Look! Two different updates within two days! #summerishere

Finally… I've updated this story. I was writing one in Christian's POV and then I wrote one in Alberta's POV, but I got SEVERE writer's block. Then, a couple weeks later, I was on the bus going to the opposite side of campus when inspiration struck – a Janine POV! I immediately began working on it on my iPhone and then transferred it to my computer to keep working on it. But alas, finals week hit and then I went to England for almost two weeks. But I am determined to keep up with this one and, hopefully, finish it before I leave for Beijing in a week and a half.

I'm working on other stuff too – for VA and for other categories – so keep a look out for those :) Thanks to everyone who has kept reviewing and kept my stories on their alert lists… My life has honestly been crazy and insane, and I feel incredibly bad for waiting so long to update.

Disclaimer: All recognizable content, including characters, plot lines and setting, is the work of Richelle Meade, the lovely woman who brought these characters to life through words and shared them with the world. This little plot bunny, however, is mine [insert evil laughter here].

Revised 09.28.2022

If someone had asked Janine Hathaway if she believed her daughter, Rose, would graduate from St. Vladimir's Academy and be assigned to guard Princess Vasilisa Dragomir two years, Janine would have laughed in their face.

Harsh? Yes, but so was their world.

In this world of magic, undeath, immortality, and evil, where Janine's entire career relied upon her being able to protect the life of her charge even at the cost of her own, there was no time or space for cuddles and handholding. Nor were there prestigious guarding opportunities for novices who slacked off and needed public dressings-down to take their studies seriously or acted like consequences were nonexistent. And no matter how legendary Janine's own reputation might be, no matter how naturally talented and filled with potential her daughter might be, the post-graduation world would do Rose no favors.

At the rate she'd been going, Rose would have left St. Vladimir's completely unprepared to face the world. And being unprepared in their line of work could mean death.

It was part of the reason Janine had given up Rose to the Academy. Growing up in a small Scottish village in Glasgow in the 70s, Janine was taught a dhampir's duty in their society was to the Moroi. Everything – including family – was put aside for the betterment and safety of the Moroi. Janine believed in that duty wholeheartedly and trained hard to make sure she could fulfil that duty to the best of her ability, and when she graduated from St. Christopher's, she was one of the best novices across the schools.

But her first Moroi post-graduation, relative of the new queen, Tatiana Ivashkov, had treated her like his slave. She'd waited on him hand and foot and went with him wherever he went (and he went a lot of places, including Russia). She withstood the abuse with silence – they come first – but then he'd slapped her hard across the face one night while at Court when she forgot to put ice in his bourbon. Hard enough to send even her flying across the room, and hard enough to leave marks on her face and split her lip. She was only a year out of high school, and he was her responsibility. Besides, he was Royal. She was powerless.

As she crossed the courtyard to Court's medical bay, she'd bumped into another Moroi male and had instantly coiled back in fear. But instead of berating her, the unknown (and flamboyantly dressed) Moroi had caught her and steadied her back on her feet. When he saw her face, his features darkened in anger.

"Who did that to you?" She'd shaken her head, not willing to risk incurring more of her Lord's wrath or Court's ridicule. The man nodded. "Alright, then. What's your name?"

She looked in his eyes. The care she saw in the chocolate depths made her blink back tears and melted her heart. "Janine Hathaway."

His bow-shaped lips smiled. "Well, Janine Hathaway. I'll let you go on your way."

The next morning, she found out she'd been reassigned to her current Szelsky lord. And three months of whirlwind romance later, Janine was unprepared to face their world when she discovered she was pregnant with Ibrahim Mazur's child. Although he wanted to bring their growing family together, his job and Janine's dedication to protecting Moroi determined the paths they would have to take as lovers. And Janine's inability to do her job, coupled with the dangers it brought to a child, also meant putting Rosemarie aside.

Janine had also not been ready to be a mother. At 20 years old, she wanted to be protecting her charge and fighting Strigoi, not fighting to stay conscious because she spent the whole night trying to calm down her newborn. It had been easy to drop Rose off at the Academy for weeks at a time before fully turning her over to the school just shy of her fourth birthday. Although Janine had wanted the best for her daughter, she knew "the best" wasn't going to be with her because Rose needed things Janine simply wasn't equipped to provide at the time.

