Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire Academy, Richelle Mead does, nor do I own Max by James Patterson, nor do I own 'My Wish' by Rascal Flatts.RPOV:1 weeks later
Hanging out in Hawaii was doing great things to my skin. After being inside for almost six straight years, my naturally tan skin had become pasty pale. Being out in the Hawaii sun tanned my skin, and made it look much more healthy than it was before. Over the last few days, Mia, Mason, Dimitri and I had went out as a group, seeing the local sights.
Mason was fast becoming very over-protective of Mia. He was always close by and never let a man, or anyone else, come closer than three feet of her. I found it adorable, and so did Mia, which she told me in the few times we were alone away from our men. I noticed that Mason had also begun sleeping with Mia; I didn't know if they were in the same bed, but I knew they were in the same room. Whenever she was around Mason, Mia looked happy. She looked like the 18 year old that she was for the first time in her life. It lightened my heart to know that she was healing. Of course, I wasn't naive enough to think she was totally fine; there were times when she would lock herself in her room, and I was the only one who could get her out. She also never really let Mason get close to her physically. Anything passed a hug was out of line. Mason respected that as much as Dimitri did, thankfully.
Speaking of Dimitri...He had finally asked me out on a date! It took me breaking down in tears for him to realize that I wanted more than his friendship, but every man needs a little nudge at times, right? I thought back to what happened two days ago.
Dimitri and I were getting ready to go out again with Mia and Mason, to swim with dolphins. As per usual, he went to step out of the room to let me change. Something in that bothered me. Not that I didn't like my privacy, but it felt like he didn't want to see me. Was I that ugly? My eyes welled up with tears.
"Don't you like me?" I asked in a broken voice, tears spilling over. Dimitri spun around, shocked.
"Of course I like you, Rose! What would make you think otherwise?" he asked, perplexed.
"You never look at me, you never touched me in any way but friendly, and you haven't even hinted at asking me out!" I choked out.
Dimitri looked, if possible, more confounded. "I thought you wanted space! I figured you wouldn't want me touching you like that! I didn't think you wanted anything more than friendship after everything you went through!" he cried out, coming closer and wrapping his arms around me.
"Well, I didn't want to like have sex or anything, but you never so much as kissed me! I just wanted to feel loved, that's all! Am I that ugly that you don't want to even look at me?" I sobbed out.
"Oh, Roza, no, no, no! Of course you're not ugly! You're beautiful, so beautiful it hurts me sometimes. I just didn't want to push you, that's all," he explained in a calm voice, rubbing my back gently.
"Really?" I sniffled in a small voice.
Dimitri nodded, ever serious. "Of course. If you want us to be in a relationship, then we will be. If you're sure, of course?" He looked at me questioningly.
I thought about it for a few minutes. Was I ready to be in a relationship? "But I'm damaged. Why would you want me?" I asked in a small voice, looking up at him through my eyelashes.
Dimitri's face softened. "You're not...okay, you've been hurt, but I want to fix that hurt. If you'll let me..." he trailed off, going back to his original question.
"If you're sure you want me, then yes, I want to be with you too," I said, feeling happier.
Dimitri grinned. "Then it's settled. We'll go on our first date...soon. I'll have to plan it all out to make it perfect..." He let me go, muttering to himself underneath his breath.
"You can get out now," I said jokingly.
"Hmm?" He looked up confused. I gestured to my clothing. "Oh, right. Call me in when you're decent." He walked out, muttering again.
Dimitri had asked me out yesterday, and I was now getting ready in Mia's room while he got ready in ours.
Mia and Mason had gone out earlier, to make it seem more like a date, but I thought that secretly, they were also going on a date.
I walked out of the room, dressed in a soft red tank top with a neckline that stopped just below my collar bones, and a black skirt that went down to my knees. I never wanted to wear revealing clothes again. On my feet were simple ballet flats.
Dimitri came out at the same time wearing a fitted green t-shirt and board shorts, sneakers on his feet. I couldn't help but laugh at how slightly ridiculous he looked.
He shrugged. "Hey, I gotta keep cool and be able to save you," he said with a smile.
I rolled my eyes. "Shall we go?" I asked, holding out my arm.
He grinned. "We shall," he replied, tucking my hand into the crook of his elbow.
Dimitri took us to a restaurant in Honolulu. There, we ate out in the open, with an ocean view. We talked and laughed during dinner, mostly about him. He told me about his family, and how crazy it could get living with three sisters, a mom, and two babies.
"I haven't seen them since last Christmas; things were busy. I'm hoping to visit them once this is all over," he said, then looked at me shyly. "Would you like to meet them? I'm sure they'd love you."
I looked at him wide-eyes. "You want me to meet your family? Really? But..." I hesitated.
