A/N: Thanks again for the awesome reviews! You guys have been great! I should be finishing up Chapter 10 today and then it's off to my lovely Beta! Enjoy! Review, Follow, and Favorite! ~~Rosa

Chapter 9

When Rose awoke, she was alone. Sitting up in bed, she stretched, once again feeling the burn in her muscles. Pulling her hair up into a high bun, she went to go check on Alexander. The exhaustion she had felt yesterday was almost completely gone and the ill feelings she had yesterday were non-existent. A small smile played on her lips as she thought back to last night; she had finally told Dimitri the truth, and now he was going to stay. Turning into Alexander's room, she had to fight not to let out a surprised gasp.

Dimitri sat in the rocking chair, his hair falling out of its pony tail; he slept peacefully, in his arms Alexander slept soundly. Rose leaned against the door frame, crossing her arms in front of her. The sun was just starting to set outside, allowing dull rays of light to spill across Dimitri's face. Rose slowly and quietly made her way to the rocking chair, being careful not to wake Alexander; she placed a soft kiss on Dimitri's lips. The prickle of stubble tickled her face, and she found that she somewhat enjoyed Dimitri without a clean shave.

Dimitri's body stiffened at the touch, and then softened as he kissed back,

"Roza," his voice was low and gruff, filled with the haze of sleep.

"Morning comrade" Dimitri opened his eyes, letting his mouth easily fall into a half smile. In Rose's sweatpants she felt the vibrate of her phone,

"Shit," she stepped back from Dimitri and Alexander and pulled out her phone.

"Lissa" Dimitri guessed, Rose nodded,

"She had wanted me to call her last night, she's probably worried." Dimitri nodded, gingerly getting out of the rocking chair. Rose went in the other room to answer her phone.

"Morning" Rose said cheerfully,

"Rose!" Lissa's voice wasn't angry, but it was louder than usual, "are you okay?"

"Of course I am," Rose rolled her eyes, "I told you I just needed some rest." Lissa sighed,

"Dimitri called me last night when he couldn't get a hold of you; I didn't know what to think." Rose let out an exasperated sigh,

"Both of you are so dramatic,"

"We were worried about you."

"Yeah well now he'll have to worry about fixing my front door."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that Dimitri kicked in my door when I didn't answer my phone last night." Lissa laughed,

"It's not funny, Liss! Now I don't have a front door!"

"You should have answered your phone then."

"I was sleeping!"

"Sleeping so much that you couldn't answer your phone or hear a 6'7'' Russian pounding down your door?" Rose paused,

"Yeah….so?"

"You really must have been exhausted."

"Rose?" Dimitri called from Alexander's room,

"Who's that?" Lissa asked over the phone, Rose ignored her,

"Yeah"

"Where do you keep the diapers?"

"Rose, who is that" Lissa exclaimed,

"There's a new box in the closet if there aren't any in the changing table!" Rose called back, "You don't have to change him though, I can do it!" Dimitri poked his head out from Alexander's room, a smile on his lips,

"No, I've got it."

"Are you sure? I know it's not the most pleasant thing to do." Dimitri laughed,

"I want to." Rose rolled her eyes, smiling,

"Whatever you say comrade."

"Comrade! Is Dimitri over there right now?" Rose finally pulled her attention back to the phone, and though Lissa wasn't in the room with her, she could feel a blush forming on her cheeks,

"Maybe,"

"He is there, isn't he? Isn't it a little early?" Rose looked down at her feet, feeling awkward,

"Well, he's been here since last night."

"He spent the night?" Rose was getting tired of this conversation,

"He was looking after Alexander while I got some rest, that's all." The whole cuddles session before she went to sleep didn't seem like an important detail to give. There was silence on the other line, and then finally Lissa spoke, her voice quiet,

"Did you tell him?"

"Yeah," Rose let out a breathy laugh, "I told him."

"And guessing by the fact that he didn't run back to Russia, I take it he took it well."

"Way better than expected Liss," Rose couldn't fight the smile that spread across her lips, "I think things might actually work out."

"You'll have to tell me over dinner tonight, no don't try to argue, Christian is making that meatloaf you love so much, bring Dimitri, it'll be nice." Rose bit her lip,

"Don't you think that's rushing things?"

"You're right; the only person he even said more than a sentence to back at the academy was you. Ask him if he wants to come, if he doesn't, no big deal." Rose nodded to herself,

"Okay, I'll see you tonight."

"Bye," Rose hung up, and walked back into Alexander's room, finding that the boy's diaper had been changed, and taken out of his night clothes.

"Everything okay with Lissa?" Dimitri asked slipping tiny socks onto Alexander's feet.

