Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire Academy, Richelle Mead :
The next couple weeks passed without incident. Rose became even more used to my presence, to the point where I could stand a little less than two feet away before she couldn't handle it any more. It was the closest any man had gotten to her since the rape. Unfortunately, it only applied to me; the closest any other man had gotten to her was four feet, even her friends. But all in all, she was making progress.
As the weeks passed, I also learned a lot more about her. Her sarcasm and jokes never failed to amuse me. I got the hang of dealing with her pregnancy hormones, and was usually rewarded by learning something else about her. And oh, was there a lot to learn.
I found out that Janine dropped her off at the Academy when she was four years old, she met Vasilisa when they were five, and became instant friends. Most of this I knew, of course, but other things I had no idea about. Like she stayed at the Academy until she was ten years old, waiting for her mom to visit her, or take her during vacations. Once she turned ten, she finally left for Christmas vacation with the Dragomirs. When I heard that my heart broke a little for her. I couldn't imagine not seeing my family every vacation when I was in school, let alone not seeing them for several years, not knowing if they were alive or not. I wouldn't be able to do it.
We touched on the accident a little bit, the accident that killed the Dragomir's. She saw them as family, and talking about it made her sad, and I did my best to avoid things that made her sad. She told me that after the accident, her mother tried to have a relationship with her but it didn't last long; they escaped a few months after the accident.
She told me about last year, after they were captured, how Vasilisa's "uncle" Victor Dashkov tortured Vasilisa into healing him. When Rose told me this story, I saw red I was so angry. I had heard of what happened, of course, but I never knew all the details. I was glad that he's in jail now.
We never talked about the rape, and only rarely mentioned the summer she spent with her mother. Ivan also hadn't been able to find out who Janine's ex-charge was. Apparently, Janine wasn't comfortable talking about it and he had been too busy dealing with other stuff to properly look it up. I understood that; I remembered how busy he could get, to the point where he forgot to even eat. So the mystery of her rapist remained just that, a mystery.
There were rumors going around about Rose, and often I would see her come in near tears because of something she heard. I knew that if she wasn't pregnant and hormonal, the rumors wouldn't really bother her, or bring her to tears. Then again, if she wasn't pregnant, then there would be no rumors, but still.
There was a particular rumor that seemed to hit her hard: the rumor that she was a blood whore. She had often cried about that, which led me to believe that the Moroi, whoever he was, had bitten her while he raped her. I never asked and she never told me but sometimes, when she had her hair up, and the sun hit her neck just right, I could see faint scars on it which made me wonder, exactly how bad was it?
I was crossing the courtyard after practice with Rose, when I saw her up ahead. I saw another person, a male Moroi by the looks of it, come up to her and stop a few feet away. He said something, then stepped closer. I watched. The wind blew against my back, so I couldn't hear what was said, but I could see the queasy expression on Rose's face as he got closer. I started towards them as Rose's expression turned from uneasy to slightly panicked. She started backing up as he came closer to her, almost as close as I usually was, which was my tip off that it was not a friendly situation.
"– clearly didn't mind the other times," the guy said, smirking, as I came up to them. His attention was solely on Rose, who looked completely terrified at his proximity now, and was about to scream. In fact, it looked like she was keeping the screams at bay as tears poured down her cheeks, her eyes wide with terror.
Something in me broke in that instant. I came up to the kid, and grabbed him by the shirt; lifting him up to eye level. All of a sudden, he didn't look so cocky anymore.
"What's your name?" I snarled, glaring into his now terrified eyes. Good, I hoped he was as scared now as he made Roza feel.
"J – Jes – Jesse Z – Zeklos, sir," he stuttered out. Oops, Ivan's second cousin. Oh well.
"What is it that you think you are doing Jesse Zeklos? It is clear that Miss Hathaway doesn't want to talk to you," I said, my voice menacing.
"I – I was j – just t – talking, n – nothing more," he replied.
"Good, then why don't you leave and never do that again because, clearly, Miss Hathaway doesn't find you company pleasurable. And if I find you bothering her again, you will be punished. Severely. By me. And I promise, it will hurt."
He nodded frantically. I set him down, and he shot away, faster than I had ever seen a Moroi move. I watched him, trying to control my anger. How dare he scare Roza? How dare he even look at Roza?
Whoa! Down, there, boy, calm down. Why does it matter? I mean, yeah she's fragile but since when did she become Roza? Don't you mean Rose, your student, who does not, I repeat, does not have any nicknames?
I ignored the voice in my head, instead turning around to see if Rose was alright.
"Are you okay?" I asked softly, looking at her with concern. Her eyes were still abnormally large, her face was still slightly pale, and her breathing wasn't completely even, but she didn't look like she was about to pass out at least.
She nodded jerkily. "Yeah, yeah I'm alright." She swallowed, then licked her lips. She finally looked up at me. "Thank you," she said softly, looking at me with gratitude.
I smiled at her tenderly. "Nothing to thank me for. Just let me know if he, or anyone else bothers you okay? I'll take care of them. You don't need to deal with the stress."
She nodded, smiling at me gratefully.
RPOV:
As I was walking back from afternoon training with Dimitri, Jesse Zeklos walked up to me. He stopped a few feet away, and called out "Hey Rose, how's the pregnancy going? Getting lonely yet?"
He walked closer to me. "Cause if you are, I can keep you warm. Even pregnant, you're hot." He leered at me.
