Disclaimer: I own nothing!

Authors note: so this chapter has a fair few answers to some questions in it but not a lot happens. I don't really know how it ended up so long but I hope you enjoy. I should also mention this chapter marks about half way into the story.

Chapter 10

Getting up in the dark sucked. So did getting home in the dark. It was one of the few things Rose despised about her otherwise pretty fantastic job. What made it worse, of course, was pulling into her driveway with no outside lights on to greet her. Or any inside the house either. Eddie obviously wasn't home and probably hadn't been home either, Rose thought, since the kid couldn't enter a room without turning on all the lights or exit without leaving them all on.

She pulled into the garage and gathered her things, juggling her travel mug and giant water bottle she always had the best intentions of finishing but never did. The mail slipped from her fingers as she slung her bag over one shoulder, keys dangling from her other hand. Her jacket snagged on the car door and she almost had to do an entire dance routine just to get herself inside the house- everything made more complicated by the lack of welcoming light. Maybe she ought to get some timers.

In the kitchen, Rose dumped everything on the kitchen table and considered the task of making dinner. She'd left some leftover meat loaf defrosting in the fridge that morning- a quick glance showed her it was still there. With some instant mashed potatoes and a salad, it wouldn't be a bad dinner, but alone… what was the point? Rose sorted through the mail while she ate her sandwich and mentally ran through all the tasks she still needed to get through tonight. Laundry. Balance her check book. Pay bills. Find out from Eddie what his upcoming schedule was like and what weekends he'd be with Adrian. She had a phone call from her mother to return, along with one to one of her friends, Mia. They'd been playing phone tag for weeks.

Which was why, when her phone pinged with a text message, she swiped at the screen without bothering to see who it was. At the single word-hi- from an unrecognisable number, Rose paused. The area code said it was from Las Vegas. Well, whatever had happened there was going to stay there, because Rose had never been to Sin City and didn't know anybody there either.

The second message came a few minutes later as she put her plate in the dishwasher and was pouring herself a glass of iced tea.

Roza?

She paused. Her heart in her throat.

It's Dimitri. From Chicago.

As if she knew a dozen Dimitris and would be confused about which one this was. Or it had been so long- another couple of weeks- that she'd forgotten him. Stunned, Rose stared at her phone while heat rose inside her, burning up her throat and into her cheeks. Her heart pounded. She blinked rapidly, for the moment finding it hard to breathe.

Carefully, she put down her tea and pile of mail she was intending to go through while she ran a hot bath upstairs. She cradled her phone in both hands, willing herself to be calm. Not an idiot. At least he couldn't hear her. Or see her, thank God, there was that.

Hi! What a nice surprise, she typed.

I got your note.

Obviously, she thought, but didn't type. Great. I'm glad. It's nice to hear from you.

The front door creaked open, and she went through the living room to greet her son. Her phone pinged again as she found Eddie in the entryway, kicking off his sneakers but, typically, leaving them where they fell as he headed toward the kitchen through the shortcut of the dining room. He'd almost bypassed her entirely, making this like some kind of Benny Hill farce, but she just caught him.

"Hey." Rose said. "First, put your shoes where they belong, please."

"I will. Starving." Even in his sock feet, Eddie's steps sounded like the boom of a marching band. Her phone pinged again, and she pulled it from her pocket the peek at the messages. Dimitri had sent her a picture of a platter of spaghetti and a glass of wine. It made her laugh, along with the caption- Bachelor's feast.

"Hey." She said again, heading after her son after the brief distraction of her phone. "Shoes. Now. Not later. There's…"

He'd already discovered and pushed aside the meat loaf in favour of a foil wrapped helping of pizza from the weekend. Rose cringed, imagining it as a playground for food poisoning. She shook her head. "Eddie, throw that away or at least heat it up!" her phone pinged, but Rose didn't grab it right away. As much as she wanted to get back to her conversation, she needed to get things straight with her kid first. "Didn't your dad feed you?"

"Wasn't at Dad's." Eddie spoke with his mouth full, pizza sauce smearing around his lips. He chomped noisily, a habit he'd picked up from his dad and Rose loathed. She paused, looking up from her phone where she'd been about to reply with something like LOL.

