When I walk into the police station, Rose is slouching forward in a chair with her head hanging low. Her hair is obscuring her face from view but I know without having to see her face that she isn't smiling.

It's a bit of relief for a moment, seeing her with my own eyes that she's alright since the last time I saw her. Well not alright but physically okay.

Before I head toward her, Stan signals me over to his office.

"How is she?" I ask as we stand in the doorway of his office, both of us glancing at a sullen Rose a few feet away. She looks so small and folded into herself.

When Mark called to ask me to pick up Rose after he'd told me what'd happened with her mother, I wasn't exactly expecting to find her smiling but right now she looks more broken than ever.

"Well, it was obvious she was a little embarrassed by what happened with her mother. She pretty much lost her only family support," he explained.

I pinched the bridge of my nose and leaned against the doorway. "I was afraid of that happening."

Rose's hesitance to tell her mother was out of fear of her rejecting Rose. And she did. Despite my reassurances that her mother most likely wouldn't do such a thing, her mother stood up and literally walked away from her.

I can't understand it. That's something my mother would never do. Even with this whole investigation and Vika, she'd never walk away from her and leave her to deal with this all on her own.

And that's probably how Rose is feeling, all on her own.

"She must really feel alone right now," I mutter more to my self than to Stan but he nods in agreement.

"Today didn't exactly help matters. I had to talk Rose out of wanting to make her way home alone again while Mark called you," he tells me and lets out a tired sigh. "After we called you to come pick Rose up, I suggested that we try calling a few of those numbers for lawyers you gave her. Once I explained the case and who they'd be prosecuting, they hung up so fast it's almost ridiculous. None of them wants to mess with the Mayor or his son."

"Damn. Just another thing she has to worry about."

Stand patted me on the shoulder as he turned to go back into his office. "It's pretty rough for her right now. Get her out of here and hopefully I'll have some good news for you guys later. Take care of her Belikov. Seems like you're all she has right now."

I walked toward Rose and kneeled in front of her.

"Rose?"

She looks up slowly and then looks around her like she can't comprehend I'm here.

"Dimitri? What're you doing here?" She wipes at her face for nonexistent tears and then tugs at the ends of her hair.

"Mark and Stan told me what happened."

She sinks a little more into herself as she probably remembers the situation with her mother.

"I thought bringing her here would help. It only made things worse." She shook her head to herself in disbelief, looking down at her hands. "What am I supposed to do now?"

Honestly, I didn't have an answer for her.

I'd been helping with through this under the assumption that all mothers stood by their children in difficult times. Mine has. The reality is some parents can't handle any of it and end up running away when they should be helping their kid who's really struggling to deal with everything.

Rose was facing that reality right now but she didn't have to.

Not alone anyway.

"Come on," I said standing and pulling her up from the chair. "Let's get out of here."

"You're biting your fingernails again."

After a morning of having her mother leave her, fingernails should be the least of her worries but the fingernails that aren't bandaged are starting to bleed.

Rose looks sheepish as she digs in the glover compartment for a bandage.

"It's okay you know," I tell her as she rummages through the compartment and pulls out a Band-Aid. "I mean, it's going to be okay."

It never hurts to reassure.

She gives me a dubious look as she wraps the band aid around her finger. "Before this morning I might have agreed with you."

She turns toward the window and doesn't say anything else for minute. I'm trying to come up with other reassurances that usually come so easy to me when she speaks again.

"I've never believed in fate or destiny or any of that crap. I always believed in what I can do for myself and that if I worked hard enough I'd get my happy ending...or at least a life I'm satisfied with. Watching my mother leave the police station this morning and the thing with Charlie yesterday and not being able to find a lawyer...these all seem like signs, bad signs that this isn't going to end well for me."

I already have my mouth open ready to offer all of my "Zen" reassurances but she holds up a hand to stop me.

"But bad signs or no bad signs, I'm going to fight this and I'm go to get my satisfactory ending. It just means I have to be a little bit stronger. It took me a while to realize that but I have you to thank."

"Me?" I ask smiling a bit, glad that my reassurances have evidently worked.

I glance away from the road for a second to look at her. She's smiling slightly. "Yes you. You've been there for me a lot these past few...weeks. Has it only been a few weeks?" she asks in disbelief.

"Feels longer doesn't it?"

"Feels like forever. I only met Christian yesterday and I feel like I've known him forever."

I have to laugh at that one. "Christian has that affect on people."

"Are you sure you want to hang around the studio?" I ask as we walk in flicking on a few lights as we go. It's pretty early in the morning and I rarely have anyone here. "If it feels weird after the incident with Charlie yesterday-"

"I'm fine, Dimitri...at least I'm going to be," she cuts me off sounding more and more sure of herself.

