I love this chapter in Last Sacrifice! :D hope I did it justice :)

Laurie

Chapter 19

I watched nervously as another woman appeared in the doorway. Rose recovered herself and they began speaking.

I watched as the woman stepped aside to allow them entry. Sydney hesitated slightly but Rose walked ahead of her more confidently.

The three women walked through and the door shut behind them. I waited impatiently for about half an hour as Victor and Robert stayed quiet; they were both suffering from lack of blood at this stage.

What felt like forever later, Rose reappeared at the door and signalled for us to join them. I unbuckling my seat belt as did the other two men and climbed out of the car. Despite his exhaustion, Robert, with the help of Sonya, disguised himself and Victor well.

While Rose filled me in on what had happened and how the Mastrano's had taken the news. I met Jill's mother, Emily and her husband, John before dinner. Emily cooked dinner for the lot of us and organised for a feeder to come by for the Moroi. I wouldn't have minded Victor and Robert staying weak and exhausted; that meant less trouble, but Sonya needed blood to keep up her strength and health.

"The feeder and her keeper will be here any minute," Emily said to us as we sat around her living room. I looked at Rose who was looking at me. I nodded my head and gestured towards stairs, letting her know it was time.

"Thank you," I said to Emily before we made our way to the second floor.

Once we had entered a bedroom, Rose and I flipped a coin to see who got to shower first. Rose won and I just sat and the bed and listened to the voices downstairs.

Ten minutes later, Rose had finished cleaning herself up and I entered the bathroom. I showered quickly, not wanting to leave Rose on her own.

When I re-entered the bedroom, I found Rose sitting on the bed. She was wearing a long dress and her hair was now partly dried, given it a slightly messy but fluffy look.

That wasn't what caught my attention though; it was the blank look in her face and the tears that had built in her wide eyes.

"Rose," I started, feeling worried. "Rose, what is it?"

No response.

"Rose!" I said louder, getting more panicked now. I knelt down in front of her and shook her.

She blinked a few times.

"Rose, what's wrong? Are you okay?"

"No!" she pushed me aside and jumped up off the bed. "I have to- I have to go back to Court. Now. Lissa's in danger. She needs me."

"Rose. Roza. Slow down." I said, my affectionate name for her slipping out of my mouth before I could help myself.

I grabbed a hold of her arm to stop her moving towards the door. I pulled her so that she was facing me. "Tell me what happened." I instructed.

She frantically and breathlessly told me what had happened with Eddie and Lissa and the man who had attacked them.

"Someone tried to kill her, Dimitri! And I wasn't there!" she almost yelled, clearly still upset.

"But Eddie was," I said to her, trying to calm her down. "She's okay. She's alive." I released her arm from my grip.

"And now he's in trouble. Those guardians were pissed – "

"Only because they don't know the whole story," I interrupted her. "They see a dead body and a weapon, that's it. Once they get facts and testimonies, everything will be okay. Eddie saved a Moroi. It's his job."

"But he killed another Moroi to do it," she argued. "We're not supposed to do that." She dropped her head and studied her hands.

"That wasn't a normal situation," I said to her.

She looked back up at me. "I know, I know. I just can't stand leaving her undefended. I want so badly to go back and keep her safe. Right now. What if it happens again?"

"Other people are there to protect her," I assured her. I approached her and smiled gently. "Believe me, I want to protect her too, but we'd risk our lives for nothing if we take off right now. Wait a little longer and at least risk your life for something important."

I could see my words infiltrate her mind. "And Jill is important, isn't she?" she asked, as though she needed my confirmation.

"Very," I answered.

Rose pushed herself off the wall where she had been leaning and stood up straight.

"We did it." She said, a smile slowly making its way onto her face. "Against all reason…somehow, we found Lissa's lost sister. Do you realize what this means? Lissa can have everything she's entitled to now. They can't deny her anything. Hell, she could be queen if she wanted. And Jill…" she stopped speaking. "Well, she's part of an ancient royal family. That's got to be a good thing, right?"

"I think it depends on Jill," I answered her honestly. "And what the after-effects of all this are.

Rose looked down in obvious guilt.