"What? Where were you?"

Eddie pushed past her, pizza in hand. She reached to snag his shirt, but he was too fast, and she clutched at empty air. He started for the stairs.

"EDDIE!"

He stopped. Turned. Gave her the longest, most annoyed sigh a teenage boy could give his mother. "What?"

"First, don't talk to me in that tone of voice. Second. Shoes. Third, you know the rules about food-" before she could even finish, Eddie gave another huge sigh, this time with a grunt attached to it. He stomped through the living room to the front door, where she heard the thump and thud of his shoes being flung against the wall. Then his pounding feet heading back toward the stairs. "Hey!"

She hadn't even needed to go to the front hall to see that he hadn't put his shoes where they belonged, since they belonged in his room or in the closet. "Eddie!"

"What, Mum? Jesus!"

"What is your problem?" Rose put a hand on her hip, aware of her phone pinging in her palm and wanting more than anything to get back to that and not have to deal with this. "And where were you?"

"Went with Trey and Marcus to the mall."

They stared each other down. Eddie gave her a wide eyed and somehow also sullen look of faux innocence. Rose frowned. "You didn't tell me you were going there, nor did you ask permission."

"Dad said it was okay."

Rose rubbed her tongue against the back of her teeth to keep her from blurting out an answer. Eddie wasn't with his dad until the weekend; therefore Adrian was not the person to ask for permission. Eddie knew that. More important, Adrian knew it.

"Did your dad pick you up from school and take you? Because I know you didn't come home first." She also knew that Adrian couldn't have picked Eddie up since he'd have been at work. Sydney could have, but it was unlikely that Eddie would've asked her.

Even if she hadn't known that, the guilt on his face would've given him away. "Trey drove."

Rose said nothing. A mother's silent stare could be more effective than any amount of screaming. Eddie stared back with uncharacteristic defiance. "Dad said-"

"It's not up to your dad," Rose said through a tight jaw. "When you're staying with your dad, he gets to decide. But not when you're with me. And you know how I feel about Trey driving you, and you knew what I'd say if you asked me, so asking your dad is the same as disobeying me, as far as I'm concerned. You're grounded from the computer and PlayStation for the rest of the week."

Since she was ninety percent positive his haste to get upstairs was so that he could get online and play games with his friends and not so he could do some homework, Eddie's response was not a surprise. The vehemence of it, however, was. Eddie pounded his fist on the railing and barked out his dismay so loudly that Rose stepped back. "What? Not fair!"

"It's more than fair." She forced herself to remain calm, not to raise her voice. Don't show fear, she thought suddenly, thinking of a documentary she'd seen on feral dogs. Keep eye contact.

Muttering a series of words she definitely ought to rebuke him for, Eddie turned and stomped up the stairs. He went into his room and slammed the door behind him so hard she heard the crash of something from inside. She thought for a moment about following him, yanking open the door, demanding respect. She knew better. Still, her heart was pounding and her stomach churned.

Her phone pinged. Is this a bad time?

Sorry, Rose responded. Was dealing with my son.

A few minutes passed after that without a reply, which she thought was fair since it had taken her the same amount of time to get back to him. The next message that came through made her smile and clutch her phone to her chest. He was asking if he could call her.

Of course. Anytime. That's why I gave you my number.

Her phone rang a scant minute after that. The caller ID didn't list a name and read Las Vegas again, not Chicago, but it had to be him. Taking a deep breath, Rose answered. "Hi."

"Hi." Dimitri said. "How are you?"

"I'm fine. Tired. Long day." She didn't even want to look at the clock now, the promise she'd made to herself of a long, hot soak in a scented tub with a few chapters of her book not looking promising. "You?"

"Something like that. So," Dimitri said after a few seconds of silence. "Trouble with your son?"

Rose climbed the stairs, pausing at the top to listen for any noise of computer games coming from inside Eddie's room. She thought wearily of opening the door and taking the computer away altogether, just to be sure, but honestly if she couldn't trust him to obey her when she disciplined him, taking the laptop from him would be the least of her worries.

