Dimitri

I got the time off work to help Rose move into her new apartment for the internship. We packed the car up, Lissa have Rose a hug the best she could with her now large belly. They all waved us away. Aly giggling and waving in the back. Rose sat beside me in the passenger side of the car looking out of the window.

I passed through the gates, Hans waving us on as we started the drive. Rose looked at Court getting smaller and smaller in the side mirror. I glanced at her quickly before giving my attention to the road in front of me. I sighed and gave her thigh a squeeze. She looked towards me.

"You can do this you know." I said to her, giving her another quick glance. "I know you're still unsure about being a Guardian." She glanced back at Aly who was flipping through a book making up a story and babbling to herself.

"It's all I've known you know?" She replied lacing her hand with mine. "Since I was five, I always wanted to protect her – be her Guardian. Then I had her." She sighed and looked out the window. "I spent years only protecting her – but I want to do more, I want to be more."

"Roza, you are the most amazing person." I replied giving her hand a squeeze. "Do you know when you went missing, Guardian's held services?" She looked over at me. "You were the only promised Dhampir who publicly spoke out about the mistreatment of Dhampirs – most respected that, there was only a small number of Dhampirs who disagreed."

"Dimitri-"

"Rose, you forget that at fifteen you snuck Lissa – who was the most guarded Moroi in the Academy - and yourself out, protecting her and keeping her safe for two years. Then, despite being out of training for those two years you were able to graduate the top of your class a few months after retraining. You proved that Moroi and Dhampir can fight together when you and Christian worked together during the attack on the Academy and don't forget you are one of the youngest – if not the youngest Dhampir to receive Molnija and Zvezda marks. You're respected Roza, with good reason." She looked over at me with a small smile.

"It's hard you know. Strogoi had family once, loved ones – and we kill them, Dimitri." She looked away. "I know it's what most want, but it's still hard you know? I don't want her to grow up and have to live in fear of one day her parents die or she could die. She's too young to make that decision."

"You know, we can do it – let her decide when she's older if it's something she wants to do, but we train her so whatever decision she makes – she can become a great Guardian like her mother or some amazing person in the human world who knows self-defense and will always be safe." She snorted.

"You just want her to be able to throw a punch if a guy come up to her." I gave her a bright smile.

"Of course!" Rose laughed.

"I'm going to do this and then I'll decide on the Guardian thing. I could do both." I glanced at her, smiled and kissed her hand as it still intertwined with mine.

"I love you." She leaned over in the seat and kissed my cheek.

"I love you too."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

The apartment was small yet spacious. I brought in the bags and box of toys while Rose helped grabbed a few things and let Aly stretch her little legs to run up the stairs and run through the door I just opened. Rose followed after her with a sad smile.

"I hate uprooting her all the time." She whispered. "She was happy in her old school and now she's going to be in a new school for a year before she's picked up again and put into a different school-" She cut herself off. "I think she should go back with you."

"Roza-"

"Come on, Christian's classes have been going very well and I hear he's got permission to go to St Vlad's and teach defensive magic." She looked up at me. "I've already spoken to Alberta, Aly has a space there and you can teach again."

"Roza-"

"Dimitri, I can't keep uprooting her. It's not fair." I pulled her into a hug and kissed the top of her head.

"I always knew you were going to be an amazing mother, you know." She pulled away, swapped her arms around my waist and gave me a smile.

"At least this way, she'll be able to spend more time with her family. And hey – You never know. I could max out early and join you." I gave her a smile.

"We'll call you every morning and evening, breakfast, lunch, dinner and any time in between." She looked up at me and laughed, standing on her tip toes and pecked me on the lips.

"We better let her know."