So here is the final chapter in this fic. Sorry it took me so long to update with the finale. I had this chapter mostly finished but it was on my other computer and I didn't have the charger. I had to wait a week to get it back from my grandmother's house so I was only able to get to it today. I knew I had to get it finished and posted. I hope you like it!

If you haven't, check out my other stories for Vampire Academy. I have a few one shots and a story called Stop Being a Coward! that I am currently wiring.

Thank you for all of the awesome reviews for this story. I really hope that you like it and will leave me feed back on what you think.

I own nothing as always and it is Unbeta'd...

4th of July Fun

Chapter 5

Dimitri was so far ahead of Eddie, it wasn't even funny. I guess the fact that he did actually know a few shortcuts helped. I laughed as I saw Eddie about 10 yards behind us, trying to catch up. It was futile though as Dimitri slowed to pull back up at the dock.

Dimitri got off his watercraft and helped me up, holding my hand for just a bit longer than necessary. He looked at my face and started laughing. I think my face reflected something between pride and terror but hearing his laugh, it immediately converted into a smile. His laughs were so rare that it warmed my heart.

"What is wrong Roza?"

"You really are a badass Dimitri Belikov."

"Why thank you Miss Hathaway." Dimitri bowed his head to me. "Why did you look scared?"

"Because I'm worried about what you will do to me when I'm your slave."

Dimitri leaned forward then, his warm breath tickling my ear. "Oh believe me, you will enjoy it, most of it at least."

I couldn't control the shiver that spread though my body but was saved from replying as Eddie had finally caught up to us.

"Holy crap Guardian Belikov, that was awesome." Eddie said in awe of my Russian god. I wanted to smile and be proud but then Eddie looked at me and burst into laughter. "Guess you get to serve him. Sorry about that Hathaway." Eddie placed his hand on my shoulder while Dimitri had an evil sparkle adorning his normally stoic face.

"Yeah yeah yeah, I know. I can only imagine what he's going to have me do. I will probably be cleaning mats with a toothbrush!" I still wasn't sure what the 'most of it' that I would enjoy was and what the other stuff that I didn't like was.

Just about that time my stomach started growling. Both Eddie and Dimitri looked down at my tummy that had made this rather loud noise. I started to laugh, "I'm hungry!"

Eddie rolled his eyes in a playful manner, "what's new?"

I elbowed him but took off towards the tent that had been set up with both him and Dimitri in tow. Some of the guardians were cooking burgers and hotdogs. There was also a table that had huge pieces of yellow and red watermelon.

"Yummy." I exclaimed as I piled a hamburger and hotdog on my plate along with some cheddar and sour cream potato chips. Dimitri and Eddie followed close behind and the three of us sat at one of the tables that had been put up. It had a vinyl red and white-checkered tablecloth covering it that just made it all the more festive. Dimitri sat at the end of one side with me right beside him and Eddie across from me.

We were just finishing our food when Guardian Greenbrook decided she wanted to have lunch as well. She got all of one hot dog and came over to sit beside Eddie, the seat that just happened to be right in front of Dimitri.

"Is anyone sitting here?" Greenbrook asked, looking pointedly at Dimitri.

I was glad when it was Eddie that answered, although I wasn't too happy with his response. "No Guardian Greenbrook, please, join us." He politely smiled at her. It wasn't a flirty smile or anything so at least that made me happy.

I turned my head to look pointedly at Dimitri. It was a good thing I could read him so well because the look he gave me was telling me that he loved me and to not loose my temper.

I sighed, defeated, and gave him an imperceptible nod. He got the hint of a smile on his lips as he looked at me. It was only when Eddie cleared his throat that I noticed Guardian Greenbrook and Eddie were looking at us with confused expressions on their faces. Obviously, Dimitri and I had been a little more conspicuous than we thought.

"Sorry." I muttered and looked away, "aren't we about done anyway?" I had just shoved the last bit of my burger in my mouth in a very unladylike like manner.

"Let's go get some watermelon, Rose." Dimitri stood up and nodded for me to come with him. "We will be right back. Do either of you want watermelon?"

Both Eddie and Guardian Greenbrook nodded and Dimitri and I walked towards the picnic table that was holding the wonderful fruit.

"Nothing quite says summer like watermelon." I replied as I picked up a huge chunk of yellow watermelon. "Yellow is the best." I smiled, trying to be nice. I knew we had to go back to the table and face her but at the moment I didn't care. Dimitri had hardly even acknowledged her presence back at the table and I didn't want to upset him.

