This had become the longest night of my life.

I sat on the back steps of our backyard that led out into the woods watching as the moon shifted slowly across the sky.

"Dimka? Still Up?" My mother asked stepping outside.

I nodded silently without looking back. She settled herself beside me.

"I'm guessing tonight didn't go as planned."

"Victoria told you where I was?" I guessed.

"Of course," she said as if it was supposed to be obvious. "So what happened tonight?"

I sighed quickly replaying the night's events through my head.

"To simply sum it all up: speeches were given, a proposal was made, Rose's parents are evil, I almost punched Ivashkov and now I'm waiting for Rose."

My mother nodded slowly trying to figure out how this all fit together exactly and then shook her head probably still a bit confused. I couldn't blame her. I was there tonight and I was still a little confused.

"So were we right. Are they hitting her?"

"That's what I'm waiting out here for. She said she wanted to talk, to tell me everything."

"My son. Dimitri Alexander Belikov falling in love with the girl next door," she smiled.

"I think you're going overboard. I just…care about her," I said choosing my words carefully.

"It wont be soon before long," she sang in a singsong voice.

"Mom, I'm not even sure what's going on," I admitted a little winded by thinking about it all. My life had been full of money woes and family issues but I'd never describe it as difficult or confusing until now.

"A mother knows. Not to mention a bit of woman's instinct."

I fought a smile, turning away to stare across the grass. Pepper trotted out of the trees doing whatever it is he does on his own and laid himself at my feet.

"You don't believe me?" She asked sounding amused.

"No."

"What did Rose look like tonight?"

"She was beautiful," I answer automatically.

She gave a knowing almost secretive smile. "Umm hmm. You like her and soon you'll be falling in love and then maybe marriage and CHILDREN!" She clapped excitedly. "I wont be picky about the order though."

"Mom, you're getting ahead of yourself," I say laughing nervously.

"Maybe, maybe not but no matter what your feelings are you have to do everything you can to help this girl. She needs us. Perhaps it's all fate."

"You sound like Yeva," I mutter.

"And she's usually right so heed my words and…be careful Dimka. Okay?"

I glanced at my mother unsure of the full understanding of her words but she had that sincerity that mothers often had and somewhere in the back of my jumbled and confused mind I knew, one way or another, she was right.

"'Kay Mama," I agreed.

The bush that ran along side the fence stirred and a moment later a small figure stepped out into the yard. I'd become familiar with Rose enough to recognize her even when the backyard was mostly in darkness despite a few rays of moonlight. It also helped that her silver dress shone in the light.

She walked toward us and then slowed hesitant.

She gave a slight smile to my mother.

"I think we'll give you two a moment. Come on Pepper," my mother said dismissing herself. Before going inside though she gave Rose a gentle motherly pat on the shoulder.

Rose looked surprised by the gesture and stayed standing for a moment after my mother and Pepper went inside.

She shifted, clearly uncomfortable, on her feet. I stood grasping her hand and tugged her gently toward me. She smiled playfully.

"Are you trying to have your way with me already?" she asked sitting beside me.

I couldn't resist smiling with her. It was nice that just for a moment she was back to herself again.

"That depends are you letting me?"

She froze a little surprised I was playing along. Honestly I had surprised myself.

"Definitely," she breathed.

She watched me for a moment just staring. I caught her doing this a few times since I'd started working around her house and whenever I was around her in general but this time it was different. She was looking at me, eyes soft and glittering, as if she was wondering or contemplating whether or not to trust me.

I could tell she decided when she finally shifted her eyes away from my own and stared down at the ground. I felt a little disappointed she'd turned away so quickly. It wasn't too often I had the chance to look at her eyes.

I glanced down too and realized I still held her hand in both of my own. Her skin was so soft compared to my own. We had nearly similar skin tones and I had always imagined her hand would be warm but maybe it was the fact that it was night and everything that happened had made her so cold. She shuddered as if hearing my thoughts and for some reason I tightened my grip.

"Dimitri…we should stay away from each other." She exhaled as if it has taken a lot for her to say that aloud.

I have to be honest. I consider myself a pretty observant person but I didn't expect that.

"Rose, I want to help."

"People that have tried to help me before only got hurt. My parents will do anything if it means keeping their plans in order and intact and keeping me in line and under their thumbs."

"I don't care. I'm here for you."

And it was true. At that moment I felt like I'd do any and everything to protect Rose.

She was unfazed by my words and ran a hand through her.

"Dimitri I…I like you. A lot. I don't want anything to happen to you because of me."

"I can protect myself, Rose. You've said so yourself I'm a pretty big guy," I laughed nervously. "I don't want anything to happen to you either and if there's something I can do to protect you, to help, I will."

