Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire Academy.

Ch. 13 Together At Last

It wasn't until lunch when I finally saw Dimitri and Tasha post break-up.

Tasha's eyes were red-rimmed from crying, but Dimitri was wearing his stoic face. Complete opposites. They sat far away from each other, and I was happy to see that he was sitting not so far away from me.

Lissa looked between them, and I could sense that she was getting a feel for their auras. Yep, she got dumped, she reported. I can see the heartbreak and sadness in her aura. And Dimitri…well he's happy he finally broke up with her, but he doesn't want to show it.

Adrian and Christian probably knew why Tasha was so upset. Liam, Eddie, and Thomas were all looking at the couple curiously but didn't ask anything. I was kind of amused to see Eddie curious, since he usually was good at putting on a poker face like Dimitri.

Lissa cleared her throat and everyone looked towards her. "So, it's midnight now. It's Christmas," she said cheerfully. "Maybe it's time to open presents!"

Christian groaned. "We just got to the table and now you're thinking about opening your presents?"

"I have a present I know you won't be able to resist," she said suggestively.

"Can you save the rated R stuff for when we're not around?" I broke in. I hadn't wanted to know what Lissa was getting for Christian but had found out anyway. Let's just say that it didn't involve much clothing, but it did involve lots of chocolate and whipped cream. Not to mention lingerie. Gross. It was like virtually having sex with Christian if I didn't put up my mental barrier.

Lissa's face turned red. I really wish you wouldn't know what I was thinking, she grumbled.

I glared at her. "Hey, how do you think I feel when you and Christian are about to-"

She shoved a small piece of chocolate at me, which effectively distracted me from finishing the rest of my sentence. In my peripheral vision, I could see Dimitri smiling. I looked up at him, and his relaxed look reassured me, despite how heartbroken Tasha looked. She alternated between heartbroken looks at Dimitri and glares at me.

"But seriously, let's go open presents," Lissa continued, her green eyes bright with excitement. "I don't want to wait another minute!"

I eyed her, wondering if she had an ulterior motive for so desperately wanting to open the presents, but sighed. "Let's go. If we don't go, she won't stop bothering me for the whole rest of the day till it's sunrise."

"Fine," Adrian grumbled. "But do tell – where are we supposed to meet?"

"In the suite I share with Rose," Lissa declared. "Bring all the presents you've got in half an hour."

I looked at Dimitri and felt a momentary pang of panic. I hadn't had time to get him a present – what with trying to get over him, investigating the compulsion, and stealing the watch…

Before I could say anything to him, Lissa had dragged me away to the elevator, Luc dutifully following at a distance.

I'm sure he's gotten you a present, Lissa said to me, a mischievous smile on her face.

"I kinda doubt it, since Tasha was busy trying to compel me out of his mind," I murmured as we exited the elevator.

She tried, but he never really forgot about you. I guarantee it, Lissa said as she strode over to the closet and began sorting through the neatly wrapped presents.

Thirty minutes later, everyone – including the bitch from hell – was in our suite. I made sure to stay out of her way and sit as far away from her as possible. Dimitri took a seat next to me as everyone gathered, and he surreptitiously took my hand. I smiled up at him. We hadn't had a chance to talk since before his breakup with Tasha, but I fully intended on doing so later. Where did we go from here? He'd mentioned requesting to change his assignment when we left, but there hadn't been much talk about our future, and we definitely needed to discuss that when we had a bit of time for ourselves.

I didn't receive a single present from Tasha, which was fine by me. I did get a pair of boots, some perfume (guess who gave me that?), gift cards and a beanie.

But the best gift was from Dimitri. Lissa had been right after all.

He held out a black jewelry box to me and I lifted the top of the box. I gasped. Inside lay a glittering ruby rose necklace. "It's beautiful, Dimitri."

Normally, I despised anything rose-related. It had gotten even worse after a certain incident several years ago that involved Dimitri and a lust charm in a rose necklace given to me by Victor Dashkov. But now? This was different. It was a gift from Dimitri, which guaranteed that I would love it. Without even thinking about it, I threw my arms around Dimitri. "Thank you," I whispered, but then sheepishly added, "I didn't get anything for you though."

