Walking back to the unit in Dimitri's grip I started to feel uneasy. Despite the fact Jesse was an ass and had been way out of line, his comment about being a Royal, and Dimitri a Guardian, still held true. I knew Baba wouldn't care that Dimitri had flattened Jesse – hell I'm sure he'll high five him once he hears what Jesse had said - but once Kirova found out, it would be a mark on Dimitri's record, and would count against him if he sought reallocation as a regular Guardianin the future.

Thinking about it, only Kirk and I had seen Dimitri punch Jesse. I thought maybe I should just go to Kirova and claim responsibility for it myself. Better a mark on my already less than stellar record than on Dimitri's – especially given I wasn't seeking allocation anyway.

We'd nearly reached the unit, and I was looking up at my Russian God. Fury was still radiating off him, and I wondered just how much trouble I was going to be in. Walking down the corridor to the unit, I could see Pavel outside the door – which meant Mom and Baba were almost certainly inside.

Stopping to knock at the door and announce that we'd returned, I could see Pavel taking in Dimitri's obviously incensed state, his clasp on me, and Guardian Kirk and Lissa standing uncertainly a few feet behind us. Walking into the unit, we found Mom and Baba sitting on the couch watching TV and drinking wine. Releasing me, Dimitri barked "Sit" pointing to the other sofa before going into the bathroom and shutting the door. A few seconds later the shower was turned on.

Mom and Baba looked up in surprise. "Had a good evening have we?" Baba asked laconically, his eyebrow raised. "Tell me what happened."

Lissa came to sit next to me on the sofa, and together we told Mom and Abe everything.

"He said that to you?" Baba asked, stunned when I told him about Jesse's last comment.

"It's no big deal, Baba – you know what those Royal Moroi are like. They think every Dhampir girl just wants to be bitten." Of course, I'd rather die than let Abe know how close that had come to actually happening with Jesse had Dimitri not saved me months ago.

"Something you'll learn, Rose," Baba said, a nasty gleam in his eye, "when you have real power you don't need to threaten. You just make it happen". Turning to give Mom a quick kiss, he grabbed his cell from the side table and went into Mom's room, shutting the door.

"I'm so sorry Mom," I said looking at her. "I should have just stayed at home, and this wouldn't have happened."

"Don't worry about it. Jesse was out of line. Besides your father's always happiest when he has a project to work on," she said, rolling her eyes.

I looked up to see Dimitri exit the bathroom in his bathrobe and walk into his room, quickly closing the door behind him. Looking to Mom, she shrugged her shoulders. Lissa shot me a sympathetic look. It didn't look like they had any ideas either. Walking across to his room, I knocked on the door.

"Comrade?"

He didn't answer.

I knocked again. "Please Dimitri? Can I come in?"

I could hear his frustrated sigh.

"Come in, Roza."

I opened the door and slipped through, closing it quickly behind me. Inside Dimitri was standing in his bathrobe, getting a set of pajamas out of the closet.

"I'm sorry Dimitri," I said, approaching him warily. "I really am."

"What are you sorry for?" Dimitri turned looking at me in confusion.

"Well I'm sorry for going to the party, and I'm sorry for not kicking Jesse's ass myself, and I'm sorry you'll probably get in trouble for doing it."

"Roza," Dimitri said, his voice thick, running his hand through his wet hair. "I don't care about any of that."

"Then why are you so angry at me?"

"I'm not angry with you milaya! I'm furious that someone dared speak to you like that! And I'm furious that I let them!"

"Dimitri it's no big deal. Moroi men speak like that to Dhampir women all the time."

"Yes, I know" Dimitri snapped "That's why I am so angry!" Throwing himself on to his armchair in fury, he looked up at me his eyes blazing.

Looking at him cautiously, I walked towards him, lowering myself to sit on his lap. My arms around his neck, I pulled his face to mine – leaning my forehead against his.

"I love you" I added, leaning in to kiss Dimitri softly. His arms wrapped around me, and I could feel his tension start to disperse.

"I love you too," he said.

"I'm going to go say goodnight to Lissa, Mom, and Baba. I'll be back in a minute. Get into bed," I ordered.

Hopping up from his lap, I slipped out the door, turning to face Mom, Baba, and Lissa.