While Rose had always seemingly been a wild child, which made sense considering her parents, things took a sharp turn for the worse after the Dragomir family had almost been wiped out in that car crash. Excessive partying, alleged promiscuity, and a seeming lack of care for her training put Rose on the fast track to nothing, and Janine had allowed her frustration at squandering her chances with Rose to turn into anger at Rose wasting her talent and neglecting her duty.

But now, sitting with the other guardians at the lodge and waiting for the green light to retrieve a group of St. Vlad's students – including her daughter – Janine was somewhat comforted by the knowledge Rose was with the group. Because she had found them before they'd been kidnapped, Janine knew the group's chances of survival increased exponentially.

They'd seen the security footage from inside the mall. Rose, with Christian Ozera in tow, had waltzed up to the deflated group of wayward students eating lunch. After yelling at them, she'd tried to herd them toward the mall's exit before someone – Mason Ashford, they believed – convinced her to go down into the tunnels. The group had disappeared through an access door in the back of the mall and into a black zone before re-emerging and looking decidedly more panicked than before. But Rose, though visibly freaked out by whatever she'd seen down there, had kept her head, and had rushed the group out of the back entrance of the building as it was the easiest path toward sunlight. But, from the outside security cameras, the adult dhampir guardians had watched as the student group was intercepted by a group of humans just before they'd made it to the front of the building. There was a brief fight, but once one of the humans had grabbed Mia, Rose had signaled for Mason and Eddie Castile to stop which allowed the remaining humans to subdue and force the group into a van with a covered license plate before driving off to a secondary location.

Although she was horrified by what she'd seen, Janine had gotten the chance to see – firsthand – how her daughter had matured as both a guardian and as a person. And, from what she understood, the majority of that transformation was due to the man sitting next to her.

Even in Nepal, where she guarded her Szelsky lord, Janine had known about Dimitri Belikov. Although he was only 24, Belikov had one hell of a reputation as a fierce guardian – a prodigy in the field renowned for his determination, leadership, professionalism, and level head in the face of chaos. She'd heard of his skill in combat, as stories of him dealing death to Strigoi like a card dealer at a Vegas casino dealt cards to a table of players between the time Ivan Zeklos was killed and he was relocated to Court (and even after he came to Court and before he was appointed as guardian to the last Dragomir) filtered through the guardian ranks.

And when Janine had heard he'd taken charge of her own daughter's training, after he'd also found her daughter and the Princess after a year of searching, she'd nearly wept with relief. If anyone could save Rose from the destructive path – the path which would inevitably get her killed – then it could be Dimitri Belikov.

After Rose had been brought back to campus (and Janine had sent that stupid email), Janine had started to hear rumors of Rose's transformation as a guardian under Belikov's watch. Apparently Belikov had also recognized the raw talent present in her daughter's abilities and was working to cultivate it just as his own mentor, Galina Salesnikova, had cultivated Belikov's raw, wild talent into something deadly and precise. She'd heard from Alberta how Rose had gained discipline and maturity, and how that resulted in Rose falling seamlessly into working with Belikov as his partner as they tracked down and rescued the captured Vasilisa Dragomir. Janine had needed to see it for herself, so she finally used some of her vacation time – built up over the years – and traveled to St. Vladimir's.

Big mistake on her part. Janine should have known Rose would be angry at her. How could she not be? Janine was angry at herself. She'd been out of Rose's life for years, assuming Rose would be fine with not seeing her and simply receiving and annual birthday after she was unofficially adopted by the Dragomir family. But Rose hadn't escaped being 'Janine Hathaway's daughter.' And when Rose saw her, it was like all the anger and resentment she held just unleashed in verbal and physical sparring. Janine, also quick to anger, responded without thinking.

Thank goodness for Dimitri Belikov, who'd kept his head and had managed to physically separate the two Hathaway women and cool the situation before someone got staked.

