***Big thanks to ilovesos9467, luciinwaters, Victoria Marie Dragomir, Potterhead719 (aka TheProlificWriterGirl), DemonsRelm, Romitri99, Nuuk, Do'B, and Linseyvwvaobsessed for all of your wonderful reviews! Enjoy! –skd***

I woke with a start, trying to make sense of my surroundings. Sunlight was just starting to peek through the curtains to my left, and I was tucked under the covers of a large bed. I sat up, reaching up to redo my messy ponytail as I looked around the room. Not five feet away was another bed, this one empty, though the sheets were rumpled and the blankets were pushed back. Someone else had been sleeping in it recently.

It was clear that I was in a hotel room, but I didn't know which hotel and I didn't know where. My chest was tight with fear, and I knew that a panic attack was quickly approaching.

I flipped the covers off of me and climbed out of the bed. The air conditioner grumbled from beneath the window, and I crossed over to it. But when I opened the curtains, I didn't see much aside from a sprawling forest beyond a small parking lot. I hoped that seeing beyond the hotel and getting a better sense of where I was would stave off the panic attack, but seeing the towering trees did nothing to help.

I was still wearing my sweatpants from yesterday, but my phone wasn't in my pocket. Before I could tear apart the room looking for it, I heard the sound of an electronic lock as the door to the room opened. I froze, the sound triggering a memory that had long been repressed and forgotten.

"What am I doing here?" I cried out as the locked door swung open with a click. I could feel metal chains holding my wrists behind my back, confining me to the chair I was sitting in.

I heard the sound of heels clicking across the floor as the person came closer to me, but I couldn't see anything.

"Oh, Rosie," she whispered, long nails biting into my skin as she grabbed my chin.

A lightbulb above me turned on, blinding me, and the woman quickly stepped into the shadows, but not before I could see a flash of long blonde hair.

"Let me go, or I swear—"

She only laughed as I continued to struggle against the chains that bound my wrists.

"Why are you doing this? What did I ever do to you?"

I didn't realize there was someone else in the room until the second voice spoke. "You're a bad girl, Rosie. And bad girls deserve to be punished."

"She's all yours," the woman spoke.

"Rose, can you hear me?" A voice was calling my name. "Rose? Roza?"

I blinked and found myself staring into familiar brown eyes. His hands were on my shoulders, and I yelped, leaping backward out of his reach. His brow furrowed in concern.

"Stay the fuck away from me," I hissed, my body moving into a defensive position. "Give me back my phone, and just let me go."

Mr. Belikov held his hands up in surrender. "Your phone is charging on the dresser. It kept going off last night, so I turned it off. And I'm not keeping you here."

"Why am I here?"

"When you passed out, I had to take you somewhere. A hotel seemed most appropriate considering that we are teacher and student," he answered softly. "I obviously couldn't take you to my place, and Ivan's wasn't even considered for obvious reasons."

Something sparked briefly in his eyes as his lips tightened into a thin line, but like always, it was gone before I could identify it.

"Where is Ivan?"

"I assume back at his apartment. He took me to get my car, so I could take us here before leaving," Mr. Belikov said. He gestured to the bathroom. "The bathroom's yours."

I backed away slowly from him, reaching for my phone once I was close enough. Without another word, I slipped past him and into the bathroom, locking the door behind me. I turned it on and let the messages from Lissa flood in while I started the shower. I scrolled through the text messages while the water warmed up and quickly texted Lissa to let her know that I was fine before stepping in and yanking the shower curtain closed behind me. I showered quickly, wrapped two towels around myself when I got out, regretting the I didn't have anything in the bathroom to change into.

When I opened the bathroom door, Mr. Belikov wasn't in the room anymore, and the sliding door of the closet next to the bathroom was resting open. Hanging inside of the closet was a blue cropped sweater and a pair of light wash ripped jeans. To the side was a set of undergarments and resting on the floor was a pair of heeled boots that I hadn't seen for weeks, if not months. Where they had come from, I wasn't entirely sure, but considering they were my favorite boots, I wasn't going to question it. I assumed the clothes came from Mr. Belikov.

I opened the door to the hotel room and found Mr. Belikov sitting on the floor across the hall, waiting for me. He stood when I came out.

I glared. "Car keys?"

He pulled a set of keys out of his pocket. "Right here. I'm taking you to school."

I laughed bitterly. "Do you really think that I'm going to go to school?"

His eyes narrowed. "Yes, Rose, I do think that you're going to school because you are. I understand that you went through a traumatic event with what happened at your apartment, but that doesn't mean that you can just skip school."

"Traumatic event?" I laughed again. "Traumatic doesn't begin to describe it. Somebody broke into my apartment and trashed it. They posted naked pictures on my wall for the entire police squad to see!"

"I'm not giving you an option, Rose," Mr. Belikov said.

