Hello! :)

Thanks for all the reviews, follows and favorites. This chapter is dedicated to everyone who has ever taken the time to review this story. Thanks a lot! :D

DISCLAIMER: Characters belong to Richelle Mead and the plot belongs to me ;)

This is one of the long chapters, showing the aftermath of Rose's realization. Enjoy :P

A true friend is someone who can understand your past, believe in your future and accept you for who you are today.

-Unknown

Mission Commander Rose Hathaway

"We need to leave Sietera," Dimitri told me grimly.

I sighed, watching the star Ceres disappear over the horizon. It was dusk and as usual, I was at the deck of Klasana.

This time, Dimitri was with me.

Ever since the day he found me here, he'd taken to joining me.

I wasn't sure I felt about that. On one hand, I didn't want to be alone with him after my new found, self discovered fact that I was harboring a dangerous crush on him. On the other, I was grateful for the company.

Because sometimes, when we were too tired to talk or argue with each other, we settled into a companionable silence. A resonant silence that reminded me of my childhood with him; the times when no words were needed to understand each other, when silence was anything but uncomfortable.

"Rose?" his deep voice roused me from my thoughts.

I sighed. "Yes, Dimitri. We need to leave. But where do we go from here? Sietera is the only planet in this galaxy that we know about."

Dimitri nodded, his eyes fixed on the beautiful sky outside. The fading light of the star Ceres softened the hard planes of his face and made his features all that much more appealing. This man knew how to make a girl breathless without even doing anything.

"Wouldn't a quest for a new planet be dangerous?" I asked him quietly, coming back to the conversation.

"Yes," he sighed. "But we don't have a choice."

"I don't know," I said, looking at my hands. "I don't know what to do anymore. I'm so confused."

"Rose," Dimitri said softly, gripping my hand in his. "You'll make the right choice."

"If I don't?" I asked him, studying his hand on mine. "I don't want to suck at being a commander."

"You aren't. You won't," he told me firmly. "You're the best person for the job, Rose."

When I met his eyes which was full of trust and belief in me, my mind wandered back to the only other day I'd seen that look in his eyes.

The day after Alberta's death.

Flashback

Alberta.

Dead.

Alberta is dead.

Dead...

I took a deep, shuddering breath in a vain attempt to calm my mind. But nothing, nothing was working. Half of my mind was chaotic, wondering what would happen to us, to the mission now that we'd lost our commander. The other half was my mind was numb with grief, exhausted after the ordeal of watching Alberta die, exhausted because of the endless tears and the heartache.

I wiped my face with my hands as I glanced around the room, taking in my friends' state.

Lissa was sniffing quietly; few drops of her tears floating around near her. Christian sat next to her, his hand entwined with hers but his eyes were fixed on the ceiling. Adrian looked worse than I felt, his suppressed grief and exhaustion visible clearly on his face. Tasha sat dabbing her eyes with her handkerchief, both her hands clenching Dimitri's hand.

Dimitri sat between Tasha and I, his face set in a hard mask. He did nothing to soothe Tasha's quiet crying. He didn't look like he had in him to console anyone. But his arm was around me, knowing instinctively that I needed his support. He'd not stepped away from me since the moment we knew Alberta was no more.

Despite everything that had happened between us, he was there for me.

I owed it to him and to my friends to pull myself together.

"We need a new commander," I said quietly but it still echoed through the room.

"Rose-" Lissa hesitated. "Is this the time?"

"Yes, Lissa." I said firmly. "We need to do this now. As much as I hate to say it, we need to continue our mission and return home as soon as possible."

My words sparked fresh tears in Lissa's eyes. "We can't replace Alberta."

When I opened my mouth to reply, Christian said, "Give it a rest, Rose. Now is not the time. We can talk about this later."

"No," I stated, shooting him a glare. "Need I remind you all that we're running a race against time here? We're millions of light years away from home and we came here to achieve something. Even the delay of a single day can be dangerous."

Christian looked angry but I continued talking before he could say anything.

"No one is trying to replace Alberta," I said, looking at the faces of my friends. "But we don't have unlimited time to find viela. We're surviving on limited resources and I'll be damned if I let you waste it by sitting in a corner and grieving. That's not what Alberta would have wanted."

I hated to phrase my words like that but I had to do it. The fools wanted to sit and cry? Well, tough luck. We don't get time bonuses in space.

