Thank you very much for all the reviews! :)

I'm going on a trip this Tuesday so I won't be able to update until I come back, which is Friday. There might be a chance I'll update one more chapter before I leave, though.

Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy.

CHAPTER 38

RPOV

I didn't sleep that night. I couldn't. I knew Dimitri would be alright, but I wouldn't be able to sleep until I'd seen him – awake. I wanted to go back to the hospital in the morning, but my mom reminded me we had to go to the police station first.

When we got there, Mikhail was already there and waiting for us. He told us he'd been up all night and that he'd spoken to Dimitri's family in the hospital. I asked him if there was more news about Dimitri. He told me Dimitri was out of recovery and that his family was with him now.

"Have you found Jesse yet?" I asked.

"No, I'm afraid not. We've questioned his parents, but they don't know where he is." Mikhail looked at my mom and said, "The captain wants to see you."

"Why?"

"He's going to take you off the case," he said, giving her an apologetic look.

"What?" Mom exclaimed. "He can't do that."

"Just go see what he says while Rose gives me her statement," Mikhail sighed. I suddenly noticed how tired he looked.

"I want to be there when she does," Mom said.

"Well, it's up to Rose. She's an adult now so technically she doesn't need any parents to be present during the-"

"I don't care," Mom interrupted.

Mikhail turned to me and said, "What do you say, Rose?"

"I'd rather go in alone," I said quietly, averting my eyes from my mom.

"Rose-" Mom started.

"Janine, you should go to the captain now," Mikhail said. He put his hand on my shoulder and led me away. He opened a door and gestured for me to go inside. I looked up at my mom and saw her staring at me, hurt.

"I'm sorry," I said softly before going in.

Mikhail closed the door behind me and got everything ready before sitting down across the table from me. I wrapped my arms around myself and waited for Mikhail to start.

"So, Rose, can you tell me what happened last night?" Mikhail said at last.

I frowned. "I told you that already."

He gave me a faint smile. "I know, but I need to know the details."

"Oh. Okay."

I told him everything what had happened last night. I told him all the details I could remember. I also decided to tell him about the notes and the calls and Jesse's stalking when we'd just broken up. The only thing I didn't mention was that Dimitri and I had been kissing when Jesse suddenly had appeared. I didn't think it was a good idea if he knew Dimitri and I were in a relationship. Mikhail listened intently and typed away on his laptop as I spoke.

"Okay, correct me if I'm wrong," Mikhail said when I was done talking. "Jesse started stalking you when you broke up with him, right? It went on until your teacher, Dimitri Belikov, caught him hurting you. Then it stopped for a few months, but then you started to get notes and anonymous calls. Is that correct?" I nodded and let him continue. "You informed Dimitri about this, because he seemed trustworthy to you. You didn't find out who'd been harassing you until last night, when Jesse told you. And you were with Dimitri when he confronted you, right?"

I nodded again.

Sighing, Mikhail ran his hand through his hair. "Okay. So he stabbed Dimitri out of revenge for helping you?"

"That could be true, but…"

"But what?" Mikhail asked when I didn't continue.

I hesitated, but then decided to tell him. "Well, Jesse is very jealous and he thought Dimitri and I…he thought that we're together."

"And are you?" Mikhail questioned.

"No," I lied. "Of course not. Besides, Jesse thought that of every guy I was talking to. Whenever I talked to Eddie – he's my best friend – he would think I was dating Eddie. When Dimitri helped me out when Jesse was harassing me, he thought the same about Dimitri."

"Hmm. And what did the notes say?" Mikhail asked.

"Well, they were about Dimitri and me. He threatened he would tell my mom about us."

"But there was nothing going on between you and Dimitri?"

I shook my head.

"And the calls?"

"The same," I responded. "At first, he wouldn't say anything, though."

"So, what were you doing with Dimitri out there?" Mikhail asked.

I bit my lip. I couldn't tell him the truth, right? Who knows what might happen to Dimitri when word would get out he'd been dating his student for months now.

"Rose, I need to know the truth," Mikhail said after a few minutes of silence. "I'm only trying to help you. So please, if there's something you've been keeping from me, tell me now."

I nodded and took a deep breath. "Dimitri and I… we'd just come back from a date," I said quietly.

"So Jesse was right? You were dating him?"

I shook my head. "N-no. It wasn't like that. Dimitri helped me out a lot when I had trouble with Jesse. He was always there for me when I needed him. And well, you know…it developed into something more. But he was still my teacher so we didn't do anything about it. I didn't want him to lose his job because of me."

Oh God. I couldn't believe I was lying to a police officer. But what else could I do? If I told the truth, Dimitri would get in a lot of trouble.

"So you waited until you were graduated?"

"Yes."

"And Jesse knew about the date?"

"No. At least, I didn't think so. He must've followed us. I don't know. But he was there all of a sudden and he freaked out. I thought he was over me because he'd started dating Camille, but apparently he was only dating her to get her to help him with the notes."

"Camille?" Mikhail asked. "You haven't mentioned her before."

"Camille Conta," I said. "She's someone from my year. She didn't like me very much. Jesse started dating her and she put the notes in my locker for him. I don't think she meant me harm, though. I think she just did it because she was in love with him."

"Why do you think that?"

"I don't know. From the things Jesse said… I think she really loved him and that it was the reason why she helped him."

"Okay. Thank you," Mikhail said. "That was all for now. If I have more questions, I'll come to you." He took something out of his wallet and placed it on the desk. "That's my card. You can call me if you think of something else. Or when you see Jesse."

"Okay, thanks," I said, taking the card. I put it away and looked up at him again. "Will you tell my mom? You know, about Dimitri and me."

He sighed. "I think you should tell her. She deserves to know the truth. Not only about your teacher, but also about everything that has happened with Jesse. Why did you never tell her he was harassing you?"