But the Dimitri Belikov sitting next to her waiting in the depths of the ski lodge was not the level-headed guardian she'd heard stories of from her coworkers, nor was he the fearless so-called "Russian God" who charged headfirst into battle against the undead. Sitting here on a bench wearing tactical gear, his hands were shaking – from exhaustion or the stress of the situation, Janine didn't know – and his eyes darted about the room like a caged, desperate animal looking to be loosed upon the world.

Each time someone came through the door, he jumped up at the ready only to be told a decision hadn't yet been made. Each time he sat back down, Belikov grew more and more agitated and the look in his eyes was one that promised hurt.

The situation was ludicrous, Janine thought. Five students – three of which were dhampir novices, and two of which were Moroi – were in the hands of Strigoi, but because the elitest, racist assholes who made all the decisions didn't care about the dhampirs or the non-royal Moroi – didn't even care about the Royal Moroi included in the group taken hostage simply because he was an Ozera – they were most likely weighing the pros and cons of greenlighting an operation that could also risk depleting the number of seasoned guardians to rescue a group of senior students who willingly left the property on a fool's errand.

If Princess Vasilisa had been among the group, Janine knew the Council would have OKed the rescue operation when they'd first realized the kids were missing hours ago. The phrase drilled into every dhampir head from the moment of birth, "they come first," did not just apply to Royal Moroi.

Another sudden movement out of the corner of her eye brought Janine out of her thoughts. Belikov had once again jumped up when a guardian entered the room, but instead of sitting down again he began pacing. Janine, suddenly feeling her irritation at the entire situation well up, couldn't stand to be next to him anymore. It made her feel guilty, like she should be more agitated they were just sitting here waiting for things to happen from above. Instead of sitting next to Belikov's nervous energy, Janine stood up and went over to Alberta Petrov, who was standing by the phone in the middle of the desk inside their makeshift war room and staring at it intently, seemingly willing a call from the higher ups to manifest itself.

As Janine approached Alberta, she saw the other woman's nose wrinkle in annoyance – a break in the calm veneer she sported in the face of all the chaos. Janine could only guess she was the cause of the older woman's annoyance, but still stopped next to the captain of the St. Vladimir guardians.

"I can't take anymore of this waiting," Janine stated, breaking the tension. Alberta just bobbed her eyebrows in agreeance, choosing to be silent. She still kept her eyes on the phone, but Janine could see a crinkle of anger form at the corner of Alberta's eyes that revealed her inner anger.

Janine signed. She was stressed, scared for her daughter and her daughter's friends, and angry at the Council. She didn't need this bullshit, especially not from Alberta, to bubble at the moment. They needed to be focused on saving the kids right now. Everything else could come later.

"Listen," Janine began, voice quiet by heavy with seriousness. "I know we have issues, but right now is not the time to let them get the better of us. We have to work together to get those kids back, and we need to be a team. We can deal with everything…else…later."

A pause. Then, Alberta breathed in heavily and nodded. "You're right. Truce for now."

Janine felt some of the tension flow out of her body. It would return later, she knew, bringing even more guilt into her soul, but for now she could put it aside and focus on what they needed to do when they got approval. "Do you think they're OK?"

Alberta hesitated, trying to separate hope from reality. "I don't know. Rose, Mason, and Eddie are the top novices in their class. Christian Ozera is not afraid to use his magic, and – from what I've heard – that Mia Rinaldi is a survivor. But as long as the Strigoi hold the two Moroi over their heads, the novices won't act."

Janine nodded. It was a realistic answer.

Out of the corner of her eye, Janine watched – once again – as Belikov alternated between pacing frantically on the tiled floor in the small hallway and sitting on the bench, elbows on his thighs, and his forehead resting on his clasped hands while his left leg bounced up and down. Janine looked at Alberta, who was also watching the display with a look on her face Janine could only identify as exasperation.

"What's going on with him? From the stories I've heard of how he operates during these things, this isn't like him," Janine asked Alberta, a little concerned about Belikov's clear agitation. Alberta only sighed and pursed her lips, screwing them up in a way Janine only knew to mean she was hiding something.

"It isn't like him," Alberta confirmed.

A beat. "Can we rely on him to help us find Rose and the others?"

