AN: Hello, my friends!

I've missed you all very much! Anyway, this Deleted Scene is less of a deleted scene and more of an AU of a familiar scene. I know, I suck at sticking to my own rules. (You know you're losing in life when you try to stick it to the man, but you, in fact, are the man you're sticking it to.) But I digress.

As I was saying, this is more of an AU, and hopefully you gathered from the title that it is my re-imagining of Rose and Dimitri's meeting/Rose and Lissa's capture. Was there a need to re-write this scene? No, I love the canon version. Did I write this to simply amuse myself? Probably. Did I write this so I could continue to procrastinate on the billions of final projects I have to do? Most definitely. *sigh*

I hope you lovelies enjoy it:)

Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy or any of its characters. Everything belongs to Richelle Mead

Meet Cute...Sort Of: Rose POV

"Rose. No."

I wasn't sure if my best friend/charge was trying to put a stop to the taunting I was annoying her with in regards to a certain admirer of hers from our political science (ugh) class, or if she was trying to stop my hand from grabbing a second package of Oreos. I turned to find a stern look and an outstretched finger pointed at my reaching hands. So, the cookies then. If she'd been referring to my harassment about Peter, I might've backed off, but when Liss and I go on our weekly grocery shopping trips, sweets and desserts, and whether or not we should buy them, is a topic I will argue till I'm blue in the face. And trust me, that had happened before.

I grabbed the cookies and placed my free hand on my hip. "Rose, yes."

She responded with an eye roll. "We already have a pack in the cart, not to mention we haven't even finished the one we have at home."

I scoffed. "Pssh. That's what you think. I finished those off the second day we had them. Also" – I pointed at the price sticker on the shelf – "they're on sale! Two packs for five dollars!"

"Wow, we could save a whole dollar. Good-bye crummy apartment! Hello mansion!"

I don't think I have to tell you she was being sarcastic, but I still stuck out my lip and made my eyes big and puppy-dogish, finishing the pout by bringing my hands together in a pleading gesture. "Pleeeeeease?"

I wasn't above groveling and was two seconds away from dropping to my knees when she broke into a grin. "Fine!" she relented, throwing up her hands. "Eat Walmart's entire supply of junk food. See if I care when you go into a sugar induced coma."

"At least I'll be in comatose with a smile on my face."

We both laughed as I placed the second Oreo package in our cart.

We continued shopping, hitting all of the essential aisles: food, clothing (fall weather was nearing after all), toiletries (you can never have too many tampons), food, pet (Lissa always insists on getting Oscar treats), camping (Walmart may not have a silver stake, but they do have the next best thing: a machete), oh, and did I mention food?

Lissa did most of the shopping because a) she had all the money, and b) I had more importing things to worry about. Perimeters weren't going to secure themselves, you know! I made it a point to always go on these trips in the daytime, effectively taking Strigoi out of the picture, but living on our own for almost two years had taught me that undead creatures of the night were not the only threat I needed to worry about when it came to my charge's safety. We'd had a few run-ins with humans. Mainly entitled college boys with wandering eyes and eager hands, nothing I couldn't handle. But we've also had to escape psi-hounds before. In that situation, the threat came from of our own races, the Moroi and dhampir, in their attempt to track us down.

So… basically the world was against us, which suited me just fine. Allies are nice, but I was never good at relying on others. I believed only in what I could do for myself. Plus, it made deciphering friend from foe much easier. If the whole world is against you, then treat everyone as a hostile enemy.

Okay. Not as a hostile enemy, but I certainly didn't trust anyone beyond myself and Lissa. I couldn't afford to.

"What do you think, Rose? Red or cyclamen?" We were in the cosmetics aisle, and Lissa's voice pulled me away from scrutinizing an old woman who was standing a little too close for comfort. I sent the lady one more glare before fixing my attention on Lissa and the two bottles of nail polish she was holding.

I wrinkled my nose at the pink. "Ugh. Red. Definitely."

