I looked at my dad. And lord help me! He was smiling. "Right on time Belikov. I was beginning to wonder if you were going to make it. She was just about to leave."

I sat in the driver's seat, jaw gapping a bit. No fucking way!

I hit the locks before he was two feet in front of my car.

He tried to open it and lifted one of his eyebrows at me. I rolled the passenger's window down a little bit so he could hear me. "Rule number one, I drive. Rule number two, I don't allow Russians in my Hummer."

My dad gave me a tight smile. "Rosemarie, let him in."

I glared at my dad, and before anyone could act, I put the car in drive and raced out of there. I vaguely, saw Dimitri back away out of instinct, and heard the tires screech the white marble floor.

Oops. I left a mark.

I could practically hear Dimitri swear in Russian. I saw in the rearview mirror that he ran back to the SUV to chase after me.

Damn, he's coming.

I just about jumped out of my seat and hit the brakes at the same time when a voice came out of nowhere.

"Incoming call." It said.

Silence.

"Incoming call, would you like to pick up? Say yes if so, if no, ignore."

What the hell? Do I have On Star? That's it, when I pull over I am going to check out my policy.

"Yes." I said.

Scilence.

"Damn it Rose, pull over." A familiar accented voice said furiously.

"No thanks Dimitri. How about you go back to Lissa."

"She already-"He was about to say Eddie was assigned to her.

"I know, I know. Go back there. I don't want you with me."

There was silence. When I thought he hung up and gave up, he spoke. "I'm coming with you, Roza."

My breath caught when he said my old nickname. I wanted to cry, but I held it in. I don't cry. I cried too many tears for him. Enough was enough. I drew the line that night in the chapel.

Suddenly a digging noise drew my attention to the dash board. I saw that I had low fuel.

"What's that noise? Is everything okay?"

I rolled my eyes. Like he cares.

"Where are you at Rose?"

I smiled. He couldn't see me. I lost him. I looked on my rearview mirror, and saw that I had On Star, and that I had a green button and a red button that indicated talk and hang up. I pressed the red button.

"Call ended." The voice said.

I saw a Speedway, and decided to pull over. I knew Dimitri would be searching every gas station. He would find me, but I would ditch him later. I pulled up to the closest pump to the building and parked it. I got out, slid my card in the machine, hit regular, opened the door to the tank and put the nozzle in the tank and started pumping fuel.

I heard footsteps approach me. I smelled him before he could start talking. "I knew you wouldn't be too far behind."I looked over my shoulder and saw Dimitri, with his arms crossed and his face impassive. I felt my death glare pop back into place. "You should have stayed home."

He glared back at me. Glared! Dimitri never once glared at me, even when a strigoi. "I said I was coming."

"I said I didn't want you with me. We are over, remember?"

"This has nothing to do with our past relationship."

"Then why are you here? I specifically told you, you weren't coming. Was the punch in the jaw not clear enough? If not, I don't mind doing it again."

"Fighting is not the answer, Rose."

I laughed humorlessly. "Last chance, go home."

"I don't have a home."

"Then go back to your hero. I'm sure she misses you."

"I'm sure she doesn't need my help."

I put the lever down on the pump to keep it gas pumping out, while I let go. I walked back over to the driver's door and got the key from the ignition. No way is he driving my car.

I walked over to him, inches away from his lips. "Why do you want to help me, Dimitri?" I asked softly. It left my lips like honey.

"You are going to need backup one day, and if you don't have it, you could get hurt."

I took a step back. "Why do you care?"

"I owe you."

I gave him an abhorred look. "You owe me nothing." I turned away and went back to pumping gas. When it was full, I put the nuzzle back into its holder, screw the lid back on the tank and shut the gas tank's door. Should I let him come? I could use second opinions, though I would rather do this alone. Maybe, just maybe I could crack that shell of his. Turn him back into the Dimitri I know and love.

Then I turned back to Dimitri, with my decision made. It was worth a shot. I couldn't believe I didn't think of this before.

"Fine, you can come. But on two conditions."

He kept looking at me, ready for me to name the conditions.

"One, I drive." His face hardened at that, but allowed it. "Two, we work together as equals. I'm a guardian now, so no more Zen lessons."

"We have always worked together as equals, Roza."

I ignored that last part, mainly because I didn't know if it was true or not. I got in the driver's side, and shut the door. Dimitri walked over to the passenger's side, and tried to open the door. He gave me a stern look.

I unlocked it. "Sorry, forgot it was still locked."

He gave me a 'quiet lying to me', look and got in and buckled up, while I started the car. "Where to?"

Suddenly, the voice came back and said, "Madison road to Interstate 97."

"I guess Abe has his own plans." I said. I followed the direction and got on freeway.

"Four hours until destination." The voice said.

"What is the destination?" I asked

"Best Western Hotel." It said

I scowled. "I hate hotels."

We- okay, I, drove in silence. Dimitri stared out the window. I kept stealing glances at him. After all this time, I still had a hard time believing Dimitri was back. Not that I ever got used to the fact that he was gone- it was agony thinking about that. But he is here. Alive. A dhampire.

I sighed. I hate life.

"I have the best looking car on the road." I said.

Dimitri glanced at me, a smile playing on his lips. "It's nice."

"It's me." I said proudly. "To think, Abe actually trusts me enough with a car." I laughed. "Maybe it's a graduation present." I smiled. I would like to think that. Though, getting a car for graduating is pretty extreme. Though, me graduating, I could tell everyone thought that was a big accomplishment for me.

