AN – Thank you for the reviews. I have to admit Art is a weirdo but it's all part of my plan

Apologises for such a late update. Work has been mental and with switching between days and nights I was utterly exhausted.

Here is the next chapter, the ending was a little bit of a filler for me to get into the next chapter. I am hoping that one won't be too far away but depends on how work goes. I've also got an MRI this week so depending how that goes you may not hear from me for a while if it's not good.

DISCLAIMER – VA belongs to Richelle Mead.

Chapter 12 – The Return

I woke from a blissful sleep. I hadn't slept so well in over a month. I felt Dimitri running his hands up and down my arm, so I knew he was awake as well I tilted my head up and kissed his chin. He stilled immediately. ''Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you.'' He mumbled.

''You didn't.'' I replied. Lifting my head to kiss him greedily on the lips. He responded immediately. Moving his hands up into my hair and pulling softly causing me to moan. I pulled away. ''You know. You aren't making this easy for me by doing that. Your words say one thing, but your actions say an entirely different thing.'' I mumbled against his lips.

He chuckled. ''Shut up and kiss me.'' He said. I pulled completely away from him and gave him an incredulous look. Is he serious? I sat up, quickly darting from the bed and into the bathroom. Shutting the door but didn't lock it and stripped off. Jumping into the shower.

I chuckled softly, knowing that I was softly torturing him. Actually, I was one hundred percentage pure torturing the man. I knew he wouldn't have heard the click of the door and would have heard the shower turn on. Part of me hoped he'd join me, but I knew that was wishful thinking. I spent longer than normal in the shower, taking my time to wash my hair. After I'd finished and I turned the water off. I stepped out and grabbed the towel and wrapped it around myself. Picking up my bag, I walked out of the room wrapped in my towel.

Dimitri was stood looking out of the window, facing away from me. I could see the tension in his back and radiating from his body. Oh yeah, he was affected alright. When he heard me walk back into the room he started to turn. ''Next time lock the door. It took all my restraint not to follow you.''

''Then you should of.'' I replied seriously.

''Rose... you kn…'' He turned around and saw me standing there. ''ROSE! Are you trying to torture me?'' He yelled; frustration clear in his voice as he gapped at me.

''Well you don't have to stare at me.'' I replied snarkily. If he's going to withhold sex, I'm going to make it as hard as I can. I knew it was childish of me to be doing this, and I knew once we were back at the academy we couldn't. But we were nowhere near anyone from the Moroi world, except for Art and he knew about us. Then again, if we were together again, going back would just be so much harder. I sighed. I shook my head slightly. ''Sorry. I'll change.'' I mumbled. Heading back to the bathroom with my bag.

Before I reached the door, Dimitri stridden over to me grabbing me and spinning me around. ''You know this is just as hard as it is for me. These next few months will fly by. Then once it's safe and no one can tear us apart we can be together. Properly.'' He whispered, brushing his lips against mine. ''Now stop torturing me before I rip this towel from your body.'' He said.

''Maybe I'd like that.'' There was no maybe about it. I would definitely like that. He gave me a look as if to say don't test me. ''alright, alright'' I said holding up my hands. ''I'm going.'' I quickly dropped my hands, grabbing the towel as it started slipping. Dimitri caught the movement and his eyes widened slightly with lust evident in them. A gave him a cheeky grin as I turned and swayed my hips back to the bathroom. Plan already in motion I thought to myself as I looked myself over in the mirror. I changed quickly.

When I headed back into the room, Dimitri didn't even look at me. He headed straight into the bathroom. I sat down on the sofa, deciding to flick through the channels on the TV while I waited for Dimitri to come out. I heard the shower turn off so knew he wouldn't be too much longer.

Just then a knock sounded at the door. I headed over, knowing it would be Art to see if we were ready. Opening the door, I looked at him and said ''Run.'' My face was void of any emotion and I stared at him seriously.

