Chapter Seven - Domesticated Bliss
Despite the ten hours sleep I'd gotten before, I found myself easily falling asleep cocooned in Dimitri's protective embrace. However, several times during the night we both did stir, longing for that same intimate connection we shared for the first time just hours ago. It was as if having him once just wasn't enough, and I was completely and irrevocably addicted to him.
A stream of light escaped through the curtain by the window, diagonally skirting across my eyelids which forced me to stir. My eyes fluttered open, instantly squinting at the direct sunlight almost blinding me. A shiver ran through my body, and I glanced down to see the covers having drifted precariously downwards during the night, being draped across my hips with my lower calves and feet peaking out at the bottom and my entire top exposed.
I glanced to the side to take in my sleeping Russian's form, being surprised when I saw his face turned to look at me, eyes wide open. "Good morning, Malýshka." He smiled, not a trace of sleepiness in his voice. He must of been awake for a while now, just waiting for me to do the same.
"Were you watching me?" I accused with a sleep-ridden voice, clearing my throat afterwards. "That's kind of creepy." He chuckled at that, leaning forwards to give me a soft kiss.
"I was, but in the least creepiest way possible." He clarified with a smile on his lips, opening up his arms for me to snuggle back into them from where I'd drifted to my own side of the bed within the night. I complied happily, resting my head on his shoulder and my hands on his chest. "You look so innocent when you sleep."
"Are you saying I'm not innocent?" I teased, watching as I traced circles with my index finger.
"After last night's events I'm inclined to say yes." I could hear the smile in his voice as he lazily skirted the tips of his fingers up and down the centre of my back absentmindedly. I snuggled into him closer at that with a smile on my own lips, remembering the joys of the previous night. "However through fear of striking the wrath of a Hathaway woman I will say that you are perfectly innocent in every way."
We stayed in bed for a couple hours after that, just enjoying the downtime with each other since we knew that once classes begun we wouldn't have much of it, our only true alone time being at night. We spoke about what we were expecting for the next coming week, Dimitri talking more about his personal experiences here at St Basil's, and possibly even a visit to his family's house one weekend soon.
"Speaking of your family," I sat myself up so I was leaning against the headboard, Dimitri watching me with curious eyes as he remained lying down. "How do you think Viktoria will react to seeing you? Don't you think you should have at least warned her? I know if I had an older brother who suddenly became my teacher without notifying me, I'd kick his ass."
Dimitri chuckled, twiddling with the ends of my hair that had fallen forwards across my shoulder. "Viktoria and I are quite close. At least we used to be, before I left for St Vladimir's." He explained with an almost invisible frown, though me being me I could definitely see the sadness within him that came about when he spoke of leaving home. "I'm hoping that she'll be more surprised than angry, though I suppose we shall see tomorrow."
I nodded, seeming that to be reasonable enough. I didn't know any of his family on a personal level, just small details that he'd told me in passing, so truth be told I didn't know how any of his family would react to him being back in Russia.
I reached across his body to his bedside table where his phone sat, opening it up to check the time. "8am. Think you can muster enough energy to get out of bed and make us some breakfast?" I asked sweetly with a hint of do-it-know-or-I'll-kick-your-ass.
He whined, wrapping his arms around my waist and burying his face into my stomach. I felt him place a small kiss at my naval, and I giggled as I ran both my hands through his hair. "But I'm comfortable."
"And I'm hungry." I countered childishly, kissing the top of his head before wriggling out of his grip to stand up. He groaned, letting his face fall down into the pillow as I quietly skipped into the bedroom next door to grab some clothing, not feeling entirely comfortable yet in this unfamiliar place to be striding around butt-naked.
When I came back into our bedroom, now dressed in some checkered blue sleep shorts and a white vest top, Dimitri had shifted himself from the bed and seemed to of tidied up the room. Our clothes that had previously been strewn across the bedroom had been folded neatly into 'his' and 'hers' piles on the desk, and the bed was perfectly made. The Russian himself was nowhere to be seen, so I assumed he was already in the kitchen.
Sure enough, there he was, already rummaging around the fridge for ingredients to cook. I slapped his butt playfully as I wandered by, receiving a curse of surprise from him. I giggled, skipping past him with a wicked grin as I picked up his phone from the island. "Do you think I could call back home? Let everyone know that I arrived safe?"
"Of course, Rose." He nodded, turning to me and gesturing to the phone. "I've already put in a different sim to allow for international calls and texts, as well as transferring all your contacts so you can use it whenever."
I smiled at that, mentally scolding myself for thinking that he would have been anything less than a perfectly prepared gentleman. Making things easy for me to contact home was just such a Dimitri thing to do, and I loved his thoughtfulness. "Thanks." I leaned across the island to press a small kiss on his cheek. "I'll just call everyone while you work."
It was 8.15 in the evening back at St Vlad's, early in the Moroi morning. My mother would definitely be up, and I assumed Lissa and Eddie would be awake - unless they'd had a party the previous night, which subtly I hoped was not the case. I tried my mother first, deciding to give Lissa and Eddie a try at around the time we usually met for breakfast - that would kill two birds with one stone.
