Hi guys, sorry it's been such a long time, and I'm very sorry. Again thanks for all of the support and i hope you like chapter 5! :)

We reached the headquarters shortly after that; a large studio apartment in a tall block of flats. It sat among many other identical blocks; it was inconspicuous and wouldn't raise suspicion – like a house might – with a lot of people coming and going at all hours of the day. We were also renting out a further two apartments on the floor below. These were to be used for sleeping, eating and winding down when we weren't needed. We had been instructed to go there first, dump our bags "settle in" and meet at HQ in 15 minutes.

I entered the first apartment I came to; I wasn't picky about where I was sleeping. It wasn't with Rose, so it wasn't home. There were four reasonable sized rooms in this apartment and I assumed the other would be similar. Three of the rooms served as bedrooms, six single bunks to a room. In one corner stood some cheap looking, flat pack dresser drawers. Further along the wall sat a desk, beneath a small window which overlooked a small courtyard below which led to the stone wall of more tightly packed accommodation opposite. If you looked to the left, you could just see a sleepy suburban area of housing. It was fully dark now, the darkness erasing all memories of light, casting evidence of sunlight into deep shadow. Twinkling, cold streetlights shone artificial radiance onto the sleeping world below. Their harsh, flat light outshone the timid stars above, making them invisible, and turning the sky into an inky blanket of suffocating black. Turning my attention to the rest of the apartment, I discovered that two of the bedrooms had suites. The third bedroom, which was probably meant to serve as a lounge, didn't have one. This meant that whoever was in the makeshift room would have to share. But I doubted it would be a major problem however, Guardians were hardy and had to endure tough situations on a daily basis. We also had bigger things to worry about then bathroom arrangements.

My exploring took all of two minutes, as did unpacking my things in the drawer nearest to my bed and shoving the duffle bag under my bed. I had ten minutes to kill, so I ventured into the fourth room; which had been kept as a small, yet efficient, kitchen. I made myself a cup of coffee, I was anticipating a very long night, and looked out of the small window to the street below. This window was facing the front of the building, and the suburb was fully in view now. Houses grew further apart, and grander, as you looked further out of town, but were tightly packed nearer the middle. This whole environment was completely different to what I was used to or had been in before; I went from a sleepy town in Siberia, to school in Russia, then straight to working for Ivan, and after that back and forth from court and saint Vlad's, both completely isolated in their own rights. Even when on the run with Rose, we had had to stick to side roads and small towns wherever possible to keep under the radar; much to Roza's despair. I smiled inwardly at the memories that flooded back by merely thinking her name, but it soon turned sour, knowing she wasn't close. Knowing she wouldn't be sleeping safely wrapped in my arms tonight, or any night, for an unknown amount of time. Again I replayed the look on her face when I left her at the airstrip. My mind's eye catching every detail of her face, every emotion shone in those bottomless eyes. The way she had managed to convey all of her regret, sorrow, sadness and love into one glance reminded me, with shocking likeness, of the way she had looked at me after Tasha had shot her; back then, all of her feelings for me poured out of her eyes and into my heart as I saw her life being washed away. In those moments I felt I had truly lost her. It had been the scariest moment of my life. Summoning those memories threatened to open a floodgate of carefully concealed emotions and tightly held control; I couldn't let that happen. This was not the time to be getting emotional, I needed to think straight and concentrate.

I was pulled out of the mental tornado tumbling through my mind and back into the apartment by a hand touching the top of my left arm, making the muscle on it twitch. "Dimitri?" I blinked, unsure whether or not I was still in a memory, but no, before me stood a business suit clad woman, hair tied back in a no-nonsense ponytail wearing a slightly shocked look on her. Lilly tattoo shining dimly in the harsh florescent light. "Sydney?"

Sorry it was a short chapter, but this was the best place, in my mind, to stop the story. Will get next chap up ASAP! Love you all. R&R

Gina xxx