Well, first up... thank you all for your wonderful reviews, I love how you're all getting into this story.
Second, I thought I'd let you in on these outtakes...

From time to time, I will be putting up chapters in Dimitri's POV. These chapters won't move the story forward but they will either
show what is happening in a part of the story that Rose isn't privvy to or what's going on in Dimitri's mind at the time.

Some may have relevent parts to upcoming chapters, others won't.
They probably won't be as big as the chapters done in Rose's POV as this story is essentially her journey.

I hope you enjoy this little outtake and get to see a little of what's going on in our favourite Russian's head! :-)
Sandy XOXO


Dimitri's First Lesson – Outtake 1.

I watched her walk away with her friends and found myself smiling. I had been slightly taken aback by the feeling I got when I touched her shoulder after she got hurt. It was weird; it was almost like pins and needles or a small electrical current running through my hand and up my arm. As soon as I pulled my hand away, the feeling dissipated.

Her reaction earlier in the class had me confused at first, but something about her demeanour and the protective actions of her friends made me think that something terrible had happened to this... Rose girl.

But when she got up and refused to give in to their demands on leaving early, I couldn't help but feel somehow proud of her tenaciousness. She had a fighter's spirit inside of her, I could tell. Not only in this one small action on her part, but also because of how she held herself while doing the kicking exercises. She also had a certain naturalness to her movements. That was something that couldn't be taught.

I also didn't miss the little smile that pulled at her lips as she turned away from me. I hoped my words gave her some encouragement and also made her want to come back. She was – intriguing.

"Mama, I'm back." I called out as I walked through the front door. The house was unusually quiet, but I was certain mama said she wasn't working tonight.

"In the kitchen Dimitri."

I walked in to see my mother and sisters at the kitchen table talking.

"Private conversation or can anyone join in?" I asked.

"Have a seat." My sister Sonja offered. "We're just going over next week's meals and working out what I have to get from the shops tomorrow."

My mother's expression changed as she looked up and down my uniform.

"I didn't realise you had a class tonight Dimitri. Have you found group already?"

"Oh, Alberta asked me to take over her classes for a while. Her father was diagnosed with terminal cancer, so she's gone to stay with her mother to help." I was confused by her face, her expression... "Why? Is something wrong mama?"

When she looked back to me, I saw an expression that I'd seen before. She knew something but couldn't speak about it, like when she'd had a bad shift at the hospital but couldn't talk about the particulars because of the patient privacy law. I knew not to ask...

"No. Nothing's wrong. So, how did it go?" She asked.

"Alright at first, one of the new students had a bit of an incident."

"What happened?" My other sister Karolina asked.

"Well, I was going around helping correct techniques; we were doing forward and sidekicks. Well, these two girls were partnered, Rose and... Lisa? Something like that. Well Lisa got distracted when she saw me walk up to them and kicked Rose in the head."

"Oh God... Was she alright?" My mother asked panicked. Okay, now I know something's wrong.

"Yeah, do you know her?"

"Yes, but I can't talk about it." A patient...

"A nurse was there which was lucky."

"Sydney." My mother offered.

"Yeah, well she came over and checked Rose out, she said that she didn't think anything was broken but wanted her to get an X-ray done just in case. But when they tried to get her to go, she refused. She wanted to keep going with the class. She's strong; if she keeps that attitude she'll be a great fighter one day."

"You sound impressed brother." Sonja commented.

"I am impressed; that kick would have hurt. She started to bruise up almost instantly but she kept going. Not many women would have done that. But what was strange was that everyone around her freaked out a bit; wouldn't let me touch her. Then when she did look at me, she looked... scared. That just didn't mesh with the girl who then got up and kept fighting."

"She's had a rough few weeks Dimitri. Be careful; give her space."

Now I knew that mama knew her from the hospital. Something bad happened to this girl, Rose. Something only she had the right to tell me if she so chose to. I gave a short nod in understanding to my mother.

"Well, I'm going up for a shower." I said.

