Here is the next chapter...sorry I didn't update earlier...school work sucks!
I own nothing and nothing is beta'd...Dimitri is back so I hope you like it :)
Stop Being a Coward!
Chapter 19
Dimitri didn't want to be rude and tell his grandmother to back off but all she had been talking about for the past hour was about how Dimitri's work ethic seemed to be lagging. Before he had gone to America, he would have volunteered to help Mark repair the fence but since he had gotten back, she had had to tell him to do it.
Dimitri took her civisms and ignored them for the most part, only answering when she asked a direct question. Yeva just watched and told him how what he was doing was wrong, she never offered to help or anything. Which, in all fairness, she was a woman of many years, how many he wasn't sure, but her health seemed fine for being older than dirt.
She had stalled for a few minutes to actually get the working men some water and then started harping on him again once Dimitri returned to work.
While is native language was comfortable for him, he didn't understand why she insisted on carrying all conversations in Russian while everyone else seemed to speak English more. He didn't question her though and just listened, "You are getting to thin Dimka, you need to eat more. American's don't lack food by any means so why are you so thin?"
"I eat Babushka, I just train a lot too."
"Your guardian work is important Dimitri but if you can't even build this wall without your breathing getting hard, maybe you aren't cut out to be a guardian. I thought you were so promising. What happened?"
"Nothing happened Grandmother. I am still a strong guardian, this is hard work. Look at Mark." The pair turned to see the other dhampir man bright red and soaked through with sweat in his own exhaustion. "It doesn't help that it is 102 degrees out here either."
"It's Rose isn't it?"
"What's Rose?" Dimitri stopped lifting the bricks he was stacking and turned to face his grandmother.
"The reason why you are going soft. She has taken up to much of your attention and you are not concentrating on the job. That is probably why you were turned Strigoi to begin with, you weren't concentrating. Maybe you should stay here in Russia. She doesn't need you anyway."
That was the straw that broke the camel's back. "Babushka, while I am grateful for your words and happy to see you, I don't want you to talk about Rose in any derogatory terms. She is the reason I am dhampir again, you saw it all yourself. I love her and I am going back to America to be with her. Regardless of whether she needs me or not, I need her." His voice quivered with both fatigue and anger. He kept reminding himself that this was his grandmother and he couldn't be mean to her.
Yeva grinned at him. "Good. She needs you there. The two of you have a beautiful life ahead of you. I know you will have troubles on the way but I see you making it together. I just wanted to make sure you were good enough for her. She did come all the way to Russia to save your soul while nearly losing hers in the process." After she said her spill she turned and walked back into the house, leaving Mark and Dimitri to work some more.
Dimitri looked after his grandmother, his anger diffusing. "Did she really just yell at me for the past hour to make sure I deserved Rose?"
Mark laughed, "she is crazy sometimes but it is all for a reason. She approves of Rose for you. Rose proved herself in a similar way while she was here."
The sun was starting to set and while Dimitri was glad that the day was over, he was sad to see the sun go. One of the things he loved about being in Russia with his family was the fact that they lived on the human time so he could soak up sun all day. He missed the light while living on moroi time back at court. Something about the sun just called to him. He assumed it was like that for most dhampirs, especially the guardians since they so often had a nocturnal schedule.
"Why are you still here Dimitri? Why aren't you back in America yet? I mean I know you came to deal with some stuff but have you accomplished what you needed to? You've seen your family; they all know that you are alive once again although somehow I think that your grandmother already knew."
Just like that, Dimitri realized that Mark was right. He had been in Russia for only a few days but that on top of the travel had kept him away from Roza for a while. He felt like they had needed some time away from each other to truly understand what they meant to each other and he did. His heart ached for her while he was away from her. He knew that even if he headed back to America now, he wouldn't be there for days. Could he really wait that long to see her again? He wasn't sure.
Talking to her daily really helped but not seeing her was killing him. Its funny how when he had first been restored to his dhampir self, seeing her hand physically hurt him, almost made him sick. Now the thought of being away from her for even a moment longer made him ache with the need to hold her, feel her arms around him.
"You're right. I think I am done here. I need to get back to America, to Roza. What about all this?" Dimitri asked, looking around at the destruction that was still around them. They had done quite a bit in one day but it would take a few more to complete the task.