"Yeah, she was just inviting me over for dinner tonight," Rose paused, "she said that you're welcome to join us." Dimitri turned to look back at her,

"Do you want me to come?" Rose shrugged,

"Only if you want to, I don't want to make you do anything you don't want to."

"Well, the princess is your best friend, it's only right that I start to get acquainted with her."

"Well, if you're going to get to know her, you probably should stop calling her princess."

"But she is a princess, that's her respective title."

"I never called you by your respective title," Rose pointed out,

"You never call anyone by their respective title," Dimitri laughed, Rose narrowed her eyes,

"Was that supposed to be an insult?" Dimitri picked Alexander off of the changing table, cradling him with ease as he walked over to Rose, planting a kiss on her lips,

"I would never insult you." Rose smiled, returning the kiss, when it broke, Dimitri winked, and walked towards the kitchen, "Now go get dressed, Rose, we're going to be late for practice." Rose let out a dramatic sigh, but went back to her room to change.

Dimitri walked with Rose to Adrian's house; he was on the phone with a man about replacing Rose's door as they walked up to Adrian's home.

"Little Dhampir," Adrian greeted, his smile faltering slightly as he saw Dimitri, "what is he doing here?"

"We're just going to go to train, that's all." Adrian laughed,

"I'm guessing you told him?"

"How do you know?"

"His aura is so happy it's disgusting," Adrian rolled his eyes, "you both have been sulking around here since we got back, and now both of your auras are beaming like it's Christmas." Rose shrugged,

"So you're right, I told him, is that a problem?" Adrian shrugged, and while he was faking that it was nothing, Rose knew better.

"No it's not a problem, Rose; you saved me the trouble of having to tell him." Rose decided not to push the subject, she handed Alexander to Adrian, kissed her son goodbye,

"Thank you for watching him."

"Of course," Adrian gave a pointed look to Dimitri, "I've always been here for you, and I always will be." He raised his voice. Dimitri paused, his conversation on the phone, a dark look flashed in his eyes, but it was gone as quickly as it had come, and with that, Rose said her goodbyes to Adrian and Alexander and headed off to the gym with Dimitri.

Just like yesterday, Dimitri came outside with me to run, only this time, he stood off to the side, a western novel in hand; he only looked up to comment on Rose's pace. Rose would immediately quicken her pace after being yelled at, but would find that she couldn't help but slow down as she looked at Dimitri. Though things had been rough between them lately, and it had been nine months since the cabin, since he had been her mentor, things seemed to have just picked up where they left off.

There was a new edge to the relationship between the two of them. Unlike before, Dimitri's attitude towards Rose had changed slightly. His posture had relaxed and his tough love was now done with an easy smile. Rose was finally eighteen, she had graduated, there was nothing wrong with their relationship now, she realized, they were free to be together, even if people wouldn't be comfortable with it.

"Pick up the pace, Hathaway!" Dimitri yelled, breaking Rose out of her thoughts once more.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

"Are you and the Russian cradle robber coming to dinner tonight?" Adrian's voice came through the speaker of Rose's phone as she changed from her gym clothes back into her normal clothes, "You were out all day with him."

"He was showing me routine posts for around the court, it took longer than expected." Rose pulled her shirt over her head, "I'm sorry, I should have called."

"Why would you need to know any of that? You're going to be Lissa's guardian." Adrian sounded annoyed, and Rose bit her lip,

"Yeah, but I won't be her only guardian, since we're the same age I'll usually be by her side, but if I get posted in an outside position I'll need to know every inch of the court."

"Whatever," Adrian mumbled, "I'll just head over to Lissa's with Alexander, and I'll see you later." Adrian hung up. Rose let out a deep sigh; she knew she'd be getting a lecture from Adrian tonight.

When Rose left the locker room, Dimitri was waiting for her,

"Ready?" he asked, a small smile on his face,

"Only if you are," Rose smiled hesitantly, "you know you really don't have to come if you don't want to."

"I want to," he reassured her; "I want to be a part of your life, of our sons life." Rose laced her fingers with Dimitri's, and put her head on his shoulder as they made their way to Lissa's.

"People aren't going to be happy," Rose sighed, "when this gets out, a lot of people are going to judge this relationship."

"So let them," Dimitri said calmly, "it doesn't matter, we were going to make this work before I left for Russia, and I still plan on doing that now." Dimitri stopped walking; they were at Lissa's front door. Bringing Rose close to him, he wrapped his hands around her waist, and put his forehead on hers,

"I love you." Rose brushed her lips against Dimitri's,

"I love you too, comrade." The kiss was short, and sweet, but it held all the love in the world. It gave Rose the strength she thought she would need to get through this dinner party. She knew Adrian would chaste her, and that Christian would probably be a bit surprised, but she knew that with Dimitri by her side, she could do anything.

At least, that's what she thought, until Tasha opened the door.