Our room wasn't a room. It was more of an apartment. The first room was a small but comfortable living room. There were three doors, one to the bathroom, one to the bedroom and one to the kitchen. In the bedroom, there was another door, which led to the second bathroom.

I should have been thrilled that we'd gotten off the hook so easily, but I wasn't. I was just angry at my mother, and I could feel the darkness building up inside of me. 'I hate her!', I growled, pacing in front of the couch in the living room. 'I can't believe she thinks she can just interfere with everything that goes on in my life! She walked out of my life so many years ago and now thinks she can just walk -', I was cut off by Dimitris hand over my mouth. I glared at him angrily and tried to break free, but his other arm was wrapped securely around my waist.

I struggled to get free for a while, but eventually gave up. Dimitri knew the darkness was fading into the background again, so he let go of me. 'I know she wasn't the best mother, but letting that upset you now won't do you any good.', he told me. 'I hate it when you're right.', I answered and he smiled.

'Lets call your family.', I told him out of nowhere. He looked shocked 'Why?', he asked, as if it wasn't obvious. 'Well, someone has to tell them you're alive, right?' Now he looked definitely nervous. 'But Rose, I can't just ...you know call them and tell them like that...', he argued.

'And I'm sure Tatiana will book us the next flight to Russia so we can tell them in person. Dimitri I can't be happy if I know they still think you're...you know. I don't want someone to gossip and them to find out like that. We have to tell them. Plus, I haven't apologized to Viktoria yet.', I threw in casually.

Now he was confused 'Why?', he asked again. 'I guess there's lots of my trip to Russia that you don't know about.', I said sheepishly. 'Tell me everything.', he commanded.

So we curled up together on the huge, comfortable bed and I launched into the story. I didn't leave out a single thing, not even Adrians dream visits. When I was finally finished, he looked at me in awe. 'And you did all of that, just for...me?', he finally asked. 'Of course I did. Now, can we call your family?', I asked. Instead of answering, he produced a small black cellphone and typed in the number. 'Set them on loudspeaker and let me talk first.', I told him. He nodded.

It felt like an eternity, when it was probably only a few seconds when Dimitris mother answered 'Olena Belikova.', she said and waited for an answer. 'Hello Olena.', I started before Dimitri utter a word. 'It's Rose.', I said. There was a sharp intake of breath and then -'Oh Rose! How are you dear? We've been missing you so much! Are you back in America? I heard about how many strigoi you and those – But wait I'll call the others so they can talk to you too!' Away from the phone, she immediately called 'Viktoria! Mother! Sonya! Karolina! Come here, all of you, Rose is on the phone!'

A few seconds later I heard Karolina call 'Put her on loudspeaker mum! I wanna talk to her too!' 'I already did, now calm down a little, all of you.', Olena said. Dimitri raised an eyebrow at me, and I shrugged. I hadn't left out the part of how much I'd gotten to like his family so much, but now it kind of seemed that I'd understated things a little.

'Hey guys! I have awesome news for you! And I mean, like, really super awesome!', I shouted, and then told them a much shorter version of what I'd told Dimitri before, and they gasped loudly and asked questions at all the right places. They were the perfect audience.

When I was done, Olena was sobbing, and she quietly asked 'Rose how can this be? Are you sure? Is Dimitri...here?', 'Yes he is. He's been here for the whole time, but I haven't been letting him speak.' I told her. 'Dimitri?', Viktoria asked quietly. 'Hello my little sister. I've been missing you.', he answered softly. She gasped, and then seemed to start crying.

I felt bad for having to do it, but, glancing out of the window, I knew we were supposed to go to the tests very soon, so we had to hang up.

'Guys, I'll let you think about this now. Dimitri and I need to go to those tests now, and I'm sure you all want some time to let everything sink in. I'm sorry we had to tell you everything on the phone, but I couldn't let you guys wait until Tatiana decides to let us visit. Is it alright if we hang up now?', I told them, trying not to panic because the sun was starting to rise and we were supposed to be in front of the chapel at sunrise.

