Wow, it's been a while since the last update. I'm busy with Uni applications at the moment (if I hear the words Personal Statement again, I will scream) and trying desperately to understand A level Chemistry. I was also busy with my competition and writing Frost Bites at the beginning at the month, so this story was put on hold for a little while.
This chapter is extra long to make up for the wait. I find it hard to write large groups of people unfamiliar with each other, especially in delicate situations, so I hope I pulled this off :)

Disclaimer: All rights go to Richelle Mead.

By the time we arrived at the bridal salon, I was very glad to be getting out of the car. Lissa and Viktoria's excitement levels had shot through the roof, and the two of them practically skipped across the parking lot. I shared a look with Sydney, and saw that she was in no hurry. She tilted her face back up to the sun, apparently enjoying the daylight as much as I was. Mom and Olena were chatting away like they had been almost non-stop since they met, and Mia seemed to be trying to copy Meredith's stance. I nodded to my fellow Guardian as she peeled away from the group, heading over to the bench where she would wait for us to finish. Casting my gaze farther out from our group, I clocked three of Lissa's guards stationed around the area, knowing that another two were hidden away out of sight.

The bell chimed as Lissa opened the door, holding it open so that I could walk through first.

"Your majesty," I whispered, "you would hold a door for a lowly Dhampir?"

She rolled her eyes, giving me a little shove as I smirked. "You're the important one today, Rose. We're just teenagers out shopping for wedding dresses."

I beamed. "Coming from the Bride of Dracula!"

Hearing someone else enter the room, I looked up to see a petite blonde woman in a tailored suit striding out from behind a curtained doorway.

"Rose Hathaway?" she enquired, a slight foreign lilt to her voice.

"That's me." I lifted a hand in an awkward half-wave. Lissa always looked polished, being Queen and all, but this woman looked like she'd been airbrushed. Selling dresses that 'made happy ever afters' must have been easier if you looked like you'd stepped out of the pages of Vogue.

"Of course," the woman said, breaking a wide smile splitting her features as she offered her hand for me to shake. "It's wonderful to have you here. I'm Elodie." She looked around at my entourage. "Who have you brought with you today?"

I took a deep breath, gesturing to everyone as I said their names. "My maid of honour, Lissa, three bridesmaids Sydney, Mia and Viktoria. Vika is my future sister-in-law, and Olena is my future mother-in-law. And this is my mother, Janine."

"Wonderful!" Elodie clapped her hands. "Please, sit down. Now, I have you down as having three weeks until the wedding, correct?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I know it's sort of short notice, but getting everyone here was a challenge."

"Of course. Three weeks shouldn't pose a problem- I once had a bride in here four hours before her wedding because someone had spilled champagne on her dress whilst getting ready that morning." We all grimaced at that. "She was happy in the end, as she didn't really love the first dress anyway. Now, Rose, have you been looking at any dresses, found anything you like, don't like?"

This woman's habit of switching track caught me off guard a little, but I couldn't really complain since I didn't have to learn 7 people's names right away. "Well, so far I've decided that I'd definitely like a strapless dress. Full length is good, but I don't want a really full skirt. Nothing too flashy, but... elegant, I guess? I don't really know; I was kind of hoping that you could help me out."

Elodie smiled. "That's my job. I think I have an idea of what you would like and what would suit you. Do you have a budget in mind?"

I cringed inwardly, not wanting to sound like a complete idiot. I'd done some research around how much I could expect o pay for a new wedding dress, and factored it into our budget. Though I knew the price I had in mind wasn't ridiculously low, I was still apprehensive about saying it.

"Around $300?" I could stretch to $400, but had read online that I should only say the lower end of the price range since salon owners tended to pick more expensive dresses in the hopes you'd fall in love with it and pay more anyway.

"Alright." Elodie smiled encouragingly, much to my relief. "Feel free to have a look around the store; I'm just going into the storage area to pull out a few dresses that I think you'll love based on what you've told me, and we can see how they match up."

As soon as Elodie had left the room, my friends shot up and began attacking the racks like a plague of locust. I was left sitting, slightly bewildered, between mom and Olena.

"Did I just miss some signal that turns teenage girls into scavengers? There's so much white I don't know where to start!"