"Hey, it's okay," I said, lifting my hand up to tilt her chin back up. "You did the right thing. No one else would have tried something this impossible. Only Rose Hathaway. You took a gamble to find Jill. You risked your life by breaking Abe's rules – and it paid off. It was worth it."

Rose's risk-taking was one of the many things that I had fallen in love with. It made me realised that after all of this time, after everything I had said, my feelings for her hadn't changed.

"I hope Adrian thinks so," she said. "He thinks me leaving our 'safe house' was the stupidest thing ever."

I dropped my hand and felt as though a bucket of cold water had been poured over me. Adrian. She was with Adrian, and here I was having more than affectionate feelings for her. The fact that she had told Adrian about this meant that she obviously had feelings for him.

"You told him about this?" I asked her.

"Not about Jill," she said. "But I accidently told him we weren't in West Virginia anymore. He's kept it secret, though," she added hastily. "No one else knows."

"I can believe that," I replied. "He…he seems pretty loyal to you." I said carefully, not wanting to step over any boundaries.

"He is. I trust him completely." She answered.

"And he makes you happy?" No matter what, I wanted her to be happy.

She paused for a moment. "Yeah. He does. I have fun with him. I mean he's infuriating sometimes – okay, a lot of the time – but don't be fooled by all the vices. He's not a bad person."

"I know he isn't," I agreed. "He's a good man. It's not easy for everyone to see, but I can. He's still getting himself together, but he's on his way. I saw it in the escape. And after…" I hesitated, still finding it hard to talk aloud about my Strigoi days. "After Siberia, he was there for you? He helped you?"

She nodded slowly.

"Do you love him?" So much for not wanting to over-step boundaries.

I waited for her reply for a while, and I briefly wondered if she'd try and punch me for asking a question that was so out of line. But I had to know.

"Yeah," she finally said. "I…I do love him."

"Good, I'm glad." I replied, although it hurt me to say so more than I ever wanted her to know.

I looked away from her, not able to look into the brown eyes that I had looked into so lovingly, so often.

I heard her soft footsteps approach me. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," I replied quickly. "I just want to make sure that you're okay. That you're happy." I turned around to face her, not wanting to bring any more questions upon myself. I was barely holding it together as it was. "Things have been changing, that's all. It's making me reconsider so much. Ever since Donovan…and then Sonya…it's strange. I thought it all changed the night Lissa saved me. But it didn't. There's been so much more, more to the healing than I realised."

"Every day I figure out something new. Some new emotion I'd forgotten to feel. Some revelation I totally missed. Some beauty I didn't see."

"Hey, my hair in the alley does not do on that list, okay?" she said jokingly. "You were in shock."

I smiled at her, taking in her whole presence. It was beautiful. "No, Roza. It was beautiful. It's beautiful now."

"The dress is just throwing you off," she joked.

I looked over her once again. The beauty was practically radiating off her; I'd have to have been a blind idiot not to see it before.

But she was taken now. I'd missed my chance.

"What?" she asked, looking uncomfortable. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Because sometimes, a person can get so caught up in the details that they miss the whole. It's not just the dress or the hair. It's you. You're beautiful. So beautiful, it hurts me."

It was this moment that I realised how much I really loved the woman standing before me. I had been a fool to not realise it before. But it was too late.

"Hey, guys, have you – oh." Sydney came through the door but immediately stopped. I realised just how close Rose and I had become, and as one, we stepped back. "Sorry. I – that is –"

"No problem. What's going on?" Rose said, attempting to stir the conversation away from the two of us.

"I…that is…I just wanted to come hang out. I can't handle that going on downstairs."

"Sure," Rose answered. "We were just…talking," she attempted to cover. "We were talking about Jill," she continued. "Do you have any ideas on how to get her to Court – seeing as we're all outlaws?"

"Well, you could always have her mother –" she started but was interrupted by a loud crashing sound coming from downstairs.

I sprang for the door, as did Rose and together we came to a halt on the landing. I heard the familiar shouts for everyone to 'get down'. I had never been on this side of the attack however.

"Guardians," I voiced out loud. "There are guardians raiding the house."