"Um sorry about that. It's been a long day and Dimitri's feeling a little on edge," I said – mistress of the understatement. "Lissa? Are you ok for Guardian Kirk to see you back to your dorm? I really need to stay with Dimitri and try and calm him down."

"Of course Rose," Lissa replied quietly. She stood up giving me a hesitant hug. "See you tomorrow." Baba showed her to the door.

"Janine? Why don't you stay in the guest quarters with me tonight? We'll leave a couple of Guardians on duty here. I think Dimitri and Rose could use some privacy."

Surprisingly Mom nodded. "I'll get some things," she answered, disappearing into her room.

Turning to me, Baba continued, "Try not to worry honey. The Jesse thing is being taken care of."

I just nodded, tired and weary. "If this is the first week, how are we going to make it through the next two months?" I sighed.

"One day at a time" Baba replied.

The next morning we slept through training. Truth be told neither of us had gotten a lot of sleep, and since we had the unit to ourselves, it was nice to lie in bed cuddling. The night before had been intense. In between passionate lovemaking, Dimitri had told me stories from growing up in Baia. Stories about how some Moroi men treated Dhampir women. Stories about how his father had treated his mother. It was sickening, and I understood why he hated some Moroi men so much.

Getting up close to lunchtime, Dimitri cooked us brunch; then we headed back to bed. After being so 'scheduled' with classes the last week, the freedom to lie in bed if and when we wanted to was refreshing.

We had a shower together in the early afternoon and dressed. We were sitting on the sofa watching a movie when there was a knock at the door, and Baba announced himself. Walking in with Mom, Abe looked particularly pleased.

"Hello, lovebirds! Did you have a nice night?" he asked, with a wink.

Mom shot daggers at him, but it only me made me want to thank him more.

"We did - thanks, Baba! It's been such a stressful week. A little downtime was just what we needed!" I said, grasping him in a tight hug. Then thinking about Mom's gift of time with friends and privacy the night before I added "You too, Mom. It's been difficult, but the last two nights have helped a lot!"

"Well, that's great because I have news!" Baba announced excitedly. "I've been thinking about it, and I'd like to spend some more time with my girls. So I've bought a farmhouse about 15 minutes outside of the school grounds! It's very rustic, and certainly not the accommodations I'd like to offer you, but since it's only for a few weeks I thought we could stay weekends when you're free? You could bring your friends as well if you'd like, Rose? It's being fitted out this week, but it should be ready for next weekend."

Honestly! The man had more money than sense – but seeing the way he looked at Mom, I could tell he'd been missing her. While the next two months were going to be hard on Dimitri and me, at least we got to spend them with one another. Pretty much all the time! But ours wasn't the only romance going on here. Being back together was new for Mom and Baba, too. Who could blame Baba for wanting to spend time with Mom as a couple as well?

"That sounds great Baba!" I said. "I can't wait to see it!"

Looking at his watch, Baba then looked to Dimitri who was sitting on the sofa, his arms wrapped around me.

"You'll need to get your uniform on Dimitri. We'll be having visitors in fifteen minutes. Rose? Janine? Why don't you both get changed as well? Put on something conservative. Rose - wear your hair up and put on that pretty bracelet Adrian gave you. Wear it on your right wrist. Janine – perhaps you'd like to put on some of the trinkets I gave you?"

Refusing to be drawn further on the issue, Baba sat on the sofa while Dimitri, Mom and I went to change. I put on a pair of tailored woolen slacks and a pretty blouse. Mom helped me pin up my hair in a classy French twist. I completed the look with some subtle lip-gloss, a little mascara and a pair of conservative heels.

Mom put on a sweet calf length skirt with an olive green light knit twinset. Teaming it with strappy high heels and a chunky ruby necklace and bracelet set I'd never seen before, she looked stunning.

Catching me admiring the necklace Mom murmured with a blush, "Your Baba always did like to spoil me."

"Perfect!" Abe said when we came out to show him.

I, personally, thought I was channeling a lot of conservative Princess Vasilisa and not enough sexy Rose, but hey – I was willing to go with it. Before I had a chance to press Baba for any further details, there was a knock at the door.

Dimitri went to the door asking who it was.

"Grigor Zeklos and his son Jesse," one of Abe's Guardians announced.

My Russian God looked surprised but immediately pulled his Guardian face on. Abe pulled Mom over to him and held her hand, and I stood beside them.

