"I've got to hand it to you, Little Dhampir. These Pop Tarts, as you call them, are quite tasty."

Safely assuming that there were no Pop Tarts to be found at Court, Adrian and I had hopped in his car and left to go to the nearest human grocery store. I had grabbed one box of each flavor, insisting that he needed to get 'the full experience' and we had made an impromptu picnic of sorts in the large garden outside his apartment building.

My head was resting on Adrian's lap as he sat with his legs stretched out on the blanket he'd brought down from his apartment. It was a very casual position, but from the scandalized looks we received from the occasional Moroi royals who passed by, you would have thought I was giving him a lap dance.

"And you haven't even tried the s'mores kind yet." I stated smugly.

Adrian chuckled and I smiled, closing my eyes. I was perfectly and utterly content, but felt strange. It was almost like I hadn't felt this relaxed in a long time, but I couldn't for the life of me understand why. I felt Adrian run his fingers through my hair and my smile grew bigger.

"If you cause it to tangle, you're a dead man." I teased.

"I'll risk it." He replied in his usual nonchalant tone.

Suddenly, his body tensed.

I opened my eyes to look up at him, wondering what would cause that kind of a reaction. I looked over and half expected to see his mother walking over to us.

Instead, I saw Christian, Lissa, Dimitri, and his two Guardian chaperones.

"Rose there you are!" Lissa exclaimed, rushing up to where Adrian and I sat, "I've been looking for you."

Lissa paused, taking the two of us in. She was confused. It clear that she hadn't been expecting me to be lounging on a picnic blanket with Adrian.

I checked the bond and was slightly shocked at her thoughts. She had been expecting me to be upset about Dimitri.

Why did she think I would be upset about Dimitri?

I gasped a little when I realized what was going on. She thought I would be upset about what had happened in the church.

Why would I be upset about that? I mean, okay, sure it had hurt at the time and I wasn't exactly happy to see Dimitri standing next to her at that moment, but we were over. I didn't love him anymore and he made it perfectly clear that he no longer loved me. What else was there to say?

Had it really only happened this morning? A voice inside my head asked. It seemed like it was ages ago.

Lissa frowned, bringing my focus back to the present, "Are you guys eating Pop Tarts?"

I sat up and shifted over a little, making room on the blanket, "Yeah. Do you want some?"

Despite her concern for me, a little smile broke across her face, "I haven't had one of these since…"

"Portland."

She locked eyes with me and gave me a small nod, deciding that for the moment I was actually okay, though I knew I had a long talk with her ahead of me.

"Maybe later. I just wanted to see what you were up to. I hadn't seen you in a while."

I gave her a tight smile. While I appreciated her concern, I wanted her to stop worrying about me. People broke up all the time. Her and Christian were still broken up. Besides, what Dimitri and I did wasn't technically a break up. I had been dating Adrian for nearly three months now and sure I still harbored some feelings for Dimitri during that time, but they were gone now. The incident in the church was the last straw. I was done with him.

"Just been doing a lot of thinking is all."

"And eating." Christian commented wryly, looking pointedly at the empty wrappers that were strewn about the blanket, "I swear, I don't know how you eat nothing but junk food and still manage to stay in shape."

"Yeah, well, fighting Strigoi burns a lot of calories." I fired back, crumpling up one of the wrappers into a ball and hurling it at his head.

I saw something move out of the corner of my eye and turned to see Dimitri shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other as he looked everywhere but in my direction.

I felt a slight pang of guilt knowing that he must have taken that last comment personally since my last few Strigoi confrontations all involved him, but it quickly went away.

I didn't owe him any apologies.

"So...any plans for the evening?" I asked, knowing how lame the words sounded. Everyone seemed to have gotten the full meaning of my last comment and knew that I was trying to change the subject.

Lissa shifted her weight nervously, "Well, I was wondering if you two would be up for a movie night like the ones we had back at the Academy. Guardian assignments take place next week and I was hoping to get everyone back together one last time before things change."

I rose my eyebrows at that last line.

"Well, more so than they already have." She continued with an exasperated sigh. "Eddie could get assigned to practically anywhere and Mia might be leaving court soon. We'll go off to Lehigh soon and Christian and Tasha are petitioning the Queen about setting up a Moroi training program. We'll all be busy and everything will be...well, different."

Adrian made a noise that sounded like clearing his throat, "I believe you forgot about me and my great future endeavors, Cousin."

"And what great future endeavors would these be?" Christian asked, an amused look on his face.

I shifted to look at Adrian, genuinely curious. We had never really talked about our lives in the long term, or at least, how we would fit in each other's lives in the long term. We always knew I'd be Lissa's Guardian and that I would follow her to Lehigh, but we never talked about what Adrian was going to do.

"That information is top secret and above your pay grade." Adrian quipped, popping a piece of blueberry Pop Tart into his mouth.

"I'm sure it is." Christian laughed, shaking his head.

I made a mental note to revisit this conversation once we were alone and turned back to face Lissa, "We would love to join you for a movie night later. Just let us know where and when."

Lissa smiled, "Great! And then...maybe we could get breakfast tomorrow morning just the two of us?"

I laughed at her thinly veiled excuse to get me alone to ask me the many questions that were buzzing through her mind and nodded. I would have to face her sometime.

"That sounds great, Lis."

Lissa beamed, "Well, we'll leave to to finish your picnic. See you two later."

I gave a weak wave to Lissa as I moved to lay back down on Adrian's lap when I caught Dimitri's eyes and froze. I couldn't quite identify the look that was in his eyes—it was an alternating combination of sorrow, pain, and guilt—and my temper flared. What did he have to feel sad about?

He was the one who did this to himself—to us.

I quickly put on my best Guardian mask and gave him a curt nod before resting my head back on Adrian's lap hoping that he got the message.

Author's Note: Whoa! Thank you all so so much for all of the follows, favorites, and reviews! This was a story I've been kicking around in my head for awhile and as happy as I am to be finally putting it on paper, I'm even happier to have you all read and enjoy it! Thank you again and please continue to let me know what you think! I love reading what your comments in the reviews.