Well… sorry…? Haha, get reading! And please pay attention to my A/N at the end. It's important! xo

~Angeliqa

DPOV

Stealth.

The door was easy to open and he slipped in quietly without drawing any attention. He entered the apartment, surprised to find everything all neat and tidy. Doubt began to creep into his mind as he thought back to Rose's messy habits.

Maybe Marie isn't Rose, maybe this all a mistake. Rose was never this clean and tidy, perhaps I should turn back.

But no. There was always the possibility that she had changed. Sure, people can change. He thought, trying to reassure himself.

He stepped into the lounge room. A shining black television sat meditating against the far wall, swallowing my reflection, reflecting my tall frame faithfully. His eyes scoped out the room like every other time, however this was different. He was not searching for a sign of danger, no strigoi or threats.

Nothing. Only plain walls, photos of Marie and her students, of the school when it first opened and just the usual furniture. He let out a sigh. He had hoped it would not come to this, that he could find something noteworthy just by the objects in this area of the apartment, but apparently that was not possible. He retreated out of the room and made his way towards the one place which was bound to contain objects that would satisfy his needs, the one place private enough to hold secrets.

The door creaked as he pushed it open; he cringed as the sound reached his ears. Even though it wasn't likely anyone could hear it he'd prefer there being no sound whatsoever during his investigation.

So this was where Adrian had almost been caught.

This room unlike all others in the household was more decorated and messy, much more like the Rose he knew, if his suspicions proved to be true. Tank tops and track pants, runners and shorts were strewn across the spacious area, covering the immediate floor capacity around her bed and mirror.

Were these all the clothes that this woman owned?

He started with the closet hoping to find some secret shoebox tucked away in a corner or perhaps in a large coat, but he was disappointed. There was nothing in there but some more workout clothes, some formal wear as well as the typical guardian attire of black and white.

He made his way towards the open door of the bathroom, the pristine white tiles, somewhat blinding to his eyes at first as he searched the paraphernalia dumped in front of the mirror.

Nothing.

Frustration was beginning to leak onto his stone guardian mask and dominate his mid, as his body began tremble with anger. He needed to find her and tell her how much he loved him. Perhaps it was truly Rose and she had just hidden herself well, or more likely, this seemed like the biggest lead they'd had since the search began and he was clinging to it with all he had. In short, he was becoming desperate.

He turned to head back towards the bedroom, but as he did so, he heard an object come clattering down behind him. Lip gloss.

The packaging pulled him into memories of more trouble free times, back to when he and Rose had been training. A small smile adorned his features as he remembered the then immature Rose complaining over having no more lip gloss. So beautiful and so much trouble. She thought he hadn't been paying attention to her complaints was entirely shocked when he bought her a new one after her accident on the way back from the mall.

He was becoming more and more certain that Marie was in fact Rose, but he needed one more bit of evidence, something solid and hard that would confirm everything.

As he stepped back through to the bedroom, a glint of gold caught his eye. A chain slunk its way through the creases of the bed sheets, a stream of gold among soft, white plains, shimmering and reflecting the light of the sun. His feet glided across the floor without the command of his pain-filled brain, controlled by the sight of the object itself.

His fingers met with the cool, hard surface of the necklace and as he lifted it up, dangling the delicate trinket from the tip of his long, calloused finger his mind left his body and flew to the depths of another night, another memory.

Hair long and damp hung and framed his face as he stepped out of the shower. Drying it off he slipped on a pair of cotton pajama bottoms and laid down, hands behind his head. He couldn't get her out of his mind. Her beautiful face, her long luscious hair and that fiery and strong attitude that filled up whole spaces, dragging everyone's attention towards this beautiful being.

Seemingly, his thoughts were answered as an urgent knock was heard. Curiosity overwhelming him he reached over and pulled off the covers padding towards the door. The door swung open to reveal his goddess in that sexy black dress, him forgetting he was half naked.

"Rose?" he had said, surprise probably written all over his face.

"Let me in. It's Lissa."

