Sorry for the delay in updating- I probably should have mentioned earlier that I'm participating in NaNoWriMo this year, so my writing time has been dominated by that. When I complete my daily target word count, though, I come back to this. Please just bear with me. Today, VA took priority ;)

I got an insane number of reviews for the last chapter which, along with Taylor Swifts new album, served to motivate me. Dimitri would totally love 1989- a (sort of :/) country singer doing 80s style stuff? Think maybe a couple of tracks will make it onto his wedding playlist? ;D

So thanks to everyone who has reviewed and supported this story; you're all awesome and amazing and deserve to be gifted with the VA heartthrob of your choice :D

DPOV

I awoke to the sound of my phone vibrating against the wooden top of my bedside table, and reached across Rose to stop it before she could do so using her own preferred method- smacking the offending object until it either stopped making a noise, or fell of the table. It was a good thing Guardians were provided with extra tough cell phone covers.

Rose began to mumble her usual string of incoherent complaints as I rolled back over, her fingers forming fists against my chest as she fought consciousness.

"Come on Roza, I can't let you sleep in today," I murmured. "We have to be at the coach early. You made that deal with Hans." No response. I would have let her sleep in if I could, but we just didn't have time. Even so, I felt bad about the card I was about to play. "You want Lissa to have extra Guardians, right? You want to make sure she's safe? You need to wake up."

The fist that had been resting gently on my chest suddenly rose a couple of inches before smacking back down. I flinched, more from shock than pain.

"You're an ass," she muttered. "You know I can't sleep through that."

She sat up with a weary sigh, barely sparing me a backwards glance as she shuffled to the bathroom. I got up and pulled pants on, but waited until I heard the shower running before going to make breakfast. It wouldn't be the first time that Rose had thrown a pile of towels into the bath and gone back to sleep in there.

Thankfully this wasn't the case this morning, since by the time I was half way through my coffee, Rose was making her way into the kitchen wearing sweats and an unzipped hoodie over her new workout clothes. Eyes still half closed, she opened the fridge and pulled out a carton of juice, taking a large swig straight from the pack.

"What?" She asked as she caught me watching her. "It's not like I have germs- or cooties."

"If you did, I think I'd have them by now," I said, fighting a smile. "Christian, on the other hand..."

Last week he'd found a smudge of lip gloss on an apple juice carton, and I'd had to convince him it was Lissa's before he went on a rampage and attacked Rose. When he pointed out that Lissa always drank orange juice, I'd had to lie and say she'd been craving it. Lissa had been so confused to come home to find the 4 cartons of apple that Christian had rushed out to purchase that morning.

Despite this narrowly avoided disaster, Rose didn't seem bothered by the possibility of facing Christian's wrath. Or the fact that I'd had to lie to cover up her crime.

"He can deal," she said in an irreverent tone most Guardians would never dream of using to discuss any Moroi, let alone the King. "What he doesn't know won't hurt him, and he's too busy sleeping to be aware of anything right now."

Lissa, the thoughtful Queen she was, had been desperate to wake up in time to see us off to the Tournament. Rose had insisted it wasn't necessary; that no Guardians wanted their Queen waking up early just to wish them good luck. Lissa conceded only because of her back-to-back meetings today, instead swearing that she would be waiting at Court's main gate to greet us when we got back. Whether or not they did well, she wanted to personally congratulate each of the Guardians chosen on their hard work and dedication. She was already relatively knowledgeable on the more notable of Court Guardians, but I had a feeling she would be getting a hold of their files to brush up on the finer details of their careers.

The toaster popped up, releasing the first 4 pieces of bread and sending Rose diving for them before I could even make a move. She grabbed the two slices on her side of the toaster, tearing into them without even adding butter.

I picked up my own breakfast, shaking my head at Rose's antics before putting more bread in the toaster and taking my time to add peanut butter to my slices. I wasn't the biggest fan of the spread- especially not the way Rose was- but its high energy content made it a good choice this morning.

The last of Rose's bread had disappeared before I'd even taken the first bite of mine.

"Hungry this morning?" I asked with a smirk, as though she wasn't every morning.

She looked back at me with heavy-lidded eyes. "You haff no idea," she mumbled around her final mouthful, before swallowing. "Your mom has been spoiling us with her cooking for the last few days, and my body is mourning the loss of that food."