"It's okay. It's enough for me to be with you," Dimitri murmured in my ear, and thrills went through my whole body.

We sat back and watched everyone else continue to open their presents. I loved the festive atmosphere here. The only one who wasn't happy here was Tasha.

She glanced over at us, and a cold look crossed her eyes when she looked at me. I almost shivered at the hatred I saw. The only time I'd ever seen a look like that was maybe in any of the Strigoi I'd ever battled. Even Victor Dashkov hadn't looked at me with such loathing the last time I'd seen him.

Eventually, our little gathering ended when Thomas accidentally dropped a box on Eddie's foot. There wasn't any lasting damage, but ouch.

Dimitri asked Lissa and Luc if he could privately talk to me, and they obliged us by going to Christian's suite.

We sat down on one of the beds, and Dimitri took my hands. "Well…"

"We haven't really talked about the future," I said softly, looking down at our entwined hands. "Now that you're free…what now?"

"I did tell you that I'm going to request a new assignment," he reminded me. "I must be granted my request. I can't stand the thought of being Tasha's guardian anymore than I have to do. I must've been a fool, to leave you."

I shook my head, looking into his eyes. "It wasn't your fault. Tasha tricked you with compulsion."

"I should've been stronger." Dimitri muttered angrily. "But after she compelled me the first time…to leave you and to turn over my assignment to Vasilisa to someone else…well."

"How exactly did Tasha compel you?" I asked, feeling extremely curious and revolted at the same time. Moroi had been taught from a young age that compulsion was wrong, and that it shouldn't be used. The fact that Tasha had used it almost constantly on Dimitri to ensure that he would stay with her forever… it went against all the rules the Moroi had imposed on using compulsion.

He closed his eyes for a moment. "It was after our rescue mission to the caves. I remember how it was such a close call with that Strigoi…"

I shuddered. Towards the end of our rescue mission to rescue captives from the raid on St. Vladimir's, Dimitri had been the last guardian to leave the caves. He'd been jumped by a Strigoi from behind and pinned down. I had already left the caves, and was almost on the verge of running back to his side, but my mom and Stan had held me back.

I had thought he would die or be turned into a Strigoi. But by some miracle, Dimitri managed to overpower the Strigoi through a long struggle, stake him and race out of the caves to join us. That had been one of the most horrifying moments in my life - and there had been very few of those since Mason's death and being overwhelmed by ghosts that one time after landing.

"And then…?" I prompted, shaking myself out of my memories.

"She called me and said she'd heard about my close call. She insisted that I come see her and talk. Somehow she'd made it onto campus a few hours later. We were alone and she began to try to talk me into becoming her guardian, like how she'd wanted the winter at the ski lodge. When I told her I simply wasn't interested in her that way… I don't really remember what happened after I met her eyes. Next thing I knew, I was on my way to break up with you…and the rest, we both know."

I wrapped my arms around Dimitri's waist. "It's in the past now, and we can truly be together."

He reached out to tilt my chin up and then pecked me on the lips. "Hopefully I'll be assigned to a royal at Court, so we can see each other more. We'll manage to get time off together. And even if I'm assigned to someone away from Court…I'll make it work out so I can see you at some point."

My heart raced. This was the plan we had come up with prior to the cave rescue, for us to be together after I graduated. Was it possible that it could happen after all? Once he was free from being Tasha's guardian, everything would be okay.

"We'll finally be together at last," I murmured, kissing him.

We just sat there kissing and holding each other close before he ended the kiss. "Together at last," he agreed.

Author's note: Sorry for the super long delay in uploading this chapter! I hope no one is too mad at me :/ Senior year has been busy with homework and college apps. I miss writing, and it was kind of hard getting back into writing, but I hope I can upload another chapter soon. Thank you so much to everyone who still follows this story :)

Of course, just because Rose and Dimitri are together now doesn't mean things are going to be easy... Please read and review!