Hello everyone! This is my new story that I'm working on, the thought just came to me and before I knew it I was jotting it down and developing it into a story. For those of you that have read/currently are reading my other story "Mr. Belikov" I am NOT giving up on that one, it's just on a small hiatus as I'm beginning to develop this one. I will get back to "Mr. Belikov" though so stay tuned on that front. For the purpose of the this story, all the characters are human; Rose and Dimitri are around the same age 25ish, 26ish (in that vicinity); no one has died; Rose has known Dimitri longer than she has known Lissa. I don't want to give away everything too soon as I promise everything will be discussed in due time as the story develops.

Here is a slightly more in depth summary: Rose and Dimitri have been best friends since their youths in Russia; as they start to drift apart Rose experiences a life changing ordeal in which she turns to Dimitri for help and comfort. As they encounter the personal messes that is their lives, they start to depend on each other in a way they never had before. As new found feelings and unspoken truths start to emerge will Rose and Dimitri remain just best friends- or will the fire that burns between them take their relationship to a new level?

I really hope you guys enjoy! :)

Dimitri POV

I was at my wedding.

I stared at the woman in white coming towards me; for some reason her face was obscured from my view but in my heart I knew who she was; I knew my wife.

The church was silent, except for the music playing as she walked down the aisle. Every ounce of me burned, ached for the beautiful creature that was coming towards me.

"You sure know how to pick them." My best friend and best man, Ivan whispered to me as he clapped me on the back.

I felt like my face would break into a million pieces, that's how hard I was smiling. "I know." I replied.

She was a mere 10 feet away from me now, getting ready for her father to give her away, away to me, where I would love her as I've always loved her. My heart sped up in anticipation, a pounding that seemed to come from within.

The pounding got even louder as her hand reached toward mine. My hands reaching toward her veil so I could see her beautiful face. Boom. Bang.

The pounding seemed to get louder and louder until I realized that it wasn't my heart after all but somewhere outside of me. "Bang. Bang. Bang"

I sat up in my bed, the dream beginning to fade from my memory, my senses on high alert as I looked around my dark bedroom, my eyes resting on the clock "2:13" Who the hell in banging down my door at two in the morning?

I emerged from under the covers and made my way across my apartment and to the door which someone was still banging upon with tons of force. I looked into the peephole and quickly opened the door.

"Rose?"

My best friend stood at my doorway mid knock. Her long brown hair plastered to her face, wet I realized as were the rest of her clothes. In the hallway lighting I could make out a bruise on her cheek, close to her eye, and I caught her arm as she swayed on her feet.

"Rose what are you doing here?"

She looked at me blankly before doing something I hadn't seen her do in years; bust into tears.

I quickly ushered her into my apartment, closing the door behind her and wrapping my arms around her body in a hug.

"Rose! Rose, what happened? Are you okay? Why are you wet?" I asked, questions shooting off like missiles.

I held her slightly at arm's distance, my eyes raking over her body looking for any obvious signs of distress. Finding none, I settled on her eyes, those brown eyes that- over the past few months- had seemed so sad. How did I miss that? At that moment I felt a pang of guilt when I realized I hadn't seen Rose in about 3 weeks. Now that may be normal for other people but Rose and I were attached at the hip and have been since elementary school when we lived in the same neighborhood in Russia. We met on a playground one faithful day and never looked back since. Through middle school, high school, though we separated briefly for college, we eventually found our way back to each other coming to America together; briefly living together until Rose moved in with her husband (then boyfriend) of nearly 2 years.

We had both been so caught up with work and other affairs that we hadn't seen a lot of each other these last few weeks; our weekly dinner outings ceasing to continue; her lunches occupied with her work or her husband. Although, I had been busy too, most attempts to see each other again had been on my part to which Rose either couldn't make it or politely declined. If I hadn't been so busy I would have visited her apartment just to check on her but, if I was being completely honest, in my heart I wanted to deny anything between us had changed, I didn't want to believe that we were doing something as stupid as growing apart after years of being together. So instead we texted and Skyped and I ignored the voice in the back of my head that told me that something was off about Rose; she was less outgoing, her texted replies were clipped and to the point; our Skype convos growing less and few in between. Something was going on with my best friend and I refused to acknowledge it, telling myself that it was something I'd handle "later on" I desperately wanted to kick myself, how could I let everything get so out of hand, how could I let it get to this?

"Rose." I said, quieter now, "Please tell me what happened. Are you okay?"

She bit her lip, a longtime sign of anxiety and frustration; and wouldn't look me in the eye. She escaped from my grasp and sunk down onto my couch, focusing on her hands.

"Things just got so out of hand and I didn't know what to do-I didn't know how to handle it-I just-I don't know" she said, her words faint.

"What got out of hand? What happened? Tell me, it's okay, I'll help you." I replied, moving to sit down next to her. I placed her small hands in my larger ones, turning them over in her lap. It was then that I saw the bruises. My eyes were on hers and I saw the pool of tears.

"I didn't mean too, he just made me so angry Dimitri. I just-God, he hit me first, and I got so angry. I was infuriated."

What?! "Who hit you Rose?" I asked, my voice deep and quiet. My need to protect her consuming my body. But before she said it I knew. I've had the same bad feeling in my stomach for weeks and it was the same bad feeling I had when she told me she was going to get married.

I looked into her eyes, desperately hoping that my fears weren't going to come true. But when she glanced away I knew I was right.

"Jesse." She finally said. "Jesse hit me"

That son of a bitch.

Let me know what you guys think!