Hey, I'm back! Happy Thanksgiving (for those who celebrate)! I find this holiday very well placed to give us students another thing to be thankful for (with the whole 'no school' thing..)

Anywho, I didn't actually mean for the whole Missing Dimitri thing to be all mysterious, just felt he needed a placement… but in order to not disappoint, I'll warn you that Dimka's whereabouts are kind of disappointing…

With all the "Where's Comrade?"s I wanted to make a "Where's Waldo?" game for him. But I didn't. 'Cause I'm lazy….

Thanks for all the reviews and amazing support! You know, when I feel like I just posted a crappy chapter, I seem to get the best reviews… Is it just pity or are my crappy ones really the best, lol?

Disclaimer: VA belongs to R. Mead. The brilliance of this Last Sacrifice is to the credit of my brilliant brain.

I stepped into the cool night air, the silence of the Moroi day enveloping me. Abe and Lissa arguing over who was going to pay my charges had started to give me a headache and I really wanted to see Dimitri. I jogged over to the jail, glad to be finally free of Guardians at my elbows and walked up to the Guardian keeping watch on the outside. "Hey, Guardian what's-your-face, you know if Dimitri Belikov is being held in here?"

He nodded. "You want to see him?"

I nodded back. "Very much so."

"I'd say you're supposed to bring a Guardian with you but…"

I flashed a man-eater smile, "I'm the best Guardian out there, I know."

He grinned. "Glad you got off easy on your charges. I knew you never killed the Queen and, to be honest, I was kind of relieved when you broke out."

"Thank you." I was being truthful. It really touched me to know that even Guardians at the Royal Court had been, and still were, on my side. "And no," I said to his hopeful expression, "I am not going to tell you all my secrets."

"But if you don't tell us, it proves a security risk!" he said, shocked. "What good is a jail if the criminals locked in it can escape? You didn't get in much trouble for breaking out so I doubt you'll get in trouble for the way you did it. Please," he gave me a puppy dog look, "we're all dying to know."

"No way! What if I need to break out again? What'll I do if you already know my secret?" I asked, jokingly.

He glared at my valid point, even if it was sort of unlawful, and opened the door for me. "So, you're planning to get thrown back in the slammer?"

I walked passed his and replied, "Can't rule anything out," and continued down the hall, calling out Dimitri's name. After going down a couple staircases and another extended whine of "Dimitriiiii," I heard a faint "Rose!" and immediately started running towards it.

I skidded to a halt in front of his cell. Already, he was standing, arms squeezed through the bars. We hugged, my cheek against the cool bar, trying to get as close to him as possible. "I thought your trial was right after mine?"

"Two hours after yours. I get to sit tight a bit longer," he murmured into my hair, his chin resting on top of my head. "How was yours? I'm guessing you're a free woman again, since you no longer have an escort?"

I smiled, looking up at him. Stubble covered his chin and cheeks but, honestly, it made him look extraordinarily sexy. I shrugged, "Just some charges equalling over three grand. No big. Abe and Lissa are arguing over who pays for them right now." He chuckled. "Other than that, I'm Guardian Badass Hathaway again."

He leaned down and gave me a quick kiss on the lips. "That's good. Brings up my hopes in getting off. I don't care much for these jail cells…"

"I totally agree. These bars make it awfully hard to do this," I gripped the hair on the back of his neck in my hand and pulled his face back to mine, bringing our lips together.

"I understand that this is a very heartfelt moment, but we need to escort Mr. Belikov to the court room." We quickly broke apart and turned to face the interrupter. So much for our Guardian skills…

The Interrupter was stone faced, dirty blonde and short for a Guardian but I could easily see his muscle beneath his uniform. Flanking him was two others, one a female, the other male. "Please step away, Guardian Hathaway. I believe it is time for you to assemble into the court room if you wish to watch the proceedings."

