People That Care

Rose's POV

I woke up still wrapped in Dimitri's arm. I sighed, content and felt Dimitri chuckled. "Sleeping Beauty wakes."

"It's a kiss that really wakes her up." I said not moving.

"Then a kiss she will have." He moved his arms and brought my lips to his.

"I am still kind of sleepy." I said childishly. He laughed and pulled me into a deeper kiss than before. We broke apart and I sighed again. "I'm awake now." I closed my eyes and inhaled his sent. "I love you."

"I love you too, and that will never change." He said and squeezed me. I allowed it and settled into his chest. We lay there until we heard a car pull up. Dimitri started to move to go open the door, but I held him with me.

"If it is someone we know, they will let themselves in." He held still and I heard the door being opened and footsteps coming up the stairs. "Told you so." Someone banged on our door.

"Get your lazy asses out of bed!" Christian's voice came through our door.

"Go away!" I yelled back. He sighed and I heard his footsteps fade.

Lissa voice floated in to us, "Rose, Dimitri, please come down and spend some time with us." She said. I said nothing. She left and the next person approached the door. But this time, there was no knock or any words. There was a huff and a kick and a crash. Dimitri and I both shot up and stared at the person in the door way. Abe. He chuckled and turned away to go down stairs.

"You're paying for that!" I screamed to him and started to get off the bed.

"I had no intentions of not doing so." He yelled back up the stairs. I groaned and slowly stepped over my demolished door and out into the hallway, Dimitri soon behind. I walked down the stairs and stepped into our living room. There sat Abe, Janine, Lissa, Christian, Sara, Adrian, Eddie, and every member of Dimitri's family.

"The whole gangs here! Let's go solve a mystery!" Every one stared. "Oh, come on." I said. "Scooby doo?" Nothing. "Failures." I said and walked into the kitchen. I opened the freezer and grabbed a popsicle. Yum… chocolate. I walked back out to the living room and smashed myself on the couch between my parents.

"Is that the healthiest thing to eat in the morning?" Lissa asked me.

"Nope. But I am going to do it whether you like it or not." I said and licked it. Dimitri came down the stairs and said good morning. Every one said good morning back and my father turned to me.

"At least he had the manners to say good morning." He muttered.

"That's why he's was the teacher and I was student." I smirked. He just shook his head. "So, why is everyone here?" I asked the room. You could cut the tension that sprang up with a knife. Everyone eyes shifted to their feet and some started to twiddle their thumbs. My mother looked up at me with a sad smile on her face.

"Rose…" She paused. "You are being summoned to court for the murder of Tasha Ozera."

I just stared at her for a few minutes, letting the sting of her words fade in to my skin. Then I snapped; Rose Hathaway style. I jumped out of the chair. "What?" I yelled at her, "She tried to kill me and I defended myself! I didn't even know she was dead until yesterday!"

She stood up. "I know Rose, but you need to tell your story to everyone else. They all need to know."

"But I-I-" I couldn't speak. I started to cry. I ran up stairs and in to my room, slamming the door behind me.

I thought it was truly over now. Since I killed Tasha and Viktor and Nathan. But no, never for me. This time I had to defend myself from my own people. Never easy in my life. And we have to explain to everyone that Dimitri is a dhampir again. Icing to my fucked-up-life cake.

"Lissa, just give her time." I heard Dimitri's voice from behind the door. I heard a small sigh- Lissa's- and footsteps walking down the stairs.

I pushed myself into her mind to see what was wrong.

Lissa's POV

"Lissa, just give her time." Dimitri said to me from his position in front of Rose's bedroom door. I sighed, and walked away down the stairs outside to the garden. I had sworn to make Rose's life easier, but I couldn't even help Rose out of this one. The second the queen heard about this, she had called Janine to tell her to escort Rose to court to undergo a trial. She's so mean. Rose didn't deserve this. Already at age 18 she has had to go through so much. She has killed more Strigoi than most guardians ever will see in their life time. She has had to try and kill her lover. She had saved my life from countless threats. She had become Strigoi, and had to fight it alongside Dimitri. She has been tortured. She has been bitten repeatedly by Strigoi. She has had to watch one of her closest friends die in front of her. She has died.

All of these things we because of other people that she had to defend herself and others from. Stupidity. And now, she is going to be called in front of a council and try to defend herself in a different manner. Fighting for others, Rose can do. But when she is put in front of people and expected to fight for herself, she crumples.

But that's why she has friends and family like the people inside her house right now. When she starts to fall, we will all be there to catch her as she has been there to catch all of us at a certain point in time.

Rose's POV

Even though I had stopped crying, I started to cry again. I slowly pulled myself from Lissa's mind and stared at my wall. I do have friends and family to be there for me. We will all pull through this. I have Dimitri. I have Lissa. I have my mother. Abe, Christian, Eddie, Adrian, Olena, Viktoria, Sonya, Karolina, Yeva. And even possibly this new addition, Sara.

So many people that are there for me. I will stand tall. I will fight through everything. But not alone this time. I will fight with all my family at my sides.

Hey everyone out there, I just wanted to say sorry for the late update. My dad is coming home from Iraq on Tuesday morning after being gone for almost two years. I am so excited that I get to see him again. And I will try to update as much as possible. I really liked this chapter, and I really like writing Lissa's pov in this. Well, tell me which part you liked in a review that I hope with pop up magically. I will update soon. Please review!