We took watermelon back to the table for Eddie and Greenbrook and all set making comfortable conversation. I really was on my best behavior but only because I figured I had to be after Alberta's little chat with us earlier. I didn't want anyone to find out about Dimitri and me. I didn't even want to think of the consequences of that happening.

Dimitri, always being polite, waiting until Guardian Greenbrook had finished eating and then drug me away from the table, saying he had to go talk to Alberta and I had to go with him. We thankfully didn't go to see Alberta; it was just an excuse to get away. I kind of felt bad for ditching Eddie but I knew he would go hand out with some of the other novices and I got to spend more time with Dimitri so I pushed the feeling away.

Guardian Greenbrook had thankfully been polite. I wasn't sure if she wasn't flirting with Dimitri because Eddie and I were around or if she took his warnings earlier and decided to not push it. Probably the prior but at the time I didn't care, as long as she didn't do it in front of me because I might have had to punch her in the face. Yes, she was a full-fledged Guardian but I was pretty sure I could take her. I had learned from the best after all.

Dimitri and I spend most of the rest of the time walking around the lake or going out on the Sea Doo. We didn't disappear again like I would have wanted to. Dimitri said we should be in sight of the others so no one got suspicious.

It was starting to get dark that night and I knew we would leave just as soon as the fireworks had completed. I always loved to see fireworks when Lissa and I had been on our own for those two years but we rarely got to see them back at the academy.

Dimitri told me that he had a meeting to attend and deposited me back with Eddie. He "harshly" told me to behave, for Eddie's sake of course, and left me to go meet with Alberta and the other Guardians.

"Did you have a fun day with Belikov?" Eddie laughed, I'm sure he thought that having to trail Dimitri around all day had ruined my day in the sun. It was quite the opposite actually as it had made my day wonderful.

I couldn't very well tell Eddie that though so I replied with bland, "it wasn't so bad. I'm use to being with him all the time for training and such."

"That's good. We had an awesome day! I raced Jake and Colin. Kicked both of their asses!" Eddie excitedly started in on the story about how Colin had tried to cheat and ended up stuck in a shallow portion of the lake.

I laughed at him and was just about to tell him about my day with Dimitri when all of the sudden about three figures draped in black clothes came running towards us. With as dark as the day had become, they almost blended in with the surroundings but fortunately, our superior dhampir eyesight allowed us to see them once they breached the clearing we were in.

I did have to give them props for being so quiet and stealthy in the woods surrounding us but I immediately knew that this had to be a set up from the school. There were no moroi to protect but the figures were dressed exactly how they had been during our trials on campus. They were trying to make sure we were always on guard, even when we were out on our own.

Eddie and I were immediately on the offence and started kicking and fighting. At times like this, I wished I hadn't still been wearing the skimpy bikini that I had walked around in all day. I noticed to late that the guardian that I was fighting was Guardian Taylor.

While he hadn't been making passes at me all day, I knew he had said some ugly things and kind of creeped me out. I also knew that Dimitri had broken his nose earlier in the day and it still looked very painful all though it had obviously stopped bleeding.

I decided to take this opportunity to kick his ass. I quickly swung out my right elbow as he stepped up behind me, landing a direct hit to his side. He shook the attempt off and lunged at me. We sparred for a few minutes and I could tell he was greatly enjoying it. His hands seemed to have a mind of their own as they grabbed parts of me that they definitely shouldn't have been, even in the midst of a fight. I was just about to take him down when he reached behind me and pulled the string that held my small top over my chest.

It was as though everyone in the area stopped fighting and turned towards me to look at once. I wasn't shy about my body. I knew I was hot; obviously seeing as I chose to wear that small of a bikini to start with. I knew I was more curvaceous and had a much fuller chest than most of the women I went to school with, students or teachers. However, no one but Dimitri had ever seen me fully topless.

The guardians, being mostly male, gawked at me. I instantly crossed my hands up over my chest in an effort to protect my body from the roving eyes of the people surrounding me. I was basically trapped, as there were people on all sides of me. Even if I turned around, it wouldn't help much because Guardian and Novices were everywhere.

Thankfully, Dimitri came to my rescue. I wasn't sure where he had been during the fighting but it had to have been close as he stepped in front of me to shield my body from the voyeurs around us. He promptly removed his own shirt then pulled it down over my head growling about how he had told me that I shouldn't be wearing that all day.

In all fairness, he had told me repeatedly that I should put something over my swimsuit. He had pulled his shirt back on earlier but I had refused, telling him that I was perfectly comfortable and not to worry. I didn't know that some dumbass guardian was going to pull my top off in front of everyone.

