Thanks to the 3 people who reviewed- it's appreciated :)

Ok, haven't done a disclaimer yet. So I DON'T OWN VA. But all the new characters are mine (especially Aleks ;p), and the plot is mine. But credit for VA goes to Richelle Mead. Peace out.

I stepped off the plane that had just brought me back to the U.S from Russia, and could see mom, dad, Lissa and Sophia waiting for me at the edge of the runway.
Dragging my suitcases behind me I jogged over to my family. I let go of the handles as Sophia grabbed me in a bone-crushing hug.

"Soph. Need to breathe right about now." I choked out.

She let me go, looking sheepish.
"Sorry Anya. I just missed you so much."

I grinned. "Well, I expect life is dull without me around."

I turned to the others.
"Hey, oldies. Miss me?"

Dad rolled his eyes, mom smiled and Aunt Lissa gave me that look that said I was just like my mom. She hugged me, and I heard mom clear her throat.
"So just ignore your parents then, why don't you?"

Lissa let go of me and I turned to face mom and shrugged.
"You can choose your friends, not your family. And I choose friends."

Mom smirked. "Well, I choose your curfew and allowance. So give me a hug."
I relented, and stepped into her embrace.

She pulled away and held me at arm's length.
"Have you grown taller since you've been away?" She asked sceptically.

I shrugged. "Probably all the radiation left over from Chernobyl. Same thing that made dad a giant." I had inherited my mom's genes height-wise, coming in at just over 5"5.

"Doesn't the giant get a hug, then?" Dad asked.
Just to annoy him, I jumped up into his arms, clinging on behind his neck. He swayed me from side to side like he used to when I was little before putting me down.

"Did you have a good time? How was everyone?" He asked in Russian.

"Everyone was fine, papa. It was fun. Zoya and I went shopping and I had to get another suitcase to bring everything home in."

He shook his head in defeat, surveying the pile of luggage at my feet. I switched to English to include the others.
"Yeva and I worked on my powers. The visions are getting clearer, less static-y. And I even got one for a3 weeks ahead." I told them proudly. My visions were usually just like snippets of memories from half-forgotten dreams, but they were improving.

Sofia bounced up and down in excitement.
"Did you see anything interesting?"

"Calm down, I foresee a burst artery if you keep on like that."
She gave me a withering look.

"OK, I saw there will be chocolate brownie and syrup cornflake cake for desert at the first meal back at St. Vlads. But avoid the custard."
Everyone who wasn't mom rolled their eyes, she looked impressed.
"That's my girl, scoping out the dessert a month in advance."

As we drove back to the palace, I thought I could feel excitement and anticipation coming off Sophia. Sure enough, she leaned over and whispered to me.
"So what was it you wanted to tell me?"

I'd called her a couple of days ago with the promise of a secret when I got back, knowing full well that it would drive her crazy until she knew what it was. But I was just mean enough that I found that funny.
"Not here. Later." I promised.

I could see that my reluctance to talk about it in front of my parents sparked even more gossip-fever.
"Aleks?" She mouthed.

I just faced the front and smiled, putting my hands on the headrest in front of me.
"Papa? Turn the music up, I like this one."
He was only too happy to oblige, it was a long-standing family routine that if there was country music playing, I would get him to turn it up at some point in the journey. Anything to annoy mom.

True to form, she groaned as Miranda Lambert's voice filled the car.
"Why, world, why? What did I ever do to deserve this?"Mom whined.

"Well, it could be worse. At least I'm not obsessed with cowboys." I pointed out.

"True." She conceded, glaring at dad. "This is your fault, Comrade. I should have burned everything Western the moment I found out I was pregnant."

He just turned and smiled.
"Come on, you'd miss the duster. And even if you did burn it, there's plenty more where that came from, remember?" (Last Sacrifice, in the tent :P)

She just flipped him off, but I could feel that she secretly agreed. She was radiating happiness, and I thought she must have been remembering some far-off conversation.
I did my best to close off my 'gift', as it was just too creepy to know what my mom was feeling for my dad. Just like Yeva had taught me, I put up mental barriers and was blissfully free of other people's emotions. Mine were enough to deal with on their own.

After greeting all the rest of our crazy bunch, Sophia and I went up to her room in the palace. We sat down on her bed, and I knew that I wouldn't be leaving this room until I had told her everything that had happened in Russia.

She stared at me expectantly, and I stared at her right back. After a minute, she got bored.
"Oh, come on! Just tell me already!"

So I did.
I went through all the usual things that had happened- shopping with Zoya, Alicia and Anoushka, hanging out with Aleks. That was where the real story began.

"On the last night before I left, they had organised a leaving party for me. It was pretty good and everything, but we left it too late to go home as we missed the last bus, and we couldn't exactly walk in case of Strigoi. So, like, 6 of us were camping out in the field behind Anoushka's house. I was sharing a tent with the 2 other girls, but they'd fallen asleep really early because they'd had drinks, and I didn't want to go to sleep then because I wanted to sleep on the plane."

