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Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy.
CHAPTER 12
RPOV
I flinched when the door slammed shut, hard.
"Can you not do that?" I groaned, rolling over in bed. I had a massive headache and I wasn't feeling all too well. I'd been feeling off for a couple of days now, but today was worse. Much worse.
"Do what?" Avery said, sounding annoyed.
"Slam the door."
"Sorry," she said, rolling her eyes. "Why are you still in bed anyway? Don't you have to go to class?"
I groaned again. "Yeah…" I rolled onto my back and rubbed my eyes. "I'm not feeling well. I think I'm going to stay in today."
I suddenly started having a coughing fit, which made my headache only worse. I probably had a cold or something. I sure sounded like it.
"I'd better go," Avery muttered, grabbing her bag. "I don't want to get ill, too."
She left and this time she didn't slam the door - thankfully. I curled up under the covers and closed my eyes again, trying to fall asleep again, when I suddenly remembered that I had to babysit in a few hours. I didn't think I'd be able to, though, because honestly, I felt like shit.
Sighing, I sat up, feeling slightly dizzy, and reached for my cell phone on the nightstand. I dialed Dimitri's number and waited for him to answer.
"Hello Rose. Everything alright?"
"No," I moaned.
"What's wrong?" He sounded worried.
"I don't feel well. I can't come and babysit today. I'm sorry."
"Oh, that's okay. I'll…figure something out," he said.
"I'm sorry," I repeated.
"No, it's fine. Don't worry about it," he said gently. "Are you going to be okay?"
"Yeah," I said. My throat felt dry. "I'll be fine. I just need some rest."
"Okay," he said. "Take care, Roza."
I disconnected and got up to fetch a glass of water and some painkillers for my headache. I quickly returned to bed and curled up into a ball. Closing my eyes, I fell asleep almost immediately.
Hours later, I woke up when I heard someone knocking on my door. Wondering who it could be, I got up and opened the door. To my surprise, Dimitri stood in the hallway. He looked up at me when I opened the door and gave me a small smile.
"Hey. I brought you some soup," he said, holding up a cup of chicken soup. I stepped aside, still a little surprised, and let him enter. "How are you feeling?"
"Not that great," I admitted. If I'd known he would drop by, I would've cleaned up a little bit. I was sure I looked like a mess. Damn. Well, it was too late now. "Why are you here? How do you even know where I live?"
"Christian told me. I called him," he explained. "I wanted to check if you're alright."
"Thanks. That's sweet of you." He handed me the soup and I smiled at him gratefully before taking a sip. "But what about the kids? Where are they?"
"Christian's with them," Dimitri said.
I sat back down on my bed and he came to sit next to me. "Thank you for this," I said, holding up the cup of soup. "You didn't have to come all the way down here, though, just for me."
"That's alright," he said smiling. "Like I said, I wanted to see for myself that you're okay."
I smiled. Dimitri was such a sweetheart. And so thoughtful. He was just incredible. We sat in comfortable silence for a while and I drank my soup.
Even though the soup had warmed me up a little, I was still shivering. Dimitri noticed and got up, motioning for me to lie back down in bed. He pulled the covers over me and then sat down on the edge of the bed.
"You need some extra blankets?" he asked.
"No, I'm good. Thanks," I said smiling.
"Need something else?"
I shook my head. "I'm fine now," I mumbled.
He smiled. "Well, I'll let you get some rest then."
I didn't want him to leave, but I knew he couldn't stay here forever. He probably needed to get back to his kids.
"Call me if you need anything, okay?" he said.
"I will," I promised.
He smiled and, slowly, he leaned down and pressed his lips against my forehead. Oh my. My heart skipped a beat and I looked up at him as he pulled away from me, still smiling.
"Get well soon, Roza," he murmured, gently tucking a strand of my hair behind my ear.
I was too stunned to say anything. He got up and walked back to the door. He lifted his hand to open it, but before he could, the door already opened. He quickly stepped back and Avery walked in, almost bumping into him.
"Umm, who the hell are you and what are you doing in my room?" Avery asked, rather impolite.
Dimitri glanced back at me. "I'm Dimitri. I'm a friend of Rose…"
"Oh, you are Dimitri?" Avery said, her eyes widening slightly. She looked him up and down and then flashed him a flirtatious grin. "I've heard so much about you. It's nice to meet you, Dimitri. I'm Avery."
I groaned inwardly. Great. This was just great. Now Dimitri thought I talked about him to Avery, which was not true at all. I could see Dimitri felt a little uncomfortable, with the way she way she was looking at him. God, could she be more obvious?
"Avery, Dimitri was leaving so please let him pass," I sighed.
"Sure," she said, still smiling at Dimitri. "Have a nice day."
"Yeah, you too," Dimitri mumbled. He glanced at me one last time and gave me a tiny smile before leaving.
