AN: Hi everyone! I bet you're surprised that I updated again so quickly. I'm on vacation from work this week so I had plenty of time to write in the airport. Enjoy drunk and sappy Dimitri! The plot will move a bit quicker from here on out!

Dimitri made to grab me and pull me to him, but I stepped further out of his grasp, my eyes flicking towards Alberta. It was then that Dimitri finally noticed the presence of his boss in the hall as well.

It was almost comical to see Dimitri's immediate attempt at appearing sober. I almost laughed out loud.

"Guardian Petrov," he nodded at her and Alberta sighed.

"Belikov… I don't even want to ask. You can come by tomorrow and explain why you blew off Rose's training session… if you remember this conversation."

Turning her attention to me, she looked almost motherly. "I'm trusting you to be the responsible one tonight. Don't let me down, Rose." With that, Alberta turned and walked back down the hall leaving Dimitri and I to stare after her.

Looking sternly at Dimitri, I pushed him back through his door and followed him inside. As soon as I shut the door, Dimitri wrapped his arms around me from behind and brushed his lips against my neck. "What are you doing here, Roza?"

"You didn't show up for practice so I was worried about you. I had to get Alberta to let me up into your room so I could check on you." I let my irritation at Dimitri's irresponsibility bleed into my voice. My how the tables had turned since I had first returned to St. Vlad's.

"I didn't miss practice," he murmured, still pressing kisses to my neck. "What do you mean?"

Pulling away from him, I leveled him with a stern look. "Dimitri look at what time it is."

It seemed to take Dimitri a while to get his eyes to focus on his clock, but when it finally seemed to click, he cursed loudly in Russian.

I had been upset that Dimitri had made her so worried about him when in reality he was just drinking in his room, that irritation had rapidly faded. I had to laugh at his reaction.

"I'm sorry, Roza."

I leaned up to kiss him to let him know what he was forgiven, and Dimitri held me close to him deepening the kiss as his hands tried to sneak up my shirt. Normally I would have been an enthusiastic participant in this turn of events, but currently I was concerned about my boyfriend. It was so unlike him to drink let alone get so drunk he lost track of several hours. He was clearly struggling, so with some difficulty, I pulled away from him and settled myself on his bed.

"Comrade," I patted the bed next to me, "Do you want to come here and tell me what's going on."

Dimitri was unsteady on his feet now that he wasn't hanging on to me, but his eyes lit up at the sight of me climbing into his bed. He climbed in as ungracefully as I had ever seen him and pressed himself along side me

"No," he murmured. "I have other things in mind for this bed." He ran a hand over her chest and Rose almost lost her will power to get Dimitri to talk.

"Comrade, if you don't stop and talk to me, I'm going to get out of this bed."

Dimitri's eyes grew wide and he rolled on top of me as if he could keep me from moving with just his bodyweight. With how drunk he was, this was probably one of the few times that I could have easily thrown him off of me, but instead I said "Dimitri hand me that bottle" and encouraged him to sit up next to me.

Dimitri took a sip before handing to me. Since Dimitri didn't even make a face when he drank from what I assumed was a bottle of vodka (it was all in Russian so who really knew), I eagerly took a large gulp.

My eyes started watering as soon as I swallowed it and I coughed so hard I thought she might actually choke.

"What the fuck," I exclaimed between coughs, "Are you drinking jet fuel?"

I looked at Dimitri through watery eyes and he was laughing hysterically at me.

"You'd make a horrible Russian, Roza."

"No shit," I replied, "I like to keep my taste buds on my tongue where they belong where as you all apparently are okay with burning them off."

Dimitri took the bottle back from me and made a big show of taking a swig without even a grimace. "Show off," I muttered.

I reached over and took ahold of his hand that wasn't holding the vodka and leaned my head against his shoulder.

"Is all this because of Tasha?" He stiffened at my words

Instead of answering, he took another swig from the bottle.

"It's okay to be hurt and angry, Dimitri," I whispered. "What she did to you and Christian was horrible."

"I just don't understand, Roza." The hurt in his voice broke my heart.

"Unfortunately, I don't know if we will ever understand. Nothing she has done was rational so I don't think we will ever get an explanation that satisfies us."

Dimitri raised an eyebrow at me. "That was very wise."

"I can't take all the credit," I laughed, "My therapist said something similar to me about my mother."

As Dimitri took another drink from his bottle, I got up to get him a glass of water knowing how awful he would be feeling tomorrow. When I returned, he was staring dejectedly at the wall in front of him. As I resettled next to him, I pulled his head into my lap and ran my fingers through his hair.

"Tell me what you're thinking, Dimitri," I whispered into the silence.

He took a deep shuddering breath and I am sure he would not have said the next words out of his mouth if he wasn't completely drunk. "I just feel very alone, Roza. I lost Ivan and Tasha. My family is halfway around the world. I never really made friends here." He sighed and turned his face sideways to press it into my stomach.

"Dimitri Belikov," I grabbed his chin to force him to look up at me. "You are not alone and will never be alone. You always have me and my family."

"Roza, I really don't think your mom would welcome me with open arms," Dimitri managed a small laugh.

"No not her. My family…" I said, "Lissa, Christian, Eddie, maybe even Adrian. They love you because I love you."

I wondered for a split second if it was weird for Dimitri to be 24, but all the people closest to him here at St. Vlads were 18. Then again, none of us were average 18 year olds. We'd all been through and seen things that most of our older peers had not.

Sitting up, Dimitri stared intently at me, his eyes still a bit unfocused. "I love you, Roza."

He leaned him to kiss me and slowly pushed me down on to the bed so he was hovering over me.

"Sorry Alberta," was my last rational thought as Dimitri slipped a hand down between my legs. As I reached down to pull Dimitri's shirt over his head, we reflexes faster than I thought he possessed in his current state, Dimitri leapt off of me and dashed from the room before I could even process what happened. As I blinked into the now empty room, trying to process what had just happened, I heard the sounds of Dimitri getting sick coming through the bathroom door.

AN: Please keep reviewing! I appreciate every review I get. Thank you all!