A/N:

It's been quite some time since I've updated this story and I haven't flexed my writer's muscle in quite a while. Hopefully my attempt to recapture the allure of this charming tale is to you all's liking.

I hope those who still wish to follow these characters enjoy the route the story takes. As for those who are new to Growing Problems, I hope you fall in love with my take on Richelle Mead's beloved characters as well as all the new faces introduced.

All questions, concerns, criticism, and/or ideas are welcome, so please read and review!

Disclaimer: Vampire Academy and all its characters are the property of Richelle Mead. The storyline and any new characters introduced are of my own creation.

Lissa's Point of View

My body was numb. My mind was numb. Surely, surely this was not happening. This certainly had to be a nightmare. One I would wake up from any moment now.

Only as the minutes went by, I didn't wake up. My nightmare continued, closing in around me. Suffocating me. My breath quickened as if my lungs were working overtime to compensate for the oxygen deprivation.

I. Can't. Breath. Though this was not entirely true. It wasn't that I couldn't breathe; I didn't want to.

Reality was starting to set in and my mind…, "Oh God." My voice was strangled, barely recognizable. My mind was replaying the scene from the alleyway. It had been dark, but my enhanced Moroi vision had allowed me to see her…see Rose.

"Oh God!" My voice was stronger than before, but the anguish remained, the disbelief evident.

My best friend couldn't be gone. If she were, I would know, right? We're bonded. There's no way I wouldn't know if she was…if she was…"Oh," a light touch, a touch I would recognize anywhere, stopped the words forming on my lips.

"It's going to be okay." Christian's voice was firm, his fingers still on my cheek.

His touch was comforting; it made me feel safe. But his eyes…his eyes held none of the confidence his voice had. As I looked into his eyes, I knew he wasn't seeing me, but the scene from the alleyway. The red eyes, the bodies, the blood, our retreat, and Rose…

A tear fell on the hand I had absentmindedly moved to cover his. I wasn't sure if it was mine or Christian's, but that didn't matter because there was one thing I was certain of. "We have to go back!" This time my voice was near a shout as I tore my eyes away from Christian's glossy gaze.

"No, we have to continue moving to safety," Max stated matter-of-factly from the driver's seat. "We cannot endanger your lives to save her." Before I could intervene with a statement about how if our Roles were reversed, Rose would come for me without a doubt, Max spoke again. "She would want us to go. She told us to go."

Thoughts of Rose in the clutches of that Strigoi flashed before me. As did her last words. Don't Stop! She had shouted as her life was drained from her. Don't stop.

"But…" I struggled to find words that would convivence the guardians in this car to turn around and save my best friend. "We have to try," I said weakly, the fight leaving my body. I knew there was nothing I could say that would make them abandon their duty and put a Dhampir life ahead of the last living Dragomir, no matter how much any of us loved her.

It was Eddie who interrupted my whirlwind of thoughts. "We have to keep going back to the hotel." He wore the stoic expression characteristic of guardians. His words left no room for argument. He planned to ensure we all got back to the hotel come hell or high water.

And I had no doubt he'd drag me back to my room kicking and screaming.

A retort was on my tongue but died before I had the chance to utter it as more events from the night flooded my memory.

It had been Eddie who picked me up and threw me over his shoulder after Rose commanded that we leave her. He'd run with me kicking, screaming, and crying until we had finally reached our vehicles a few blocks away. He had barked orders to the other guardians to get the Moroi loaded into the cars and back to the hotel. "Do not stop," his voice echoing Rose's last order. "They come first."

Before Eddie had placed me in the car beside Christian, his guardian mask faltered a bit and I realized his last statement had been as much a reminder to his follow guardians as it had been to himself.

The intensity of his gaze spoke volumes. He wanted to go back. He wanted to save his friend. He wanted to kill every last Strigoi still left in the alley, but duty came first. His desires didn't matter. Only our lives did.

"But you want to," the words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. "You want to save—"

"She's dead," Max whispered, his eyes still on the road. "She's gone, Lissa." His voice broke as he finished his statement.

Max's words stung and had shattered my resolve. She's dead, she's dead, she's dead, reverberated around my mind.

There was nothing I could do. It's not like I could fight my way out of the car and kill the Strigoi who attacked her. I didn't have Rose's strength. I didn't even have Christian's magic.

Suddenly a brilliant idea struck me. Hope flared up inside me because in that moment I realized that I had the power to save her. It was true, I wasn't a fighter like Rose and I didn't have Christian's magic. But I did have magic. Powerful magic. Magic that could bring Rose back to me regardless of what state we found her in.

I felt none of the confidence my tone contained as I spoke again, only an intense desire to save my friend; no matter the cost to myself. "I can save her," I shouted. "Take me back," I demanded, putting as much royal haughtiness as I could into my words.

Christian's sad eyes met mine as he squeezed our clasped hands that now lay on his lap. "But at what cost," his words were reminiscent of my earlier thoughts.

I forced myself to look away from him. "I don't care," I breathed. "She wouldn't hesitate to save me. She would come for me no matter what." I finally turned back to Christian. "No matter the cost." I squeezed his hand trying to convey to him that I wasn't afraid. I was willing to deal with the ramifications of using that much Spirit if it meant Rose would live.

"She may not be dead." Ryan's voice was the one that broke the silence my words had left. I had been so wrapped up in my own thoughts of saving Rose, I hadn't noticed him sitting beside me. But his words caused hope to flare up in me again. Finally, finally an ally. Someone else who shared my belief that Rose could still be saved. I turned and gave him a radiant smile. "But she may not be alive either," he continued, not returning my smile. "And even your magic can't save her from that."

It took me a moment to comprehend what Ryan had said. The mood in the car had grown even more somber and finally understanding clicked. "No." The word was barely audible, but everyone in the car with their enhanced hearing heard me. "There's no way."

Eddie turned to face me from where he sat in the passenger seat. "She's a brilliant fighter, with inside knowledge of guardian operations, and intel on the last Dragomir." The gravity of his words were starting to sink in and I felt like my world was falling apart. "If I were one of them," he said them like it was a dirty word, "I would turn her."

That's when I lost it.

Christian's arms were around me at once and I buried my face into my husband's chest as the tears I had barely been keeping at bay broke free.

The images from the night began to fade as they were replaced with something much worse. Rose with pale skin and red ringed eyes.

"Oh God," that seemed to be my phrase of the night.

As we pulled up in front of our hotel's entrance and thoughts of going back to the room I shared with Rose, an even worse realization hit me. "Sasha." All I said was her name, but no one would meet my eyes.

They couldn't. How could they. None of us knew what we would say to her. My world was falling apart at the thought of losing Rose, but how could I tell Sasha that her mother was dead, or worse; that Rose was a Strigoi.

As always, my apologies for any grammatical mistakes encountered while reading this chapter.