"His dad and I don't agree on some things," she said lightly. "So he liked to ask his dad for permission to do the things he knows I would say no to. And he thinks I won't figure it out."

"But you do. Mums always do."

"Of course." She laughed a little and went into her own room, where she closed the door firmly and sank onto the bed with a sigh. "And I don't really want to have another argument with his father about it, but I guess I'm going to have to."

"Uh-oh. Sounds bad."

She hesitated, lying back and toeing off her shoes as she settled into the pillows. She knew her reluctance to let Eddie drive with his friends was directly tied to her own issues. She knew there were plenty of parents who either didn't worry as much or who managed to put aside their concerns to allow their kids some freedom. She knew how it would sound when she told Dimitri the issue… as if she was some kind of crazy helicopter mum who couldn't let go.

"I don't like him to drive with his friend Trey." She said flatly. "The kid's only just gotten to the point where legally he can take passengers, and he wrecked his dad's car once already. Didn't total it or anything, but he did rear-end another car. I don't like them joyriding around aimlessly. Eddie's dad doesn't seem to have the same concerns, and he's a lot…" Rose cleared her throat, trying to think of what to say that wouldn't come out sounding like a total bitch. "Well, Adrian is always more concerned about what will make his life a little easier than maybe what's best choice. That's all.

"Ah." Dimitri cleared his throat. "Makes me dread the teenage years."

"How old are your girls?"

He didn't say anything at first, for so long Rose watched the numbers on her clock change. It hadn't seemed like too personal a question. Not to someone who'd had his mouth on her pussy and his dick inside her, anyway.

"Six and eight."

Her breath came a little short. "Nicola is eight? Katie is six?"

"Yeah… how'd…? Oh. Yeah, I guess I told you?"

Rose smiled. "Sort of."

As silence fell between them, Rose remembered one more reason why she preferred flying to going on dates. Getting to know someone was like navigating a room full of broken glass in bare feet and a blindfold. It was way too easy to step on something that would make you bleed.

"So…long day?" he asked, breaking the silence. "What do you do?"

That was the sort of neutral question that it was fine to ask even of strangers. And she'd already told him the worst thing of all- the memory of that admission, that unburdening, pained her throat and cheeks again with heat. "I work for a company that retouches photos."

"Really?"

He sounded so surprised that Rose laughed. "Yes. Really."

"People still need that?"

"We deal with companies that take school and church pictures. Things like that. Sometimes I'll get someone's wedding photos, senior pictures, things like that, but most professional portrait photographers use Photoshop and stuff to do their own retouching. I get stuff that comes in bulk."

"Huh." Dimitri made a soft noise.

"What do you do?"

"I look for work."

She blinked at that, not sure what to say until he laughed; then she laughed too, although she wasn't sure what, exactly, was so funny.

"I teach some adult education classes," Dimitri said. "Night school."

"What do you teach?"

"English."

Rose made the same noise. "Huh."

"So retouching. Sounds sexy." Dimitri laughed.

He was flirting. She settled deeper into the mountain of her pillows. "Does it?"

"Yep. All that touching. And retouching."

She laughed out loud at that. "Oh. Sure. Smoothing wrinkles and erasing moles. Totally sexy."

"Do you like it?"

"The hours were good for part-time, which is all I could manage at first. And now I have the option of working four tens and having Friday or Monday off, so I basically get three-day weekends all the time. It's great. Not what I imagined myself doing, I guess." She paused. "But it pays the bills. There are a lot of advantages."

"What did you imagine yourself doing?"

She had no good answer for that either. "I went to college for… you'll never believe it. Chemistry."

"You were a chemistry major?" Dimitri hooted soft laughter. "I didn't think anyone was a chemistry major."

"Well, I was. Don't ask me what I wanted to do with it. Work in a lab, I guess. I never worked in my field."

Dimitri cleared his throat. "Why not?"

"I got married." Rose thought about that for a few seconds. "My husband was a few years older. Met him at my first job out of college, which was first flight crew, then office work for Pegasus Airlines."

There was silence. Then. "Is he a pilot?"

She laughed. "Oh. God, no. Thank God. He's the CEO. I'd never date a pilot."