My mom tried to speak, but was cut off by Mia shrieking as she pulled a dress from the rack. "Treat it like you would a battle," she advised, trying again. "Start at the edge and work your way through until you reach the middle. Focus only on the target immediately ahead."

I had to admit, my mom's battle strategy wasn't too crazy. I ignored the excited squeals of my friends as they pulled out dress after dress (most of which were blatantly their dream dress) and picked up two of my own that I liked before reaching the end of the rack. It was a slightly half-hearted attempt, but I figured that Elodie would pick nicer ones anyway, so it wasn't worth stressing over.

Sure enough, she came back with her arms laden with hangers. "I can see from here that you've picked out one that I have," she told me. "That's good- it means we're on the same page about what you want. Let's take the rest of these into the dressing room and pick out your favourites."

With a look of mock panic back at the others, I followed Elodie behind the curtain and into one of the two large dressing rooms.

Out of the five Elodie had picked, and the two I had, I finished with a shortlist of three for now- including the one we had both chosen. Elodie suggested trying on my own choice first though, so she helped me into it and pegged the back closed when it turned out to be too big.

When I left the changing room, I saw a mirror just before crossing back into the waiting room. The dress hugged my curves, the satin material of the skirt falling from my hips to pool at my feet. It was a little difficult to walk in, but that was something I could get used to. Me looking like a bride felt much weirder. Good weird, though, I decided, since it was Dimitri that I was marrying.

A collective gasp echoed through the room as I stepped out from behind the curtain and faced my family. Lissa was the first one to start squealing and flapping her hands about, before promptly bursting into tears. Not demure, Queenly, 'I can't believe how beautiful you look tears', but explosive, messy ones.

"Sorry, hormones!" she squeaked. " You look so pretty!"

I spun around slowly in the dress, effectively hiding my eye roll. When I came to stop facing them again, they were all beaming. Well, my mom had a small smile on her face, but that was rare enough to be counted as special.

"Oh Roza, look at you!" Olena exclaimed.

"I can't believe you're actually marrying my brother. I still don't understand how Dimka managed to get you," Viktoria joked, earning a sharp glance from her mother. "What? Come on; if Dimitri had walked up and said 'hi, this is my girlfriend', you would have laughed at him as well."

"We had the same thing," Mia confided. "Only we couldn't work out how Guar- Dimitri had possibly fallen for Rose!" She stopped herself from saying Dimitri's title, even though it was unlikely to have meant anything to the human.

"Alright, alright," I interrupted. "You can make jokes about the unlikely match during the speeches- but I need a dress before then!"

They looked guilty for a moment, before relaxing back into smiles again.

"I like the colour," Lissa said as she looked over the dress with a critical eye. "It looks good with your skin."

I resisted the urge to tell her I could barely tell the difference between this white and all the other white dresses in the shop.

"It looks amazing on you," Mia said. "Like, it's exactly the kind of thing I imagined you in."

"Okay, so you all think it's great. Is there anything you don't like?" Silence. I looked to the one woman who had yet to say anything. "Mom? What do you think?"

"You look beautiful, Rose," she said, and I couldn't help the flare of joy that blossomed in my chest at my mother's compliment. "But I think you can feel something isn't right. Are you completely comfortable in it?"

That was one thing I could always count on my mother to remind me of- practicality. Now that she mentioned it, I knew what was putting me off. "Aside from the pegs jabbing me in the back?" I joked. "The skirt feels kind of... restricting, like I couldn't move very well." My mom nodded, realising the importance of this. "And the top, too, it's like there's too much here." I patted the fabric on my chest, which seemed to form an arch upwards rather than going straight across.

"Okay," Elodie said encouragingly, "now we know what we like and what we don't, let's go get you into another dress."

Mia waved as I left, though whether the gesture was for me or the garment I was wearing I wasn't sure. I wouldn't put the latter past her.

Back in the changing room Elodie helped me out of the dress, taking the one I had chosen from the hanger and allowing me to step into it.

"This one has a slightly stiffer skirt," she told me, "so it shouldn't be so restrictive when you walk. It also has a lower, sweetheart neckline."

Walking out of the changing room was easier with the new dress, and the silhouette was more flattering on my body. The silky material was folded across the bodice; an effect which I decided I liked. It also hugged my waist and accentuated my hourglass figure, so ticked all my boxes.

