A/N- Hey guys! I hope I've kept to my promise of updating more often. That last chapter was super long but I have a feeling this one is going to be too if I don't split it up into two. Thanks so much for still following my story even though I've been slow to update. Special thanks to . .dicho for reminding me to get off my lazy bum and actually update this story.

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Vampire Academy, it all belongs to Richelle Mead.

Chapter 6: Mood Swings

Rose POV

I looked up from my magazine and over at him. Just as I was starting to feel some peace. No one was ever down here this time of day. Everyone had class, guardians had guardian things to do. It was usually the one place I could be alone without being bothered. No one ever thought to look for me in the laundry room. I think even Lissa thought my clothes magically cleaned themselves. Then I remembered Dimitri's initial question. "...Washing my clothes." I muttered.

Dimitri looked at me and my empty baskets and then looked at his watch, mumbling to himself. "Rose shouldn't you be with your counselor?" he asked. I was done with counseling. It just exacerbated me. I looked back at the magazine, trying not to stare, to give him any more of my attention. "I should be, but I don't feel like wasting my time today."

"It's not a waste of time rose. You need to talk to someone about it." Dimitri chastised me. He was in no position to tell me that I needed to talk about things. He always kept everything bubbled up. One of these days, all those emotions are going to come bursting out. He won't even talk about us, let alone Ivan. How did he expect me to talk about Mason. I rolled my eyes and turned from him. "Talk about what." I hissed the same words he had said to me earlier.

I heard him sigh. "You know that you're only seeing the counselor because of..." Oh the ghost thing. It hurt that even Dimitri thought I was lying. I thought that he trusted me. "Because I'm crazy?" I hissed again. This time dropping the magazine on the washer next to me and crossing my arms. "Yeah. I know that." His expression softened. "You're not crazy Roza." he said softly. "You're just experiencing some stress." I glared at him. At this point I started to notice Dimitri didn't even know I was mad at him. "Go away." I muttered in a low aggravated way.

I heard footsteps heading toward the door and I hoped Dimitri really was leaving me alone. I wanted to be alone with my thoughts. Instead moments later, he wrapped his arms around me from behind. "What's really bothering you Rose?" he whispered in my ear. I wiggled from his embrace. I think this was the first time I had ever done this, usually I loved being in Dimitri's arms. Even when I was unconscious, my subconscious reached for him and would make my arms wrap around his neck when he carried me. "It doesn't matter." I told him while I rushed a hand through my hair. I looked over my shoulder at his disappointed expression. "I'm not in the mood for you to pout and try to be cute." I told him pointedly, and turned my eyes back to the magazine. " I don't want you to hold me." I lied to him. Even though I was mad at him, I still wanted to throw myself into his arms right now. Dimitri's face looked panicked. A million thoughts seemed to be going through his head. I broke the stare. I knew Dimitri had a hard time as it was with understanding me, yet I made things hard for him. "That means, hold me." I said nudgingly. "I'm a woman Dimitri, we say the opposite of what we mean."

Dimitri raced over to me from where he was standing near the door. He pulled me off the machine and into his arms, sitting down on a chair. I sat on his lap, my head on his chest as I breathed in his after shave. I smiled. "Oh Roza." Dimitri whispered into my hair. "I was afraid I had lost you." I frowned. It wasn't like Dimitri to be so faithless in me. What was making him so insecure? " No. You aren't so lucky." I joked. Then I looked up at him and almost kissed him. I pulled away slowly from his jaw . "I'm still mad at you though." I said into his chest.

Dimitri stared back at my face and kissed me. I was surprised but I didn't pull away "I never want to lose you Roza." he said kissing me again. I frowned. "Roza...don't be upset." Dimitri pleaded giving me more light kisses. "Hmm." I looked away from him and noticed my cheeks heating up. "You're not going to lose me." I told him even though I moved away from his kisses. It was hard to do that, we didn't get many kisses these days. Turning from them was almost too hard.

"What's wrong Roza?" Dimitri asked again. I looked up and glared at him. "Im mad because you always make things hard." I narrowed my eyes to him and then leaned against his chest. "We're going to have to talk about it at some time." I muttered into his shirt. I wasn't even sure he could hear me, or understand me. Dimitri looked at me for a while before smothering me into his chest. "Let's not talk here." he said. To me, that meant, 'Let's not talk.' Fine we won't. Not even a word. I step off of him and walked back to my machine. I didn't speak to him, I just pulled my clothes out and folded. Usually I just threw my clothes into the basket, but I didn't want to make a mess in front of Dimitri, it sucked because I hated folding clothes.

