Rose's POV

I awoke the next morning in bed feeling very groggy and disoriented – I didn't remember falling asleep, let alone returning to the bedroom. I remembered donuts, cleaning the apartment top to bottom and then… Nathan's thoughtful 'gift'.

The scars left on your skin brand you mine and they only add to your beauty…

I remembered opening the letter and immediately feeling an overwhelming sense of dread and panic.

I'll see you soon…

I remembered crying, struggling to breathe, my body shaking and then… warmth. Surrounding warmth and compassion as someone took me into their arms, providing comfort in amongst my struggle.

Dimitri.

He must have come home to find me literally just freaking out in the middle of our apartment and went straight into comfort mode. He didn't even hesitate to take care of me, even though it could have quite easily made me so much worse; he could see that I needed his help. But I must have been so worked up that I hadn't responded when he hugged me – our first proper physical contact in weeks, and I hadn't even been in a clear state of mind to realise it or remember it completely.

As I lay on my side, facing the wall and trying to piece together the events of last night, the sensation of somebody moving in the bed next to me made me almost jump out of my skin. With slight hesitation I slowly rolled over, finding Dimitri fast asleep on his back, his brows furrowed and breathing deeply. With the realisation that I wasn't alone in the bed, I could feel my heart rate pick up significantly, my anxiety skyrocketing. But deep in the back of my mind, something was telling me that it was okay – it was Dimitri… there was no reason to freak out. I forced myself to relax, taking slow breaths as I lay staring at him.

This was Dimitri.

My Dimitri.

I didn't need to be afraid of him. He cared for me, and I cared for him – these past few days of isolation had done nothing but strain our relationship and, in all honesty, probably made things worse for myself. Why hadn't I realised that I needed him? We'd always been stronger together, but I seemed to have forgotten that. I wished that I could take it all back, and run straight into his arms as soon as I woke up in that hospital bed, but it was too late. I would definitely need to tell him this as soon as I had the chance, tell him that I was sorry – I wanted to make things right again.

As if on cue, he began to stir next to me, and by the look on his face he too was confused as to where he was. His narrowed eyes scanned the room, before the realisation hit him and he looked down at me with a worry in his eyes.

"Sorry – I can go…" He mumbled, attempting to prop himself up and hurry out of the bed, obviously concerned about upsetting me by being so close.

"No – wait," I interjected, reaching out and placing a hand on his arm to stop him. "Stay."

His eyes widened slightly in shock, but I didn't miss the small smile playing at the corner of his mouth. "Really?"

I nodded and squeezed his arm. "Yes."

The smile he was attempting to hide broke out into a grin, clearly pleased by my words. He shuffled back onto the bed and lay down beside me, turning onto his side to face me. We lay staring at each other in silence, neither one of us wanting to break the contentment between us. I hadn't been this close to Dimitri in a long while, and laying here beside him now, I realised how much I missed it. I silently cursed myself at my stupidity – how did I ever think it was better for both of us to be apart?

"Dimitri –" I began, breaking the silence.

"Roza –" Dimitri said at the same time.

We both chuckled before I motioned for Dimitri to speak first. He waited a moment before his smile faltered, and he reached out to brush my hair out of my face. He took a deep breath, and I could see in his eyes just how worried he was for what he had to say.

"I'm so sorry," he began. "I'm so sorry I didn't protect you. It was all entirely my fault; I should have kept you safe. Please forgive me, Roza."

His words were sincere, and despite his usual brave façade, I could tell that he was moments away from breaking. Everything Lissa and Adrian had been telling me was right in front of me now – he was fragile, scared and I knew that the entire time I was missing had to have been torture for him. Even more so now that I knew he blamed himself.

"I don't blame you, Dimitri," I told him sincerely, playing with a strand of his hair that had fallen out of his hair tie in the night.

His brows furrowed. "You don't?"

"No. You didn't kidnap me. You didn't… You didn't hurt me," I whispered, closing my eyes tight in an attempt to block out the memories. "He did."