I stepped closer to the mirror to get a closer look at the new neckline, but this new angle showed me something I hadn't noticed a moment ago.

The three sunburst scars from Tasha's bullets stood out in stark contrast against my summer tan, the white of the dress somehow amplifying their appearance. The long vertical scar from the surgery had faded now and was barely visible, but the nature of the bullet wounds meant that they'd likely never heal fully.

Elodie was still walking ahead of me so I jogged to catch up, fisting my hand in the material of the dress both to hold it up and hide the scars. Nobody out there had seen them properly- even on the camping trip they'd been less noticeable due to my skin being paler after the winter and me spending most of my bikini-clad time underwater. It wasn't that I was ashamed of them, but-

Mia's squeal interrupted my mental reasoning for hiding my scars from my family.

"That one's even more gorgeous!"

"Oh Rose, that one's perfect!" Lissa exclaimed. "It ticks all the boxes you wanted."

I nodded, feeling a little sick with disappointment. "Yeah, it does."

Nobody noticed how I was feeling. "Go on, Roza," Viktoria encouraged, "give us a twirl."

I did as I was told, hoping stupidly that they'd be happy to judge this dress just on how the back looked. Since it was slipped up with ugly plastic pegs, though, I doubted they'd be satisfied.

"That one looks like it's easier to move in," my mom commented before her face softened into a smile. "You look very nice."

I smirked. "Are you sure? I mean, you're not going to suddenly pull me aside and call me out for public indecency?"

She glowered, but Mia spoke again before she could say anything else.

"There's no chance of public indecency with you clinging to the bodice like your life depends on it." Her expression turned wicked. "What's the matter, are you trying to hide a hickey? Because-"

The shock of hearing what she was saying in front of Dimitri's family caused everything else to flee my mind as I snagged a spare hairtie from my wrist and shot it at Mia. It hit her square in the forehead as Lissa elbowed her in the ribs.

I was just about to shoot back a witty remark to take the attention off the implications of my sex life when I realised that nobody was remotely focussed on her comment anymore. Everyone on the long couch in front of me had gone very silent and very still, gazes locked on my chest.

I suddenly felt as though I knew what Tasha must have felt every time she spoke to someone knew; which was almost unbelievably ironic. Not all marks are badges of honour, Dimitri had said. More than ever, I felt the weight of that.

The hand I'd removed from the bodice to attack Mia began to creep back into place, but the damage was done. I didn't see the point in trying to cover them again, but I did realise why I had been hiding them in the first place. I wanted to shield them from just how close I'd come to dying. It was ridiculous of course, as they all knew how touch-and-go it had been. But ever since then, I'd been brushing it off like it was merely an irritation. Most of all, I wanted to protect Lissa. I knew she'd feel guilty as the bullets were intended for her, and would want to heal me. I couldn't let her.

"Is that..." Sydney broke the silence, ever the one to speak her mind when there was a question she wanted answering.

"Um, yeah." I shifted from one foot to the other, trying to think of a joke to lighten up the tension. "Not as impressive as you'd expect, right?"

Their expressions shifted to mild disbelief, and Lissa looked teary again.

"I just need to run out back and find my measuring tape," Elodie piped up from the corner before walking gracefully out of the room. She couldn't have known what we were talking about, but a blind man could have picked up on the awkwardness in here.

"They don't notice too much," Viktoria ventured.

"That's BS, but thanks for trying," I said with a wry smile. "Look, it's fine. They're way better than they were, and I'm used to them."

Lissa didn't look convinced. Nobody did, really. "So why were you hiding them?"

I could talk tough all I wanted, but my actions were pretty damning. Sighing in resignation I cautiously sat down between her and my mom, trying not to damage the dress.

"Because I was trying to protect everyone. I might have taken the bullets, but Tasha screwed all of us over. She threatened Mia, almost hit you, killed Adrian's aunt and cost Christian his- not to mention betraying all our trust. Seeing these scars will remind everyone of that, and I don't want our wedding day to be tainted by the pain that she caused. It's supposed to be a happy day surrounded by the people we love supporting us, not being reminded of the ones that aren't around. There'll be enough of that already."