"No?" Dimitri paused. "Would you be too worried?"

"Pilots are so arrogant. Kind of like surgeons," Rose told him. "All that responsibility. You'd think it would make them humble, but it doesn't."

"So you married a CEO. Because they're never arrogant, nun?"

Rose laughed again. "You got me on that one. What about you? Have you always been a teacher?"

"No but like you said, it pays the bills. I like making a difference. I was an English major." Dimitri said abruptly, as if his own words surprised him. "What the hell I thought I could ever do with that, I don't know."

"So you like to read?"

"Yeah. Do you?"

"Love it. What's your favourite book?" Rose looked at the overflowing bookcase next to her bed. With Adrian gone, she'd taken over what had been his nightstand, as well. A stack of favourites towered there, scraps of paper and bookmarks keeping her place in novels she'd read several times each. Sometimes she just liked to pull out an old favourite and skim the best bits.

"How can you ask me such a thing? That's like asking me which is my favourite hand!"

They laughed together.

"What were you going to do before I rang you?" Dimitri asked. "What would you be going right now if I hadn't?"

"Hmm. I'd probably be in the bath with a book." Rose looked at the clock. It was getting close to bedtime. She got up and went to the door, but Eddie's door was still firmly shut, and she hadn't heard so much as the creak of hinges since he'd disappeared inside. "Maybe some soft music. Couple candles. You know. Romantic?"

"So, what's stopping you?" His voice dipped low.

"You." Hers did too.

"You can talk and take a bath at the same time."

Rose closed her bedroom door and locked it. Cradling the phone to her ear, she went into the bathroom. "Yeah?"

"I'll take a bath too, how's that? We can take a bath together."

Her heart skipped. Her mouth remembered the taste of him, her body his shape and length. An answering pull centred between her legs. "That sounds like trouble."

Dimitri's low chuckle tiptoed over her every nerve ending. "It will be fun. Good, clean fun."

Rose turned on the taps and toyed with the button of her blouse. "What if we drop our phones in the water?"

"Put it in a plastic bag." Dimitri said.

"Have you done this before?" she tucked the phone against her shoulder and slipped the rest of her buttons free, then shrugged out of the blouse and tossed it in the hamper.

"No. But it makes sense."

She had a plastic bag in her drawer. She always kept a few there for packing her carry-on supplies. She wouldn't trust it to fully submerge her phone, but for protecting it from stray splashed… "Sure. Okay. Let's do it. Gotta put you down for a couple seconds while I get ready."

"Me too. Meet you back here in ten."

Laughing, giddy, feeling ridiculous, Rose quickly stripped and added a couple caps of bath oil to the water. She lit her scented candles- lavender, which she always found so soothing. She pulled her hair up in a messy bun and dimmed the lights before slipping into the heated water with a sigh.

Pressing the plastic-protected phone to her ear, she listened for Dimitri. "You there?"

"I'm here. It's been so long since I took a bath, I had to clean it out first."

She heard splashing. "Not a bath fan?"

"I usually take showers. Faster that way. But this…" he hissed and sighed. "This could be good."

Rose leaned back against her bath pillow. "I take a bath most every night, if I can. It's relaxing. If I try to read in bed, I usually fall asleep. So if I get a few chapters in while I'm in the bath, that's good."

"I do a lot of reading in the bathroom too. But not in the bath." Dimitri splashed.

Rose giggled. "Nice."

"So I'm keeping you from your reading. I'd say I'm sorry, but…"

"It's okay. I'm glad you called. I didn't think you would."

"No? how come?" Dimitri splashed a little more, then seemed to settle.

Rose rubbed the top of her foot along the back of her opposite calf, enjoying the way the oil had made her skin so slippery. "Just a feeling."

"But you left your number. You wanted me to call you."

She'd regretted it almost as soon as she was out of his front door, so much that if it hadn't locked behind her she might've gone back in and stolen the note so he never found it. "Took you long enough."

Dimitri didn't take offense. "You ducked out of my apartment without saying goodbye. I was surprised you left a note at all, to be honest. I was afraid maybe you'd be having second thoughts. I didn't want to call and make an ass of myself. But then I realised you didn't have my number and couldn't call me, so if I ever wanted to talk to you again, I'd better call."