I nodded and gave Dimitri one last kiss on the cheek before making my way back out of the jail. I nodded my goodbye to Guardian what's-his-face at the entrance and raced back to where I had just been secretly freaking out in front of the Royal Court.

I'll just give you the long and short of Comrade's trial: He got nothing. Nothing I tell you. Well, an assault charge, yes but other than that, nothing. Apparently, it's fully legal to help an escapee if he was merrily doing his duty by following orders given by a Royal Moroi. Pfft. If that were true, I'd have gotten off with nothing too. I mean, Lissa told me to go find her sib, right?

Well, no, but she could have at least pretended to say it.

But no, I'm a totally different case.

I hate politics.

Finally, after all the trials, we were released into the real world. I had already created a list in my head, titled 'Free Rose's First Priorities After Achieving Freedom'. Yes, dumb title but it's in my head so no one can judge me. My first priority though, which was frolic through the woods with a certain Dhampir, rubbing it in everyone's face, was regrettably crossed off the list when Lissa came bounding towards Dimitri's and my pre-frolic stance and screeched "We need a girl's night!"

Now, I love Lissa and I know I haven't really seen her in the past forever and she's been worried sick about me the whole time but, dammit, I wanted to frolic with Dimitri. But, of course, I didn't. Instead, Dimitri kissed me on the cheek and, smiling happily at my outraged expression, shooed me off into the hands of my best friend.

As Lissa was dragging me down the hall, a thought popped into my mind, "Wait! I haven't even seen Eddie or Mia since I've come back."

"Oh, you'll have tons of time to see them. Right now we need to catch up and simply celebrate your return and freedom."

I groaned but inside I was slowly becoming more excited. I mean, the last girl day I'd had had been with Viktoria. "Yeah, and we have some things to talk about, such as why my entire wardrobe on my runaway had consisted of lingerie…"

XXX

"To hell with being a good role model to Jill. I know you won't stay celibate for more than a couple of hours. Sorry, Liss, but I just don't think you and Christian are capable of such a feat." I crunched down on another Dorito, watching, amused, as Lissa puffed up, ready to argue my statement.

"We are too! If it means showing my little sister that being sexually active isn't all it's cracked up to be, I will be celibate!" Apparently, Lissa had begun fearing that she and Christian's get-it-on-24/7 act might be affecting Jill's sudden curiosity in the world concerning sex. And the fact that Jill now had many guys, young and old, always hanging around her wasn't helping Lissa's poor little older sister conscience.

"But it has, hasn't it?" She threw a pillow at me.

I picked the now orange lip imprinted pillow off my face and rolled my eyes. "Relax, Lissa. I'm sure her sudden 'curiosity' has something to do with the fact that she's what, 14? 15? It's totally normal. And the guys? Well, she just sudden became Jill Dragomir. Any guy with a brain and eyes would want her. She's cute, smart and well, rich and royal. Not so sure about the rich part anymore though… How much of that have you blown since you became in charge of it?"

She ignored my last comment, instead letting her face relax, believing every word I said. "Sorry for throwing a pillow at you."

I smirked. "You seriously apologizing for that? It's your Doritoized pillow, not mine." I chucked it back at her but instead of her face, it hit the wall beside it. Hey, my backwards aim while lying down wasn't the most accurate.

She sighed, flopping down beside me at the foot of her bed. "I've missed you, Rose."

"I've missed you too, Lissa. Do you know how weird it is to long for the company of yourself?" If you have to ask, I know because Lissa doesn't know how to control her emotions for our bonds sake.

Lissa giggled. "Very weird, I imagine."

I smiled. "Very weird indeed."

"Did you check in often?"

I shrugged. "Often enough to make sure you were safe. As long as you were safe and not about to jump out of a window to your plummeting death, I worried about not getting shot."

"Yeah, that seems reasonable. While you were gone, it was one of those times that I really wished the bond worked both ways. I hated not knowing how you were, if you were alive. I mean, Adrian checked in for me but it just wasn't the same, you know?"