I could feel his gaze on my back. Then, I heard a laugh. "Roza let me fold your clothes. You go put mine in the dryer." he said as he walked over, trying to push me to the side. My folding skills weren't that embarassing, were they? I glanced over at him and took a deep breathe. It was hard to be mad at Dimitri. He was sweet, even if he was a silly boyfriend. I shook my head and kept going with my own clothes, but I did give him the room to help. I didn't speak.

Soon, we were finished. I didn't have that much clothes. I lost most of it as Lissa and I traveled and what I had left was from my time at the academy. Mostly uniforms and work out clothes. "Rose why don't you go back to your dorm, I'll meet you there in a bit and we can talk." Dimitri said to me. I listened to his idea and looked over at him in surprise. " You don't have to...it's okay." I stuttered. I didn't want to force him to talk. There was no point, if I was making him. But I wanted to talk. I needed it. I stopped at the door, glancing back at Dimitri. "Go on Rose." he said. "I'll be there in just a second."

I started to turn the door knob. It jiggled, meaning it was locked, I awkwardly turned to unlock it. I started to my room at a slow pace. I wondered if he really wanted to talk to me about these things that kept happening between us. Or was my pouting power just getting to him?

I hoped he did. I needed him to answer some things. Even more personal things than I had already asked him. I picked up my pace so I could clean my room a bit. I knew Dimitri's was military neat where mine always seemed like a mess. I also wanted to brush my hair out a bit and look kinda nice.

I sat on my bed, looking at myself in the mirror. " How did I get myself in this mess?" I muttered to myself. Merely seconds later, I heard a knock at the door. "It's open." I called to him, as I leaned back into my pillows. I smiled. I had this fantasy race through my head. It wasn't anything dirty, it was normal if anything. I pictured me and Dimitri as simple humans. How easy life would be.

"So Roza...what did you want to talk about?" Dimitri asked, sitting on the desk chair. I sat up and looked at him. I wanted to have some fun with him. Seeing him sitting there made me smile almost. I stood up and walked to him. My mind was slowly turning into jello. I knew we had stuff to talk about. Important stuff too. But this felt so normal, so right. I sat myself in his lap, I could tell this was a surprise for him. I had pouted all day and pushed him away and now I was trying to be close to him.

Dimitri picked me up and carried me to the bed. There he sat me down on his lap, leaning back a little bit. I didn't say anything. "Are you okay Rose?" he asked. I knew I was being a little weird right now. I wanted to ask my questions right away but at the same time I just wanted to spend some normal teenage time with Dimitri. I leaned up and kissed his jaw. The thought going through my head was heat things up and ask questions later.

As I was kissing him Dimitri tried to pull away. "We can't Roza." he said. I didn't listen to him. I smirked against his skin and muttered lightly against him. " You make me sound like a rapist." I told him as I nipped against his skin. He kissed my forehead before pushing me away. "I said we couldn't Roza, not that I didn't want to." Dimitri said looking into my eyes. I pouted, he moved me off of his lap and onto the bed. Taking ahold of my hands he asked, "Now Roza, what's wrong? You know you can trust me with anything."

I looked at him and smirked. " You're the one thinking of these things. All I was doing was kissing you." I told him with the same smirk. Then I noticed his eyes narrow, he wanted to know what was up. Not with what we were just doing, but my mood today. I looked away and grew a serious face. My life never went the way I wanted it to. I wanted to ask Dimitri something I knew I shouldn't ask for. "I have an idea...for the two of us." I said slowly. I didn't know if Dimitri would agree to this. What I wanted might be wrong now, but it was what every teenage girl wanted to do with their boyfriend on Valentine's day.

"What is it Roza?" he asked. I was trying to figure out how to ask Dimitri to be with me like the hotel without being crude. "Friday...is coming up. " I started then I looked at him. " And I was wondering if..." Uhh just ask, I told myself. " I could stay the whole day and night with you." I blurted out. If Dimitri didn't understand what I wanted from that then I would have to be very direct. "I'll see what I can do Roza. I'll tell you on Friday morning okay?" Dimitri smiled at me.

"Really?" I asked in pure amazement. Dimitri was going to break the rules with me. I almost stopped breathing next to him. I was so excited. I then noticed my cheeks heating up. "I'm sorry I've been so moody today." I muttered in a happier tone as I curled up to him on the bed. At some point we both moved so that we were laying down next to each other instead of sitting at the side of the bed. Dimitri put an arm around me. "Sleep Roza." he said. "We can set an alarm to wake you up for lunch."