That was so close to the truth, the part about second thoughts, that it gave her pause. "You must've really wanted to talk to me."

"So much." Dimitri said at once, voice rasping. Lower. Sexy. God, he was sexy. Rose closed her eyes again, letting her free hand travel along her oil slicked skin. Collar bones. Breasts. Her nipples tightened under her fingertips. Down lower, over her belly, to dip between her legs and stroke her clit gently a few times.

Her voice, when she answered him, rasped too. "I'm glad you did."

"Roza… would it make me a creep if I were imagining you naked right now?"

"I am naked, Comrade."

"And wet." He whispered.

"Oh, yes." She said. "All over."

He made a sex noise, half a growl from the back of his throat. It sent a shiver through her; her nipples had already been teased erect, but that noise, they tightened even more. The sensation echoed in her cunt, almost as if a chain connected the two places on her body. Rose's rolling hips made waves, and she held her phone up to keep it away from the sudden splash.

"Roza…"

"Yes, Comrade."

"Do you think I could see you again?"

It wasn't exactly what she thought he'd ask her, but it did put a smile on her face. She slipped a little lower in the water. "Do you want to?"

"I wouldn't ask if I didn't."

"I think… that could be arranged." She mentally ran through her schedule of upcoming weekends. "What were you thinking about?"

"How hard is it for you to get to Chicago?"

"I live in Pennsylvania." She told him, then laughed. "So it's not easy."

"Oh… I didn't realise…" Dimitri laughed and splashed. "I'm getting out of the bath. My head's spinning, I ran the water too hot."

She could've stayed in longer, and would have had she been reading a good book. But a peek at the time told her that… getting into bed with him on the phone… had potential.

"I live a couple hours outside Philly. Amish country." Rose carefully climbed from the tub and stood dripping, listening to him breathe. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Fine. Just had to sit down for a minute. Now I remember why I don't take baths."

"It helps if you don't pretend you're a lobster in a pot." She said.

Dimitri snorted softly. "Philly, huh? Cheesecakes are good there."

"You've been there , Huh? How about shoofly pie? You ever try that? It's a local delicacy." She dried off and padded naked to her bedroom, where she pulled a clean night gown from the drawer and slipped it over her head, missing half of what he'd said.

"…. Travel to Philadelphia."

"Sorry, I missed that. I was getting dressed."

"Nooooo." Dimitri said in protest. "Why would you wanna do that?"

Rose laughed. So much could've been awkward about this conversation, or it could have so easily developed into nothing but a mutual wank session- not that she'd have minded, not exactly. "because I don't like to sleep naked."

"That's not totally true." He tried to say, but her laughter cut him off.

"I barely slept with you. I doesn't count."

"True. We didn't do much sleeping. So what are you putting on now?"

Rose looked down at the lightweight plaid flannel granny gown. "A sheer black nighty with matching lace panties."

Dimitri gave a soft growl. "Wish I could see that."

"Maybe you'll get lucky." Rose opened her bedroom door to check on Eddie, whose door was still closed. No light from underneath. She thought about knocking, but frankly couldn't face him. She closed her door again.

"So. It would be hard for you to get to Chicago."

"No harder than it was before. I could come see you. If you really wanted-" she stopped herself. He wanted. He'd asked. "I mean, yes. I'd like to come see you again."

"We had fun, Huh?"

"Yes. We had fun."

There was silence, though not awkward or uncomfortable. She heard the rustle and shuffle of him doing something. Perhaps pulling a T-shirt over his head. Maybe getting into bed the way she was, snuggling into the covers.

"Roza."

"Yes?"

"Are you happy I called you?"

"Yes." She said, and held back a yawn. "Are you happy I left my number?"

His voice was a little hoarse with sleep, the way hers was. "Yeah. Can I call you again?"

"Whenever you want." Rose turned off the light and tucked her blankets around her.

"It's late. I should let you go."

No, she thought, No, I don't want you to let me go. But that was too much for a first phone call, even if they had already fucked their brains out, and more than once. Rose smiled into the dark, remembering. "Yeah. Well. Goodbye. Thanks for calling."

