This is not my usually updating time, but I just finished this chapter and wanted to get it up…I stayed up until 2am writing this, so please please please let me know what you think ;)

Sh*t is hitting the fan I'm afraid!

Chapter 21

DPOV

I had to admit that spending some time with Christian was nice – and definitely good for me. He'd been a really good friend while I was growing up, but we had drifted apart in the last seven years or so. Although I had gone to him with the prospect of getting advice, we spent most of our time catching up. If Rose hadn't been at home waiting for me to return, I would have taken the beer Chris had offered me and crashed at his place. However, I had made a promise to be back soon to Rose – which meant no drinking.

"Wait," Christian said suddenly, interrupting my story of my latest unsuccessful audition. "Where did you say you lived now?"

I grimaced. "Down by fifth." He made a face; my area wasn't exactly known for it's expensive buildings and friendly neighbours. "It's not great; but it's working for now…at least until we can find – and afford – a bigger place, hopefully in a nicer neighbourhood too."

Christian nodded thoughtfully, mulling over my words. "Why don't you take my old place? Well, technically it belongs to my parents, but it's been in my name for years now."

"I couldn't do that," I refused immediately. I had not come here to ask him for money or whatever else. I merely wanted to talk to someone who I considered a friend and who was not Rose's therapist.

"Why not? Nobody's living in it; it's perfect! There's two bedrooms, it's in a good neighbourhood, it's clean! I mean, it might need some dusting as I haven't lived there since med school – but you and Rose are totally welcome to it!"

"Thanks, Chris, really. But-"

"No 'buts,' Dimitri Belikov," He interrupted me firmly. "I know what you're like. You're pride will stop you from taking advantage of something like this. But I don't care what you say. You are moving into that apartment with Rose indefinitely – free of charge. I will not take 'no' for an answer."

"Chris-" I started.

"For Rose."

I stopped trying to deny him and actually opened up to what he was suggesting. Rose deserved more than what she had gotten in life so far – than what she had now. And after the kiss we had shared last night…I felt more determined than ever to give her the happy, carefree life she truly deserved.

I thought about it for only a few minutes more, before conceding and nodding to a smug-looking Christian.

"That's that sorted then," He stood and straightened out his shirt. "I'll get you the key; you guys can move in whenever you'd like – tonight, tomorrow, next week, next month…whenever suits."

"Thanks, Christian." He had just handed me the only copy of the apartment's key when somebody knocked on his door. I sat back down as he went to answer it, my mind wandering back to Rose. I had been gone a while now, and was starting to get anxious. I hated leaving her side – particularly when I didn't completely trust that she would stay away from drugs. I just hoped she could summon the self-control she had been using for a few weeks now to push through whatever cravings or withdrawal symptoms she was having.

My mind drifted to last night – to the moment where our lips had connected. I had never felt anything so wonderful in my entire life. It had become clear to me that I had started to have feelings for Rose quite recently. After admitting that to myself, I began noticing every little thing she did and how it affected me.

I had never planned on kissing her; the last thing I wanted to do was scare her…but I had taken a chance in the heat of the moment and she had kissed me back – more than willingly. Her soft lips had moved passionately against mine, and I had had the urge to take it even farther. She apparently had it too as she was the one to deepen the kiss. Although at the time, I wanted to do nothing more than take her in my arms and kiss her for the remainder of the night, I knew better than to push her. Rose – although she may not realise it – was not ready for that step, with me or with anyone else.

"Hey Chris, I was just wondering if you-" I looked up, surprised, as Lissa entered the room. Evidently, she was surprised to see me too, but her shock quickly turned to anger – something that confused me even further. "You!"

I raised my eyebrows as Lissa stalked closer to me. Christian closed the door behind her, looking baffled at Lissa's behaviour.

"How could you do that? I thought you were better than that!"

"Do what?" I asked her, utterly perplexed. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Christian watching our conversation curiously. At least I thought he was – I was a little too terrified by the frightening blonde standing before me to glance over at him.

"You kissed her, Dimitri! You know how unstable she is, how could try and complicate it further? She's confused enough about everything else as it is!"

"She's stronger than you think she is," I defended. I didn't like Lissa's accusations. I mean, yes I had kissed Rose – but that kiss was bound to happen sooner or later; the tension between us had been building since that very first week. And what did Lissa know of our relationship?

"You took advantage of her, Dimitri! Yes, she may have made some progress since you met her, but she's not healed! She has a lot of demons she still has to fight and you had to go and plant yourself in the middle of it all! I try to get her to talk about her past, but all she talks about is you!" Lissa huffed, not looking too guilty about breaching her code of confidentiality…I was quite happy she did.