"She's right," Dimitri said. "We need to choose a leader."

"Thank you," I said quietly.

Slowly, each one came around, agreeing with the idea.

"I choose Lissa." Christian said, eyes soft as he gazed at her.

Lissa gave him a watery smile before turning to me. "I choose Rose."

Wait, what?

I rolled my eyes. "Don't let your personal feelings get in the way of this."

Lissa smiled and shook her head. "I didn't volunteer your name because you're my best friend. I said it because I believe you can be a great commander."

As always I was amazed by her endless faith in me. "Thanks, Liss."

I took a deep breath, knowing who was the best for the job. " I choose-" I locked eyes with Dimitri. "Dimitri."

"And I choose Rose," Dimitri stated, smirking slightly at my shocked expression.

"I vote you, Dimka," Tasha said, squeezing his hand and causing me to break my eye contact with Dimitri when I turned to look at those hands holding his.

Everyone turned to Adrian. His was the final vote.

"Don't look at me," he said, wiping his face. "I'll always choose Rose."

"Then I change my vote to Dimitri," Christian said. "No offense, Rose."

"None taken," I replied.

I knew Christian and Dimitri were good friends from high school. As much I hated the fact that personal feelings were playing a role in the selection, it wasn't within my power to stop them.

"So, we have a tie." Lissa stated.

"No, we don't." I said firmly. "It will be Dimitri."

"Rose, no." Dimitri said, shaking his head. "You're the most suitable one for this job."

"No, I'm not." I disagreed, narrowing my eyes at Dimitri. "You have more experience than me. It's natural that you should lead us."

"I may have more experience in being a pilot," Dimitri said patiently. "But you have more experience with leadership."

I scoffed.

"Listen to me, Roza." He insisted, "You know a lot about the crew's specialization. A leader needs to know what the team is capable of doing in order to make best use of the team."

"I do know that," I conceded. "But that's because of my father. He-"

"The fact remains that you do know more," Dimitri said, cutting me off.

I glared at him.

"That doesn't mean I can be a good leader." I retorted.

"I already know you are a good leader," Dimitri's said quietly, his eyes full of warmth and trust in me.

At this point, I'd forgotten there were others in the room with us. I forgot all the bitterness between Dimitri and I. All I could see was my best friend, the one with endless faith in me.

"You are too," I protested softly.

"You're better," Dimitri stated firmly, removing his hand from Tasha's to catch hold of mine. "You-you have a fire within you, Roza. One that drives you to do the best you can and help those who need it. That's what makes you an incredible leader. That's what makes you you."

Those familiar deep brown eyes of his were full of reassurance, faith, pride, and hell of a lot more. He believed I could do this.

He believed in me.

"Dimitri..." I groaned softly, running out of arguments.

Dimitri's lips tilted up in a full smile.

"Any arguments?" Dimitri asked, looking around at everyone.

Tasha looked like she wanted to protest but before she could say anything, Christian said, "We have no problem with Rose being the commander."

Dimitri smiled and kissed my cheek fleetingly.

"She'll do it." He stated with certainty.

Sietera: Next afternoon.

"Are you sure you're okay, Rose?"

Lissa's quiet question made me glance away from the test reports I'd been studying since the past one hour. Not that there was much to study, of course. After all, I was the one who'd compiled these reports.

The only thing I'd achieved by staring at the reports was an increase in my stress level. I'd carried out detailed analysis of all the samples collected and the result? No viela at all. We'd just gotten lucky with the soil. But traces of viela are not enough to save the earth...

"Rose?" Lissa prompted.

"Right," I muttered, taking off my glasses. All of us had one pair of reading glasses other than the normal lab goggles. Staying in outer space for a long time can have weird effects on the body. Trouble with reading is one of the many. I'd never needed them but today, I'd spend way too much time in the lab, hence the reading problem.

"Lissa, I'm fine." I said, turning to her.

"Why did you faint then?" She asked with a frown.

I shrugged, doing my best to appear nonchalant. "I guess I was tired. What with the research and all, I've not slept much. So, the space walk completely drained me."

Lissa nodded slowly, swallowing my lie.

Who knows? Maybe that is the truth. Maybe I really don't have Cotopa...

"You should rest," Lissa said, gesturing to the reports spread in front of me. "You should also stop working so much. We are all here, you know. We can help."

I stuck my nose in the hair, flipping my hair haughtily. "But none of you are as good as me."

