Hey guys. I'm sorry it took me so long to put up this chapter, but I had to redo it again and again, just to make it as perfect as I could. I hope you like it. Please nejoy!

DAY 3

The third day of the vacation almost started the same as the last day did. Again Rose was the first being, rising in her sleeping room from a night of disturbing dreams. Every time she had closed her eyes, her mind was showing pictures of the kiss and suddenly Dmitri would vanish from her sight, with a smile on his face. And each time she would wake up with an ache in her chest.

After having dreamt this dream for the third time, Rose couldn't take it anymore and stood up. After a log, warm shower and lots of shampoo, she had dressed and went downstairs into the kitchen. It had been a short sleep since they had agreed to return to Moroi schedule again, so that their daily life was taking place at night actually from now on.

'What would now be happening between us?' Rose asked herself the hundredth time within a few minutes. She was sure that the kiss had meant something to Dimitri since he wasn't a person to play around with her feelings. So did this mean, that he still had some feelings for her? But if Dimitri would have still felt something for her, why did he leave in the first place?

It was dark when Rose entered the kitchen and to not have to put on the bright light, she only enlightened some candles in various places in the living room, which made enough light to see something in the open kitchen. The small light of the oven produced enough light for her to start making breakfast.

Just remembering the kiss from last night plastered a happy smile on Rose's face. His lips had felt so warm and soft. It had just felt so right. Without any problems Rose could picture a life with him and their happiness. But then a thought invaded her mind: why did he leave her for Tasha if Dimitri would still truly be in love with her?

Sighing internally, Rose pushed her thoughts back at the task at hand: making breakfast. It wouldn't bring her anything to picture a life she would never have. But the kiss had made it clear to her, that a talk between than was necessary. Too many questions had remained opened and too less answers given.

Only a small sound of a chair being moved told Rose that she wasn't alone anymore. Ignoring her faster heartbeat, she didn't turn around and asked instead:

"Good Morning, Comrade! Coffee without milk and sugar?"

"Good morning, Rose!" Dimitri answered with a small chuckle. "Yes, please."

Receiving a cup from the board, she poured in some fresh made coffee and handed it to him. Rose tried to avoid his gaze knowing that she would give into him too easily and that she wasn't ready for that yet. So she quickly turned around, busying herself with mixing the waffle dough before putting it into the iron.

"Rose, we need to talk!" she heard Dimitri saying, urging her to turn around and to talk to him.

Reluctantly she turned around to see him sitting at the bar, sipping his coffee. Suddenly the memory of the first time he had said that to her popped up in hr mind. "I don't think that's a good idea, Dimitri."

Astonished he looked at her. "Why not? You know very well that this talk is overdue. At least give me a chance to explain myself, that's all I ask for, Rose!"

"Okay, but not know. They will wake up soon and I don't want to get disturbed."

"Well,", Dimitri said, "then let's take a walk tonight. There we'll have plenty of time without being overheard."

"Yeah, that's fine by me."

With that said, Rose turned around again and finished making breakfast. Meanwhile Dimitri had set up the table and soon everyone filed into the living room, having been attracted by the good smell of freshly backed waffles.

The chatter flowed around the room at the breakfast table as everyone chimed into the conversations. Rose kept watching the interactions of Dimitri and Tasha, but they always kept their space and did only touch on occasion. This let Rose wondering again about the kind of relationship they really have. Where they a couple or more like friends? They never really touching hinted into the "friend" direction, but the shine in both their eyes when looking at each other told a whole different story.

Rose still was undecided what to think about them, when Lissa suddenly nudged her into the side and whispered:

"Rose! You're not listening!"

Slightly confused Rose looked around to see everyone staring at her.

"What?"

"Rosie, how was the trip to wonderland?" Christian asked, using her hated nickname he had given her a while ago, on purpose.

"Oh, shut it, fire crotch!" she answered grinning widely, "It certainly was better since you weren't there!"

"Outch, that hurt!" Christian said, laying his hands over his fake paining heart.

"Guys!" Lissa interfered pointedly. "Stop harassing!"

"Yes, your majesty!" Rose fake bowed her head, still having a wide grin plastered on her face.

It has been a long time since Dimitri had seen her so happy and he had to bid back a smile. He had always known that his Roza would be strong enough to cope with what he did, but Dimitri had never counted his own pain into the equation. Now his only hope was that Rose wouldn't have moved on. Counting on her response at the kiss they had shared the previous night, Dimitri would get her to know the reasons behind his actions that had caused her so much pain.

The biggering on the table went on for a few more minutes. When everyone was finished, Rose and Lissa quickly cleaned off the table and also cleaned the dishes.

