a wink. Dimitri didn't even know what Ivan was talking about, Lissa did not waste any time cutting into Dimitri if she felt the need to do so. "Now as I was saying. I'm surprised to see you at one of Ivan's parties boss. I was under the impression that you avoided social interaction like the plague."

See what I mean? "I do not avoid social interaction. The entirety of my job envelopes social interaction."

"Yes but that's just between a bunch of stuffy rich dudes. Business calls and meetings do not count as social interaction."

"According to who?" Dimitri challenged.

"According to your personal assistant," Lissa said with a smile. Dimitri couldn't help his own grin from forming. He was lucky to have such a sweet and caring PA.

"Don't worry Lissa, it's not like he's been enjoying himself," Ivan chuckled. "Well, at least that's what I thought. Until I actually saw the hands of angels themselves loosening the ever present wrinkles between his brows as he was chatting up that hot piece of-"

"My best friend Ivan. Finish that sentence and you'll be looking at a strike out."

"-…I was just going to say that hot piece of fine wine. Speaking of wine, I better make sure we still have some on deck. I'll be back!" He used that chance to escape, smart lad.

"What were you doing with my best friend anyway?" Lissa asked.

"I had only coincidentally run into Roza being harassed-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm going to have to stop you right there boss. For multiple reasons." Lissa finally decided to sit down in Ivan's vacant chair. "One: Roza?" Dimitri knew she was teasing because she grinned while she said it.

"While speaking we were going by different names for…confidential reasons."

She remained silent for a beat. "You mean you didn't want her to know who you were."

"Neither did she, so it worked in both of our favors," Dimitri said to cover himself.

"Yeah, Rose is a pretty identifiable individual."

She had said something very similar. "Is she an actress? Or someone famous?"

"Something like that? I've been ordered not to divulge," she snorted. "But anyway, you said you ran into her being harassed?"

"Well not…harassed per say," he responded. It looked like the man from earlier was just getting snacks near Rose, but from where Dimitri was standing, he definitely did not want any man chatting up the woman who seemed to knock the wind out of him as soon as he laid eyes on her. He'd gone up to the balcony to relax and get some fresh air away from the crowd. As soon as he'd entered the landing though, his sight zeroed in on the beauty clutching a box of Godiva, as if daring anyone to try and take it from her.

"-if you don't mind."

"What was that?" Thinking about Rose had brought him to a completely different plane. A fantastic one, but one completely away from reality.

"I asked if you didn't mind giving me a ride home tonight," she repeated with a confused look on her face.

"Of course not. We can go now." He was tempted to ask her how she got here originally since he knew she had a car, but he didn't mind doing her the favor either way. Also driving her back meant that he now had an excuse to leave early.

"We don't have to leave now-"

"Nonsense. Unless you were planning on staying longer." He didn't want to drag her away from the evening if she was having fun.

"Not particularly," she shrugged. "Alright, let me just get my coat." On his way to escaping after grabbing his own coat, he gave his farewells to Ivan and they headed to the street where Dimitri was parked just in front. He gave Lissa his phone to put her address into the GPS and they quickly pulled out into the quiet night. Or maybe it just seemed extra quiet since it was so much louder inside.

"Did you have fun sir?"

"Excuse me?"

Lissa sighed, giving him a look. "Your one night of social interaction."

"I had an enjoyable evening, yes." He kept his eyes on the road, but he knew that she was smirking at him now. He definitely wanted to get the topic away from his social life (or lack thereof) before she felt the need to grill him again. "So your friend-"

"Ah, I have been forbidden from giving any information," she quickly interrupted.

"I see-"

"But her name is Rose, she's twenty-four, and she's single," Lissa sang in one breath. "But really, she told me not to talk about her."

"I see," he chuckled this time. A quick glance showed that she was just itching to play matchmaker. Though his meeting with Rose was brief, she didn't seem like the type of person that liked others meddling too much. Looking at his own best friend, Dimitri could understand the sentiment. "I hope I didn't scare her off earlier." She had left in quite the rush. And she'd never returned, not even to say goodbye, after dragging Lissa away. She also left thinking that was his house instead of Ivan's.

