I'm sorry for the late update! I've been sick for the past week so I wasn't able to finish it in time. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter though! Next update will hopefully be on Tuesday again.

Chapter 9

DPOV

There was a seat available on a flight early the next morning. Since I didn't want to travel at night, I decided to leave in the afternoon and try and get some sleep at the airport. Sonya and Karo had already said their goodbyes before going to work. The babies were asleep and Paul was playing some videogame, so it was just my mother, Yeva and Vika seeing me off.

"It's about time you stopped feeling sorry for yourself and went home, you've got a lot to do to make things right."
I kiss Yeva's cheek. "I know babushka."
She smiles at me. "Just keep in mind that it might take time Dimka. It took a lot for Rose to lose her trust in you. It will take a lot to earn it back."
"I will do whatever she needs me to do."

Next, Vika hugs me and whispers "Tell Rose I'm sorry. And please thank her for saving my big brother."
"I will."

Mama is the last to hug me before I get in the car.
"It'll all work out Dimka. Take Rose with you next time you visit."
"I hope so Mama. I'll call you soon."

After an uneventful drive I make it to the airport just before nightfall. I've got a lot of time to kill before my 6am flight. I browse the bookstore for any new westerns but I've already read everything they have in stock. In the end I get something to eat and settle into a seat. It's a little uncomfortable, these seats aren't made for someone my size, but it'll have to do. Compared to all the times I've guarded events and spent the whole night on my feet, it's actually not all that bad.

I start reading the western I've got with me but it doesn't grasp my attention like it normally would. Yeva is right, getting Rose back won't be easy, I've got my work cut out for me. With Abe watching me and Rose working, I'll have a hard time just finding a possibility to talk to her. My best chance will be to try and find out her routine and run into her somewhere. Eventually I stop trying to come up with a plan and spend the rest of the night just thinking about Roza. Time passes surprisingly fast and before I know it, it's time to board.

Almost twentyfour hours and two layovers later, I finally make it back to Court. It's late in the human afternoon, meaning the day is about to start here. Between switching from a human to a vampire schedule and flying halfway across the world, I'm a little jetlagged and I crash onto my bed, not even bothering to change.

I've slept for less than two hours when I wake up to someone knocking on my door. I have a feeling of déjà vu, but fortunately Hans isn't there when I open my door this time. Instead a guardian I don't know is standing in front of me.
"Good morning mr Belikov. Guardian Croft heard you had returned and would like you to report to his office at half past 7, which is in.." He checks his watch. "45 minutes. Don't be late."
I confirm I will be there and the guardian leaves. I wonder what Hans wants with me, especially this early. He was fine with me leaving and I've only been gone for about a week. I didn't expect to be summoned this quickly upon my return, or at all for that matter. I quickly take a shower, get dressed and head out. I consider stopping at the café for a coffee to go, but that'd be cutting it a little close, so I hope I can get some coffee at headquarters instead.

I'm just telling the guardian at the security desk why I'm here when Hans walks in behind me.
"Ah Belikov, right on time. Please come with me."
I follow him to his personal office. The rest of the building is still quiet, most guardians at headquarters don't start until 8. Hans invites me to sit and thankfully gets us both a cup of coffee before getting started.
"So Belikov, how was your family?"
"They were fine sir, very happy to know I'm alive."
"I wouldn't have expected anything else. You returned a little quicker than I thought you would though."
"While I loved seeing my family, Baia is not my home anymore. I felt like I should be at Court, find something to do." It's not a lie, but it's not the whole truth either. I'm not going to tell Hans I came here because I want to try and fix things with Rose though.
"That's good to hear, because I actually do have something for you."
"You do?"
"Yes. I've been told it would be a waste to lose a guardian with an exemplary record like yours. While I can't put you back on active duty right now, I have decided it would be beneficial for you to train with one of the other guardians, as well as follow him around when he's on duty. Hopefully it will put everyone at ease to see you behaving as any other guardian, and it might make the transition to you being an actual guardian easier."

