I know it's been a while since the last update and I'm sorry for that. I just want to say that I've been selected to work in T.C.S, an IT company which had visited my college to select students. Though I do have a year of education to go, I now have a job on hand. This is the reason for my absence: I've been busy preparing :)
Also, I'd like to address the review sent by 'Hidesign' who expressed a disinterest in the flashbacks scenes. I just want to say thanks for the review and ask the others a question: Do you not like the flashbacks? Personally, I love writing them, especially Rose and Dimitri's childhood but I want to know what you readers think. Do let me know :)
Enjoy the chapter :)
Best friends are with you the yesterday before the beginning and will be there until the day after tomorrow.
-Unknown
Mission Commander Rose Hathaway
I gripped the edge of the table as I breathed in deeply, hoping to alleviate the severe pain gripping my abdomen. My legs felt weak and my hands were shaking as I tried, desperately, to not give in to the pain; to not curl up right here on the floor.
Dark spots started appearing before my eyes as another wave of pain clenched my stomach.
I have to control this.
I must control this.
The sound of door opening rung alarm bells in my head. I didn't want anyone to see me like this.
I didn't want anyone to see my moment of weakness.
But I was helpless. I couldn't do anything.
If I'd had any doubts regarding the disease, they were now clarified.
I did have Cotopa.
Admitting it to myself was scary enough. Worse yet were the questions swimming before my eyes.
Would it kill me before I could complete my mission?
Would I fail the earth? My crew?
The sound of fast approaching footsteps brought me back to the crisis on hand.
Someone was hurrying towards me.
"Go away," I murmured to whoever had found me.
"No!" came a firm voice.
I didn't know whether to be relieved or frustrated. Relieved because it was Dimitri who'd found me and he already knew about the disease. Frustrated because it was Dimitri.
I opened my eyes to see Dimitri crouching before me.
"Rose?" he asked gently.
When I opened my mouth to reply, he cut me off. "Do not tell me you're fine."
I smiled slightly. He knew me so well...
"Stomach pain?" he asked, noticing the way I'd wrapped my arms around my mid-riff.
I nodded, hissing slightly as another wave of pain pricked my stomach.
"Okay," he said calmly. "Breathe in, Rose."
I glared at him. Breathe in?
He didn't budge. "That's the only remedy. Now, breathe in deeply."
He took a deep breath, urging me to the same. Helpless, I did as he said. To my surprise, the pain receded after a few minutes.
"Okay?" Dimitri asked me, his eyes anxious.
I nodded reluctantly. Now that the pain was gone, I could focus on the fact that it'd been Dimitri who'd found me.
"Save the lecture," I hissed when he opened his mouth.
Dimitri smirked unexpectedly. "You have no proof that I was about to give one."
He sounded so much like me that my jaw dropped. Seeing this, he chuckled which turned to laughter when I tried to hit him.
"Did you want me for something? Other than to laugh your ass off?" I asked, pissed.
"The Earth Center wants to do a conference call," Dimitri told me, a smile still curling on the edges of his lips. "So, I came here to get you."
Abruptly, his mirth disappeared, making way to a neutral mask. I almost groaned, knowing what was coming,
"Rose..." Both of us said in unison, in the same weary tone.
Dimitri looked at me with an uncharacteristically surprised expression that made me laugh. Which, in turn, made my stomach hurt.
"I know well enough, comrade." I told him, trying not to show the pain I was feeling.
He smiled sadly, knowing that I was just trying to put on a brave face.
"I don't know what to do to help you," he admitted, looking distressed. His eyebrows were furrowed, his eyes brimming with worry. There was no mask on his face now. Without it, he looked...haggard.
As if he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.
For my Dimitri to let go of that damned mask...Well, it spoke volumes about his worry for me.
I hated that I couldn't assuage his fear.
Giving in momentarily to the rising hopelessness, I chuckled bleakly. "I don't know what to do to help me, either."
Slowly, I raised myself from the floor, swatting away his helping hand. "I may be dying-" I said, ignoring his flinch. "-but let me die with dignity."
"Your dignity will not decrease if you accept help." Dimitri said, clenching his jaw.
Yup, I was definitely making him angry. It was really bizarre how easily I could make his mood fluctuate.
"You know that I do have an ego," I joked.
"You're so stubborn, Rose." He said, looking up at the ceiling as though praying for patience.
I smirked. "Haven't I always been?"
Dimitri smiled nostalgically. "Of course you have."
I shrugged lightly. "Come on. Earth's calling."
Dimitri gripped my elbow when I made to walk past him and spun me around gently to face him.
He held me close, more closer than I wanted.
It was hard to ignore the attraction when we were so close.
Hard to ignore the electricity pulsing from his skin to mine. Hard to ignore his scent, his body...his allure which was further heightened by the steely glint in his eyes.
The lines of his face were hard, his jaw clenched firmly. This was his 'determined' expression.
"You're not going to die." He told me, his tone leaving no scope for arguments.
But I was never one to toe the line.
Especially a line drawn by Dimitri.
"If that's what you want to believe," I retorted glibly, making him more angry.
"I can't believe you're giving up!" Dimitri said incredulously. "The girl I knew would never have given up."
"The girl you knew is gone." I told him, enjoying his anger.
It was for the best anyway: him being angry with me. More the distance, lesser the suffering when I meet my inevitable end.
