Hello my darlings, only 1 day away from Christmas 2015! I hope it's going great for you guys, because you deserve nothing less! So, here's a fluffy one for you, review, won't you?

Summary: They met a year ago, but he left her soon after. When he shows up again will the sparks fly? Inspired by 'last christmas'.

I don't own VA; you people should already know this!

Not at all Like Last Christmas.

"Lissa!" I called, dropping my purse and keys on the table beside the door. She peaked out from behind the kitchen counter.

"Hey, Rose." She said in greeting.

"You will never guess who I just saw outside!" I all but ground out as I took off my coat and boots. It was the middle of December, a couple days short of Christmas, and as could be imagined, it was freezing.

"No one you'd want to see from your expression," Lissa noted. I shook my head and sighed as I sank down on the sofa.

"Dimitri, Liss." Her eyes widened. "Seems like he's back in town." Why my heart had to flip at that I didn't know, and why my pulse spiked I didn't want to know.

"What?" Lissa asked. I nodded in confirmation, forcing my mind to stay in the present and not flash back to this time last year.

"That's a good thing, right?" Lissa asked. "You guys can finally work everything out." I sat straight up and stared right at her.

"Are you crazy, Lissa?" I asked. She shook her head. "Why in the fucking hell will I want to work anything out with him? I'm over that Russian; I have no time for him or for his games." My heart lurched in my chest, a very painful reminder that I was, in fact, not over Dimitri Belikov.

"Sure you are," Lissa drawled sarcastically. "It's because you're over him that you haven't been on a single date all year, right? And if you're over him why is the fact that he's back in town making you so angry?" I didn't really have the answers to any of those questions, but Lissa was making me really mad. She was suppose to be on my side, not on his.

"Which one of us is your best friend here, Liss?" I asked her. "Why are you siding with him?"

"I'm not taking sides," She said. "I'm just trying to look at it from your point of view. Dimitri was straight with you about his intentions from the very beginning. You knew he couldn't stay, so why are you so mad? Is it because you let yourself fall in love with him and he left or is it because he's back?"

"That's none of your fucking business," I growled warningly. If anyone saw Lissa now, they would think she didn't know that she was threading dangerous territory. But she did know, that gleam in her jade eyes said it all.

"I'm sorry, Rose, but you made it my business the moment you walked through that door." I shot a nasty glare at her.

"Yeah, because I thought you were going to be supportive," I growled. "I should've known better. How can I expect you to understand?"

"Of course I-"I didn't wait for her to finish.

"It doesn't matter, ok? Just forget I said anything." I stood and stormed off up the stairs and into my room, trying to ignore the hurt I'd seen in her eyes.

She had been right, every single word hurled my way had been the god honest truth. I'd known from the beginning that Dimitri couldn't stay, he was a family man, very close to his Grandmother, mother and sisters. He was determined to protect them from his father's wrath, how could I have possibly expected him to stay with me?

I closed my eyes and instantly, a mirage of memories slammed into my mind. They all involved Dimitri. The first day I'd met him at that coffee shop a few blocks away, how he'd sat across from me and we'd talked like we'd known each other all our lives. The way his beautiful brown eyes seemed to hold the world of emotion even if they weren't visible on his face. How we'd gone out to dinner that first night and then when he'd help Lissa and I choose a Christmas tree. He'd gone as far as to cut the tree for us too, and I'd always been amazed that those hands that had so skillfully chopped that tree had been so gentle on my body.

I groaned, hating that just the thought of him could affect me so much. I tried to tell myself that he'd left me, that I was over him. It was all pointless though, I knew it in every cell of my body, in every painful squeeze of my heart.

That night, I barely slept. When I did sleep, I dreamt of Dimitri. It was a mixture of last time he'd been here and what I thought it would be like when our paths crossed again, something I didn't doubt would happen. I knew if he kissed me again I'd be nothing but a mindless fool. No matter what I said, what I thought, I knew my body would betray me.

When I woke up, I felt a lot better. Now that I was no longer seething, I realized that I may have been too harsh on Lissa. She had only been trying to help. In truth, there was no one that understood what Dimitri leaving did to me more than Lissa. She'd always been there with a warm hug, or a silly movie to make me smile. She was in a happy relationship now, but it had not always been that way.

Desperate to make up for my wrong doing, I hurried down the stairs. I would find some way to make it up to her. Lissa wasn't my best friend for nothing, she had proven herself and her loyalty to me ages ago. Hell, she was my sister in all but blood. I had to make sure that she knew it.

There was only 1 problem. When I made it to the main floor, all was quiet and still. No one was awake yet, but in my haste, I foolishly thought that she'd left. She easily could've her boyfriend Christian lived just a few blocks away. When my eyes landed on the clock, however, I realized just how early it really was.

I was elbow deep in pancake and butter cream biscuit batter for my special Christmas-shaped pancakes and biscuits, with hot coffee brewing on the stove when the doorbell sounded. Shit. Who could that be at this hour? I wiped my hand on my apron and padded out to get the door. When it swung open, revealing who was on the other side, I tried to regret that I'd opened it. It became glaringly obvious however that I could not possibly regret seeing him, not when he looked so absolutely drop dead gorgeous.

