11 reviews on the last chapter? I love you guys so much!
I'm sorry if Dimitri being an ass made any of you guys feel sad but really, he's proven he can be one (flashback to making Rose cry with hateful words in Spirit Bound) so when he loses control? Wa bam.
Hopefully this chapter will be as successful as my last one in making you guys happy :D
Enjoy!
Oh, and I love all the guesses you guys made about weither Dimitri was faking being asleep or not. But I'm going to be mean and not tell you :K


Phoning Syd had been a breeze, minus the yelling about me being a crazy wombat and how I had the nerve, as an escaped criminal, to call her asking for help. After letting her let off some steam though, she did agree to get me as much information as she could on both Lissa's dad/mistress, even though some of the files were still missing, and any suspicious evidence collected at the Queen's murder sight that pointed to anyone but me. She also said she'd send me an untraceable cell phone in case I needed to contact her or anyone else and promised not to give away my location. She recommended me not using any more landlines. Guess she believed I was innocent… for an evil creature of the night.

After that lengthy phone call, I managed my way upstairs and plopped, exhausted, onto my bed. I'd really had no break today. Driving to Baia, emotional explosion in the living room, shopping (that's enough to kill the best of people) and my little secret on the side of the house. Thinking about it still made me tingle all over but something about the way he didn't wake up made me nervous. He was the best, shouldn't he be aware of his surroundings, even when asleep? Maybe just being in his hometown put him at ease, let him let his guard down. Or maybe he was already thinking about me so my presence just made it seem that much more… real. That thought made me smile. Or maybe he had been awake. Now that I would love.

I let my eyes drift close, only bothering to strip off my clothes, and fell asleep in my underwear deciding I didn't care to find any pyjamas. Images twirled behind my eyes, making pretty pictures that caused my heart to sing and my chest to weep. I was spiralling in a giant rainbow, hoping to find the end where maybe a little man in a green outfit would help me out. And then I was sitting in a field. The sky was a soft blue with a tinge of pink meaning the sun was just finishing rising or was about to set. In front of me sat Adrian, crossed legged, in a black wife beater and board shorts. I looked down at myself and saw myself in similar attire, except woman version. And short shorts instead of board. "Long time no see."

He nodded. "Sorry about that… It's just last time so left me kind of…"

"Upset? Pissed off? Jealous?"

He smiled. "All of the above." He eyed me. "What did you do to your hair?"

I twirled a lock around my finger. "Got it coloured. Don't want them being too sure about who I am right off the bat. I like my body bullet-free."

He cocked his head and then realization dawned. "I like it," he reached over and let his fingers run through it. "Been watching often?"

I shook my head. "Haven't had much time. And it's hard enough dealing with my life alone, never mind having the issues of life back home."

He stood up and sat beside me, wrapping an arm around my waist, causing guilt about earlier to twist around my stomach. "It's okay. We'll do what ever we can to our utmost ability to try and keep you safe. Even if it means having to argue to old men with sticks up their asses all day."

"I'm sure that's a great sacrifice for you. You actually getting anywhere with it?"

He shrugged. "I've been working on trying to convince the council to lay off looking for you and searching for more suspects." I nodded, indicating I knew that already. "I think we've got them thinking about it. They'll never truly give up looking for you and you'll still have the charge of breaking out of jail on your shoulders, even if we find the real murderer. But hey," he gave a lopsided smile, "they might drop them in lue of you beating the crap out of them for wrongly accusing you. They know you can do it."

I laughed. "Maybe, maybe." I sighed. "I just wish this would all be over with. I want them to find the murderer so I can walk around without fear of being shot if spotted."

"So do I, my little Dhampir, so do I."

I rested my head on his shoulder, his arms wrapped around me, and we just sat there, embraced. It was nice, comforting. I realized now that, although his touch didn't leave the same shock of electricity that Dimitri's had, it still held something that made me feel loved, made me want him. I really was just a masochist, always wanting what I couldn't have. Why couldn't I just be happy with Adrian? He loved me and I loved him and as much as I knew it wasn't that same as what I had with Dimitri, I was still happy with him. Honestly, I was. It made a hell of a lot more sense to just give up on Dimitri and stay with Adrian than to continue longing for what I couldn't have. Damn it, Rose. He already told you time and time again to move on. That he already did. Why couldn't I force myself to let go of him? At the rate I was going, I was going to lose both of them in the process since I was being so unfair to Adrian. Or myself for that matter.

Feeling guilty about having these thoughts while in such intimate proximity to Adrian, I pulled away. "You should probably get back. You need the sleep." I wasn't sure if he had come from a sleeping trance or his meditating, sitting one, so this was a 50/50 chance in having him leave me to my guilty thoughts.

He nodded. "I have to get up soon anyways.' His nose crinkled in dislike, "Another meeting." He stood up, pulling me with him, and kissed me deeply. "Sorry for being such a jealous idiot. I know you won't betray me," he said with a kind smile.