I backed away as he came closer. "How 'bout a bite? To spice things up?"
He was too close, too close, too close. I could feel my heart beating faster as he came even closer than Dimitri could. I held back the scream that threatened to escape. Actually, by this point I was so scared, there was no air in my lungs to scream with. I felt tears gather in my eyes at his proximity.
Flashbacks of him came to me. Him getting close to me, calling me into his room for help. Him locking the door, him looking into my eyes, those green eyes of his which were so captivating. Telling me to lay down on the bed, fighting the compulsion as I realized what it was. Him holding me down, me screaming, begging, crying, my body not working properly through my fear, him –
"Come on Rose, play along, I wanna have a fun time. You clearly didn't mind the other times," he smirked.
All of a sudden, Jesse disappeared from in front of me. I looked up to see Dimitri, looking all God-like, lifting Jesse up by his shirt.
"What's your name?" he snarled, glaring into Jesse's now terrified eyes.
"J – Jes – Jesse Z – Zeklos, sir," he stuttered out.
"What is it that you think you are doing Jesse Zeklos? It is clear that Miss Hathaway doesn't want to talk to you," he said, his voice menacing.
"I – I was j – just t – talking, n – nothing more," he replied.
"Good, then why don't you leave and never do that again because, clearly, Miss Hathaway doesn't find you company pleasurable. And if I find you bothering her again, you will be punished. Severely. By me. And I promise, it will hurt." Dimitri sounded truly badass.
He nodded frantically. Dimitri set him down, and he shot away, faster than I had ever seen a Moroi moved. Faster than Dimitri had appeared, even.
Dimitri continued watching Jesse leave, and I watched with him. I could see out of the corner of my eye that he was trying to control his anger.
My eyes were still widened, and my heart was still beating fast, but having Dimitri there calmed me down.
"Are you okay?" he asked softly, looking at me with concern.
I nodded a bit jerkily. "Yeah, yeah I'm alright." I swallowed, then licked my lips. I finally looked up at him. "Thank you," I said softly, looking at him with gratitude. I could never thank him enough for saving me, again.
He smiled at me with tenderness. "Nothing to thank me for. Just let me know if he, or anyone else bothers you okay? I'll take care of them. You don't need to deal with the stress."
I nodded, smiling at him gratefully. I felt my eyes fill up with tears at his kindness, and cursed my hormones. I sniffled and he looked at me with concern, worried once more.
"Roza, are you alright?" His hand reached out as if to wipe off my tears, but stopped.
I swallowed a sob. "Yeah, yeah, fine," I said, wiping my own tears, and ignoring the sick feeling I got when he pulled his hand away. I knew why he did that, because I would have freaked out, but it didn't make me feel any better.
"Sorry," I sniffled. "Stupid hormones." I laughed shakily, swiping at more tears.
He smiled his breathtakingly beautiful smile. "It's alright, I know how it is."
I raised my eyebrows, attempting a joke. "Really, Comrade? You know what it's like to have pregnancy hormones? Is there something you're not telling me?"
He chuckled. "Oh, yes, absolutely," he said sarcastically. "I know exactly what it's like, I've gone through it several times myself."
I laughed at how almost sincere his voice was. He grinned when he heard me laugh.
"There, better?" he asked, his eyes soft, and his guardian mask almost completely down.
I nodded, and smiled up at him. "Thank you again," I giggled. Giggled?! Rosemarie Hathaway doesn't giggle! Damn hormones!
Dimitri raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment. Good for him, because if he had he might have ended up a leg shorter. And I'm not talking about his right or his left leg. Wink wink, nudge nudge.
"Shall I walk you back to your dorm, milady?" He asked, trying to imitate an English accent. Which, mixed with his Russian accent, came out incredibly hilarious! I started giggling again (shut up) and nodded. He offered me his arm, and I mimed taking it, stilling giggling. (I said shut up) He walked me all the way to my dorm room, the whole time pretending to have my hand in the crook of his arm. The effect was hilarious, and people gave him odd looks as he walked along, me a couple feet to his right. Once we reached my door, he opened it with a flourish.
"There you go, milady," he said gallantly, sweeping his arm forward, indicating for me walk in. his position against the wall gave me the perfect amount of space to walk into my room. It touched my heart, how he made staying away from me the perfect distance look so effortless. I smiled at him gratefully, giving him my true smile, at the receiving end of which he seemed to be often.
"I shall see you at dinner," he said, keeping up the act, although a smile played at the corners of his mouth.
"Why thank you, kind sir," I said, giggling again. (Ssshh!) He smiled at that, one of his full smiles that seemed to light up the entire room. He closed the door gently, taking one last look at me. I kept smiling as I changed out of my clothes and hopped into a much needed shower. Dimitri certainly knew how to make my day.
A/N: I hope you all like this chapter, a little Romitri fluff. It was important, since you got to see how Rose was around other guys that weren't her friends. That, and I'm sure everyone wanted to see Dimitri go all badass on Jesse (; now, I have a dilemma; I need some ideas for chapter 11 cuz I have a big thing happening in chapter 12, but I don't have any ideas for chapter 11, and I can't put my idea for chapter 12 any sooner, cuz it would be too early. So please let me know if you have any ideas, anything at all, it would be greatly appreciated (: thank you to all my lovely reviewers, you keep this story going!