Avery closed the door and turned to me. "Holy shit. That guy's hot!" I didn't say anything, but I didn't need to. "Oh man, if you ever quit your job and he needs a new babysitter or something, I'm all for it," she continued. "He can ask me anytime."
"Yeah… I don't think he will," I muttered.
She didn't hear me. "Is he ready to date yet? Or is he still, like, hung up on his wife?"
Oh no. "He isn't interested in dating anyone," I said quickly. "Besides, you really want to date a man who has three kids?"
She shrugged and grinned. "If he looks like that…"
"Well, it's not going to happen so don't keep your hopes up," I snapped.
Avery raised her eyebrows at me. "Touchy."
I scowled and turned away from her. She was ruining my mood. Dimitri had made me feel better when he'd come to visit me and then when he'd kissed me – yeah, I know it was just a kiss on the forehead but it was still a kiss, right? – it had lifted my mood, but now… Yeah, my mood had plummeted again. Thanks to Avery.
"You want to keep him to yourself? Is that it?" she asked.
"No," I muttered. "He isn't mine so…"
"Yeah. But you want him, don't you? I mean, you'd be crazy if you didn't-"
"I don't want him," I lied. She started to say something else, but I cut her off again. "I'm tired. Will you please let me sleep?"
"Fine," she said petulantly. "I'll go study in the library then."
She propped some books into her bag and then left. I let out a sigh of relief and closed my eyes, going back to sleep.
DPOV
"When's Rose coming back?" Liam asked for the third time.
"I don't know. When she's feeling better," I responded.
He pouted and crawled into his bed. I sat down on the edge of his bed and tucked him in.
"Can't I go visit her?"
"No, we should let her get some rest," I said.
I had to admit, though, I missed her too and would love to see her. She'd been sick for two days now, though today she'd called me, telling me she was feeling a little bit better and that she would let me know tomorrow morning if she could come over to babysit. In the meantime, Christian had come over a couple of times to watch over the kids.
"Can't she rest here?" Liam asked. "She can sleep in your bed."
I laughed. "And where am I supposed to sleep then?"
He shrugged. "You can sleep in the bed, too. Mommy used to sleep with you in the big bed, too. So why can't Rose?"
I shifted a little, uncomfortable. "That's different," I said after a few moments. "Your mom and I were married."
He frowned a little, but then his face brightened. "You can marry Rose."
I laughed again. "I don't think that's a good idea."
His frown returned. "Why not? Does Rose not want to be with us?"
I sighed. How was I going to explain this to a five-year-old? "Of course she wants to be here, but…not all the time. She can't be here all the time."
"But why?"
"She's got other friends and family. They want to see her, too." Before he could ask another question – and I could see he really wanted to – I continued, "You should get some sleep now, Liam. It's school tomorrow."
He nodded. "Okay."
I leaned forward and kissed his forehead. "Good night."
"Night, Daddy," he yawned before rolling onto his side.
Smiling, I flicked off the lights and closed his bedroom door. I walked back downstairs, to where Alisa and Inna were sitting in the living room. They were watching TV.
I let them be for a while, but when it started to get late, I returned to the living room and said, "You should go to bed now. It's a school day tomorrow."
They nodded and got off of the couch.
"How's Rose?" Inna asked.
"She's feeling better, but I don't know when she'll come back," I answered.
After they'd gone to bed, I cleaned up a little bit and then went to my room. I tried to read for a while, but my mind kept wandering off to Rose. That seemed to happen a lot lately, but now that I hadn't seen her in a couple of days, I thought about her even more. It was frustrating.
Sighing, I closed my book and lay down in bed, staring at the ceiling, my mind still on Rose. What was happening to me? Why did I keep thinking about her? I seriously needed to get over this stupid crush on her, because I knew nothing good would come from it.
Still, I couldn't help the happy smile spreading across my face when she showed up on my doorstep two days later.
"You feeling better?" I asked as I stepped away so she could come in.
"Yeah, I'm feeling a lot better, thanks," she said smiling. "Sorry for the inconvenience the last couple of days. I know it must've been hard to find someone to babysit the kids while you-"
"It's fine," I interrupted gently. "It's not your fault. You were ill. I'm just glad you're feeling better now."
Her smile widened. "Thanks, comrade. So, shall I take Liam to school or-"
"Well, actually, I'm afraid you came for nothing," I said. "I took the day off. I wasn't sure if you'd be back today so… I'm sorry if you came all the way down here for that."
"No, it's fine," she said quickly.
Suddenly, an idea popped into my mind. "Have you had breakfast yet?" She shook her head. "Well, if you want to, we can drop off the kids together and then grab some coffee somewhere?"
Please say yes. Please say yes. Please…
"Yeah sure," she said grinning. "I'd like that."
I smiled, relieved. "Okay. I'll go get the kids. They'll be happy to see you."
Just like I told Rose, they were all very happy to see her. They attacked her with hugs, exclaiming how much they'd missed her. I watched the scene with a smile on my face.