"Maybe there's a positive spin on what happened with your mother," I offer as I flick on the last of the lights.

Rose is trying to steady herself with the booted bad ankle as she sits on top of one of the stools. "Really? 'Cause I can't think of any," she mutters dryly.

Despite her comment I can see she's waiting for me to offer the positive spin. She needs it, to find something good in all of the bad.

"Well, in the little while I've known you, I've never heard you sound so sure of yourself; I've never once heard you admit that you believe you're going to get through this...until today," I add as I adjust the blinds on one of the windows.

When I glance back at Rose to see how she reacts to my positive spin, she looks pleased and a little sad.

"It took my mother walking out on me for it to sink in that I have to be strong not only for the both of us but mostly myself. Kind of sad," she murmurs. "But true. I like your positive spin."

"I'm glad. Yeva use to tell me that there's always a bright side to everything even after she'd find out about my father hitting us. I've never believed her but, as usual, I'm starting to think she's right."

It's kind of weird. After so many years of trying to forget about my father, months of therapy after the shooting to deal with everything he did, and spending so much time avoiding even thinking about him, its easy to talk about these things with someone who I know has also been in pain, a different kind of pain, but pain nonetheless.

I never thought I'd be able to open about that part of my life again. But that's another bright side in this awful situation: Rose and I both have someone to confide in, some who may not completely understand what either of us has endured but someone who's willing to listen and maybe even relate.

"Okay, everything has a bright side," Rose states. "I can think of a few. My confidence hasn't felt this high in a while. That's one. As corny as it sounds, I've made a new friend," she says with a smile in her voice. In that moment, she sounds the way any normal teenage girl should sound, carefree and happy. She taps her finger against her mouth as she tries to think of more positive spins. "I've made two new friends actually," she corrects. "Two friends who know how to defend themselves and can hopefully show me how to defend myself once this stupid boot, bandage thing comes off," she grumbles lifting up her ankle.

She looks so pouty and so young I have to laugh.

"Here, let's see how bad it is."

I lift her ankle holding it between my hands, touching different spots here and there. "Does it hurt much?"

She shakes her head silently. "Not for a while. I've been so preoccupied with everything else I haven't even noticed. As much as I've been walking on it you'd think it'd be worse."

I set her ankle down. "The bandage is helping hold everything in place. It's getting better."

She brightens a little and sit up straighter. "In that case, can we maybe practice a little today?" she asks hopeful. "Nothing too exerting but maybe we can work on my hand defenses again. I promise I won't hit you again."

I can see that she needs this. Something to keep her mind preoccupied from dwindling on her mother too much.

"Okay. Let me get the bandages and then we'll work on teaching how not to hit your instructor."

Her laugh carries throughout the empty studio, the most lighthearted I've heard her so far.

Over the next few hours or so Rose learns quickly a few strategies to block an offender that's coming straight at her. She picks up each lesson fast than the last, except for how to properly strike someone without hurting herself.

"You have to position yourself a certain way and you have to remember this position quickly. Your attacker is not going to give you time to position yourself to hit him. The important thing is to move fast and strike fast to injure someone trying to hurt you. Don't hurt yourself in the process."

She almost has the stance down but is still a little off. I reposition her arms a little closer to her body. "Keep your arms close. You're less likely to hurt yourself that way."

She tucks her arms close but then the form of her fists are a little off. "Your thumb should either be tucked into your fist or low on the outside of your fists. You can end up breaking your entire hand that way," I tell her as I demonstrate the way her fists she'd be.

With her arms tucked close, her legs not spread too far apart, and her fist in the right position, she looks ready to strike.

"Ready to try it again?"

She nods eagerly. "Who knew working out could be so fun," she comments. "P.E. always sucked for me."

"That's because in P.E. you're not testing your limits. You're just given an exercise to do and are expected to do it. This way you can learn to love exercise."

"I wish I'd had you as my P.E. teacher," she tells me as she readies her body to attempt to strike at an invisible threat in front of her.

Her hit is a little off and her fist curves even though she's striking the air.

"Let's try one of the defense dummies," I suggested, moving to place myself in front of her.

She attempts to strike the dummy and her aim is still a little weird. Her entire body is thrown off and she stumbles a little.

"Maybe I'm a lover, not a fighter," she says lightheartedly and a little sheepish as she repositions herself into her stance again.

"You have it in you," I encourage, fighting a smile at her lightheartedness.

It's refreshing to see her this way...but almost a little believable. I start to worry that she's forcing herself to be positive and happy and smiling. Or maybe this is just the way she was before any of this happened. Surely she wants to be back to her normal self again.

I decide not to push the topic because this happy joking girl is far from the shy distant one I've become use to. For now, it's a defense mechanism to not feel anymore pain, to convince herself to feel stronger. I can see that. For now, it's what she needs.