Lissa covered my hand with hers, silently comforting me. "Rose, you worry too much about us. We're not made of glass."

"I know, Liss. It's about me as well. It might be vain, but I don't want everyone to be gawking at the scars. I'm not ashamed of them or anything," I added, "it's almost the opposite. Whilst they're nothing to be proud of or happy about, they're a mark of my duty and dedication to my job. But for once, I kind of just want to be Rose, not Guardian Hathaway. I want to be girly and dress up and look pretty when I marry Dimitri, not be showing off scars given to me by the jealous psycho sorta-ex-girlfriend. Does that sound too conceited?"

Everyone rushed to assure me that it didn't, except Viktoria, who snorted in contempt.

"Ex girlfriend? She must have been insane if she Dimka would actually go near a suka like her."

"Try telling her that," I joked. I didn't bother mentioning that he almost had, in fact, 'gone near' Tasha. Fortunately he'd seen the truth about me, even if it had taken him a while to find out the truth about her.

I'd had enough of show and tell by this point, so I attempted to stand up and get the shopping rolling again. My mother, however, had a different idea.

She caught my shoulder as I made to move away, holding me in place. When her hand moved to my cheek, I was too shocked to move anyway.

"I'm sorry," she said, apologising for a thousand things in just that once phrase. She also said it like a promise, like the was swearing to be there in the future. She didn't need to add anything else. It was enough.

I hugged her quickly. "I know."

This time, after pulling away, I did manage to stand up before looking at myself critically in the mirror.

"It is a gorgeous dress. I love it, and aside from the neckline, everything's just how I imagined it." I tilted my head to the side as though hoping a different angle would suddenly make the rest of the dress seem ugly. "But there'll be loads more to try on."

The disappointment in my voice didn't go unnoticed.

"They might be able to do something about the neckline," Olena suggested. "They could put a panel of silk or lace behind to raise it a bit if that's what you wanted."

It wasn't a bad idea, actually. "Maybe I will. I'll look at some others first, but if I don't like any as much as this one, then I'll ask what they can do." I frowned as I looked in the mirror again. "I really do love this dress."

Elodie came back in right then, acting as though she hadn't been aware of anything happening.

"Alright?"

I nodded. "I love this one, but it's not perfect, so I'm going to try another."

Once we were back in the changing room, out of earshot of the others, Elodie spoke again.

"I'm sorry, but I couldn't help overhearing some of your conversation. Keeping in mind your specific requirements, I've found another dress that I think you'd like to see."

She unzipped a garment bag, and the puff of fabric that spilled from the opening alarmed me. Seeing my shock, Elodie laughed.

"Don't worry, I'm not forcing you into a meringue. It's just the way it's been stored."

Poor storage or not, there was a lot more dress in that bag than there had been in any of the others. Still, I didn't have anything to lose, so stepped into the gown. This one laced up at the back, so Elodie didn't have to reuse any of the ugly clips to get the dress to stay up.

In reality the skirt wasn't too puffy, the material I'd seen was a fine gossamer-type fabric that held the shape but allowed it to move as I walked out of the changing room.

I looked in the mirror, and forgot how to breathe.

This was my dress.

The neckline, as promised, was straight enough that it covered the bullet wounds, but had just enough of a curve to it to enhance my chest. The bodice was scattered with the tiniest crystals and pearls, so small that they could hardly be seen as separate embellishments but more like someone had sown starlight into the dress. The satin itself was folded in sort of horizontal fan shapes across the top, the width of each fold increasing until the fabric hit my waist and the pleats flowed into the skirt.

Fuller than I had initially imagined, the dress began to flare softly at the waist in an A shape, some kind of organza type material holding the skirts away from my legs a little so that I had the freedom to move I had been lacking in the first dress. That fabric was what I had seen exploding out of the garment bag.

Looking into the mirror behind me, I could see that when I moved the tiniest hint of a train was visible, but which seemed to fold itself back into the skirt when I stood still. The laces showed off a good portion of my back; giving me an edge of sexy without being slutty.

It was perfect.

"I think know what that smile means," Elodie said, breaking me out of my reverie, "let's go and see if your friends and family do too."