"Don't use all the hot water either." Sonja yelled as I walked out of the kitchen.

"Wouldn't dream of it sis." I yelled back.

Later that night as I lay in bed, my mind swirled with the events in class. Rose... I couldn't get her face out of my mind. The instructor in me saw the natural talent she displayed in class; her movements were smooth and strong. Even though it was easy to see she was still only a learner, I could also see her potential.

The man in me though... he saw something else. She was the girl I'd seen in the diner. The girl I'd thought of constantly for more than a week. I couldn't believe it when I looked around the class and saw her looking back at me. I couldn't wait to be able to walk over to her and introduce myself but when I finally got to her, (even if it was because she got hurt) I was denied the chance to speak to her.

The look in her eyes was like she was... mesmerised or something. It was intense... At first I thought it was fear, but her pupils weren't dilated her breathing seemed okay – considering the fact that she'd just been kicked. The attraction I felt towards her was instant, not only because of her looks, but something else too... It was like I was being pulled towards her. I wanted to... help her, hold her. Magnetic.

Saturday morning I woke to the sound of the phone ringing which was soon followed by the screaming voice of my sister Viktoria.

"Dimitri! Phone..." I couldn't help but smile, she was so loud!

I dragged myself out of bed and out to the phone in the hallway. My 'always thinking' mother thought it would be a good idea to have one installed here so if she got a call in from the hospital at some ungodly hour in the night, she wouldn't kill herself by falling down the stairs to answer the phone.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Good morning Dimka, sleeping in are we?" I smiled as I recognised my friend's voice.

"Hi Tash. Yeah, I didn't get a lot of sleep last night actually." Too much thinking.

"Oh really, something wrong?" she asked concerned.

"No, just stuff on my mind. What do I owe the pleasure?"

"Oh, it's nothing much, if you're tired I'll let you get back to bed."

"No, I was awake anyway." I lied.

"Well, I was wondering if you'd like to come over for lunch today. It's been a while since we've seen each other."

"That would be great Tash, I'd like that. What time?" I hadn't been in town long and I hadn't made any new acquaintances so my days were becoming boring. Tash and I had been friends since junior high and so far was really my only friend here. I was going to start looking for a daytime job shortly, but after my last gig, I thought I'd take some time to de-stress before jumping back into the frypan.

"Whenever you get here will be fine by me. You still have my address?"

"Yep."

"Excellent, I'll see you soon then." We said our goodbyes and I jumped into the shower to wake myself up properly.

A little while later, I drove up the driveway of Tasha's new house. As I opened the door and looked up, I smiled taking in the house's appearance.

"Hello there stranger." She greeted as I closed the car door. "What are you smiling about?"

"This." I said indicating towards the house. "It's very you."

"Yes it is, isn't it?" The two story white painted house was not keeping with the 'birds, trees and nature' surroundings. All of the neighbouring houses looked like their owners had tried to make them blend in to the environment, not this one. This house was all odd angles, multiple roof heights and ultra modern – pushing the boundaries and a little outspoken; daring someone to say something just like its owner. "Welcome to my humble abode." She said as she opened the door for me.

"It's hardly humble Tash. Only you would find a house like this in amongst houses that look like they've grown up out of the ground."

"I know... It was like it was built just for me hey." If I didn't know any better, I'd swear that she'd had it built to her specifications by that comment. But she'd told me last week that she couldn't believe her luck in finding this house.

Inside was also very much Tasha... Highly polished floorboards, pristine white walls and high cathedral ceilings. The floor to ceiling glass wall at the rear of the house let in so much sunlight I had to keep my sunglasses on. The only splashes of color were in the cushions on the white leather lounge, the shaggy rugs on the floor and the drapes, all in her signature colors of red, orange and yellow of course.

I asked her once why she always used those colors, 'Opposing intensities' she said... the cold starkness of the white with the hot colors of fire... The thing that had me most in awe of this place was the huge open fire pit in the middle of the room. Rocks the size of dinner plates were piled more than 3ft high, the well inside still held the charred remains of the last fire. Over the top hung a massive brass flue, like an upside-down funnel.