Instead of placing the dummy in front of her I put myself in front of her. "Maybe you need a real life attacker."

"I can't hit you," she says appalled, falling out of her stance.

"You had no trouble the first time we tried this," I joke and a barely there smile appears on her face as she positions herself.

"Okay." She takes a deep breath. "I can do this."

There a second where she closes her eyes, where I know she's visualizing people she really wants to attack. She takes a deep breath and strikes, aiming where my hands are held.

She hits her target - with a bit more force than I thought she could muster - and stumbles, tipping forward where her weaker ankle isn't supporting her.

Lucky for her I'm close and quick enough to catch her before she falls preventing her ankle from getting any worse. She lets out a little squeal and has her eyes shut tight bracing for the impact before she realizes a second later that she hasn't hit the floor.

She opens one eye and looks around her and down at where my arms are tight around her.

"That was a close one," she breathes in relief, bracing her hands against my chest to steady herself. There's this long moment where her eyes, so brown and usually glistening, look...different. I can't quite place the feelings that her eyes are conveying. It's between appreciation and something else.

"You're a real hero Dimitri," she breathes, smiling softly. "I hope you realize that."

For heart beat I'm still standing there just holding her while she looks up at me gratefully and with mysterious look in her eyes that I still can't place. Another heartbeat and she's trying to hold herself up to stand straight.

Rose twirls the ends of her hair almost like she's embarrassed before clearing her throat as the weird moment between us passes.

I start to remember my mother's warnings from yesterday about Rose developing feelings for the person she sees as her rescuer.

"How about we get something to eat?" she asks already making her way to where her purse is. "I'm kind of hungry after all the practicing."

"That sounds like a good idea," I agree as I head for my keys, my mother's warnings running through my head the entire time.

Rose sets her menu down.

"I'm allergic to mushrooms."

"And I don't like mushrooms so we should probably get an appetizer that doesn't have mushrooms in it," I tell the waiter who nods and agrees to bring us a mushroom free appetizer and gives us a few more minutes to decide what to order.

"I feel kind of bad," Rose says once the waiter is gone.

"Why?"

"You're always paying whenever we eat together."

I shrug nonchalantly. "I'm kind of programmed that way," I answer honestly.

Rose looks a little confused and she furrows her brows a little. "Programmed?"

I fight a smile as I let her in on the upbringings of Yeva and Olena Belikova. "In my house, you can steal a car, use it to rob fifty banks, run over every person you happen to see on the road while drunk and high on drugs and of course you'll be reprimanded. But if I, as a man, ever show any signs that I'm oblivious on how to be a gentlemen, all hell will break loose."

Rose laughs. "But how would your mother or grandmother ever know if you slack on gentlemanliness?"

"My grandmother sees everything, even when she's not around," I answer with certainty. "As for my mother, she just has that weird mom power where she knows everything her children do."

Immediately after the words leave my mouth I think of Janine's lack of mother intuition. Rose seems to be thinking the same thing but doesn't say anything. I also stat thinking about Victoria and how everyone in my family completely missed what was going on with her. "Except for Victoria," I add silently.

There's another one of those short silent moments before I feel warmth over my hand that's resting on the table top. When I look down it's Rose's much smaller hand over my own. So small but full of so much warmth. It's a nice comforting gesture.

"It's no one fault," she says gently just as guilt over how I should've done something sooner about my sister pop into my head. She sounds like me, offering reassurances and hoping I'll take them.

"It's not like none of us noticed something weird was going on with her. We all saw how she stopped talking to us, stopped visiting the studio to run. None of us pushed her on it though because we didn't think it was anything like this and now..." My words trailed off. I didn't want to think that my sister would be like this forever, a member of our family that we were never close to ever again.

"Now she's just like me. She's trying to deal with this and she...made a mistake," Rose again tries to reassure. She gives my hand a little squeeze before letting go to skim her menu while I push my hair back from my face and scan my own menu.

Victoria did make a mistake. I just hoped she'd realize she didn't have to deal with this alone anymore than Rose does. I gave Rose a grateful small smile and she returned it before we both started looking through our menus again.

"I don't know what to order," she sighs flipping from the first page to the last. "Every time I go out to a restaurant -which isn't often- I always tell myself I'll order something different but I end up ordering the same thing."

"Which is?"

She looks a little sheepish. "Pizza and then something chocolate covered afterward. My favorites."

I can't help smiling. "That's such an innocent, childhood meal."

"And it's the best! Nothing can top pizza and then chocolate goodness afterward," she argues.

"That is where you're wrong," I counter argue.

"Okay fine, you name a better food than pizza."

"I'll do better than that. I'll show you."

"Fine, you surprise me while I go to the bathroom."

