Authors note. I've not been a good place with my writing. Finally getting back to it. This is a shorter chapter, but I'm uploading the next one as well. Happy reading!!
Poison Ivy
Ch 6
Dimitri
Monday
Present time
"D hey D!"
"Huh?"
"You might want to wake up and wipe the drool off your face before the boss gets here."
"What drool? I'm not drooling." I shot my head up and wiped my face.
"Sure you're not, but that puddle on your desk says otherwise." I looked down and didn't see anything. I put my head back up and Ivan was laughing.
"I'm kidding D, but you do need to wake up and stay that way. We have a meeting in an hour."
"Sorry, I didn't get much sleep last night."
"Gee I wonder why? Could it have been because a certain someone kept you up all night?"
"Maybe." I blushed slightly remembering how I spent my night.
"Hey, how do you know anyways? You were asleep all day and night."
"I got up to get me something to drink and heard you talking. I may or may not have listened at your door."
"Really Ivan. You eavesdropped on me?" I yelled at him.
"I wasn't trying to, but I heard you and was curious who you were talking to. I thought you might be talking to your mom and wanted to say hi to her. But to my surprise it wasn't her, it was Rose. After that I went back to bed."
"Sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you."
"I kind of deserved it."
"No you didn't. I shouldn't have gotten so defensive."
"I did deserve it. I've done nothing but harass you about Rose since you met her."
"Ivan."
"No wait, let me finish. I've been worried about you since what happened with Whitney. She destroyed you and for the longest time I wondered if I was ever going to have my best friend back. When you met Rose I could see some of the old you coming back. I just want you to be happy and she seems to do that."
He was right after I had broken things off with Whitney, I was plagued with nightmares and panic attacks. He had to sit and watch me suffer for months. I had not been myself for a long time.
"You're right she does make me happy. I've never felt this way before and it's all happening so quickly. I can't explain it, but it just feels right."
It was hard to put into words just how I felt about Rose. Yes we had only met, but it felt like I had known her my whole life. She made me feel so at ease. I actually spent all day with her at the hospital yesterday.
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Sunday
Today was the day I was going to visit Rose. Alberta had texted me earlier to say she and Celeste had already visited her. She was doing good and up for some company. Ivan was still passed out from last night and I was going to let him sleep. I left a note on his night stand with some painkillers and a bottle of water.
On my way to the hospital I decided to stop by the flower shop and get her a bouquet of Lilies. I wasn't sure about the color so I got a variety. Once I got to St Vladimir's I checked in with a volunteer by the name of Jill. She looked to be about seventeen. When I told her I was visiting Rose she giggled and looked me over. She directed me to an elevator that would take me to the third floor and her room.
I was nervous the whole ride up. My palms were sweaty and my hands were shaking. The elevator dinged and I got off. I wiped my hands on my pants and started walking. I wasn't sure which way to go, but spotted a nurses station up ahead. I walked that way to find a nurse to ask which room Rose was in.
"Could you please tell me where Rose Hathaway's room is?" Before the nurse could say anything, a Dr in a white coat turned around.
"You're Dimitri right?"
I immediately recognized her, it was her friend that came to help her. From what I remember reading she was also the one who introduced her to Jesse.
"Yes, that's me."
"Hi I'm Dr. Dragomir, but you can call me Lissa. I'm Rose's best friend." She reached out her hand to shake mine.
"Hi Lissa. I recognize you from the club."
"Yeah it was a bit crazy and I never got to introduce myself and thank you."
"You don't have to thank me."
" I do. I'm not sure what would have happened to her if you didn't step in and help. Thankfully her recovery is going well and she should be able to go home tomorrow."
"That's great to hear."
"If you want to follow me I'll take you to her room." She said something to one of the nurses then gestured for me to follow her. We walked down the hall and stopped at room 310.
"Take as long as you want to visit, we won't kick you out." She winked and started to turn around to leave.
"It was nice to meet you Dimitri."
"Nice to meet you too."
I watched her walk away and when I could no longer see her I turned back to the door. I just stood there trying to talk myself into knocking. Finally I mustered up the courage and I gently knocked a couple times on the door. Almost immediately I heard her voice tell me to come in.
I slowly opened up the door to see her sitting on the bed. She was just as gorgeous as I remembered and had a smile planted on her face.
"Hey Comrade." She greeted me. Really with the nickname!
"You're never going to call me by my real name are you?"
