A/N: I may be a bitch, but I wouldn't leave you hanging for long.

As always, thank you for your reviews, following and favoriting.

Our story continues.

K

In the club, everyone reconvened after carrying out their orders from Dimitri. They all came up empty. After a few minutes of wondering where Dimitri disappeared to they heard a loud POP! followed by 2 more loud pops from out back.

Adrian ran out to the back alley, not even pausing to consider his own safety. He had to get to Dimitri and Rose.

"Rose?!" Adrian yelled from the doorway to the alley.

"Adrian!" Rose screamed. "Get Sydney, hurry! Dimitri's been shot". Adrain ran back in and returned with Sydney in seconds. Abe and Pavel followed, to defuse any possible remaining threat.

"An ambulance will be here any second", Adrian assured Rose. Mikhail had come too and Dimitri was in far greater need of an ambulance.

"You're doing a great job Rose, keep applying pressure". Syd said as she checked for Dimitri's pulse. "Adrian go out front and lead the EMS here once they arrive".

Abe and Pavel inspected Natalie's lifeless body, figuring out more or less what had probably happened.

A couple of minutes later the EMS arrived and started working on Dimitri along with Sydney. Sydney convinced Rose to let her ride along with Dimitri so she could continue working on him to which Rose agreed instantly.

"Sydney, please, you have to save him", Rose begged.

"I'll do everything I can." Sydney answered. They had Dimitri in the ambulance within minutes. When he arrived at the hospital Dimitri went straight into surgery.

Rose and Adrian went back to the club to get everyone and head to the hospital. On the way out to the cars, Rose filled them in on what happened with Natalie. Abe had already called his contacts at local PD to take care of the situation for the time being.

"Abe, you have to get Dimitri's family here". Rose said.

Abe nodded. "I'll bring them here myself. Pavel, call the pilot, have him ready the jet, ASAP".

Then Chris said, "Yeva's here, she's at the house".

"What is she doing here?" Rose asked.

"She came to see Dimitri."

"I'll take the van and go pick her up", Lissa offered. They all nodded and headed out to the hospital.

The hospital waiting room was cold and uninviting. The chairs were uncomfortable and the water in the cooler tasted as though the time to replace the filter had long passed. Let's not get started on the god awful coffee. But none of that mattered. The only thing that mattered was that Dimitri was in the OR fighting for his life.

When Lissa arrived with Yeva, Rose ran to her, gripping her tightly she said, "Please tell me he's going to be okay, Yeva."

"I don't know, child. But I do know this was his choice and he is at peace with it". Yeva said.

Lissa had noticed that Rose was covered in Dimitri's blood before she left to pick up Yeva, so she brought her a change of cloths. Lissa was the first one to tell Rose she was covered in blood. Rose was in such a daze till that point that she hadn't noticed. She wasn't really aware of anything around her. They went to the ladies room where Lissa helped Rose clean up, washing the blood from her face and hands, she pulled her damp hair back into a pony tail.

"Thank you Lissa." Lissa hugged Rose tightly while Rose hugged back numbly. She was detaching herself from the situation. Until she knew if Dimitri would make it or not, she couldn't think about it or else she would fall apart.

Mikhail was lead to the ER as soon as he arrived. He was checked thoroughly, treated and discharged, ordered to get bedrest since he had a mild concussion, and follow up with his doctor in the morning. Mikhail wanted to stay in the waiting room with Rose for support but Rose wasn't having it. She ordered him to go home to Sonya. He agreed reluctantly since he was currently deemed useless for all intents and purposes.

After two hours of surgery, Sydney came with an update.

"Give us good news, Syd". Adrian said.

"Well he's still alive, so that's good." Syd said. "There's still work to do, we don't know yet if he'll make it or not. Rose," Sydney swallowed hard, "at some point during surgery, Dimitri's heart stopped." Sydney looked at Dimitri's friends who gathered in the waiting room. "I'm not saying there's no hope. You have to stay positive. But I advise you to be prepared for the worst". Sydney said solemnly before she returned to the OR.

"How can anyone be prepared for something like that?" Rose murmured to herself.

Tasha was very quiet. She hated this fucking waiting room. She'd been here for hours with Dimitri and Christian while they were waiting for news on Ivan. Tasha was freaking out more and more. Sydney's news only made her more on edge, which was not good for the baby. She kept thinking that she couldn't loose Dimitri, especially so soon after loosing Ivan. The fact that they both suffered from the same injury, a GSW to the chest, only made things worse. Despite hoping against all odds that Dimitri would survive, Tasha knew in her heart that the chances of that were very slim, she was beginning to accept that she was going to loose her best friend too. Tears spilled form Tasha's eyes. She cried quietly trying not to alert Rose to her hopelessness. At least Ivan and Dimitri will still have each other if Dimitri dies, Tasha thought.

All Rose could do was rock her self back and forth on the horrible plastic chair saying to herself over and over, he can't die, he can't die, he can't die. She couldn't loose him. Rose didn't know if she'd be able to come back from loosing Dimitri. He was irrevocably the love of her life. And she was certain that she didn't want to live in a world where Dimitri didn't exist.

At first Lissa was trying to comfort everyone. She loved Dimitri like family but he was much closer to the rest of her friends than her. It was second nature for Lissa to tend to those around her. She soon realized there was no comforting Tasha or Rose. They each needed to be left alone, grieving in one way or another.

Adrian went to the vending machine to get drinks for everyone. When the vending machine ate his change and didn't produce any goods, Adrian went ape shit on the machine, kicking it over and over again till Lissa came and stopped him. She held him while they both cried.