She looked disappointed. "But red's not my color."

"Fine. Get the pink," I said, waving her off.

"Cyclamen."

"Isn't that a type of tree?"

"Flower. Anyway, I think we should get them both since red is practically your signature nail color." A huge smile suddenly broke out on her face. "We should have a girl's night! We can do our nails, eat terrible food, and watch Clueless!"

I was about to tell her that I wasn't feeling up to it. Yesterday had been a feeding day, and while I was, for the most part, fully recovered, I'd been hoping to get some extra sleep tonight. But then I felt a spike of excitement and happiness through the bond, and even a bit of nostalgia. After all, we used to have girl's nights all the time, but that was before. Before the accident. Before we ran away. Needless to say, it'd been a while since we had one of those nights. Cuz nothing said mani-pedis and chick-flicks like a dead family and an entire vampiric society trying to hunt you down, right?

Unwilling to kill that spark of joy, I said, "Sure, Liss. It'll be just like old times."

With a girlie squeal, she placed both bottles in the cart then moved further down the aisle to the mud mask section. Oh Lord. Mud masks, in my limited experience, never did anything. They just made you feel like you were classy or something, like you got the whole spa experience.

I was about to tell her all of this when something, or rather someone, standing at the end of the aisle caught my eye. It was a man. And honestly, I'd bet he'd catch any girl's eye (not just one who has made it her job to notice everything within a ten-mile radius of her best friend) cuz the guy was hot. Like, stop walking on the street and get hit by traffic, hot.

However, at the moment, his hotness wasn't what I noticed. Okay, I noticed it, but it wasn't the only thing I noticed because this man… this man was a dhampir. And if the way he held himself and seemed to see everything all at once with those focused eyes was any indication, he was a guardian.

No. They can't take her. I won't let them.

"Lissa," I said, keeping the tremor from my voice. I had to remain calm for her sake. "Can we go back to the toiletries aisle? I think we're almost out of shampoo at home."

"Sure, in a sec, Rose. So, what do you think? Charcoal or – "

"Now, Liss!" I said through a tight smile. I was attempting, and probably failing, to seem like I hadn't noticed the guardian, but when his posture shifted from one of observation to one ready for pursuit, I knew he knew I knew. We had to get out of here.

"Don't turn around," I mumbled when her eyes widened, meaning sinking in. "Just follow me and stay close. We'll be fine."

Not even bothering with the cart (there was no point if he was aware of our knowledge that he was here) we headed in the opposite direction, walking down the aisle at as brisk a pace that could seem normal. Glances in the security mirror ahead of us told me he was following, but he did so at a leisurely pace, and that worried me. He wasn't afraid of losing us. Which meant he had back-up. The question was, how much back-up?

At the end of the aisle, I made a split-second decision and turned left. Right would've taken us to the closest set of doors, but I'm sure the guardians knew that and were expecting us to go that direction. We did need to get out of there, but I preferred to do so without a tail, and in the time it would take to walk across Walmart to the second set of doors, I was planning on losing ours.

"Rose, what are we going to do?" The fear in Lissa's trembling voice matched the fear pouring out of her through the bond. Her fear was feeding my own, and I was tempted to give in to it, but instead I gave her hand a reassuring squeeze, and told her the same thing I'd been telling her since kindergarten. "We'll be fine. I'll take care of everything."

She nodded at my words, believing them. I nodded back, hoping I was worthy of that trust in this situation.

We were in one of the main walkways, which meant we were out in the open. That, as a general rule when you're trying not to be seen, is bad. Not to mention there was a dhampir further up in the clothes section pretending to check out a Spider-Man T-shirt, so I steered Lissa down the closest aisle on our right. What do you know? The toiletry aisle.

Maybe we could just throw tampons at them.

No. While the feminine product usually sent most boys running, something told me Guardian Hottie and his friends weren't going to be scared off by pieces of cotton, regardless of their intended usage.