''What? Why?'' He said, looking behind me for a threat. Always the guardian, always the protector.

''I may have told Dimitri what you told me to do. He wasn't happy.'' I chuckled when I saw the relieved expression on his face. I knew Dimitri probably wasn't too happy about what Art had told me to do, I just hoped he wouldn't be too mean on Art.

''Oh. He doesn't scare me.'' Art muttered, shaking away my comment. I laughed even harder. Of course, he didn't scare him, he was a badass, even more so than Dimitri.

Just then the bathroom door opened, and Dimitri came out, he looked across at us both standing in the doorway, his eyes narrowing slightly when he saw Art. ''Given Rose any other helpful advice have we?'' Dimitri said sternly. Ironic that that was the first thing he would mention, but why am I surprised.

I laughed. ''Told you he wasn't happy.'' As I nudged Art in the ribs with my elbow.

Art just shrugged in response. ''Well someone had too.'' Art said. ''You were taking your damn time telling her the truth. I knew how you felt about her since that first phone call months ago. When you first asked me to do her qualifier.'' He stared Dimitri down, challenging him to say otherwise.

''Wait. Months ago? How long ago did he ask you to do my Qualifier? I haven't been back that long.'' I asked.

Dimitri shot Art a look, but he ignored it. ''About 3 months ago I would say.'' Art informed me.

I gasped. ''But I was only back at the academy for like a month at that point.'' I turned to look at Dimitri. ''How the hell did you know I would be ready? Actually, scrap that. You had feelings for me back then and didn't say anything?!'' I almost yelled at him.

''Thanks Art.'' Dimitri muttered with an eye roll. ''Yes, I knew even back then that you would have no issues passing your qualifier. As for my feelings, you know why I couldn't tell you, Rose. It hasn't changed.'' He said, staring at me with slight regret in his eyes.

''Oh yeah.'' As if I could forget that. Of course, he couldn't have told me. Well he could have, and we could have done the same plan we were set on right now. Maybe then the lust charm wouldn't have happened, or at least what happened after the lust charm at least. I would never regret or wish the lust charm hadn't happened. Even if I had always fantasied about some grand romantic gesture for my first time. ''Enough of this. I want food! I'm starving.'' Dimitri had joined us at the door with both our bags by now.

''Oh, I bet you are.'' Art muttered nearly inaudibly under his breath. Honestly, he was like some horny teenager constantly making comments. When was the last time he got laid? Nope, don't think about that I chastised myself. I saw Dimitri shoot Art a look and Art looked down timidly. HA! Looks like he was a little intimidated by Dimitri sometimes.

As Dimitri grabbed our bags, Art looked at me questioningly. ''So, did you at least take my advice?'' he mumbled, low enough for only me to hear as we walked along the corridor while Dimitri closed the room door.

Seriously?! He's actually asking?! ''Ugh! I am so not talking to you about this! If you want to know so badly ask Dimitri.'' I replied annoyed. What the hell was wrong with him!

Art shook his head, as if realising how wildly inappropriate that question was. ''No wait, I'm sorry, don't answer that. It's done of my business. I'm sorry.'' I gave him a weird look. He had his guardian mask firmly in place and I couldn't read his emotions but something in the pit of my stomach said something was up. I just didn't know what. Unfortunately, Dimitri had joined us so I couldn't ask him.

We headed to the front desk to check out. Art thanked the clerk profusely for their help which I found strange but shrugged it off. He was probably thanking them for letting us check in, in the middle of the night. After we'd checked out, we headed for the diner and quickly ordered. As we waited for our food, I kept wondering what Art had thanked the clerk for.

''Art?'' I asked causing him to turn and look at me. ''Why did you thank the clerk?''

He had a sly grin on his face as he muttered ''Oh. No reason.'' And promptly slammed his guardian mask in place again. Oh, definitely keeping something from us. I looked over to Dimitri and he shrugged, and I knew with that shrug I wasn't going to get anything out of him today. I would try again though; I would find out what that sly grin meant. I narrowed my eyes slightly in Art's direction in slight warning to him, he just smiled back.