A lifetime of training had caused my posture to become close to perfect. It was ridiculous, but as I walked out in this dress, I felt like I was floating. The practical, thrift-store clothes-wearing part of me rolled her eyes, but any sarcastic comments I might have thought of were drowned out by the ecstasy I felt. Forget Dimitri; I'd marry this dress.

This time when Lissa burst out crying, she wasn't the only one with tears in her eyes.

"Mom, are you crying?" I asked, only half joking.

"Of course not," she scoffed, before her voice softened. "But you do look absolutely beautiful- not that you don't always."

"Thanks, mom," I whispered. Ironically, I almost felt like crying myself. I had to get a grip. This was so not like me. All this wedding stuff was turning me into mush. "Look, Lissa's crying enough for two."

"Make that three," she snivelled. "The twins are crying as well. You look stunning, Rose!"

The others expressed the same sentiments.

"Dimka will be speechless when he sees you walking down the aisle, Roza," Olena said.

"That's fine, as long as he can manage 'I do'. Otherwise, the whole thing will be a bit of a waste of time."

I looked in the mirror again, trying to see myself through Dimitri's eyes. He said I was beautiful on my worst days, bed-headed and still wearing my crinkled uniform from the day before. Would this make that much of a difference to him, or would I just be me? People joked he'd marry me in a bin liner, so was it really worth spending this money on a dress when it could be spent on more important things, like dessert?

Another look at the flowing fabric, and I decided that maybe this actually was more important than chocolate. Or- shock horror- donuts.

A thought suddenly struck me, and I whirled to face my mom.

"Do you know what Abe's planning to wear? Please, please don't let him turn up in bright yellow or something!"

Mom laughed along with the others. "I don't think even Abe would dare to upstage you on your wedding day, Rose." She paused. "But I'll check what he's planning to wear when he comes home tomorrow, just to be sure."

I prayed for a black or dark blue suit, and not some pearlescent monstrosity like the one he'd been talking about wearing to Lissa and Christian's wedding. "If he turns up looking like a canary, I'll treat him like one and he can stay locked up somewhere."

Viktoria giggled. "Lock him in a room with Babushka for a couple of hours."

"Now that is something I would pay a lot of money to see."

Olena admonished her daughter, but it was clear she was trying to hide her own amusement. "So, Roza, is that the dress?"

I looked down again, swishing the fabric around in an a way that I wasn't sure I'd ever done before. "I think it has to be. I can't imagine loving anything more than this one."

"100 % sure?" Sydney asked. "I agree that it's amazing, but there are loads of others you haven't seen yet and might fall in love with."

"If you take that approach with men, then you and Adrian are never going to tie the knot! If I can commit myself to one man for the rest of my life; I'm sure I can stay faithful to a dress I'll be wearing for one day."

Sydney blushed. "Right, of course."

"I take that as a definite yes, then," Elodie beamed. "It's truly a beautiful dress. What height of heel were you planning on wearing for the big day?"

"As high as the dress will accommodate. There's a lot of height difference to make up for, and I don't want my arms to start aching half way through our first dance."

Elodie ducked down to measure the length of the material that pooled around my feet. "Will three inches be high enough?"

I held my thumb and forefinger approximately that far apart before holding it against my forehead for my friends and family to check.

"I don't know, will that raise me up enough to see over his shoulder?"

Viktoria seemed to find that especially funny, giggling again. "Worried you'll miss out on your own wedding because you're being blinded by hugs?"

"Don't jest- it's a genuine issue. I'd like to kiss and dance with my husband on our wedding day without one or both of us ending up with neck ache for the rest of the week. I wore flats to Lissa's wedding. Never again."

"It could have been worse, Rose. You could have ended up with my height genes," my mom joked.

Now there was a thought.

"Three inches will be fine," I assured Elodie. "Take me to the shoes."

Half an hour later, and I had been kitted out with a pair of white satin slingbacks with tiny rhinestone embellishments. Funding shoes had turned out be harder than finding the dress, since my poor feet were so used to being crammed into Converse or combat boots all day that they protested terribly at even the thought of those thin straps. Finally, though, I was done.

"Because that dress laces up at the back, the corset fits perfectly. You won't need any alterations, so you can take it away today!" Elodie told me. "That almost never happens. It's like that dress was made for you!"