Sophia understood; I didn't like flying, so I always tried to sleep through it.
"The sound of Anoushka's snoring was really annoying me, so I went and sat outside, under this big tree. I was just looking at the stars and thinking about how we had to be back at school in a few weeks, when someone came and sat down beside me."

Sophia's eyes lit up, noticing the important part of the story.
"It was Aleks. He couldn't sleep either, because he hadn't drunk anything so I wasn't the only one left sober, and the snoring was really loud over by the tents.
We stayed up talking for a couple of hours, and when he realised how cold I was he'd got a blanket from the tent and we were both sitting under it, and he had his arm around me."

Sophia broke into my story to 'aaw' at that.

"The sun was just staring to rise when I remembered it was my last day, and he told me he didn't want me to go.
Then I got one of my weird word-future things and it was like 'Some new dawns burn brighter than others, and stretch into the horizon of forever."
I didn't realise I'd said it out loud for a second, until he held me tighter. Then I turned to look at him. And I was just thinking about how amazing he looked in all the sunrise colours and everything when I realised he was looking at me in the same way."

"Eee!" Sophia squealed, and I gave her a death glare.

"And the next thing I know, we've both leant forward and he's kissing me." I couldn't help the huge grin that spread over my face at that.

"ANYA!" Sophia screamed, and hugged me really tight. I swear, she was one baby step away from a victory dance.
"Finally! It took you long enough!" She shouted.

"Yeah, yeah. Alright. No need to rub it in."
As shocking as it may be, yes. The daughter of Rose Hathaway took nearly 16 years to get kissed. Not that others hadn't tried, because many had, but I hadn't let them. I'd always felt strangely like I was cheating on Aleks, though we'd never actually been together. At the end of the day, I loved him enough that the thought of being with anyone else was just wrong.

Sophia shook her head in amazement.
"Well, that was one hell of a first kiss."

I grinned. "Yeah, beats round the back of the cafeteria pressed up against a dumpster with Brace-face Bryce."

She cringed. "Don't remind me. Anyway, back to you. What was it like?"

I was well aware of the goofy smile on my face, but made no effort to remove it yet.
"Amazing." I replied simply.

"Aaaw. It must have been really great to have your first kiss with someone you love. Must take some of the awkwardness away." She mused.

"Yeah, it was just really sweet. But then everyone else started to wake up, and I had to go back home. I didn't see Aleks again until I was literally leaving. He came with me to the airport and we didn't talk about it or anything, and his emotions were too weird to get a fix on. Then we hugged, he kissed my cheek and he promised he'd email me. And that was it."

Sophia sighed dramatically, clasping her hands over her heart, falling back onto the bed. "It's so Romeo and Juliet."

I snorted. "Well, I hope we don't end up dead at the end. And our families are friends, not enemies. And we never got married. And we've known each other for years..."

"Alright, alright. I get it. Not Romeo and Juliet. More like From Russia With Love." She said, and I rolled my eyes. James Bond obviously had nothing to do with anything except for the name, so I didn't dignify it with an answer.
I fell back on the bed beside her.

"So what about you and Jet?"
Now it was her turn to look dreamy.

"Better than ever. And I told my mom about us."

"Really? What did she say?"
Sophia and Jet had been dating secretly for about 6 months now, but there had been something between them for a while before that. She hadn't told her mom because there was the slight issue of her being the Queen's daughter, and Jet being a Dhampir.

Sophia sighed. "She said she'd know for ages, that she'd seen it in our auras, and so had Adrian. They'd just been waiting for us to say it."

I had actually known that Lissa and Adrian had known about Sophia and Jet. In fact, everyone in our group did. I could feel their emotions when they looked at them ranging from happiness that they were so good for each other, usual parent-ish jealousy that their children were growing up. And pity.
Pity because though the situation wasn't quite as desperate as before, there were now 8 Dragomirs in existence, the children would still be expected to carry on the bloodline.
And Jet was a Dhampir. Any children that Sophia and Jet had would also be Dhampirs, which Sophia definitely didn't care about, but a Dhampir couldn't carry on the Dragomir line.

We were silent for a minute.
"What did she say about the... little Dragomir issue?" I asked.

Sophia sighed.
"She didn't mention it, I guess because she thinks we still have a few years left and that anything can happen between now and then."
Though she sounded upset, I could feel a calm resignation in her.
"And maybe it will be better if I don't have a Moroi child. I mean, Spirit seems to be sort of inherited. By having a Dhampir child, I'd be saving them from suffering like me."

I cringed, knowing how hard it was for her, and all the other Spirit users, to keep the darkness at bay.
To cover my uneasiness, I changed subject.
"So other than that, it sounds like it's been a pretty average couple of weeks?"

Sophia grinned. "Well, we couldn't all spend the holiday making out with hot Russians, now could we?"

"And which hot Russian would that be?" A voice behind us said.

Ooh, cliffie. Pleaseee review and tell me what you think of the story- I haven't had many for this :( Reviews are like virtual doughnuts- and I'm hungry :o So review and you get a virtual doughnut too :)