The next morning I woke up to Dimitri running his fingers gently through my hair. I opened my eyes and smiled.
"Good-morning." He murmured.
"Morning." I said, leaning forward to kiss him. He smiled.
"Sleep well?" He asked. I chuckled.
"Very." I assured him. He kissed my forehead.
"Good." He said. I giggled.
"Ready to go home?" He asked me. I frowned.
"Yes and no." I said. He chuckled.
"Yes because of Bailey and no because of everything else… right?" He asked. I nodded.
"You know me too well." I whispered. He smiled. "I know." He said. I chuckled and pressed my lips to his. He snaked his arm around my neck, knotting his fingers into my hair, holding me there. I giggled.
"We have to get ready to leave." I finally said, after forcefully prying myself off of him. He nodded. I went and got a shower, while he packed up all of our things. After I did my hair, and make-up, I gave him the bathroom. I walked outside, to the dock of the lake. The moon reflected off the water, like a spotlight. It was beautiful. I stood there alone for awhile, before I heard Dimitri come out of the cabin behind me. He walked up behind me, and wrapped his arms around my waist.
"Its beautiful." I whispered. He nodded.
"I know you are." He said, pressing a kiss to my neck. I turned in his arms to face him.
"Thank you so much for this. For bringing me here and letting me get away. I've had so much fun here with you." I said. He smiled at me and nodded.
"Your welcome. It was my pleasure." He murmured. He leaned forward and pressed his lips to mine.
"I love you." I whispered. He smiled.
"I love you too." I said. We went back inside and grabbed our bags, taking them to the van, and heading home. He held my hand the entire way home.
"Do you think Tasha's gone yet?" I asked, looking at him. He shrugged.
"I hope so." He said. I chuckled.
"Me too." We pulled through a drive-thru and got some food as we headed back to the court. As we made it to the iron gates of the court, I started bouncing in my seat. I knew I was only a few feet from my baby girl. The moment the van stopped and we got out, Dimitri looked at me and grinned.
"Go get her. I'll be there in a minute." He said. I smiled and took off running into the courts doors and upstairs to the Dragomir wing. I threw our door open to see Bailey walking towards her room. She jumped, but the moment she saw me, she ran to me, throwing herself into my arms.
"God, I've missed you." I said. She giggled as I spun her around.
"I missed you too mommy." She cried. I heard Dimitri walk in behind me and set our bags down inside the door. I sat Bailey down as she ran into Dimitri's arms. He spun her around too.
"I've missed you daddy." She said. Dimitri smiled at her.
"I've missed you too sweetie." He said, pressing a kiss to her forehead. I hadn't even noticed Adrian standing in the doorway of Bailey's room.
"Adrian." I said. I walked over and hugged him. "Thank you so much for letting us get away. I really needed it." He nodded.
"I know. Your welcome." He said. I could tell by the set of his face, something was wrong.
"Adrian… whats wrong?" I asked. He shook his head.
"Nothings exactly wrong, but… while you guys were gone.. I found out some stuff about Bailey." He said. My eyes went wide.
"What?" I said, looking at her.
"Compulsion doesn't work on her." I pushed him.
"You tried to compel my daughter." I screamed.
"No. She was scared and I wanted to calm her down." He said.
"She's not affected?" I asked. He shook his head.
"I had Christian try too. It doesn't work. It doesn't even phase her." Adrian said.
"How is that possible?" Dimitri asked him.
"I don't know." Adrian answered. Then something clicked.
"Wait.. What was wrong that you wanted to calm her down? Why was she scared?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at him.
"We were here the other night and… well, remember how I told you your aura darkens when Liss uses magic, because she's bleeding spirits darkness into you?" I nodded. I was scared.
"Yeah. I remember." I said. He took a deep breath.
"Bailey's aura dimmed the same way yesterday. I sent Christian down to see if Liss was using her magic… and she was." I felt myself stumbled back some. This couldn't be happening. Not my daughter. Not Bailey. That wasn't fair.
