Yes, another update! And you didn't even have to wait that long! So I didn't get that many reviews last chapter, did I lose some people? Either way thanks to those of you who did review! Romitri99 and RozalineGrey899, special shout out to you for all of your awesome excitement!

Dimitri said to tell you guys that he loves you all and that I don't own VA! Ok, read on ;)

Summer Romance.

Chapter 29.

If Dimitri thought my request was odd, which it was, he didn't say so. Instead, He just kept driving in the direction of his building so he could turn the car around. Drivers honked and some even swore at us as Dimitri swerved and turned the car, but he just ignored them and I was too out of it to complain very much.

Dimitri's eyes were fixed directly on the road ahead of us, but I felt him looking at me from the corner of his eyes a couple times. He didn't try to talk to me though, probably knowing that I needed a few minutes to gather my thoughts. As for me, well, I stared out of the window, but I didn't really see anything. Everything blurred together creating a jumbled mess in my brain. But in the sea of all that confusion, I saw Lissa's jade eyes. They were full of a plea that I couldn't understand.

Something was wrong, I knew that. It was pressing in on my chest so hard that I could hardly breathe much less to even think straight. The problem was that I didn't know what exactly that was. And, I didn't know how to help her. My best bet right then was to go back to the hotel. I only hoped that she hadn't left. It certainly did not help that my mind seemed intent on torturing me with it's graphic images of Lissa beatened and bruised.

Dimitri was usually a patient person, but I saw the moment when that patience ran out. He'd just pulled the car onto the main road that led back to the hotel. I felt his gaze on me more regularly and knew he was going to ask something sooner or later. And yet, when he spoke, I jumped.

"Roza?" He said. "Are you going to tell me what's wrong? Why do you suddenly want to go back to the hotel? I mean we agreed that you would go back to my apartment with me since yesterday, so what's the problem?" My tongue froze up. How was I going to explain that Lissa and I had a connection of sorts and I always knew when she needed me?

I dragged my eyes away from the window and toward Dimitri. He looked so confused and hurt. Hell, he looked like he might pull the car over if I didn't start talking soon. Oh just tell him Rose, I inwardly told myself. He'll understand. Plus, he does deserve to know. Maybe it was a sign of insanity that I was having a conversation with myself, but if that wasn't bad enough, I found that my inner rambling helped me to calm down somewhat.

"Well, uh, well you know Lissa is my best friend, right?" He nodded. "And you know that we literally grew up together to, right?" Another nod and my heart flipped. I had to summon every bit of my already lacking self-control to get the next words out.

"I've always sort of been able to tell if something's wrong with her and she could do the same for me. Ever since the accident, it's gotten stronger. She needs me Dimitri, she's in trouble." Well, if he didn't think I was crazy before, he certainly did now.

"What kind of trouble, Rose?" I have to admit, I was a little surprised by his question. I was sure he was going to pull this car over and drop me off. I stared confusedly, but Dimitri's eyes though on the road were filled with concern.

"I don't know. It doesn't work that way," I said. "I can just tell if she needs me and sometimes, if she's not too far, I can find her when no one else can." Dimitri nodded again. Well, he wasn't looking at me as if I was a freak, so maybe it wasn't that bad.

"You-you believe me? You don't think I'm crazy?" I asked him. Dimitri only shook his head.

"Of course not, you guys have been best friends forever and, you've been through a lot. Something like that warrants some kind of connection, right?" Dam it. I'd gotten lucky when I'd found Dimitri that night in the club. I knew it, but it would only make leaving Russia and him so much harder. Even if we did find a way to make things work, it still wouldn't be the same.

"Roza, you coming?" I jumped startled and glanced up. Dimitri had pulled the car into the hotel's parking lot and was now standing at my side holding my door open.

"I-yeah," I said, fumbling with the seatbelt. Unbuckling myself would've been a lot easier if my hands weren't shaking, but I was powerless against the panic that gripped me. Dimitri was quick to act and had me unbuckled and in his arms in record time.

"Hey, it's ok," He said soothingly. "Lissa will be fine. If she's in trouble, we'll help her. But you need to relax, ok?" I felt my lips twitch a little at his mention of we. I rested my head against Dimitri's chest, giving myself this moment. When I was in his arms I felt invincible, I was safe. The strong, steady thud of his heart beneath my head was all the assurance I needed.

