Hey! Here is the next chapter... I want to say a big thank you to everyone that reviewed! You guys are really awesome... I am almost to 300 reviews which is totally crazy! Thanks again for everything!

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Stop Being a Coward!

Chapter 14

Dimitri smiled as he looked at his cell phone. The call was from court so he knew it had to be Rose. He hoped she liked the flowers he had sent to her. Maybe it would remind her that he loved her while he was away.

He had been gone for about three days and while that normally didn't seem like a long time, it felt like forever without Rose being with him. It was amazing how someone could some so ingrained in your every being that your thoughts were always on them.

Before Dimitri had met Rose, he thought of her as an immature child that didn't take responsibility or Moroi life seriously. He just knew what the file had told him: she was a young, impressionable girl with a bad attitude and no respect for authority. She had loose morals and was frivolous.

Those thoughts changed practically the moment he had met her. From the fact that she had donated her own blood as a lifeline for Lissa to the fact that she was willing to fight an entire army of Guardians to protect the Princess, he knew that the file was wrong. While Rose might have made some bad judgments and not care about what other people though, she was strong and understood her responsibility to not only Lissa but to the other Moroi as well. She was definitely going to be a respected guardian and might even rival the reputation of her mother.

The ringing brought him back to the present as he flipped opened his phone, "hello?"

"Hi," her soft voice drifted through the phone and if he closed his eyes, Dimitri could almost imagine Rose sitting right in front of him.

Dimitri grinned, "I was worried you would be asleep or I would have called you earlier. How did the gala go?"

"Oh you know, royals all prancing around like they own the place, fighting over stupid things. There is even a rumor that the counsel is considering an age decree to make it to where dhampirs become guardians at the age of sixteen now. It's ridiculous."

"Wow, I didn't know that. But it is just a rumor right now, hopefully it won't become anything more."

"Yeah, I hope." Rose shrugged and changed the subject, "thank you by the way. The flowers are beautiful."

Dimitri noticed that Rose kind of let the rumor go. He was sure that he would have to fight her to calm her down about something as dumb as an age decree but she seemed to give it up easily. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"I'm glad you liked them." He replied, thinking again at how he had decided to send her flowers. It wasn't his idea of course. Sonya had seen him moping around again and had approached him to see what it was about. She had given him a few ideas about how to be with Rose while he wasn't with her. He wasn't use to all this relationship stuff and would have never thought about sending her flowers without the input of his sister. While he had been optimistic and upbeat while around his family, they just seemed to be too intuitive of his feelings. His mother, Sonya, and Karolina had all come up to him about his poignant state and all had know immediately that it was about Rose.

His grandmother and Viktoria had yet to approach him however he knew that his grandmother had been giving him strange looks so it was only a matter of time and it seems as though Viktoria shied away from anything that had to do with Rose. He still hadn't talk to her about the argument she had had with Rose and vowed that he would approach that subject after he got off the phone.

"Did you at least have fun tonight? I know it isn't exactly your scene but I do remember how you use to at least enjoy dressing up." He remembered back to the dress that she had worn the night that they had fallen victim to Viktor Dashkov's lust charm.

Rose laughed, "yeah, the whole dressing up and getting my hair and nails stuff with fun but the party itself seemed to lack. It would have been more fun if you were there though."

"So I could secretly watch you from across the room as you follow Lissa around while I pretend to do my duties of watching the entire room?"

"Exactly! I always knew you were pretending!" Rose laughed.

"Only when you are in the room. I can't keep my eyes off of you." Or my thoughts when you aren't even there, Dimitri thought.

"I seem to have the same problem with you."

"I'm not sure that that is a good thing for either of us Rose."

"I don't think it matters." She quickly changed topics once again, "I think I am going to start training again. I've been running in the mornings but haven't sparred in forever. Mikhail said that him and some of the other guardians practice in the afternoons and the gym. He asked me to join them tomorrow and I think I just might."

"I'm proud of you taking the initiative. I need to start training myself. I haven't been to the gym in a while."

"Well when you come back, we can start training together again. I miss training with you. I use to love those few hours when it was just us in the gym."

Dimitri agreed, "I miss it too."

"Do you know when you are coming back yet?" Rose asked, a hint of sadness in her voice thinking about how alone she still felt even though she was rarely alone in the past few days. Lissa dropped by her room to pull her out to eat and such. Adrian and Christian had even stopped by for visits.

"I'm not sure yet. Soon though." Dimitri sighed, wishing he were back in Pennsylvania but knowing he had a few more things to take care of first.

Rose and Dimitri continued their conversation for a while before Dimitri asked, "you must be tired. Don't you want to get some sleep?"

Rose immediately began to panic, she tried to hide the stress in her voice but somehow it managed to escape. "Oh no, I am fine. I don't need any rest, I slept late this morning."

"Rose, are you having nightmares again?" And just like that, Dimitri immediately knew what was wrong. He didn't have to be there or see her; he just had to talk to her to figure it out.

