"Christmas is around the corner and neither of us really has a stable family to spend it with," Lissa grumbled as she munched on one of the Christmas cookies Christian dropped off a while ago, promising to come back later after his class to make us dinner.

I set two cups of hot chocolate on the coffee table and settled myself on the couch, wrapping myself up with a blanket.

"Yeah," I sigh.

"At least your mom called," she pointed out, light-heartedly.

She was talking about when my mother called while I'd been at Dimitri's a few days ago during after the storm.

Sleeping on a couch shouldn't be as comfortable as it actually was. It was a little disorienting at first, waking up in someone else's house but once the smell of Dimitri's aftershave hit my nose when I shifted on the couch pillow, I remembered where I was. I slept better on Dimitri's couch than I have in my bed. I was going to relish in the rare moment that I'm feeling comfortable and able to sleep but my cell phone rang.

I groaned and rolled over, not really ready to get up just yet. When it started to ring a second time, I leaned up off of the couch and grabbed my phone for my bag without even having to really open my eyes. I was too tired to even look around for where Dimitri was. I flopped back onto the couch and answered the phone.

"Hello?" I answered in a groggy, hoarse voice.

There was a few seconds of silence before anyone answered.

"Rosie," my mother breathed into the phone, sounding both relieved and a little drunk. I knew my mother's slightly drunk voice better than anyone. I didn't hear any noise in the background though. I expected to hear the sounds of her being at a bar even this early in the morning but it was oddly quiet on the other end of the phone. Maybe she was just really hung over. She was speaking slow, slurred, and like she'd just woken up.

I let out a long slow breath while I answered.

"Yeah."

She exhaled loudly, as if she'd been holding her breath until now, again sounding relieved. "Are you alright? I-I was worried w-when I heard about the storm."

"I'm fine." All my responses sound pretty relaxed compared to her worried questions.

I started imagining where she is right about now, if she's safe. Just as I started to form the images in my head of my mom drunk calling me this early in the morning from a bar, I tried to open my eyes. The last thing I wanted to think about right now was my mother. I wanted this phone call to end as soon as possible so I could go back to the cloud of comfort I'd been in before. The room was a little too bright with the sun shining through so I threw my arm over my eyes to block out the light while I waited for her to speak again.

She wasn't saying anything but I could hear her breathing into the phone still. I wondered if she was crying silently, weeping, like she sometimes does. The soft spot inside of me that misses my mom was starting to worry about her. As much as I didn't want to think about her, I couldn't help it. She was my mother. Besides, maybe if I find out where she is and that she's alright, I'll feel a little at ease.

"Are you okay?" I ask her.

She sniffles on the other line before speaking, sounding a little more stable than when she'd first called. "I'm okay. The storm wasn't as strong here in Sydney." I knew she wasn't talking about Sydney, Australia. She had to be in Sydney, Montana, east of here. I remember her going to that city before but I'm still a little surprised that she's still in the state and hasn't come back. "So you're still in Montana?"

I tried to hide the surprise from my voice but failed miserably. My mother sputtered for a few seconds before saying anything.

"I-I-I didn't want to be far from you," she tried to explain. I almost scoffed. Sydney was only a few hours from here but that was still pretty far away for a mother who is trying to escape her daughter's issues. "I didn't know where to go and I...I just needed a little..." She sighed before continuing. "I don't know. I don't know what I'm doing. I can be home soon though, if you need me." She didn't sound like she really meant it and I wasn't going to force her to be here if she didn't want to. I was barely handling things on my own. The last thing I needed was trying to help her deal with this too.

"You don't have to come back. I've been taking care of the house, it's fine," I tell her firmly.

"Rose-"

"I'm fine." I just want to hang up now and go back to sleep. This is too intense for so early in the morning. "I promise. Just do what you need to, mom," I add, hoping she'll just hang up she just needed to hear from me that it's okay that she isn't here, that she's basically abandoned me when I need her most.

She seemed to hear the finality in my voice; she didn't want to come home and right now I don't want her home. I'm actually okay with her not coming home.

She sighed one last time into the phone. When she spoke, her voice cracked a little. "Rose, I'm so sorry."

I swallowed past the sudden tightening in my throat where I feel ready to cry. "I know."

"I love you," she adds.

From the tone in her voice and the way this conversation has ended, I get the feeling we won't be talking to each other any time soon. This is the first time she's called me in a while. I don't think she'll be calling me again any time soon. Maybe she needs to hear me say that I love her too and that eventually everything will go back to normal for us when she decides to come back. If she decides to come back. I can't bring myself to say it though because it feels like a lie. After everything that's happened, things will never be the same. The fact that she isn't here definitely doesn't help matters. So I give her the only response I can bring myself to say.

"I know."

I hung up the phone and tossed it on the table beside me, wondering if I'd ever see my mother again.

"It's not like she called to say she was coming home," I reminded Liss. Liss nodded in agreement beside me, her expression as sad as I'm sure my own was. At the very least, my mother called to check on me. Lissa's parents simply didn't give a damn. Between our parents, I think Lissa's would be ranked among some of the worst. I'm pretty sure my mom is on that list somewhere behind them.

In trying to change the subject and lighten the mood, I made a suggestion. "Maybe we should decorate, celebrate Christmas our own way," I suggest half heartedly. "Wanna decorate? I think I have enough money for a small tree and a few decorations." I make a grab for one of the cookies but Liss plucks it out of my hand and pops it into her own mouth.