Dimitri then turned to my 'attacker' and punched him in the nose again. Blood once again began spraying down his shirt. This time, it was much harder to pull Dimitri off of him. The curse words that were coming out of his mouth were in perfect Russian and I was glad that no one around understood what he was saying although I knew by his tone that it wasn't nice.

It took three guardians pulling at him to get him too ease away from Guardian Taylor. Guardian Taylor on the other hand seemed to be frightened of Dimitri and was trying to back away from the situation.

I was finally coming out of my somewhat dazed and embarrassed state and walked right up to Guardian Taylor. I was not happy and the jackass was definitely going to pay for what he had done to me. I pulled my fist back and swung as hard as I could in a right cross right to his eye.

I think that his attention had still been on Dimitri and he had completely missed me walking up to him because he fell flat on his ass with the impact of my punch. Before I could kick him, Yuri snaked his arms around my waist and pulled me away. I was much lighter than Dimitri so Yuri had no problem in picking me up and backing away from the shocked Guardian who was still on the ground but I struggled in an attempt to get away from him. With my arms being pinned to my sides, I kicked out as I realized the obscenities that were being yelled in English were actually coming from my lips.

Guardian Taylor was then escorted away from everyone by Alberta and Stan while Dimitri and I both tried in vain to be realized from our restraints.

Yuri was speaking to me then, "calm down Rose. You know that Guardian Petrov will properly address the situation." After about five minutes, I was calm enough to take in the area around me. Many of the novices and guardians were still looking around, no one quite knowing what to do with what had just happened.

Dimitri on the other hand, still looked pissed off. The look on his face could only rival the look he had given Viktor while he was in prison at court and a cold chill ran down my spine. I had to diffuse the situation but I didn't know how to do that with so many eyes witnessing our drama. Slowly, Yuri released his grip on me as he felt the fight within me recede even further. I took the opportunity to walk towards Dimitri with a calming expression on my face. I knew that Guardian Taylor wouldn't be around much longer after what happened, now I just had to convince Dimitri to let it go.

Guardian Greenbrook stepped in front of Dimitri just before I could get there. She put a soothing hand on his shoulder as the other three guardians whom I didn't know held him in place. This seemed to make his rage even worse and she got a frightened look on her face as she stepped back from the situation.

I immediately stepped in front of her, cutting her off from Dimitri's eye sight and making sure I was the only thing he could see. "I'm fine. Calm down okay?" I then laid a hand on Dimitri's shoulder and the result was almost instantaneous. Slowly the tension worked its way out of his body and he sighed in defeat. He had once again lost control of himself and I knew he wouldn't be happy about it later.

"Are you going to be alright now Belikov? Can we let you go?" One of the guardians asked Dimitri, realizing that I had succeeded in calming him down. The guardian that Dimitri normally was slipped back into place and he took a deep breath to slow his breathing.

"Yes Guardian Ozerov. Thank you." Dimitri replied, not breaking eye contact with me as I stood directly in front of him.

The three guardians nodded at one another and released Dimitri. He wiped a hand over his face in an attempt to remove the thin sheet of sweat that had pulled at his temples and edged towards me. "Can I speak to you for a moment Rose?" His voice was strictly professional but his eyes portrayed his feelings. He was upset still but now had it under control.

"Yes, of course Guardian Belikov." I replied, keeping up the professional pretense.

Dimitri led me through the bushes around us and towards the clearing that Alberta had found us in earlier.

"I'm sorry Dimitri. I should have listened to you." I said in an unusual display of regret.

"It's not your fault. It's that bastard Taylor's. You are a student and what he did was unacceptable. I at least have a feeling that we won't be seeing him much after tonight. But please, listen to me next time okay?" Dimitri questioned, putting his hand on my cheek as he slowly ran his thumb over my cheekbone.

"I will try. You know me though, that's a promise I can't make in all honesty." I smiled at him.

Dimitri smiled and crashed his lips to my own, slowly teasing my mouth but making no effort to deepen it as we couldn't afford to do that at the moment.

That was when it happened. I knew Dimitri was a good kisser but I literally saw fireworks exploding around us as his tongue tangled with mine. After a moment, I realized that I might could see fireworks will kissing Dimitri but the familiar popping sound had to be something more. That was when it dawned on me that there were fireworks, literal fireworks in the air. The show had begun. Dimitri pulled away and wrapped his arm around my waist as we looked up at the now colorful sky. The exploding red, green, blue, purple, gold, and orange had us in a daze as we ooed and awed and watched the rest of the show in the comfort of each others arms.

This was definitely the best Fourth of July ever.

So that was the end. I hope you like it and it lived up to your expectations. Please leave me a review! Thanks for everything!