It sounds like Hans thinks I might have a chance at being reinstated after all. I hope he's right. While Roza is the most important thing to me, being a guardian was a huge part of my life. I didn't expect to get a second chance.
"That's great, when do I start? Do I know the guardian I'll be following?"
"Yes you do actually." Hans is interrupted by a knock at the door. "Ah great timing. Come in!"
A young man I'm well acquainted with walks in.
"Excellent, I was just telling Belikov he'll be joining you Guardian Castile."
"Yes sir, I just came to see if he was ready. My shift starts soon."
"Yes we're nearly done. Belikov, you're to join Guardian Castile on all his shifts as well as do any amount of training he deems necessary. A copy of his schedule has been sent to your email. I expect you to follow any order he gives you and keep a low profile. Please remember you're not a guardian at this point. I will be getting regular updates from Castile on how you're doing."
"Thank you for this opportunity Guardian Croft, you won't regret giving me a chance."
He nods at both of us before turning to his computer, clearly our meeting is over.

I follow Eddie out of the building.
"Thanks for agreeing to do this Eddie."
He grimaces a little as I say his name and his reply is formal. "No problem mr Belikov, it's my job." It seems he's not feeling particularly friendly towards me at the moment.
"My apologies Guardian Castile. What shift have you been assigned?"
"We'll be patrolling the wards at the east side of Court until sunrise."
And that's exactly what we do. We walk the path that runs alongside the wards, looking for anything suspicious. We see nothing out of the ordinary though so we just keep going. Eddie doesn't speak a word all day. I wonder how he ended up with this assignment. He's obviously not very pleased to have me tagging along.

At the end of the shift we make our way back and Eddie stops and turns to me just outside the guardian buildings.
"I've got some paperwork to do. Our shift at the gate starts at 7 tomorrow, see you there."
I pick up something to eat before heading back to my room. When I've finished my meal I get ready for bed. It was a long day and it didn't go anything like I expected upon my return to Court. I had hoped to see Roza today, but my early meeting with Hans and then the patrol shift got in the way. Maybe I'll have better luck tomorrow.

Guarding the gates next day isn't all that different from walking patrol with Eddie. He doesn't talk unless he needs to and keeps his guardian mask firmly in place when he can't avoid me. There are several other guardians about but they keep their distance from me. Thankfully this shift isn't as long as the patrol ones and just before our replacements take over Eddie calls me over to him.
"Since it's still pretty early, we'll be going to the gym once we're done."
I nod at him, it's a good idea. I could do with a workout anyway, I haven't trained in several days.

We make our way to the gym about 15 minutes later and after changing into shorts and a tshirt, Eddie suggests we do a quick warm-up before moving on to some weight-training. As I'm running on the treadmill, I can see the track through the window. A slim figure with long, dark hair is making her way around it. Roza.

I don't get much time to watch her because Eddie is telling me to move on. For the next 45 minutes we push ourselves. I'm impressed, Eddie must do this regularly because he's in excellent shape. The exercises he makes me do aren't too taxing in themselves, but as we both push eachother to do more than we might normally have done, I'm covered with sweat by the time we take a break.

As I'm drinking some water, I look outside to see Rose still running. I frown.
"How long has Rose been out there? She was already running when we got here, isn't she overdoing it?"
Eddie glares at me and doesn't answer, but another guardian joins me at the window.
"Ah Hathaway. She's probably been running for an hour, hour and a half. She always does."
"Always?"
"Yes she runs for at least an hour every day before and after work."
An hour, twice a day, every day? I tried to teach Rose the importance of running when I was her mentor, but this seems excessive.

As we're watching her she checks her watch, slows down a little and changes direction. She jogs towards the doors of the gym and I turn to see her enter and make her way over to the weightroom as well. She pays no attention to us, takes a few sips from her water bottle and then starts lifting.
I haven't really seen Rose up close since the café a few weeks ago, and at the time I was still very confused about my feelings. Seeing her now, I'm nearly blown away by everything I'm feeling. How did I ever think I could live without Roza?

Like the last time I saw her, she's not making small talk. I'm a little saddened to observe that she's skinnier than she used to be. She's still incredibly beautiful, but her arms and legs are thinner, she's not as curvy as she was before and her face has lost some of it's softness.
"Did she lose weight?"
I forgot about the unknown guardian next to me until he answers. "No clue, she's hot though isn't she? I can tell you, I wouldn't mind giving her some private training sessions."
He's still ogling her as I turn to him, so at least he doesn't witness the murderous look on my face. Eddie does, and his face has a similar expression, only it's directed at me. He beckons me to follow him. He doesn't talk until we're out of the weightroom.
"It's think we should spar Belikov."