I scoffed and started to walk away. He reached out, grabbing my wrist. I twisted around and my free hand curling into a fist. His left hand grabbed my fist before I could fully complete my swing, and I managed to wiggle my right arm free. Mr. Belikov blocked my punch again, this one stronger coming from my dominant side, and I used his moment of surprise at my strength to bring a knee up, hitting the target. Pain flashed across his face, and he released my fist. I contemplated attempting another punch but instead chose to shove him down to his knees, which wasn't hard.

"Don't fucking touch me," I hissed.

I left him kneeling in the hallway, and I could feel his eyes on me as I walked down the hallway. When I reached the parking lot, I realized that I had left the keys with Dimitri upstairs. Before I could do anything about retrieving them, my phone rang with Lissa's signature ringtone.

"Liss—"

"Rose, where are you? You promised that you'd be here."

I pulled the phone away from my ear to check the time and sighed. "There's no way that I'm making it time for the first period."

"I better see you before next period," she said. I heard the one-minute warning bell in the background. "I have to go. Next period, Rose."

The line went dead, and I groaned.

"Rose." Mr. Belikov was standing just out of reach behind me. "Let's go."

I wasn't sure how long he had been standing there, but at this point, it didn't much matter. I followed him across the lot to a grey SUV and could help but smirk a little at his slight limp.

We were almost to Vladimir High School when Mr. Belikov spoke. "Can I ask you something?"

I bit back the instinct to be a smartass. "Yes."

"How do you and Lissa share an apartment? You're both seventeen."

"We're both emancipated," I said. "My parents died when I was younger, and Lissa's parents took me in. When I turned sixteen, they helped me get emancipated. After they died last year, I helped Lissa through the process to become emancipated too."

"I supposed being emancipated has its benefits," Mr. Belikov said.

I'd rather have my parents, I thought, but I didn't dare voice that out loud.

"How did you follow me into the apartment last night?" I said. "The cop must have recognized me from the pictures and that's why he let me in but I don't understand why he let you in."

"I told him the truth," Mr. Belikov said as if it were simple.

"The truth?"

"That I worked for the high school and was concerned for your well-being," he said. He stopped at a red light and glanced over at me, staring at me so intently as if he could read the thoughts inside my head.

"And you showed him what?"

"My school I.D. It showed the officer the proof that he needed to let me through. It lists me a staff member," he said, pulling into the teacher's lot at Vladimir High School.

I didn't have anything else to say as he parked in the back of the teacher's lot, far enough from the building that a student getting out of a teacher's car wouldn't be noticed. He also gave me a head start into the building, though I knew that he wanted to escort me to make sure I wouldn't try to skip.

"Miss Hathaway!" Mrs. Sanchez came barreling out of the back of the office as I tried to sneak through the main office. "What exactly do you think you're doing? Classes have already started."

"I overslept," I said.

She frowned. "This year is not starting well for you, Miss Hathaway."

I resisted snapping back at her and took the tardy pass that she handed for American History.

Mrs. Sanchez looked like she wanted to say something else but was cut off before she could.

"I will escort her to class," Mr. Belikov said, stepping into the office. He gestured for me to walk out of the office ahead of him but quickly fell in step beside me as we walked down the hallway.

I didn't say anything when we walked past my American History classroom and continued following him until he reached a classroom and gestured again for me to go inside. I wasn't sure whose classroom it was, but it was vacant.

I leaned against one of the student desks and stared at him.

"I'm sorry for grabbing you," he said.

"I would say that I'm sorry for kneeing you, but if I'm being honest, I'm really not," I said. I glanced down. "My file doesn't detail everything that happened. Hell, I don't know everything about what happened, but regardless, being grabbed like that is not my idea of fun."

He frowned. "You don't know what happened?"

"I know the basics from what the police told me. But other than that?" I shrugged. "The doctors said that I was too traumatized, and my brain gave me amnesia to protect myself from the memories. Sometimes I'll get a flashback and remember something, but it's never anything that brings the police any closer to finding whoever kidnapped me."

"I'm sorry."

I looked up through blurry eyes. "Why? You didn't kidnap me."

"Still," he murmured. He was closer than before.

Reaching forward slowly, he brushed a strand of wayward hair out of my face. The sunlight streaming through the classroom window hit his hair, making it appear lighter and his chocolate brown eyes melted. His lips tilted upwards in a smile, and I blushed.

"See something you like?" he whispered, stepping closer.

I'm sitting on the desk now, the space between us next to nothing. My breath caught in my throat, and despite there being open-air behind me, I felt my chest starting to tighten. Unlike yesterday when he cornered me in his room, Mr. Belikov noted the change immediately and backed away.

"Rose. Look at me. Deep breaths. In and out. In and out," he said, bending slightly so he was at my level. "Just breathe, Roza. Look in my eyes. Focus on my eyes and just breathe. Look in my eyes and see that I'm not going to hurt you."

Slowly, my panic ebbed away, and my breathing returned to normal.

Mr. Belikov leaned against the desk next to the one I was sitting on and looked over at me. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, but if you do…"

"How did you know what to say?" I questioned softly. "To calm me down."

