Hey everyone :) Sorry for the wait.

And ASPFJSD GISHG ISDHFI HAIG AHIAI

WHO HAS SEEN THAT PICTURE OF ZOEY AND DANILA?! ON THE OVAM FACEBOOK PAGE?! The caption- 'Remember to breathe...' I FORGOT TO BREATHE FOR A FULL 30 SECONDS.
I think my brain turned to mush. Heart stopped beating. Everything else frozen.
IT'S ROSE AND DIMITRI XD

Just looking at it again... fangirling so hard in the middle of the night, I just had to put this chapter up in celebration. HAPPY 4TH JULY, PEOPLE :D

*Disclaimer: Vampire Academy belongs to Richelle Mead*

Meet me by the tree outside the dorms in 5 minutes. Wear something warm.

Where are we going?

You'll see.

Aleks was already waiting by the time I got outside. I'd left a note for Sophia telling her where I was in case she woke up and panicked when she saw my empty bed and I didn't return straight away.

"So where are we going at this hour? I wasn't aware St. Vlads had such a vibrant night life."

"Poor Arctic boy. The only nightlife you're used to is 'seal clubbing'."

Aleks laughed at my pathetic joke. "At least that's keeping us fit whilst you Americans just get fat on burgers."

"Hey! You're our turf now, Sasha. We may not all be too agile in a fight, but we can always sit on you and crush you to death."

We walked in comfortable silence back to the girls' dorms, sneaking up the maintenance stairs on the first floor, using my spare key that I had stolen from the caretaker years ago.
After climbing 5 flights of stairs, we came to the door that led out onto the roof terrace. This part of it was covered in pipes and general old junk that nobody cared about enough to throw away.

"You come here often? I really like what you've done with the place." Aleks quipped.

"That's a shame, because we're not stopping here." I replied seriously, crossing to the far corner of the roof.

I climbed nimbly on top of 2 electrical boxes, pulling myself up onto the tiled ledge. Laying on my stomach on the sun-warmed tiles, I turned to see Aleks following me, albeit more cautiously.

As Aleks pulled himself up beside me, I didn't let myself get distracted by the way the hem of his T-shirt got caught on the tile, lifting up to expose smooth skin and hard muscle.
I looked away quickly in case I fell off the roof or something.

I got up, and then began carefully walking along the narrow point across where the 2 sides of the roof met. One foot in front of the other, like a tightrope walker, I was thankful for Dhampir coordination and balance.

After waling the 30 metres or so, I jumped down onto the small flat rooftop in front of me.

This was my secret place, that I had found one night when I was about 12. I had been intending to go to Court to see my parents that weekend, but at the last minute they had been sent away on a raid. They hadn't called me the next day to say that they were safe, and I'd been too stressed to stay with everyone else. So I'd climbed up onto the roof to wait for their call, and found this hidden spot that I was pretty sure no one had ever got to before.
Whilst waiting here, I'd got the call telling me that my parents were alive and well, and ever since then, it had become my place to come when I was stressed, angry, needed to be away from the world, or just wanted some peace and quiet to think.

I loved all my friends dearly, but sometimes I just needed some space. They could be quite full-on sometimes. The only other place or time that I got the feeling of peace like I did on my rooftop was when I was with Aleks. We didn't have to do anything to fill the time, or speak to fill the silence. We just knew that we would always be there for each other.

So bringing Aleks up here was like... well, the rest of the world might as well have never existed. I had all I needed to stay here, in my secret place, forever.

I heard a light thud as Aleks dropped down nest to me.

"Now this is better."

I busied myself taking the tarp off the collapsible crates I kept stuff in. Over the course of several years, I had brought everything up one-by-one, until I had everything I needed here. I had a box with spare coats and blankets, copies of my favourite books, notepads and pens and a sketchbook. There was a sleeping bag, and even a folding chair up here, which had almost caused me to lose my balance and fall off the roof when bringing it across one particularly windy day.

Ignoring the chair, Aleks and I sat down amongst a pile of blankets, huddled in the corner. We sat very close, as we always did when we were alone. It was comfortable that way, and felt safe. I felt whole.

