A.N: Hey guys!!

Well I don't have that much to say except that in next chapter you'll get some Adrian and even more in the one after that =D .

Thanks again for the reviews.

Take care

Chapter 18:

I heard a loud knock at my door. I turned my face and looked at the alarm clock. It was barely morning. I was pretty sure the commons just opened for breakfast. I had a shitty night, once again, waking up every 30 minutes. I knew that I didn't sleep more than 2 hours last night and it was getting me in a freakishly bad mood.

"Go away!" I groaned loudly turning around. I needed to sleep a bit longer as I had to confess I hardly slept since the Queen talked to me on Thursday. You could do your best to forget during the day but once you hit the bed you couldn't stop your brain to bring back unwanted thoughts, unresolved questions and it was the best way to keep you awake.

I heard knock again and decided to ignore it. Screw that! They'll get bored eventually. I thought trying to fall asleep again but of course my brain was back in 'active' mode and I knew it was a lost cause now.

Those sleepless nights were so instructive! I knew now that my mural border had 3 blue flowers for 2 yellow and that it counted 28 flowers per side. Fascinating right?

The person knocked again.

I jumped off my bed and started to grumble going to the door.

"I hope it's important because if it's not you better run as you won't be able to sit for a week," I said threateningly opening the door to a grinning Chris.

"No sitting huh… I would love to see you try." He said still smiling.

"What the--" I looked at him with a frown. I was dreaming no? I looked around realizing that the pain in my chest and slight headache were indicator that I was in the reality.

He raised his eyebrows when I groaned.

"Ok… It's like Groundhog day right?" I asked idiotically. "Condemned to relive Adrian departure over and over again… Life sucks."

Chris chuckled "Can I come in?" He asked nicely.

I shrugged, left the door open, and walked back to sit on my bed.

"You came to say bye right?" I asked looking up as he was standing in front of me.

"No Rose… That was yesterday," he said looking around and sitting on my desk chair without even asking.

"So you stayed!!" I asked the eyes wide with wonder but by 'you' I meant 'Adrian' and I think he read through as when he replied.

"Ivashkov left but…" He smiled "but he will be back on Friday for the Ball and he will be very well-protected at his parent's house while he is there,"

"Ok…" I trailed off showing my confusion.

"Well, he said I should stay here for the week and if you still wanted to train with me then--"

"Of course I want to!" I said really cheered by the idea cutting him off.

He laughed. "So it's settled then but you do look like shit" he said really concerned. "You go back to bed and phone me when you want to train I'm off all day ok?" He said standing up.

I nodded and smiled thankfully.

"OH and Ivashkov gave me this for you," he said leaving a small bag on the desk. "See you later." He said leaving.

"See you later," I replied keeping the eyes on the small bag.

I opened it carefully and found the necklace he offered me for my birthday with a little piece of paper folded in two.

A present is a present . You should wear it on Friday.

Matching Dress will be delivered soon. Ordered it last week it will be a shame to have it wasted.

I hope you choose to continue your training with Chris.

Take care

A.

No more 'love u miss u' I thought sadly. It was so formal, like we were not even friend, that's what I was looking for so why did it hurt that bad?

I lay back on the bed but I kept dozing in and out of sleep. It was just getting annoying at this point. I was spending hours in bed and felt as tired as a person who stayed up all night. I looked at the alarm clock and it was almost lunch time I sighed and gave up the idea to sleep, geez I needed to find a way to sleep or I would fall from exhaustion very soon and there were no 'official' reasons to my insomnias.

I phoned Chris and we arranged to meet just after lunch time by the gym.

I decided to go and have lunch with Eddie, Lissa and Christian. I thought they would cheer me out but it was a mistake. They were staring at me worried like I was on suicide watch or something and it was exasperating to no ends.

I could feel Lissas worries, pain for me, wonders and it was annoying.

Christian was more or less normal or at least trying to be. But Eddie and Lissa were shooting me quick glances every 5 seconds. After 10 minutes I sighed heavily.

"Why are you looking at me that much huh?" I asked not able to hide my irritation "do you expect to see a monkey to get out of my ass or what?"

Both Lissa and Eddie blushed, Christian looked up and grinned.

"What? It won't happen?!" He asked pretending to be pained. "I want my money back!" He added faking outrage looking around.

I had to really chuckle at that one and, in a go, the atmosphere was lighter. Christian really had a gift but I wouldn't not tell him or I would never ever hear the end of it.

"Want me to walk you to training?" Asked Eddie, as Lissa and Christian went to their classes.

"Nothing to do?" I asked but still pleased to have company, his especially as he was not the kind to press things out.

He shrugged. "Well, got to meet some seniors for a snooker competition in like half an hour but I didn't think you would be interested to be around too many people right now."

I nodded and gave him a sidelong glance. They really knew me well. I had to give them far more credit. They were not mad at me for breaking up with Adrian. They were trying to spare me.