"Here" Lissa said reaching into her pocket, "I have some change and there's another vending machine down the hall". They went together, as if the other vending machine could bring them some sort of solace. It didn't, it just gave them something to do for a few minutes.

Yeva was sitting in one of the uncomfortable chairs, knitting something small and blue. She looked at Tasha and set aside her knitting needles. Yeva took Tasha hand in her own. "How are you, child?"

"Not so good". Tasha answered.

"You know the stress isn't good for the baby".

"You know?"

"Don't I always? Who do you think that blue baby blanket is for?" Yeva smiled, it was warm and sad at the same time.

"It's a boy?" Tasha smiled.

"Yes, but you already knew that". Yeva answered.

Rose took in the interaction between the two from the sidelines and couldn't help asking, "How do you know? How do you know Tasha's pregnant and it's a boy? How could you know all that and not know whether your own grandson is going to live or die?" Her tone was accusing even though she didn't mean for it to be.

"Some things are easy to see while others are clouded by emotion", Yeva answered looking pensive.

It was then that Rose noticed how strong and stoic Yeva was. She was suffering just as much as the rest of them. The difference was she hid all that behind a mask. So that's where he gets it from, Rose thought.

Christian was trying his best to keep it together as well. He had always been Tasha's rock. When Ivan was shot, he held Tasha's hand throughout the whole ordeal. After Ivan passed, Chris made sure Tasha ate and drank, never letting her be alone for longer than necessary. He barely had time to deal with his own grief and now he was in danger of loosing Dimitri as well.

Ivan and Dimitri had always let Chris tag along any time they went on secret missions to scout out the girls locker room or hit on girls at the mall. Ivan and Dimitri were the ones that pointed out to Chris that Lissa was staring at him from afar and forced him to go talk to her. They were like his older brothers. Loosing Ivan was hard. The possibility of loosing Dimitri as well was more than he could deal with while still holding Tasha's hand. He excused himself to go to the bathroom every so often so no one would see him cry. He cried for the dear friend he'd lost and for the friend he was sure he was going to loose. Christian didn't want any witnesses to his pain, not even Lissa. So he'd leave, cry, pull himself together as best he could then come back and give Tasha another glass of water.

It seemed like hours had passed when Sydney came back to the group. She looked exhausted, like she'd run a marathon. Rose stood as she entered the room.

"The surgery was successful. We removed the bullet and repaired the damage it did to his internal organs." Sydney said.

"Why do I feel like there's a 'but' coming?" Rose asked.

"But, the next twenty four hours will be critical. His heart stopped again. We managed to revive him. I'm telling you this so you know he's a fighter." Syd answered.

"What are his chances?" Chris asked.

"I can't say. All I can say is have faith". Sydney said.

"That was we did with Ivan. He hung in there for days before his heart gave out!" Tasha had freaked out. Holding it in for too long was taking it's toll on her. She didn't mean to fall apart the way she did, especially not in front of Rose. After all, she was Rose just a few weeks ago.

"Different people react differently to gun shot wounds and to surgery". Sydney tried to make these people, who she considered friends despite not knowing them long, feel better. "Dimitri's fate won't necessarily be the same as Ivan's. I am hopeful. You should be too".

"Thanks Doc", Rose said, arms crossed over her chest. "Where is he now? Can we see him?"

"Right now, he's in the ICU, he's still under the anesthetic and will be for a while. The only visitors he's allowed to have are relatives, but I'm sure I can arrange something. In any event, he can only have one visitor at a time and for the moment it can only be for a few minutes, until we reassess his condition in a few hours".

Yeva approached Sydney and surprised everyone when she suggested that Rose should be the one to see Dimitri.

"Yeva?" Rose questions the old woman. It seemed logical that she, as his grandmother, would want to see him since his mother and sisters were still on the way. It would have made more sense to Rose if Yeva had suggest that Tasha, Christian or Adrian should be allowed to see him, they all knew him much longer than Rose did. They grew up together, they were family.

"Hush, child", Yeva chided Rose and turned back to Sydney. "Rose will be the one to visit Dimitri. Tell the staff she is his wife. They'll believe you". Yeva said with confidence. No one argued with her. Tasha, Christian, Lissa and Adrian were all on board with Rose being the one to visit Dimitri first.

Before Rose followed Sydney out, Yeva said, "Tell him again. He needs to hear it". Rose knew what she meant, but no one else did.

Rose gasped when she saw Dimitri. He was hooked up to machines, IV's and a respirator. Even with his sun kissed complexion he was deathly pale, his hair matted to his forehead, his eyes closed. Rose wished she could gaze into those beautiful brown orbs again. She heard the faint beeping from his heart monitor that signaled his heart was still beating. It was music to her ears.

Rose took a chair and sat beside Dimitri's bed. She grabbed his large hand in her own smaller one. "I'm so sorry", she whispered. "This is all my fault. It should have been me". She began crying, her tears staining Dimitri's bed side. She remembered what Yeva said. "I love you, Dimitri. When I said I didn't care, that you meant nothing to me, it was the worst kind of blasphemy. Any time I denied my feelings for you it was to protect you from all this. But it wasn't enough." She cried again. "I love you. And when you wake up I'm going to make sure you know just how much".

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Belikov", a nurse interrupted Rose. Rose didn't even realize that she was referring to her as Mrs. Belikov. She rather liked it. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave. If he's still stable in a few hours you can come back".

Rose nodded and left with a parting kiss to his hand and an "I love you".