I'm SOOOOOO sorry that I didn't update for so long. I'm SOOOOO SORRY.

I was kinda stuck and wanted to stop writing this story , but I got so many lovely reviews so I thought that maybe I should try and keep writing. So... here goes:

(I made this chapter longer )HOPE YOU ENJOY THIS!

"I've made my decision." I told him.

He looked down at me , warm arms wrapped around me securely , brown eyes filled with so much passion and love it made my heart melt. I sighed , wishing we could just stay like this forever.

But I had to make a decision. I imagined leaving with Dimitri , going somewhere where there was only the two of us. No rules to bound us. Just us. Free and happy. But then I imagined Lissa with someone else as a guardian , I felt my heart twist. Would she be happy? Would she hate me for leaving her? What if something happened to her? I remembered how she had risked her life to find me earlier. She brought me back from the dead. I owed my life to her.

I knew what my choice was.

They come first.

"I'll be a guardian." I whispered, voice cracking at the end. "I can't just leave her." I looked into his eyes , hoping he would understand me.

Of course he did. He always did. I was slightly disappointed , I had hoped for him to try and change my mind. But Dimitri always did the right thing and this time it was no different. "Ok." He said , slowly unwrapping his arms and giving me a tender kiss on my forehead. "It's the right choice, Roza." He told me gently .

After gazing into each other's eyes for a few minutes , we turned away from each other and walked away in different directions.

I felt sad and hollow , like part of me was gone. I guess part of me was gone. I desperately wanted to turn around and run to him. To kiss him one last time and tell him how much I love him, but I was too afraid that I would change my mind. I started repeating the guardian mantra over and over in my head: they come first.

Those words were really starting to annoy me.

"What the heck?!" I stared at the name on the packet's cover : Christian Ozera. "This is a mistake! I'm supposed to be with Lissa!"

I was mad and my pregnancy hormones weren't helping. I fumed and stormed over to Alberta and Dimitri. They were chatting about something administrative and didn't notice me right away.

Dimitri glanced at me first. "Do you have a problem , Miss Hathaway?" For some reason , seeing him made me even more angry.

I nearly shoved the packet in his face, but managed to control myself. " What is this?" I demanded.

Alberta seemed confused , but Dimitri's expression showed me that he had been expecting this. "It's your assignment , Miss Hathaway." Alberta said.

"No." I said through gritted teeth. " This is someone else's assignment. I'm supposed to be with Lissa!" I tossed the packet on the floor where it made a loud smack.

Alberta narrowed her eyes , she said a bunch of stuff about rules and guarding people I don't like and don't know , blah blah blah. I didn't care. I didn't want to listen. I was tired of following rules -not that I followed them a lot.

"Look." I kicked my packet across the floor and scowled at Alberta. "You are out of your mind if you think I'm guarding Christian Ozera."

"Rose!" Dimitri snapped. "You're out of line. You do not speak to your instructors like that." He grabbed my arm tightly and firmly but not enough to hurt. "I'll deal with her." He told Alberta. She nodded and he dragged me away.

I was on the verge of tears as we walked outside. Anger and frustration boiled inside me. I had a pounding headache that just wouldn't go away. "Dimitri. Wait." I croaked out , resting my weight against him. Black spots danced across my vision. The black spots looked like ghosts. They were grabbing at me and pointing at me. They looked pretty harmless , but a few familiar faces freaked me out. Mason was there , Lissa's parents were there and those who had died during the strigoi attack were there. I started panicking.

"Roza?" Dimitri was staring at me with concern. "Are you okay? I'll take you to your room if you want. I need to go replace the wards with Aberta. "

I couldn't reply. I started screaming. "Tell them to go away!" I yelled. "Just go away! Leave me alone!"

Dimitri's warm hands gripped my shoulders , strong and steady like always , it made me feel safer and less alone , but the ghosts were still there. "Tell them to go away! Please! Go away!" I was sobbing and yelling hysterically.

"I guess they'll have to replace the wards without me." Dimitri said more to himself than to me. He gently picked me up in his arms and started carrying me somewhere.

"Where?" I managed to whisper after my headache got better.

" Somewhere. " He walked for quite sometime until we reached a cabin at the edge of campus. He pushed open the door with one hand and held me firmly with the other. It was dark inside , he lit a few kerosene lanterns and set me down on a bed covered with a soft quilt.

My headache was clearing, the ghosts were already gone. Dimitri sat down on the bed beside me , looking down at me worriedly. "Are you okay?" He asked, carefully wiping a tear under my right eye with his thumb.

I shook my head and grabbed his hand. "No. I'm not." I said truthfully.

He put a hand on my cheek and I closed my eyes , relaxing to the smell and warmth of him. All my pent up anger and sadness started melting away. "Don't leave me" I whispered. He was the only who could calm me down. The only one who made me feel safe. I needed him more than anything.

"I won't." He shifted closer to me , putting my head on his lap. "I'll always be with you." His hand slid under my shirt and rested on my bare stomach where a small bump was beginning to grow. "Both of you."

Then, I realized how wrong the decision I had made earlier was. They don't come first.

Dimitri comes first.