"So what did you mean? What's bothering you?" I asked.

Aleks sighed, then was silent for a minute before answering.

"It's just that this all happened so fast. One minute I'm planning what stupid stuff we're going to get up to this year, then I'm on a plane across the ocean coming here. I'm glad I'm here, obviously, because it means I get to see you, which is great."
He paused again, collecting his thoughts as my heart swelled with affection for him. Even if he didn't see me romantically, he still valued me as a friend.
"I feel like I didn't have any control in this, it all happened so fast. I hate being out of the loop, and I feel like there's something I don't know. They never usually send anyone to America, even having contacts and language skills."

"You're just annoyed because someone else planned it without you." I teased. When he didn't answer, I knew I was right.
"It doesn't really matter that you weren't in the know, it wasn't like they knocked you out and shoved you on a plane."

He smiled at that. "And why is the reason so important? I know you like to be in control and make informed decisions about everything, but you're here, that's all that matters. If you ask me, you got lucky not having to deal with all the planning."

Aleks rolled his eyes. "Well, of course you would say that. You can't even organise a list of what you want for your birthday."

I glared. "That better not be an excuse because you haven't got me a birthday present. Or I'll knock you out and tie you naked to a tree covered in birdseed." I threatened.

Aleks just smiled amicably. "And where will you be getting the birdseed from?" I narrowed my eyes, and he laughed at my expression. "Don't worry, you don't have to go shopping for sun seeds just yet. I have your present all sorted."

"You had better."

We sat in companionable silence for a little while, until I broke it.

"Hey, have you heard from your brother since you've been here?"

"No, nothing." He replied, a sad edge to his voice. Aleks cared a lot about his older brother, but since he graduated from St. Basil's 3 years ago, he'd been travelling around Russia with his Moroi.

"Does he even know you've left Russia?"

"Yeah, mama said she got a call from him a couple of days before I left. I was still at St. Basils, so I missed it. But I checked her phone afterwards to make sure she wasn't lying."

I snorted. "You can't even trust your own mother. Charming. Are you like that with every woman in your life?"

"Hey, I let you lead me up onto an abandoned rooftop at night, didn't I? I think that requires a certain amount of confidence in someone." Aleks teased. After a minute, he sighed heavily. "When I got back from St. Basil's, it seemed as though she was tense and on edge, like she was keeping something from me. It was probably just the stress of sending me overseas alone, but I still felt she was hiding something."

"It was probably just the stress."
Despite my words of comfort, his mother's unease seemed out of character. Valentina was a very level-headed woman, hardly fazed by anything. She was kind and warm to everyone, not unlike my babushka Olena. Valentina's mother was friends with Olena, and had been a childhood friend of my aunt Sonya.

Aleks picked up on my confusion over his mother's behaviour, so I shoved down any doubts I had. I tended to get a little paranoid over things, a downside to being able to see the future. If I saw something bad- I worried that I wouldn't be able to change it. If I saw nothing at all- I felt uneasy that I hadn't seen a positive outcome.
Most of the time, seeing the future didn't make life any easier. Because it was so temperamental, it actually kind of screwed up your judgement and left you unprepared- like if Superman's flying ability flicked on and off with no warning. One minute he's flying, the next he's plummeting to his death.

"Durak?"

"Huh?" I snapped out of my random superman thoughts, startle gaze focussing on Aleks.

"Do you want to play a game of Durak?" He asked, holding up a pack of cards from the box.

It seemed he'd had enough of the emotional talk tonight, instead slipping back into his comfortable, carefree persona. Honestly, I hadn't expected him to last this long.

Clearing any lingering thoughts out of my mind, I nodded. "Sure. I'd never turn down a chance to kick your ass."

"In your dreams."

I smiled serenely, not bothering to argue back. After all, I already knew which cards I would be dealt, the choices I had to make, and who the winner would be.

Meh, maybe my unpredictable second sight wasn't so bad after all.

Sorry for taking a while to update this chapter, I didn't have it pre-written and got stuck writing the Anya/Aleks exchanges. The next part is already written, and will hopefully be better. At least it's funny :P