I felt like he had just stabbed me in the stomach. "Course not," I said with fake sincerity. But he believed me and the dream faded with him mouthing "I love you," and I fell back into my dreams of whirlwind colours.

When I woke up, it was with a grumbling stomach and a sense of foreboding. Guilt weighed me down so badly I ended up just lying there, staring at the ceiling. Viktoria was still sleeping soundly in her bed next to mine so I assumed it was a Saturday. It's amazing how I'd had no idea of what day it had been for the past… week? Two weeks? The days in the cell had blurred together. I breathed deeply. It was Saturday. A brand new day. I was a brand new girl. Sydney had told me that, if I hadn't already, to try to go by some form of alias to any of the locals in case any Guardians came by asking for a Rose. If no one knew of me as Rose they could honestly say no. Of course, that would only work if the locals didn't still recognise me, which I was sure they would. Hell, maybe they didn't remember my name anymore though. I had been away for a while…

Eventually, my stomach getting the best of me, I got up, pulled on one of my new outfits, a red V-necked t-shirt and jean shorts, and walked down stairs to the smell of eggs and bacon. I walked into the kitchen smiling to Olena. "Anything I can help you with?"

"No, no, dear. Sit down and I'll get you your breakfast. Sleep well?"

I pulled out a chair at the table; Sonya gave me a smile and continued shoving food into her mouth. I shrugged. "It was alright. I was pretty exhausted so it would make sense for me to stay asleep all night. Didn't get much sleep the other night."

Olena placed my plate in front of me. It sizzled with the smell of eternal happiness, making me grab a piece of bacon before it was even out of her hands. She smiled at my eagerness. "Anything else I can get you?"

"Got any donuts?"

She shook her head. "No, but you can get some later. I need someone to get my groceries today anyway."

Dang. I needed my morning donut fix. "Okay, thanks." She left to go back into the kitchen as Dimitri walked down the stairs. Guess he came back in the house after all. "Nice of you to grace us with your presence."

He grunted, not meeting my eyes. Not even looking at me. "I was hungry."

Olena came back out of the kitchen, plate already in hand. "Is that all I am to you? A food provider?" she asked jokingly. I guess that even an annoyance of her sons tattered love life, at his fault, didn't stop her from loving him.

He gave a quick shake of the head and smiled at her. "You are so much more. You keep my clothes clean." She "hmph"ed and gave him a light, playful, smack on the back on his head. I bit back the grin that threatened to spread over my face and shovelled more egg into my mouth.

He looked over at me from across the table, meeting my eyes for a split second before giving all his attention to his food. I swear I saw a smile on his face before all emotion erased from it as he starting taking civilized sized bites. What was so funny? "Being a bit dainty on the eating, aren't you, Dimka? Honestly, you're acting more like a lady than the others in a house of girls." I looked up to see Viktoria entering, a plate in hand. She sat next to me, giving me a smile. "Morning. And I need to talk to you later, Rose." She winked. Oh God, this could not be good.

Dimitri just glared at her and took a single, tiny bit of egg and placed it in his mouth. "At least I know I won't accidently choke from eating too fast," he said, eyeing my already empty plate that had been full minutes before.

I shrugged. "Hey, I was hungry."

He shook his head playfully. "I'll give you twenty minutes to digest that before I expect you out there running."

I looked at him incredulously, "You can't be serious! I'm not your student anymore, therefore you can't boss me around."

He rolled his eyes. "You still need to keep in shape, even if you aren't going to be on Guardian duty."

I grumbled, knowing he was right. I stood up, taking my plate with me. "Oh, and call me… Rach from now on. Even if everyone here still recognises me, we want as many people knowing me as Rach rather than Rose. If anyone asks for Rose, no one will know who they're talking about."

Before I could leave to the kitchen though, Dimitri stopped me with a question. "Why'd you cut your hair, Ro-, er Rach?"

I smiled, still not facing them, due to his obviously placed nonchalant tone. I turned around to face him. "Oh, just needed a change. It'll help me blend in if anyone's looking for me."

He nodded, trying his best to hide any emotion in his eyes. "I like it. Very…"

"Sexy, badass librarian-y?" Viktoria cut in.

"Librarian-y?" He asked, confused. I shoved my glasses on. "Oh."

An idea came to me and I slowly took my glasses back off, shook my hair out a bit and said, huskily, "Mr. Belikov, do you know what the penalty is for an overdue book?" You gotta love "Bones" quotes.

"Rose, go run."

I smiled, turned on my heel and walked into the kitchen. On the way there I heard Viktoria say, not so quietly, "Oh come on, you know that turned you on," and then a silky voice told her to shut up.

XXX

I was sitting on the front porch, tying up the laces of my runners, when Paul came around from the back and walked up to me. "Rose?"