I nodded and wedged myself closer to his long torso. I was starting to daze off. The thoughts of staying a whole planned night like this with Dimitri made me happy. It also brought up other questions I had, but now wasn't the time. The wheels that were turning in my head were starting to slow and soon sleep took over.

Dimitri POV

I stared at Rose, then glanced at my watch. Did Tasha make me waste so much time already? I tried to keep that conversation as short as possible. It was getting more and more uncomfortable to be around Natasha. Unfortunately for Rose and me, she was Christian's only relative who would acknowledge him so I had a feeling that we would be seeing a lot of her. "...Washing my clothes." I heard Rose mutter, answering my question. Looking at my watch again I saw that Rose was still supposed to be in her session. "Rose shouldn't you be with your counselor?" I asked her.

Rose looked at me and then back at her magazine. "I should be, but I don't feel like wasting my time today." she said tiredly. "It's not a waste of time Rose." I tried to explain to her. "You need to talk to someone about it." I knew first hand what it was like keeping in the guilt. It took me months to get over Ivan's death and I wasn't even there. Rose had to watch her best friend die right in front of her, and avenge his death. If I ever got my hands on the strigoi that killed Ivan I'd..."Talk about what." I heard Rose hiss, taking me away from my dangerous thoughts. I didn't know why Rose was being so difficult. She was only getting counselling because she couldn't keep the nightmares within. She claimed that she saw ghosts, but as much as I'd like to support her, I didn't believe in them. "You know that you're only seeing the counselor because of..." I stopped blank. I knew she could fill it in.

"Because I'm crazy?" she hissed again. The magazine she was reading made a loud thump on the machine beside her. "Yeah. I know that." Rose seemed to be in a weird mood today. I slowly started to approach her. "You're not crazy Roza. You're just experiencing some stress." I said to her, trying to calm her down. "Go away." Rose growled. I put my laundry down and backed up towards the door, locking it. Then I walked up behind Roza and put my arms around her, squeezing gently. "What's really bothering you Rose?" I whispered into her ear.

"It doesn't matter." she said. Rose wiggled out of my arms, pushing me away. I just stared blankly at her in shock. "and I'm not in the mood for you to pout and try to be cute." she muttered before retreating back to herself. She never pushed me away before. I tried to embrace her again, this time not saying anything, just comforting her.

"I don't want you to hold me." Rose muttered. My heart stopped for a moment. Did Roza really not want me. She never turned me away before. I let go of her and backed away dejectedly. I didn't say anything as I walked away from her back to my own laundry. I went about starting the machine. Did Rose really not want me any more? Was the whole Valentine's Day plan stupid. I mean, I wanted to make her happy, but if she rather spend it with someone else like Adrian then... I sighed. If she didn't want me then I'd have to let her go. I just wanted her to be happy. I can pine for her from a distance. I'll be okay, I told myself as my heart was breaking.

Then I heard Rose's voice. "That means, hold me." she said. I was a fool. "I'm a woman Dimitri, we say the opposite of what we mean. "I brightened up and smiled. I left the rest of my laundry and hurried to her to hold her. I held her tight to me, pulling her off the machine and into my arms even closer. I breathed into her hair. "Oh Roza." I whispered. "I was afraid I had lost you." I say, rocking her in my arms. I took in her sweet scent and reveled in it. This was how I always wanted to be with Rose. Forever in my arms. "No. You aren't so lucky." Rose said, tracing my jaw line. Then she stopped, "I'm still mad at you though." she said.

I smiled down at Rose. She had stopped because she didn't want to kiss me. I remembered that I locked the door, and instead of stopping her kiss, I kissed her hard. "I never want to lose you Roza." I said taking a breath before kissing her again. Rose was frowning. I pouted at her. "Roza...don't be upset." I kissed her again, lightly kissing her face and neck. "You're not going to lose me." Rose said.

She backed away from a kiss and I was surprised. Usually I had to be the one to stop."What's wrong Roza?" I asked again, and then I realized how I was pressing against her. I shifted so I hoped she couldn't feel it and just stood there with her comfortably in my arms. I probably should have finished my laundry, but I didn't have the heart to let her go. I felt her take her down deep breath, "I'm mad because you always make things hard." She snuggled into my chest, "We're going to have to talk about it at some time."

Didn't she understand? It was hard for me too. It was hard to stay away and stop from giving in. Ever since that night my control was in pieces, held together by miniscule pieces of tape when I was around Rose. The lightest, smallest thing could pull it all apart. "Let's not talk here." I told her. If she wanted to talk we needed to go somewhere private somewhere where we couldn't be heard. These walls were thin. I didn't want to risk it.

