A/N

Hey, guys! I hope you are all doing well on this fine day! Yes, your eyes are not deceiving you this is another chapter! Thanks for all the love! Now this chapter is not edited because as some of you may or may not know my beta Mitrioselove has gone off on an epic road trip thus she won't be updating her stories as frequently! I'm really jealous chica, XD hope you're having an amazing time! ;)

Now guys, why don't you go check out her stories in her absence and leave her lots of love so that she would be tempted to post? :D Hey reviews can make anything better, they are just as amazing as if Dimitri wrapped his arms around you and proclaimed to the world that he loves you!

Rose: *Glares while flipping the stake in the air* You do not have to be a strigoi for this to pearce your heart and cause major pain… ;)

Me: *Rolls eyes while looking a bit scared* :D Ok, on with the chapter!

I don't own VA!

Summer Romance.

Chapter 12.

The air in this room was so thick with tension that you could take a knife and cut it. It was so tense in here it was nearly uncomfortable and I kept waiting for the air to wrap itself around my head and put me out of my misery. You think I'm kidding don't you? Well I'm not. The moment Christian and the rest of the gang walked in here was the moment when everyone started fussing over Lissa. But the amazing thing was how quickly the air shifted from being concern filled to being as tensed as it was.

I was crouched in front of Lissa cleaning and bandaging her hand with the stuff from the first aid kit that Eddie brought in while the rest of the gang hung around like moths to a flame. I guess it really got tense in here when Christian tried to touch Lissa. The girl hissed like a viper and jumped back startling the shit out of me and everyone else. I mean when you are used to them being all wrapped around each other you could understand why her sudden reluctance to let him touch her would be alarming.

The other thing that was pissing me off was Lissa's reluctance to tell me what went down at Tasha's. I did not like not knowing. It had never been one of my favourite things and I knew it would never even make the list. Not knowing made me think up scenarios and none of them were good. Tasha was not making a very good first impression if you asked me. But for some reason Lissa was not telling me. Maybe it was because everyone was here and she wanted privacy. I did not like that but I would respect her wishes. I knew she would tell me eventually but I hated waiting.

At some point, the rest of the gang headed out with promises to keep in touch leaving me alone with Lissa and Christian. If possible, the tension in here kicked up a few notches.

"Liss, what's going on? What triggered this?" Christian asked. I nearly cringed at the daggers Lissa shot him. If Looks could kill Christian would be dead. I wanted to laugh but with self-control I did not know I possessed, I placed the last bandage on Lissa's hand and stood up.

"I'll give you a minute." I said about to walk out the doors of the gym. Lissa grabbed a hold of my wrist with so much strength I nearly flinched. She let up on her grip but her jade eyes found mine with a silent plea. I nodded. If Lissa wanted me to stay then I would. Besides, I wanted to know what led her to the gym anyway.

"Are you seriously asking me that?" Lissa growled eyes trained on Christian. He nodded and met her gaze unflinchingly.

"I want to know what happened when you went to use the bathroom Liss." Christian's voice was calm no malice whatsoever present but his eyes were hard daring her to deny him the answers he so desperately craved.

"Oh, so you actually noticed." Lissa stated voice hard. "When were you actually going to tell me, Christian? When we were married and I was pregnant with your fucking child!" By the end of that sentence she was yelling and I could see bits of that earlier rage brewing in the depths of those jade pools.

"Easy Liss…" I said grasping her hand in mine. My attempts to calm her didn't seem to be working as much as I'd wanted though. She still looked pissed but Christian's life wasn't in danger for the moment.

"When was I going to tell you what Lissa?" He asked looking confused. Lissa shot him a nasty look and with her free hand she tugged on the ends of her already tangled hair.

"Liss, just tell us what happened." I said calmly not showing how annoyed I was becoming with their foolish arguing.

"When were you going to tell me that you and Avery were a thing?" She asked not looking at either one of us. I had an overwhelming urge to hit Christian just then… How the hell could he not tell us, no not even us but her such valuable information? Surely that was a lie right? Because there was no way he would do that to Lissa?

Christian still wore a look of confusion on his face but I saw the instant realization dawned and so did Lissa. I waited anxiously for him to say that it really was just a lie. Some part of me could not or rather would not believe that Christian would do that to Lissa.