"He will be back, you know…for the ball." He said uncomfortably. "He changed his mind at his last minute that why Chris stayed." He added confused by Adrian changed of heart just as I was.

"I know…".I said trying to smile. "Oh talking of the ball…Would you be my date?" I asked trying to sound cheery. I needed to go with someone I trusted, who wouldn't misinterpret my intentions.

"I…Well…yeah…" He started to rub his neck and I knew he was uncomfortable.

"What's wrong?" I asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Well, the ball is Friday and we're Monday." He shrugged and really looked uncomfortable now. "I really thought you would go with Ivashkov so…"

"So?" I encouraged. "Oh, you invited someone?!" I asked as I was so stupid to haven't figured that one out before. Of course, the ball was in 4 days now!!

He nodded. "But you know I can cancel, I mean…I don't want you to go alone and --"

"No don't be silly!!" I said sincerely. "Don't even think about it!! You go and have fun… Some tongue action and the full package," I said with a chuckle. "I'll go by myself it's just fine so I'll dance with you guys!! It's cool!" I said dismissively.

"You won't go by yourself…you'll go with me!" Said Chris walking toward us.

I snorted and rolled my eyes. "What? The smoking hot Chris Walker don't have a date for the Ball?!!" I asked pretending to be shocked.

"I know… Shocking right?" He said stopping beside us, nodding a hello to Eddie. "I was supposed to be on duty that night but I won't be as Ivashkov gave me the night off plus…" he winked at me. "I needed a hot date and no one is hotter around here than Rose Hathaway." He added elbowing me playfully.

"I agree…" Said Eddie with a smile.

"Ok, cut the crap you two," I said slapping their arms at the same time. "K pretty boy, you've got yourself a date," I said with a laugh but it wasn't that natural and I could see that Eddie noticed that, but didn't comment.

"Okay well, I better go now they are going to wait for me." Said Eddie looking at his watch. "Tonight?" He asked me.

I nodded. "Yeap and fire boy want in." I said shaking my head.

"But the dude sucks at it!" Said Eddie with disbelieve.

"Ehh it's his pride dude! Not mine…" I said, knowing that it was pretty hard on Christian to lose at Guitar Hero against me but his competitive nature always had the best of him… just like me.

"K… I need to prepare some mean jokes.." Said Eddie with his evil grin.

"Yeah you do that….See you later" I waved.

"What's the challenge?" asked Chris curiously opening the gym door for me.

"Guitar Hero." I looked at him and grinned. "Want in?" I asked, pretty sure he was as clueless as Dimitri, as far as video games were concerned.

"Which platform?" He asked seriously.

Uh… Maybe I was wrong I thought warily. "Playstation 3."

"I'm so in!!" He said shaking his head. "You'll see what the old guardian can do" he added with a wink.

"I can't wait to find out" I said playfully.

We were training for about 10 minutes when I started to hear a buzzing sound in my ears, I started to see Chris less clearly like I had a veil in front of my eyes.

"I…I…Don't feel right…" I mumbled.

"Rose?!" He said with clear worries in the voice and everything went black…

I was starting to reach consciousness again when I heard Chris voice a couple of feet from me.

He was talking on the phone. I kept my eyes close to listen a bit.

"Yeah at the clinic… No it's fine… Of course, yeah." He said but I figured by his tone that it could only be Adrian. "She is okay don't worry… The doc said it's only exhaustion… Yeah, no worries I'll do that. Bye." He said before flipping his phone shut.

Adrian was worrying about me… He still cared! That was enough to make me feel better at least he didn't hate me.

"Chris?" I said finally opening my eyes.

"Hey Rose!" He said hurrying beside me. "You know you scared me." He said brushing hair from my forehead.

"I… What happened?" I asked a bit lost.

"I don't know," he said twitching his lips. "You just passed out…" he touched my hair which was wet. "Sorry about that… I thought that some water on your face would help but it didn't work." He added sheepishly.

I reached up and touched my hair that was pretty wet. "What did you do? Empty a bottle of water?" I asked jokingly.

He nodded.

I really had to laugh at that one. "It's ok don't worry." I said trying to sit.

Chris brought his hands to my shoulders to keep me down. "No, no you stay like that. The doc will be here in 5 minutes to chat with you." He said seriously.

"How long have I been out?" I asked looking around.

"About two hours…" he said looking at the clock.

"Two hours?" I shrieked, trying to stand, but his hands were still restraining me. "I had to meet Lissa," I added for him to let me go.

"It's ok," he said soothingly. "I called Eddie and he took care of it. They know it's exhaustion," he then looked at me warily. "How long it has been since you really slept Rose?"

I looked at him and shrugged. "I slept last night I don't understand." I said trying to sound clueless but I perfectly knew that I didn't sleep since Thursday and living on about 2 hours sleep a night was bound to take me down.

