I knew it was wrong, but I needed to see with my own eyes. I overheard Jean speaking to one of the other officers and discovered that we were only an hour or so from home and that Dimitri was a lot closer than expected. So, after filching a keychain compass from one of the officers' keys, and under the guise of night, I carefully slipped out of my room and crept along the shadows.

In my childhood my parents would take me out through the trails in the bush, and as I was walking, I started recognizing some of the signs and marker points. To be honest, it was a little stupid of the police to bring us somewhere we would recognize, but for me tonight, it was perfect.

Eventually I made it to the rundown-looking cabin in the woods that I had to guess was the one I was looking for. I waited in the shadows for a moment when I saw someone walking along the outside of the house. Once they went around to the front I slunk out of my spot and scurried to the closest wall. I peered inside and found that I found a living room and two officers sitting on the couch. I ducked under the windowsill and crept along the wall, paying attention to the terrain beneath my feet so I didn't give myself away.

The second window I came to had curtains pulled closed, but the third was where I struck gold. I peaked into the window and spotted Dimitri sleeping on the bed a few feet from the window. I rapped on the glass carefully, not wanting to alert everyone else that I was there. I waited a few moments before I saw Dimitri stir under the blanket and he rolled over, looking at the window groggily before noticing I was standing there.

Dimitri slipped out of bed and came to the window, unlatching it and slowly opened it.

"Roza?"

"Hi," I whispered, gripping my edge of the window and hoisting myself up and into the room. Dimitri wrapped his arms around me and pulled me through, carefully putting me down so I didn't make any noise.

"What are you doing here? How did you even find us?" Dimitri exclaimed in a whisper, cupping my cheeks.

"The officers at my cabin don't pay as much attention as they should. They practically told me where you were," I said slipping my arms around his waist, resting my head on his chest. This was the longest I had ever gone not seeing him, even when my family travelled. Dimitri returned my hug and wrapped his arms over my shoulders and kissed the top of my head before pulling away, carefully walking to the door. Dimitri leaned towards the door and listened for something before coming back to me and sat down on the bed, pulling me down with him. We both laid down and curled up on the covers, not speaking, but just holding onto each other.

Everything that was happening was overwhelming, and being able to hug Dimitri made it just a little bit more bearable. I rested my head on his chest and listened to the steady beating of his heart, letting the familiarity calm and soothe me.

"I missed you," I whispered.

"I missed you too gorgeous. I can't wait for this to be done," Dimitri said, resting his hand on the back of my head. I sighed and closed my eyes, wanting to use every moment to savour the small bit of peace. I couldn't stay long, but I wanted to spend every minute in his arms.

"I know that considering what's happening this is a stupid question, but do you think this will affect our schooling? Like for University?"

Dimitri sighed. "I don't know. That's been a concern of mine too."

I looked up at him and bit my lip. "Is it selfish that I'm worried about that?"

Dimitri shook his head. "No. I've been worried about it too. It's an important part of our lives and future careers. It's to be expected," he said.

I nodded and kissed his cheek. "Plus I'm excited to be living with you and Lissa. If we don't get to go to school, that's not likely going to happen," I added with a quiet laugh. Dimitri breathed out a laugh and kissed the top of my head again, squeezing me in his embrace.

We laid there quietly for a while before my eyes landed on the clock on his nightstand. I had been gone for almost three hours now and needed to get back before they realized I left. I pushed myself up and looked down at Dimitri and frowned.

"I got to get going, Comrade," I complained. Dimitri frowned too but got up and wrapped me in a hug, leaning down to kiss me. I wrapped my arms around Dimitri's neck and leaned into his kiss, not knowing how long it would be again until I saw him. Dimitri must have felt the same because his arms tightened around my waist, holding me as close as he could.

"Hopefully I see you soon?" I said as I pulled back, my face only a few inches from Dimitri's. I didn't want to leave after only seeing him for a short period of time, but I couldn't afford to get caught out.

"I hope so," Dimitri said rubbing his thumbs over my sides. I stretched up and pressed my lips firmly against his lips again before pulling away and climbing out the window. I turned and faced Dimitri after landing on the ground, giving him a meek smile before turning away. I stuffed my hands into my sweater pockets as my feet crunched against the ground, licking my lips and smiling sadly to myself.