Fortunately, they understood, and, after saying goodbye, I quickly hung up and started changing. Someone had brought all my stuff into the room and also a few things for Dimitri. While I got dressed, he watched me carefully and suddenly said 'You never cease to amaze me, Roza.' I flashed him a smile and ran past him and out of the door, 'Come on we gotta run!', I shouted back at him, but he wasn't behind me anymore. 'Then why are you standing around like that?', he suddenly asked from behind me. I whipped around to face him; he was standing right behind me and smirking at me. Damn, he was fast. I rolled my eyes and took his hand, pulling him forward.

* *R**~VA~**D* *

'There you are!', Lissa shouted anxiously as we approached. She wasn't the only one waiting in front of the chapel. There were lots of guardians, some Moroi – mostly royal ones – and, of course, our friends. On every face there was a mixture of fear and curiosity. The feelings Lissa sent to me through the bond were rather confusing: She was scared, but I wasn't sure of what, but she was also extremely happy for me and Dimitri.

I smiled at her encouragingly and she smiled back. Some of the Moroi gasped at the apparent friendship between me, the girl who seemed to be with an ex-strigoi, and the last Dragomir Princess.

The tests were nothing difficult. The Queen asked him a few questions and made him walk into the chapel. He didn't die as he walked in, nor did the sunshine hurt him. It was also obvious that he was enjoying being in the sunlight again after those long months as a monster. For most of the moroi, that was enough proof, but one suddenly shouted, 'This is all a big fluke! There's no fifth element! This is just a lie to cover up that the Dragomir girl never specialized!', I rolled my eyes and called Lissa forward. She knew what I was about to do and tried to stop me, but she wasn't fast enough. I raked my fingernails across my arm until it started bleeding. 'Heal it, Liss.', I told her.

I felt the familiar rush of hot and cold in my arm, and the wound closed magically. There were a few gasps around us, and Adrian said 'That was nothing! She can heal much more!' I rolled my eyes at him and suddenly Dimitri was right beside me, wrapping an arm around my waist. 'You shouldn't have hurt yourself, Rose. Showing them super-compulsion would have been enough.', he whispered into my ear. I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him softly, forgetting about the rest of the world once again. 'No way. Any moroi can use compulsion. And it was just a scratch anyway.', I told him, kissing him again.

Someone cleared their throat and Dimitri chuckled. I stopped kissing him, feeling annoyed, and took a step back. 'This is starting to get on my nerves.', I muttered. The queen ignored me, 'So, that's it, for today. Follow me, you two.', she said to Dimitri and me. Lissa smiled encouragingly at us, and so we followed her.

She led us to the throne room, with her two guardians, of course. There, she sat down and motioned for us to sit in the loveseat. We took a seat beside each other. Dimitri didn't let go of my hand all the time, for which I was grateful.

So, I know I've told you that you'll probably be official Guardians again soon, but I need time to make sure everyone believes Guardian Belikov is dhampir again, and I believe it would be easier to do that while you two aren't around. That's why I want you to go on a vacation for a while.', she said. Seriously?,I wanted to ask, but Dimitri was faster.

'For how long do you want us, your Majesty? And where to?', he asked curiously. 'You can go wherever you want. I'm going to finance it all, so I can make sure you stay away for as long as I need you to.'

This was definitely to good to be true. 'Um...can we go to Russia? To Baia?', I asked carefully. She nodded. 'If that's your choice. I need you to choose now and go pack as soon as possible, so I can arrange everything.' I looked at Dimitri, and he nodded 'I'd love to go to Baia.', he told me. Tatiana nodded again, 'Baia then, it is. Go and pack for...three weeks, or more.', she said. Looked like this was going to be an extended holiday.

We got up and left. I felt lightheaded. 'This is awesome! We're going to Baia!', I shouted as we walked into the direction of our room. 'Yes we are!', Dimitri replied excitedly.