Dimitri shook his head, knowing where my thoughts were taking me. "They'll understand that it wasn't your choice, and they won't hold it against you. My dad least of all."
"Your dad..." I said thoughtfully. "How is he? You don't seem to talk about him too much."
Dimitri shrugged. "For the most part, he simply works. Sure, he's with the family and all, but he's working and keeping us safe most of the time. For a dad he's pretty awesome. Not many fathers will teach their kids how to hack into a computer system, then when you finally reach what you've been trying to, it turns out to be a big birthday surprise, dinner and all, at your favorite place, not to mention a bunch of presents. That was my 12th birthday, if you're wondering. Every time one of us reached our twelfth birthday, he did the same thing. Taught us to hack the system he created, and the reward was our gifts. The younger kids didn't know of it until they reached 12; the older siblings knew how to keep a secret." Dimitri chuckled. "In fact, that was one of the best taunts. 'You're not 12 yet!' was very commonly heard around the house, whenever someone was mad."
I looked at him with shining eyes. Seeing him so happy as he relived his childhood memories made me happy. "For my 12th birthday, my mom and my friends threw me a surprise birthday party. Like they did every year. So, needless to say it wasn't much of a surprise." I smiled fondly, remembering my mom and my friends. Especially my best friend, whom I have mostly forgotten. I knew she was blonde. And tall. And had a brother. But that's all. I sighed.
"Are you done?" Dimitri asked, looking at my mostly empty plate. I nodded. "Then let's get ice cream." He paid the bill, then we got ice cream.
As we ate it, we walked around. holding hands. We stopped on a bridge.
"It's so beautiful," I whispered, staring out into the ocean where the sun was now setting.
"Not as beautiful as you," Dimitri quipped. I could tell by the amusement in his voice that he knew what a cliche line that was, so I rolled my eyes.
He let go of my hand, and put his arm around me instead. "It is beautiful, but you are much more gorgeous than any ocean view," he murmured, turning so he was now facing me. I mirrored his actions.
He put one hand on my cheek, and the other buried itself in my hair. Hesitantly, he leaned down, giving me the chance to lean away. I didn't; instead, I leaned closer to him until our lips touched. It wasn't like our previous kisses; not that those weren't good, but this one was sweet, unhurried. It held a promise of more kisses to come. It promise this wasn't the end, this was the beginning of us. I never wanted the kiss to end, but breathing purposes made us part.
"Wow," I breathed. "Anyone ever tell you you're a good kisser?" I smiled crookedly.
"As long as you think so, others' opinion doesn't matter." He grinned right back.
Taking my hand once more, we made our way back to our house.
After our date, Dimitri and I became closer than ever. He would frequently steal kisses now, and I would do the same.
"You guys are disgusting, you know that?" Mia told me at one point. The guys went to the store, and Mia and I decided to stay here. "I mean, it's like you're newlyweds, or something. You're so sweet I feel sick, like I ate too much candy when I'm around you."
"You're just jealous cause Mason hasn't asked you out," I teased.
Mia rolled her eyes. "On the contrary, he has, and I said yes, and we have already went. It was amazing. But you don't see us being cuter than a couple of kitty cats," she replied, rolling her eyes.
"Whatever. I really, really like him. A lot. Do you think we'll get married?" I asked dreamily.
"Rose..." Mia said softly. I looked at her; a pained expression had made itself at home on her face.
"What?" I asked, pretending to be oblivious.
"You know that-" she broke off as the sound of the guys coming home floated to the living room where we were sitting.
I walked out, trying not to think of Mia didn't say. I sighed. I knew I had to tell him, but how? I took several deep breaths. He needed to know before things get too serious.
"Dimitri?" I asked, looking up finally. "Can I talk to you?" I knew I had interrupted whatever conversation the two of them were having, but I needed to talk to him. Now. Before I lose my nerve.
"Sure," he said, frowning in puzzlement.
I turned and walked to our room, Dimitri following. Once there, I waved him in, then closed the door firmly.
"What's wrong, Roza?" he asked, concerned now.
"I - I have to tell you something," I whispered, looking down.
"What?"
"I- have you ever wanted children?" I asked instead, looking up at him.
"I - well, sure, when I found the right woman and married her." He smiled at me, letting me know he was talking about me.
I bit my lip to keep from crying. "We can't have kids." I blurted suddenly.
He looked at me, confused. "What do you mean? Well, we can't have kids right now, of course. But do you mean we shouldn't because of this world?" He looked slightly hurt.
I shook my head slightly. "No - I will never have kids. I can't. I...Victor had my tubes tied after the third pregnancy." I could not longer control my tears. They spilled over like a waterfall, nothing to stop them. I crumbled onto the ground, my legs unable to hold me any longer.