With that, he let her in. Silence enveloped them. She had a strange expression about her, her eyes fixed on my chest. He knew he looked good and as much as he liked that look her face, these were not the correct circumstances.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

His voice seemed to have ignited something within her as she looked up eyes full need, want, lust. Then in an instant her lips were aiming for his chest.

"Rose!" he exclaimed, jumping back in shock. "What are you doing?" Good lord, she was her student, no, he was not to think of her in that manner.

"What do you think?" she answered.

Once again, she attempted to move towards him, in need of his touch.

"Are you drunk?" he asked, trying to keep her away, as tempting as the situation was.

"Don't I wish. I thought you wanted to—don't you think I'm pretty?" Her lips slipping into a small pout. Oh, I think you're pretty alright. Far too pretty for your own good.

"Rose, I don't know what's going on, but you need to get back to your room." He said sternly.

She moved towards him once more, this time, he gripped her wrists in an attempt to keep her away from him. Something was not right.

What happened next was a complete blur of hidden desire and lust coming out to play. A blur of longing and love, kisses and naked skin.

"Roza—

He was jolted away from the memory by the sound of a voice. Her voice. How had he never realised it? It sounded so familiar, he should have put it together the moment he met her in that dark alleyway.

"Dimitri?"

RPOV

Shock present in every aspect of her features, she let her guard down. For once in so many years the true Marie was seen, a portion of this woman was glimpsed, no longer tucked away in a drawer, locked within a safe.

His head swerved towards the sound of her voice, his eyes no longer hazy with the cloud of memories and experiences.

"How did you get in here? Who gave you permission to wander into my home, let alone go rummaging through my personal belongings?" her voice rose in volume.

Her eyes glanced down and caught the flash of gold. She instantly knew what it was that lay within those skilled hands. Anger flared up within her, whether from the darkness or something else, she knew not. Despite the fact that she was already going to reveal herself, he had absolutely no right to come barging in searching for answers. Privacy was to be respected.

She stormed over, snatching the chain away from his hands with so much force and anger that a red mark immediately flashed against his skin. Turning around she headed towards her bedside table.

"Roza."

She halted.

Anger and fury dissipating as the music of her name reached her ears. Silence met her name.

"It's really you isn't it?" No sound. No movement.

"Rose, turn around. Please." Nothing. She stood, not knowing what she was doing.

She hadn't heard him get up from the bed or move, but there he was. Right in front of her were his beautiful brown eyes staring intently into her blank blue ones, full of love and relief.

"Rose, say something."

Now that he was right in front of her, pleading for her to make a sound, she wasn't so sure. Uncertainty and nervousness crept through her mind. She needed time. Just a bit more to clear her mind of doubts and to be one hundred percent certain she was going to do this. After all, she had a whole school to think about. How was the return of her past going to impact on her future? Would she return to court with Liss and the others? Or will she leave them and continue to run this school?

She couldn't stand in this room any longer. Thoughts racing and pounding at her head, she sprinted away, from her room, sprinted away from Dimitri. Again.

She ran to the one place where she would go when she felt she was on the verge of collapsing, of giving up. She'd had it built a while ago. A small cabin beside the pond, a small link to the meaningful place back at St. Vlad's. Here she felt calm, here she felt she could let loose and let her emotions fly.

Tucking herself in the farthest corner from the door, she let the eager tears stream down her face, her eyes transforming to the appearance of puffy redness that often accompanied tears of this sort.

She had frozen.

Frozen and let the strigoi's of emotions and fears take over and feed off of her. Once again, leaving the lifeless corpse of grief and sorrow clatter to the cold, unforgiving ground. What was she to do?

Could she truly forgive Dimitri?

I BEG YOU NOT TO KILL ME! Sorry! That was pretty much just a filler chapter, but I hope it was interesting and satisfied your Rose-Dimitri needs for a while.

Ok, so I need your opinion. If you could please spare some time and go to my profile and vote on the future of this plot that would be great! I just want to know if guys would like this story to end soon with Rose and Dimitri making up, or perhaps drag it on a little longer with a bit more drama. E.g. Tasha dropping by…etc. stuff like that.

Oh and it wouldn't be a chapter without this: REVIEW, REVIEW, and REVIEW!

Haha, hope you enjoyed that! xo

~Angeliqa