"Well?" Lissa huffed. "Is it true?" Christian hesitated for a split second before nodding. Lissa sprang up out of the stack of training mats I'd instructed her to sit on so I could clean her hands. I waited for her to go over there and pound him to a pulp but it never came. Instead, she stood there hands on hips and gaze stoney as she stared at Christian.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She asked in a shaky voice.

"Because that was in my past, Liss. I never thought I was ever going to see her again. I know that that's not a good enough reason but it's the truth. I would rather give you the truth than some well-rehearsed speech." Lissa nodded but I could see she was not done.

"Ok, so do you feel anything for her?" Christian said nothing. He just looked at Lissa. "Christian please, after you saw her at Tasha's today, do you feel anything for her? I need to know." Lissa's grip tightened on my hand and I squeezed back in an attempt to let her know that I was here and that I would be here despite Christian's answer. He stared blankly for a few minutes.

"I don't know." He said lamely. This time it was Lissa who had to grab my hand because I was only seconds away from ripping him a new one.

"You don't know?" She asked. "Well you better figure it out, Christian. Do you want to be with me, or her?"

Never in my wildest dreams had I ever expected that Christian was with anyone before Liss. I knew that was stupid I mean he had a life here in Russia before he moved to LA but my brain did not seem to want to acknowledge that fact. Don't get me wrong, it was not the fact that he was with someone before Liss that pissed me off. No, it was the fact that he had not said a word about it to her or anyone of us.

Christian had moved to LA the summer before we all started high school. At some point during that summer, he had met Lissa and me when we had gone to the fair. We became friends though he was a pain in my ass and it wasn't long before he was shoving his tongue down Lissa's throat. Within that time, we had known that he had been heartbroken, but it looks like we read into that all wrong. I mean we had thought that he had been heartbroken over the loss of his parents not some fucking bitch.

"Christian," I growled impatiently. "I believe the girl asked you a question." Lissa shot me a look that screamed 'don't hurt him'. Too bad, I would've really liked to hurt him but I was forever hell bound where Lissa was concerned, I could never deny her anything.

"Look Lissa, it doesn't matter what happened with Avery and I. All that matters is that I love you." She waited just looking at him waiting for him to say those six words she needed to hear but they didn't come. After about five minutes of waiting, Lissa shook her head.

"That's not good enough. It's obvious that you're confused. I just can't deal with that right now." Lissa said looking down. I could see that she was trying hard not to cry and I applaud her for it.

To anyone looking on from the outside, this would seem like your typical quarrel between lovers but not to me. To me this was a show of how far Lissa had come. Before she'd started training with me, she would have gone falling right back into Christian's arms without a second thought. But now things were different. Now she knew what she wanted and a man who couldn't be true to her was certainly not that. I was proud of my friend and sister.

"What are you saying? You wanna call it quits?" Lissa nodded and I knew it took every drop of her will power to accomplish that. Another show of how strong she'd become. I waited for Christian to flip out and grab a torch or something that emitted fire but that didn't happen. To my shock and horror, he simply nodded.

"I'll go to lunch with you tomorrow, but that's only because I gave my word and I never go back on my word." Lissa said softly. "And Rose," She said shooting me a pointed look. "You're invited. I meant to tell you earlier but things didn't really go as planned." She looked down at her hands when the last words were spoken.

"Lunch? Where?" I asked in an attempt to steer the conversation in another direction. Lissa didn't answer me though; it was Christian who spoke up.

"At my aunt's place. She said she's inviting a friend and that we could do the same if we wanted to. Lissa suggested you." He shot me a hopeful look to which my traitorous head nodded. Well shit, I guess I gave my word like Lissa did. There was no getting out of this one.

Sometime later, Christian left the gym. I didn't miss the look he shot Liss. She on the other hand did since she was apparently oh so fascinated with her boots. I knew that was just her way of avoiding looking at Christian and I wanted to hit him for making her hurt.

I hated the feeling of helplessness that I felt upon looking into Lissa's pain filled eyes. Actually, I hated seeing her in any kind of pain period and knowing that that pain was caused by someone whom I trusted to protect her with his life was enough to kick my anger into high gear. For Lissa's sake, I stayed calm trying to ignore that feeling of helplessness in my gut. And then just as suddenly as it had come on, that feeling of helplessness vanished. I knew just what to do to get her out of her bad mood.