I was sad to be going back to the Academy. I didn't quite know how me and Dimitri were going to be able to hide our feelings now, but we had too. Art offered to drive to give me and Dimitri more time and told us both to sit in the back. We'd argued at first as it was a break of protocol, but he pulled rank of ex-head guardian and even Dimitri wasn't going to fight with that. So, that's how me and Dimitri ended up in the back of the SUV, me cuddled up on his lap, which was difficult when I still had my seat belt on, but we made it work.

I soon fell asleep again in his arms. I didn't want to, but I couldn't help it. It was just so soothing being held by him and his scent intoxicated me.

I awoke some time later, still snuggled in my lovers' arms. I turned my head slightly and nuzzled Dimitri's neck, once I did Dimitri pulled me even closer, whispering a few things to me in Russian. ''Comrade, you know I have no idea what you are saying right.'' I muttered frustrated. He just shrugged against me. If I was to guess, he probably didn't want Art to know what he was saying.

We were all quiet after that, none of us really wanting to talk. I snuggled closer to Dimitri the closer we got to the Academy. I didn't want to have to let him go but I knew we would have to move apart soon.

All too soon Art pulled the car to a stop. He turned in his seat as I lifted my head off Dimitri chest to look at him. ''Sorry guys, we are about 30 minutes out now, it's too risky. I'll give you a few minutes in private.'' He said, voice full of sorrow as he opened the door, getting out and walking into the woods a few paces before he disappeared from view. We all knew it would be too risky to continue how we was. Any of the academy guardians could be driving down this road and see us. So, this had to be the end of the road in a way.

I turned to Dimitri. Tugging off my seat belt in the process and clutching his chest. ''I don't want to let you go.'' I whined into his chest. He stroked my hair soothingly.

''I know, Roza. I know. I don't want to either. I've just got you back, the last thing I want to do is let you go again but we have to.'' He mumbled as his voice broke softly. I pulled my face away from his chest and looked and saw tears forming in his eyes. He looked so sad in that moment. His usual expressionless mask completely gone.

''Comrade, if you cry, I'm going to cry and that isn't going to help us play the role of student and mentor. Plus, I don't do crying.'' I said, trying to keep my voice from breaking. He gave me a small smile. I brought my lips to his and gave him a passionate kiss, trying to convey all the feelings I had for him in that kiss. When we pulled apart, I groaned. ''I'm definitely going to miss that a lot.'' I mumbled into his neck as I pressed a kiss and sucking slightly below his neck making him moan softly.

''No matter what happens when we pass through that gate just know I love you. That isn't going to change. Just because I won't be able to show it, know that it's killing me inside not being able to hold you. To kiss you.'' He murmured into my hair.

''I know. And I'll try and behave. I'll try and keep my hands off you.'' I giggled.

He groaned in annoyance. ''These past few days have been the best days of my life. I never thought I'd feel happy again after Ivan, but you've brought a light into my life I could never imagine. Thank you for forgiving me so easily for what I did.'' He said earnestly.

''Comrade, there was nothing to forgive. I know why you did it, I understand that. Yes, it sucked being told you didn't feel the same way, but I understand. I know the risk you are taking by being with me.'' I replied, as my earlier thought flicked into my mind. Taking a deep breath, I shoved them back. I would not ruin this moment. ''I'm glad that snowstorm hit though, otherwise we wouldn't have gotten the past few days to be together, even though we weren't together.'' I said, empathising the last word. He looked at me knowingly and groaned again.

''Rose. You are really going to make this difficult for me aren't you.'' He said, eyeing me.

I giggled again. ''Comrade. You know me so well. I'm going to torture you every chance I get.'' He groaned again, shaking his head.

