Sorry this was the quickest I could get the next chapter to you guys – University is keeping me busier than I thought it would, but I'm really liking it.

Also, I want to thank the two readers who pointed out to me that there was a malfunction at the end of chapter 27. I'm not sure what happened, but in the middle of the uploading process, I somehow managed to remove the last 80 words of the chapter. It has since been fixed so go back and read it if you haven't, and I'd appreciate you guys letting me know when I've made a technical mistake such as this so I can fix it.

Thanks guys – I appreciate the support you have been giving me since day one and I really hope you enjoy this chapter. Ps; there isn't going to be many more chapters now!


Chapter 28

"Lissa!" I glanced up as I made my way down the steps towards Dimitri. Seemingly he had been pacing back and forth outside of the car. He had heard the front door swing shut however and glanced up at the sound. Sighing quietly to myself, I made my way over to him.

"Hey, how is she?" He looked a little strained as I arrived in front of him, as if it was paining him to be here…which, I realised, it probably was. I had long since learned that Dimitri's feelings for Rose were very very real, as were hers for him.

"She's doing okay," I informed him diplomatically. He watched me closely, as though he didn't truly believe me. I could see in his eyes that he desperately wanted to though. "Really Dimitri…she's had a tough couple of days, but they say she's improving all of the time."

Dimitri sighed with relief. About three weeks ago, Rose checked herself into a nearby rehabilitation centre in the hopes of getting better and truly getting over her addiction. Neither Dimitri nor Rose had realised that there was a strict no-visiting policy for the first two months of the programme, and so it had come as an unwelcome shock when Dimitri was told he couldn't see her for at least eight weeks. Rose was even worse.

Doing the career I did meant that I had access to places such as these quite often, and Rose being my old patient meant that I could visit her as often as I wanted. If Dimitri had his way, he'd have me there three times a day to check on her for him.

However, it was quite clearly healthier for Rose to work on her issues herself, without myself or Dimitri intervening…although she did ask about him every single time I came to visit.

Upon first arriving at the centre, Rose seemed to take everything in her stride. Her good days began to fade quite quickly and now, just over three weeks later, Rose was in a pretty bad place. Not that I would ever tell Dimitri this; he was feeling bad enough for her as it was.

"Did they say-"

"No." Knowing what he was going to ask, I answered him before he could even get the words out. He had asked the same question almost every day. "I'm sorry, Dimitri. But there's no way they're going to let you see her – at least not for another five weeks."

I hated to see his face drop, but I kept my stern expression. It would do neither of them any good for Dimitri to be moping around waiting for her. Instead, I had been encouraging him to go for auditions and do the things he couldn't do recently because he had been watching Rose for the past year. On one occasion, I had even convinced him to go out with Christian and his buddies to relax, and according to Christian, it was something they were all planning to do again soon.

"I know, I know, you're right. I'm sorry." Dimitri sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, before leaning back against the hood of his car. I sighed and approached him, hating to see his resigned expression.

"It's okay," I gave him a small smile; Rose wasn't the only one who was having a hard time. "I get it; you miss her. You want her to get better but at the same time, you wanted to be the one who helped her. I know it's tough, Dimitri, but you have to remember that the level of Rose's addiction was out of your hands. Out of her hands even. Trust me; you might feel guilty about her being in isolation for the next couple of weeks, but this is going to be so much better for her in the long run. This is the right thing to do, I promise."

Dimitri hadn't looked at me while I was speaking, but I knew from the intent expression on his face as he watched his feet that he was listening. He said nothing for a moment, but then glanced sideways at me.

"How do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Know what I'm thinking."

"I do it every day; it's my job." Dimitri chuckled to himself. After a moment, he straightened up, a new determined expression on his face.

"You're right. And it's not like I'll never see her again. She knows I can come visit in a few weeks, right?"

"She does," I nodded, grinning at the hint of a smile that crossed his face. I may not have thought that their relationship was a good idea in the first place, but having spent a few weeks around them, I knew that Dimitri truly cared about her. And Rose – despite not being in a good place – had somehow managed to push past her past issues with Adrian and fall in love with the man standing in front of me.

"Good." A short amount of time later, Dimitri and I parted ways – he to tend to his slightly neglected apartment and me to my next counselling appointment.

Well that had been the plan anyway…upon arriving at my office, I found that my evening was about to be a hell of a lot different than what I had originally planned. Occasionally, I worked a couple of shifts in the hospital counselling the patients in there, but most of my time was spent at my private practice.

I had last been here yesterday and after arriving at it's location, I noted just how much different it looked.

It wasn't the building itself that was different; that remained pretty much the same.

No, the difference between yesterday and today were the police cars that were surrounding it.


