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I know it has been really long. I was in a car accident and unfortunately wasn't able to write. But now I am fine and should be able to get back to updating on the regular.

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Chapter 24 RPOV

It had been five days since I told Dimitri I was seeing Mason. I had been taken down once again because I saw Mason midway through the fight. I figured something was wrong now, it happened three times. And for me twice was a coincidence but three times was a pattern. Something was obviously wrong with me. Dimitri thought I had PTSD symptoms, Deirdre (the therapist I was now seeing) thought I either had PTSD or was just crazy. She wanted to put me on medication but I refused, thankfully my mother agreed with me. Because of that Deirdre had Alberta take me down to part-time on the field experience which meant I only participated when Lissa was in class and she added in my morning and afternoon training again.

I was currently standing in the back of Lissa's class next to Eddie. Lissa and I hadn't spoken to each other since our fight. It reminded me of when we first came back to the academy. I wasn't sure what to do exactly. Part of me felt a sense of relief, with Lissa acting this way I didn't feel guilty about wanting to do something else with my life. But on the other hand, I missed my best friend.

I was bored out of my mind. I debated about slipping into Lissa's head to entertain myself but I figured that would just make me upset so I didn't. Standing in the back of a classroom was one of the most boring parts of being a Guardian. Almost as bad as ward shifts, thankfully we didn't have to do those in the field experience.

This was Lissa's last class of the day and after that, I would meet up with Dimitri for training. The bell finally rang, Eddie instantly went to Lissa's side as I hung back and far guarded. I walked with them until Lissa walked into the Moroi dorms, once she was back in the dorm I was officially off duty. It didn't matter if she was out and about later after I dropped her off at the dorm I was able to be on my way.

I made my way quickly to the gym. I was feeling all sorts of edgy and I figured some good training would help me feel better. I walked into the gym and was surprised to see my mother talking with Dimitri.

"Mom?" I asked as I walked toward them.

"Rosemarie," she greeted me. "How are you feeling? I was just asking Belikov how your training was going."

"I'm fine," I nodded at her. "So how is my training going?" The question might have come out a bit harder than I intended it too, but I was a little frustrated that my mother seemed to run to Dimitri to ask about my well being. Seemed like everyone was talking to him about me.

"Roza, you know I think you are doing an incredible job," Dimitri tried to soothe me. I took a deep breath to calm my self down. It wasn't Dimitri's fault that everyone was asking him about me.

"Thanks," I mumbled. "So mom, what can I do for you?"

"I thought you might like to try sparring with me today," she suggested. I was a little surprised by that. "Belikov filled me in on how you spar with each other and I thought I could give you an opportunity to get some extra practice in with a woman."

"Uh sure," I nodded. This would be a good learning opportunity and if I could take her down that would show her I have learned a lot. "I just need to warm up, if you don't mind. You are welcome to join me."

"No, you go ahead," she said smiling at me. "I already warmed up, I'm going to hit some weights while you warm up."

"Okay," I told her. I looked at Dimitri and saw him nod at me. The two of us headed out to the track for me to run my three miles warm up. "So you and my mother are buddies now?"

"You know it not like that," he said to me as we ran.

"I know," I grumbled. I hated when I didn't have a good reason to be mad. It would be so much easier if I could blame Dimitri for my mother acting the way she was.

"I think she wants to find a way to get closer to you but she doesn't really know how," he told me honestly. "I know she is worried about you, I am too. We all are."

"I don't know what to tell all of you," I sighed as we finished the first mile. "I know something is wrong, and I know admitting that I saw Mason was going to make everyone worry. It's part of the reason I didn't say anything before."

"Rose, let me help you," Dimitri said as we continued to run. "I know that you are suffering from some PTSD. I completely expected it, I just wish I knew earlier."

"Ugh! You all think it's just a symptom," I groaned out. Everyone thought seeing Mason was a symptom of PTSD. But I didn't think that. I knew there was more to it than that. I took off running faster than I normally do and finished our warm up in record time. I didn't say anything to Dimitri after that, I could hear him calling for me but I didn't respond.

I headed to the gym ready to begin fighting with my mother.

"Rose, I've been looking everywhere for you," I heard from behind me. I could pick the voice out anywhere. I sighed when the person who was looking for me sat next to me. I wasn't really sure what I should say to him.