"That would be awesome in the winter. I bet you can't wait to try it out." I said to her.

"I know... I've actually considered getting a fire going now just to see what it's like, but it's so hot. I've had Christian go look for firewood from around the lake in preparation of winter though, as soon as the temperature drops below 65 degrees, that baby's gonna be smokin'."

"Sixty-five huh? Lightweight..."

"Yeah, yeah "Mr I'm-a-Russian-and-I-laugh-at-the-cold"... You'll be begging to come sit by my fire over winter, you just wait and see."

It was good to catch up again and we laughed over trivial things as she put together a salad lunch.

"Come on, we'll have this out on the deck. In the fridge, there's a lovely bottle of Sauvignon just waiting to be drunk. Grab it for me?" I found the bottle easily and raised my eyebrows at seeing the label. Barossa! "Did I tell you this place backs onto the lake?"

"No, you didn't."

"Oh Dimitri... It's so beautiful out here at night. Christian and I eat out here all the time." She said as we walked onto the large timber deck. The view out here really was wonderful. The water looked extremely inviting too.

"Speaking of... where is your nephew? I haven't seen him in years." She motioned for me to sit on the side of the table facing the lake and she took the one opposite me.

"He's upstairs, he made himself something for lunch before you arrived. He said he didn't want to interrupt us."

"Oh really? He didn't have to do that."

Just then, movement caught my eye. I couldn't believe what I was seeing... Rose...and Lisa. What were they doing here? Tasha couldn't see the girls from where she sat so I made out that I was looking at the water as she spoke.

"Yeah, I know. His life has been a little up in the air lately with everything that has happened. First his parents, now his girlfriend's best friend."

"Who's his girlfriend?" I knew about Tasha's brother and his wife dying, but unfortunately my job in Russia kept me from helping her through such a hard time in her and Christian's life.

"Her name is Lissa." Ah, not Lisa...its Lissa. "A few weeks ago her friend Rose was attacked in her own home where they were having a graduation party. Rose's boyfriend was killed when he tried to help her. She's been having trouble getting past what happened and Lissa has been doing everything she can to help her. She's such a wonderful girl, so caring. She would be a wonderful nurse or doctor, she has a healing spirit."

"Who... Rose?"

"No, Lissa. She's just that sort of person, you know?"

Just then we heard footsteps hammering down the wooden staircase. Obviously Christian saw the girls by the lake.

"Hi Aunt Tash, Dimitri... Liss is down at the lake, I'll just be..."

"Yeah, yeah... I get it. Say hi to her for me." Tasha called out to Christian over her shoulder as he ran to the lake. "Liss is the blonde, that's her friend Rose with her."

"That is a coincidence." I said. I had a feeling that we'd be running into each other a lot, so best say that I know them now. Tash looked at me with a confused look, so I explained... "They're in the Tae Kwon Do class that I just took over from Alberta last night. I didn't know their names."

I felt a little guilty lying and I don't really know why I did, but by feigning ignorance before, I at least found out what went wrong, why Rose reacted the way she did.

"Really, oh that's right; Christian did tell me that the girls were doing that. Do you think it will help Rose?"

"Yes, I think it should. She has a lot of potential, she's a natural actually. I hope she stays with it."

I watched as Rose walked off by herself after Christian came over to Lissa, the look on her face as she walked showed that she was deep in thought. She looked so sad, and now, knowing what I did I had this really strong urge to protect her, while at the same time, show her how to be strong again. It was a very unfamiliar feeling.

It was a few hours later I said goodbye to Tasha, it had been a good afternoon. That night I sat up thought about what I'd teach in class on Monday night, I wanted to be able to speak to her. I knew from what my mother and Tasha had told me and her friend's reactions in class that I would have to take it slow, make sure she was comfortable with me being in her space. I had to get this right if I wanted her trust. Why did I want her trust? I don't think I'm sleeping enough...