A/N: So I apologize for the long wait between the chapters. I was pregnant the last time I updated and have spent the last year trying to adjust to being a new mother with a full time job. I have missed writing, though and I really want to get back into it, so I am going to try to update each of my stories at least once a week.

One Week Later….

ROSE

"Are you sure that you are ready for that?" I asked completely floored by Katya's request.

It had been a week since we rescued her, and she was in much better condition than she had been then. Olena made sure that she had three huge meals every day with as many snacks as she liked in between. The girl was already starting to put on weight.

Oksana and Sonya, had managed to heal all of her physical wounds and were helping—the old-fashioned way—with the mental ones. Between the three of us, we were accomplishing a lot in explaining our world to her.

We were starting to give her hope that Adam could be saved and she could finally have her happily ever after. I ordered that no one mention the plans Dimitri and Sonya were making to find Adam and restore him to a dhampir. I didn't want to get her hopes up too much. Still, she seemed open to the idea that it was possible. With everything that had happened in the last year for her, I knew she would need proof that it was possible. Proof that only Dimitri could provide.

"No, and honestly, I don't think I'm ever gonna be." Katya answered. "But it's like you said, in order to heal, I have to understand how and why this all happened. I have to face him. I have to see for myself that what you have been telling me is possible."

"You do, but if you're not mentally ready for this, it could do more harm than good." I explained.

I didn't like to be inept at anything in my life, so I had been doing a lot of research on grief counseling, specifically for rape and abuse victims. Closure was a big thing for these victims, but only when they were mentally ready for it. If they faced their abusers too soon, it could completely ruin all the progress they made with moving on. I didn't think a week was enough, but it wasn't my call. She had to do it when she was ready.

"I know, Rose." Katya answered. "But I also know that all the talking in the world isn't going to do us any good, if I don't see this for myself. I need to know that I can bring Adam back or there is no point in my moving on."

She had a point, but I didn't want to screw up all the progress that we had made this last week. She was slowly adjusting to the Moroi and Dhampirs I had introduced her too. She had even been getting comfortable with Eddie and Abe. I was terrified that bringing Dimitri in for this conversation was going to ruin everything.

"I don't know…"

"Rose, can I speak to you in the hallway for a moment, please?" Sonya, who had been monitoring Katya for the afternoon, interrupted my argument. Her tone told me there was no room for argument.

"Of course." I answered. "We will be right back. Think about this while we're gone, okay?"

Katya nodded as Sonya and I headed out the door.

"I understand why you want to, but I don't think you should try to talk her out of it." Sonya said as soon as the door closed. The two dhampirs who had been on duty moved a little further done the hallway to give us as much privacy as possible.

"Why not? It's only been a week. If we send him in there, and she isn't ready, it could set her recovery back. Her health and mental well-being are the most important things right now." I argued.

"First of all, she is ready." Sonya said. "Her aura tells me that she has never been more ready for anything in her life. Secondly, this has to be Katya's decision and no one else's. If you try to talk her out of it, you are no better than the people she's been dealing with."

"What do you mean?" I asked trying not to sound defensive. I knew she wasn't accusing me of anything, but it still hurt to be compared to those monsters. I only had Katya's well-being in mind.

"Think about it, Rose. For the last year, she hasn't been able to make a decision about her life. From the moment Strigoi Dimitri killed her father and took her with him, she has been told and forced to do what they wanted her to do. She couldn't even decide who she had sex with and when. This is probably the biggest decision of her life. She needs to be able to make it on her own. If you want her to truly trust you, show her that she can. Let her make this decision because if you don't, she will always question your motives."

"You have a point, Sonya, but…"

"And thirdly, Dimitri needs this as much as Katya does. The sooner this happens, the sooner the two of them can begin to heal. This is the only way Dimitri is ever going to be able to let go of his guilt. He needs this. Don't deny him, because you are afraid."

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She was right. They both needed this to be able to move on with their lives. It was the only way to truly convince Katya that Adam could be returned to her. Once she believed that, we could reveal our plan and Dimitri could begin to make amends. I didn't like it, but this had to be done on their terms, not mine.

"Fine, but I have a condition."

"I'd be surprised if you didn't." Sonya answered with a little laugh. Shaking my head, I walked back into Katya's room. Sonya was right behind me.

Katya had moved from the bed into the wooden rocking chair in the corner. She was staring out the window deep in thought.

"Against my better judgment, I will arrange for you and Dimitri to have a talk." I told her. "However, I think it would be best if Sonya and I were present during this talk. I want you to know that if you get uncomfortable at any point, the conversation will end and Dimitri will be made to leave."

"Thank you." She said tears glistening in her eyes. "For letting me make this decision."

"I want you to know that you have your life back now. I promise that no one will ever again take away your right to make a decision. I'm going to go speak with Dimitri about all of this. I'll be back later to check on you."

"Before you go, can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"Are you in love with him?"

"Yes. I love him more than I have ever loved anyone in my life." I answered unable to stop myself from thinking about our life together.

"Even after knowing what he did to me?"

I sighed and sat down on the bed. We were eye-to-eye and she was staring at me with tears in her eyes. I knew I had to be very careful with what I said next. I didn't want her to believe that I was condoning any of it.

"I didn't love the man who did this to you." I said. "In fact, I attempted to kill that man. It killed me, but I knew the world needed to be rid of his evil. However, I loved the man he was before he did what he did, and I love the man he is now. The man who did those things was a soulless monster. Thanks to my best friend and Queen of the Moroi, Lissa, that evil is gone. I hope you will see that and understand after you talk to him."

"I hope so too."

