*Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy, Richelle Mead does!*

The time Dimitri was gone flew by in my memory. They were the longest months of my life in reality so I was grateful I didn't have to relive them. The only thing that brought me comfort was the phone calls that we had. We called each other almost every day, but it still wasn't enough for me.

There is one phone call I will never forget.

Our conversation started off differently than usual. Usually I'll call Dimitri. "Roza," Dimitri says into the phone. That's all he says. No hello, no how are you. Just that one word. That one word is more than enough. Just that one word makes me smile so much.

"Comrade," I say back. I may not be able to see him, but I know he is smiling on the other end.

"How are you?" He asks me.

"I'm fine. How are you?" I asked him same as always.

"Better now that I'm talking to you," he answers.

But this conversation didn't go like that. This conversation was different.

He was the one to call me this time. That was odd, because usually I'm the one to call him. It's not that he doesn't want to call me, but he never knows when I may be out guarding Lissa, so it's easier if I call him when I'm off duty.

This time when he called me, I had just gotten off of duty so I was still in the room with Lissa and Christian. I answered the phone like I usually do. "Comrade," I said into the phone.

"Hi Roza," he said back. He sounded a little breathless. Just that one word alerted me to the fact that something was going on. But I couldn't tell if it was good or bad.

"What's wrong?" I asked, instantly on alert. Lissa and Christian looked up at me confused.

"Nothing's wrong Roza. Why would you think something was wrong?" He asked defensively. This wasn't good.

"Dimitri," I warned.

He sighed into the phone. "Fine. Do you remember that night when you called and our phone call was cut short?" He asked me.

I frowned and thought back. Then I realized what he was talking about. "The men with the sword?" I asked. "Is Sonya okay? Is Jill? Did they come back? What's going on? Dimitri answer my questions!" Lissa was silently laughing in the background.

"I would if you would give me a minute to answer them," he told me amused. I waited patiently or as patiently as I could. "Sonya was taken."

"What?" I screamed into the phone. Lissa and Christian jumped and looked at me concerned. "Is she okay? Who took her? Was it the men with the sword? Was Sydney with her this time?"

"Roza calm down. We found her and we got her back," he told me.

I took a deep breath. "Dimitri, what happened?" I asked him.

"Will you not interrupt me?" He asked me.

"Yes, I will listen patiently," I promised him.

"That's likely," Christian said sarcastically. I rolled my eyes at him. When Lissa wasn't looking, I gave him the finger.

"Okay. So two days ago, Sonya was taken by the same men that attacked her and Sydney. The men had records of her previously being a strigoi. That's why they took her. Sydney somehow found out where she was being held and we recovered her. Everyone's okay," he told me.

"Why do I get the feeling that there was a huge fight that you're not telling me about?" I asked him.

He sighed into the phone. "There may have been a bit of a scuffle," he admitted.

"Dimitri," I warned.

"Okay. There was a fight. Adrian, Sydney and Sonya got caught up with it as well as me, Eddie and some other guardians. But we all got out okay. A little scrapes and bruised, but we were okay," he told me.

I sighed. "Are you sure you're okay?" I asked him. This wouldn't be the first time he downgraded his injuries.

"Roza, I promise I am okay," he told me.

I sighed again, knowing I wouldn't be happy until I could see for myself that he was okay. "Fine. I believe you," I told him reluctantly.

"No you don't," he told me amused. "You just know there's nothing you can do while you're so far away from me."

"Yeah," I agreed sadly.

"I'm coming home," he told me.

I froze and stared at the phone in my hand. "You're… what?" I asked him. Surely I heard him wrong.

"I'm coming home," he repeated. I could hear the smile in his voice.

"YOU'RE COMING HOME?" I screeched. "When?"

He was laughing on the other end of the phone. "We're in the airport right now. We weren't getting anywhere in our studies. We figured we could keep running some of the tests here so there was no need to stay in Palm Springs," he explained.

"You're in the airport? How long til you land?" I asked him.

"It's a three hour flight," he told me. "We're about to board the plane. I have to go. I love you." He hung up before I could respond.

"I'll see you soon," I promised even though he couldn't hear me.

I didn't even say goodbye to Lissa and Christian as I raced from their room. Three hours wasn't that long.