So, I'm totally bummed right now because my 21st birthday is next weekend, and our of all of my friends, only one is going to be able to hang out.

I've been stuck at home healing because of my surgery, and when I finally get the all clear (I'm being 'released' from my doctor's care on my birthday) to be able to actually do stuff, and no one can hang out. In fact, the one friend that is able to hang out canceled her plans to go see her girlfriend to hang out with me because she felt bad.

So, I'm laying in bed, having a pity party because I'm lonely, and I'm uploading this chapter early because I really do love this story and uploading for my readers makes me happy.

I'm glad this chapter is already written, because even though uploading makes me happy, I have absolutely no motivation to write. I'm just bummed.

Anyway, sorry about the long A/N. I don't usually make them this long, but as I mentioned before, I'm lonely. Telling you guys my problems makes me feel like someone is listening (even if you really aren't - I can pretend).

While writing this chapter, I ended up with major writer's block. This caused me to turn to a fellow writer for help (Cae-Leigh Anne). After reading what I had written, she wrote something that she thought would go well in this chapter. Well, I thought it was so good that I took what she wrote (with her permission, of course), changed a few small things, and added it to what I wrote. Put it all together and we have... this chapter :) hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer : I do not own VA or any of the recognizable characters

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Enjoy!

Rose POV

I had just gotten out of the shower when my phone chimed to let me know that I had a new email. I wasn't expecting anything of importance, so I took my time getting dressed to head into the studio. About half way through putting on my make up, I remembered that I had given my email address to Dimitri. I was so anxious to hear from him, hoping that he wasn't upset because it had taken me so long to reply to him, thanks to my father, that I practically flew across my room to where my phone was at on the charger.

I quickly pulled up my email app and noticed that I had an email from an address I had never seen before. I sent a silent prayer to whoever might have been listening as the message loaded. A grin spread over my face, it was from Dimitri! I silently thanked whoever had answered my prayer.

I read through the email and made a mental note to talk to Abe about my privacy later. I liked my privacy. It was the main reason why my stage name and appearance are different from my normal name and appearance.

Rose Mazur is a red head that wears heels and flashy clothes, while Rose Hathaway wouldn't be caught dead in heels or the flashy clothes that my stage persona wears. Essentially, I am a completely different person from Rose Mazur, or at least I try to be in order to protect myself from any crazy fans that I might acquire.

My mental rambling was cut off abruptly when I remembered that I needed to reply to Dimitri's email. I didn't waste any time as I pulled out my laptop and started on my response.

September 1, 2010

Hey Comrade!

I'm soo happy that you decided to email me. I was looking back at some of our old letters, and did you know that two days from now (September 3) will mark one year since the day that I sent you that first letter? It's crazy to think that we have been pen pals for so long. I don't even refer to you as my pen pal anymore; I refer to you as my friend.

So, now that you are home and settled in, how is your family? I bet it feels great to be able to see them after so long, and I can imagine it's better that they live in America now as opposed to Russia. Isn't Russia like an Arctic wasteland anyway? That's what I've always heard.

Also, do you still want tickets to my first concert? If so, how many should I send? I'm assuming that you wouldn't want to go alone to some teenage girl's concert, even if we are friends.

My tour starts in December, so tickets will be going on sale very soon.

Anyway, I have to go for now. I'm needed down at the studio.

Waiting for your reply,

-Your Roza

I sent the email, and closed my laptop. I hope that I wasn't being too obvious about trying to find out if he was dating someone by asking about him going to my concert alone. If he was dating someone, I wanted him to be happy. It doesn't matter if I have a crush on him. He's like seven years older than me, and no matter what Lissa says, I doubted he liked me anyway. How could he? We've never even met.

After a few minutes of wallowing in my feelings for a guy who couldn't possibly feel the same way, I scrambled to finish getting ready. Lissa would be here soon to pick me up, and if I wasn't ready, she'd complain, once again, how I'm always making us late.

I heard Lissa walk in the front door just as I finished getting ready. I met her in the hallway, and we headed out the door. I was ready for another long day in the studio. Today, though, my mood was much brighter than it had been as of late, thanks to Dimitri's email.

Arriving earlier than expected, we had some down time before my scheduled recording time. I needed to talk to Abe before I lost the chance. I had spotted his car in the parking lot, so I knew the old man was here.

"Baba, can we talk in private?" I spotted him talking with Adrian, they were most likely ironing the last of the details of my tour that was beginning shortly.

"Of course, excuse us Adrian." Adrian nodded at both of us before leaving us alone.

I looked over at my father, I wanted to confront him again about my letter that he had stolen but I was worried about how it was going to go.

"What do you want to talk about?" He asked.

"The letter you stole."

"Again?"

"Yes again, what makes you think you can steal and read my mail?" I snapped. "Are you not aware that opening mail not addressed to you is illegal?"

"I'm trying to protect you. What if it was some crazy stalker who had worked out your real identity?" He quipped.

"We've worked hard to protect my identity; the fake name, hair and clothes help with that." I replied, trying to reign in my irritation.

"There are ways around that. What if someone actually knows you, and they made the connection?"

I threw my hands up in frustration. "Don't you think I'm old enough and smart enough to know when a stalker is sending me crazed letters?"

He was silent, considering his words carefully. It only irritated me further. I clenched my fists to keep from punching him before turning around and storming off.

I spent the remainder of the day in the recording studio, and I was struggling. My anger towards my father was affecting my performance and no one was happy about it. I could see it on their faces through the glass.

As soon as I stepped through the door, Abe grabbed my arm and pulled me out into the hallway. "What is your problem today?"

"You. I can't believe that you seriously think I'm stupid enough to not know when I'm being stalked."

"I just want to protect you. What if he had a plan to kidnap and/or kill you?" Abe argued.

"Then let me work that out for myself. It's not like I was planning on meeting up with him tomorrow!"

He sighed. "I'm sorry, okay? I was worried. I'm a father, it's what we do. I overheard you and Lissa talking about sending letters back and forth with some guy. I just wanted to get him checked out." He tried reasoning.

"Why didn't you just tell me you wanted to do a background check on him?"

"Yes, because we are well known to have rational conversations?" he smirked at me and I grinned. He was right, though, our personalities were very similar and that caused us to fight and argue on a regular basis.

"Is there anything else I should know?"

"Yes, actually, we were planning on hiring you some body guards."

"What?Are you kidding me? I don't need a freaking bodyguard!"

"You're going on tour soon. You need someone who can help navigate you through the crowds and protect you from crazy stalker boys." He reasoned.

"This is insane, you're insane." I concluded.

"It's not just you, Rose. It's for Lissa's protection as well."

Dammit. He knew he had me there. For as long as I could remember, I've had a strong urge to protect Lissa. It was around the same time as middle school that it really begun. I can't remember exactly how it begun, but there was this one girl, Natalie, and her best friend, Mia, who decided it would be their life mission to destroy Lissa. It broke my heart the day that I walked into her bathroom, and found her standing there with blood pouring from her wrists. Ever since, I had to protect her whether she wanted it or not.

"Fine, for Lissa, but I'm not happy about this." I snapped at him before turning around and heading back into the room and joining Lissa.

Again, I want to send a special thanks to Cae-Leigh Anne who helped write this chapter. She really is awesome :) oh, and just so you know: Bethismyname is still my coauthor, she was just unavailable when I was trying to work through this writer's block.

Also, another special thanks goes out to jediserenity82 who is now beta for this story :)

P.S. this story has reached over 200 reviews as of the last chapter! That's so amazing! Thank you for everyone who has reviewed!