I laugh to myself while she considers my suggestion.

"Do you really feel like being in the Christmas spirit this year?" she dryly asks as I reach for another cookie. Lissa plucks that one from my hand too and takes a bite.

I answer, amused. "We can't let our..." I try to choose my words carefully. "Situation control how we spend the rest of our lives. We completely glossed over Thanksgiving. Let's just have a little fun for Christmas," I tried to convinced her. She munched on her cookie while she listened to me. "We've done all of our schoolwork, I've worked more hours at the studio with Dimitri and Christian, and you've been-"

"Enduring more pregnancy symptoms," she muttered, patting her still flat stomach, save for a little bloating that Olena explained was perfectly normal.

I was going to mention that Lissa, Victoria, and I had gone to see Stan more times that I can count to set up a clear time line of when everything happened and to see if we could remember anything to help incriminate Adrian, Jesse, and Ralph. So far, we had nothing. No need to bring up that part of our lives now. Right now, I wanted to do what I'd been trying to do for the last few weeks and forget for just a little while, as long as I possibly can.

"I think we should decorate," I repeat. "It'll be fun."

Before Liss can say anything, I'm already up and off the couch. I successfully steal one of Lissa's cookies and eat it in one bite. When I look at Liss, she's shooting me the evil eye but I ignore it and grin, with a mouth full of cookie.

"Besides," I say around a mouth full of cookie, "we have to buy Christmas gifts for everyone. This is one of the few chances we'll really have to thank them for everything they've all done for us so far," I point out.

Liss didn't say whether or not she agreed. She exhaled through her nose and picked up another cookie to bite into.

I decided that was as much of an answer that I was going to get from her.

"I'll be back soon. I'm going to go pick up a few things."

I hurry to pull my jacket, boots, and purse on.

"It's freezing outside, Rose. And Christmas just doesn't feel like that big of a deal," she tells me as I fumble tying up my boots.

"The snow isn't that bad and I won't be gone long. Just stay here and wait for Christian."

She resigns her argument and just shrugs, eating more of the cookies. I make my way out the door before she can say anything else.

It's started snowing pretty heavily lately but I am actually glad that the snow is here. It's like a cool white blanket covering every inch of the nightmare Lissa, Viktoria, and I went through. It when it melts, it'll be a completely different season and a fresh start.

I crunch through the snow and walk through the neighborhood. I've been trying to go out on my own more and more lately. I don't want to be afraid of going out alone because of what happened. I want to get over my fear and live my life like any normal girl would. Ever since that night that Dimitri talked to me about having a normal life again, I've been doing my best to make sure Lissa and I actually have our normal lives again at any chance we can get.

Lissa, Viktoria, and I even went to the movies last Friday. Lissa has broken out of her depressed shell more, talking and even laughing a couple of times. I have Christian to thank for that mostly. He comes over a lot to make big great meals for Lissa and I but mostly Liss. Her apatite increases tenfold every day and his cooking skills fulfill her cravings. The best part about it all is that Christian uses it as an opportunity to practice for his cooking school, Lissa has company other than me all day or being by herself, and we have delicious food to eat without me having to cook.

I've spent most of my time at the studio trying to help out Dimitri as much as I can since Christian has picked up a part-time cooking job since he's so close to graduating. I spend a lot more time with Dimitri since he ends up driving me home and we eat before hand. As we promised, we never talked about the conversations we'd had the night of the storm. Things weren't awkward between us but there was definitely something different. A change.

It wasn't as easy as saying we were better friends now because it was more than that. I felt as close to him as I did to Liss sometimes but it was in a different way. Every time I try to explain or describe it to myself it ends up sounding crazy and stupid so I've been trying to ignore it but it's hard. Sometimes we'll order food to eat in the studio and go long periods without saying a word to each other but it's the most comfortable silence I've ever had with anyone. Other times, we talk about anything and everything and I laugh and smile more than I've ever have in my entire life.

Everything feels...inexplicably great.

I'm so lost in my thoughts that I don't hear the car coming behind me.

It's a second after I turn around that I realize three things: I'm no longer in any of the housing neighborhoods, but I'm on one of the long stretches of trees and road that lead to one of the town shopping centers, I'm alone because what idiot would walk alone in the snow on a long empty road, and the bright headlights headed toward me aren't going to stop.

A/N: I'm not really proud of this chapter and I was actually planning on doing a bit of a time skip at this point in the story but I ended up writing it like this. I also thought I should warn you guys that the next chapter will most likely be a chapter (the only chapter) from the point of view of Adrian, Jesse, Ralph, Camille etc. Actually it'll probably be the only chapter that isn't either Dimitri or Rose's POV. I feel like I haven't really put the bad guys into the story much or explained anything so I feel like this kind of chapter is necessary. But don't worry! I know how disappoint it is to wait for a new chapter and then it's either boring or doesn't have any Romitri so immediately after I post the next chapter, a chapter from Rose or Dimitri's POV will follow. I hope any of this makes sense! :)

I can't even fathom how happy and excited I was reading the last round of reviews! You guys have really been making me feel better because lately I've been feeling a little down but enough about my weird ladierock issues XD Thanks for reading and the next 2 chapters should be posted soon!