More silence.

"Rose…" Dimitri started.

I didn't take my eyes off the road, but I felt Dimitri's eyes on me. "Yeah." I responded.

"Why are you in contact with Abe?"

I looked at him, surprised he hasn't figured it out. I quickly put my eye's back on the road. Though I hadn't moved, I scolded myself for taking them off the road. "I'm surprised you haven't figured it out yet."

"Who is he to you?" He asked.

I sighed. "I met Abe in Russia."

"I already knew that." He said, pushing me to talk.

"Well, it turns out that-" I was cut off.

"Incoming call." I swerved a little, but not enough that Dimitri was worried. It looked like he was a little startled too.

"Holy shit! What!" I yelled.

"Answer incoming call?"

"Fine, yes, whatever."

"Rose?" Abe's voice asked.

"Holy shit, old man, you nearly gave me a heart attack." I complained.

He chuckled. "I thought that was impossible."

"Well, glad I amuse you. What do you want?" I barked out.

"Rose." Dimitri said in a warning.

I ignored him.

"I guess I forgot to mention that you have On Star."

"Yes, and did I mention that I hate you?"

"Why is that?" His voice was full with amusement.

"Because one, you scared the shit out of me. And second, you can track me. Don't you know On Star has a tracking device in it?"

"Really? You don't say."

"Old man, you're on my last nerve."

"I don't really care, Rose. Is Belikov with you?"

Realization hit. "Okay, I really hate you now. You contacted him, didn't you?"

Silence.

"Old man, answer the question. You called him. Why?"

"I called him because I don't want you going off alone again. Rose, you nearly- no, you gave your mother a heart attack last time when you left."

"Would you and everyone else quiet it with the whole lecture about how stupid it was? I can handle myself. Hell, I took on two strigoi and once."

"And in conclusion you got a concussion because of it. You were pretty out of it too. I thought you had brain damage. Do you know what your mother is like when she is pissed?"

I rolled my eyes. I could imagine the things she would put him through. Something tells me he wouldn't hide from her, either. "Bye Abe." I hit the red button before he could say anything.

"Sorry about that. He's an asshole most the time. You get use to it after a while. Though, I'm sure you won't be getting use to it."

"Why is that?

"Incoming call." That stupid mechanical voice said again.

"Ignore-"

"Yes." I said,

"Answering incoming call."

"Uhhhh!" I yelled in frustration. "Hang up."

"It doesn't work like that, little girl."

"Stop calling me that!" I yelled.

"Is Belikov with you?" He asked, wasting no time. "I haven't the time for your games now, Rose."

"For the love of God, yes."

"Good, that is all I needed to know."

A thought occurred to me. "Abe-wait."

"Mmm."

"Are, are you staying in court?"

"My sweet, little girl." He laughed. "I'm on my way back to Europe."

"Oh." I said, slightly disappointed. Even though I bicker a lot with him, I like seeing him.

"I will see you later, Rose."

That brought a smile to my face. "Bye Dad. Thanks for the car."

"By Rose. Take care." He hung up, and I looked back at Dimitri, who was staring at me with a flabbergasted expression.

"Abe is your father?" He finally managed to say after a few moments.

"Yup. Now we both know where I get my awesome hair from." I smiled. I looked at him really quickly, then put my eyes back on the road. "I seem to share a lot of the same traits with him."

"Such as imperviousness, being petulant and adamant?"

I frowned. "Yeah. I guess." Man, Dimitri knows how to kill a conversation. I refused to end the conversation though. I looked at Dimitri, and I instantly thought about Olena, his mother. I missed, her, and I wondered how she was doing. Has Dimitri talked to her yet? I needed to know. "So, um, can I ask you something."

I could feel Dimitri's reluctance to reply. "Sure."

"Are- never mined." I chickened out. Right now was a hard time for Dimitri. Maybe mentioning his mother would be too much for him. I didn't want to strain him.

"What is it?" There was curiosity in his voice. He was probably wondering why I backed down.

"I was, well, sort of wondering if, you, uhm.."

"Spit it out." He said.

"Have you talked to your mother recently?" I asked. I didn't look at him, afraid of his reaction, of the emotion in his eyes.

He didn't talk, so being me, I urged him on. "I like her. She was very nice. A very good cook too." I dared a peep at him, and his expression looked pained. "You should go visit her. She misses you a lot."

Surprise and even a flash of anger burned in his eyes. "You didn't tell her I was strigoi?"

I looked at him in astonishment. "Yes, I did. That was one of the things I went to Russia for."

He turned back to window. "Let it go, Rose."

"Sorry." I said, and I meant it. I never liked causing him distress. And in asking that question, well, I managed causing him agony.

The rest of the ride was long and quiet. The ride was no longer a comfortable silence. It was just silence. I turned on the radio half way there. Dimitri didn't seem to even notice.

My favorite song came on, and Dimitri looked at me weirdly as I tapped my fingers lightly to the beat on the wheel. "What?" I asked innocently.

"I never thought you were the type for this kind of music?"

"Metal? Sure. I'm into a lot of music."

"But not eighties music." He stated.

"Or country." I added.

"Who's the artist."

"It's a band. Their name is Bullet for my Valentine."

He gave me a strange look. "Interesting name."

I laughed, imagining what he was thinking. "You have to admit it Comrade, you like it."

"It's…different."

I smiled. It wasn't a no.