I succeeded in making Lissa laugh. Her clear, bell-like laughter managed to erase the growing guilt bubbling within me.

I was lying to my best friend. Or at least, I was holding back a lot of information.

Lissa would be so pissed at me if she knew.

But I couldn't tell her. If it was up to me, I'd ensure that no one would ever know about my 'condition'. I was their leader. I had to stay strong. It was bad enough that I didn't have more experience than my crew and was almost their equal. I didn't need to point out my weaknesses.

Broadcasting that I may have a deadly disease can be perceived as a weakness.

And I'm anything but weak.

"We may not be as good as you, your highness," Lissa teased, still smiling. "But we can help."

I smirked, standing up and heading to the door. "I can manage it, Liss. I always do."

I can manage it. I will have to.

"Rose?" Tasha's voice halted me on my way to the Control Room to find Adrian and Dimitri. We had discuss the results of the lab tests and I wanted it done today.

"Yes, Tasha?" I asked, turning to face her.

She smiled and handed me some sheets of paper. "I've finished the calculations of Ceres."

I nodded. "Great. Come with me to the Control Room. We have much to discuss."

Nodding, she fell into step beside me. As we walked, I reviewed Tasha's calculations. I had limited knowledge of her field but as a captain, I had to oversee her work.

Tasha patiently explained her research to me as we walked. But both of us paused when we heard clear laughter coming from the Control Room.

It was Dimitri.

I'd know the rich, deep sound of his laughter anywhere. The other two voices must be Christian and Adrian.

Shaking my head, I turned to ask Tasha a question only to find her gazing at the door to the Control Room in a manner that could only be described as love sick.

I could understand. Dimitri's laughter was indeed spell-binding. But her expression didn't sit well with me.

I nearly groaned at the realization that I was...maybe-jealous?!

No! I had too much crap to deal without adding jealousy to the list.

So, instead of punching Tasha like I wanted, I just cleared my throat softly. Thankfully, Tasha returned to the present with a blush.

Before I could say something, Adrian's voice reached us: "Well, that decision is Rose's to make. We can just try to convince her."

"Good luck with that," Christian said dryly. "Knowing Rose, you'll need a list of reasons to support your argument."

Adrian hummed.

Christian's voice turned curious. "By the way, where is your girl?"

My heart constricted.

Who was he addressing? Adrian or Dimitri?

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Tasha brighten.

"Down in the lab," came Dimitri's voice with a hint of exasperation. "She's been there for hours now."

Trying to distract myself from the butterflies taking flight in my stomach, I concentrated on Tasha whose expression turned puzzled. But still hopeful.

"I don't know why you insist on calling her 'his' girl," Adrian said petulantly. "She'll kill you if she finds out."

Yes. It was me they were talking about. I knew it and it looked like Tasha was just realizing it.

The very first time Dimitri had introduced me to Christian, he'd called me 'Dimitri's girl' because he'd apparently heard a lot about me from Dimitri. It had been few days after I'd arrived at the space agency where Dimitri and Christian had already been working. At that time, all I'd been concerned about was the fact that I'd been reunited with my best friend after so long.

For quite sometime, Christian had stuck with calling me 'Dimitri's girl'. He'd kinda dropped it as we got to know each other and had found a variety of other unflattering nicknames for me.

I hadn't known that he still used it to refer to me.

Now, as I heard the phrase again, I felt a deep warmth spreading through my body. Trying to hide a smile, I nudged Tasha to move into the room. We'd been standing here long enough.

"Please!" Christian said. "I've always called her that."

"Rose wouldn't-"

"I wouldn't what, Adrian?" I asked, stepping into the room.

Adrian shook his head in reply while Christian smirked. Without looking at Dimitri, I crossed the room to activate Mia.

"Gather around, guys." I called, moving to the large observation table directly under the part of roof where Mia's central processing unit was located. "We need to discuss the test results."

As Mia came alive and started teasing Christian, I caught Dimitri's eye from across the table.

Dimitri's girl, indeed.

AN: So, what do you think? Of Dimitri being the one who encouraged Rose to take up captaincy and Christian calling Rose 'Dimitri's girl'? I don't see Dimitri protesting :P The only one who doesn't seem to like it is Tasha, huh? :D

How was the chapter? Leave me a review and let me know what you think ;)

Lastly, I'm sorry for any/all mistakes :)