"Hmm probably not." She laughed. Her laugh was almost magical. She looked at the flowers in my hand and grinned even wider.
"How did you know that Lillies were my favourite flower? Most people tend to get me Rose's because of my name."
"Let's just say it's a cowboy secret." That made her smile even more. I walked closer to her so I could give her the flowers. I handed them to her and she set them down on the table beside her bed. Once my hands were empty I put them in my pockets and just stood there.
"Are you going to just stand there?"
"Why do you want me to sit down?"
" I mean you can stand if you want, but if you're going to be staying, you might want to sit."
I walked to the other side of her bed where a recliner was, took off my duster and sat down.
"That better?"
"Yes! You make me feel even shorter when you are standing and I'm sitting."
"I'm not that tall."
"Compared to me you are."
"You're Just the right height."
"Wow comrade! I didn't know you had it in you to be so dirty."
"Huh? What was so dirty about that?"
"You really don't get it do you?" I just shook my head because I had no clue what she was talking about.
"That's super cute."
"Did you just call me cute?"
"Maybe!"
After that we ended up picking up where we left off at the club. Talking about everything and nothing. I didn't bring up Jesse or what happened that night and neither did she. I told her about my family and growing up in Russia. She loved hearing all my stories about growing up with three sisters. I told her that she would love my youngest sister Victoria.
I didn't realize how late it was till Lissa came in to say her shift was over. She told me that visiting hours were technically over, but I could stay as long as I didn't get caught.
Eventually a grumpy old nurse came in and kicked me out. Before I left we exchanged numbers and I offered to pick her up tomorrow when she was released.
When I got home I tried to go to sleep, but I couldn't. I kept thinking about Rose and how much I enjoyed my day with her. I was in bed tossing and turning when I heard a ding from my phone. I looked over to see Rose's name on the screen.
Hey Comrade. You up? I can't sleep. ;)
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Present time
"Earth to Belikov." I snapped out of my memory to Adrian waving his hand in front of my face.
"Sorry."
"It's ok I'm in no hurry. I just got off the phone with Detective Croft and I wanted to give you both an update. "
"Please tell me it's good news?" Ivan asked
"Yes and no." My good mood plummeted thinking what in the world it could be.
" Let me give you the good news. I think I may have found where Jesse is hiding. I found an apartment building in New York City that is owned by the Voda family."
"Okay so that's good news, but what else is there?
"This is the file I started on Rose." He sat the file that he had in his hand on my desk.
"Ok, should I be concerned?" I asked.
" Again yes and no." He didn't say anything else.
"Care to elaborate?" I raised my eyebrow at him begging him to continue.
"Yeah, yeah, let me get to it." He sat down in the chair on the other side of my desk and opened up the file. He pulled out what appeared to be a birth certificate.
"This is a copy of her birth certificate. Looks legit right?" I scanned it real quick and I couldn't see anything off about it.
"Here's the thing it's not. This is fake."
"How do you know it's fake?" Ivan questioned as he walked over to look at it.
"Let's just say I know how to make one so I know how to spot a fake a mile away."
"So what? Do you think she isn't who she says she is?" I really wanted to know because I was starting to develop feelings for her. I didn't feel like she was lying to me about anything because she told me things last night that were very personal.
"That's not it. From what I could gather she's always been Rose Hathaway."
I gave him a questioning look because he wasn't making any sense.
"I know this is confusing. Let me try to explain. I found there was no Rose Hathaway born at Lockhaven Hospital on March,25 1995. I did some digging and searched all the databases in Pennsylvania and there aren't any birth records for Rose Hathaway.
I then searched for her mom's name Irene Hathaway. I found a death certificate for her, but that's it. She didn't exist until July of 2000, when she applied for a drivers license. There's a five year gap where there is nothing for either of them." We were interrupted by our boss Mr.Mazur.
"Did you say Hathaway?" He asked Adrian.
"Yeah, Irene and Rose Hathaway. This is what I've been working on for Detective Croft."
"Can I take a look at it?" Adrian handed it to him. He opened it and his body tensed up. He shut the file with his hand shaking.
"Can you three handle the meeting on your own?"
"We can. Is everything ok?" Adrian asked him.
"Yes. Something came up that I need to take care of right away." He answered then quickly left without another word.
"That was strange." Commented Ivan.
"Yes it was. Well, are you both ready for this meeting?" Adrian asked.
"We are." I said.
"Good let's get this over with."