Yeah, maybe Adrian had figured it out too but only after watching her and talking to her in her dream. Dimitri just knew without even being there. Now came the big question, should she try to lie? He could always tell when she was doing it in person but maybe she could pass it off over the phone. She decided against that, if he could tell that she was having nightmares by a slight rise in her voice, he would know if she tried to lie. The only time she had gotten away with lie was when he was Strigoi and that was only because she had told him partially the truth.

There was no way she could tell him half-truths about her nightmares. He might be able to tell she was having them but she could at least keep what they were from him. "Yeah, but they aren't that bad and they are getting better. Please don't worry about me. Just get your stuff together over there so you can come back."

"Roza, if you are having trouble sleeping, maybe you should talk to someone. Does Lissa know? Maybe if you told her about it then it would help. I am always here as well, you can call me whenever you want."

"Thanks, but I'm fine really. Don't worry about it." And that was the truth. Even though they scared the hell out of her, she knew she would be fine. Just as soon as Dimitri got back, she was positive the nightmares would go away.

"Okay. But if you need anything, please call me. Promise?"

"I promise. Don't worry."

"I love you, Roza."

"I love you too, Comrade."

Dimitri chuckled, "will you ever stop calling me that?"

"Nope, probably not. I think you secretly like it anyway."

Dimitri didn't answer which confirmed Rose's suspicious. "I should probably go, I am getting a little tired." Rose looked at the clock on the wall that said 4:43PM which was 4 in the morning in Moroi time.

"Okay, I will talk to you later then."

"Bye." Rose smiled; somehow Dimitri always made her feel better. This time when she closed her eyes, her thoughts were of a happy future with Dimitri. Maybe just talking to him or something before she went to sleep would allow her to not have the nightmares.

Dimitri worriedly looked at the phone he had just hung up. I really hope she is okay. She's strong though so she has to be okay. He decided to call Lissa and tell her about Rose's dreams though. Even if Rose didn't want Lissa to know, he knew that Lissa could add support that just might help. He would wait till the next day to call her though since it was so late.

Just at that time Viktoria walked into the living room where Dimitri had been sitting. When she saw him, she tried to look nonchalant and hurry to the kitchen where she knew her mother was cooking but didn't make it before Dimitri called her back.

"Vik, can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Um sure but can it wait? I need to talk to mom really quick –"

"Nope, now."

Viktoria sighed; she had known this conversation was coming. She just hoped that it was later rather than sooner. She really wished she knew exactly what Rose had told him so she didn't put her foot in her mouth.

She hadn't seen Rolan since that night but had asked Sonya about it and was surprised when Sonya had confirmed that he was the father of Zoya. She was now grateful that Rose had stopped her from making a big mistake but at the time she had been so furious and said some awful things.

"So…."

"So…." Dimitri replied, figuring out if he didn't say what he knew then Viktoria would tell him more. She didn't know what he knew and what he didn't.

"I don't know what you are wanting from me, Dimka."

"Oh I think you do. It has to do with a little argument between you and Roza."

Viktoria sighed, "Well what did she tell you?"

"Nope, I want to hear it all from you. You think I don't know?" Dimitri knew how to play his little sister. He might not have been around her all that much while she was growing up since he went away to school right after she was born but he knew how to make her tell him what he wanted to know.

"Well, we had a fight about - " Viktoria was about to go into the whole messy ordeal when Olena walked out of the kitchen.

"Would the two of you mind going to the market for me? I need a few things for dinner tonight." Olena asked, not aware that she had been interrupting their conversation.

"Sure Mama." Dimitri automatically stood up to take the grocery list from his mother's outstretched hand.

Viktoria groaned, "Why can't he go by himself? I don't want to go." Maybe if she didn't have to go, she could get out of talking about the fight she had had with Rose. She was also sure that telling her brother she was about to let a moroi drink blood from her during sex couldn't have the best outcome either.

"Because I asked you both to go Viktoria." Olena deadpanned and raised her eyes at her youngest daughter. She had been harder on her since Rose had been there, she knew she had. But Rose had been so nice and always offered to do things for her, she just didn't understand why Viktoria had such a bad attitude when it came to the daily tasks. Maybe it was because she was the baby and maybe it was just because Olena had never forced her to do those things while she was at home form school. She wasn't sure which was the case but right now she was going to make her go to the market.

"Yeah, come on." Dimitri pulled Viktoria up from her place on the couch and threw his arm over her shoulder, ushering her towards the door. "You can finish telling me your story on the way there."

Viktoria frowned; there was really no way to get out of this now.

The pair had walked toward the center of town in silence, Dimitri giving her time to compose the story she was going to tell him. They had just reached the shop about two doors down from the market when Dimitri was abruptly grabbed from behind and pushed into a dark alley. He was immediately shoved into the brick exterior of the clothing store that they had been in front of.

He hadn't been a guardian for a while but that was no excuse. He was ashamed that he hadn't seen the attach coming. His skills were obviously deteriorating but he pushed that thought away and looked around frantically for Viktoria. She was nowhere in sight. Instead, he saw two stone faced looking dhampirs holding him to the wall and a very pissed off looking moroi standing just behind him.

Who do you guys think it is? Was that surprising at all? lol... please review :) I hope to update soon!