As we're sparring, I can feel anger radiating from Eddie. I'm pretty sure I could take him, but his rage makes him unpredictable and a little reckless so I stick to defensive moves. At some point I dodge a kick aimed at my side. I can see him pulling back fist and I know I can't avoid it, so I brace myself for impact. I assume it'll land on my shoulder and I'm going to use the force of his blow against him, but it connects painfully with my nose instead. He actually hit me hard enough that I fall backwards. I'm about to call Eddie out for going out of bounds, but he speaks up first.
"Let me make one thing very clear Belikov. What Rose does, or the way she looks, is absolutely none of your business. There's plenty of people around her who care about her and keep an eye on how she's doing, so keep out of it."
"I care about her as well."
"You've got a damn funny way of showing it." I sit up, gingerly feeling my nose. I don't think it's broken but it does hurt. I'm bound to have a black eye tomorrow.
"You don't know everything that happened."
"Maybe not, but I know enough. Stay away from her, she doesn't need you to complicate her life any further."
"Eddie.."
"We're done for today. See you at sunset for our patrol shift." He stalks away.

Our session must've taken longer than I thought, because the gym is deserted as I make my way to the locker room. I wash the blood of my face and change into clean clothes.
I put some ice on my nose before going to bed to reduce the swelling, but when I looked in the mirror earlier I could already see bruises forming. Eddie was seriously out of line, but there's not much I can do about it. If this is how Rose felt when her mother gave her a black eye, I can't blame her for being pissed when I told her it must've been an accident. You don't get hit like this by accident. Eddie meant to do this.

When I wake up my nose is throbbing and I see not one but two black eyes in the mirror. I'm not a vain man but I'm not happy to be walking around looking like this. When I join Eddie for our shift he quickly glances at my face before looking away. He doesn't say a word and starts walking, and I follow him like I'm supposed to.

It's not until the sky is already lightening, maybe half an hour left to our shift, that he finally talks to me.
"How's the nose?"
"Not broken, it'll be fine in a few days."
After a short silence he speaks up again.
"I shouldn't have hit you like that." It doesn't escape my notice that he's not actually apologizing.
"No you shouldn't have. And don't try and tell me it was an accident."
"You're right, I felt you deserved it."
"As far as I know, I did nothing to you to deserve that."
"I don't really need any other reason than the state Rose is currently in to want to punch you."

I know Rose and Eddie are close. After Spokane Eddie changed a lot. He became more serious, more focussed, more dedicated to his training. Losing Mason affected both of them and they banded together. At first I wondered if he was interested in Rose romantically, like Mason was. They're more like brother and sister though, and he's very protective of Roza.

"I've got plenty of reasons though. If you had at least made Rose happy after you were restored, everything would've been worth it. The jail, the trip to Vegas, the crazy stories that Robert guy told us, the punishment afterwards. Well since you're here I suppose Robert's stories weren't all that crazy, but that's not the point." None of what he's saying makes any sense to me.
"Castile, I've got no clue what you're talking about."
"How convenient."
"Eddie, I mean it. I know I messed up with Rose, and believe me when I tell you I regret it. But I didn't understand a word of what you just said."

He looks me over, probably trying to figure out if I'm sincere. Apparently he decides I am. He's incredulous.
"You really don't have a clue, do you? Rose needed information from Robert. He apparently saved a Strigoi once and Rose wanted to know how he'd done it. The only way to get to him was through his brother, Victor. That's why they were with us in Vegas when you attacked us."

I remember the fight at the hotel. When I tracked Rose down in Las Vegas, there were several people with her. I was so intent on killing her though, I never paid much attention to the others. I just remember Eddie being there because he got fairly close to staking me.
I try and recall the others. There were several Moroi with them. Vasilisa was there, and Adrian, as well as a middle-aged man I don't know who must've been Robert. The final person in their group was someone I am familiar with though. Last time I saw him was in a courtroom, looking much younger and healthier, defending his reasons for taking and torturing Vasilisa. Victor Dashkov.