That was something I could relate to. I'd felt that loss every time I left for school, and even more sharply when I left home completely after graduation. The homesickness I'd tried so hard to suppress had returned during every unsatisfying meal I had eaten. During those times I'd been so grateful for my mother teaching me how to make bread, even though it was never quite the same as hers.

Fortunately, I'd found another home. And she was currently standing in front me, digging through our kitchen cupboards in hopes of finding something to eat whilst waiting for the next batch of toast to be ready.

My fingers moved instinctually to the strip of skin exposed by Rose's shirt riding up her back as she reached for a box of oatmeal (which she didn't like, but ate because of the high energy content). She shivered as my thumbs ran across the small of her back as I tried to touch more of her skin, but the excessively tight shirt she was wearing prevented me from doing so. I suddenly liked the outfit a little less than I had yesterday, and I could imagine Rose having a theory that Hans had deliberately made them so tight to make us keep our hands to ourselves and remain professional.

Once she'd grabbed the box, Rose turned around before pulling her top back down, giving me a hard look that was a little half-hearted.

"Don't start something we don't have time to finish, Comrade."

I kissed her anyway.

When I pulled away a few minutes later, she was trying to glare, but the heavy breathing and reluctant smile lessened its effect.

"I've been a bad influence on you," she told me breathlessly. "What happened to practical, punctual Dimitri?"

"He met you," I teased.

The glare fell away completely, replaced with a grin that was as smug as it was happy. "Whatever. Check the clock, and you won't be quite so cheerful then."

Frowning, I turned around to look at the clock on the wall. We had to meet Hans at the garages in just over 20 minutes.

Employing a few choice cusswords my mother would not improve of, I abandoned breakfast and went to go shower and get dressed. Rose laughed behind me, and I realised this had probably been her plan all along. More toast for Rose.

We made it to the bus 3 minutes before the time everyone else was set to arrive.

"You're late," Hans grumbled, though looked slightly surprised that we'd turned up at all.

Rose waved a hand dismissively. "We're the first people here, and closer to our personal time than the normal one. You can't argue with that."

I looked around the asphalt area outside the garages, taking in the details of the large, grey building we were standing beside. The sun was just getting ready to rise, but it was light enough for my eyes to ascertain that there was nobody else around. Whilst people weren't due to arrive yet, I expected at least a few Guardians to be here a couple of minutes early. It was strange that the lot was completely empty.

"Why is nobody else here?" I asked Hans.

"They will be in a minute. Get on the bus and we'll join you there."

I expected Rose to make a comment about how my question hadn't really been answered, but instead she dropped her bag and dived for the open door, running further into the bus. I picked her bag up and stowed it away into the hold of the coach along with my own, before following Rose into the vehicle. She had collapsed into the seat at the very end.

"Why have we come so far back? This means we'll be last off when we get there."

She looked at me as though I were insane. "Seriously? This is the back of the bus. It's where the cool kids sit if they want to stay cool."

"Do cool kids actually call themselves cool kids?"

"Yes. We're too cool to care if it's not cool."

Shaking my head, I decided to leave it at that. You have to pick your battles wisely, and I could see that this was one I was not going to win anytime soon. So I squeezed past Rose's knees to sit down in the window seat, right at the back of the minibus.

A minute later, I heard voices outside and a couple of other Guardians ascended the steps, most of whom, I noticed, took seats at the front of the bus. The one exception to that kept walking, grinning when he saw Rose and I.

"You got the back seats!" Eddie noted gleefully, before sitting in the seat on the other side of the aisle to Rose.

"Yes I did," she said, looking pointedly at me.

"Is that why you got here so early?" Eddie asked, "to make sure you got the good seats?"

"Um, no. We're not early- well, not that early. You're late."

Eddie checked his watch. "No, I'm on time."

Rose realised what had happened a moment after I did.

"That son of a bitch! He thought we'd be late so set an earlier time for us than everyone else."

I couldn't condemn Hans for his decision- I'd done it enough times since realising Rose's inability be anywhere at the time she was supposed to be. I just made sure I was subtle enough not to get caught.

The man whose professional integrity was in question spoke up from the front of the bus.

"Now that everyone's here, we'll be leaving shortly. We expect this journey to take around two hours, and once we arrive at the site, we'll be meeting a coach with our remaining team members from out of State before heading over to the main arena. Any queries, ask each other before you come and pester me." His gaze was focussed on Rose for that last part, and I heard her mumble something derogatory at him as he turned his back and headed for the driver's seat.