She fell against my shoulder, exhausted. I lifted my arm over her head and around her shoulders. She seemed to fit perfectly against me. It felt right.

"You probably already realized my life isn't a fairytale."

"I've noticed," I mumble into her hair. "So what happened?"

"My parents hate me," she said simply.

My automatic response was something along the lines of 'that's not true' but given what I've seen and heard tonight I had my doubts. When I didn't say anything she kept going.

"It wasn't always this way. My dad used to own his own manufacturing company and my mom used to be the suburban stay at home mom."

"Doesn't she still do that?"

"It's…different now. She was like…Desperate Housewives suburban."

I still wasn't sure what she meant. She shifted to see if I understood and laughed when I didn't.

"Like those 50s moms on the old TV shows."

I nodded finally understanding.

"I wasn't born yet when she was like this. My sister Lissa told me this."

"You have a sister?"

"Had. She and her twin brother Andre were ten years older than me. They used to joke that things were happier before I was born but I'm starting to think it's true."

I brushed her hair back away from her face as she kept speaking.

"Don't say that."

" In case you haven't noticed I'm a bit of a rebel," she laughed without any humor. "I was the one in my family that disagreed with everything my parents said or wanted me to do. I fought them on everything just because I thought it was fun or funny. I guess I was testing them to see what they'd do but mostly it was because I was jealous of Lissa and Andre. They were the golden children. My parents gave them everything. My mother once told me I was a fault in their plans but that she was too far along to abort me and people had already start to notice she was pregnant and she couldn't give me up for adoption."

Her voice was breaking now on the verge of tears.

"Rose stop you don't have to-"

She leaned up and wiped away at her eyes.

"No I want to. I'm tired of keeping this all to myself."

I laid a hand on her knee and she took it between hers feeling the weight and roughness of it against her. She turned my palm over and ran a finger over my palms and across the back of my hand.

"Lissa and Andre were both out of college and after my father lost his business and decided to go into politics they decided to help him. They weren't like mom and dad. They were pretty awesome to me. Typical brother and sister but I hated them as much as I hated my parents. They didn't do anything after Dad lost his job and he'd…hit me. Only me."

I caressed her hand hoping the smallest touch would relax her and take all of her pain away.

"I thought when he started campaigning and running for political jobs it would stop but it didn't. Anything that happened was my fault. On the night they told me we were moving again…here to Russia they were lying to me saying it'd be different but I was so scared I thought everything would be better if I just ran away. My parents realized what I was planning to do and my dad started hitting me and for the first time Lissa stood up for me. She shoved him away to stop him but he hit her. He never hit her before. You should've seen the look on her face before she fell. He hit her too hard and it killed her and she was only trying to protect me…"

She trailed off tears streaming down her cheeks.

I suddenly realized how much I loved my family. We weren't perfect but at least we were in a good place and are happy.

I pulled her to me and she buried her face into my shirt sobbing. She took a moment to breathe and to speak again.

"Lissa once told me that having a twin was a little bit different than just having a sibling. She said twins are closer and have like a connection, a sort of bond… so when Abe hit Liss, Andre snapped a and he went for Abe and he shoved against the wall and his head hit the shelf." Rose stopped and laughed without any humor in her voice. "That's kind of why mom asked you to build those shelves."

She sobered up a bit.

"We ended up here a little bit later," she mumbled ending her story. "Nothing's changed. Things were okay for a while but now…with this. They're using me. My father reasoned with Adrian that by marrying me it would entitle both parties to money and there're a few business benefits or something. That's what it is. All business. I'm here to make everybody look good."

She hiccupped, fresh out of tears. She finally tore her eyes away from the ground and looked at me. Her eyes were glistening and she looked so tired and exhausted just reliving everything. I felt guilty for make her experience all of it again.

"I'm sorry Roza."

I pulled her to me and she rested against me. We sat in silence for a while. It was a pretty nice night out. I felt her breathe gently against me.

"My parents warned me that if anything, meaning you, interferes with this wedding or their plans they will kill me…and you. I was only able to sneak out because they left with your friend Tasha and Adrian."

"Tasha's not my friend anymore." I didn't realize how childish that would sound outside of my head. Rose smiled.

"She seems to think differently. She assured Adrian and my parents that she'd make it her job to keep you away from me since you were seeing each other."

She said the last words slowly like she was wishing they weren't true.

She nestled into my chest against my heart. She was muttering something, humming a song to herself. Soon she was silent all together and her body became a bit heavier against me.

I leaned down and her eyes were closed. She'd fallen asleep.

My instinct was to wake her but I like the feel of her in my arms safe and warm. It wasn't just that I cared enough about Rose that I wanted to protect her.

She made me feel so…differently than anyone ever had.

Remembering the story she just told me I wasn't sure I'd ever want to let her go again.