"My sister has panic attacks. I used to be the only one who could calm her down," he answered. He pulled out his phone and shows me the same picture that I saw on Facebook a couple of nights ago. "Her name is Viktoria."

"How old is she?"

"Sixteen, almost seventeen," he answered. A wistful note joined his voice. "I planned to fly home for her birthday, but I can't anymore."

"Thank you," I said.

"For what?" He was genuinely surprised.

"For taking care of me last night and just now. Stay here," I said, hopping down off the desk. I walked out of the classroom and down the hall, peeking through the window into the staff lounge. It appeared empty. I quickly ducked into the lounge and grabbed a Ziploc bag, filling it with ice cubes from the freezer. I successfully made it back to the classroom without running into anyone and presented the bag to Mr. Belikov. His tan skin flushed.

"I'm okay, Rose," he said. "Wait, where did you get that?"

"I have my ways."

"Did you sneak into the staff lounge?"

I shrugged. "Take it."

"I'm fine."

"Bullshit," I murmured, stepping closer to him. "Take the ice, Dimitri."

"I don't need it," he insisted.

I narrowed my eyes and took another step closer. I grabbed his hand, placing the bag of ice in it, and then moved his hand so that the ice was on his crotch. His sigh of relief was barely audible. Before common sense could kick in, I leaned up on my tiptoes to kiss his cheek and walked out of the room. The bell rang a moment later, sparing me from having to go to American History.

The fact that I not only kissed him but also called him Dimitri only hit me as I reached my locker, but Lissa found me before I could overthink it.

"Rose!" Lissa said. "About damn time you got here."

She threw her arms around me, and I hugged her back.

"Did you go and see the apartment?" I nodded, and she frowned. "I'm so sorry."

I shrugged. "It's going to be okay, Liss. I promise."

The bell rang. "I'll see you at lunch, okay?"

Lissa nodded and gave me another hug before walking to her next period. I had my free period, which passed too quickly, and then math before lunch, which didn't pass nearly quickly enough.

Lissa and Sydney were both missing from the lunch table when I arrived.

"They had a meeting with the cheerleading coach," Adrian said before I could even ask.

I nodded, not wanting to dwell on the subject. He didn't mention the apartment, which I was grateful for, and I ate my lunch quickly, mostly tuning out Adrian and Christian's conversation.

I was back at my locker before last period by the time I saw Lissa again.

"Sorry I missed you at lunch," she said. She rolled her eyes. "I'm not sure why that meeting couldn't wait until after school since we have practice."

"It's okay," I said. I grabbed my notebook from my locker and shut it.

Someone tapped my shoulder, and I turned, facing the small figure in front of me.

"Lissa, this is Haley Pitman," I said, officially introducing the two.

Lissa's eyes widened in recognition. "Oh, duh. I was so distracted last night that I wasn't paying attention to half of what you said."

Haley laughed and shrugged. "Ready for HOPE, Rose?"

I rolled my eyes. And then tried to fight a blush that threatened to pop up when I remembered what happened earlier. And how close we had been.

"We're getting our locks today. We're also supposed to be wearing tennis shoes," Haley reminded me, dragging me out of my thoughts.

I shrugged. "Too bad." I laughed as Lissa gave me a disapproving look.

"Just don't get detention again," she warned.

"He won't give me detention," I said confidently. After all, it's not like I had a variety of shoe choices this morning.

The warning bell rang, and Haley and I rushed to class. The final bell rang as we entered the classroom, and Mr. Belikov asked Haley to shut the door. He called the attendance roll before announcing that he would be calling us up one by one to get our locks.

"Rosemarie Hathaway."

I walked up to the desk, standing to the side of it instead of standing in front of it as the rest of my classmates had done. Mr. Belikov eyed my shoes and sighed.

"I should chastise you for your shoes but considering what you went through and that it's the first week, I'm not going to say anything," he said. He handed me a lock as I gave him my five-dollar bill, quickly writing out a receipt for it. "I suppose it was lucky that you had a change of clothes in your car that we were able to grab so you had something to wear."

"My car?" I asked, not fully processing what he had said.

Mr. Belikov nodded. "Ivan found them in your car before we left the apartment last night while I was getting you back in the truck."

"These aren't mine. Well, except the boots, but they certainly weren't in my car. I haven't seen them in ages," I said. "And I didn't have a change of clothes in my car. I thought one of you guys stopped and got these last night."

He shook his head slowly. "No, Rose, we didn't."

"I've never seen these before," I said, panic welling in my chest for the third time today. "I-I need to leave. I can't be wearing them. Please."

Mr. Belikov studied me before nodding and motioning to the door. Before I could make it there, it swung open, and two men in suits walked in. They flashed their badges simultaneously. The classroom lights glinted off the metal of the FBI badges.

"Mr. Belikov, sorry to interrupt your class, but I'm Agent Winchester, and this is my partner Agent Gallagher. We need to speak with Miss Rosemarie Hathaway."