Alberta twisted her lips into a wry smile. "Oh, trust me. He won't stop until they're safe."

Right then, a guardian – must have been a recent graduate, judging by the panicked cadence of his voice – ran into the room.

"We're good to go."

The plane lifted off the runway toward St. Vladimir's, but the change in elevation had nothing to do with the sinking feeling in the pit of Janine's stomach. Instead, the feeling – plaguing her stomach for the last almost 48 hours now – had everything to do with the two dhampirs sitting together a few rows in front of her.

Over the last two days, she'd operated more or less on autopilot as her brain tried to process the events in Spokane.

After a long car ride to the mall, the team tried to retrace the steps of the group of teenagers. They'd found the wall with the – there was no other way to put this – kill list of the Royal Moroi families, and then they'd headed out to the back of the mall where they saw the tire marks from the car when it peeled off with the students. A tip had been called in from Adrian Ivashkov, who had apparently telepathically contacted Rose, and he verbally walked them through the route the humans had taken in their vehicle using landmarks Rose had made sure to take notice of when she replayed her memory of the ride. But the trail ended at a suburban neighborhood. Apparently, when the humans realized Rose had been tracking their route since the mall, they swiftly blindfolded her for the rest of the way.

The small contingent of guardians had arrived at the neighborhood in two separate vans and decided to search both on foot and with the vans, prioritizing blue houses. Janine had gone with Dimitri and Alberta on foot, the van slowly following behind them. They hadn't found the van, knowing it must have been parked in a garage, so they had no choice but to move through the neighborhood like wraiths trying to find hints of the kidnapped teenagers. With every passing moment, dread curdled in Janine's stomach and her fear of finding the group – her daughter – dead increased.

But if Janine and Alberta were scared, Belikov was downright terrified. Janine could see his brain working overtime to dissect even the most minimal clues to discern where the group was being kept. She saw him running, almost flying, through the neighborhood on foot and melting back into the trees when he was done scouring the location. She was working on overdrive herself, but Belikov was on another level.

And then, someone radioed they'd spotted teenagers running out of a house at the end of the block.

Like a flash, Belikov was off – using his long legs to cross the distance in record time. By the time Janine caught up – holy shit, she needed to run more – and the rest of the guardians had converged on the house, all was silent. The Moroi girl, Mia, was crying silently underneath the shade of the house's porch awning while Christian, clearly struggling with even the early-morning sun, was supporting an incredibly dazed Eddie Castile, who had blood dripping down his neck from a bite. Mason and Rose were unaccounted for, and as a small contingent of guardians pulled the cars around to help the three teenagers, the rest of the guardians looked at the house with terror.

Janine remembered entering the house behind Belikov, who'd gone chalk white with fear at what they'd find inside, and then stopping still at the sight in front of them. Rose, covered in water, dust, and scratches from both the battle and the glass littering the floor, was cradling Mason Ashford's body in her arms and crooning softly to it as though he were simply asleep. From her position by the door, Janine could see his neck twisted at an unnatural angle and her heart stopped. Then Rose, sensing the crowd of guardians, went into attack mode and brandished an old sword at them.

"Stay back!" She growled, glaring at them with feral eyes as she covered Mason's dead body protectively. "Stay away!"

Janine had tried to move forward, but a sharp sound from Rose had her backing away. All of Janine's instincts were screaming to protect herself from her daughter at her behavior, and Janine was at a loss for what to do. Then, Belikov stepped forward. She wanted to grab his arm and hold him back, but Rose stared at him as he approached. The entire room was tense.

"Rose," Belikov caressed her name softly. Rose let out a small squeak and tensed. Belikov stopped his approach, and Janine could see how he caught Rose's eyes. "Roza, it's OK. You can drop the sword now, we're here. It's OK.

Janine kept quiet. Rose's arm started to tremble, as if the weight of the sword was too much for her as the fight visibly left her body. "I need to protect him. He needs me to protect him." Tears started falling down her cheeks.

Belikov nodded slowly, boots crunching broken glass as he advanced slowly with his hands in front of him in a placating position. "I know, Roza, I know. And you did a beautiful job. You protected him. But now we're here to help you protect him."