At last, I broke the group up. "Guys, we got to go now. I don't want you to be late for school."
Inna was very happy she didn't have to take the bus today and almost ran to the car. After dropping her and Alisa off at school, I drove to Liam's school.
"Will you walk me to the gate?" Liam asked, looking at Rose.
"Sure," she said, already getting out of the car.
Then he looked at me. "You too, Daddy."
"Okay."
I got out too and opened the car door for Liam. He took my hand and dragged me to where Rose was standing. He slid his free hand into hers and then the three of us walked to the gate. Liam was grinning the whole time and he didn't complain once when I said he should go inside now.
"Can we do this again?" he asked.
"What do you mean?"
He waved at Rose and then me. "You two bringing me to school. I like it," he said smiling. "It's like a family trip, like that one time we went to the swimming pool."
"Oh," I said, not really knowing what to say. I glanced at Rose briefly before turning back to Liam. "I don't know. Maybe." He started frowning and I quickly added, "We'll try to do it again, but I'm not sure if we can do it soon. I mean, I have to work so usually I can't..." He looked down and I felt bad for disappointing my son. "Okay," I agreed. "I'll make sure we can do this again sometime." I glanced over at Rose. "At least, if Rose wants to."
"Sure," she said.
Liam looked up and a smile lit his face again. "Yay!"
I smiled. "Now go inside."
He nodded and hugged me and Rose before running off.
I turned to Rose. "Shall we go?"
She nodded and we walked back to the car in silence. I drove down to a small café where I knew they had great chocolate donuts – which Rose loved.
"You don't want one?" she asked as she munched on her donut.
I shook my head, smiling. "I already ate."
She shrugged and then took another bite of her donut. "They really are delicious."
"I know. That's why I brought you here," I said grinning.
She smiled. "You're too sweet, comrade."
I blushed at the compliment and quickly looked away so she wouldn't notice. Taking a sip of my coffee, I groped for something to say.
"Are you going home for Christmas?" I asked. Christmas was only two weeks away. I'd made sure I was free during winter break so I could spend time with my kids.
Rose considered. "I don't know," she said after a few moments. "I don't think so. My mom probably won't be there so there's no point in going back."
I frowned. "But it's Christmas. Doesn't she want to see you on-"
She quickly shook her head. "The only thing she wants to know from me is if I'm doing well at school. The rest is…" She shrugged. "Well, she doesn't care about the rest. And, I don't know, I don't want to take her away from her boyfriend."
"But you are her daughter," I said, still frowning.
Rose looked down. "Yeah well…"
I felt bad for her. What kind of mother didn't want to know how her daughter was doing? Nobody should spend Christmas alone – which she probably would because all the students would go home. Christian would go home, too.
"Why don't you spend Christmas with us?" I suggested. "The kids would love it if you'd come."
She looked up at me, her eyes wide. "Oh no. I don't want to disturb you and your family-"
"You won't," I interrupted gently. I smiled and put my hand on hers. "It's not a problem."
"I don't know," she said hesitantly.
"I don't want you to be alone during Christmas. Come spend it with me and the kids. It'll be great." She bit her lip, still hesitant. "Please?"
Slowly, a smile spread across her face. "Alright," she said. "If it's okay with you-"
"Of course it is," I said smiling, squeezing her hand gently. "You're practically family anyway."
Her smile widened. "That's really nice of you to say, Dimitri."
"It's true," I said earnestly. "I don't know what I would've done these past couple of months without you, Rose. Thank you for everything you've done for my family – well, what you are still doing for my family."
She laughed. "I think you're giving me too much credit now."
"No," I said smiling. "It's true. Thank you."
"You're welcome," she said softly.
I realized then that I was still holding her hand – and that she was letting me. I didn't know what to think about that. Maybe she was too polite to say something or maybe…maybe she liked it. Could that be true? Could it be she felt the same way?
I looked back up at her and noticed that she was looking down at our hands, too. Then she caught me looking and quickly looked away, blushing. I opened my mouth to say something, but then the waitress came by and asked if we wanted a refill. Rose pulled her hand from under mine, still not looking at me.
Half an hour later we left because Rose had a class and she needed to get back to her dorm to get her books. I drove her to campus and walked her to her door.
"Thanks for breakfast," she said smiling. "You sure you don't want me to pay-"
"No, it's my treat," I said, smiling back.
To my surprise, she stepped forward and hugged me. I remember when I'd met her, she'd hugged me too after I'd hired her – that's how happy she'd been. I'd been too stunned to do something then and I'd barely known her, but now I was more than happy to wrap my arms around her.
"Thank you," she murmured, pulling away. She smiled at me again and then turned around and went inside the building.
I sighed happily and started walking back to the car with a huge grin on my face that stayed there the rest of the day.
Aww, wasn't that cute? They're getting closer and closer. Who'd like Rose and Dimitri to share a kiss next chapter? ;)
Have a nice weekend! :)