"She talks about me?" Lissa groaned and threw her hands up in the air.

"That's not the point, Dimitri! She was vulnerable, and you took advantage of her. Tell me, how does that make you a better man than Adrian?" The warm feeling I felt in my chest when I thought about Rose disappeared, and I felt anger well up within me.

"Do not," I growled, taking a step towards her. "-compare me to that sleazy, no good scumbag! I don't care what you think, but I know that bastard isn't worth the dirt on my shoes."

It was Lissa's turn to be a little frightened, and I almost felt bad for scaring her. Almost. It was then that Christian intervened, sidestepping so that he was positioned in between us.

"Dimitri, calm down," he warned, holding his hands up to show he meant no harm. "Lissa didn't mean that; she knows that you are protective of Rose…I think we should all just sit and clear things up, okay?" He raised his eyebrows at me and I glanced at Lissa. She nodded once and so I conceded, taking my seat back on the sofa.

"Okay," I agreed. "Let's talk."

"You really do like her?" I was almost offended that Lissa had asked me such a question.

"Yes!" I replied, perhaps a little defensively, but I felt that it was entitled. "How could you think that I would kiss her just to confuse her? I would never do that to anyone, let alone Rose. I really do like her, Liss…and I think she likes me too."

"She does." My head shot up as Lissa spoke. Due to the thoughtful look on her face, I didn't think she'd even realised she'd said anything.

"She does? How can you be sure? Did she tell you?"

Unfortunately for me, Lissa seemed to decide that her professionalism was now important.

"I can't tell you that, Dimitri, you know that. Rose trusts me to keep everything she tells me confidential, and I will keep that promise. It would be wrong to break that trust, especially when she's at such a crucial stage in her journey."

"But she does talk about me? You said before that she did."

"Dimitri," Lissa sighed, looking tired. "Look, I'm sorry for getting mad at you before; I didn't realise that you had feelings for her. I know that you kissed, but I just don't think that entering a relationship is something that is healthy for Rose right now. She needs to have faith in herself before she'll be able to put trust in other people. I know I can't tell you what to do, but I really would suggest that you both remain nothing more than friends. Who knows, maybe after her rehabilitation programme those feelings will still be there."

I sighed, knowing she was right. Rose still had a long struggle ahead of her – though it was one I would be by her side for whether I was her friend or something more.

Christian spoke up after his long silence. "Have either of you spoke to her yet? About the rehabilitation?"

Both Lissa and I shook our heads. We had discussed getting Rose into a rehabilitation program on a couple of different occasions while Rose wasn't there. Sometimes Lissa and I butted heads, but at the end of the day, we both only wanted what was best for Rose. However, Lissa wanted Rose to enrol in a six month live-in program, while I would prefer if she stayed with me at night and attended meetings and workshops with other addicts during the day. That way, I would be able to look out for her while she'd be getting sufficient help for her addiction.

"One of us should really do it soon," Lissa said after a moment. "Would you prefer if I did it during one of our sessions?"

Immediately, I shook my head. Talking to Rose about something like this was something I knew that I should be doing; she would be angry hearing it from anyone else but me…

Although she'd more than likely be angry at me too; her outburst just wouldn't be as bad as it would with anyone else.

"No, that's ok," I replied, standing up to grab my keys. By the looks of Lissa's dressy appearance, she and Christian had apparently had a date planned for this evening. "I'll talk to her about it. I'd better be off; I'll talk to you over the next few days." Both Lissa and Christian nodded and bade me goodbye. Waving Chris off, I let myself out and headed out into the parking lot.

It rained heavily on the drive back to my apartment; not that it really bothered me much. People have often said that rain often brings luck…I hoped it would give some to Roza and I.

As I passed through my building's front entrance, I was vaguely aware that a new crack had been made in the glass door. This didn't alarm me however - I lived in a bad neighbourhood; these cracks appeared on a weekly basis.

It wasn't until I had reached my apartment that panic began to set in; the door had been forcibly opened and inside…well, inside was even more of a mess than usual. I didn't have a lot of stuff anyway, and Rose had next to nothing…but whatever little amount we had had been thrown to the opposite side of the room, smashed, or broken into little pieces.

If Rose had been there, I would've guessed that she had had a breakdown in my absence and went on a rampage…

But Rose wasn't there.

A hundred possibilities suddenly shot through my mind, each one as confusing and upsetting as the next. Had she relapsed? Lost her self-control and gone to find someone who would sell her drugs? Or had something else entirely happened?

Before I could go into full-on freak mode, I had pulled out my phone and was just dialling Lissa when I saw it…

The recently stomped out butt of a clove cigarette.