My mind was racing with everything that had happened in the past couple weeks. Had it been a couple weeks? I guess it had been about two weeks since shit hit the fan. Almost two weeks really, it was odd that it had been that long. Only about a month until the field experience was over. I couldn't wait until that happened. Lissa was acting like a royal bitch, pun not intended. My life had been flipped upside down in a matter of two weeks. My father showed up and wanted a relationship with me. My best friend never wanted to speak to me again. And I admitted that I was seeing my dead friend's ghost to my lover. I guess you could say it was just another day in Rose Hathaway's life.

"Rose?" He asked me again. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"I don't know what to say," I said softly.

"Well, how about why you are avoiding Dimitri?" Stan asked me after a minute.

"I think something is wrong," I whispered. "I think that I am actually seeing Mason, I don't think it's a symptom. But he doesn't believe me. Mason is trying to tell me something, I know it."

"Have you tried to tell this to Dimitri?" Stan asked me. It was weird to think only a few weeks ago, I hated Stan. If he had been the one to find me when I was hiding out I would have left immediately, but not now. Strange how much things can change in just a few weeks.

"He isn't listening to me lately, I don't know what to do," I said softly. "I just wish everyone would understand."

"Roza," I heard from behind me, the deeply accented voice wrapping around me. All I wanted to do was be in his arms. "Please, talk to me."

I turned to look at Stan and he gave me a small smile before standing up and heading his way. His seat taken instantly by Dimitri. I looked straight ahead, I was upset that he wasn't taking me seriously but in reality, I was just being petty.

"Are you going to talk to me?" He asked me after a couple minutes. I heard him sigh, but he didn't say anything else. I was being a brat, I know I was. But I was hurt and upset, not to mention the stress of everything was catching up to me.

The tears pooled in my eyes before I realized what was happening. My entire body was hurting from all the attacks and the training. I was mentally exhausted from therapy, my fight with Lissa, and above all seeing Mason. Since I started therapy I saw him twice, but I didn't tell anyone that because I knew it would make things worse. I wished Dimitri would trust me and understand I knew this wasn't because of stress. I closed my eyes willing the tears away but I felt a few escapes leaving trails down my cheeks.

"Oh, Roza!" I smelled him before I felt him. His aftershave instantly calming me as he held me. I could tell he maneuvered me into his lap. My hands gripped his shirt and pulled my face tighter to his chest. I could hear him whispering softly in Russian, it was soothing and stopped my meltdown before it happened.

I clung to Dimitri as he soothed me. I knew at that moment any doubts he had about my sanity were gone. He knew I was actually seeing Mason and it had nothing to do with PTSD. He was going to help me in any way he could, I knew it. I don't know how long we sat there before I willed myself to look at him. I felt him pull me closer, and not for the first time, I wondered what it would be like to be flush against him with no clothes.

I turned my face up to look at him and saw him looking down at me. "I believe you," he told me. "If you feel like Mason is trying to tell you something, we need to find out what he wants."

"I do," I said softly.

"Okay," Dimitri nodded at me. "Let's try to figure out what that is, next time you see Mason take note of everything and we will start compiling the information. Okay?"

"Thank you," I told him honestly.

"We should probably go see your parents," he said after a couple minutes. "We are supposed to meet them for dinner."

I nodded and stood up as I smoothed out my clothes. I rubbed my eyes and face for a couple seconds. I hope they couldn't tell I started crying. I wasn't sure what was wrong with me lately. My emotions were all over the place. It didn't take long after that last thought to realize I was expecting my period in the next couple days. I was almost thankful that Dimitri had so many sisters, he seemed to understand what PMS was and knew how to handle it.

"You look beautiful," Dimitri told me as he stood up.

"I'm sorry I have been acting so weird lately," I apologized to him. "I guess it's just the price of being a female."

Understanding crossed Dimitri's face at my joke. "Oh," he said softly. I watched him adjust his clothing for a second before he cleared his throat. "And you can act weird as often as you want. I will love you no matter what."

"I love you too," I told him. I took his hand and we walked out of the church together. The gossip had seemed to calm down, Dimitri and I were very normal with our relationship so no one wanted to talk about it. Jesse really gave me a gift when he outed us.

We walked in silence to guest housing. I noticed Lissa talking with a group of royals off to this side of the quad as we walked. I tried not to let it get to me how much fun she was having. She made her choice and that was her decision, I had to keep reminding myself. I felt Dimitri squeeze my hand as we continued walking by them, I think he could tell I was a little upset still.

We made our way up to Abe's room and I was surprised to see my mother already there. She and Abe were sitting on the couch talking like old friends, well, I guess they were old friends. I noticed Pavel sitting in one of the armchairs across from the couch and periodically joining the conversation.

