*DISCLAIMER: I do not own Vampire Academy. It's all Richelle Mead*

My memories flew by again. I watched my kids grow up so much in just a few short months. We were celebrating their first birthday. Mason Ivan and Eliza Lissa were the cutest children I have ever seen in my life. I was terrified out of my mind, when we first brought them home after they had been in the hospital for two weeks.

Watching them sit in front of their little happy birthday cupcakes, made me think about every decision Dimitri and I have made.

This past year hasn't been easy.

I didn't want to be like my mother and just leave them to be raised by a stranger.

Dimitri and I talked about it. We will enroll them at the Academy when they are five, but we will visit them often. Lissa and Christian are doing the same thing and we are obligated to go with them. But once we're inside the Academy's border, we're not bound to stay by their side. It was a difficult decision, but we know that that's the best decision for our children.

We also decided we weren't going to force our decision on them. If they don't want to become guardians, that is their decision.

When we first brought them home, five years seemed like such a long time, but now, not so much. This past year has flown by. Four more years will be gone in a blink of an eye. It just seems too soon now.

I could feel my eyes tearing up a little as everyone sang to them. They were smiling and giggling, completely oblivious to the fact that Dimitri and I were going to ruin their lives in just a few short years.

Dimitri came up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist and resting his chin on my shoulder. There was a small smile on his face, but I could see through it. That smile was just for show.

"What's wrong Roza?" Dimitri asked me quietly.

"Did we make the right decision?" I asked him.

"Huh?" He asked confused.

"Did we make the right decision? Should we have adopted them, when we knew that one day we were just going to abandon them to the Academy?" I asked him.

Dimitri glanced around then sneakily pulled me out of the kitchen.

"What brought this on Rose?" Dimitri asked me.

"I don't want to be like my mother," I told him. "She couldn't even take the time to show up for their first birthday party! She said she was going to be here. I don't want to be like that. I don't want to dump them off at the Academy and have them grow to resent me."

"Roza, that won't happen. I don't know why your mother isn't here, but you are a good mother. You've already proven it. You've worked something out with Lissa so that while you're guarding her, Mason and Eliza are with Rhea. You spend more time with them than any normal guardian would," he told me.

His words went a long way to cheering me up. I did do my best to be a presence in their lives. I smiled at him. "Are you calling me weird?" I asked him jokingly, poking his stomach.

"Roza, don't even pretend you think your normal," he told me amused.

I pouted at him. "I think I'm pretty normal," I told him, sniffing. I pulled out of his embrace.

He wasn't having that. He pulled me close to him. "Roza, you're not normal. And I wouldn't want you any other way," he told me. He pressed his lips to mine.

Our kiss was interrupted by someone clearing their throat. I looked up and saw Lissa standing in the doorway, looking at us amused.

"Couldn't wait till tonight, could you?" She asked me jokingly.

"Puhlease," I told her. "You and Christian are always all over each other. And we weren't gone that long."

"No you weren't," she agreed. "The reason I came to find you is because Hans is looking for you."

I looked up at her surprised. "Hans is here?" I asked confused.

She nodded. "I figured it was something about guardian duty," she said with a shrug.

"Yes," I said amused. "We definitely want to keep our baby Dragomir safe, don't we?" I pointed to her stomach. Lissa had just recently found out that she was pregnant again.

She rolled her eyes at me. "I told him it was unnecessary. If he let Jill come back, I don't know why he insists on doubling my guardians when I'm only two months pregnant," she said rolling her eyes.

I shrugged. "I'll go see what he wants," I told her. I wasn't about to try to understand Hans. He is a strange, strange person.

"He's in the lobby," she told me.

Dimitri and I headed to the lobby of our apartment. Hans was standing with his back towards us at first, but he turned when he heard our footsteps. "Guardian Belikovs," he greeted with a grim look on his face.

My jaw dropped. Since I got married, he hasn't once called me Guardian Belikov. He still sticks with Guardian Hathaway. "Guardian Croft," Dimitri and I responded in unison.

Hans' face fell slightly. "Hathaway, I have some bad news for you," he told me quietly.

I looked at him curiously. Lissa and Christian were here, so I knew they weren't in danger. Jill was here, so it wasn't her. It's not like there wasn't enough guardians here. Eddie was here, so was Mikhail. Was I getting fired or something? I couldn't say anything; I just looked at him expectantly.

"There was a really bad car accident on the Highway outside Court," he told me. I scrunched up my eyebrows in confusion. I was not following his logic at all. Somehow, I got the idea that Dimitri knew what was going to be said. He stiffened next to me. I glanced at him, only to see the fear on his face.

"Who was in the car?" Dimitri asked breathlessly.

That's all it took for my mind to catch up with Dimitri's logic. Hans looked at me compassionately. I took a step towards Hans. "Who was it?" I asked.

"It was your mother and your father," he told me. "Your mother went to pick your father up at the airport."

I felt my world crashing down around me. I knew what the answer was going to be, but I asked anyway. "Are they okay?" I asked, my voice hollow. I barely noticed when Dimitri wrapped his arms around my waist, trying to hold me together.

Hans shook his head. "They didn't make it," he told me. "Janine was pronounced dead on the scene and Ibrahim died about an hour later in the hospital." Well, he certainly wasn't one to sugar coat things. "I know it's them, but we need you to identify the bodies. They're in a human hospital and only family is allowed to do that."

I nodded, rushing back to the kitchen. "Watch them Lissa, please," I begged. "I'm going to the hospital."

I grabbed the keys to our car and Dimitri's license. I was in no shape to drive right now. Not that Dimitri would let me anyway.

We rushed to our car. I saw Hans jump in his car and we followed him to the hospital.

I barely kept track of where we were going, but I stopped dead when I saw them. They looked awful. I had to take deep breaths to calm my churning stomach. When would the death stop? I knew it was them. They may be marred and bloody, but I could tell. I could see patches of my mom's wild red hair and I could see Abe's blood-stained paisley scarf. There was no doubt. This was them.

I turned to Dimitri and buried my head in his chest. This was too much. I couldn't handle it.

I don't know how long I stood there for, but eventually I let the waves of sleep pull me under. I let them pull me to the place where reality didn't exist. I didn't want to leave this place. I didn't want to wake up.

I had the vague feeling of being in a car. I woke up as the car stopped. The pain was too much. This was almost as bad as when Dimitri had been turned and I had to hunt him down. Almost as bad, but not quite. No matter what happened now, I knew I had Dimitri. While I couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel right now, I knew that Dimitri would help me find it. My other half was here to help me.