"Of course…" he said reprovingly. "I knew that concealers did a great job but how did it work on these dark circles?" He said, brushing them with his finger tips "that's a miracle! They are so black, even on your tan skin," he added shaking his head.

I bite my bottom lip but didn't say anything… What could I say? My face was giving me away anyways. The water washed the concealer away of course! Argh!!

At this instant, Olendzki made it to my room.

"Well, it's really nice to see you with the eyes open miss Hathaway," but I could see the reprobation in her eyes too.

"I'm ok now. Can I go?" I asked hopefully.

"I don't think so Rose," she said all mother like "I think we really need to settle some things first. Firstly I can see just by looking at you that you're dangerously lacking sleep and well, I did run some blood tests but," she looked at Chris and continued as she probably noticed he didn't intend to go anywhere. "Well I'm pretty sure you are anemic too."

I looked at her confused.

"You know, not eating never resolved anything Rose." She said even more accusing than before.

"What?!" I asked infuriated. "You think I have some kind of eating disorder?!" I asked not even able to believe she thought of that.

She just stared at me.

"I…" I shook my head. "Well I probably didn't eat as much or as healthily that I should have lately." I admitted but it was just because I tried to avoid people. "And I will give it to you I do suffer from insomnia since about a week or so but that's it!" I said crossing my arms on my chest stubbornly. "I love to eat!" I added and boy that was true.

"It's ok Rose…" Said Chris giving a 'don't-push-too-far-you-moron' look to Olendzki.

"And why do you have trouble sleeping Rose?" She asked concerned. "Maybe you can give us some privacy," she asked Chris.

"No it's ok, you can stay," I said quickly. I had the perfect excuse. I did think of it already. "It's just, I'm stressed…" I shrugged dismissively. "In no time I'll be really responsible of Lissa, in the real world and it's really terrifying… She is my best friend and I need to keep her safe."

Chris squeezed my hand and I could see that I did mollify Olendzki.

She sighed. "You know you are not the first young guardian going through this fear Rose." She said nicely. "You should have come to see me straight away because you see with this lack of sleep well you won't be efficient protecting her would you?" She asked rhetorically.

I shook my head negatively.

"I will give you some herbal sleeping help," she said reaching for a box of Nytol. "And as for some vitamins well, I'll wait to see what kind of deficiencies show up in your blood tests." She then pursed her lips. "As for the meals--"

"I'll cook her something nice tonight," said Chris cutting her off. "You'll come dinner with me at the guardians building I did buy some good Angus steaks with a great salad and grilled potatoes you are going to love it. " He said grinning at me.

"Ok… It's settled then," she said eyeing Chris suspiciously but she didn't comment.

Here we go…like I needed a new fake boyfriend. I thought annoyed.

"As for you Rose," she said crossing her arms on her chest. "If you still have trouble sleeping by this weekend you should come and see me so we can figure something out okay?" She asked locking eyes with me.

"I swear." I said looking at the box of Nytol. I should have asked her before…I was stupid! I thought.

Olendzki nodded apparently pleased enough with me.

Chris helped me up. "Ok now, Rose is going to take a nap and …" he thought for a minute. "And I'll come with the food directly in the room so we'll eat there ok? No need to advertise."

I nodded letting him support me. "Thank you but… only friends you know that." I said stupidly. I just didn't need another jealous guy or anything like that in my life.

He laughed. "God forbid I'd go after Rose Hathaway!! We're too much alike Rose. You and me…" He shook his head. "It couldn't work."

"Yeah…" I said thinking that the main difference is that he never gave his heart and that mine was taken or maybe he did…that's why he was like that….Uh…

"I'll be back in a minute" he said as we were in the corridor. He help me to a chair. "I need to ask something to the doc." He said jogging to her office.

"Rose!" Said Dimitri walking up to me. "I heard you fainted are you ok?"

I shot him a glance before concentrating on the door again.

"Are you going to answer me or what?" He asked frigidly.

I looked up to meet his eyes. "Or what." I simply said standing up carefully walking to Olendzki just as Chris walked out.

Chris and Dimitri looked at each other with defiance.

"Come on let's go Chris." I said elbowing him.

He nodded and we walked away totally ignoring Dimitri.

"Much love between you two…" He said as we were walking back to my room.

"I could say the same!" I said with a smile.

"Ehh, you know." He shrugged, "him and I it's mostly defiance. We're both promising but we couldn't be more different…We competed more than once. It's just silly." He gave me a sidelong glance.

"Male ego?" I tried.

"Exactly" he said with a laugh.

"Ok go to bed for a while Rose I'll be back with dinner and then we'll go and I crush you at guitar Hero."

I smiled as I opened the door. "Thank you…for taking care of me."

"It's a pleasure Rose really…I'm here to help" he said with a wink.

I looked at him go and sighed. I didn't have much luck in my life but at least I was blessed on the friendship area.

I walked lazily to the bed and I was pretty sure I was asleep before even hitting the pillow.