''You'll be the death of me. I know it.'' He mumbled. I smiled widely and pressed my lips again to his. This time we didn't break this kiss straight away. We were done talking now. This time we used our bodies to say goodbye. To soak up the remaining closeness we could. Who knew how long it would be before we could be this close again?

I sighed into his mouth as the door opened again and Art muttered an apology. Dimitri pulled away looking at me longingly and I climbed of his lap. Sitting back into the sit and putting my seat belt on properly. Dimitri got out the car, and got back in the passenger side, according to protocol. He reached his hand behind him and I clasped mine with his.

''Until the last possible second.'' He muttered, turning and looking at me. I gave him a small sad smile. I heard Art sigh slightly as he pulled away from the side of the road and continued to make our way towards to gate of St Vlad's.

After another 30 minutes the iron gates of St Vlad's came into view. Me and Dimitri still had our hands firmly clasped together. How he had held that position for this long, I didn't know. He arm was bent backwards so it must be painful for him or at least uncomfortable, but he didn't seem to mind. With one last squeeze from both of us we released each other. I pulled my hand from his, keeping our fingers touching for as long as possible. Our fingertips touched each other's and then he was gone. I slumped back into my seat, fighting back the tears threatening to spill over my eyes.

''I love you Roza. No matter what.'' Dimitri murmured. His eyes burning into mine through the mirror in his sun visor.

''I love you too Comrade.'' I murmured back with a small smile.

''Oh, you guys. You're going to make me cry and then your cover will be blown. So, stop it.'' Art said, dramatically wiping at his guys. I think it did what he meant as we both started laughing at his theatrics.

''Art. In all seriousness thank you. For not reporting us. I know you should and honestly, I don't understand why you haven't but thank you for these past few days. We both know we could have made the drive yesterday. So, thank you for giving us another day. And thank you for pushing me to tell her the truth. I should have done it ages ago, hell I should have never lied.'' Dimitri said to Art earnestly with slight regret in his voice towards the end.

''No need to thank me. You can't help who you love. I'm just glad it worked out for you.'' Art replied. I looked over at Art who was looking at me in the rear-view mirror, because I knew about his situation. I knew he loved someone he couldn't be with at the time but hopefully that would change now once he finds her.

''Even though. Thank you, Art. It means everything to us to know at least one-person won't judge us. I know we will get a lot of judgement when we come out, from everyone. So, thank you for not even batting an eye and understanding. And please keep in touch, I'm sure Dimitri won't mind letting me use his phone.'' I added in a hope that my message was conveyed. I wanted him to keep in touch regardless. But I also really wanted to know when he finds his love again and what happens. Art just gave me a small smile in response as we approached the gate. Dimitri just looked confused as to how we were this close already. Well a midnight or whatever time it was heart-to-heart brings people close real quick. Especially when said two people understand what each other is going through.

As we arrived at the gate, Art slowed the car. It was still daylight, but protocol was protocol and the guardian manning the gate walked out and headed towards the car. It was a guardian I knew. Yuri. He smiled warmly at us. No doubt knowing exactly what had happened. Well not exactly, I meant with the attack and us getting stranded bit, not the Dimitri and me bit. I internally rolled my eyes.

''Ah, Guardian Schoenberg and Belikov good to have you back in one piece.'' Yuri looked behind him and noticed me. ''You too Rose. You can't seem to stay out of trouble even when you are away from the academy can you?'' He said and chuckled at his own joke. I just shrugged, not really in the mood to joke right now. I heard Dimitri chuckle slightly. If only Yuri knew just how true that comment was.

''It's good to be back.'' Dimitri responded, but with slight remorse in his voice. I knew part of him wished we could have stayed away longer; I know I wished that too. But then again if we'd stayed away any longer, I don't think either of us would have been able to uphold the rule Dimitri had laid down. Part of me wished we never came back. That we'd just left for the human world, but I couldn't do that to Lissa, and I knew Dimitri would never do that either. He'd never abandon his post or his family.