"Good morning, Roza." Dam that accent and the way he rolled his R's still made me weak kneed and took me back to days when he would whisper Russian in my ear. Granted, our situations would've obviously been different, but it was still sexy as fuck and that smile on his face, the one that made my heart flip was very much present now.

"Hello, Dimitri." My voice sounded strong and steady, not betraying my inner thoughts and feelings. Keeping my feet planted on the floor and my hands at my sides was probably one of the hardest things I had ever had to do. All I wanted was to throw myself right into his arms and kiss him like there was no tomorrow, consequences be dammed. Instead, I settled on recalling my manors.

"Oh where are my manors, come on in, you must be freezing." Dimitri shook his head as he stepped inside.

"I'm from the arctic wasteland, remember?" I giggled, remembering exactly what he was talking about. I'd always given him a hard time about being from Russia, saying that he was from an arctic wasteland. He'd always known I wasn't serious, but that never stopped him from correcting me and then telling me facts about his homeland. I'd probably never admit it, but I really enjoyed it when he did that, his eyes would light up and a smile would tug at those full luscious lips, somehow making him more handsome than usual.

"Yes, yes you are." I agreed.

"Something smells really good," He noted. "You're cooking?" I nodded shyly and Dimitri was all too eager to offer his help. I was a little bit hesitant to take him up on his offer, but I soon decided that I was just being ridiculous.

"Here, have some coffee." Dimitri's smile was warm and soft and my body reacted instantly. I hated that this man could affect me the way he did, but it wasn't like I could do anything about it. He'd been gone for a year and he still had me wrapped around his fingers.

As we made breakfast, I couldn't help but imagine this being our life. It wasn't hard to, not with the way he was watching me or the way his gaze made my body heat up. I had to remind myself why we weren't together right now. He had left me; his life wasn't meant to be here.

"You know why I had to leave, Roza." I jumped, surprised, but I shouldn't have been. If Lissa was my sister, Dimitri was my soul mate. He got me in a way that not even Lissa did, and while to some having someone hold that much power over them could be scary, to me it was intriguing. The chemistry between us had been intense from the very beginning; it wasn't just going to go away now.

"I do," I admitted. "But why didn't you ever call?" I had to work hard to keep the hurt out of my voice and eyes; Dimitri was watching me closely looking for any sign of what? I didn't know.

"I tried Roza," He said quietly. I shook my head. I'd never gotten any calls or texts from him so what was he talking about? "I only ended up with half a number and I didn't write because there was talk about you and Lissa moving elsewhere."

I could've fallen over right in that instant, I was so relieved and elated yes, he'd left, but he hadn't forgotten about me like I thought he had. He'd actually tried to call, but what did that mean? Did that mean he felt the way I did?

"I'm sorry, Roza." His voice was soft, almost vulnerable and it was so different from the strong, confident man I'd fallen in love with that it made my heart clench. A thousand words sprang to my tongue, but none of them seemed perfect enough. Thankfully, Dimitri spoke before I did.

"You're the reason I came back, you know. I didn't know if you were still here or not, but I decided that I'd rather fly all the way back here to see if you were here than sit at home wondering where you were."

"I'm really glad you came back," I said honestly. His face broke into a smile that warmed my heart.

"I am, too." Our gazes locked and it was as though we hadn't just spent the last year apart. Those familiar eyes stared intensely into mine, almost as though he was looking right into my soul. The air around us seemed to heat up as we subconsciously leant in.

"I love you," Dimitri whispered moments before he closed the distance between us. His lips were warm and soft and more magical than I remembered.

The annual Christmas party was in full swing, everyone was here and by everyone, I meant everyone. Lissa and I lived in Montana and in this country style town, everyone knew everyone. It was why Liss and I had decided to stay; we couldn't bare to leave our neighbors or our parents who didn't live very far from us.

"Eggnog, milady?" I looked up to see Adrian, a long time friend standing before me, a glass of eggnog in his hand.

"Thank you," I said, giggling when he swept me a gallant bow. "Weren't you going somewhere with your family or something?"

"Yeah, I flunked out at the last second." The sparkle in his eyes told me exactly why. She was standing on the other side of the room talking with Lissa and some of our other friends.

"Wow, when did she get back?" Adrian grinned.

"A couple days ago," He said eyes train on his girl. Sydney Sage had come with Dimitri last year and she and Adrian had hit it off just like Dimitri and I had. She'd left with Dimitri too, and as could be imagined, Adrian was shattered.

"I see Belikov is back as well," Adrian noted. I sighed and nodded, a goofy smile sliding easily onto my face.

"Looks like we both got our wish, huh?" Adrian nodded and after sharing a smile, he and I joined the rest of our friends on the other side of the room.

Awe, so totally fluffy! Let me know what you guys thought, yeah? I'll probably update again today, but that all depends on you!

XXX

Roza