"He's treating us like children," she muttered. "I'll show him being pestered. I'll win this damn thing and prove I'm a perfectly capable Guardian."

I leaned down and kissed her forehead, trying to soothe her irritation that had been building ever since waking early up this morning. "He already knows that, Roza. I think he just forgets sometimes."

She smiled at me, but there was a determination in her eyes that stemmed from needing to dispel the legacy of years of people telling her she wasn't good enough.

"Then I guess I'll have to remind him, and make sure he remembers in the future." The determination became a wicked gleam. "But until I get that chance, I'll just have to have fun with the pestering."

There were some things about Rose that would never change, and honestly; I didn't ever want them to. I loved her wild streak that refused to be tamed, and her come-what-may attitude. It gave me hope. Whatever the future may hold, I'd gladly close my eyes and ignore it for a minute if I knew that when the time came, she'd be fighting beside me.

And of course, she would.

I got my book out as the bus pulled out of the garage and Rose began talking to Eddie about the latest plans for the wedding. Over the last few weeks she'd really got stuck into everything Lissa had thrown at her, discovering opinions she'd never realised she had. I'd remained on the sidelines, offering only the occasional suggestion. It wasn't that I didn't try, but that my philosophy of 'I don't mind; it'll be perfect either way' tended to irritate Rose and Lissa and hinder the decision-making process.

One thing I was glad Rose had dragged me into was discussing flowers. Not because I had a particular preference as to the foliage on display at our wedding (I personally didn't have a problem with roses) but because of what one of her choices meant.

I'd noticed an order for just two small bouquets of Zinnia- white, yellow and purple. When I asked her why she'd chosen these two seemingly random bunches of flowers, her response had made me fall in love with her a little more.

They represent thoughts of absent friends. I thought we could put them on two empty spaces in the pews, you know, for Mason and Ivan. So that if they're watching us, they'll know we're thinking of them too. And even if that's ridiculous and they can't see us any more than we can see them, then the rest of the guests will know about them.

I looked up from the pages of my novel, having not read any words since remembering the look on her face as she'd told me her plan. The sad but hopeful smile from the memory was so different to the expression of humour she wore now as she joked with Eddie.

I knew her better than anyone else in the world, we were always so in synch, but she could still find ways to surprise me. I was so ready to marry this amazing woman.

RPOV

"Swearing is just one way to look at it. I prefer to think of it as... embellishing my sentences with vivid prose."

"That is the biggest load of bull I've heard all week," Eddie laughed. "And Mia made me watch Dance Moms with her last night."

Now I was the one laughing. "You're so whipped, it's not even funny."

"I know," he lamented. "But she looks at me with those big blue eyes and I just can't say no."

"Is that another set of wedding bells I hear a-ringing?" I teased. At his lack of rebuke, my jaw dropped. "Eddie! Really?"

"Ssh," he said, waving at me to be quiet. "We haven't talked about it, and we haven't even been together a year yet, and Mia's just finished school, remember? Wait until your nuptials are out of the way, and then maybe things will change."

He was right, but that didn't stop me from being excited.

Jeez, what had happened to me? When had I become the chief advocate for teen weddings? Maybe it was around the time I'd realised I would be able to spend the rest of my days with the love of my life.

Which was also around the time I'd become a complete emotional sap.

I had to get a grip and suppress the gushing, blushing bride in me. Fortunately, we were driving towards a tournament filled with people who would be more than happy to knock some sense into me with their fists.

Catching a glimpse of Dimitri out of the corner of my eye, watching me with a gentle expression, I realised I didn't really mind about having sense knocked into me. Normal was overrated.

An hour later, and I had reached the end of my tolerance. Dimitri was reading, Eddie was listening to music, and I was getting bored.

The best way to resolve this would be to copy Eddie and get my own music, but I wasn't sure what electrical facilities there would be at the tournament site, and there were more important uses for my phone than listening to music. I didn't want the battery to die. Lissa had to be able to contact me if something happened, so that I could steal the fastest vehicle available and burn rubber back to Court faster than Christian's meatloaf disappeared.

Stealing Dimitri's iPod was also out of the question, since it was full of crap. If I listened to the maybe five songs I could actually stand, it would remind him that we still hadn't picked out our wedding music and that debate would start up again. I didn't want to do that in public because the way I planned to convince him was entirely inappropriate for company. Plus, that might be little uncomfortable on a bus.

