Okay, so this isn't exactly a new story. I have had this lying around for a couple of years now and decided to post it. I do intend to finish Long live the queen soon, the chapter is written, I just need to do some final changes. Hope you like this one.

Rose's point of view:

It hadn't exactly been a perfect morning. In fact: It had been rather crappy. Dimitri had been angry from the moment he woke up - no reason given. Of course, I did have a pretty good clue on why he was pissed... The rest of my family in law - who was currently living in our house - had been unusually irritating, not to mention the non-stop screaming baby, who was growing teeth. It wasn't the baby's fault, I knew that, but when you didn't have kids yourself, dealing with them was rather annoying. I ended up skipping out the door twenty minutes early just to get out of there. I loved the Belikovs, I really did, but they had been camping out in our apartment for two weeks now, and it was getting on my nerves. Dimitri, of course, couldn't see the problem in non-existent privacy and had become rather irritated with me, ever since I suggested finding them a place in the guest housing a few days ago. You know, like they should have done, to begin with! And so, it was that I was now twenty minutes early to work, hungry from not having breakfast, and pissed off that my boyfriend had deliberately turned the other way when I tried kissing him goodbye this morning. It was a thing we did because in our line of work we didn't know if we would make it home, so we kissed goodbye every morning and confessed our love for each other, even if it was just and 'I love ya'. This morning there was no goodbye and no 'I love you'. I knew it was a bit silly, I knew he still loved me, that this was just the stress of his family being around and the anger from the fight we had the other day, but it still hurt that he wouldn't even kiss me goodbye.

"You're early?" Lissa asked confused when opening the door as if I would suddenly remember the time and decide to go back home and come back later instead.

"In-laws," was my only explanation, as I skipped past her into the kitchen. Christian was making breakfeast, so I picked some bacon of the pan he was holding on the stove.

"Should I make more?" He asked, or rather suggested with a scowl while looking at me offended. I just nodded, not granting him a real answer.

Lissa came in smiling ever the morning person that I wasn't. "I will tell you what: We'll have a girls' day. No in-laws hanging around, just you and me and the mall."

I felt a smile creep into my face. "The mall is a three hours drive away," I pointed out, not opposed to the idea. She just laughed and nodded. Three hours meant no one would come to bother us, and we wouldn't be back before tonight - late. Possibly, I would even have to do overtime, and that meant I could avoid having to face Dimitri.

"Sounds great," I told her before stuffing my mouth with more bacon.

Dimitri's point of view:

We were fighting again. I hated fighting with her. It felt like it was all we did back at the academy, and I didn't want our relationship to be filled with it, but she seriously suggested finding another place for my family to stay! Like she didn't know that family was everything to me. She probably didn't mean It, but it felt like she was distancing herself from them, that she didn't want to be a part of it, and I really couldn't handle that. While I understood her views on family and interaction were slightly different, I also felt like she should understand having your family stay somewhere else, while they were visiting from Russia, was rude. Yet I didn't want to fight with her either, so instead of bringing up the issue again, I decided on the silent treatment. This morning she didn't even seem to understand that we had a problem, trying to kiss me goodbye as usual before leaving, and so I came to doubt if her most recent error was one she had actually committed, or simply something I had dreamt. I couldn't tell anymore, not with the little sleep I got with a crying baby in the house. I sighed and looked down in my coffee cup. I had to go to work in a few minutes. Normally, Roza and I would go to work together, as our charges lived with one another, but she skipped off twenty minutes ago, barely trying to make it seem like she wasn't just trying to get away, further fueling my irritation.

"We thought about making a small trip to go see something other than court for the day," my mother told me, as she took my empty plate.

"Sounds like a good plan," I answered, starting to collect my things. I kissed her on the cheek before leaving. "Love you all, have a nice day," I called, and heard them answer with a collective 'you too' before I closed the door. I was preparing myself on how to ignore Rose for the day when I reached Christian's house but was surprised to find that she and Lissa were already gone.

"They went out," Christian offered as an explanation when he noticed my flickering gaze, then he smirked, "boy, you really pissed her off this time. She was like twenty minutes early! Early! Rose!" He laughed with a wide-eyed expression. I tried to ignore him as I grabbed another cup of coffee and wondered how long it would take me to earn forgiveness from her after my family left. We hadn't been together since they arrived and by the looks of it, it would take a few weeks for her to forget this again. Great.

Rose's point of view

"I really think we got some great stuff!" Lissa exclaimed as we walked to the car.

I snickered and held up all my bags. "Well, you bought half the mall. I'd say something in here should work," I teased. She had outdone herself this time, but it had been forever since we shopped, so I guess it was fair. Also, we had spent about ten hours at the mall, meaning I would be so late home tonight everyone would probably already be asleep. Maybe even Vika's baby.

She glared at me mockingly. "You did a pretty good job yourself. Actually, what is up with the fact that the things you got were cute? I thought you were all responsible now," she mocked.

I shrugged lightly. "Well, that was the old me. Rose 202. You are looking at Rose 303, babe," I teased and flipped my hair.

She laughed and I joined in. We did get a lot of good stuff. Tight jeans, short skirts, and cute tops. I was so going to get back at Dimitri for his silent treatment. I hope he likes having blue balls, cause that was going to be a permanent condition.

"Do we have to go home?" I complained as I got behind the wheel.

"I am afraid so," Lissa told me with a pout. "Although, we should do this more often. We don't get enough quality time these days," she pondered sadly.

I sighed as well and turned the key. "We don't," I agreed, "maybe I could spend the night in your guestroom? Don't want to wake up the house when I get in," I reasoned innocently, as I pulled out of the parking lot.

"Trying to avoid the in-laws?" She guessed.

"The baby is driving me crazy!" I exclaimed desperately and took a calming breath.

"Of course, stay as long as you want, hon, but be aware: Dimitri is probably gonna be even more pissed when you do get home," she warned me.

"If he is pissed, he is pissed," I tsked. "Actually, he already is pissed. As long as I get a full night's sleep, I can handle it," I argued.

We were halfway on our way back when the phone rang. I put it on Bluetooth, so I could answer while driving. "Rose Hathaway speaking," I answered, keeping my eyes on the road.

"Roza? You need to come quick, it is Vika - she collapsed!" Olena cried over the speaker.

"Olena, calm down, we are already on our way. What hospital is she at?" I asked, in case it wasn't at court.

I heard her take several deep breaths before she could answer. "Hahnemann University hospital. It is in Philadelphia." We had already passed Philly. I quickly accessed the next driver exit to change the direction. "We are on our way, don't worry, we'll be there soon," I told her and hung up. I cursed slightly under my breath, and Lissa reached over, squeezing my hand on the driver stick to show sympathy. They had been driving me nuts lately, but they were still my family-in-law. I didn't want anything to happen to them.

We were almost there when we got to the last change of light. There weren't a lot of people out at this hour - we were almost the only car. I waited for the green light and then made the turn. Too late, I saw the car coming flying towards us with too much speed. He was going to hit us, I realized, and there wasn't time to get out of the way. I spun the wheel, trying to turn the vehicle, so the impact would be on my side of the car, and saw the flash of the headlights fly over us, then everything turned black.

What do you think? Chapter 2 is ready, just let me know if you want to read it ;-)