Opening the door to Jesse and his father, then closing it behind them, Dimitri stood back 'at ease' – face impassive. Jesse and his father looked any but at ease. Jesse's face was bruised pretty badly I noticed with satisfaction. Sadly it didn't look as though anything was broken.

"Grigor," Baba said, stepping forward to shake the father's hand. "Thank you for coming at such short notice to sort out this unpleasantness."

"Of course, Abe. Only too happy to come," he said in a voice that belied his words.

"May I introduce my partner Janine?" Baba said, gesturing to Mom who nodded in Grigor's direction, "and our daughter Rosemarie?"

I reached forward gracefully and shook his hand. As Abe had no doubt anticipated, my conservative appearance surprised him – as did the rope of diamonds encircling my wrist.

"Please take a seat" Abe continued, gesturing to one of the sofas.

Jesse and his dad sat down, Mom and Abe sitting on the adjacent sofa. I pulled over one of the dining chairs and sat on it. Dimitri was standing beside the door, hands behind his back, face not giving anything away.

"So Grigor, as I mentioned on the phone, there was an unfortunate incident last night that I feel you need to be made aware of. The young people," Abe said, gesturing to Jesse and myself, "were at a party when things got a little out of hand. I'm afraid one of Rose's Guardians had to step in."

"Yes – I heard as much from Jesse," his father said.

"Well it was an ugly incident, and I thought it might be prudent that we deal with it man to man. After all, young futures are at stake" Baba said, giving Jesse a significant look. "My understanding is that Jesse made some extraordinarily vulgar comments to my Rose and some of the other young ladies present. I'm afraid you might find this shocking, Grigor, but it was reported that Jesse said 'You Dhampir girls are all the same. You play hard to get, but in the end, you love it when a Royal Moroi shoves his dick in you and bites your neck.'"

A look of aversion crossed Mom's face.

"Honestly Abe?" she said, "Do you need to repeat such distasteful remarks?"

"I'm afraid I do, Janine. Grigor has a right to understand what occurred."

Turning back to Jesse and his father, Abe continued.

"I'm sorry to say that wasn't the only thing said. Jesse continued to comment that 'you Dhampir sluts like every inch I give you' before he attempted to force himself upon our Rose. Of course, given she's in Guardian training she was easily able to restrain him, but even then he told her she was 'a blood-whore who was going to beg to suck his dick one day in exchange for a bite to her neck.'"

Mom looked genuinely revolted. Jesse looked embarrassed and ashamed. Grigor looked as though he might privately agree with his son's sentiments regarding Dhampir women, but wouldn't dare say so in front of Abe. I looked down at my hands as though such statements were an affront to my maidenly ears, but really so no one would see the twinkle of enjoyment in my eyes at seeing Jesse get a thorough dressing down. I didn't dare look to see what Dimitri's face looked like, but I trusted he'd keep it together.

"As you can imagine, the assembled company were disgusted by such unmanly comments, particularly from a member of such a prominent and respected Royal family. The Princess Dragomir summoned one of Rose's Guardians who removed Jesse from the party."

Grigor was nodding. "Understandable of course" he mumbled.

"I appreciate there was alcohol involved, so Jesse was not himself at the time. I was loathe to make an official report about the issue; I thought it might be more prudent, given the nature of the situation, to allow you to deal with matters with Jesse yourself?"

"Yes. Absolutely. Very much appreciated Abe. Let's just keep this matter between us," Grigor said.

"Of course, I would like to make it clear that I hope never to hear such filth spoken to or about my daughter or any of the young ladies of this academy again," Baba concluded with a raised eyebrow.

Abe standing and helping Mom up beside him, Grigor took his cue also to stand. Jesse stood beside him, and after a pointed look from his father said "Rose? I'd like to apologize for my comments and behavior last night. I hope you understand I'd had too much to drink and wasn't myself?"

"Thank you, Jesse. I accept your apology. However, you were also rude and insulting to Guardian Belikov. I think you owe him an apology as well."

I could see from Jesse's eyes that he considered apologizing to a Guardian well beneath him, which is precisely the reason I was going to make him do it.

"Yes – I apologize for my behavior and comments last night Guardian Belikov."

"Thank you Lord Zeklos," Dimitri said, his face still deadpan. "The way a man treats the fairer sex says a lot about him and his upbringing. You'd do well to remember that going forward."