I followed her to the till to pay for my gown and shoes whilst the girls flipped through the racks of bridesmaids dresses, searching for something to wear. Since I was here with them, I'd let them have free reign with their dresses as long as they didn't clash with my colour scheme. They'd probably do a better job than I could.

As Elodie rang up the price of the dress, I saw $400 dollars flash up, before a -25% replaced the red figures. She smiled as she caught my eye over the top of the till.

"The sign above the door isn't just a fancy catchphrase. We really do try to make happy ever afters happen. From what I can tell, you deserve one."

My internet research into dress shopping etiquette hadn't prepared me at all for this possibility, but I wasn't about to look this gift horse in the mouth. Instead, I thanked Elodie and reminded her that there were two more women in serious relationships currently in the shop, and that they would be more than likely to return here when the time came.

As it was, the girls hadn't hung about choosing the dresses they'd be buying here today. By the time I'd battled with the credit card reader and Elodie had managed to get my dress back into its garment bag (once again making it look like a meringue) my bridesmaids were standing in a square formation in front of the sofa, Lissa and Viktoria standing tall in front, Sydney and Mia behind.

Lissa and Viktoria both had long dresses, whilst Sydney and Mia were wearing ones that ended just above the knee. I was proud of Sydney and Viktoria for their choices, since a year ago it would have been the other way around- Sydney pulling her skirt down as far as it would go, Vika hiking hers up. They'd both grown and found their centre.

Their deep purple dresses somehow managed to bring out both the gold in Vika's hair and the green of Lissa's eyes. The empire waist made the tiny baby bump invisible.

Mia and Sydney's shorter dresses were made of an aqua chiffon that reminded me of water when they moved.

My first reaction would have been to point out how much we would be getting laid after wearing these dresses, but since there were parents present, it wasn't very appropriate. I settled for something mom-friendly instead.
"You're putting me to shame with your bridesmaid skills, you know that, right? Because I would never have come up with those, but you all look amazing."

"Really?" Lissa began to fret. "Because if they're not perfect, then we can look for more. Having two colours and cuts is kind of risky I know, but-"

"Liss, they're perfect," I cut in. "You all look stunning, This is one of those things that I might have to admit that you know best on."

"She must be impressed if she's saying we know best!" Mia exclaimed.

"Really?" I unsuccessfully attempted to raise one eyebrow. "I could still go all Bridezilla on you. I can already feel sleep deprivation shortening my temper." It was meant as a joke, but I could feel fatigue beginning to creep in. I'd be fine to drive home, once I was out of this shop. I'd been hanging around in one place for too long, and despite many hours spend on Guardian duty, I'd never been able to completely shake off the need to keep moving. Today had undeniably been fun, but I wanted to leave before it had time to become tedious and the memories we'd made today became distorted by the ever-slower passage of time. Now that we'd found all the dresses (aside from Zoya's flower girl dress, but Karolina would deal with that) I just wanted to go home and crawl into bed with the incredibly sexy man already there.

They bought the dresses. After assuring everyone that yes, I did love them and no, I didn't need to see any more, it was finally time to leave. It had been fun, but it was getting late and everyone was getting closer to needing to call it a night. The Moroi were feeling especially fatigued due to the bright sunlight coming through the floor-to-ceiling shop windows, and Sydney was going into caffeine withdrawal. This called for emergency measures.

"You'll make a beautiful bride," Elodie told me as I attempted to balance the huge, puffy garment bag over my shoulder. "I hope your wedding is perfect and leads to an equally wonderful marriage."

Once you got over the cliché wording, the sentiment was quite nice.

"We will. Thank you for all your help." I met the human's eyes as I said it, trying to convey my thanks for the reduction in the dress' price. I didn't like receiving charity, but since Elodie had described it as a goodwill gesture, I was willing to accept it as that. I just wanted to get moving again, and get home to bed. Thus far, I'd successfully been blocking thoughts of the two-hour drive to get there.

I took a deep breath of warm summer air as I stepped outside the store, the scents of the small city so much more intense than at Court. Exhaust fumes and baking asphalt mixed with the smell of coffee and frying food from the diner across the street. It reminded me of Portland, of summer days equal parts fun and fear, just me and Lissa against the world. Though I sometimes missed the bond we'd shared then- both the magical one and the one forged from being the only person the other had left- I wouldn't change what we had now for anything. We were a family, our whole crazy troop of misfits that somehow tessellated into a mosaic picture of something close to perfection, if not quite there.