DIMITRI

This past week had probably been the longest of my entire life. It took all of my dhampir training to hold on to my patience. I wanted nothing more than to go to Katya, apologize, and beg for her forgiveness, but Rose, Sonya, and Oksana had made it clear that I needed to wait for Katya to be ready for that conversation. If I attempted to see her before she was ready, I could ruin the progress she has made in the last week. That was the last thing I wanted to do. Still, I needed to make amends, and waiting was getting more and more difficult as the days went on.

Thankfully, my Roza had been keeping my updated on what was going on with Katya. I was happy to hear that she was getting comfortable with not only the moroi in our group, but the men as well. She and Eddie had been doing a lot of talking in between his shifts at guarding her. I was glad to see that I hadn't completely ruined men for her.

I was also grateful for the distraction of planning to find and restore Adam to the dhampir that Katya had loved. Unfortunately, Oksana had declined our request for her to join us. She worried what the use of all that Spirit would do to her and her bond mate. I couldn't blame her. We had Sonya, after all. It would've been nice to have a backup Spirit user, but we didn't need it. Abe had even agreed to send some of his men with Sonya and me.

We had plans to leave as soon as Sonya and Oksana deemed Katya healthy enough to travel. Lissa had given us permission to bring Katya to court to stay until we found and killed Marcus and restored Adam. That is, if Katya agreed.

It was my understanding that no one had brought this up with Katya yet. It was decided almost immediately, that we wouldn't force her to do anything that she didn't want to do. I wasn't sure how she would react to this proposal. She had seen enough of our kind to last two lifetimes. I could only imagine how she would react to being asked to stay with a whole city of them for an interminable period. We would need to make her understand that it was the safest place for her until we could be sure she was no longer in danger from Marcus.

I was actually sitting in my room trying to figure out the best way to convince Katya to go to court when I got the news I had been waiting all week to hear.

"Good, you're here." Rose's voice pulled me out of my thoughts. I turned to see her standing in the doorway with her arms crossed over her chest. It was hard not to get distracted by her beauty, even wearing a holy pair of jeans and old t-shirt with her hair pulled back into sloppy ponytail. She was wearing a look of apprehension. "We need to talk."

"Is something wrong, Roza?" I asked. Things between us had been uncertain this last week. Rose had said she wanted to try to get past this, and she was really trying. She was the one person in this place that Katya trusted the most, though. Needless to say, Rose had been learning every detail of what I had done to Katya over the last year. I had been noticing that she couldn't meet my eyes after some of these conversations with Katya. I prayed every day that we would get through this, but those words felt like nails in my coffin.

"No. At least, I don't think so." Rose answered. She walked over to the bed and curled herself onto my lap. "I have some good news, but there's something else that needs to be said first."

My heart stopped in my chest. No, this wasn't happening. Not after everything we had survived in these last few weeks alone. I could lose her now. I still needed her more than anything. I wrapped my arms around her and buried my face in her hair.

"Say what you need to say." I whispered bracing myself for the words that would completely destroy me.

"I know I've been acting weird this last week, and I'm sorry for that." Rose said. "I want you to know that I still love you and, at this point, I don't think anything Katya can say will change that. It's just hard to hear everything that the monster did to that poor girl. I have to remind myself that you aren't that man anymore."

"I'm not." I told her. "And I will spend the rest of my life trying to prove that to you and Katya. Just don't leave me. I don't think I could survive that."

"I'm not going anywhere. I love you now and forever. We will make it through this, and we will get Katya through it, together. Just like we always do."

"Thank God." I whispered, kissing her hair. "I love you so much Roza."

"I love you too, Comrade. More than you will ever know."

We sat in silence for a long moment just enjoying this small peace in the disaster that was our lives.

"So, what's the good news?" I finally asked.

"Katya has asked to talk to you." She said. "She wants to be able to move on from this, but she needs closure, I guess. She wants to understand why you did what you did. And she wants proof that what Oksana, Sonya, and me have been telling her about strigoi restoration is true."

"Are you sure she is ready for that?" Yes, I wanted nothing more than to talk to her. I wanted to apologize and earn her forgiveness, but I didn't want to hurt her any more than I already had. I wanted her to be able to heal and move on from this.

"No, but she believes that she is, and so does Sonya." Rose answered. "I was trying to talk her out of it, but Sonya reminded me this has got to be her decision. Nobody can make it for her, and we certainly can't force our will on her. If we did then we wouldn't be any different from Rebekah and Marcus."

"No, we wouldn't. So when does she want to do this?"

"She is ready now, actually. She wants to do it before she loses her nerve."

"Understandable."

"Are you ready for this?" She pulled away from me to look me square in the eye. "I know you've been waiting for this all week, but…" I put a gentle finger over her lips to stop her protests.

"I have been ready for this since the moment I confessed my sins to you. Besides, I lost any right I had to decline this meeting when I killed her father. She has a right to confront me on her terms, whether I like it or not."

"You're not that man anymore, Dimitri."

"Maybe not, but someone has to accept the consequences of his actions. And as long as I have you, I can do that. As long as I have you, I can do anything."

"I love you."

"And I you."

I leaned to and kissed her hard. I had always known that I could've lived forever and still never do anything to deserve the love of this beautiful woman whose lips were pressed firmly against mine. Yet, her she was, willing to love me even after all the horrible things I had done. I couldn't believe my luck.

Reluctantly, I pulled my lips away from hers, but pulled her close to my body. I wanted nothing more than to sit here and revel in the glorious angel that I got to call my own, but real life awaited us. It was time for me to face the worst thing I had ever done.

A/N: What do you guys think? It has been awhile and I'm a little rusty. Please review and I promise, I will make more time to update all of my stories.