"Third...? Oh, God, Roza," he whispered, crouching down next to me. He pulled me into his arms, letting me cry it all out. He began murmuring to me in Russian, trying to calm me down. After several minutes, I finally stopped crying.
"Roza," Dimitri murmured into my ear. "It doesn't matter to me that you can't have kids. I'll still be with you. No matter what. If you'll have me. And if not...well,it's your choice. But either way, I hope your dreams stay big, and your worries small. I'll make sure you never have to carry more than you can hold. I hope you know somebody loves you, wherever you go. Even when I'm not with you. I'll go with you to the ends of the Earth if you want me to. I'll always keep you safe, no matter what. I - I love you, Roza. Your past doesn't matter to me. Only you do." He kissed me on the top of my head.
I couldn't believe it. He actually said he loved me. I looked up at him. "I love you too. I never want you to leave me. Ever."
He kissed me sweetly on my lips. "It really doesn't matter to me if we can have kids. We can adopt. There are alternatives. This won't stop us. It's just a bump in the road."
I sniffled. "If you're sure..."
"I'm positive." He kissed me on last time on the forehead, then helped me stand up. "Dinner?"
Over the next few days, things began to get better. They weren't perfect; Mia and I were still prone to our moments of depression, but with Mason and Dimitri helping us, things started to smooth out. I knew Dimitri and I would have to talk more about my inability to have children, and I could see at times he really wanted to ask what happened and why, but he didn't say anything. He was probably avoiding another break down, so I put it to the back of my mind. I was still worried about my dad. Was he okay? Was he even alive? Was he dead? Lying in a gutter somewhere? Hiding out? Dimitri assured me everything was fine, and that things like this took awhile to figure out. I was still doubtful; in my corner of the underworld, things worked very swiftly. I trusted Dimitri, though, and I knew he would tell me if Abe was in trouble.
My belief in Dimitri came to fruition about five days later.
We had all just gotten back from going to the beach. Neither Mia nor I were comfortable with revealing our bodies, so we both wore one-piece swimsuits with little skirts around the thighs. Mason had joked and said it made us look like old ladies, but if it caused men to look away with disinterest, we'd be happy to wear it.
We were unpacking our beach bags when there was a knock on the door. Everyone froze; as far as we knew, no one knew us here. So who would be knocking?
"Maybe it's a neighbor, needing to borrow something," Mia suggested, ever the optimist.
Dimitri nodded, then shared a look with Mason. "Go to the bedroom," he murmured to me, gently pushing me toward the hallway. I grabbed Mia's arm, and together we silently snuck down the hall to my room.
I heard the door opened, and voices in the kitchen.
"False alarm!" Mason called back. "It's just Abe."
He said it so casually, at first all that registered was the fact that it was safe. I breathed a sigh of relief, and went back to the kitchen.
As soon as I reached it, the other part of Mason's sentence hit. It's just Abe. Just?!
"Baba!" I cried out, throwing myself into his arms. "You're okay! What happened? What's going on? You alive!" I was almost crying with happiness and relief.
"Yes, yes, I'm fine, deep breathes kiz, deep breathes," Abe said, laughing. I could tell that he was just as relieved to see me as I was to see him.
I finally let go of Abe. "So? What's going on?"
"Well..." He hesitated. "It was ruled revenge. I'd try to take down the whole operation, but it would take a long time, and I know it would just start up again. The best I can, the best I have done, is thwart the getting of girls. At the moment...well, to the best of my knowledge, the only way they'll be getting girls is by volunteers." He smiled an evil smile. "There will be no more kidnapping on my watch. We'll stay here for a few more weeks, let the worse of the storm blow over. We can see your mom once I'm sure everything is safe. Then...well, we'll decided that then. Oh, and there's someone who wants to see you." He gestured behind.
For the first time, I focused on the other person. At first, I didn't recognize her.
"Rose?" She said hesitantly.
I stared at her blankly. Something was itching in the back of my mind. Something familiar, something...Recognition hit me like a ton of bricks. I froze in shock.
There, standing tall with her blonde hair and emerald green eyes was Lissa Dragomir - my once best friend.
A/N: Well...here it is. I am so sorry for the long wait. I got grounded from my computer.
Now...for the sequel. There are three options:
1) Simply an epilogue. I'll just write one more chapter for the story, an epilogue. And that will be that. It'll be a long chapter, but it will be just one.
2) A two/three chapter sequel. I'll write a two to three chapter sequel, but that will be all.
3) A multiple chapter sequel. I will write a full sequel with at least ten chapters.
Those are the options. Please vote on my profile. Readers with no profile, please vote through a review. Thank you!