Meredith still sat on her bench, this time holding two trays of cardboard cups.

"Did someone ask for caffeine?" she called. Sydney shot over to her at the speed of light, grabbing the cup Meredith held out and beginning to chug it down straight away. If she could do the same thing with alcohol, then I was in for a hell of a bachelorette.

The rest of the group made our way over more leisurely, and I caught Lissa's eye over the rim of my chai as I sipped appreciatively. There was a faraway look in her eyes that made me wonder if she was reliving the same fond memories of our illicit freedom. Now all I needed was the sight of mountains on the horizon and the scent of pine, and my trip down memory lane would be complete. St Vladimir's would always be the place I associated with the word 'home', but really, it was the people that made it special. I was already half way there, and just as soon as I got these guys back without falling asleep at the wheel, I'd truly be home.

As I adjusted the driver's seat, which had magically altered position since I'd got out of it two hours ago, Viktoria leaned through the gap to show me something on her phone.

"I just got a text from Babushka. It says 'third time lucky'."

Some people behind were surprised by the fact that Yeva had correctly identified the dress I would buy, but something else caught my attention.

"Wait, Yeva texted you? Like, she can text?!" If that ancient lady could use a mobile phone correctly, then I might have to change my opinion of her a little. As in, be more afraid than ever.

"No, Roza," Viktoria laughed. "It came from Paul's number."

"Oh," I sighed in relief. Now that confusion was cleared up, I was free to be irritated by her accurate prediction. "I guess she'll be adding another tally to her scorecard of times she's accurately predicted something and proved me wrong. You know how ancient archers used to carve notches onto their bow for the number of people they'd killed? I bet Yeva has a notched knitting needle just for me."

VAVAVA

I managed to drive back to Court without falling asleep at the wheel, but not everyone managed to stay conscious. The Moroi dropped off first, followed by Viktoria and then Meredith. Mom and Olena stayed awake to talk to me, and we discussed the finer details of the wedding that had yet to be planned. It was nice, being able to talk the two mother-figures in my life and seeing them get along. I'd been so worried about how their different personalities might clash, but I should have known better. Dimitri had joked that we were both similar enough to our respective mothers that they had to at least be able to put up with each other. How things would mesh with Abe had yet to be seen, but since he was getting back from his trip tomorrow- or today, now- we'd find out soon enough.

After waking up those who had fallen asleep and packing them off to their respective apartments, I walked with Lissa and Dimitri's family back to the palace.

"I bet Christian's sprawled all over my side of the bed," Lissa sighed. "I'm going to have to wake him up to get him to move, which'll probably take half an hour in itself."

"Just push him off the edge," I suggested. "Best case scenario, you get the bed and he sleeps through it. Worst, he wakes up quickly and you grab the bed and pretend to fall asleep before he can rage at you."

Lissa looked at me disapprovingly. "That's mean. Would you do that to Dimitri?"

"Nah, I'd have to be able to lift him first. Not everyone's a 100-pound lightweight like your ballerina of a boyfriend." Viktoria snickered. "Anyway, he'll probably wake up before I even have the door open. He's like a guard dog with an internal alarm clock set to horrendously early morning wakeups."

"Don't let him make you think that's always been the case, Rose," Olena said, amusement in her voice. "When he was home from school during the holidays, there was no chance of getting him to wake up before midday, and even then it was only the smell of food cooking that would drag him downstairs."

"Huh! What a hypocrite with all that 'early bird' crap. He was just as much of a lazy teenager as I want to be."

Olena grinned. "He might have been able to wake up earlier if he didn't stay up so late reading with a torch under the covers."

"Somehow, that doesn't surprise me." My mind formed the image of a teenage Dimitri curled up in bed, senses attuned to the slightest sound from outside that would spur him to click off the flashlight and pretend to be asleep. Only he could rebel in such a nerdy way.

As quietly as I could, I unlocked front door of the apartment and held it open for the others to tiptoe through. Lissa waved as she disappeared off through the door that led to the royal wing, and Olena and Viktoria kept walking down the corridor with me until they reached the guest room.

