I was jolted awake by the sound of my door creaking open. I jumped out of bed, looking for a place to hide, but in my sparse room there wasn't anywhere to conceal myself. The bed didn't have enough space under it for me to hide, and the table on the far side of the room was blocked by the light filtering in from the open door. I settled on the corner on the far side of the room. They'd have to jump over the bed before they could get to me, but I was literally backing myself into a corner, giving myself nowhere to go.

I sank further into my chosen corner, willing myself to go unseen in the still darkened room. The light from the doorway penetrated the room further and further as the door opened slowly, inch by inch. My heart was beating so fast and loud I was sure whomever was at my door would be able to hear it. My body was on high alert, ready to take on any intruder, though I'm sure I'd be in trouble later, even after I explained I was defending myself.

A hand slowly hooked around the side of the door, gripping the edge and easing it open, like in a horror movie. The light that was coming in from the hallway was interrupted by a massive, looming shadow. The figure peered around the door finding the room silent and crept their way into my room, closing the door silently behind them. While there was some light I tried to identify the man, but his face was clocked in shadows, making identification impossible.

I heard the intruder take a few deep breaths. It sounded like they were breathing in a smell more than to consume oxygen. I heard a rustle of clothing shifting as the person moved. They turned the lights to their lowest settings so the room was filled with a very dim light, just enough to see by but not enough to draw attention from out in the hallway.

The light revealed Dimitri just as his piney scent reached my nose. I gave a small sigh in relief and allowed my body to relax from its tense position. He was looking around the room, he seemed to be searching for something. When he didn't find it panic filled the room and his heart started slamming into his chest. The noise was like a jackhammer and I worried it might be doing him bodily harm. I observed him silently, curious about the shift in demeanor.

"Roza!" He whisper-yelled.

"Yeah?"

"Where are you?!" I stared at him in bewilderment. Was he blind? I pushed away from my corner and walked closer to him. His head followed the sound, but his eyes did not focus on me. It was like they were seeing through me. I stopped when I was directly in front of him.

"I'm right in front of you, Comrade." His eyebrows drew together and looked at me, but it was like he wasn't seeing me. I looked down at myself, but I was still here.

"Roza, I don't see you." My head whipped up to stare into his eyes, they were still focused on my general location, but not on me. I turned toward the closet door where a full-length mirror stood. The only thing I saw being reflected back at me was Dimitri's towering form.

"Oh, this is going to be fun." I smiled deviously. Taking a tentative step closer to where he stood. His lips thinned into a straight line and his eyebrows lowered.

"I can't see your face, but I imagine I won't like the look that's on it."

"You're probably right." I took a step closer to him and placed a hand in the center of his firm chest. He jumped at the sudden contact, not that it was sudden. I was moving slowly, but since he couldn't see me, I suppose it was sudden for him.

'He's warmer than I thought he was going to be. That or I'm just cold.' I was pleasantly surprised by the heat that spread through my entire body. I trailed my hand slowly up around the back of his neck. I gave him the chance to stop me, but he didn't. I pulled the elastic band from where it held his hair back and ran my fingers through his long locks. 'It's just as smooth and soft as it looks.'

"Not that I don't love what you're doing, Roza," he started huskily as he followed my invisible arm up my shoulder and down to my hip. His other hand took up residence on my other hip, his touch was like a flame, igniting my desire for him, "but I would much rather see and feel you, rather than just feel you."

I blushed and waited until I felt it fading before willing myself to be seen.

"There you are." He looked down at me and gave me a warm smile. I blushed again.

'Damn, I've got to get this under control.' His smile grew at the sight of my blush which made me blush more.

"Is there are reason you're breaking into my room this late at night?" I asked, he still hadn't let me go, and I wasn't going to protest.

"Oh, umm…yes and no?" I raised an eyebrow at him, waiting for a more definite answer. "Well, you see…umm…Dimka kept bugging me about seeing Rosie. She apparently did a real number on him and now she's all he can think about. Big D wanted to see Rosemarie, citing the same reasons, but I don't completely trust his intentions."

"And what does that have to do with you being here? Couldn't you just send the two of them?"

"I couldn't sleep with them yelling at me about you." He looked down sheepishly, taking a step away from me, but never letting me go. "Plus, I wanted to see you. I wouldn't have been able to sleep even if they weren't yelling at me."

"Do you usually have trouble sleeping, Comrade?" I inquired, pushing him for more information.

"No, not usually. Just every once in a while, I can't keep my mind from racing."

"What got your engine going this time?" I asked smirking up at him. He blushed at my choice of words but it seemed that they were accurate.

"You." He stated without explanation.

"Me?" I asked placing a hand to my chest, feigning surprise.

"Yes, you. I couldn't get you out of my head." He confessed, "It's like my body craved to be near you. And Dimka and Big D really didn't help matters by coercing me into being able to see Rosie and Rosemarie again."