"Oh no, I think she was going to come back upstairs, but her so- UN. DAY. Schedule."

"…what about it? Or are you not allowed to tell me that either."

"Ah, no, her schedule's pretty crazy. So she just wanted to get home and rest. Heaven help her she never gets enough of it."

Dimitri wanted to inquire further. But Lissa seemed insistent on staying tight lipped about this matter.

So it was up to him to pursue Roza directly.

"Do you know a number I might be able to get in contact with her at? Or an address I could send packages to?"

"For Rose?" Of course. There was no way he was letting this woman go without a second look. Maybe they weren't compatible in a long term sense, and the spark between them tonight had just been a fluke. But he was never one to not explore every possibility offered to him. "Let's see, she'd probably be pissed at me if I just gave you her number…but I could-! No, she'd definitely be angry about that too. Probably raid my house." It seemed the question was hard on Lissa.

"Please don't feel obligated to tell me anything. I'd hate to put you in a bad position." He'd hate even more if his inquiries put any strain on their friendship. It seemed to be a strong one.

"Hmmm…" Lissa still seemed to be pondering his question. He pulled in front of a nice house as the GPS alerted him that she was home. "Ah, we're here."

"That we are." As she undid her seatbelt he turned to her. "Like I said, don't worry too much over what I asked. I'm sure I'll figure something out."

"Yeah but…" Her hands started to wring the strap of her purse, indecision in her eyes. Finally, she opened the door and exited the car. She's a good friend. The fact that Rose was best friends with his PA spoke leagues about her tastes and judge of character.

Before he could drive off, Lissa tapped the passenger window. "Do you watch TV in the morning?" she asked after he rolled the window down.

"Just the news, really. Why do you ask?"

"Which news station?" she inquired further.

"WCBV, usually." Where was she going with this?

"You should watch it on NBS instead. Kay?" And with a smile and a thank you, she darted off to her doorstep. Dimitri waited until she was safely inside before driving back to his lonely condo. Well, not completely lonely.

"Hey Luchik," Dimitri greeted his Siberian-German mix that he'd picked up years ago. The pup had been waiting at the door as soon as he'd entered. "Thank you for watching the house, friend." He scratched his wonderful pet under the chin, sending him to dog heaven.

He was ready to drop dead for the night, but knew he should probably wash up and get at least two glasses of water before heading to bed. Though he was off this weekend, he definitely had some sleep to catch up on.

After changing into his night wear, he fell into bed, thankful for the feel of the silky haven. Luchik wandered in and made home in the dog bed beside his own, and they both fell into a quiet, peaceful slumber. Though Dimitri was sure that he was the only one drifting off to thoughts of a beautiful brunette.

.o.o.o.o.o.

"I'm telling you friend, this is what you have interns and assistants for."

Ivan had only been in his home for about ten minutes Monday morning before he'd started chastising Dimitri.

"I can make my own coffee in the morning, thank you." Just as he said this he'd pressed the on switch for his coffee grinder to drown out some of Ivan's chatter.

His friend sighed. "It's almost like that actual human being you were a few nights ago at my party never existed. Now we're back to regular old robot Dimitri."

"Sorry to disappoint. Dark roast?"

"Yeah, if you have," he responded, sinking further into Dimitri's couch. Luchik walked over to Ivan, sniffing his feet from what Dimitri could see from the kitchen window. "Hey malchik. Who's a good dog?" Luchik took one look and walked off unimpressed. Dimitri chuckled at Ivan's dejected face.

"Maybe if you called him by his actual name, he'd like you better."

"He likes me plenty," Ivan huffed. The pup had come to Dimitri in the kitchen to get some water from his bowl.

"Only when you give him treats, yeah."

"Shush, I'm watching the news." He made his point by turning up the volume.

Which reminded him. "Turn to NBS."

"Why? Don't you usually watch WCBV anyway?"

