Rose slept throughout the entire day, exhausted. She would often toss and turn, murmuring things, although never screaming. I would hear my name mixed in as well as "I love you" from her lips. That made me smile, though I still worried about her health.

"Mm, Dimitri," she sighed. "Dimitri."

My name became insistent and I sat on the side of the bed, placing my hand gently into hers. She gripped my hand, obviously not wanting to let go. With my free hand, I reached out and touched the cloth over her forehead. It needed to be wet again.

Carefully, I removed my hand from hers and took the cloth from her head, walking into the bathroom and running cold water over it, letting it soak and then squeezing some out. I returned to her side and sat back down, pressing my lips once more against her cheek, and then hesitantly moved them to her lips.

IT was a risk, but she didn't wake up. I sighed and moved back, waiting for her to wake up. I glanced at the clock and found it was seven in the evening, since we had reverted back to a daylight schedule. I felt the bed shift slightly and I realized she was awake.

Automatically, I reached over and pressed her back down on the bed. "Rose."

She looked at me, her eyes trying to focus. She took in my appearance and then placed her hand on my cheek. My hand covered hers as I watched her.

"You're tired," she whispered.

She was worrying about me? She should be worrying more about herself. I offered her a weak smile. "It's fine. How's your head?"

As if just noticing it, she slipped her hand back and used it to press her fingers against her temples, relieving some pain, but it only came back when she let go. She grimaced and I eyed her.

"Rose?"

"Fine," she said through gritted teeth.

"No, you're not," I informed her.

A frown touched her pretty lips. "I'm fine. Now, where's Lissa? Is she okay? Did she get back safely? And where's Promise, is she okay?" A stream of questions hit me, and I knew she wouldn't give up unless I told her.

I let out a sigh. "Lissa is fine. She and Christian are back in their house. They're under protection. Promise is probably downstairs sleeping somewhere. Everyone but you, are alright. You need to get better."

Not giving her a chance to protest, I got up and brought her some water and pills to help ease the pain. She swallowed the pills and then the water. "Rose, I think it might be awhile before you're back in action…Rose?"

She wasn't paying attention to me. "Huh?" she asked, obviously confused.

"I was talking to you. Are you sure you're okay?"

All of a sudden, she started laughing hysterically. She laughed and laughed until she started having a coughing fit. I got up, rolling my eyes and refilling the glass, coming back and handing it to her, only to have Rose choke on that as well.

"Sometimes, I think you've gone mental," I told her shaking my head.

She snorted and laughed. I folded my arms and sat back, waiting for the hysterics to pass, already having experience with it. Finally, she got herself under control.

"Ow. I think I broke something from all that laughing."

I couldn't hide the smile that played with my mouth, and I couldn't resist teasing her. "Actually, you may have some bruising in some form all over parts of your body. And I don't think laughing will make you break anything."

She grinned at me. "How do you know? I recall you ever having a doctor's license."

"Are you sure? Maybe you just don't know everything."

"I wouldn't know if you did or not. Besides, you're a guardian."

"Yes, but it's also common sense. Ever heard of that?"

She stuck her tongue out. "Again, you're just a guardian—my badass Russian guardian, that is—and not a doctor, so once again, how would you know."

"Again, it's common sense. You can break bones from a hard enough impact, but not by laughing. Am I clear?"

That seemed to shut her up. She settled for sticking her tongue out at me again and I laughed. I reached over and caught her hand in mine, looking into her eyes. I held onto her gaze until a knock on the door downstairs caught my attention.

I sighed, a small smile on my lips. I released her hand, standing up and brushing my lips against hers gently. "I'll be back. It's most likely Lissa."

I thumped downstairs and found her waiting. I opened it and she opened her mouth. I cut her off. "She's awake and well for visitors."

She shot me a grateful smile and raced up the stairs as fast as she could, running to the room and over to Rose, letting out a shriek.

"Liss."

"Oops, sorry, Rose."

"You're fine."

"I was so worried."

"Yeah."

"I mean, no one knew where you were, and no one could search anywhere until everything was clear!"

"Liss, I would never let myself die without a fight."

I stood in the doorway, watching as the girls chatted for a bit…Until they both turned to me with pleading eyes. I glanced back and forth between them, sighing when I got the message. "I guess I'll leave you two to gossip about who knows what."

"Thanks, Comrade. Love ya!" Rose blew a pretend kiss at me and I rolled my eyes, stepping out the room.

I entertained myself downstairs, finding nothing to do, except turn on the TV. I found some cartoons and settled for those, smiling when I remembered how Viktoria used to love these cartoons and laugh at every one.

I continued to watch for a little while until I switched it off, getting bored of it. I stood up and fixed up the kitchen, which was a mess since Rose didn't exactly clean up after herself. As I cleaned up, my thoughts veered back to Roza and everything else.

I needed to figure out where that Strigoi had gone in order to attempt to stake him and keep Rose and Lissa safe, even inside the wards. But, what about Dashkov? Was he actually the one behind all this like Rose thought?

I didn't get a chance to think more about it, because there was thumping from the stairs. I moved swiftly into the other room, finding Lissa looking very dejected.

"Lissa?" I inquired.

She didn't answer and I waited. "I….just….nothing," she sighed.

YAYZ ANOTHER CHAPTER! WHOO!

SONGS

Falling Slowly-Glenn Hansard