I nodded. "I know."

She rolled onto her side, hand holding up her head, a coy smile stretched across her face. "But I hear that being on the run wasn't as bad as you seem to make it. I bet it was my lingerie that did it."

I grinned and rolled my eyes. "Maybe. I got to wear one of his t-shirts because of it, if that counts for anything."

Lissa squealed. "Did he take it off of himself to give it to you?"

"Umm, no. He just pulled one out of his suitcase…"

Her face fell with disappointment. "Well, that's not as exciting but… at least you got to wear his shirt."

"Don't worry, Liss, a while later, as in a long while, I got to take his shirt off for him."

"Do I get to hear the juicy details?" she asked hopefully.

"Nope."

She groaned. "Please, Rose? You get to see the juicy details in my relationship."

"Which is why I'm saving you from such a life scarring situation." She pouted, giving me puppy eyes. "Shouldn't you be all grossed out that he used to be my mentor and Strigoi or something?"

"Why would I be disgusted if Dimitri obviously makes you happy? Did you not notice that I packed your entire suitcase with revealing clothing meant to lure him into your Rose charm?"

I let out a breath of relief that I hadn't known I'd been holding. I still hadn't been completely sure on Lissa's view of my relationship. But she did have a point… "Just like how I don't pound Sparky's face in everytime I see him 'cause I know you'd be upset?"

"Exactly." We laid in silence for a while longer until Lissa sat up and said, "I'm giving you a pedicure."

XXX

The next day, after spending the night being pampered and painted by Lissa, I was finally freed to walk around and search for Eddie. I was walking through the moonlit grass when I saw him leaning against a wall at the other side of the field, talking to Mia. "Yo!" I shouted, "Castile!" His head snapped towards his name and when he saw me, he grinned. Eddie pushed himself off the wall and walked over to me, Mia following. Once he was close enough, I asked, "How about some loving for your criminal friend?" and we hugged. Well, I tried to hug him since Eddie decided now was a good time to try and crush my ribs. "Woah," I said, after he finally released me. "I didn't think you were still angry at me. If I'd known you were going to try and kill me I would have thought twice about searching you out." I said this all with a smile on my face so he knew I was joking, though I did rub my ribs when he looked behind him and told Mia it was rude to not give me a hug. Mia just rolled her eyes and said that she was preparing to run for help if I started turning blue.

Mia and I embraced, unpainfully. "Nice to see you out of jail, Rose," she said.

"Nice to be out of jail. I don't recommend the life of a criminal."

Eddie snorted. "I'd have rather been running away from armed Guardians than hanging out here, dealing with the sixteen year old controversy."

Bah. I had completely forgotten about that. "And how's that going? Have they not realized how totally idiotic and stupid and selfish that is yet?" Anger had immediately filled me.

"'Parently not, but they will soon when they realize that their newly graduated Guardians are just dinner bells for the Strigoi. Don't get me wrong, they're good, just not good enough. We've already lost five of them but that's only making them shoot more of them out into the field. Once Lissa's queen though, I'm sure she'll strip that rule. But anyways," he quickly changed the subject seeing my dark expression, "At least they're letting Moroi who wish to learn offensive magic do so. There's going to be tons of new complicated laws around it but at least it's a step."

"Yeah. It's a step."

Truthfully I was all "Yay, I should be able to wrap this up within a chapter or two" when I remembered that I hadn't even mentioned the whole 16 year old Guardian thing-y. And well, I have no idea where to go with it. But I'll think of something… hopefully.

Anyways, sorry for the boring ass court crap. When I was writing them I was tempted to bang my head against the wall 'cause I didn't know how to make them more interesting. So I just didn't do Dimitri's. Hope you guys don't mind too much :P

Also, I'm wondering if I should post this story on my deviantart account as well… what do you guys think?

Fish are friends not food and this Darla hasn't killed her brother's fish yet. Review to celebrate her act of proving Nemo wrong?