"Maybe we could hide out in the girl's room," Lissa offered, but I was already shaking my head.

"No windows and only one door. We'd be trapped in a second. All they'd have to do is wait for us to come out."

"What if we didn't come out? This is a 24-hour store. We could stay here for a couple days until security makes us leave, and the guardians wouldn't be able to touch us if we had a guard walking us out."

"Nice thought, but no can do. If we stay here for a day, heck, if we stay here for another hour, the guardians have the resources to not only bring in more people, but they would also confiscate our car" – technically it was our roommate's car – "break into our apartment, and they'd probably infiltrate the staff here too. The guard walking us out would probably be a guardian himself."

By now we'd weaved through a number of aisles, and I'd made us take as many twists and turns as possible, but I still continued to catch glimpses of guardians everywhere. I mean, geez, if we weren't, yah know, trying to escape and all, I'd be flattered that they'd brought so many.

After another guardian sighting, resulting in us making a U-turn toward, well, more freaking guardians, I was starting to truly panic. There had to be at least ten guardians in this building, and we were no closer to getting out of here than before.

I was just starting to reconsider the security guard idea (jumping into the ball cage would get us kicked out faster than waiting a day or two would), when I noticed a small group of teenage boys. They were in the sports section messing around with a few basketballs. One of them, trying to show off, bounced a ball as hard as he could and actually managed to hit himself in the face. His two friends laughed at him and I smiled, but for an entirely different reason. Yes, they'd do nicely.

"Liss, shake your hair out," I commanded as I began flipping my own.

She stared at me like I was crazy. I didn't blame her. "What?"

"Shake your hair out, and" – I gave her a once over – "unbutton the bottom buttons of your shirt then tie it to look like a crop top."

She looked scandalized. "Rose – "

I turned her head. "See those boys over there? They're our ticket out of here. So, I need you to crank up the charm and follow my lead."

While she complied, I tugged my own shirt down to the point of cleavage and thanked my lucky stars that I'd chosen to wear my good jeans today.

As soon as I was satisfied with both of our looks, I nudged Lissa toward the teens. "Showtime."

"This isn't going to end well," she said through a killer smile. "I haven't flirted with anyone in over two years!"

"Flirting is just like riding a bike. Once you learn, you're set for life."

"That's not even a little bit tru- "

"Hey, boys!" I said once we reached their aisle. "Could you help us out?"

Three heads turned. Three mouths popped open. Three sets of eyes traveled south then back up again. I impatiently stood there with a smile on my face. I mean lanta, how long does it take to check a couple of girls out?

"So…," I said, taking another step forward. "Help?" Hopefully simple, one-word statements would make this easier.

The tallest one smirked. (He also happened to be the one who'd hit himself in the face with the basketball.) "What can we help you chicks with?"

Charming.

"Well," – I pretended to blush – "it's kind of embarrassing, but we were wondering if you could maybe walk us to our car. It's just that we're alone and – "

"Are in need of protection," he finished for me.

"Exactly!" I exclaimed, but internally I was nursing my wounded pride, knowing I could take all three of these guys in a fight.

"So, will you help us?" Lissa asked in a sickly-sweet voice, adding a touch of compulsion. She even flipped her hair as she said it. Nice touch.

Tall-guy followed the movement and smiled. "Sure. We'll help you. Won't we, guys?" His friends, who I silently named Short-guy and Ironic-T-shirt-guy, both nodded eagerly, and they did so not a moment too soon because behind them, at the end of the aisle, appeared Guardian Hottie. He had a moment of pause when he noticed the civilian boys between himself and us. I caught his eye. He looked at the boys then looked back to me. Don't you dare, his eyes said. Mine narrowed and I smirked. Watch me.

I walked right up to Tall-guy, wrapped my arms around his neck, and pulled him into the grateful hug you would expect a damsel in distress to give. "Thank you so much!" I cried. Over Tall-guy's shoulder I saw the guardian draw back.