A clang of metal later and Belikov had scooped Rose into his arms, holding her as she cried with Mason's body cooling on her knees. Once Rose had been disarmed, the other guardians snapped back into action and looked at the rest of the scene – two beheaded Strigoi, aquarium water all over the floor, and signs of a pretty fierce battle. But Janine's attention was still focused on the way Belikov was holding Rose – no, the way he was looking at Rose.

He was looking at her in the same way Ibrahim used to look at her. Specifically, that night she first met him when he knew by the marks on her face that he needed to protect her despite never knowing her before. And she was stunned to see the nakedly display of affection on Belikov's face as Rose cried.

Through the whole process of cataloguing the scene, packing up Mason's body, taking witness statements, and calling the Alchemists to smooth things over with the neighbors, and then in the days until they boarded the plane bound for St. Vladimir's, Janine kept watching Rose and Belikov's interactions. Honestly, things were starting to make sense – how his cool professionalism had shifted to visible agitation after finding out Rose was among the missing teenagers, how he nearly tore apart the neighborhood searching for her, and then how he was the only one to get through to her in while she was held in the throes of grief and fear.

Alberta's reaction back in the Lodge's war room also made sense. Alberta, the woman who'd raised Rose and had been a mother to Rose when Janine couldn't, had apparently known about Rose's…involvement…with the young guardian and about the depth of the young guardian's feelings for her young charge.

But Janine didn't know what to do.

She wanted to intervene and stop whatever this was in its tracks. She felt protective of her daughter, though she knew she didn't deserve to feel that way, and felt a responsibility to warn Rose not to pursue whatever it was Janine was seeing developing between the two dhampirs.

The age difference – specifically, Rose's status as a "still a minor" – and their status as student/mentor notwithstanding, Janine was against it because she knew all too well of the stigmas associated with relationships between guardians and Moroi, and it would only be worse between two dhampirs. And with both supposedly going to protect Princess Vasilisa after graduation, it would be next to impossible. Their Moroi charge had to be protected above all else, and if they were together, it would be hard for them not to want to throw themselves in front of each other before they threw themselves in front of the Princess.

As they flew back to Court, Janine started to get up and move toward the couple huddled together in the middle of the plane. But Alberta suddenly stepped in her path, forcing Janine back into her seat as the older woman swiftly sat next to her.

"Alberta, I need to talk to her –"

Alberta's look of disdain completely silenced Janine. "No. They don't need you drawing attention to them, like how you drew attention to Rose at the Conta's banquet. Right now, they need each other. He's going to help her through this, and she needs him. She doesn't need your lectures or your help, so you're going to leave them alone."

Janine was flabbergasted. "Who in the hell do you think you are?"

"I'm the woman who sang Rose to sleep every night for three years after you dropped her off in the Academy's care. I'm the woman who helped Rose through puberty, who taught her how to tie her shoelaces and her ABCs, and I'm the woman who's been helping Rose through the hell she's been through since her return, not the woman who sends her two sentences via email after two years of being off the grid and another three years of radio silence before that." Janine was silent at Alberta's violent whispers. "I'm the woman who mothered your daughter when you didn't. And I'm going to support them, because whether or not I agree with it is irrelevant. They're happy, and whatever happiness I can let them have – within reason, of course – before our harsh world takes it away, I'm going to let them have it."

Janine turned away from Alberta's face and looked at the seat in front of her. The pale beige color of the leather was boring, but it was neutral enough to stare at as she collected her thoughts.

"Well, what am I supposed to do?" Janine asked, her voice breaking in helplessness. "How do I help her through this?" Neither woman knew if Janine was referring to the events in Spokane or the illicit relationship.

"Stop trying to be her mother. Start trying to be her friend." Janine nodded solemnly, and Alberta got up and moved to the empty row directly across from Rose and Belikov.

Alberta was right. Her daughter didn't need Janine to be a mother anymore; that ship had long-since sailed. All Janine could try to now be was Rose's friend.

Well, she though as she watched Rose burrow into Belikov's side, I could start by keeping their secret.

As is my usual modus operandi, NO FLAMES and only CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM. :) Hope you enjoy!