A/N- Oh my god. So many people reviewed, followed, and favorited this story after I posted chapter 2. Thank you all so much. And here we go, thanks to julia. , Dimka's chick, Bea, VAGypsy, amorsagirl, Lisablackroses, SarahBelikova99, stardreamer2608, and wiccagirl-2005 for reading and reviewing! Now a treat! A chapter dedicated to Dimitri :D and guess who you get to see in this chapter! Its a certain brooding moroi with green eyes :P

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters or the world of VA at all. It all belongs to the wonderful Richelle Mead.

Chapter 3:

Dimitri POV

I made the short trek to Alberta's office from the gym hurriedly, barely stopping to knock on the door since it was slightly ajar. My mind was so preoccupied over Roza. Alberta was sitting at her desk doing paper work when I entered. " What's wrong Belikov?" she asked. Alberta's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. "Huh, oh nothing's wrong Alberta. I was wondering since I don't have any shifts tomorrow and Rose has to guard Christian if I could go into town tonight." I rambled. I spoke a lot faster than I usually did. I was nervous, I really needed to make Valentine's Day special for Rose. She looked so sad when it was mentioned around her friends.

"I'm not your mother. As long as your job is taken care of I don't care what you do." Alberta said, while she narrowed her eyes at me. " Unless you're up to something." she said half jokingly and half seriously. I laughed uneasily. I was never a good liar. I was good at hiding my emotions and true feelings but not lying about it. "Of course not Alberta." I quickly thought of an excuse. "It's my little sister's birthday soon and I promised her I'd get her something from America."

Alberta just nodded at smiled. "All the girls around here are wearing sweatpants with writing across the butt. Please don't get her a pair of those." she then nodded, dismissing me and went back to her papers. I laughed again at the fact that even Alberta noticed had that. "Don't worry I definitely won't." I say as I walked out her office. I was in a much better mood now. Roza may be hurt but what I'm preparing for her will make it all worth it. First stop was the mall. I wanted to get her something special. Plus they probably had some romantic thing that I could get, like preserved rose petals or something. I didn't really know what to do in this department. I never tried to be romantic before.

As I drove out of the academy and towards the town I was trying to think of something romantic. I came up short so I decided to call home. Vika would know what to do. I probably shouldn't be speaking on the phone while I was driving but this was an urgent matter. After the phone rang for awhile, I heard Viktoria's voice. "Privet." she said, sounding tired from her day.

"Vika! Thank god you answered my call. It isn't too late there?" I really was glad that she answered. It was an emergency. Actually I expected Mama to pick up the phone but Vika was probably better for advice. She and Roza were around the same age, they would like the same things right?

"No time is too late for you Dimka. So what's up? You never call without a reason." she said. Oh Vika, you know me so well. "What? I can't just call home to day hello?" There was just silence over the phone. "Oh Vika. I need some help. It's this girl. I want to give her the best Valentine's Day she's ever had." I smiled just thinking about Rose.

Viktoria laughed. " A girl? You make her sound like she's 12 years old. You have a lady, that you want to impress? Is that what I'm hearing?" she teased me. I blushed, glad that Vika couldn't see me right now. I would be teased for weeks. It wasn't like that. "She's the one Vika" I tried to explain. There would only be Roza for me, no one else. "Are you going to help me or not?"

"The one huh? Well if she's the one why aren't you at a jewelry store buying a ring? Placing petals all over everything? And feeding her chocolates?" Viktoria said. She didn't sound like she was kidding. " Just because you feel this way doesn't mean she knows. You tend to keep your emotions bottled. I'd just let loose on the night and just tell her."

I thought about what Vika was saying. I knew I was reserved but that was an essential part of the guardian facade. I couldn't show any emotion, I couldn't let them get in the way of my work. They come first. Plus, it was hard to let anyone in after Ivan. Only Rose has been able to break down the walls I built around myself. She sees right through them, making her perfect for me. "I think she knows Vika, but I just want to show her how much I appreciate her. I can't exactly walk her to every class and kiss her before every class." Oops I said too much. I never meant for Vika to know that about Roza. I wanted my family to get to know Rose before they judged her as my student.