"You boys are too sweet," Lissa said, shooting her most dazzling smile at Short-guy and Ironic-T-Shirt-guy, who practically melted into piles of adoration.

Releasing Tall-guy, I linked my arm with Lissa's and we started walking. The boys caught up a second later, Tall-guy on my left, Short-guy on Lissa's right, and Ironic-T-shirt-guy walked behind. I didn't feel too bad for him. After all, I was wearing my good jeans.

As we made our way to the exit, I continued to spot guardians, noting the conflicting looks that would cross their faces when they recognized the new obstacle. Who knew teenage boys could be so useful? I sure didn't.

The guardian posted at the door, I could tell, was raging a war within himself, but in the end, he was forced to watch as we walked through the threshold and into freedom.

"So," Tall-guy began, putting his arm around my shoulders. "I didn't catch your name."

I held back the dozens of fiery comments I normally would have made, and instead channeled my inner Lissa when I smiled and said, "My name is Rose. And yours?"

Tall-guy said his name was James… or maybe it was Josh? Jacob? Fernando? I hadn't really been listening to his answer because I was too focused on the green Honda we were steadily approaching.

I can't believe we're actually going to pull this off! Ten more feet-

"Rose!"

My first thought was: wow, that's a deep voice, and my second thought, the one that stopped me in my tracks, was: that voice is too deep for any of these boys. That was when I saw Guardian Hottie running toward us. Was he really going to fight me in front of these humans? Because that was what he'd have to do. I wasn't going to let them take Lissa. We weren't going to go quietly.

However, upon reaching us, instead of performing some kind of offensive maneuver, he exclaimed, "Thank goodness you're alright! I got worried when I couldn't find you."

Um, what? What game was this guy playing?

"Thank you, gentlemen," he continued, addressing our escorts. "But I can take it from here."

Before I could interject, James/Fernando scoffed. "And who are you, exactly?"

Guardian Hottie smiled. "My name is Dimitri." Then is face darkened. "And I'd ask you to take your hands off my girlfriend."

"Girlfriend?!" James/Fernando and I exclaimed (though his exclamation consisted of fewer exclamation points than mine).

"Yes, girlfriend. Now, if you don't mind… "

Then Guardian Hottie (or Dimitri, I guess) reached out, grabbed my wrist, pulled me to him so I was pressed against his side, and held me like I really was his girlfriend and he really was my possessive and overprotective boyfriend. The fact that I didn't immediately pull away or kick his kidney evidenced how completely Dimitri threw me off guard with his comment, though, I suppose, that was his goal.

"Well," James/Fernando said. "I don't see your name on her, and she was the one who approached us."

James/Fernando was either very brave or very stupid because I doubt very many people found it within themselves to challenge Dimitri. I mean, the guy was huge. My head only reached his pecks, so I'd say he was 6'7'' of pure, lean muscle. (My cheek was pressed against said peck, so I felt perfectly qualified to make the "pure muscle" judgement.)

Finally, when my speech and motor skills returned to me, I yanked myself out of Dimitri's arms. He wasn't the only one who could improvise. "How dare you!" I yelled. "I broke up with you two weeks ago, and now you decide to show up. Here, of all places! When I'm trying to form a relationship with Fernando!"

"Um… It's Jason."

I ignored him. "You never loved me! The only person you have ever loved is yourself! You only ever wanted me for my body and the amazing sex, you pig!" I might have been having too much fun with this, but it was my turn to make Dimitri uncomfortable, to make him back down.

But Dimitri didn't look uncomfortable. He looked deadly serious when he said, "Please. I want you back. Stop running." And I had a feeling he wasn't talking to me, the pseudo-girlfriend. He was talking to Lissa and I, asking us to return to the academy with him and the other guardians.

Unfortunately for him, I couldn't let that happen.

"No. Lissa, get in the car. We're leaving."

His eyes hardened. I could tell he was done with our game when he turned to the humans and growled, "You have exactly five seconds to make yourselves scarce."