I looked up and smiled. "Yes, Paul?"

"How come I never hear you and Uncle Dimitri say you love each other? My mom said that if you truly love someone, you have to let them know. And Auntie Viktoria said you guys are in love. And I asked Uncle and he said that love is a relative term and he shows his love in the only way he can," my heart leaped, "since he is incapable of loving you anymore." Fuck. What the hell was that suppose to mean? "And I don't know what that means…" Brilliant. But that was probably meant towards the word "incapable."

I gave him a tight smile and patted his shoulder. "It means that you won't be hearing him say "I love you" to me anytime soon." And then I took off running before I started to cry.

XXX

Running like this, leisurely instead of for my life, was nice. It had been a while since I'd actually just ran to the rhythm of my Ipod, nothing to worry about except keeping my feet on the ground. Of course, my mind was bantering off angry thoughts about Dimitri and trying to figure out what "love is a relative term" was suppose to mean. After about thirty minutes of being alone, Dimitri silently joined me, not saying anything but keeping to my pace. I guess thinking of the devil made the devil appear too. I looked over at him, trying to catch his eye, but he kept looking forward even though I knew he could see me looking out of his peripheral. I silently fumed to myself.

I wished I hadn't kissed him yesterday. It was wrong and it only made me want a second helping. I kept thinking back to the way his lips felt, soft and callused against mine and the whispered moan I had caused still caused my lower abdomen to squirm. I might as well have forced myself upon him, taking advantage like that. But at the same time, I didn't regret it. If that was the last and only time I'd get to kiss then, hell, I would make sure I burned every moment, every sensation into my mind. Masochist, I thought to myself silently. And besides, he deserved to be taken advantage of for being non-observant. I replayed it in my mind, closing my eyes as the memory took over my senses. "You alright?" I had slowed down without even noticing and opened my eyes to a concerned looking Dimitri. Now who was being non-observant?

"Hmm? Oh, yeah. Just peachy." Cause I was so going to tell him that I was having a memory overload about kissing him after he threw my heart out of the window, again, via his little nephew. "Just got dragged down by my thoughts I guess… but I'm alright." I started running again, a bit faster than I was before. He came up beside me effortlessly.

"You sure? You looked kind of dazed. With a stupid grin on your face. I thought maybe you had gone into Lissa's head."

I had a stupid grin on my face? Damn. "No, I wasn't in Lissa's head. I was just thinking." Why was he being so pushy?

"You know, if you need to talk I'm, you know, still here to listen." Ha! He wouldn't want to hear what I had to say.

"Why do you think I want to talk?"

"Because I can see that you've been crying." Damn it. I'd stopped crying like, twenty minutes ago. They couldn't still be wet could they? I rubbed my eyes but they were dry. They must still be red.

I slowed down and he followed suit until we came to a full stop behind a building. He raised an eyebrow at me. "Alright. I want to talk right now." Honestly, I think I was slowly losing control over my body. I took a deep breath and took a step towards him. He, in turn, took a step back into the wall. "I've been feeling totally lost lately. Confused, frustrated," Guilty, annoyed, fighting for control and losing… "And, having this constant weight on my shoulders is really starting to piss me off. A lot is pissing me off, actually." Like you.

He blinked. "What are you talking about exactly…?"

I took a step closer to him, knowing he couldn't step away without being rude and he wasn't going to do that until he was sure of my intentions. It felt nice to have the upper hand for once. "I've got so much responsibility right now. I could die at any moment if I got recognized as Rose." Another step closer, only a foot away. "I have this impossible mission I have to fulfill and I have no idea how to do it. And the most pettiest thing in my life in the thing I'm most worried about." I refused to believe what Paul had told me. "Every turn I make, my heart hurts. Every decision causes it to break and twist." Closer. If I just pressed myself a bit further I would be against him in the perfect position for our lips to meet. Adrian was at the back of my mind. Any guilt I felt later would be worth the extravagance of the moment. "There's no relief for me, anywhere." My voice fell to a whisper, "I need to know, Dimitri. I don't know what to do anymore." I filled that little space separating us and lifted my face, pressing myself against him. I felt him tense up.

"Rose…"

I held my hand up. Almost pleadingly, I said, "Please. Please, just once. Please… kiss me."

Hahaha, end of chapter. Please don't kill me in my sleep O_o
Now, I want your opinion on this. How the hell is Sydney going to find information on Lissa's sibling…?
And what are your guesses on who her sibling is?
Like really, I've got all the love life stuff planned out (er, sort of?) but no idea about the really important stuff (to some people. I think Rose and Dimitri getting back together is much more important than getting Lissa her spot on the Court.)
Review!
And do you guys think the story (as a whole) is going too slow, too fast or at a good pace? Don't want you guys getting impatient or anything :D