Chapter Twenty.

So, I'm back! I'm not going to waste space explaining why I've been gone so long except for: writer's block and uni kicking my ass. I'm getting back into the swing of things now, and I will be replying to all reviews for the last chapter in the morning as I'm knackered and ready to pass out, lol. Now on with the story!

"That's it," my chest heaved and Rose groaned into my chest where she'd all but collapsed in exhaustion. "No more sex for at least two days. I think I pulled a few muscles at least." I winced as I tried to lift Rose and pull her up the bed so that our faces were level and my hip twinged uncomfortably at the movement. "Make that definitely pulled something."

Rose snickered, tucking her head underneath my chin as I pulled the covers up to shield us from the chill of the room and then wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her fully into my embrace.

"What are you laughing at, Guardian Hathaway? So much for that famed guardian stamina, you're huffing and puffing worse than a grandma going up a flight of stairs!"

"At least I'm not complaining like an old grandpa who needs a hip replacemetn!"

"No, you're just coughing and spluttering like a granny who misplaced her false teeth!"

Rose had progressed from hiding her laughter to scowling up into my face, but my last comment made her eyes widen and her lips twitch.

"Could it be?" I mock-gasped, and her eyes narrowed despite the smile that was fighting to make it's way onto her face. "Could I have possibly outquipped the infamous Rosemarie Hathaw- Ouch!" My hands slapped at Rose's, she was pinching me with one and twisting my nipple with the other and it hurt. "Do you seriously copy children's fighting tactics and expect them to wi- ouch!"

This time, her grin was pure evil.

"You're going to have to tell her sooner or later, Dimitri." Ivan's voice was uncharacteristically sombre, and it only served to make my stomach clench even more.

"I know," my voice was soft, even to my own ears.

"You can't keep putting it off, it'll just hurt her more in the long run."

"I know," I sighed. "I just wish telling her wasn't going to break her heart."

"Rose, I-" Again, my throat dried up and the words left me. How was I supposed to tell her-

"You're breaking up with me./You want to break up."

"No, I- what?"

"It's okay. I expected it to happn sooner or later."

"No, Roza-"

"Thanks for letting me know before I got too invested. I'd have hated to heave to break your spine in retaliation. Just take your things and get ou-"

"Stop." I pressed my fingers over her mouth gently, "I'm not breaking up with you. I don't know where you got that idea from, okay, I mean, I can see where you got it, I wasn't very... tactful with the way I tried to broach the subject, but I wasn't trying to break up with you!" Her brow was furrowed and I sighed as I lifted my hand from her mouth. "And now you're confused. Rose, I- they-" another, heavier, deeper sigh this time. "There's nothing more we can do. The Quorum's broken apart all of our defenses, our cases, our challenges... we've got nothing. We have no sponsors, all the charities are suffering heavily in the economy, hell, every single job regardless of whether it's charity work or not is suffering heavily, but unfortunately it's having an even greater negative impact upon us. We have no money at all. Ivan and I, we can barely afford to keep our flat as it is. And the time and effort that we're putting into this cause are hours that we need to spend covering extra shifts and doing all that we can so that we have enough money to live from week to week. I'm sorry."

Rose stared up at me unblinkingly for several long moments, her hazel eyes wide and shocked before a flush stole up across her chest neck and cheeks, her lower lip trembled and she rushed forwards into my arms.

"Are you sure we can't even-"

"I looked into everything, every possible outlet and loophole I could find, Roza. There's nothing more we can do to stop them." My lips pressed against the crown of her head, breathing in her light scent and my arms tightened around her as she began to shake from the force of her sobs. "I'm so sorry."

*cries* But things have to get bad before they can get better, right? No, this story is not complete yet, even though that chapter sounded quite a lot like a finale, we're only about halfway through what I have planned out.

LWTA'ers, slowly but surely I am working on the epilogue! Again, I curse writer's block and the sadist who created university level coursework, for it is the bane of my existence. I am also working on a few more outtakes, and I'll give you more information on those as they get closer to completion.

Anyways, thank you very much for reading this chapter, and please leave a review, I'd love to hear from you if I still have any readers out there! *bats eyelashes*