Short-guy and Ironic-T-shirt-guy, the cowards, didn't seem to have any problem with complying. Admittedly, I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of Dimitri's glare either. Jason, surprisingly, stood his ground. Though, said ground seemed a little shifty. Like I said, Dimitri's glare was pretty intimidating.

"This is a free country. I can do whatever I want," he managed to mumble.

Dimitri stepped closer and leaned down so they were at eye level. "According to that definition of freedom, I have every right to tear you apart limb from limb, starting with the arm you had draped across Rose's shoulders."

That did it. Jason's eyes grew impossibly big as he began backing away. "Um, yeah. Okay, dude. I'm sorry, alright. I'll – I'll just go."

No! He was our last hope of getting out of here!

"Jason, wait!"

I grabbed his arm, but he shook me off. "Look, Rose, you're hot, but not 'I'd become an amputee for you' hot. Sorry." Then he took off running.

"Humph. Well that was rude. I'd say I'm at least 'I'd become a paralytic for you' hot."

"Rose." All thoughts of joking and sarcasm left my mind when I heard my best friend whispering my name, when I saw tears rim her eyes.

I watched as the guardians Dimitri'd brought with him closed ranks around us, effectively containing us where we stood.

As they tightened their circle, I pulled Lissa behind me and heard myself shouting, "Leave her alone! Don't touch her!"

I looked at Dimitri, but what I saw wasn't Guardian Hottie. He wasn't my improv boyfriend. He was my enemy, which was probably why, when he stepped forward with outstretched arms, I lashed out.

He, being an experienced guardian and all, blocked my attack, but I'm a dhampir, too. I've had training, too. I didn't lose my balance, nor did I lose my resolve. With an animalistic growl, I leaped at him again, but this time, instead of blocking me, Dimitri used my momentum against me, swinging me around till my back was pressed against his chest and my arms were pulled across myself. His fingers circled my wrists like manacles, holding me in place. I kicked out, trying to hit a kneecap, but he dodged me effortlessly. I was powerless.

Bending his head, he spoke softly to me, "I'm not going to hurt you."

It was then I realized two things. The first being that my current captor was Russian. While in the presence of the humans he'd used an American accent, that was gone now. The second was that whether we liked it or not, whether it was one of the most dangerous places for my best friend to be or not, we were going back to St. Vladimir's Academy. I'd failed.

I met Lissa's eyes, saw the sadness and fear there. "I'm so sorry, Liss."

"Rose. Don't," she said. "It's not your fault." She tried to smile, but the bond told me a different story.

I couldn't take it anymore. "Let me go," I pleaded. "I won't fight you."

Dimitri hesitated, but eventually his grip loosened, allowing me to go to my friend.

The guardians continued to draw in closer till, on the outside, it might've looked as if we were just a big group of friends hanging out. But that couldn't have been further from the truth. Dimitri only proved this point when he lowered himself into a bow before Lissa. "My name is Dimitri Belikov," he said upon returning to normal height. "I've come to take you back to St. Vladimir's Academy, Princess."

I squeezed my friend's hand. The bond was one-way, so I had to silently, through our joined hands, send the same message I'd been telling her since kindergarten.

We'll be fine.

I'll take care of everything.

AN: Thank you so much for reading! Please let me know what you thought in a review and/or comment!

I have no story pertaining to the inspiration of this chapter, but I will say that Lissa's crazy idea (to spend two days just chillin' in the girl's room) wasn't as random as it seemed. It's based off of true events. I have crazy friends, and one of those friends thought it would be fun to see how long he could just live in Walmart. He made it two days before he was asked to leave. (I can see that you're torn between face palming and applauding him.)

Also, I know this is an AU, but I still tried to keep everyone in character. I realize I stretched them a bit for comedic purposes, but I hope you still saw their personalities shinning through. If not, let me know. I'll work on it:)

Have a peachy day!