"Clearly," he snapped.
I wrenched my elbow from his grip, tired of this argument. But Dimitri didn't let go. He caught hold of my shoulders and pulled me to him.
Standing so close to him, I couldn't help but notice his features. Stormy dark eyes, stubborn chin and a ruggedly handsome face. His dark, silky hair was tied back as usual with the wayward strands tucked behind his ears. As always, some strands had escaped the hair tie at the nape of his neck and instead lay against his cheek.
He was gorgeous.
And soo not for me.
For one, he didn't think of me that way. For another, we had a complicated history together.
And most importantly, my future was very uncertain so absolutely no romance for me.
Not that he thought of me that way.
Of course not.
But as weird as it sounds, his anger was kinda turning me on.
That was the only explanation for why I was feeling the way I was feeling now. I was attracted to him physically. Just physically.
If that was not true, then I was probably attracted to him because of...nostalgia. Or something.
There couldn't be any other explanation.
I didn't do giddy and nervous. I only knew science; hard and cool logic. Not butterflies in the stomach science.
"How can you do this?" he asked me, still hung up on my words.
"Do what?" I asked.
Shit! Did my voice sound breathless?
"Give up." Dimitri said through clenched teeth.
"Because I've accepted that it is my fate." I told him, trying to make him see things from my perspective.
"It doesn't have to be," he replied angrily, shaking me a little. "Maybe it will go away. Cotopa vanishes without a trace."
"In rare cases," I pointed out. "Last time, I had treatment. That's not happening this time so what's the cure?"
He didn't have an answer to that and I could tell that he hated it.
"Exactly!" I exclaimed but my voice lacked triumph. I wanted so badly to believe him but I didn't want to give myself false hope.
Dimitri sighed, anger draining out of him. His expression now turned weary. "I thought you were the optimistic one?"
I smiled, remembering how I used to refer to myself as 'optimistic' when we were younger. I'd dubbed Dimitri a 'worrywart' and me an optimist. Funny how Dimitri seemed to have taken over both the labels now.
"Let's go, Dimitri." I said, tired.
He nodded and pressed a kiss to my forehead, surprising the hell out of me. "You go on," he said as if he'd done nothing out of ordinary. Maybe it wasn't. Out of ordinary, I mean.
For him, it wasn't.
But that small kiss had sparked a strange warmth within me. I felt as if I'd just drunk a mug of Dimitri's special hot chocolate.
Shaking my head slightly, I left the lab and headed up the stairs to the control room. On top of the staircase, I turned around to look for Dimitri, catching a glimpse of him disappearing below deck, to where our rooms were located.
Strange...
Brushing it off, I walked the rest of the way to the Control room.
"Mia!" I greeted cheerfully when I heard her voice teasing Christian.
"Hello, Rose!" came her gleeful reply. "Please ask Christina to stop harassing me."
"It's Christian. And I'm not harassing you!" came Christian's defensive reply.
Lissa giggled quietly from the corner. Adrian and Tasha weren't here yet.
Christian was at the Central control panel, haphazardly throwing on switches, testing the screens and turning knobs. No doubt he was trying to establish a connection with the earth station.
"You so are!" Mia told Christian, her tone light. "You can be gentle with my buttons, you know. No need to press so hard. If I were human, I'd be feeling the pain. Plus, you're hovering and not leaving me alone!"
Both Lissa and I burst out laughing at the harried look on Christian's face.
"Mia!" Christian shouted in frustration, probably embarrassed over the fact that Lissa was laughing at him.
Mia giggled.
"Let him concentrate, Mia." I told her. "You can have your fun later."
"Whatever you say, Rose." Mia said, in her default cheerful tone.
We sat silently for a few minutes, watching Christian fiddle with the machines. After a while, Christian whooped softly and turned to us. "We'll be live in a few minutes. Go, get the others."
He definitely did not use that tone with Lissa. Meaning, he was talking to me.
I rose up. "You need to remember two things, buddy. One: You sound just like a radio jockey or a TV anchor and you're neither so don't pretend to be. Two: I am the captain. I give orders, not you."
Lissa chuckled as Christian rolled his eyes. "Fine, Miss Captain. Can you please fetch the others?"
I smirked at him and turned away. Winking at Lissa, I left the room in search of the others. Since I already knew where Dimitri was, I headed down to call him first.
But when I opened the door to Dimitri's room, I was greeted by an empty room.
Deciding to check the other rooms in hopes of finding one of the three missing crew members, I approached Tasha's door.
Strange sounds reached my ears as I walked over to her door. She'd been complaining for a while now that the sound-proof sheath of her room wasn't working. But we'd had more important stuff to worry about so it'd not been fixed.
Standing in front of Tasha's door, I tried to make sense of the noises.
A few groans.
And a very feminine moan.
What the hell was going on?
Without thinking about it, I flung open the door, not even registering the fact that the door wasn't locked.
What I saw on Tasha's bed knocked the breath out of me.
AN: Waiting for the assumptions and accusations to be thrown at me ;)
Caution: No flames, please. If you don't like, don't read. I know there are a lot of 'guest' reviewers in here who leave scathing messages if they don't like the way a story is progressing. I must ask you to kindly refrain. Nothing you say will change my mind, I promise :D
Romitri is the end game. Always.