"Oh dear god! She really is 12!" Vika exclaimed. I hoped she wouldn't say anything to Mama. I pulled into the parking lot and hurried in. The place was almost empty, I guess it was still early in the morning.

"Vika." I scolded her as walked into the mall and entered the store. "Okay I'm at the store. You said to buy flower petals and chocolates right? I don't know if we're far enough in our relationship for an engagement ring yet. I don't even know if she wants to get married ever." I was still rambling. I guess Rose did that to me. Marriage was something that wasn't done. Two dhampirs together was pretty rare, two dhampirs getting married and staying with their moroi were unheard of, most dhampir romances end in the Guardian's abandoning their moroi, but I knew Rose would never leave the Princess.

"Yeah." said Viktoria. "Get Rose petals. Red ones. And get some sort of chocolate dipped fruit. And maybe a present. Like a dress or something like that." she said excitedly. How ironic that she suggested roses. Rose claimed to hate "rose" stuff, but she seemed to like the necklace from the night of the lust charm a lot, maybe I could get that fixed for her one day. After the attack, I went to find it in the bushes, I kept it well hidden but I cherished it for the memories of that night.

"Alright Vika. Thanks for the advice. Tell Mama I said hello okay. I'll call later at a more convenient time." I needed to get off the phone with my sister. If I stayed any longer I would end up talking about Roza non-stop, and I couldn't risk saying anything else.

"Okay, Okay." Viktoria said, sounding exasperated. That was usually my own tone. " I love you!" she said, right before I hung up on her.

I wandered through the shop and picked out some things. Valentine's Day wasn't until Friday so I had a couple days to prepare. I found some chocolate covered strawberries that I could keep in the fridge and the shopkeeper ensured me that they would still be good on Friday. Then I got some roses. The shopkeeper told me that if I kept them refrigerated then the roses would stay fresh. Perfect for our day on Friday. I was now wandering the mall looking for a gift for Roza. Maybe I should get her a necklace, no, she already had her nazar I thought. I wandered in the jewelry section, which was ridiculously close to the perfume section. The smell was starting to bother my dhampir nose. Everything was heightened, I can't even imagine how bad it would be for the moroi. Suddenly out of the corner of my eye I saw Adrian in the perfume section. What was he doing here? Without guardians no less. I started to move away to avoid him, when he called in my way.

"Cradle robber!" he called. I cursed. I really hoped to get away from him. I stopped walking and he came over. "What are you doing?" he asked, then looked at the bags I was holding. "Just shopping." I told him trying to avoid any questions. I knew he was interested in Rose as well, but Roza told me I had nothing to worry about. That didn't stop me from feeling insecure. Adrian could give Rose everything I couldn't. Children, marriage, a normal life, money. "Why are you here?" I asked. "Without guardians nonetheless." I scowled.

"I don't have a guardian." he said pointedly. " I'm shopping too. Rose is kinda down about Valentine's Day. So I'm getting her something to cheer her up." I put my guardian mask up when I wanted to attack Adrian right then and there. I had plans for Roza on Valentine's Day. She couldn't spend it with Adrian. I knew that she hated it when he gave her stuff, it made her feel like she had to pay him back. "I don't think Rose appreciates your gifts Adrian. You know that they make her uncomfortable." I try to reason, "and you should have brought an academy guardian with you if you refuse to have a personal guardian." I knew that Adrian had been offered multiple guardians, being the Queen's nephew and all, but he refused every one of them saying he wanted a certain guardian and she, being Rose, was already taken by the Princess.

"Oh...so me buying Rose a pair of earrings is wrong. But you buying flowers and strawberries is okay?" Adrian asked me in a smart ass way. I stood there stunned. How did he know what I bought for rose. "Because I love her." I blurted out, well Rose had told me that he already knew about us, no hiding it now, but I was not having this conversation with Adrian. "Well now that you're here you're my responsibility. Come on, you can help me find a gift for Rose at the jewelry section since you already know why I'm here. How did you get here anyways?" I muttered. I wasn't like the academy would give Adrian a car, let alone let him leave alone. If the Queen knew, she would have Alberta's head.