The waiter returns seconds after Rose leave for the bathroom and I order for the both of us. After a few long minutes, Rose returns looking a little startled as she eases herself down into her seat.

"You alright?"

She's looking over her shoulder, her hair flicking back and forth as she does so.

"I just thought I saw someone," she murmurs before shaking her head.

Before I start to ask questions Rose plasters a smile on her face and asks," so what'd you order?"

"You'll see. It is food of the gods," I answer.

When I start worrying about who it was she thought she saw, the waiter returns pretty quickly with our food.

"Mac & Cheese!" she grins laughing. She takes a forkful and shovels it into her mouth. "Okay, you have a point. Mac and Cheese is pretty good but pizza is still awesome."

I start to smile, happy that I chose wisely when Rose and I both notice the waiter is still standing there staring at her. She's unnerved by his stare and squirms in her seat.

"Is something wrong?" I ask the waiter.

The young guy glances at me quickly before turning his attention back to Rose. "No nothing's wrong it's just...you're the girl from the news right? The girl everyone's talking about?" he asks.

"How do you know that?" she asks, considering the fact that her name or picture was never released.

The waiter looks a little embarrassed. The second before he clears his throat and answers I realize he's probably seen Rose's picture not on the news but online.

"Well... I...I saw your...I saw the...I didn't mean to. I just..." he stumbles over his words left and right trying to explain. All the while Rose is looking more and more uncomfortable. All signs of happiness from earlier completely gone.

"Could you just leave now," I order the waiter, cutting him off mid-babble.

He returns his stare to me again and realizes for the first time that he should be a little afraid of the big guy across from the girl he's making feel uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry, I just wanted to say I think what you're doing, going against the Mayor's son is pretty amazing," he tells her. "My sister use to go to the same school with him until...well things were bad but what you're doing is very brave."

Rose is just sitting there unsure of what to say and her food long forgotten.

"That's nice of you to say," I thank him for her. "Now if you don't mind..." I hint for him to leave.

"Oh, right sure of course," he says inching away, eyes wide as it sets in that he's making things more uncomfortable by the second. Before he's gone though he says to Rose again, "It really is a good thing that you're doing. My sister and I hope you win."

Rose nods managing a ghost of smile. The guy scoots away giving me an apologetic nod before he's gone.

The silence that settles around us in the lively restaurant is stifling. "We could leave if you want? Maybe get our food to go," I offer. That sounds like the best scenario.

"I can't believe there are people like that," she says without answering my question. "It's just like what Christian said...about me being brave."

"It's because it's true."

Unlike the day before, when she'd vehemently denied any bravery at all, this time she seemed thoughtful and ready to accept it. "Maybe," she says distractedly, giving it some thought as she looks off in the direction the waiter left in. After a minute or two she notices her plate of food still in front of her and starts eating again.

"I have to admit," she says after we eat in silence for a while," This does taste like food of the gods," she tries to smile.

Happy to see her recovering quickly from everything the waiter said, I smile and tell her about my family's cooking. For the rest of our dinner she listens to me talk about my family. The more questions she asks about them, about things we do together, what it's like being apart of such a big family, the more I realize it's probably because she's never had family experiences like that.

After what her mother did today, I'm finding it very hard to believe she's has had many good family experiences if any at all.

"We've had a few good times," she tells me when I switch the conversation from me to her as we walk from the car to the studio after dinner. "Not many and they mostly happened when I was younger. I can probably count on my hand how many good times we've had," she laughs dryly. "I mean, it's not like things between me and my mom were bad. She always works to take care of me, makes it a point to check on me. We never argued or anything like that. It's more like since she was rarely around from working so much, we never really got to know each other. We're like roommates instead of mother and daughter. And right now my roommate has abandoned me."

We go through the back entrance of the gym and Rose sits behind the desk, deciding she's ready to work.

"She doesn't know how to deal with this," I point out the obvious. "Hopefully, she'll come around and until she does, you have others who support you."

Rose looks relieved to hear the reminder and relaxes into the office chair. I have one night class to cover and I'm a little anxious to leave her hear in the office alone again. "Are you sure you'll be alright?"

She nods, already starting on the new schedules as I wrap protective bandages around my hands.

"If you need anything, you know where I am," I remind her.

As I'm leaving the office she calls out my name. When I turn to look at her she's wearing her soft appreciative smile and says, "Thanks."

A/N: I feel like I'm letting you guys down. I totally had something major planned for this chapter but it turned out kind of longer than I intended and I'm still working up to it in the next two chapters. I was thinking of breaking this chapter up but it's been so long since I've updated I though a long chapter was overdue. I'm sorry it was a little slow and I hope I can make it up in the next few chapters!

As always, you readers and reviewers are awesome sauce!

By the way, Duchessina I totally like you're idea and currently taking it into account!:d