"We'll talk again soon."

"Whenever you want." She told him, though she was far from old-fashioned and would have no problem calling him.

"Well. Goodbye." He said again.

Neither of them disconnected. Both started laughing. Rose tried to keep her voice low, not wanting Eddie to hear her in here guffawing like a lunatic.

"You hang up." She said, then in a slightly different voice, mocking. "No! you hang up!"

"We can count to three." Dimitri said. "One. Two. Three…"
She waited but he didn't disappear. "Good night, Comrade." She said, amused by his reluctance to end the call.

"Good night, Roza. Dream in colour."

She'd been a second away from disconnecting, but this stopped her. "What?"

But it was too late. He'd already gone.

-Flying-

Rose had woken this morning with a pounding head and twisting stomach, certain that the flight she'd booked would've filled up, leaving her stuck in Harrisburg. But nope, the Gods of Getting Laid had seen fit to smile upon her, because not only was the plane not full, but she got to sit in business class.

It was a great way to start the morning. Rose had opted to aim for the most ungodly early flight she could get so as to maximise her time in Chicago. She was already exhausted.

She and Dimitri had spent the past two weeks either chatting online or on the phone, or sometimes, if he didn't have his girls, on video chat. The conversations had ranged from serious-the importance of financial planning, for example- to silly- why did pepper make people sneeze? They'd flirted. Dimitri was a tremendous flirt and Rose an aficionado of the double entendre. Some of their conversations had left her head spinning and her panties soaked. But they hadn't sexted. Not even on video chat, when sometimes all he did was stare at her with that look, and her cunt clenched. The suspense was terrible and Rose hoped it wouldn't last much longer.

There was no question she was going there fully with the intent of fucking him again. It was all she'd been able to think about, as a matter of fact. Days and days of fantasies had consumed her. She'd been distracted at work, losing herself in memories of the slide of Dimitri's cock inside her. At home, her patience with Eddie had been greatly extended, which in turn had made his attitude a little better, so a win-win all around. She'd hesitantly told him about her new relationship, emphasising that it wasn't a big deal, and bracing herself for blowback, but Eddie hadn't seemed to care very much. She hadn't said anything about it to Adrian.

Every night for the first week after she and Dimitri had gotten off the phone, Rose had touched herself. She had a drawer full of sex toys, many of them accumulated from the spate home parties that had been popular a few years ago, when all her friends had been suckered into hostessing and they'd all spiralled into this incestuous orgy of 'if you come to mine, I'll come to yours.' She had waterproof vibrating bullets, realistic dildos in several different flesh tones. She had one or two vibes with animals on them, a beaver and a rabbit. She had all these 'toys' but when she thought about Dimitri, all she needed was her hand.

Hell, barely that sometimes. Lying in bed with the phone pressed to her ear, all she really had to do was squeeze her thighs together and roll her hips, and she could bring herself to the edge of orgasm just listening to his voice. She always waited until she was off the phone to finish, though, in case her moans gave her away.

She didn't want him to think she was creepy, after all. Still, she hoped that their talks had led him to do the same things she had done. To take his cock in his fist and stroke it while he thought about her. The heat of her mouth or her cunt. The thought of her on her knees in front of him. The taste of her…

"Get you something to drink?" the airhostess asked. "Are you too warm? I can bring you something with ice…"

"Oh, I'm fine." Rose reached up and turned on the air vent, tipping her face toward the burst of cool but still stagnant air. The gave the hostess a wide, bright grin. "I could use some orange juice, though, if you have any. And coffee."

"We have muffins and fruit, if you're hungry. The flight's not that long, but as you can see we don't exactly have a full house."

"Don't worry about it. A drink's fine." There was no way she could eat anyway. The trip only took two hours, but because of the time change she only got there an hour later than when she'd left. She'd offered to take a cab to his apartment, but Dimitri had promised to pick her up.

"Have a great trip. What time are you coming home on Sunday?" the hostess asked her. She worked almost all the zone-three flights as far as Rose could tell and must know her routine.

"I have the last afternoon departure."

She smiled. "I'm working that one. I'll see you then."