We practically ran to the room and got everything into two big suitcases somebody had left in there for us. Someone had even gotten Dimitris stuff from the Academy. 'We need to say goodbye to everyone before we go!', I said when we were finished. The next second, there was a knock at the door. 'Come in!', Dimitri shouted. The door opened, and in walked Lissa, Christian, Adrain and, of all people, Abe.

As if they'd known that we were going to look for them. 'Hey guys!', I shouted happily and hugged Lissa. She didn't look surprised at the suitcases, and I saw through the bond that Tatiana had told her everything. 'Hey my little Kizim', Abe said and hugged me. 'That's so cool! You get to go on vacation for three weeks or more!', Christian told me. 'Yeah, don't forget me in all that time.', I told him. They all laughed, and Adrian ruffled my hair 'Nobody can forget an amazing little dhampir such as yourself.', he told me confidentially. I giggled as Dimitri agreed with Adrian.

* *R**~VA~**D* *

I spent most of the flight on Dimitris lap. Mostly I was straddling him and we were making out or talking. I knew he was probably making plans of what to show me in Russia. When I wasn't on his lap, it was because we couldn't sleep like that or because we wanted to eat. Tatiana had booked us a first-class flight, and so the food was awesome and it was possible to put the backs of the seats so far back that you could lie down and sleep pretty comfortably.

The Belikovas were supposed to pick us up at the airport and I was glad it was still the summer holidays, otherwise we wouldn't have seen much of Viktoria, and I had been missing her.

When we landed, Dimitri was asleep beside me, and wouldn't wake up. Finally I sat on his lap, straddling him, and kissed him hard on the lips. His eyes fluttered open and he kissed me back sleepily. Then he groaned. 'You should always wake me up like this.', he muttered as I got up. I chuckled and pulled him up with me.

'This is much better than last time I was in Russia.', I told him as we were waiting for our suitcases to arrive. We'd gotten a luggage cart for them. 'Why exactly?', he asked me. 'Well, I don't need to ask anyone or find out what the sings mean or anything; I'm not sad and I'm not all alone. This really is a vacation, nothing more. It's much easier than my last trip.', I smiled. He looked like he was going to say something, but then he spotted our suitcases.

I was about to grab one, when Dimitri took both of them at once and put them onto the cart. I rolled my eyes. 'You're such a show-off, comrade!', I shouted at him. Instead of answering, he lifted me up and put me onto he suitcases. 'Are you crazy? I'll fall!', I hissed. He laughed at me. 'You kill a bunch of strigoi single-handed, but you're afraid of falling from a cart? And you wonder whether I'm crazy?'

I sighed and concentrated on holding tightly onto the suitcase below me. He was walking much too fast, and I knew he was doing it just to annoy me. We checked out, and he still didn't help me down. I contemplated jumping down by myself, but then dismissed the idea. I didn't feel like having bruises on vacation.

When we finally got out of the airport, I breathed a sigh of relief. Not long, and I'd finally talk to Viktoria. I was so sorry about her and Rolan...

'Dimka! Roza!', her voice suddenly pulled me out of my thoughts. I looked up, only to see all of the Belikovs running towards us. Olena was first to approach, and she took Dimitri into her arms immediately. 'Oh my god! It's really you!', she sobbed. When she let go of him, it was his sisters and old Yevas turn. Even Paul was there, but I noticed Sonya wasn't. She was probably busy with the baby. When they'd all hugged and kissed, Dimitri finally helped me down form the stupid cart.

The next thing I knew, his mother was hugging me fiercely. 'Thank you so much for bringing me back my son, Rose.', she whispered into my ear.

A/N: Sorry if I messed up the time zones! Do you want Tatiana to get killed or not? I can't decide if I want to kill her or not :S

Don't you guys think this thing is totally sweet: * *R**~VA~**D* * ?

I love it ;D I apologize if there are any mistakes in this chapter

Maria