"I have some friends coming in tomorrow to help me. They would have helped us today but Yeva insisted that you needed to do the work. I have learned not to question such things, she is kind of scary." Mark laughed as he looked towards the house. He could just make out three shadows that had to be sitting at the table; no doubt one was his wife while Paul and Yeva were the others. Paul had been forbidden by Yeva to help even carry bricks out to them and only popped in from time to time to ask about what they were doing. The rest of the time he had been helping Oksana make cookies in the kitchen.
The thought of a child helping Oksana in the kitchen warmed his heart. Their children were grown and living on their own but had yet to provide any grandchildren for them yet. Their son, the oldest of three, was away in Moscow attending college while their daughters had both recently married and moved to a neighboring town. They had hopes that grandbabies would be in the picture soon.
Dimitri laughed, agreeing with the man's assessment of his grandmother. He had been around her most of his life but she still gave him the chills ever so often. "Okay, if I am around tomorrow, I will be back. I need to get back into town and see about getting a plane back home."
Mark sat down the trowel he had been holding and clapped a hand on Dimitri's back, "please come back to see us soon, bring Rose with you."
"I will." Dimitri shook his hand and took off towards the house. They had a lot of ground to cover to get him before it got to dark and Dimitri sighed, wishing now he had insisted on bringing the car. It wasn't safe to be walking out at night even though most Strigoi kept to the cities.
His grandmother and Paul were waiting by the front door as if they knew it was time for them to leave. Oksana had offered to drive them back home but Babushka said she knew that it was safe. No one questioned her logic and took off for the long walk back towards Baia and their home.
The walk seemed to be fast this time, probably because Dimitri was not weighed down with bricks and had thankfully fought off the headache and the hangover. He was also anxious to get back home and make arrangements for his trip; he couldn't wait to get back to Rose.
He knew she would be surprised that he was already coming home and had decided not to tell her anything when he called her later. He just hoped he could find a flight out that wasn't days away and didn't have too many connections. Flying halfway across the world was exhausting and just the anticipation of his trip already had him on edge.
They met no opposition on the way and Yeva's predictions about their safety had been correct, something Dimitri was very grateful for. Walking with an elderly woman and a small child after dark would have been a bad situation had any trouble showed up.
Paul's incessant rambling about how he was going to be a guardian just like his uncle made the time less monotonous and before Dimitri knew it he was walking up the steps in front of his childhood him and ushering his nephew and grandmother in ahead of him. He immediately went into the kitchen and picked up the airline information he had already compiled and began to make the appropriate calls.
Two hours later he was pissed off and mad at the world. How could there be no flights into the United States for the next two days that weren't already booked? Even if he could get to Moscow or Novosibirsk tonight, there wasn't a plane leaving the area that wouldn't take him way out of the way and make it an even longer flight. He could try to fly standby into Amsterdam but he was told the chances of him actually getting on that flight were very slim as the standby list was already rather long.
"It will be fine Dimka." Olena sat down opposite her son at the small kitchen table and smiled at him, "you will make it home to her."
"I'm just frustrated. I didn't know when I would be leaving or I would have made flight arrangements sooner. I'm sorry to stay for such a short time; I just need to be there. Something tells me I need to get back to her."
"You're in love." Olena smiled at her only son. "I'm so happy you met her. She is wonderful Dimka. She fits in so well here. You have to promise you will come back and visit."
"We will." The words of his mother confirming just how much Rose belong there with him made him almost giddy. He had known that they would accept Rose but he had no idea just how much they would love her as their own. The time she spent there had truly made her part of their family even though they thought he was dead. This just solidified the notion that he and Rose were suppose to be together even more in his heart.
"Why don't you get some sleep, it is very late. Maybe something will open up in the morning." Olena suggestion to her son.
Dimitri sighed, his mother was right. He wasn't going to find a way back tonight, maybe tomorrow would turn up some route to the US that could get him there quicker. He was exhausted after the long day and thought sleep might do him some good. He was close to losing control of his anger and needed to cool down.
"Goodnight Mama." Dimitri kissed his mother's cheek and headed upstairs to the room he had been staying in while he was there. It wasn't the old room he had grown up using but Victoria had taken that one over as it was bigger than hers had been. It was comfortable and served his purposes so he couldn't complain.
"Things will look better in the morning." She called after him. Once Olena knew Dimitri was safely upstairs, she picked up the phone on the wall in the kitchen and dialed the familiar number. She knew she could help get him back home sooner and also knew just the person that could do it.
So, who do you think Olena called? Was Dimitri's decision to go back to the states to fast? Will he be able to get there quickly? Please review to find out!