The night air nipped at my cheeks as I made it closer to the house we were staying in, and I could see all the lights on from here. I came to a stop for a moment. Crap. They must have realized I was gone. I sighed and kicked the toe of my shoe against the ground before starting to walk again.

I made it a few more steps before an arm wound around my neck, squeezing tightly. My scream of shock was cut off almost instantly and I clawed at the arm around my neck, stamping my feet out behind me to try and make contact but couldn't.

I don't know how long I fought against my attacker. It felt like hours but could have only been minutes before I watched the lights from the cabin dim before me.

I could hear the voices before my eyes opened. Loud, jarring voices that screamed at each other. My throat ached and I slowly peeled my eyes open, feeling groggy, like I wasn't quite away. My body felt light and airy like I wasn't touching the presumably hard ground beneath me. My eyes landed on a man's back, but looking just past him, I saw Nathan.

"What the fuck did you give her?!" the man yelled, and I immediately recognized his voice. Randall.

Nathan rolled his eyes. "She's fine. Just gave her a hefty dose of ketamine. Besides, she was too easy to catch. Who sneaks out while they're in protective custody?" Nathan said, a chuckle clear in his voice.

I kept my eyes closed enough that it would look like I was still asleep while I watched them. I carefully moved my fingers to make sure I could feel them before slowly moving my limbs.

Randall turned towards me and crouched down to examine me, but noticed that I was awake. There was a look of relief on his face, but the rest of his expression said to be quiet and stay there. I barely felt his fingers press against my neck, and his brows pinched together as he prodded my neck.

"Can you move?" Randall asked quietly, so quietly that I almost didn't hear it. I flicked my gaze to Nathan and found that his back was to us for a moment. I lifted my head and nodded my head.

"When I tell you, run for the door behind you," Randall whispered. After a moment he stood up and turned back to Nathan, and I noticed a small gleam beneath the hem of his jeans.

His gun.

I tried to relax my body to give the appearance that I was still unconscious and continued to watch them. Randall may have had a gun hidden, but Nathan had one tucked into the back of his pants. Visible and reachable. Nathan spun around to Randall, a glare on his face.

"I know the Feds are tailing you. You had to have known that you aren't going to make it out of this, and neither is she," Nathan said, malice dripping in his voice. Randall started to speak again, but he switched to Russian, so I couldn't follow any of it. Watching the two stalk each other as they spoke, Nathan moving so that he was between Randall and me.

Randall said something that seemed to have made something in Nathan snap. Nathan reached around and pulled his gun out and pointed it at Randall.

"I should have done this a long time ago, mladshiy brat. Once I take care of you, I'll take care of this pretty thing," Nathan said, tilting his head to the side to indicate to me. As Nathan spoke I slowly pushed myself up from the ground and paused to see if I was stable on my feet.

Randall must have realized what I was about to do because his eyes flicked to me for a fraction of a second. And that fraction of a second was the difference between life and death.

My life and death.

While the two had been moving around, they had been moving closer to me, and I used the limited strength I had and threw myself at Nathan, trying to knock his aim away from Randall. While the impact of my body hitting Nathan did pull his aim away from Randall, I also lost my footing and tumbled down to the ground. I caught myself on my hands and rolled over, only to stare up at the barrel of Nathan's gun.

A deafening shot rang through the air and I felt a sting in my chest while watching Nathan fall to a heap at my feet. The sting grew in my chest as I turned my head, finding Randall with his own gun raised. In the amount it time it took for me to charge at Nathan and trip, Randall was able to pull his gun out. Just like a cowboy out of those ridiculous western movies Dimitri loved so much.

"Stick 'em up, cowboy," I slurred before slumping back onto the concrete. I exhaled heavily as I laid down, and it was only a few seconds before Randall appeared above me, pushing his hands down on my chest.

"Keep your eyes open, kid. Just long enough to get you to the hospital," Randall said, but his voice sounded echoey, like his voice was bouncing off multiple surfaces. I make a weird noise that mixed between a grunt and chuckle.

The background around Randall started to become fuzzy and I watched almost in slow, buffered motion, Randall turn his head and say something, but I couldn't make any of the words out. I heard nothing but the sound of my own blood rushing in my ears.

Surprise! I know updates on this story are not as frequent as they use to, but I'm trying!