Hey everyone!

This is my longest chapter so far, enjoy it!

Since Christmas is coming up, I figured that I should give you something, and this is all I could come up with.
For those of you who don't celebrate Christmas, take this as a reward for being such a loyal viewer.

It might have a few mistakes, so take my appology now: SORRY! =P

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Enjoy!

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their rightful owner, Richelle Mead. I own nothing - except this plot; Alexei; Stephanie; Guardian Lowe and Guardian Flettin.

Chapter 13

RPOV

It was a few hours until we were on a plane back to Montana.

We had picked Lissa up on the way, and left Stephanie at the airport with no memory of the past few months.

I was glad to see Lissa again, and know she was safely with me.

Alexei was in the seat beside me; he still hadn't regained consciousness and I was starting to worry. Lissa had already tried – and failed – to wake him up, she had given up but was still close enough to help if anything changed.

I hadn't spoken to Dimitri since he had been taken away; Janine had promptly given orders to the guardians – one of which included keeping him as far away from me as possible – much to my dismay. But I intended to break that rule as soon as I could.

Staring out the window at the beautiful pink sunset, I realized how tired I really was, and fell into a lethargic sleep.

The plane landed with a thud - waking me up – and we were driven back to the Academy

As soon as we arrived, we were taken straight to the clinic for routine checkups. They wanted to keep Alexei there until he comes around, so I hadn't been back to my dorm yet to change – or anywhere else for that matter. Instead I sat silently in a plastic chair next to Alexei's bed; waiting patiently for Dr Olendzki to return with the results.

I gently held his hand, making sure to avoid disturbing the cords that were connected to his arm. It made me ill to see him so vulnerable, and to be honest, that scared the hell out of me. His small figure looked out of place against the white sheets of the bed.

A lone tear escaped and rolled down my cheek; to be promptly wiped away. This little action made me jump, both at the fact that I hadn't heard them enter, and that I had let my guard down.

Immediately, I let myself become aware of my surroundings. There seemed to be a lot of commotion occurring behind the clinic doors. The sound of it made me stand up; but not before carefully lowering Alexei's hand.

I dropped into a protective stance in front of the bed, putting myself between it and the door.

A reassuring hand was placed on my shoulder, sending calming thoughts into me.

I spared a look at Lissa trying to tell her how much I appreciated it. Feelings of exhaustion and pity flowed through the bond; exhaustion because, unlike me, she hadn't been able to sleep on the plane; and pity because, apparently, I didn't look too great. Somehow she still managed to look stunningly flawless – even through the fatigue she was facing.

She dropped her hand. "Word has gotten out about Alexei's…healing abilities, and some people are thrilled, but there are a few that think it's unnatural." She must have seen the shock on my face, because she quickly continued; "They don't know what he is, or that Dimitri is the father - only the few guardians and moroi that helped in the rescue know," the bond told me that she didn't judge me.

The noise rose to astonishing levels outside, making me throw a cautious glance at the door.

"Don't worry, they can't get in; the extra guardians are outside. Even your mother is-" she was cut off by the door opening.

In walked Dr. Olendzki and a few choice people; one of which was the reason behind the rise in noise.

The guardians at the door struggled to keep the crowd back; but finally the doors closed, and I could focus on the visitors. Some of them I had expected, others – like Dimitri, Janine and Abe – I hadn't

"Rose," Dr. Olendzki walked over to me holding a clipboard; "I have the results for Alexei." She didn't look concerned as she said this, her face only showed relief. The group stayed behind her – except for Christian who went to stand alongside Lissa.

"It's all good news," she continued; "going by his recovery rate, he should be awake in a few minutes."

Relief flowed through both Lissa and myself; "What are you guys doing here?" I asked the others.

Janine spoke first; "The guardians at the door don't know how much longer they can hold everyone back, we're here for your protection – and Alexei's," she added.

"But how did you get here?" I questioned Dimitri, both Janine and Abe looked like they would rather he wasn't. The last I saw of him, he was being taken to one of the Academy cells for further observation.

"I can answer that," Dr. Olendzki quickly interrupted; "After I was finished here; I went to the Academy cells to conduct a few tests on Dimitri. As soon as his results came back, I released them to the public," she paused for a moment, unsure whether to continue or not.

Dimitri finished for her; "After that, they made a few cuts and bruises with a stake, and sent me away." He tried to make it sound like it was nothing, but I knew better.

"Wait, when you say cuts…"

He held out his left hand, to reveal a long slash that cut across his palm. The blood had dried around the edges, making me flinch.

"You know, most people would be satisfied with a small scratch; but no, you had to go all out didn't you?" While everyone was laughing, I watched Dimitri, as a small smile briefly flashed across his face. It didn't matter that it was only a hint of one – or that it disappeared a moment later – the point is, it was there. It reminded me of the old Dimitri, before all of this happened.

Thinking quickly, I reached under Alexei's bed and retrieved a mini first aid kit. I placed it on the foot of the bed, unzipped it, and grabbed the antiseptic, a few cotton buds, a wad of gauze, and a bandage. I then dragged Dimitri over to the chair I sat on before. He started to object, but I wouldn't take no for an answer.

Realising what I was doing, Dr. Olendzki muttered; "That's my job." but left me to it.

Kneeling in front of him, I used the antiseptic and cotton buds to clean the wound Pain briefly flashed in his eyes, momentarily making me pause.

"Are you okay?"

His guardian mask locked back into place, and he gave me a stiff nod. I stared into his brown eyes, to see if he was really okay.

Abe noisily cleared his throat.

"Don't like it, don't look," I responded. Satisfied that Dimitri was fine, I continued to patch him up. Next I put the gauze over the – now clean – cut, and used the bandage to hold it in place.

Once I had finished, he flexed his hand; finding out how manoeuvrable it was. The bandage had to be rapped around his wrist a few times to keep the gauze still - but that was a necessity – and was the only thing restricting him. Finally he decided it was good enough and stood up, joining the others – excluding Christian and Lissa – around the walls.

I stood next to Lissa in front of the bed

After a few minutes of standing around, I started to relax. But before I could begin to lean against the bed, the voices outside escalated again; only this time it didn't die down.

There was a loud THUD, which could only be the sound of a guardian hitting the floor.

Then there was another – identical to the first – signalling that two of the guardians controlling the crowd were now unconscious.

The doors shook – slowly at first – building in speed and volume with each second. I threw myself between it and Lissa, with the others starting a formation ahead of us.

Heat flared to my left, informing me that Christian had decided to help. Dimitri stood on my right, keeping both Lissa and Alexei safe behind us.

My eyes locked with his, just as the doors burst open. I tried to convey as much emotion as I could in that split second, but he seemed to understand immediately.

He responded by reaching down to grab my hand; he gave it a small squeeze and whispered so only I could hear; "I love you, Roza," he then let it drop back to my side. As if in sync, we forced that moment to the back of our minds, and focused on the main problem at hand; as Moroi and Dhampir alike, charged into the clinic, preparing to harm everyone we cared about.

I took an awesome photo of the sunset - described briefly in the chapter - ignoring the fact that it was taken on land, and in Australia. =0 I was going to put it on my profile, but I haven't figured out how yet. (If you can help, either tell me in a review, or IM me).

So, what did you think? Review! If you're unsure about something, or have any questions, just ask. I might even write a chapter about to clear things up.

~Serious~