RPOV

I felt as though someone had lit me on fire. Theoretical flames licked at and consume every cell in my body, making me squirm and whimper in agony. They had taken everything off me - even my cigarettes. I had been doing enormously well when I had been with Dimitri, but none of that mattered to them. They saw me as a drug addict – a troubled young girl who needed their help…they didn't see the progress I had already made in the past couple of months.

And while I here, I didn't either.

The need I had to take something had never been so strong in my entire life. The fact that I had absolutely no way of ever obtaining anything made the drugs seem all the more enticing. I wanted a cigarette. That was all. Just to take the edge off…

But would they let me have that? No. It was too much to ask.

"Rose, you know you're not allowed to smoke in here."

I yelled in frustration at the nurse on the other side of my door. "I don't want to smoke in here! I want to smoke out there!"

"Well then," she sighed, looking at me with pity. I glared at her. "You know you're not allowed outside yet. It's okay to feel like this, Rose…It's still early days."

"Stop reminding me." Deciding I wasn't going to get anywhere with the nurse, I grumbled and threw myself onto the bed (which was nowhere near as comfortable as the one that Dimitri and I had been sharing).

Ah, Dimitri; the other craving I had in my life. I wasn't allowed to see him yet as it was still 'early days.' I didn't know if they'd thought he'd corrupt me or something – they had just chuckled when I had suggested it and told me that it was only protocol. I had scowled and rolled over in bed, turning my backs to them.

I miss him. I missed him like crazy. And if the only way I could see him was to power through a few more weeks in here, then I would do it. I could do it, I was sure of it. Dimitri was sure of it. But it was difficult, and that didn't mean that my addiction had suddenly vanished. It was still very much there, seeping through my veins every minute of every day.

"Ugh!" Unfortunately for my pillow, it had been getting a lot of my screaming lately. Due to the lack of objects to throw around or break in my room of isolation, I tended to use screaming into my pillow as a way of releasing my frustration and my pain – sometimes even just my boredom.

When I grew tired of yelling, I decided that I was too tired to move and so just stayed flopped down on my bed. With my face muffled by the pillow, I didn't realise that someone had entered my room….that was until they tapped gently on my shoulder.

"Rose?"

"What?" I groaned, refusing to look up at the nurse.

"Rose, can you look at me please?"

"Hmm…" Grudgingly, I turned my head to look at her.

"Rose, what do you think about coming into the day room for a little bit?"

"You don't think I'm insane anymore?" I ignored the small smile that graced her face upon seeing my resentful expression.

"Nobody ever thought you were insane, Rose. We just think it might be nice for you to talk to some other people going through the same thing; I think it would be good for you. You can't really want to stay cooped up in this room all the time, right?"

"I never said I didn't want to go," I argued. "But you guys are the ones who have been keeping me cooped up in here until now."

Okay so I was pretty irritable with almost everybody who tried to talk to me, except perhaps Lissa. But that was because Lissa knew me, and she knew better than to start asking me questions and being annoying in general when I was in one of my moods.

These nurses and doctors did not.

The chastised me later that night because I had chosen not to socialise with the people in the dayroom. It wasn't my fault though – the patients in there had either already made their 'groups' of friends, or they were complete loners and growled at anyone who walked too close to them.

"You should at least try and make an effort, Rose," I was told by one of the nurses who didn't particularly like me, because on my first day here, I had told her where she could stick her needles. "You never know, you could make some friends here."

"I don't need any more friends," I shot back, taking the disgustingly ugly pajamas from her. "I have friends – friends who want to visit me but they can't because of your stupid rules."

"Alright, that's quite enough, Rose," she sighed tiredly. "Do you want any help getting ready for bed?"

"No, I don't want you looking at all my parts and stuff." She just rolled her eyes at my comment and bade me goodnight – after warning me that I was to be in bed within the next fifteen minutes.

Despite my constant need to irritate them, I was being very good and doing what I was told. The sooner I did everything I was supposed to, the sooner I could get out of here and really start my life with Dimitri. Admitting myself into rehab meant a lot of things, both good and bad in my opinion. It meant finally being freed from my drug addiction – it may have gotten better in recent times, but now was the time that I would truly push it out of my life altogether. However going to rehab also meant giving up my job at the strip club, much to Dimitri's delight I suspected; although he was careful about the way he reacted to this around me.

I was pretty sure that if I wanted it, I could get my job back once I was done in here, but part of me had begun to think that perhaps Dimitri was right…I mean, did I really want that job back? Going back there meant revisiting that part of my life, and I was certain that after six months of this place, I was going to do everything in my power to start my life afresh.

It was that thought that kept me going, that get me pushing through my problems. The idea that Dimitri and I could live a life together as a couple – a life that free from drugs and ex-boyfriend-related problems. A life that was happy, cosy and warm because I was with the man I loved.