"But… I'm the one connected to Lissa. It shouldn't be.. It can't be." I stuttered.
"It did. The only guess I have is that… since she's yours and connected to you, and your connected to Liss, it connects all three of you." Adrian said. I stumbled back a little. Dimitri caught me.
"That's not fair. That can't be. That could hurt her." I said.
"Mommy… whats wrong?" Bailey asked. I patted her head.
"Nothing… everything's fine." I assured her. It wasn't though. Lissa's darkness was crippling, and it could cause her to get hurt.
"This can't be happening. Not to her." I said, shaking my head.
"It wasn't as bad as your aura when it darkens. It just dimmed a little bit, but it was the same thing." Adrian said.
"Maybe your wrong." I snapped. Dimitri put a hand on my arm.
"I could be, and I thought about that… but Rose, it was like when we were at the Ski lodge, and when I went back to St. Vlad's with you guys. It dimmed just like yours did." He tried explaining. I didn't want to hear it.
"Your wrong." I snapped.
"Rose-" He said. I shook my head, and turned and walked out the door.
"Rose… wait-" Dimitri's plea was cut off by the door slamming. I ran into the gym, thankful no one was in there. I started to take out the frustration I had now on the punching bag, but the pain of thinking about my daughter being ate up with darkness the same way I was, was crippling. I hit my knee's and sobbed into the floor. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair at all. My daughter, innocent and sweet being punished this way. I stayed in the gym, and sobbed into the floor for at least two hours. When I was finally able to get up, I realized I had to find Adrian. I'd blamed him. I'd yelled at him, and he was probably right. Lissa was probably bleeding into the both of us. I walked to the Ivashkov wing, and knocked on the door. He opened the door, and all I could smell was alcohol.
"Adrian." I said. It was more like a whisper. The tears started streaming again. He just pulled me into his arms, and held me.
"Its okay." He murmured. He shut his door behind me.
"I'm sorry I got upset at you. I'm sorry I yelled." I cried into his shoulder. He shook his head.
"Its okay. I know how hard it was to hear it. You don't know how hard it was for me to see it." He said. I nodded. I kissed his forehead.
"Thank you so much for watching her. For being so good to her." I said. He smiled.
"I love that little girl." He said. I nodded.
"I know." I whispered. He kissed my forehead.
"You should get back to Dimitri and Bailey. They were worried about you." He said. I nodded.
"I'm going. I just wanted to come apologize for the way I acted." He smiled.
"All is forgiven. Now go." He said. I kissed his cheek, and walked out. As i got back to my room, I took a deep breath before opening the door. Dimitri was on the couch, with Bailey asleep in his lap. He started to speak, but I put a finger to my lips. He nodded. He stood up with Bailey in his arms and carried her into her room. When he came back out, he shut the door behind her.
"Are you-" I cut him off.
"I'm fine. Just had a bit of a break-down. I'm fine." I said. He frowned.
"That's what I was trying to avoid." He said, a bit of a smirk on his face.
"Its fine. I'm fine. It just… I never would have though-" He cut me off.
"None of us did Rose, but we've got to deal with it. We'll work through it, the same way we work through it with you. Everything's going to be fine." He said. "But she's so young… and weak." I whispered. He chuckled.
"Rose… she's your daughter. She's not weak. If anyone could deal with this out of the entire court. It would be you and her." He said. I nodded.
"You have too much faith in me." I whispered. He shook his head as he pulled me into his arms.
"No… you deserve it." He said. I sighed.
"Come on. Lets go to bed." He said, taking my hand and carrying me off into the bedroom. We both changed clothes and pulled me against his chest.
"Promise me.. Promise we wont let anything… anything ever separate this family." I said, as I buried my face into his chest.
"We wont Roza. I promise." I nodded, and with that… I fell asleep.