"Why do you think your body craves me?" I asked ignoring Dimka and Big D, though I could faintly hear Rosie protesting. Rosemarie was pleading with me not to let Big D near her.

"I don't know. Maybe it's because I feel so free around you. You're the only one here that knows what I am, so I can truly be myself around you."

I watched him as he confessed to me. He started looking really nervous, but the more he told me, the more he relaxed.

"I feel the same, Dimitri." I smiled up at him. The last of the tension in his body disappeared.

"You do?" His eyes brightened at my revelation and his grip on my hips became more firm. I unconsciously leaned further into his embrace, both my hands pressed to his chest.

"Of course, I do. I already felt comfortable around you before I found out you were Spirited, but now that I know what you are, I feel like I can really let you know everything. Like I don't have to hide anything from you now."

"What things were you hiding from me before?" His smile quickly turned to a frown. Apparently, he thought he was doing a very thorough job as a researcher. I smirked up at him.

"Just some of my…oh, what do you call them...gifts?" He nodded, still frowning.

"And what gifts would those be?"

"Well, it's just one gift, but it's not at the same time." Confusion spread across his face. "I have many gifts within a gift. The gift being the ability to just think of a gift on the spot and possess that gift." He looked puzzled so I explained further. "When you came in just now, I was pressed back into the corner, willing myself to be unseen. Next thing you know, I'm invisible."

"Do you think you could do that with anything?"

"I'm not really sure, I haven't really tested it out all that much. There hasn't really been much need for me to just need to be able to do something. I feel like it's an adaptation kind of thing, except with abilities. If I need a gift that I don't have, I just need to think and adapt to that gift and it's like I have it." I pondered allowed. "I don't know, however, if I can keep the abilities or if it's just a one-off thing."

"Do you think you could try to do it with something specific? Like if I gave you a specific ability that I wanted you to use, do you think you could use it?" It sounded like he had something in mind and I was becoming more curious.

"I can try." I said with a shrug of my shoulders.

"Do you think you could teleport?"

"Okay, wow. You don't ease into anything, do you? No 'run a mile in a second' or 'transform into a corgi?'" I asked jokingly. "You just jump straight into the complexity of special manipulation."

He huffed, rolling his eyes.

"So, can you, or can't you?" He asked impatiently

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Keep your lab coat on. I'm trying thinking of a place to go."

"You don't want to start in your room and work up to further distances?" He asked much in the same joking manner as I had when questioning him earlier.

"If it's going to work at a long distance, it's going to work at a short distance." I stated plainly. He shrugged and waited for me to choose a location.

"I can't think of any one place to go!" I exclaimed after five minutes of thinking. "I've been locked up in here for too long for me to choose just one place."

"What if I pick a place for us to go?"

"I think I could make that work, but you'll have to picture the place in great detail."

"I can do that." He closed his eyes and reconstructed the place in his mind. A smile spread across his face and it made my heart flutter. When he spoke, it was barely a whisper. "Okay, I'm ready when you are."

I only nodded and entered his mind. The picture I found looked like a large living room in a house. I didn't want to question where it was. I wanted this to work, and if I had questioned it, he might get distracted. I wrapped my arms around his neck and stepped closer to him. He responded by engulfing me further into his arms, holding me close.

I closed my eyes and focused on the picture Dimitri had given me. The room had two long couches that sat opposite from each other with a low coffee table situated in between them. To the side of the couch on the far side of the room was an old rocking chair. There was a brick fireplace to one side of the room, a fire was blazing inside of it, and the opposite wall contained a doorway that led to the rest of the house.

The walls were a warm cream color and the light streaming into the room from the floor length windows brightened the space even more. Multiple pictures hung all around the room, the walls were covered in them and wall space seemed to be a scarce commodity.

"I need you to imagine being there." I instructed him quietly. "Imagine that you are there and I am in your arms with you. Just as we are now, but standing in the room. Visualize the smell and the sounds you would sense."

I hadn't opened my eyes but I felt him nod. His arms tightened around me even more and his head dropped to the crook of my neck, where my shoulder started sloping, and breathed in my scent. I focused on the sensations that were coming through his memory and willed them into myself, forcing me to feel them and not just through Dimitri.

I started by solidifying our foundation. I planted us firmly in the middle of the space he had created. I built the image around us, some details were missing but I felt as once I released the magic, those details would be filled in.

I released the magic that was bubbling inside me. The sounds that were coming in from Dimitri's memory became real and the rich smell of burning wood filled my lungs. My eyes flew open and I pulled back to look Dimitri in the eyes.

"I can't believe that worked." The smile that spread across his face was the happiest I'd ever seen grace his features. I felt myself returning his smile.

"Well it took you long enough." I heard a frail but firm female voice say from the direction of the rocking chair.

"Babushka!"