The familiarness that my mother and Abe showed to one another bugged me almost instantly. This was the first time I had actually see the two of them together. I knew since my mother arrived they had been spending time together but it just rubbed me the wrong way. Maybe I was just being too sensitive.

"Rose! We were just talking about you," Abe exclaimed as Dimitri and I walked into the room. Abe stood up and hugged me before rejoining my mother. He gestured to the love seat next to him for Dimitri and me.

"I hope you were saying good things," I responded to Abe as I sat down on the love seat with Dimitri. His arm instantly going around my shoulders, we decided we didn't want to shelter my mother from PDA. We didn't engage in a lot of it, but we weren't going to not do any just to keep her happy.

"Of course!" Abe told us grinning. "I have ordered us dinner right before you got here, they said it would be about thirty to forty minutes."

"Sounds good," I nodded. The room got quiet for a minute, I could feel the tension. This was the first time my family was together in one room. My family, that sounded strange.

"Janine, I'm sure you are very proud of Rose," Pavel said after a couple minutes. "I've seen her train with Belikov multiple times and seen her spar with our Guardians. She has a lot of talent."

I was grateful when Pavel started talking because he broke the silence and got all of us interacting. He seemed to be the master and handling awkward situations. Knowing what I did about Abe, I wasn't surprised by that skill. I guess he has to manage difficult situations all the time.

"Belikov sure has done a lot with her," my mother said to Pavel. "I don't think she would have survived in Spokane if it wasn't for his teaching."

Thanks, mom, I thought to myself. She couldn't ever just give me a compliment. I don't think she really knew how to. I knew from her email a while back that she was proud of me but that was the only time she ever used those words. And directed it to me specifically and not to someone else.

"I don't know how much is Belikov lately," Pavel said winking at me. "She was able to take down a good amount of ours, all over Blood Master Level 2."

I could see my mother getting ready to make a dig at me about not doing well in the field experience, but Abe swooped in for me.

"Rose, have you given any thoughts to my offer?" Abe asked me when he noticed my mother about to say something cruel.

"Umm," I began thinking over his words. Abe offered me so many things. I wasn't really sure what I wanted. I did know that I wanted to explore more of his offerings. "I'm not really sure, I think I want to just know more about them."

"Well, what do you want to do this next year? After graduation more specifically," he asked me. I felt Dimitri shift next to me, this was probably a conversation that he and I needed to have together. I wasn't really sure if we were on the same page with everything.

"I'm not really sure," I shrugged. "I always thought I would be Lissa's Guardian and now that's not a possibility anymore."

"Rosemarie, I'm sure Alberta would be willing to give you another set of attacks to demonstrate your skill," my mother said. "I don't think you need to worry about that affecting your training score."

I realized that she didn't know about the fight Lissa and I had. I had just assumed someone had filled her in, but I guess not. I cleared my throat before I responded to her. "Lissa and I had a huge fight," I explained. "She doesn't want me as her Guardian anymore, she won't be putting in a request."

I watched my mother's face change from concern to surprise. I don't think she expected Lissa and I to ever have a fight or for Lissa not wanting to submit a joint allocation request. There was a chance that if I went in for random allocation, I would be assigned to Lissa. My age, the bond, and my training score would make me the perfect candidate to guard her. But if she didn't want me, I couldn't stop her.

"What did you fight about?" My mother asked me in a very maternalistic manner. I hope my face didn't show the surprise, I felt.

"Umm," I looked at Dimitri and he gave me an encouraging nod. "Actually about mine and Dimitri's relationship."

"Oh?" She sounded surprised and taken back.

"She didn't agree with our relationship and she thought I was lying to her," I explained looking at Dimitri. "That's the main thing, umm, yeah," I cleared the lump in my throat and hoped y other would drop the issue.

"Well, I guess it means you might be able to guard someone else," my mother said without missing a beat. I was almost thankful she seemed so nonchalant about it. I wasn't sure how she was going to react. The opportunity to guard Lissa would have been a big deal, she was the last Dragomir and a Princess. It would have put me in a really good position to gain respect and give me more opportunities as a Guardian.

"Jean," Abe began using his nickname for my mother. "I think Rose has a lot more opportunities than just that. I offered her chance to travel the world for a year or two, or for her to go to college. She could go out into the human world. Or she could go into the family business."

"Abe, really?" Janine scolded. "She doesn't need to be involved in your dirty business."

"I will have you know, a majority of my business is legal," Abe defended himself. Probably a majority by a small percent, but he wasn't lying. I could see my mother's eyes harden as she looked at him.

