Rose motherly wisdom coming right up!

A huge thank you to Roza-Dimka-Reader for being my 100th reviewer on this story, and to everyone else who has followed, favourited or reviewed. You're amazing! :D

Disclaimer: Vampire Academy belongs to Richelle Mead. I'm just borrowing it.

Pushing off from the desk, I spun the chair around before throwing my pen across the room. It clattered against the skirting board before falling silently to the carpet. 2 hours of homework, and I'd finally finished for the night. I probably should have done it a week ago, but still. I was free now.

Slowing to a halt, I came to a stop in front of the desk again. Sophia was with Jet and it wasn't curfew for another hour, so I booted up my laptop, planning to waste some time watching fail videos on YouTube.

But instead, the icon for an incoming Skype call popped up. Clicking on it, I saw my mom was online. We hadn't spoken in a little while, so I was pleased to see it. She'd been busy lately, and I wanted to talk to her.

A couple of seconds later, mom's face popped up on the screen. She was still in her uniform, but her hair was loose so she had clearly finished work for the day. She smiled when she saw me.

"Hi baby! How are you?"

"I'm good mom... where's dad?" Normally, mom would have shouted for him by now, and he'd have run over to say hello.

"Away." Mom made a face. "Christian's at some stupid meeting with some old Moroi ass. He won't be back for a couple of days." Even after all the times this must have happened over the years, she still got so irritated about being away from dad. It was both sweet and gross in equal measures.

"Oh well, at least you and Lissa get some time together."

"Very true. You and Lissa Jr got up to anything interesting lately?" She paused to reconsider for a second. "Obviously not- I haven't had Kirova on the phone, so can't be anything too special. I'm disappointed. You're supposed to be continuing the Hathaway Reign of Terror."

I rolled my eyes. "It's a good thing dad isn't there to hear you say that."

She grinned. "I wouldn't have said it if he was."

It was true. The good thing about talking to mom without him there was that I didn't have to witness their fights that ended up more as flirting than actual conflict. Gross. I needed to remove that mental image. "Actually, something good is interesting is happening. Outcast Monarchy has been chosen to do a concert for the prom fundraiser."

Mom looked suitably impressed. "That's great Anya! I'm so glad that you're finally going to get the chance to perform in front of other people. You deserve it- all of you." Her expression shifted. "Speaking of 'all of you', what's the latest on the Aleks situation? If he's still being a jerk, I can come over there and scare him a bit if you want."

I'm sure my eyes practically bugged out of my head at that point. "Wait, how do you know about that?" I regretted my words instantly. I'd basically just confirmed that there was a problem, so couldn't deny it now.

It was mom's turn to roll her eyes. "I may not be psychic, but I'm not a complete idiot. You've stopped talking about him all the time, there's no more 'me and Aleks this, me and Alex that', the grades on your end-of-term report were a little lower than average, and you looked like crap the last time I spoke to you. Obviously something's changed, since you no longer look like a kicked puppy."

"I... why didn't you say something then?"

"I wasn't going to kick you even more! Why, did you want a lecture? Because I have the perfect one-"

"-Nope, that's fine," I interjected quickly. "He's being an ass, hanging around with Hayden and sucking face with Brooke every opportunity he gets."

Mom pretended to vomit at that, which made me laugh. "Ew, that slut? I thought the boy had standards. Clearly I was wrong. He's gone right down in my list of prospective boyfriends for you. Far enough that I might actually let your dad win the bet that you won't end up married before I try and get you together-"

"Mom!" I shouted, but in all fairness, I was trying not to laugh. "Too far."

She sobered up a little. "Sorry. I know this must be hard for you. I know how it feels when a friend turns out to be someone completely different to who they seemed to be." She was talking about her friend Natalie, who had turned Strigoi to help her father. Not exactly the same situation, but the principal was the same. "And if you're in love with them too..."

Of course she knew about that too. Honestly, I hadn't expected any different. I decided to just go for it, and told her everything that had happened. She looked genuinely shocked at some points, others she just looked sad. But aside from the odd short interjection to check facts, she stayed quiet and waited for me to finish.
"And I know that under all his bullshit, there is this amazing person that nobody else gets to see. And I think he knows it, but still can't let go of that other attitude and outlook on life, because he likes what it allows him to have too much. I've waited so long for him to realise that, and I've tried to get him to see it myself, but he always slips back into his old ways."

Mom sighed. "Honey, I know it's hard. And you're right; the old Aleks was an amazing person. But he's changed, and people do that. That's just life." She looked me in the eye. "And I know you love that side of him and want it to come back. And even if other people forget about that side of him, you know it's there. But he may never go back to the person he was."

I blinked back tears. "But all this time, I believed that I could be the one to help him see that. I always thought that if he was with me, we'd be amazing, and that he'd become the person I always knew he was."

"The truth is, if you were to go out with him now, as he is, you may be able to change him one day. He might remember who he was, because relationships shape you that way. But it might just bring you down."

"So I can't help him? He'd have to change to be with me? I don't want him to have to be someone he's not, even if it's... who he really is." It made more sense in my head.

Mom sighed. "It's complicated, Anya. People are. When we love someone, and spend a lot of time with them, we change. Just look at your dad and I. People who hadn't seen us in a while always commented on the change- but in a good way. That's not a bad thing- we balance each other. But that wasn't easy."