Rose went first to the restroom, where she smoothed her hair, powdered her nose and refreshed the lipstick she'd nibbled off during the trip. She had faint circles under her eyes from lack of sleep and anxiety; she pressed her hands flat to her stomach and turned from side to side to look at herself from all angles.

She had not dressed the way she usually did for flying. She wore a cute royal-blue dress of soft fabric and a pair of complementary leggings, along with her favourite pair of black-and-white floral converse, the ones she'd custom designed and treated herself to for her fortieth birthday. It was sexy if you already liked her, she thought as she smoothed the fabric over her hips. It wasn't an outfit meant for seduction, even though beneath it she was wearing new lace panties and a matching bra.

Rose drew in a deep breath. She couldn't stay in the bathroom forever. She washed her hands carefully and dried them, but they were still shaking when she took the handle of her rolling bag and pulled it behind her through the terminal.

Everything seemed brighter, clearer, louder. All the kiosks, the people passing her, intent on their own destinations. How many of them were going to meet their lovers? Long time or brand-new, how many were on their way to a reunion? She saw him before he saw her, and was glad of it because it gave her a minute or so to calm herself. This was Dimitri, she reminded herself. She already knew him. This was going to be a great visit, she told herself. Stop worrying, Rose.

He caught sight of her and waved. He pushed through the crowd. And then he was there in front of her. He was real. They hadn't talked about how they would greet each other- who would? But now Rose wished she had asked him if he intended to kiss her. If she should brace herself for a hug, or if they would simply stare at each other with foolish grins painted all over their faces while everyone around them thought they looked like morons.

Dimitri kissed her. A quick peck on the cheek, just at the corner of her mouth. Almost nothing, but then she was in his arms and he was holding her so tight she could barely breathe.

"Hi." He said into her ear.

Rose found her voice. "Hi."

They smiled and smiled, and then she pushed up on her tiptoes to angle her mouth across his for a proper kiss. Long, lingering, the quick slip of tongues before she pulled away with flushed cheeks. She hadn't let go of her carry-on's handle, and it made standing close to him a little awkward, but she didn't want him to let go.

"Hungry?" Dimitri asked.

"Starving." Suddenly, she was. She'd woken just before dawn, too anxious to sleep longer than that. Eddie had been at his dad's already. She hadn't eaten breakfast, declined food on the plane. Her stomach was in knots, but at the sight of Dimitri's smile, all the tension had begun to drain away. He took the handle of her bag from her with one hand, and her hand with his other. Fingers linked, he led her toward the exit. "Breakfast?"

"I can always eat breakfast." She told him.

"I remember."

He'd parked in the garage, which was far from empty at this time of the morning. Somehow that didn't matter when he pushed her up against his car and kissed her, hard. Rose's arms went around his neck, holding him close. The kiss almost bruised her; she didn't care. They gorged themselves on each other in those few minutes, until her knees got weak and her breath caught so tight in her chest she had to break the kiss or faint.

Dimitri pressed his forehead to hers. "You taste so good. It's all I've been able to think about. Kissing you again."

"Wow." Rose laughed a little self-consciously. "You sure know how to make a girl feel welcome."

"Breakfast. I promised you breakfast. I'm a terrible host." He murmured against her mouth.

"Kiss me just a little longer." She told him. "And I'll forgive you."

He did kiss her, and more than that. Dimitri slipped a hand between them to press between her legs. Swiftly, only for a few seconds, but the pressure sparked pleasure through her, and she shivered. The staccato blare of a passing car horn pushed them apart. Dimitri looked a little guilty, maybe embarrassed, and Rose gave a mental chuckle. She'd done more than make out in a parking garage before… but she didn't want to think about what she had done with other men now. Not when she was standing with this one.

He opened the car door for her, and shut it when she got inside. In a few seconds it took him to round the car and get in the driver's side, Rose stole a glance in the rear view mirror, he mouth was wet, lipstick a little smeared, but the weariness that had plagued her expression for the past few weeks had vanished. Bright eyes, pink cheeks. She pushed some stray hair out of her eyes and turned toward him as he got in the car.

"Let's go, Jeeves!"