"Guardian Hathaway speaking." She answered on the second ring rather formally, and I rolled my eyes at the thought that that was possibly how I would be expected to answer a phone in the near future. How boring.
"Hey, Mom. It's Rose." I plopped myself down on the sofa in the living room, folding my legs beneath me as I stared off into the distance, vaguely watching my cooking Dimitri. "Just wanted to let you know that I got to St Basil's alright."
"Rose! I'm so glad." I could hear she was smiling. "I figured you would have gotten there about a day ago, and I was starting to get worried that something had happened."
"Yeah, we got to Omsk about 5 Russian time yesterday morning." I explained. "I was pretty tired and ended up falling asleep in the car. I was out for hours, and by the time I woke up it was the middle of the night your time and I figured you'd be asleep. We met with the Head Guardian last night, got our time tables and stuff, and then I headed straight to bed when we arrived back." I obviously left out the part where we headed to bed together.
"Well, yes, I can imagine that you must of had a busy past couple of days." She commented half-heartedly, almost in a dismissive tone. "And how is Guardian Belikov?"
"He's good." I looked up to where Dimitri was stood cooking in the kitchen, before quickly adding "I think. He seems to like being back where he trained, and I know he's looking forward to seeing his family."
"Are you enjoying yourself there?"
"Well I've only been here a day, and I've spent about 18 hours of that sleeping." I laughed truthfully. "But the people seem nice. From what I remember at the airport before I fell asleep, it seems like a beautiful place. But I'll be sure to update you again once I've seen more of the place."
"I'm glad you got there safe, anyhow." I could sense that she wanted to say more, possibly about how upset she was about me having to move across the world, but she held her tongue. "Anyhow, I must get going. The other Guardians and I are about to take Mr Kressley to a meeting at Court."
"You're back with your charge?" I furrowed my brows curiously, having assumed that she would have still been at the Academy. Though I guess since I wasn't there, she didn't have much reason to be either. It made sense for her to be back to work.
"Yes. I figured that, since the whole reason I remained at St Vladimir's was to make sure you were okay after Spokane, I wasn't needed there anymore." It seemed a bit upsetting when I really thought about it - that her whole presence at a place dictated around me.
I nodded, despite the fact that she couldn't see me. "Alright. Well, I'll let you get back to work then. Bye, Mom."
"Goodbye, Rose. Keep safe." Was her final wishes before she finally hung up.
I sighed softly, slowly bringing the phone down from my ear to rest against my chin. As much as I had once resented my mother, a part of me felt guilty for leaving her behind after everything she'd done for me since Mason's death. What she missed for thirteen years she had at least attempted to make up for the past few weeks, and I'd barely given her the chance to apologise. Now I was half way across the world, and there was the physical distance as well as the emotional distance put between us.
"Malýshka? Is everything alright?" I heard Dimitri's soft voice coming from the kitchen, and I looked up to see him watching me carefully over the island between the two rooms. I nodded, waving a hand dismissively for him to go back to cooking while I scrolled the contacts for Lissa.
She was a little slower on picking up than my mother had been, though eventually she answered it. "Hello?"
"Hey, Lis. It's Rose." I smiled, and I heard her squeal through the phone.
"It's Rose!" Her voice was a little further away, and I heard some rustling and no speaking. "Okay, you're on speaker. We're in Christian's dorm, and he and Eddie are here."
"Hey, Hathaway." I heard Eddie's teasing voice come through the phone then, and I couldn't stop myself from grinning at the sound. "How's Russia? We're missing you."
"Aw, I'm touched, Castile." I cooed sarcastically. "Though we all know you're just happy I'm not there to kick your butt in training anymore."
"Well, I mean, you're not wrong." He laughed. "With you gone, I'm finally top of the class."
"Glad my move could be of help to you."
"So, how is Russia?" It was Lissa this time, and I could hear more movement as I supposed she lifted the phone up or placed it down somewhere.
"Well, from what I've seen it's a beautiful place."
"From what you've seen...?" She trailed off, evidently confused.
"I fell asleep almost as soon as I got off the plain at Omsk. Jetlag, and all the travelling - it just really tired me out."
"That makes sense." I could picture Lissa just nodding in confirmation, and I smiled at that. "When do you start classes?"
"Tomorrow. I'm kind of nervous, though most of me is just excited. I wonder if they'll be any teachers I can piss off like I did with Stan." My eyes danced naturally over to Dimitri, and a cunning smile made it's way through as I thought of all the things I could pass with as him as my teacher. Well, one of my teachers.
"What about Belikov?" It was Eddie again. "Isn't here over there with you?"
"Yeah, he's the new teacher for Advanced Combat. Though, since he knows all my usual antics, I'm sure it'll be difficult to get anything passed him." I smiled as I saw Dimitri turn to put two plates on the island, mouthing 'you know it' to me with a sexy wink. I covered my hand to stifle a giggle.
"I'm sure you'll think of something, Hathaway." Christian, this time, and I could hear the small smile in his voice as he spoke. I forced myself not to tease him at that, knowing he tried oh-so-hard to act as if he hated me when everybody knew he secretly adored me like an annoying little sister.