He did. But per Lissa's instructions he'd been watching the news in the morning on NBS. He wasn't sure why yet, it seemed just about the same as WCBV this past weekend. But he didn't figure his PA to send him down a dead end. There was always a reason for her words. "Just switch please. It's channel 14."

"News is the news, but okay." After switching, an anchor's voice blurted through and Dimitri sighed once again. Just news. Why did Vasilisa want me to specifically watch the news on this channel? After his pot finished he put on a dark roast for Ivan. Eventually he made his way to the living room and joined his friend for an easy morning. In a few he'd have to start getting ready to leave, but whenever Ivan stopped by, they'd take a breather in the morning before becoming immersed in their companies.

As the news hour began wrapping up, Dimitri carried their empty mugs into the kitchen. "You want a mug to go?"

"You'd make a good wife Dimitri," Ivan joked. Dimitri put back the second mug he was pulling out. "Ah! Ah! I meant husband! Muzh!"

On a chortle, he filled Ivan up a mug as well as one for himself.

"Gooood morning!" a loud voice boomed from the TV. Dimitri didn't turn around at first, figuring Ivan would turn it off soon.

"Oh my god. Dimka look."

"What Ivan?" he answered distractedly, continuingly packing up in the kitchen.

"Just look! It's-!"

"You're here with the Mason Ashford!" Dimitri finally turned to the TV.

And he could not believe his eyes.

"And the Rose Hathaway," his Roza said in a lilt, almost teasing tone. The same woman he'd spent fantasizing about all weekend. The same woman who'd left as swiftly as she'd entered. And here she was, on his 60' plasma screen, showing that same charming smile that had captivated him last Friday night.

"To another morning of Living It Up!"

"That's where I remember her from!" Ivan cheered. "She's some talk show host on a gossip channel. Or at least I think it's a gossip channel? The ladies in the company are always raving about it, carpe diem this and that. Who knew, right?"

She knew. And Lissa knew. That's what she meant by sort of famous. She was on TV for Christ sake! And that's why Rose hadn't supplied her last name. One google search would have immediately brought her up.

"I know it's been a long weekend without our wonderful presence-" sang the redhead seated beside Rose on the living room stage set.

"BUT, we hope you all had a fantastic time seizing the day," Rose interrupted. Dimitri was still shell-shocked that he was actually seeing her again. If only it weren't through a screen.

"Damn if Rose doesn't look good on TV," Ivan whistled. "Just an observation," he replied after catching Dimitri's glare.

Rose and her counterpart (Mason apparently, since that was how Rose was addressing him) went on to discuss events that had transpired that weekend, mentioning some downtown bars and a fundraiser paintball competition while simultaneously throwing quips and jokes at each other. The audience's enjoyment was obviously genuine.

"I'm an avid paintball player myself when I can find the time," Rose mentioned with a wink.

"I wish I could say the same, but I only needed to get shot once to realize I did not have the gusto for a paint war." Mason seemed to shudder from the memory.

"Yet you have the 'gusto' to spend hours on your hair every morning," Rose joked.

Mason laughed back "you know it," and a shriek of women could be heard from the crowd.

"And on that high note," Rose laughed beautifully, "this has been Rose Hathaway."

"And Mason Ashford,"

"Keep living it up!" they signed off in unison. The TV cut to commercial, pulling Dimitri from his trance-like state.

"Well that was certainly something," Ivan chuckled, finally switching off the television.

"That was…" Dimitri was not expecting to see Rose there, and he struggled to get re-control of his bearings. That's a first.

"They've certainly gotten one more viewer, that was just fun! That Ashford guy is fantastic."

Make that two new viewers.

"And Dimka? We are most definitely going to be late."

Not if he could help it. Some words now needed to be shared with his personal assistant before getting bogged down in meetings and deals. He had just acquired a very valuable piece of information. And he sure wasn't about to let it go to waste.

Hope you enjoyed! I'm very much looking forward to when they meet again, which is what is pushing me to update haha! So wish me luck and look forward to more~