"I'll be right back," I said pulling her into a quick hug. "Don't do anything stupid," She shot me a small smile and stuck her tongue out at me. That seemed like a step in the right direction.

Outside, I found a sight I had sort of been expecting. Christian was pacing a track back and forth in front of the gym doors.

"Where's Liss?" He asked when he caught sight of me. I could not for the life of me stop the growl that ripped pass my throat at his voice. It took me a few seconds to actually understand what he had said but once I did, I saw red. He had no right to ask about her. Not when he had hurt her so fucking bad.

"As if you fucking care…" I growled trying desperately to not hit him. In some part of my messed up mind, I knew that he did indeed care but I did not want to acknowledge that fact. He hurt my best friend and he knew how protective of her I was and still up to this day am.

"Believe it or not Rose, I do care." Oh he did? I didn't notice. Before I knew what was happening, words were spewing passed my lips. The same exact words I'd just thought to be exact.

"Oh, you do? I didn't notice." I knew I was being a bitch but if he was expecting me to be nice he was a thousand times more stupid than I'd thought. I've said on more than one occasion that no one hurt my best friend and got away with it. No fucking one Christian included.

"Look, Christian, you have some explaining to do. Lissa may not want to know why you didn't tell her but I do. So you better start talking." To my utter astonishment, he simply nodded.

"Alright, I've known Avery since well forever, though she has always been around she works for Tasha because her family is poor and they need the money. She had a crush on me since we were little kids, I guess it had something to do with the fact that I was a bit older, but nevertheless as I got to know her I realized that she was a good kid and that it was maybe possible for us to have something other than friendship."

"So you got together." At the very same time, Christian and I spun at that voice. Lissa stood in the doorway of the gym, arms crossed over her chest, head tilted back and eyes trained on both Christian and I. Christian nodded. I could see how much he just wanted to pull her into his arms even if just for a second to make the hurt go away but he resisted and continued.

"Yeah, we got together. I realized that I felt something for her, but it wasn't all encompassing." I didn't miss the unspoken words, it wasn't all encompassing like his relationship with Liss was, but I didn't say anything. I just let him continue speaking.

"I was young and so was she, we tried to make it work and it did right up until I had to leave Russia with my parents. It was probably about a week before that we called it quits, or rather I did. As could be imagined, she was not happy but I had to do what was right for me and back then breaking off our relationship was what was right."

"And what about now?" Lissa asked in a small voice. "What feels right to you now?"

"Honestly Liss, I don't know. When I saw her today, I felt something but I'm not sure what exactly it was. I wanted to catch up, wanted to know how she was in my absence and there was no denying the woman she grew into. But is it love? I don't know. I need time to sort out my feelings. But there is one thing that I do know. I love you Lissa, you have to know that and I never wanted to hurt you." Well shit, how could I be mad at him when his emotions were clear as day on his face? He never wanted to hurt Lissa but he had. At least he was being honest and he hadn't cheated like someone else I knew well had.

A stray tear trailed down Lissa's cheeks and she swiped it away with a soft sigh. She was strong, so much stronger than she believed and people ever gave her credit for. I could see that Christian felt the same way; he like me always knew that Lissa was a lot stronger than she and people believed.

"Ok, but don't take too long, I am not going to sit around waiting for you." That got a smile out of Christian despite the seriousness of the topic.

"I wouldn't dream of it, your Majesty." Lissa made a weird sound caught somewhere between a giggle and a sob and smacked his arm. Then with a final wave Christian turned and headed inside the gym. I was sure the punching bag would be begging for mursey and most likely some of it's stuffing when Christian was done with it. I could only hope that he didn't set it on fire, the guy had a weird thing for starting fires and he was pretty good at it.

"You ok?" I asked wrapping an arm around Lissa's shoulder. She nodded but didn't look up at me.

"You had something to make me feel better?" She asked staring at the ground.

"Of course I do." I said pulling her in the direction of my room.

"Do you have your phone?" I asked, she nodded and gave it to me. I grinned and pulled Ambrose's card from my bath suit. Somehow despite it being wet, I could still make out the numbers on it. I guess the plastic covering had something to do with that.

"Ambrose," He answered on the third ring.

"Hey, Ambrose, this is Rose."

