All night I had tossed and turned in bed, not able to decipher all the conflicting thoughts and feelings I experienced after Dimitri's revelation. He had flown to Portland after me all those years ago? Why? He'd been so adamant about breaking it off that night, I couldn't understand how anything could have changed his mind.

I glanced at my clock, irritability drawing a groan from me. I hadn't slept a wink and I had to be up for work soon. The dawn's rays peaked in through my blinds and I sighed, giving up. I threw the covers off and began to get dressed. I would just go to work early then.

As I got ready for work and drove there, my thoughts drifted back to Dimitri. Did I want to hear what he had to say? Would it change anything? What about Tasha? Why was he so adamant about telling me what happened when he was with her? Especially considering he had moved to Portland with her, clearly some part of him was serious about her if he had done that.

I pulled up in front of the gym, unsurprised to see how unpopulated it was considering the early hours. Once I walked inside however, I was stunned to see Dimitri already there. He hadn't noticed me, the small earbuds in his ears obviously blocking out any noise. I knew he was listening to some 80's music. He was a creature of habit, and despite his bad tastes, I doubted anything had changed in five years.

He was at the leg press, only wearing gym shorts that had fallen down his thighs and a tight wife beater clung to his sweaty torso. His quads bulged with the heavy weight that he had set up, and he paused momentarily as he panted. As I grew closer his head snapped around, and I was reminded of the uncanny ability we had to sense when the other was in the same room.

He looked honestly stunned to see me, but he never faltered with the weights he held up. He merely set the machine up to pause his work out before he took out his earbuds as he stood up.

"Rose," he breathed, eyes conflicted as he looked at me, "I didn't expect to see you here so early."

I shrugged, for the first time since he'd reappeared back into my life I wasn't anxious to evade his presence, "I couldn't sleep after last night."

He frowned, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to spring that on you. I just really wish you would give me the opportunity to talk to you about it. I know I handled it horribly wrong then, and I just wanted the chance to explain. I don't want you to hate me, not without the whole story."

I nodded, "Okay."

He looked so surprised and confused that I smiled slightly, "Okay?"

I nodded, "Yes I would like to hear your part of the story."

"Now?"

I nodded, "If you would like."

He immediately nodded, "Of course."

I lead him to the office, knowing that Mason wouldn't be here for a couple more hours and I sat down in a chair as Dimitri sat opposite me.

He looked thoughtful for a moment before he turned his attention to me, "Rose when I met you I was honestly blindsided by the feelings you made me experience. I never knew I could care so deeply about someone, especially in the short amount of time that we had come to know each other. I tried for so long to fight it off because you were my student, but you were so stubborn and I'm glad you were. Being with you was - and still is - the best thing that ever happened to me. I regret losing it. I regret letting you go so easily. I should have fought for us. I know that now. I've known that for a while."

I frowned, "What happened then? Why didn't you?"

Dimitri looked conflicted and his eyes dropped to the ground, "I know we had agreed to do long distance because of my career and your desire to move to Portland. When we decided it, I honestly believed we would be able to. I didn't really consider what it would do to either of us honestly. I just knew that I wanted to be with you, and even if we had to be apart for a little while I felt that we would have been able to handle it. But then … Lissa came to me one day. Weeks before graduation, but she had known we planned to continue dating after you left."

I stopped short. I had no idea Lissa had spoken to Dimitri, "What does Lissa have to do with this? What did she say?"

Dimitri frowned, "I don't want you to be upset with her. Ultimately it was my choice to break up with you, she just merely planted the seed for me to think it through. And the way I executed it was poor, and that was all on me."

"Dimitri. What did she say?" I asked slowly, a slow burning anger beginning to come to life in me as a sinking feeling churned in my gut.

"She was just looking out for your happiness Roza. I don't blame her. Her reasoning was very convincing at the time. I regret listening to her now of course, but … at the time I thought she was right. And then when I showed up to Portland, and you looked so happy. I honestly didn't think our breakup had affected you like it was me. And that of course made me angry and resentful for a while. I had been through hell in Missoula without you. Living there with all those memories. It was torture Rose. I felt like you hadn't loved me the way that I had loved you."

My eyes widened incredulously, "Are you kidding me?"

Dimitri faltered and opened his mouth, but I cut him off.

"No!" I jumped to my feet, "How dare you say that to me? I am not the one who gave up on us! I am not the one who let someone - even if she is my best friend - talk you out of being with me! I loved you! More than anything. I had never trusted or cared for someone the way that I did for you! I still haven't. I haven't had a serious relationship since you Dimitri because you hurt me that badly. I may have only been 21 when we were together, but I knew with my heart that you were it for me. I had wanted to marry you. Whenever we talked about it, I knew it was a legitimate possibility. But you threw all of that away? And for what? Because you thought I wasn't strong enough to handle the distance! That is incredibly insulting."

I turned away from him, my breathing labored and a tightness gripped my throat as tears threatened to fall. This is why I hadn't wanted to speak about this for so long. I knew it was going to bring up all these old feelings of pain and betrayal. I buried my face in my hands as I tried to calm my breathing.

"Roza." Dimitri had silently gotten up, and now stood very near and in the next moment he had pulled me around and into his embrace. I froze.

Dimitri was hugging me. The love of my life was hugging me after five years apart. It had been a long time since I had felt that electric current that buzzed beneath my skin at his touch, and I felt myself come alive under his fingertips. Against my will my arms wrapped around his back, and I was clinging to him. My fingers gripped his shirt and dug into his back as I began to cry my loss and pain into his chest. One of his arms was wrapped around my waist, and the other was tangled in my hair as he rambled Russian words to me. His soothing accent wrapped me in a cocoon and I could have stayed there forever.