"I have a charming personality." Adrian retorted. "Plus I'm not a student. You're not responsible for me. I can take care of myself." He paused for a moment, looking out the window towards some smoking kids. He was probably going to join them, and I would have to follow, I thought to myself. Then Adrian spoke again, "Rose likes the color red when it comes to clothes and gold when it comes to jewelry." and then he just walked away leaving me in awe. I couldn't believe that he actually gave me advice on Rose. Wouldn't he want to hinder me, so that he could have Rose to himself? That moroi's mind worked in such weird ways that I would never want to figure out.

I couldn't find any jewelry in the Department store so I headed to the dress section. Maybe I could find a pretty dress for Roza. I walked into the women's section and walked up to the sales woman. "Excuse me. Do you have a reccomendation for a red dress for my girlfriend?"

The woman tapped her fingers on the desk and hesitated for a second, looking me up and down before saying, "What kind of dress?"

The scrutiny was odd, it was something I never noticed before until Rose had pointed it out.

"Well something young and fun." I told her. I racked my head for dresses that Rose usually wore. "She usually gets something tight and her favorite color is red." I remembered how that black dress clung to her the day of the dance. It was like a second skin. She looked amazing, I couldn't take my eyes off of her. Ashford had no idea how fortunate he was to be able to be with her at the time, I was so jealous, I had asked to take the rest of the night off because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to control myself. The plan didn't work well though.

The sales lady walked on around the counter and pointed to the back of the clothing department. "I think I know what you need sir." she said, and I followed her to the back. I was leading him to our new line of Valentine's Day themed lingerie. "We have plenty of red and tight." she said with a tight smile. Suddenly I was surrounded by bras and panties. It made me very uncomfortable. "Ummm... I wanted a sort of formal dress for her. Like something she would go to a party in. I'm not very comfortable choosing these things for her." I admitted. As much as I would love to see Rose in some of these things. I had no idea what her size was. I could probably make a rough estimate, but from the complaining of my sisters I remembered that they always said that they had to buy these things themselves because they had to fit just right.

"Oh. I'm sorry." she said immediately. "You said tight and red for Valentine's Day. I just assumed..." she looked at me with a 'this is what everyone buys' face, seriously judging me for my choices. I furrowed my eyebrows. Well I wasn't everybody. I led myself back to the dress section and began browsing. I found the black dress that drove me crazy the day of the dance. Taking it over to the sales lady I asked "Do you have something like this in red?"

She looked at the dress and smiled. "Is someone popping the question this Friday?" she asked and winked at me, then she grabbed it and headed to a back room. Why did everyone think I was going to propose? Was this the process of a relationship? I didn't know. She came out with a red dress it was perfect. "That's the one." I breathed. "I'll take it."

"I think this will be perfect." the sales lady said. "Is this your 1st Valentine's Day with your girlfriend?" she asked? I blushed, was I really that obvious? "Yeah...I want to make sure it's perfect." I pulled out my credit card. I had no idea how much Rose's dress would be, I didn't even look at the price tag, but I could work it off. I just wanted her to be happy.

"Well you're doing a good job, seeing that it goes good." I nodded to the bag he was already holding. She was really trying to sell the dress, but I smiled anyways. It was nice to think that I was doing the right thing. She wrapped up the dress for me and handed it to me after she swiped my card. "Thank you for your help." I said. I still wanted to get Rose something else, but I didn't know what. I walked out of the department store into the general mall. There had to be at least a 100 stores here. I kept wandering until I found this quaint little jewelry store. I went in.

The salesman looked up as my entrance sounded a little bell. His lips quirked as he said, "A dhampir? In this part of town? " and smiled showing his fangs. I was startled. I knew some moroi lived in the human world but I didn't think there would be any this close to the academy. "Excuse me." I said. I was also surprised he would say it so loudly in a public mall, even though there was no one else in the store. Secrecy was still key in the vampire world.

The man just walked out from the counter and came to greet me. "My name is Zenn." he said, holding out his hand, "How are you today." I took his hand and shook it, it would be disrespectful not to, even though I was a little surprised from his open behavior. "Anything I can help you with?" he asked, pointing to a sign on the counter. 'Hand Made Jewelry by Zenn'.