"How did Victor get there? I heard he broke out of Tarasov but that's a long way from Las Vegas."
Things are starting to connect in my mind and the truth dawns on me.
"Please tell me you didn't have anything to do with that."
The only response I get from Eddie is a shrug.
"Eddie, you didn't, did you?"
"As I said, Rose needed information and this was the only way to get it. Lissa and I made sure she got what she needed."

Roza broke Victor Dashkov out of prison? She committed treason and risked Eddie's and Vasilisa's lives as well as her own, because she thought there might be a tiny chance of saving me. When Oksana told me what she told Roza, I knew Roza would try to get to the bottom of it. But I once again underestimated how far she was willing to go to uncover the information she needed. She broke her worst enemy out of high-security prison, for me.
I know crazy plans are her specialty, but this is insane even by Roza's standards.

Eddie doesn't give me much time to process this though, he's not done talking yet.
"At the time I didn't know she was chasing a fairytale of course. Then again, I also didn't know she loved you. She didn't tell me until after she blocked me from staking you. Looking back, I should've realized something was going on. The way she acted around you, the way you looked after her whenever something bad happened. I should've known."
I don't blame Eddie for not figuring it out sooner. We both tried our best to keep our feelings hidden, to make sure nobody would find out. As far as I know, nobody at the academy ever knew. It seemed the only way back then, but looking back, all I can see is how much time we've wasted.

"Anyway, when we got back to Court we got in major trouble for taking the last Dragomir on an unauthorized crazy Vegas trip. Rose and I were both put to work gardening and cleaning at first, and later assigned to the office. I might have a chance to be assigned a charge soon, but Rose is probably going to be on desk duty for a while yet."
I can tell he's getting angry again.
"I wouldn't have cared though. I would gladly go through all that again if Rose would've been happy in the end, rather than walking around like a ghost-version of herself. But we set a dangerous man free, both damaged our careers and risked a bunch of lives, only for you to just push her away once you were saved. So you see, I've got plenty of reasons to want to punch you. I think you deserve a hell of a lot worse than a few bruises."

Eddie is right, I do deserve a lot worse. I really messed up when I was restored and I've got more to make up for than I realized. But that's not going to stop me from trying to make things right, and I should start with apologizing to Eddie now that I have the chance.
"I'm sorry Eddie. I've only recently found out more of what Rose went through and I had no idea about any of this. That's no excuse for how I acted though."
"Yeah whatever. It's not me you should be apologizing to."
Our shift is finished by now and we're at the edge of one of the courtyards. Before I can say anything Eddie is already walking away, not wanting to be in my company for any longer than he needs to.

I'm so absorbed in my thoughts as I continue walking, I bump straight into someone.
"I'm sorry, are you okay?"
A girl with blonde hair smiles at me. "No problem Guardian Belikov, I'm fine. I actually wanted to ask you something."
"What can I help you with? It's Mia right?"
"Yes. Was that Eddie I saw walking away? I've been looking for him."
"It was, but I'm not sure where he went."
"I'll just follow him then, thanks. I'm glad he's helping you out by the way. At least volunteering to help you got him out of the office."
"Eddie volunteered?" That's a surprise, he just made it very clear he dislikes me.
"Yes didn't he tell you? Hans asked for volunteers to train with you, but nobody seemed willing so Rose asked Eddie to do it. He didn't think it was a good idea at first, but she said it would get him back in the field faster, and training with you would make him a better guardian."

I should have known. Eddie didn't do it because he wanted to help me, but because Roza asked him to. "Why didn't she volunteer herself?"
Mia looks a little uncomfortable at that. " From what Eddie said, she didn't want to force you to be in her company. If nobody had stepped up she would have though. Eddie told me this might be your only chance to become a guardian again, and Rose didn't want to let it go to waste. But I should get going or I'll never catch Eddie. It was nice seeing you again though."
"You too. Good luck finding Eddie."
She waves at me as she heads after him.

My head is swimming with everything I've learned today. I told myself long ago I would never underestimate Roza, but once again I have. Not only was she willing to go much further to save me than I thought before, she is apparently still doing her best to help me now, even after I've let her down time and time again. I wonder if that means she still loves me and I still have a chance with her. I sure hope I do.

Author's note:
I wasn't quite done torturing Dimitri yet, he still didn't know the whole story after all. And I just love Eddie, I've been looking forward to writing this chapter since I started the story.