I felt like I was home.

But all too soon reality came crashing back in, and I ripped myself from him, "Oh my God. I'm - I'm sorry. You're with Tasha. This … this doesn't change anything. Oh God."

I quickly backed away from him as he opened his mouth, but I vehemently shook my head, "No Dimitri. This doesn't change anything. You … you still left me. Honestly no matter what she said, it was still you. You should have talked to me about it. You should have told me. Not just decided by yourself to remove yourself from my life."

"Rose," Dimitri tried, stepping towards me, "I'm not - "

I backed away and shook my head, "No. I have to go. I'm sorry. Thank you for telling me, but I have to go."

I quickly fled from the office, and sped past Mason who was walking through the front door barely acknowledging his confused greeting before I got into my car.

Dimitri wasn't the only one I needed to speak to. My anger rekindled in my chest as I sped off to Lissa's house. All these years, and not once had she admitted to me what she had done. All those times she'd watched me cry, and break down over him. Betrayal was like a fire in my blood and I bit my lip to not cry. How could she?

I paused in my car outside of their house, trying to catch my breath and think of what I was going to say.

Once I'd collected myself enough, I determinedly stalked to the front door and waltzed inside. Lissa looked up surprised, slowly smiling before it fell right off her face once she realized how upset I was.

"Rose," she jumped up, "What happened? What's wrong?"

"How could you!" I demanded, and goddamn it her face immediately fell as realization settled upon her. Guilt tainted her face and she shamefully looked at the ground.

"Rose I … I thought I was looking out for you. I knew you cared about him, but it wasn't until after that I realized I'd made a mistake. I honestly thought I was protecting you from greater heartbreak," she whispered as tears flooded her green eyes, "If I'd known I never would have said anything."

"You had five years to say something Lissa! You held me the night that I came back! Were the hours of me crying not enough of an indication that it meant a lot more to me than you thought! Were the years of me not dating not an indication that you made the love of my life leave me? How could you sit there for years and not tell me? I had to hear it from him! Were you ever going to be honest with me!"

My whole life I had depended on her. She'd been my rock. My constant, my sister and family, and yet ironically she had betrayed me worse than anyone else ever had.

I felt like she had driven a dagger straight through my back.

"Rose please," she begged, "I know I messed up and I know I should have said something a long time ago, but I didn't even know how to. So much time had passed, and I honestly didn't even know if we would have been able to find him. You don't know how shocked I was when he showed up with Tasha. But I knew this day was going to come, and I know I should have said something then, but you were so adamant that he wasn't going to be a part of you life - "

"Because of a lie!" I screamed at her, "I had no idea you were the reason he broke up with me! I had no idea he flew to Portland after me! I didn't know any of that, if I had Dimitri and I would be together right now! Hell we'd probably be having children alongside you and Christian."

My voice broke and I began to cry, "You stole my future from me, and you never even told me."

Her face wavered with hurt and guilt, and I sobbed as I turned away. I was surprised to see Christian behind me, but he was staring at Lissa with a gaze full of disappointment and anger. I realized then that even he hadn't known what she'd done.

"How could you do that to her?" He whispered, his sorrowful gaze meeting my own.

Lissa cried, "Christian please - "

"No we talked about this so many times, you had so many opportunities to tell me. I'm your husband Lissa, and Rose is like a sister to me. How could you have kept this from the both of us?"

Lissa cried. Deep down, my heart went out to her because I knew she was hurting now that Christian and I were both upset with her, but I couldn't bring myself to forgive her.

I moved past them and out of the house. I needed to get away. This day had turned to shit and it wasn't even 9am. I sat in my car completely distraught, without any idea of what to do. Lissa was all I had, and without her I didn't know where to turn.


I was five years old when I entered my kindergarten class for the first time, and saw all the other young faces scared of the new environment. I wasn't though. I waltzed into the class, leaving my parents behind in the hallway as I dropped into one of the small plastic chairs beside a certain blonde girl.

She'd shyly turned her jade green eyes up towards me and slowly smiled, revealing a gapped tooth smile, "Hello."

I'd been stunned by her eyes. They reminded me on the green frogs that stuck to the trees. I smiled back and boldly held out my palm for a handshake, "I'm Rose Hathaway. What's your name?"

She'd returned my handshake, and began to relax, "Lissa Dragomir."

"Hi Lissa," I'd greeted. Just then a blond haired boy ran up behind her and tugged on her hair, eliciting a shriek from Lissa. The boy had obnoxiously laughed and done it again. We later learned that boy to be Jesse Zeklos.

I'd immediately jumped out of my seat however and threw my fist into his stomach. He'd groaned and kneeled over before he slowly began to cry.

The teacher had seen the whole thing, and that was how I'd gotten suspended on my very first day of school. My parents hadn't even left the building yet when it had all happened. But that day was the start to the best friendship I had ever known.

From the day forward, an innate need to always be there and protect Lissa was born and we stayed at each other's side through school and into the start of adulthood. We protected one another, supported each other, and encouraged each other when it was needed. I didn't have much growing up especially with absentee parents, and she lost her own parents when she was in high school. We became each other's family as we grew. Nothing had ever been able to separate us.


Hey everyone I was hoping someone would know this one-shot I've been looking for, hopefully it wasn't deleted off the site. It's a story of Rose and Dimitri in the afterlife. It randomly popped into my head the other day after reading another one-shot but I haven't been able to find it and I never favorited it. Rose says something along the lines of "Took you long enough Comrade" and they've both been restored to their younger selves. If anyone knows what I'm talking about please comment the title because I'd love to read it again!

Also I hope you enjoyed this and that it wasn't a let down, but there is definitely still more to come with both Dimitri and Lissa.