For once, I was out of ideas of how to have a good time. I still intended to make good on my 'pester Hans' pledge' pledge before we got to the Tournament, but I couldn't think of how.

Lacking a plan for anything more imaginative, I decided to go with the old faithful bus ride companion.

"99 bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beer. Take one down and pass it around, 98 bottles of beer on the wall," I sung under my breath. Dimitri looked up at 97 bottles of beer, eyes narrowed as though asking me whether I was really doing this. My voice grew gradually louder .Eddie noticed at 95 bottles, and joined in with a grin. He'd be all stoic and mini-Dimitri when we got to the Tournament, so I figured he was getting the silliness out of his system now. By 90, the back end of the bus had begun craning their necks around to see who the irritating singer was.

I managed to reach 70 bottles of beer before Hans shouted from the front us the bus.

"Hathaway, shut up!"

"Sorry," I called back with a smirk. "Would you prefer something more intellectual?"

Then I burst out into a song that stunned people even more than it annoyed them.

"There's antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium, and hydrogen and oxygen and nitrogen and rhenium and nickel, neodymium, neptunium, germanium..."

I got through the whole first verse without anybody saying a word to stop me. Eddie eventually cut in.

"Rose, how exactly do you know that song?"

"-strontium and... oh, right. Our Junior year flatmate Jeremy was a major geek. He'd play it full volume trying to learn it as his party trick, and the walls of our apartment were really thin. Needless to say, he remained single. Silicon and silver and samarium..."

Yeah. Contrary to popular belief, I didn't really get out all that much either back then.

The shock seemed to be wearing off, being replaced by annoyance. Well, they could deal. I'd had to put up with this freaking song almost every day for six months- they could manage to get to the end.

"Somebody please make her stop!" Hans begged from the front of the bus.

Vengeance was mine.

I was so busy with my mental victory dance that I didn't notice Dimitri move until his fingers tilted my chin up and his lips crushed onto mine. The words of the song dried up instantly, which seemed to please the rest of the Guardians on the bus if their cheers were anything to go by. I didn't really care that he was doing this to get me to shut up. Dimitri was kissing me, I'd got revenge on Hans, and I was no longer bored.

My plan had worked out rather well.

We arrived at the turning to an unmarked dirt track with no further incident. Sadly, Dimitri had stopped kissing me once it became apparent that my little concert was over, but at least he'd kept his nose out of his book and talked to me for the rest of the journey. He seemed keen to know more about Jeremy in particular.

Hans pulled over on the side of the track to address us all face-to-face. I noticed that this time, he didn't meet my eye.

"We're about a mile away from the campground where later we'll be pitching our tents. For now, though, we'll find our plot and leave our things there whilst we wait for the Guardians from other states to arrive. Then we'll head over to the main Tournament area for the initial briefing, and ultimately get the first test underway. It should be over by 6 O'clock if everything runs smoothly, at which point we'll sort out sleeping arrangements-"

Anything else he might have added was truncated as another coach pulled up behind us. Hans' parking had blocked the narrow road, and the driver behind seemed reluctant to overtake by driving over the thick grasses of the verge. There were no signs of human- or Dhampir- activity around, despite Hans' assurance that we were close to our destination. That was the point, I guess, hiding it from prying eyes. This area was owned by the military, but the Alchemists must have worked their magic to secure it for us.

The bus began to move again, and Dimitri took my hand. I threaded our fingers together, making the most of this little contact before we had to act all platonic in front of the other Guardians. I still didn't get why it so bad for people to know about us since Guardians running away together- away from their duty- was the taboo, not having a relationship.

We'd hidden our feelings for months; we could manage a couple of days.

Dimitri's thumb stroked over my knuckles as we pulled into a makeshift parking lot filled with haphazardly parked vehicles. I gave his fingers a final squeeze before standing up to leave the bus.

Jumping down from the high step, my sneakers thudded against the dusty ground as I surveyed the area. Dimitri stepped down beside me, making a much more graceful exit. We watched as Hans headed over to a small van, and prepared to meet our fellow American Guardians.

Next chapter, you'll recognise one of those new Guardians as somebody from the series. Anyone want to take a guess? Virtual donut prize for anyone that gets it :)

Review and Dimitri will make you toast with those cute 'I love you' stamps on XD