"Fifty-one percent isn't a majority to brag about," she told him. I wanted to start laughing because technically it was a majority.

Abe grinned showing his fangs. "It's still a majority," he told her. I guess I was more like my father than I thought.

I looked at Abe and then looked at Dimitri, when my eyes connected with Pavel's I lost it. It started as a small little giggle and built up to a full-blown belly laugh. I could not stop laughing. Soon Dimitri was laughing with me a deep soulful laugh, or maybe at me. Abe just sat there grinning at my mother. And another deep rich chuckle started. It took me a couple minutes to realize that Pavel had joined in.

It took a while for all of us to calm down but we eventually did. My stomach hurt from laughing and I felt tears in my eyes from laughing so hard. I was surprised at how good I felt after the few minutes of hysterical laughing. Even Dimitri looked like he was doing a little bit better. I guess we just needed the release of energy.

"Belikov, I'm assuming you have picked your position?" Abe asked after a couple minutes. I noticed he steered the conversation away from me and successfully got my mother interested in another topic.

"I think I have," Dimitri looked at me and I smiled nodding. In truth, he had picked a position in Abe's Guard. It was a difficult discussion but we ended up finding the right fit for the three options Abe gave him.

"Abe mentioned he offered you some other positions, but he didn't say what," my mother commented. "I'm curious to see if he offered someone of your standing an appropriate position."

I saw Pavel shake his head at my mother's comment. I'm sure she knew that Pavel would never let Abe offer a Guardian a position below their ranking. But I could see she just wanted to make digs at Abe. I wondered if this was how they were when they were together or this was because of built up feelings that hadn't been worked through.

"Well, he gave me the option to work alongside Pavel as a second Guardian," Dimitri began explaining to my mother. "But more primary because Pavel has a lot of work with being the Head of Guardians. The second option was being the Team Lead of one of Abe's properties in Russia, near St. Basil's."

"You are from around there right?" Janine asked Dimitri. "I'm sure you would like to be close to your family."

"I am, and my mother would have been thrilled," he explained. "The property is about twenty minutes away from her. But, I couldn't take it for a few different reasons. The other position Abe offered was actually being the Head of Rose's security detail."

"I don't need one," I mumbled. But Abe's look shut me up immediately.

My mother didn't say anything as Dimitri outlined the position that Abe offered him. I could see her taking in all the information slowly. I was surprised she didn't raise the issue that I was already training to be a Guardian. Maybe there was more sense to this than I thought.

"Seems reasonable to me," my mother nodded at Dimitri. I saw Abe grin. "So I'm assuming that's the position you are taking."

"Yes, it is," Dimitri told her. "I thought it would be the most flexible for her and I as well as would guarantee that we would be close to each other even if she chose to be allocated."

"Understandable," my mother agreed.

Before she could say anything else there was a knock at the door and the kitchen staff had brought up dinner. We all moved to the makeshift dining room. I noticed that Abe had ordered food almost buffet style, I assumed that was so he could take as little as he wanted while allowing us dhampirs to have more. The five of us moved to sit around the table, Abe sitting at the head of the table while Pavel sat on the other side.

I was surprised by how much fun all of us had once my mother relaxed. Pavel and Abe had known each other since high school, they were close friends and poked fun of each other all the time. Everything seemed light and airy, no one was focusing on what had been happening with me. I felt like I could just be a normal girl with her boyfriend and her family. Abe talked to me about all the options I had at my fingertips. I could really see how money gave me options as a dhampir. I was thrilled with that fact. Now I just needed to make a decision.

I was getting ready for bed when I decided to look out my window. It was just starting to get brighter. I missed daylight hours, I wish I could go back to that. I guess taking one of Abe's options meant I could. I messed around with my window and was able to get it open. I stuck half my body outside and looked out across campus. It really was pretty.

I don't really know how long I looked outside, it was still early. Curfew was in about thirty minutes. I looked across the view and noticed a few people walking out of the cover of trees that surrounded the campus. I looked a little closer, I couldn't tell exactly who they were. But they looked too tall and slim to be dhampirs. I guess they were Moroi. That was odd, what were they doing there?

I decided not to worry too much about it. Probably was just some party, I wasn't in the know any more about social events with Moroi. Plus dhampirs went out and partied in the woods. And it curfew was soon, they were probably just going back to their rooms. I was just paranoid because of everything happening with me.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter, it was a little fluffy. But a lot is to come in the next few chapters :) I promise I will get back to updating regularly!

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