"I'm looking for something for my...uhh...girlfriend. Something that can show her that even though times are hard I'll always be there for her." I said hesitantly. I'm sure the moroi man knew how hard it was for a dhampir man to be in a relationship. However, he didn't miss a second in his step when he said, "Come look in this case." and walked over to it, pulling out a tray. "These are what we call promise rings. Silver." he said. The rings were silver bands with one small diamond in the middle. Some of them had small shaped flowers into the silver, instead of diamonds. "You get them in pairs, one for yourself and one for your mate."

They all looked very pretty, but I didn't see anything that would be perfect for Roza. It had to be small and smooth so it wouldn't get in the way while she was fighting. Then I remembered that Adrian had said that she liked gold. "Do you have something in gold?" I asked.

"Yes. Over here." Zenn said, motioning me over to the next case. "These are just simple wedding bands, that I've made into promise rings." he explained. They were just simple gold bands, but on the inside they had engraved the words ' I Promise'. These were also pretty but too simple for Rose. Rose was an extravagant person. I needed something that would fit her personality. I guess I wasn't going to get her any jewelry, which was too bad, I really did want to make the night absolutely perfect. "I'm sorry, none of these will suit her." I apologized. "I'm really sorry to have wasted your time Sir."

I was just about to walk away when Zenn called out, "Wait! I have one more tray to show you." He pulled out a tray with a mix between silver and gold rings. They were already paired up. Each connecting in the middle with their mate, making a shape. Some were simple shapes like diamonds and circles. Others were more intimate making hearts in the middle where they locked together. "What about these?" he asked.

I stopped in my tracks. Looking at the tray he pulled out I saw the perfect ring. It was a lighter than usual shade of gold with a small heart shaped diamond in the middle. On the sides of the diamond there were two rose colored gems. It looked beautiful. It's compliment was just a plain gold band with etchings. If you looked closely it seemed like there was even space for an engravement. Maybe I could get 'My Roza' written on it, or 'forever and always.' "That pair is perfect." I told the moroi man.

The man smiled at me as he plucked the two rings from the case. "I think your lady will be very pleased." he told me cheerfully walking over to a small table. "Do you for me to wrap hers?" I started to nod at him but then I realized that I didn't know if I could afford the ring. I had spent so much money on the dress. "Wait!" I said. "How much is the ring?"

Zenn paused for a moment. He looked like he was going to say something and even started reaching into his pocket but then changed his mind. "Two rings. Two dollars." he said, throwing me the small box. "Sounds fair. Right?" he said and winked at me. I stared at him in surprise. There was no way he was giving them to me practically free. "But...sir..." I uttered. I knew non royal moroi had to make a living somehow, it wouldn't be right for me just to take them.

Zenn just ignored my protest, saying, "Leave the money on the counter here." he pointed and walked to two other customers that just walked in, patting me on the shoulder to reaffirm his words. I didn't know what to do. Surely these rings were worth at least a couple hundred dollars. It seemed unfair to give the shop keeper so little. I took out $400 from my wallet in cash. I hoped this would cover at least some of cost of the materials. Taking the rings I walked out of the store. I was actually finished with all my shopping for roza. Wow. I checked the time at it was already 3 pm human time. I had spent hours in the mall. Rose should be waking up soon. Maybe I should surprise her I thought.

I got back to the academy around 5pm. I've been up for almost 24 hours. I was exhausted, too exhausted to even go see Rose. I couldn't wait until Friday now, I made the trek to my room with all the things and put everything away so it would be good for Friday. I looked out my window and saw that the sun was setting. I was ready to go to sleep. Rose could miss me one morning. She had to guard Christian today anyways so I could just go to sleep. Soon after that thought, I passed out on the bed.

A/N- I'm sorry that it's going to take some time until they get to their date. But you'll see the preparations and tensions growing! Plus maybe a surprise...my lips are staying sealed.

I want to know if you guys have a preference because I could see this going two ways.

Would you like the Mana initiation to still occur or not?

Message me or leave a review of your answer!

Ciao!

~Tiffany