"Night Roza," Viktoria whispered as she hugged me, the hangers sticking out of our garment bags getting tangled up. Olena had to unhook them before she could bid me goodnight as well, taking both dresses to protect them from prying eyes (Christian's more than Dimitri's.)

"Night guys. See you in the morning for family meet and greet part two!"

Vika made a funny face that she would never have dared show in front of Zmey himself before darting off to bed. It was amazing how much energy you realised you still had left when you knew you were barely moments away from blessed sleep.

I used the guest bathroom rather than the en suite in our room to avoid waking Dimitri up before using my ninja skills to enter the bedroom. My Dhampir sight utilising the thin beam of sunlight seeping through the gap in the blackout curtains, I made out Dimitri's sleeping form. Good, I hadn't woken him up yet. Taking my dress off in the dark almost proved to be my downfall as I wriggled around in the fabric, tripping over the shoes I'd kicked off and just managing to regain my balance before I could faceplant into the carpet. Navigating the chest of drawers to find a shirt didn't seem like a great idea, so I'd have to make do with my underwear as pyjamas, even if it did feel wrong with guests staying just next door. At least the warm weather gave me an excuse.

Finally, I was able to go to bed. Still congratulating myself over my silent ninja skills and not having woken Dimitri up, I carefully lifted a corner of the duvet and sat down, sliding one leg and then the other under the covers and shuffling down until I was covered. A draft would definitely wake Dimitri up.

Snuggling down, I turned to face Dimitri's back, pressing as close as I could to his warmth without actually touching him. My hand hovered as I debated whether or not I'd get away with wrapping an arm around his waist.

I could, it seemed; my hand settling on his chiselled abs as I my lips brushed the back of his neck, right where I knew his promise mark was.

"I think you've just wasted all your efforts at being stealthy." Dimitri's voice rumbled.

I lifted my hand again, as though reversing the action now would make up for my bad call before.

"How long have you been awake, and why did you pretend to still be asleep? If I'd known I'd woken you before, I wouldn't have bothered with stealth mode."

"It was funny to watch," he chuckled as he rolled over. "Besides, you didn't wake me. I woke up about half an hour ago and couldn't get back to sleep." He didn't need to explain what the interruption had been; it was written in the lines of his face that were just slightly harder than usual.

I cuddled closer, wishing I could banish his nightmares once and for all. Just because he'd forgiven himself didn't mean that his demons had finished with him. It was getting better though, time helping the memories to fade and weakening the ties to the past. He'd be free one day.

We didn't talk about it; the horrors of his nightmares banished from the waking world. All they were was shadows, and they couldn't exist if there was enough light.

"Did you find your dress?" Dimitri asked as his fingers traced anonymous patterns across my back.

"I did," I sighed. "You'll like it."

"Of course I will. You'll look beautiful in whatever you wear."

"Huh, so I could have saved $300 and just got married in my pyjamas."

I felt him smile against my hair. "Did I just breach some kind of girl code?"

"Sort of. But it would have been worse if you hadn't. Girls are mean like that. You'll never win." Growing up with sisters had kept him from being completely isolated from Girl World, but he was still a guy and pretty much clueless when clothes went beyond practicality- duster aside, of course. Luckily though, I wasn't too different. "Unless we let you."

He hummed in response, already becoming drowsy again. "Before I forget- Hans called earlier. We've still got our morning off duty tomorrow, but he wants to see us briefly about something. It'll probably be after our morning workout some time."

On days where one of us didn't have an early shift, which was about every other day, we'd head to the gym together to keep up our sparring and pair coordination, or just go for a run around Court. As great as a lie in tomorrow sounded, Olena and Viktoria would be leaving after lunch so we wanted to spend some more time with them before they left.
"Fine. Just don't wake me up too early. If I'm tired then I won't be responsible for my actions if Hans says anything stupid."

I thought I heard him agree before I fell asleep, but honestly, the words could have been anything from 'love you' to 'donuts'. The former seemed more likely.

That night I dreamt of being serenaded by dancing confectionary which I then got to eat. It was a very good dream.

No more excuses, I'll make a start on the next chapter tomorrow. Thanks, as always, for being great readers :)

Review and get to sneak into Dimitri's bedroom ;)