New chapter again!

It had been about five hours and forty-five minutes since Inna left me in this room by myself. When I had first asked Dimitri for a clock he was very hesitant. I'm not quite sure whether he thought I would hurt myself with the clock or I would come up with a plan to use a clock to escape him. However, when I explained to him that a clock would help me count down the minutes until I seen him and as a result would receive my next fix, he gave in. I knew that Dimitri typically arrived around 2:00AM.

As I looked at the clock again, I saw that it was now 1:32AM. Dimitri was expected to arrive here in less than 28 minutes. In 28 minutes, my fate would be revealed. I would have to make a decision.

I had hope that Inna had understood my request for her to bring Nathan to me, but as the seconds hand on the clock slowly striked down the minutes to my inevitable meeting with Dimitri, I began to get more anxious.

As I waited for my impending doom, I decided to check in with Lissa one last time. Already exhausted from running around nervously for the past few hours I decided to sit in one of the chairs in the living room area so that I wouldn't have to stand. I was hoping I could remain in Lissa's head until Dimitri arrived. As I relaxed my body and allowed myself to enter Lissa mind, my surroundings suddenly shifted. However, it wasn't Lissa's mind that caused my surroundings to shift.

I had fallen asleep.

As my surrounding became clearer, I realized that I was back at St. Vladimir's Academy. This sparked all kinds of reactions inside of me. I had always considered St. Vladmir my home. Now as I looked around my surroundings, I wished greatly that I could return. At the sound of the footsteps behind me, my guardian instinct took over and I twisted abruptly to brace myself for the intruder. Of course I wasn't really surprised by who my intruder was. I had known from the start of this dream who would eventually show up. Adrian.

As I watched Adrian approach me, I wanted nothing more than to embrace him and beg him to forgive me for treating him so harshly before. After the argument we had a while ago, Adrian promised to never enter my dreams again. I had been just as angry with him and had actually felt joy in not having to see him again but as time continued, I found myself regretting how I had spoken to him. People live their lives everyday taking advantage of the fact that their friendships will always be there. Once their gone, you're left with only the remorse of not appreciating the friends you had when they were around. Every night after Dimitri left my room so I could sleep, a part of me longed for Adrian to visit me. Being away from my friends for so long, Adrian was the only person I was able to have contact with. True, I was still connected to Lissa, but I couldn't speak to her like I could Adrian. Seeing Adrian now, made all the homesick feelings return. I missed Lissa and Adrian deeply.

"Adrian, it is nice to see you again." I said giving him a warm smile.

"Hello Rose." Adrian said cautiously. He appeared to be a bit taken back by my warm welcome. I suppose he expected me to be screaming at him again.

"I'm so glad you came back to me." I said trying to prevent myself from jumping into his arms. It wasn't that I didn't want to embrace him, I was afraid to. After the way I had spoken to him, a part of me feared that he would reject me.

"I know…I'm kind of surprised I came back to you too."

After he spoken, I waited a while for him to say something else but he didn't. I'm not sure if time went by in the dream world the same as it did in reality but I knew that this reunion would unfortunately have to be brief. Every minute I spent sleeping was another minute closer to having to face Dimitri. Dimitri wanted an answer.

Then I realized if I told Dimitri that I wanted to remain human. Would he kill me?

This may be the last time I ever see Adrain.

And then I broke. "I'm so sorry for the way I treated you. I really mean it. I was totally out of line. You don't miss a person unless they are gone. You left me and I was alone. I missed you so much." I said so fast I hoped Adrian was able to hear everything I said.

"Rose…" Adrian said apparently taken back by my declaration.

"So much has happened since I've seen you last. You have no idea." I said with my voice breaking at the last words. I could feel the built up emotions inside of me begging to be released.

The look on Adrian's told me that he was experiencing conflicted feelings. I could tell he was still mad at me for the way I treated him before but as I took a closer look I saw concern in his eyes. In all the time Adrian knew me he had never seen me on the verge of breaking. He came here expecting me to angrily send him off again and instead, I stood in front of him pleading for forgiveness.

Then the conflicted emotions on his face were gone. He had made his decision. It felt like centuries had passed before I felt his arms encircle around my torso. Although Adrian was angry with me, I was his friend and he still cared about me. This was another lesson on friendship; friends will be there for in your time of need no matter what.

"It's okay Little Dhampir…tell me what is going on." Adrian whispered into my hair.

"I…just…I just want to go home." I said truly allowing my emotions to take over. I had been through so much lately: realizing the love of my life is truly a monster, losing Viktoria's friendship, my failed attempt at escaping the suite, fearing that Dimitri would kill me and the positive pregnancy test. Yes, I had been through a lot. I needed someone to console me.

"Why don't you come home then?" Adrian said pulling away briefly to look me in the eyes.

"I'm trying." I said allowing a couple tears to escape.

"Do you need more money?" Adrian said wiping the escaped tears from my face with one of his hands while keeping his other arm wrapped around my waist.

"No. I need luck…" Was all I was able to say before being ripped from Adrian's arms and forced back into reality.