I frowned, confused.

"Do you remember I told you that time I was with Jesse Zeklos in the lounge, and dad burst in on us?"

"Kinda."

She went on to re-tell the story, going into more detail about their conversation afterwards. "Up until then, I wasn't a very good person. I was rude, reckless, and though I cared about protecting Lissa, I was selfish. Sort of like Aleks is now." She paused. "And it was only when all those negative things caused that event that I got an opportunity to change. Dimitri was the one that ultimately helped me change, because I wanted to make him proud of me and because I was ashamed of what he thought of me, but if I hadn't been in that situation, I might never have reached that point."

I thought about that for a minute. "So what you're saying is that although I could be the person to change Aleks, I can't do that just by myself? It's beyond my control. And in the end, it's his decision."

She nodded sadly. "Exactly. You could point out to him that he's not the best version of himself, and he could even want to be better, but he has to be willing to let you help. Like for me, feeling ashamed wasn't enough, I had to agree to put in the time to do those extra training and give up the social life that I liked. He has to really want to change, and work on it himself."

"And maybe I've given him incentive, but not the metaphorical 'extra training sessions' that it will take to let him get back to who he was, even if he wants to."

Mom nodded, glad I was understanding. "And you'd have to be willing to sacrifice time to help him with that too." Before I could interrupt, she continued, "I know you would, but you'd have to give up something of yourself, and it may not even come to anything. You might have to cope with failure, as well as the loss of something important. Not to mention the 'push', like Dimitri walking in on Jesse and me, would be pretty bad for you. It could cause pain, jealousy, and even cause you to resent Aleks and almost give up trying at all."

I leaned back in my chair, spinning slowly. "This relationship and love stuff is so hard.I always looked at you and dad and thought 'yeah, they had a lot of challenges to overcome', but I guess I thought that since you were already in love unconditionally, you could get through anything."

Mom shook her head. "That is partly true, but you've got part of it wrong. Yes, when you love someone that much, it does make most things easier. And we did fall so insanely in love that it really left us no choice. But that doesn't mean it was easy. People look at us and think it's like a movie, where we had this perfect, undeniable love that just 'happened' and was perfect. But that's not true."

She must have seen t expression on my face, a mix of shock and disappointment. It turned to confusion when she laughed.
"Ok, so it was perfect and I still look back and think of it as some kind of, slightly twisted, fairy tale. And I do believe that we were meant to be together. But just because we were 'supposed' to be together didn't mean that we were guaranteed it. In fact, it was really touch-and-go for a while.
Whatever fairytales make you believe, falling in love isn't easy. It never is. There's always going to be heartache, uncertainty, and it takes sacrifices and high risks. And when it works, it is so worth it. But it is never as easy as perfect love at first sight. That just doesn't happen."

I took a minute to think over my mom's words.

"So it's not because I did something wrong, or missed an opportunity I could have changed things? Life just got in the way?"

Mom nodded. "You might have been able to do something differently and have changed the outcome, yes, definitely. But at the same time, you could have made it worse. It doesn't mean that you love him any less, or that it never would have worked out. Because actually, I'm sure it would have."

"Gee, thanks. That makes me feel so much better." It actually did, though. Knowing that I hadn't been wrong, and wasted all this time.

Seeming to sense what I was thinking, mom took my hand. "It may not be too late, Anya. Whether it's tomorrow, next week, 6 months or 10 years down the line, he could realise what he's missing on his own, or you could show him, or somebody else could bring out his best side."

That made me jealous.

"But you can't wait forever, sweetheart. There's got to be a point where you tell yourself that you can't wait any longer. Maybe after this, one day, you'll get another chance. But you have to let go one day. Because otherwise, you'll be holding onto the past so tight that you won't have your arms free to embrace the future. And then you'll look back, and you really will have wasted your time."

"I understand, and you're right. And I guess I'm getting a little closer to moving on now- it doesn't hurt so bad anymore. But before I can let go, I need closure."

Mom nodded. "That's good. I'm proud of you. I know how hard it is to try and move on, believe me. And you can't get much more closure than I did, even if I did fail. And I'm glad I did. But it just goes to show that even after you've given up all hope, let go, and decided to move on with your life, anything can happen."

Just then, I heard giggling outside the door, followed by deeper laughter. Sophia and Jet were back, and whilst I wouldn't have had a problem continuing this conversation with my best friend hearing it, Jet would be a little bit weird.

"I have to go now mom," I told her regretfully. "But I'll talk to you soon, yeah? Text me when dad gets back so I can talk to him as well."

"Alright, I'll let you go sweetie. Say hi to everyone for me. I love you."

"Love you too mom," I said, before cutting the connection.

Pinning the chair around again, I faced the door just as it opened and Sophia fell through it, laughing. "See you tomorrow babe."

With a contented sigh, Sophia dropped down onto her bed. I crossed the room to do the same. We were quiet for a minute, enjoying the companionable silence.

"So, good night I take it?" I asked her.

She turned to me with a smile. "Yes, good night. You?"

After a moment's hesitation, I answered. "I think so. We'll have to see, but I think so."

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