Without another word, Rose jumped out of my arms and went to the machine. I stood there watching her fold her clothing. She was doing a pretty bad job of it, it was like she had never folded her clothing before. I walked up to her laughing. "Roza, let me fold your clothes. You go put mine in the dryer." I said to her trying to help. I would be much neater and more efficient and the faster we finished the faster Rose and I could go talk. Rose didn't say anything but scoot over to let me help fold her clothes. Working together in no time we were done. I still didn't like the silence that surrounded us. "Rose why don't you go back to your dorm, I'll meet you there in a bit and we can talk." Rose's dorm seemed safe. There was almost no one around her because there were so few female novices.

Rose took her clothes and headed towards the door, then she hesitated, looking back at me. "Go on Rose." I said, putting my own laundry into the dryers. "I'll be there in just a second." She left the room, stumbling a bit when she had to unlock the door. When everything was set, I found a piece of paper and left a note on the machine that it was my clothing in there so another person wouldn't just throw it away. I knew that no one usually messed with my clothes. Often I would leave them to wash while I was training with Rose because the timing worked out perfectly. I set everything down and headed towards Roza's room. It was quite a long trek because it was much farther away from the others. I got to Rose's door and hesitated for a bit before I knocked. Was I doing the right thing?

"It's open." she called. I creaked open the door, slipping in. Rose was sprawled out on her bed comfortably. It reminded me of the time after I woke up when we were at the hotel room. She looked beautiful. I took a deep breath and went to go sit on the desk chair. I didn't trust myself to go sit next to her on the bed. "So Roza...what did you want to talk about?"

Rose didn't say anything but then she stood up and came to sit in my lap. I was pleasantly surprised. Rose was in such a questionable mood today. Pulling me to her at one moment, and pushing me away in another. However, I wasn't about to push her away because she did earlier. I wrapped my arms around her and lifted her to the bed. It was more comfortable there. We sat quietly. "Are you okay Rose?" It was unlike her to be quiet.

Rose didn't say anything, but reached up and started kissing me. She peppered kisses all over my jaw and my neck and I knew I had to push her away even though I didn't want to. "We can't Roza." Rose didn't stop and kept kissing. "You make me sound like a rapist." she joked. I kissed her forehead lightly before pushing her away to speak to her. "I said we couldn't Roza, not that I didn't want to." I didn't want her thinking I didn't want her, but we couldn't go any farther until Graduation. I shifted her off my lap onto the bed. That was better. The pressure of Rose on my lap was astounding now that she was shifted off. "Now Roza, what's wrong? You know you can trust me with anything."

"You're the one thinking of these things. All I was doing was kissing you." Rose quipped at me. I narrowed my eyes. Rose paused for a second before she said, "I have an idea...for the two of us." An idea. Huh. I was open to almost anything. I just wanted Rose to be happy. I hadn't seen her really smile since our time together outside of the academy. But I hoped what I planned for Friday would make up for it. "What is it Roza?" I asked.

"Friday...is coming up." Rose started. She looked nervous. " And I was wondering if... I could stay the whole day and night with you." she blurted out. I wanted to say of course, but I didn't want to tell her want I had planned for Friday yet. I wanted to make it a surprise. It seems as our minds were perfectly in tune. I smiled at her, I didn't want to let her down though. "I'll see what I can do Roza. I'll tell you on Friday morning okay?" I say, trying to avoid further persuasion. If Rose tried to make me tell her anything I knew I wouldn't be able to hold out long before I gave in.

"Really?" Rose asked excitedly. Her cheeks were getting pinker and pinker with blush. It was adorable. "I'm sorry I've been so moody today." she said curling into me. We both lay back in her bed Rose snuggled into my side. I really did have to go check on my laundry and set up the room for Roza but she looked so peaceful next to me. "Sleep Roza." I said. "We can set an alarm to wake you up for lunch." Rose didn't say anything but just nodded. Soon enough she was sound asleep. I gently kissed her again and whispered "I love you." I nudged her out of my arms, pulled her shoes off and grabbed a blanket to throw over her. I then took her alarm clock and set it to noon. Roza had about an hour to nap. I wrote a quick note explaining my absence and snuck out of her room.

A/N- Sorry for ending it so abruptly. This chapter could be another couple thousand words but I decided to split it into 2. I'll try to have the other one up by early this morning or tomorrow night. Shortish chapter though, in the next one Dimitri prepares for their date! and some other drama.

Ciao!

~Tiffany 3