When the bells on the lobby doors chimed, the moment was lost. Surprisingly, I didn't feel like crumbling up and dying. Maybe it was what Dimitri had said, or maybe it was that need burning deep within me to find out what was wrong with Lissa, but either way I felt much better than I had moments before. I didn't hesitate to walk inside.

Dimitri followed close behind me as we stepped through the lobby doors and into the cool hotel air. The humidity from earlier in the day had carried on into the night, or maybe it was just the adrenalin coursing through me that was causing me to feel so hot. I didn't know, and I decided the moment we got inside the elevator, that it really did not matter. Right now, Lissa needed me.

So by the time we made it to our floor, I'd managed to push all thoughts of humidity and leaving Russia and how Dimitri and I would make our relationship work far out of my mind. My only concern was the girl behind that door. Without a moment's hesitation, I shoved the key card into the slot. The door opened in no more than a few seconds, but that time felt like a few hours to me.

"It doesn't look any different from when we left," I said, letting out a relieved breath. Dimitri said nothing; he just stared intently at the door on the other side of the room as though expecting Lissa to come out of it at any second. It was in that moment that I realized that we weren't actually in her room.

"Liss?" I was halfway across the room before her name had even fully left my lips. "Lissa, you in there?" My Knuckles came down harder than was intended on the hard wood door, but still I got no response. I froze. It wasn't long before I started beating the living daylights out of that door, though.

"Lissa, come on. This isn't funny, I'm counting to 3 and if you don't let me in, I'm kicking this door down!" Still, I heard nothing from inside and my heart sank.

I stepped back a little, more than ready to fire a kick that would undoubtedly knock the door off it's hinges, but before I had a chance to strike, Dimitri grabbed my hand. "Roza, wait."

"Dimitri, I can't. She could be in reel danger!" Was this man crazy? Did he not understand the severity of the situation? Lissa could be in there holding a blade to her wrist for all I knew.

"Yes, but kicking the door down isn't going to solve anything. Plus, I found these." He held up a set of silver keys and I relaxed. Dimitri, sensing the change let go of my hand. He stepped forward and pushed the key into the lock. It opened easily and I rushed inside.

The room was empty. Well, maybe empty wasn't the right word. All of Lissa's things were still in there; it was just her who wasn't. That earlier panic resurfaced. Only this time, I couldn't push it back. I couldn't fight it.

It was all encompassing, determined, it pushed it's way into my every cell until I was one with it and fighting was futile. I didn't know what was reel or what wasn't anymore. An image of Lissa forced it's way into the tangled mess that was my head. Her eyes were desperate and pleading, her smooth, pale skin marred and bruised, and her silk-like hair in complete disarray.

"Hey, hey, Rose." Dimitri said, but I didn't hear a word. All I felt were hands on my shoulders, hands that could do some reel damage if I didn't get them off me. I didn't think. I just reacted. I balled my hands into fists and struck out with a right hook straight for his face. Except, he caught my hand in his before it made impact. For some reason that only made me angrier and I kept trying to hit him.

"Roza, stop. Stop fighting me." He grabbed my hand again, but it didn't stop me from striking out with the other one. It barely grazed his cheek before he grabbed my other hand in his. He spun me so that I was facing the wall and pinned me against it.

"Roza, stop fighting. I'm not going to hurt you." I stopped struggling and he let up on his grip enough that I could move around. Faster than he could blink, I spun in his arms and nailed him with a knee to the groin.

His hands fell away and he hit the ground like a stone. For extra measure, I jabbed my elbow into his larynx ensuring that he wouldn't be able to come after me. Then I bolted for the door. I was well on my way out but a string of breathless Russian reached my ears and I froze. Oh, shit. What the hell had I done?

"Shit…Dimitri!" I fell to my knees beside his fallen form. "I'm so sorry, are you breathing? You're breathing. God, I'm sorry."

He tried to talk, but all that came out was a wheeze and cough. "Don't talk," I instructed. "I'll get you some water." I quickly came to my feet and took off into the kitchenette.

I grabbed a bottle of water and then rummaged around in the freezer for a make shift icepack. All I found was a Popsicle. Well, it would have to do; I thought when I heard Dimitri's low curse. I took off in a sprint back to Lissa's room. He'd managed to drag himself up into a sitting position while I'd been gone. I could see that it took a lot of effort mostly because he looked like he might puke.