"Call me Alfred." Dimitri said. "It sounds better."

"If you're Alfred, then that makes me Batman." Rose made a face. "I don't want to be Batman."

"Who doesn't want to be Batman?" Dimitri asked as he backed out of the parking spot and eased his car into the line of others waiting to get out of the garage.

He drove a BMW, Rose realised as she looked at the dashboard and the logo on the glove box. She hadn't noticed before, so busy with his mouth on hers. It didn't impress her, exactly. But it did surprise her. "You should be Batman. Not me."

"Then does that make you Catwoman?" he shot her a grin.

Rose raised her eyebrows. "Meow, Bruce Wayne."

Dimitri was not a patient driver. She saw that within the first few minutes as he muttered about the other cars in line and even flipped off, albeit discreetly below the level of the dashboard, one car that cut him off. What she hadn't been expecting was that he drove like a Nascar racer with something to prove. Once he hit the highway, it was pedal to the metal and no brakes. Rose tucked her fingers into the door handle, squeezing it. Her other hand gripped the side of her seat. With both feet on the floor, staring straight ahead as Dimitri wove in and out of traffic, it took everything she had not to 'brake' every time he came up close behind another car.

There aren't many cars on the road this time of night, and in this weather, but the red flash of taillights up ahead reminds her of the lights on Mikhael and Sonya's Christmas tree. So do the traffic lights up ahead, glowing green, glowing yellow. The orangish- white of the streetlamps overhead. Everything is bright, everything glows, and she tips her head back against the seat and laughs at how good the world feels. From the backseat comes a shuffle and grumble of two little boys up way to late past their bedtime.

"He's touching me!"

"He's looking at me!"

"He took my guy! Mama, Make Eddie give me back my guy!"

"Mason." Rose says, twisting in her seat to shake a finger at him. "Can't you share?"

Then there is the squeal of brakes, the crunch of metal and glass and everything is cold.

Everything is dark.

"Hey. You okay?"

She'd closed her eyes against the sudden wave of nausea brought on by memory, too much coffee, not enough sleep, not enough food. Rose looked at Dimitri, intending to smile and lie, but the ache in her fingers from where she gripped the door handle distracted her. The road ahead of her swarmed with cars and the flash of taillights, but it wasn't night. The roads weren't slick with ice. Dimitri wasn't going to rear-end a pickup truck and, in turn, be sideswiped by a tractor trailer.

And there were no children in the backseat. He eased to stop at a red light at the end of an off-ramp and turned in his seat to put a hand on her leg. "Roza?"

She jumped at the touch, her breathing slowing through force of will, and gave him a weak smile. "You drive really fast."

"I do?" the lights turned green, and Dimitri took his foot off the brake, his attention still on her.

"Eyes on the road." Rose snapped. It was too harsh, she heard that at once. It embarrassed her, but now he put both hands on the wheel with a nod, and focused his gaze on the road in front of them. They drove in silence for the next five minutes or so, getting away from the highway and onto local city streets. Each minute that ticked by left her feeling more and more embarrassed about her outburst, until by the time he'd pulled into the parking lot of the diner he'd taken her to last time, Rose was full of anxiety again.

"I'm sorry-" She said as he turned off the ignition, but his mouth on hers stopped more words from coming out.

"No. I'm sorry." Dimitri cupped the back of her neck, his fingers beneath her hair. "You told me about the car accident. I should've thought about that. My wife tells me all the time I drive like a maniac."

Rose didn't miss the word wife, but she didn't point it out. She let him kiss her. "I've gotten a lot better. When I'm driving, I never have a problem. It's only when I'm in the passenger seat."

"I understand." He pushed her hair off her face and over her shoulder. He didn't, not really. He couldn't. Nobody could, not even Adrian, and he'd been in the car too.

"It's about being in control." She told him. "When I'm driving, I feel like I'm in control, so it's okay. But when I'm not, sometimes it all comes back."

Dimitri didn't say anything, which was the perfect response. He kissed her again, lightly. Then he took both her hands and simply held them for a few minutes until they stopped shaking. "Ready to go in? Or we could go someplace else."

"No." Rose said, linking her fingers in his. "This place is perfect."