Once we had settled back into our own rooms, it was time for training. Being back on a nocturnal schedule was going to be a killer, for today at least. Luckily, I'd managed to get some sleep on the drive back, but I was still going to struggle. I knew we had too, we hadn't done any training while we were away when we should of but honestly, I don't think either of us wanted to let the other go while we could hold each other.

It had only been a few hours and I was already missing him like he was a limb or something. Missed his warm embrace soothing me. I knew I'd see him daily, but I didn't know if that would be harder than not seeing him at all. Knowing I couldn't touch him. Couldn't kiss him. He said we'd make time to be together but how often would that be?

It was going to be a long few months until graduation. No matter how short he said it would feel. It would feel like an age to me.

Art had already left for Court shortly after we arrived back at the academy and I'd reminded him, he needed to contact me through Dimitri and tell me how the other thing went. Dimitri had looked at me strange when I'd said that, but I shook my head at him. If Art wanted him to know he would tell him in his own time. I was assured by Art he would contact me as soon as there was news to share.

As I headed towards the gym, soaking up the last remaining rays of the sun as it set, I started to get nervous. How was this going to work? Would he still be somewhat affectionate or back to stoic mentor? The past few days was evidence enough we couldn't let the other go for long. The whole time we were in the hotel we were always touching. How the hell were we going to stay away from each other.

Another thought flicked into my head. What if being back had changed his mind again? What if he no longer wanted me, now we were back in the confides of the academy. What if in the few hours we'd been back he realised the risk of being with me was too much. I shook that thought from my head. He wouldn't do that.

Taking a deep breath, I pushed the doors to the gym open and walked through into the foyer then pushing the secondary doors open as well. And there he stood. In all his glory. He was staring at me, eyes burning into me and I felt the heat rush to my cheeks as I blushed from his intense gaze as well as heat rushing somewhere else entirely.

I heard the door behind me click shut and without making the conscious decision I ran towards him and jumped. He caught me without issue, and I wrapped my legs around him as my lips met his in a passionate kiss. Yeah so obviously training was going to be interesting.

Our lips collided and the fight for power and dominance began. I didn't even wait for him to seek entrance to my mouth, I allowed his tongue to invade my senses and make me forget about all our problems.

After a few more minutes of this make out session I was brought back to the time and place and realised this was incredibly dangerous and reckless of us. I reluctantly pulled away and peeled myself out of his embrace. Unwrapping my legs from around his waist I sunk back to a standing position before him. When my eyes met his, he looked confused for a second and then realisation crossed his features.

''Yeah...'' I muttered. ''That shouldn't have happened. We've only been back for a few hours and we nearly ruined the plan.''

He chuckled slightly and stroked my cheek with his fingers. ''I know but it's hard to resist you.''

''Hmph, yeah it's so hard to resist me that you were fucking me continuously for the past few days.'' I replied, sarcasm clear in my voice.

His eyes darken at my words and they became filled with lust. ''You know why we couldn't.'' he said exasperated.

''I get why we can't here. You said we couldn't because we had to continue playing the role of mentor and student. Well look at how well that turned out.'' I spread my arms around us for dramatic effect. Pretending to be just mentor and student worked out so well. The first time I saw him after getting back I jumped him. Just because we hadn't had sex again didn't make it any easier.

''I guess you're right. Still we are back now, we have to stick to the plan. So, should we start training?''

I sighed. ''I'd rather a different type of training.'' I said in a flirtatious tone. I did say I'd torture him. He growled and took a step closer to me. Leaning down close to my ear, he took the lobe in between his teeth and bit and puled gently.

''Just for that, you can run 30 laps this morning.'' He whispered seductively into my ear. He stepped away from me with a stern and authoritative look on his face and I knew I wouldn't be able to get out of this and that I had brought it on myself.

I sighed annoyed. That's 10 more than usual but still headed out to the track to run my laps. I hoped this would ease the frustration I was feeling.