"Rose? The Rose from the bar?" He asked disbelievingly but I could hear the smile in his voice.

"Yes you dumb ass," I said rolling my eyes. "Who else would it be?" I made an appointment and then headed in to get changed while Lissa followed suit. On her way back out, she brought some of her stuff over to my room. Luckily, I'd ended up renting a suite with an adjoining room so Liss could stay and she would be comfortable.

"Are you sure I'm not intruding?" She asked for the millionth time while we walked to the room Ambrose instructed us to go to. I shook my head. I'd gone into this vacation wanting to be on my own but I soon found out that the universe had other plans. There was a reason why Lissa and Christian ended up going to the exact place I was for vacation; also there was a reason why we ended up taking the same car, going to the same hotel and booking rooms opposite each other. That was no coincidence of that I was sure. I was meant to come here so I could help my best friend out. I gave her a look hoping that my eyes would convey everything I wanted to say. When she nodded, I knew that they had. Soon enough, our names got called and we headed in to see Ambrose.

Third Person POV.

Victoria leant in and placed a kiss on Mason's lips before hopping out of the car.

"I'll see you later, babe." She called from her mother's porch. Mason shot her a wave and with a honk of the horn to Olena who had just come out to stand beside her daughter tea towel in hand, he was gone. Vika kissed her mother's cheeks and they both headed back inside the Belikov house.

"Aunt Vika!" Her nephew Paul screamed. He jumped out of Dimitri's lap and flew at her nearly making her drop the bag she still held.

"Hey Paul," Vika said smiling. She ruffled his hair, kissed his sister Zoya's cheek as well as her grandmother's, shot a wave to the rest of the family and took off up the stairs to her room for a shower.

"You guys want to see some pics of my fun day?" Vika asked waving her phone in the air like a mad woman. Sonya and Karolina nodded while Dimitri and Ivan spoke of something completely random while they helped Paul build some sort of space commander out of Legos. Zoya was giggling happily as she watched something on her mother's phone and the newest member to the Belikov family, Sonya's daughter Natara was resting securely in the basinet nearby.

Victoria plugged her phone into Sonya's tablet as she scrolled through the pictures she'd taken of the gang. Everyone got some great laughs out of them even Dimitri and Ivan had become engrossed.

"Who is that?" Paul asked suddenly drawing everyone's attention to the girl on screen. Long dark hair cascaded down her back in a water fall of waves as she stood dripping wet on the side of the pool. Vika smiled.

"That's Roza." She said remembering how they'd beat the guys in the swimming competition.

"She's pretty." Paul said and went back to playing with his blocks. Dimitri's eyes zoned in on the picture and instantly recognition hit him like a slap in the face. He nudged Ivan making the man look up instantly. Ivan nodded when he saw just who was on screen.

"Do you know her, Dimka?" Vika asked. There were times when Victoria's true age was hidden but then there were times like these.

Times when she would stare at you in that way of hers that screamed she wasn't taking any bullshit. Dimitri loved those times, but like anyone else he hated when that look was directed at him. Even Ivan and the rest of the adults in the room were looking at him. His grandmother's eyes shone with knowledge though. Yeva knew that he knew who the woman in the picture was.

Dimitri had a sudden startling realization. Other than knowing her from their night at the club, he knew her from somewhere else. One of Victoria's magazines. If the way Victoria was staring at him and back at the phone, she knew as well. The squeal that left her lips could've deafened everyone in that room and it woke the baby. Sonya glared at her and so did Yeva.

"Sorry," She said not at all looking apologetic. "I cannot believe that I spent the day with Rose Hathaway!" Neither could Dimitri.

"Dinner!" Olena called from the kitchen putting an end to their discussion. Rose Hathaway was instantly forgotten by everyone else but Dimitri as they took off like a herd of stampedes to the dining room. Dimitri left the house that night with Rose's number programmed in his phone.

A/N

OMG! He got her number! So do you guys think he'll call her or will he see her a lot sooner than he thought? What about Lissa and Christian? Will they find their way back to each other or will Avery get her happy ending? Who is Tasha inviting over for lunch? Review lovelies and Dimitri/Adrian will think you're hot and programme your number into his phone… ;) Another update coming soon, keep an eye out!

Lots of love, XXX

Roza