"We better get going, Rose. Christian and I are about to head to a feeder, then Eddie has to head to the gym to find out who he's been allocated for the field experiment." That's right! The field experience! I silently wondered if St Basil's had a similar scheme, and if I'd be required to do it. I made a mental note to ask Dimitri about it.
"I hope all goes well for you, Eddie! I know you'll rock it." I motivated. "Keep my bestfriends safe, Firecrotch, or you'll have me to deal with when I get back."
"Oh no, the infamously scary Rose Hathaway." He chided sarcastically, and I heard a small remark from Eddie in the background about how I wasn't kidding. I just giggled, letting my threat speak for itself.
"I'll catch up with you later, Lis. Don't miss me too much!"
"Already am. See you." I heard her give a loud fake-kiss, and I returned the gesture before hanging up with a smile. At least this one had me feeling better than the last, I thought to myself.
I placed the phone on the table in front of me and stood up to sit at one of the stools, watching just as Dimitri finished stacking some pancakes on a plate. "That looks incredible."
"Only the best for my one and only." He grinned, sliding the plate over to me before also handing me a cup of tea. I took a sip of it and found it was exactly the way I liked it - milk and one sugar. He brought one of the stools around to the other side of the island so he was facing opposite me, his own plate of pancakes in front of me. I reached over to grab some of the sauce he appeared to of home cooked, pouring it over the shortstack, then reaching for the squirty cream and placing a good sized helping on the side of the plate. "You sure do have a sweet tooth."
"Hey, I like my sugar." I defended childishly, digging into my food with an almost erotic groan. "Especially when you cook it exactly how I like it."
We ate in comfortable silence for a short while with Dimitri finishing first, waiting patiently while he watched me finish my own. I placed my cutlery in the centre of the plate once I did, taking a long swig of my tea.
"So, how did things with your mother and friends go?" He asked conversationally as he stacked our plates together, standing up to wash them in the kitchen. I got up to insist I helped out, but he quickly shot me down on the matter, so I remained in my seat.
"Things went good." I nodded, knowing he heard at least my half of the conversation. "My Mom is back with her charge, and she seems happy enough. Eddie's about to find out his allocation for the field experience, so I'm sure he's excited for that."
"He's got Lissa." He said matter-of-factly as he began drying his hands, having left the dishes on the drying rack. He turned to face me and leaned back against the countertop casually, a small smirk on his face as he watched my reaction. I narrowed my eyes at him and turned my head curiously.
"How do you know?"
"Moroi and Dhampir were partnered up by the Guardians on the Tuesday before we left. Eddie got Lissa, and you got Christian." He must of seen the flash of anger across my face that I tried to hide, because he quickly added to his statement. "I know you were probably expecting Lissa, but the other Guardians thought it would have been too easy for you if that were the case. You have experience of protecting Lissa already, so you know how to work with each other. A lot of them thought that if we gave you someone you haven't typically worked with, then it would be more like a real-life situation where you're not always close to your charge."
"But my 'real life situation' would be with Lissa anyway." I clarified with a frown still on my face. "I was slated to be Lissa's Guardian, so surely it would just make sense to put me with her?"
"Which is what I said," he nodded as he took a step towards me, leaning on his forearms across the island. "But the others insisted, and I was against the majority."
I pondered that for a moment, wondering why the other Guardians would have insisted so desperately for me to not be with Lissa. I knew some of the Guardians didn't exactly like me, exhibit Stan Alto, but I thought most of them would have agreed to put me with Lissa on the field experience. Then again, I guess now it didn't matter - whether I was put with Lissa, Christian, or even Jesse Zeklos, I was now on the other side of the planet not even able to participate.
The rest of the day passed without anything eventful, spending most of the day just lounging about in our room. At one point I disappeared for a short while to unpack all of my stuff into the second bedroom, after Dimitri had explained that it would be safer to make it look like I was obviously sleeping in the bed I should be in. Although nobody else should ever have to enter our place, it was better to be safe than sorry. I even ruffled up the pillows and bedsheet for good measure to make it look like it had been slept in the previous night.
Dimitri cooked both lunch and dinner for us as well, and I was pleasantly surprised by his culinary expertise. He had explained that, once he got to about 13 years old, he wanted a way to repay his mother for all the good she'd done in his life as a child. They didn't have the most money, his mother being unemployed and his father having taken most of their wealth after Dimitri convinced him to leave, so the only thing he thought of was to learn how to cook. Apparently his grandma, Yeva, taught him some of the basics, and the rest he taught himself. By 15 he was making most of the family dinners as thanks to his mother, but also for fun.
It was gone 11pm by the time we both decided to head to bed, being a little later than both of us typically slept despite the fact we still decided to have our morning training session at 6. Though truth be told it was closer to midnight by the time we both fell into slumber, the blissful events preceding it keeping us awake.
Bit of a filler chapter and so I apologise if it is boring, however I'll try to post another chapter tomorrow to make up for it. I already have it planned and so I promise it'll be a doozy!