"Here," I said, and handed over the bottle. Dimitri drank half of it down in one gulp while I kept spewing apologies.

"It's ok Roza, I'll live." He said and I reached for the makeshift icepack. "Whoa, don't you put that anywhere near my balls," Dimitri growled with a grimace. I jumped back.

"Sorry," I repeated somewhat shyly. Dimitri reached for me and I didn't hesitate to let him pull me into his arms.

"It's ok. Are you ok now?" I nodded and he smiled. "Ok, well I'm just going to use your bathroom. Just to check things out down there, make sure we can still have children." He pressed a quick kiss to my forehead and then walked off to the bathroom.

Meanwhile, I tried to not get ahead of myself, but it wasn't easy. Not with what Dimitri had said, he wanted to have a family with me. With a sigh, I stood and went back to the kitchen. I gulped down the rest of Dimitri's water and then dumped the bottle into the trash. The Popsicle went next, I couldn't imagine eating it, not after what I'd intended to use it for. Once that was done, I sank down onto a chair and grabbed my phone. I dialed Lissa, praying that she would answer.

She didn't. But that didn't stop me from hitting redial. Over and over I called her phone, and each time, her voicemail picked up. And with every unanswered call, I felt my heart sinking more and more and worry and panic gripped me. By the time Dimitri came out of the bathroom, I was frustrated enough that I was ready to throw my phone across the room.

"She's not answering Dimitri," I said. "She always answers her phone! It's the first sign that something's wrong!" I hit redial one more time and was met with the same result.

"How about we go see Christian. Maybe he's seen her? Hell, maybe she's with him." Dimitri was in cop mode and taking charge. I was too exhausted to argue so I let him drag me to the door.

Dimitri opened the door and stepped outside, but I stopped. Something on the floor had caught my eye. It sparkled in the dim light of the suite. With my heart in my throat, I bent over and picked it up. My heart stopped. In my hand was Lissa's necklace, the one given to her by her mother. The one with the jade dragon pendent, the one she never took off.

"D-Dimitri," I said quietly. He spun around and the moment he saw what was in my hand, his eyes darkened.

"She never takes this off," I said desperately.

"I know," Dimitri said. "I've never seen her without it, even if it doesn't go with what she's wearing."

"I-I don't think she's with Christian," I said quietly.

"Maybe not," He said. "But we should still go talk to him. We should let him know what's going on." I wanted to yell at him because I didn't think Christian was going to be able to help, but Dimitri did have a point. Christian did need to know and who knows, maybe he knew where Lissa went.

As we walked across the hall to Christian's suite, I dropped the necklace into my purse. A few seconds later, we were pounding on the door. "Geez, I'm coming, I'm coming!"

"Rose, Dimitri, to what do I owe the honour? And why do you feel the need to break my door down at this hour?" Christian asked.

"Do you know where Lissa is?" Dimitri asked, getting straight to the point. Christian frowned slightly.

"No, but she's a big girl. She's allowed to go out isn't she?" He said with a smirk, but I saw the slightest bit of worry in his eyes.

"She is, but I don't think she's gone out," I said hesitantly. Every bit of Christian's humour dried up.

"What do you mean? Why do you say that?" He asked.

"Because I don't know where she is." I told him.

"So? That usually means that she has gone out, Rose." Christian said, his eyes flashing blue fire. I opened my purse and pulled the necklace out. If possible, those ice blue eyes went even darker.

"You know she never takes this off, right?" I asked. He nodded.

"I know. Where did you find that Rose," Christian asked seriously.

"It was found by the door." Dimitri said. "We don't know if it fell off or if she just left it there." Christian met my eyes and I saw all the worry that I felt mirrored as clear as day in those blue eyes tinged with guilt and regret.

"You guys, she couldn't have gotten far. Let's take a drive around town, Baia isn't that big. If she's here, then we'll find her." Christian and I didn't question him. Instead, we followed his led down to the parking lot where the hope of finding Lissa awaited.

Oh no! So, what actually happened to Lissa? Is she actually missing? What are we thinking? How are we feeling? And will Rose and Dimitri be able to find her if she's in trouble before it's too late?

Review and tell me guys, Dimitri will take you to that little garden that he took Rose to ;)

Lots of love XXX

Roza