After running for nearly 40 minutes I made my way back into the gym, resting my hands on my knees to ease my breathing slightly. I saw Dimitri in the corner put away his book and come striding over to me. ''Maybe that will reduce to comments from that smart mouth of yours.'' He mumbled, clearly pleased with himself.

''I doubt that.'' I said mischievously. I wondered not for the first time which one of us would break first. I looked behind him and saw he had set out the sparring mats and I raised my eyebrows at him. ''You really think sparring right now is a good idea?'' I asked.

''Probably not. But you still need to train, and we need to get back to that. We need to figure a way to train while not wanting to rip each other's clothes off.'' He muttered the last part quietly. I grinned at him. Good to know I wasn't the only one who was struggling with this.

I side stepped him and made my way over to the mats. I heard him grown behind me when I put an extra swing in my hips, taunting him. Yeah, I could definitely keep this up. I turned and beckoned him over and with that we began sparring. It was different from before. I'd always felt a slight underlying sexual tension, before the lust charm anyway. But now it was as if it had been multiplied by, I don't know how much. It was like we were both trying to get our frustration out the only other way we could, through sparring. And there was definitely more touching than there was before. More than was required for sparing. Some touches lingered longer than necessary.

I was beginning to win more fights than I was losing but I was getting too cocky and Dimitri took me down with ease. He had swiped my feet from beneath me and landed on top of me, his leg pressed right against my core causing me to squirm slightly. So much for it reliving the frustration. I sighed again. I'm pretty sure the only thing that was going to ease these frustrations was the thing causing the frustration itself and it was clear that was off the table.

My eyes locked with his and I could see the internal battle in his eyes, I could feel his hardening member pressing against my thigh, fighting the confides of his pants. I felt his hips shift slightly and the hardness pushed into my thigh even more. He moved his hand over to rest on my chest as he whispered ''Dead''. However, he didn't remove his hand straight away. He let it linger a little longer, his fingertips brushing against the skin of my upper breast just beneath the confides of my sports crop top, and with a gentle squeeze he released me, sitting back onto his heels and pulling me up into a sitting position. He shook his head as if to clear his unwanted thoughts, his mask sliding into place and stood. ''That it for today. Go get changed and head for breakfast.'' He said sternly as he stormed off through the gym doors.

I sat there utterly confused for a few moments. What on earth had just happened? How had he changed so drastically from the fun Dimitri to the closed off Dimitri.

If I was being honest with myself, I knew why. He was trying to keep it as professional as he could. If we were caught now, we could forge innocence and say nothing had happened between us but if we overstepped that line and succumb to our urges we couldn't, and it would be very bad for Dimitri if we were caught. Even now it would be bad for him.

With that thought I decided I would stop torturing him. We both needed to be strong and keep it professional. I would not risk us getting caught and him being taken away from me again. I was still unsure if we could even make it to graduation, but I knew one thing for sure. I would now make it easier for him. I mean I would still flirt with him because well I'm Rose Hathaway, but I would try and keep the torturing to a minimum.

I stood from my position on the floor and headed back to my dorm for a quick shower and changed. As I wondered over to the cafeteria, I had an unnerving thought. Something I had completely forgotten about until this second. Mason. How the hell was I going to deal with Mason. I knew I'd see him at breakfast, but I had no idea what to say to him. Or how he was going to act. It had been three days since the party. I shuddered at the memory. Obviously, nothing was going to happen there I just hoped he wouldn't be mad at me. Did he know what had happened? Did anyone know where I had been? Surely, they would have told Lissa.

I realised then I hadn't really heard anything from her the past few days. No automatic jumps into her head and no messages sent from her, screaming in my head asking if I was ok. I could still sense the bond. Maybe it was just getting stronger and I was getting better at blocking her out. I wasn't sure.

AN - I've only read this through once so if there are any mistakes, I apologise I just wanted to get the chapter out!