With a sigh, Dimitri reached out and pulled me closer to him, laying an arm over my waist in a warm embrace.

"I was so worried about you, Roza," he whispered. "I thought you wouldn't come back to me."

"I did," I replied, using my hand to push myself back slightly so that I could look into his emotion-filled eyes. "I'm here."

"I had a dream, while you were gone," he told me with a sigh. I didn't say anything in response, knowing that he had more to say. I lay there, looking up at him with a silent urge for him to continue. "I thought it was one of my nightmares, about Russia, about being – being Strigoi… I had you trapped. You were my prisoner, as always. And I was talking to you – you were so frightened of me – except, I wasn't me. I was him. And I did awful things to you."

He closed his eyes tight and took a deep breath, before reaching out and stroking my cheek with the pad of his thumb. I melted into his touch, closing my eyes briefly to revel in his warmth.

"I was so angry afterwards. But, it made me realise…"

"What?"

"It made me realise that the things I did to you when I was Strigoi were bad, but they could have been much worse. It doesn't even compare to what Nathan did to you. I need to forgive myself for what I did because now you need me more than ever. And I promise to protect you and love you forever. To help you through your pain."

I caught my bottom lip between my teeth nervously. Dimitri's words were so kind and so full of love, that I couldn't quite comprehend his honesty. How could he possibly say these wonderful things knowing exactly what Nathan had done to me?

"You don't hate me?" I asked quietly, averting my gaze from his. He reached out and gently cupped my chin in his hand, forcing me to look up at him again.

"No Rose, never," he said. "I would never be able to hate you. Never in a million years."

"But, he – I –" I stuttered, before taking a calming breath to compose myself. "You're not the only one I've been with anymore…"

"I know. But I could never hate you because of something that was out of your control. I'm angry, yes. But not with you. Never with you."

A single tear escaped my eye and rolled slowly down my face. Whether it was a tear of sadness, or simply a tear of relief I wasn't sure. "I thought you would hate me. I thought you wouldn't want to be with me anymore. And I – I was scared. I spent so long being afraid, and I only had Adrian to help me – when he came to me in my dreams. But I was so used to being terrified that I think when I first saw you, or Christian, or Baba… I associated anyone that wasn't Adrian with fear."

"I understand."

"You do?"

"Yes, Roza. You've been through something traumatic - that pain and that fear is bound to present itself in different ways."

Dimitri was always so understanding, so caring and so gentle. He seemed to always understand what I was feeling, or my thought processes, even without me having confided in him. He had been so patient with me throughout all of this mess, and I couldn't thank him enough. I had been so horrible to him, pushing him away, and I found it difficult to comprehend how he managed to maintain his love for me in this time. I was unbelievably lucky to have him in my life.

"I'm sorry I pushed you away. I'm sorry I didn't let you help me."

"You don't need to apologise, Roza," he said, playing twirling a strand of my hair around his finger as he spoke. "I'll always love you, no matter what happens. You could have kicked me out and I would still love you. Always."

"I – I love you too."

"And now, we can get through this. Together. I'm going to be here for you, Roza. To help you in any way you need."

With a smile on my face, I shuffled closer to him and he instinctively moved his arm and wrapped it around my shoulder as I lay my head on his chest. Everything was finally falling into place again, except…

"Dimitri?"

"Yes, Roza?"

"What are we going to do about Nathan?"

I felt him stiffen slightly beneath me, before letting out a shaky breath.

"I don't know. But I promise you, we'll be okay. I won't let anything happen to you ever again."

Happy Christmas Eve everybody!
Thank you so much for the love I received for the last chapter, I really enjoyed writing it so I'm thankful for the positive reviews.

This is quite a short chapter, sorry, as it was originally part of Chapter 27, but I decided to split them up and have this cute little scene on it's own.
Please leave a review to let me know what you think!

I hope you all have a very lovely Christmas tomorrow.

H x

P.S - I uploaded a second chapter for Only Just Beginning a few days ago. Check it out if you haven't already, for some cute Romitri feels that will hopefully warm your heart at this time of year.