Tomorrow would be Christmas Day and so it was agreed in commonly to let everybody decide on their own, what to do with this day. Both Tasha and Lissa said that they still had to do some Christmas preparations as well as the boys did. Luckily Rose had done everything already so she would be able to spend that day on her own. In the evening of the day, the group decided to take a walk together to find a proper Christmas tree for the living room.

Quickly everybody was on their way and Rose went down into the basement to check on their supplies and run a few rounds on the treadmill and do some practice to keep her body in shape. Afterwards Rose went to the hot tub which had been also located in the basement and closed her eyes to relax.

After a while she felt the water shifting and when she opened her eyes, Rose saw Tasha sitting down opposite to her, with a happy smile on her face.

"I hope you don't mind, but this just feels too good to be true!" Tasha had gathered her long dark curls in a messy bun on top of her head, emphasizing the scars in her face. But still, Rose had to admit, Tasha was a beautiful woman.

"No, it's okay." Rose mumbled trying to fight the dark feeling of hatred towards this woman. She was sure that Tasha would never hurt her on purpose, for doing such things she was just too nice, but Rose still fought the pain she had brought her.

Both women stayed in a somewhat awkward silence, until Tasha had gathered some bravery and actually started what she came here for: to talk to Rose. Tasha knew that this was a talk both of them should have had a long time ago and she still felt guilty when seeing the pain in Rose's eyes. She was aware that she had caused this pain to the woman, Dimitri's heart belonged to. And Tasha was certain that a small talk between them could start a healing process for both, hopefully needing in a nice big wedding.

"Rose, could I tell you something?"

"Yes, sure." Rose shrugged, not really knowing what Tasha would want to talk about with her.

"I'm sorry." Tasha blurted out. "I'm sorry for what I've done to you asking Dimitri to be my Guardian."

Astonished Rose stared at her, absolutely not knowing what to say for once.

"I didn't know that you two … well … had feelings for each other and Dimitri never told me. But now I know that the signs had been there, I just didn't want to recognize them for what they where."

"Yeah, I always hoped we hadn't been that obvious." Rose mumbled.

"You haven't. I only recognized it after Dimitri had finally told me that his heart belonged to somebody else, but by that time he had already made up his mind to be my Guardian." She explained.

Somehow Rose feared where this talk was going, but now it was too late to stop.

"Well, it doesn't matter now anymore, does it?" Rose said, letting her heart speak for once of all the bottled up feelings of hurt, betrayal and anger.

"No, it does. Because when Dimitri told me that he loved you more than everything I knew that I would never reach my goal to have a family with him. Yes I loved him, but I'm not that cruel to break two spirits for my own selfish benefit." Tasha said forcefully, leaning forward towards Rose.

"What do you mean?" Rose asked wearily. Deep down she felt her hopes rise, but to protect herself from breaking again when she just had reached a stage where everything started to heal, she didn't let her hopes rise too high.

"What I mean is that Dimitri and I are not together!" Tasha smiled at her. "Yes, he's still my Guardian but he's still that: only my Guardian and nothing more."

A silent tear slit down Rose's cheek when she started to fully comprehend the meaning behind the words, Tasha had just said. This would mean that Dimitri wasn't in a relationship and maybe, but only maybe there would be a chance for them.

"Rose.", Tasha softly touched her shoulder softly. "Is it too late?"

"No!", Rose answered, more tears flowing down her cheeks, "It just was so unexpected. I feared you were going to tell me that you finally had reached your goal of having a real family with him. I … I mean … I thought you were going to tell me that you're pregnant, you know?" she blurred out the last sentence.

"Oh, Rose!" Tasha said, engulfing Rose in a tight hug. "No, he's all yours!"

"Thank you, Tasha!" Rose said, returning the hug.

"You're welcome. I hope that you will act according to my words when you two get the chance of having a private talk, okay? I know that he wants to talk to you." Tasha said, slowly getting up out of the hot tub. Rose only was able to smile at her, since tears where still choking her. But for once it where happy tears that freely fell down her cheeks and into the hot water of the hot tub.

"Thank you very much!" Rose said, before Tasha vanished from her sight and left Rose to her thoughts.

Slowly the tears subsided and Rose felt her heart beating with hope again. Maybe there still was a chance for them!

Being pushed by that thought, Rose quickly got out of the hot tub and wrapped herself up in a soft towel. Grabbing a bathrobe, Rose soon left the basement and the comfortable hot tub. Hearing different voices in the living room, Rose ignored them altogether and went up to her room.

When she had put on a black jeans and a deep red turtleneck sweater, a soft knocking on her door sounded. Curious as who would disturb her in the early afternoon, she opened the door and found herself staring deeply into two dark brown eyes.

"Hi." She said, trying to ignore her fast heartbeat.

"Hi." Dimitri answered, his voice deep and soft. "May I come in?"