"She liked Jesse," I said. "And I didn't want her to worry about me. Dimitri told me several times I should tell her, but I always thought it wouldn't make a difference. I should've listened to him. Then this would've never happened. Then he wouldn't have gotten hurt." Tears stung in my eyes, but I refused to cry again. "So…what will happen to Jesse when you find him?"

"He'll probably go to jail," Mikhail said.

I nodded and started to get up. "Well, thanks."

Mikhail walked me outside. My mom stood in the hall, leaning against the wall. As soon as she saw us, she came striding toward us.

"So what did the captain say?" Mikhail asked her.

"He took me off the case," she grumbled. "Said I was too involved. That I wouldn't be able to be objective."

"Well, he's probably right," he responded. "I mean, your daughter is involved in this after all."

"I guess," Mom muttered, clearly not happy.

Mikhail glanced at me and gave me a small smile. "Thank you for your cooperation, Rose."

"No problem," I said quietly.

He gave us a nod and left.

"So how did it go?" Mom asked as we walked back to the car.

"It was okay," I replied.

"Will you tell me now what's happened?" Mom asked. "I'd really like to know what you were doing out there."

"Can we please talk about that later?" I pleaded. "I want to see Dimitri."

She sighed. "Fine," she gave in. "But we will talk about it, Rose. You won't be able to avoid it forever."

I nodded. "I know, Mom."

A couple of police officers passed us by. I heard them talking about questioning Jesse's parents. Mom stopped walking and turned to me.

"You know what," she said. "You can take the car and go to the hospital. I'll catch up with you later there."

"Mom, what are you going to do?" I asked.

"I'll be back in a few hours," she said, ignoring my question. She walked back to the police station and left me in the parking lot.

"Great," I muttered.

She would probably try to find out what was really going on. Or maybe she wanted more information on Jesse. I didn't know and for the moment, I didn't care. I just wanted to get to the hospital as soon as possible.

When I arrived there, I made my way to the nurses' station. I figured they'd probably moved Dimitri to a different room now that he was out of recovery. I was right. He did get moved, but the nurse wouldn't tell me which room at first. Because I wasn't family.

"I'm his girlfriend," I said, getting impatient. "Tell me where is!"

She pursed her lips and just looked at me. Damnit, where was the other nurse, the kind one from last night?

I sighed. "Where is the other nurse? The one I spoke to last night? Or Dr. Crawford? Where is he?"

"Rose!" I turned around when I heard my name and saw Mrs. Hale making her way toward me. "Come with me. They've moved him to a different floor."

She beckoned me over to the elevators. Before following her inside, I glared at the unhelpful nurse. It was kind of awkward, standing in the elevator with Mrs. Hale since we didn't have a very good relationship.

"So, umm… How is he?"

"He woke up an hour ago," she responded.

"Oh."

She looked down at me. "He's been asking for you."

"Really?"

"Don't act so surprised," she said. "You know how he feels about you."

My cheeks burned red. I suddenly remembered she didn't know yet that we were back together. "But…"

"Don't think that I don't know that you're back together with my brother," she said. Or maybe she did know. "I've seen the change in him." She sighed and continued quietly, "He was a complete mess when you'd broken things off. I'd never seen him like this before. And…it hurt me to see him like that," she admitted. "I thought it would be good for him if he didn't see you anymore, but it wasn't. It isn't good for him."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Was she admitting that I might be good for her brother? Well, better late than never, I guess.

"I guess I was wrong about you," she said. "When I arrived here last night and saw you…saw the look on your face… " She shook her head slightly and sighed again, "Yeah, I realize now that you do love my brother."

"I'm glad you believe me now," I said.

The elevator came to a stop. As we made our way down the hall, Mrs. Hale continued, "Dimitri told us what happened. Not in detail, but enough to know how it all happened."

"Oh. I'm really sorry," I said. "If I would've known Jesse was capable of something like that, I-"

"You don't have to apologize, Rose. It's not your fault," she said. "You never know what someone's capable of. You think you know a person, but sometimes…they turn out to be a whole different person."

"Yeah," I said softly. "Thanks for understanding, Mrs. Hale."

"It's Sonya," she said, giving me a small smile. "I'm no longer your teacher." She came to a halt and said, "My mother and sister are with Dimitri now. Do you mind waiting for a bit?"

"Okay. No problem."

A couple of minutes later, the door opened and the kind woman from last night walked outside with a young girl. She looked my age. They walked toward us and I quickly got up.

"Hi," I said, suddenly nervous.

"Hello," the woman said smiling. "You must be Rose Hathaway? The girl Dimka's been asking for?"

I nodded. "Yes. We met last night."

"Yes, I remember you," she said. "You were there with him? When it happened?"

I nodded once again. "Yes. I'm really sorry about what happened to your son, Mrs. Belikov."

"It's Olena, dear," she said. "And this is Viktoria," she added as she nodded at the younger girl.

Viktoria smiled politely and then sat down next to Sonya.

"It's nice to meet you," I said, giving her a tentative smile.

"It's nice to meet you, too," Olena said, smiling back.

I'd never thought I'd meet Dimitri's mother under these circumstances. Hopefully, she didn't blame me for what had happened to her son. I blamed myself enough already. From the looks of it, she didn't. She was just as kind as last night.

"Well, you should go inside," she said. "He really wants to see you."

I nodded and turned away from them. When I got to the door, I hesitated. I turned back to look at Olena and she smiled encouragingly. Taking a deep breath, I opened the door and went inside.

You think that Mikhail believed Rose when she said there was nothing going on between her and Dimitri during the school year? And what do you think of Sonya's change of heart? Do you think she's sincere?

Please leave a review and let me know what you think. Have a nice weekend ;)