"Yes, sure!" Rose answered, her cheeks blushing a deep red and the sweater suddenly becoming too warm to be comfortable. "You can sit in the bed, if you want." Realizing the two meaning of her sentence, Rose blushed even a deeper red.

But Dimitri didn't hear the double meaning behind her words or rather didn't say anything and said down on her bed, looking up at Rose.

"Rose, I know that we wanted to talk later, but I honestly cannot wait any longer. I need to get this off my mind." He said quietly staring into her light hazel eyes. He saw how nervous she was and that she fought an inner battle which he could only guess about what it was.

"Okay." Rose said, sitting down on the bed. Dimitri saw how much space she had kept and fought the smile that tugged on his lips. He also saw her moving nervously and looking around in her room, afraid to look at him. Rose heard his Russian accent becoming thicker each minute, which gave away his nervousness. Seemingly it matched her own.

"I've made a mistake. A huge mistake and I'm afraid there is nothing to undo this mistake." He said, looking down on his hands. "I'm still hoping though." A sigh escaped his lips and when he didn't go on, Rose looked back up at him and her gaze met his.

"I'm so sorry for leaving you, Rose. I thought it would be the best to do back then, but now I know what a huge mistake it had been. I should have never done this, because it didn't only hurt me, but I have caused you so much pain, Rose."

"Then why did you leave in the first place?" she asked quietly, still fighting to keep her hopes at a low level.

"Our relationship would have become more and more difficult, since you where still a student and I was your mentor." He said.

"But we could have kept it a secret until after graduation!" Rose reasoned, trying not to remember the pain she had felt after his rejection.

"Yes, we could have. But the big problem would have occurred after that, Rose! We both were assigned to be Lissa's Guardians. But when something would have happened, I know that my top priority would have never been the princess, but you! I would have given up my life to protect you instead of protecting the princess! And so would you." Dimitri explained, urging her to understand.

"I would have never done that!" Rose cried out, jumping off her bed and standing up in front of Dimitri, glaring down at him. "She is my best friend and the closet person I have for a family! I would have protected her with my life!"

"Rose, would you really have done that? Imagine us three in an attack of ten Strigoi. It would be a fight until death and probably not only Strigoi would be dying. Imagine that Lissa and I would have been held hostage while another one threatens to kill one of us. It is your decision. How would you decide? Wouldn't you have faltered?" he asked, looking seriously up at her.

Rose wanted to blurt out her answer, but his eyes where asking her to think about it and to come up with an honest answer. So she tried to imagine the situation he had just described. How would she react, seeing the most important persons in her life in the strong grip of Strigoi's, waiting for her to decide who will die and who shall live? Would this decision really be as easy for her as she had always imagined? They come first. This was something she had always been taught to believe in, but would this really be of any importance for her in this situation? Would she be able to sacrifice her best friend for her soul mate or her soul mate for her best friend?

"No, I couldn't have done that." Rose finally admit in a low whisper, suddenly realizing the importance of his thoughts.

"Now you know why I left you. I did this so you would never come into this situation. So you would never have to make this decision in your life." Dimitri said.

"But we could have tried to find another solution. Why didn't you ever talk to me about this?"

Dimitri let a deep sigh before he finally answered: "I don't know. Back then it seemed to be the only possible solution, but now I know that I should have trusted you more with this. I know that you would have found a solution."

"Yes, I would have." Rose said, sitting back down on the bed, this time scooting a little bit closer to him. Both chuckled as her old Rose cockiness returned. "So, what now?"

"Now? Well, I have finally come up with a solution. That is, if you're still interested." Dimitri said, staring deeply in her eyes, hoping to see what he wanted. He didn't have to wait for long when her eyes started to shine with love and hope.

"Yes." Rose whispered, leaning even closer and reducing the space between them. Rose needed something much more than hearing with whatever solution he did come up with, and so the old bold Rose leaned in and closed the gap between their lips.

Before Dimitri could tell her of his awesome idea, he could feel her lips on his and every coherent thought just vanished. He had longed for this moment for a long time now and he had always pictured this kiss after confessing his love in those many sleepless nights. But none of his fantasies could produce something so pure and filled with so much love as this kiss. Without thinking Dimitri wrapped the woman he loved with all his heart and soul up in his arms, never wanting to let her go. It was like a dream coming true and sometimes actions said more than thousand words.

Rose and Dimitri stayed in her room for some more time, enjoying each other's closeness and sharing the hope, of a future where they could live their love. But most of the time they spend talking, catching up on the happenings in the others life of the last year.

When the evening came near, both went down to meet the others and together they went into the woods, looking for the most beautiful Christmas tree they could find. When they had found the perfect tree, the men tried their best to hop it down, happily cheered on by the women.

Their laughter could be heart through the woods and hills, leaving this day in the memory of each person, as a wonderful day during Christmas time.

Lilian85