Chapter Three

Acceptance

I laid in bed that night restlessly. Viktoria was to my right, sleeping soundly. I heard the faint chirping of crickets outside. I thought about the past few days, my new life, and Lissa. I missed her so much, it hurt. She was, as she had said a couple days ago, my right arm. It felt horrible to have her detached from my body. I ached for her presence once again. Now that I was stuck in Russia for the next year and a half, I wasn't going to be seeing her very much. This defeated me.

I slowly slipped into her mind. It was about midday, so she was asleep. I wished that she was doing something a little more interesting. She was dreaming of nothing, so I had no way of knowing what she was thinking of her.

I got out and looked to my right. Viktoria was sleeping soundlessly with her mouth slightly parted and breathing evenly. I smiled at her sight and kissed her eyebrow. Though I knew I loved her, there was no way in hell that anyone could take Lissa's part in my heart. Lissa was mine, and I was hers-possessive much? I know. If I were going to take my part as her guardian in the somewhere near future, I was going to have to go through with this stupid trip. I realized a long time ago that sometimes I have to do things I don't want to in order to achieve greater things.

Another debatable subject? Dimitri. Oh God. There were so many things I wanted to do and with him. He is just so damn fine-but his temper with his sister is inexcusable. I had wanted so badly to hurt him so much more because Viktoria had become to precious to me. Nobody deserves to be treated like that because of a silly mistake. Then again, the way he looked at me, the way he smiled, even when he tensed his jaw; it was such a turn on.

Yes, I had been known to make out with some guys back at St. Vladimir's, but to do that with him would be so much more. Magical even. His long, strong arms would encircle me around my waist and pull me in to him gingerly, as he lent down from his tall height and place a chaste kiss on my lips. How dreamy... Even a seventeen year old girl had fantasies. I snickered, but quickly turned to Viktoria to make sure that she was still asleep. I lightly hummed a song that Lissa and I had created together one night in Oregon. It was about a small town girl that loved the cityscape. It had a tune much like 'Fireflies' by Owl City.

I hummed myself to sleep. I awoke the next morning with Viktoria playing with my hair. I smiled up at her and she gasped. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you!" she said hurriedly. I giggled lightly.

"It's fine, what time is it?" I asked her. She leaned over me to look at the little alarm clock.

"It's about ten in the morning. Want to go downstairs? My mama is making breakfast, and my sisters are home for the day, I'd really like you to meet them!" Viktoria said excitedly. I got up and walked over to the door but then stopped. I looked down at my attire. I was wearing just some striped yellow and white panties I had pulled on after my shower late last night, and a fluffy grey hoodie that Viktoria had loaned me.

"Should I change?" I asked. I didn't feel too comfortable in only underwear... but I had to admit, they made my legs look a lot longer...

"No, it's fine, there are only girls home anyway. Dimitri goes out early in the morning to run, then he goes into town to buy treats for breakfast," she said with a wink. "He won't be home for a while, and I'm sure that my sisters don't mind. We're all girls, so there's no need to worry ever about what you wear here. This is also your house now, so you can basically do what you would in your old one."

I smiled, yet still felt weird. Screw it, I thought. If this were to be my new home, I might as well get comfortable in it. We walked down the stairs together, they creaked as we went. Like usual. When we arrived in the kitchen, Olena was making scrambled eggs and pancakes, my favorite. I mentally drooled.

Sitting at the table were two about mid twenty year old women talking feverishly to each other. They looked up when Viktoria and I arrived.

"Rose, this is Karolina and Sonya," Viktoria said, pointed to the two and then at me. "Karolina, Sonya, this is Rose." Both women smiled at me casually and spoke in English.

"Ah, Rose, it is such a pleasure to meet you," Karolina said, clearly the older one. She was quite tall. Certainly not Moroi tall, but close enough. She had a slim figure and wide hips and a big chest. Her black hair was long and layered, with bangs framing her face. She had stunning brown eyes, almost exactly like Dimitri's. I was taken aback for a moment, because when I looked into them, I almost saw him.

I nodded and smiled, "The same to you," I said and looked at Sonya. She was a honey blond, completely the opposite of Karolina. She had brown eyes too, but they were considerably lighter. She had full red lips, and was a little bit shorter than her sister. She was a more skinny, and her chest a little smaller. She had a stoic sort of look on her face, but when I looked at her, she smiled back.

"Hi Rosie," said a small voice. I looked around, but saw no one. Karolina giggled at me.

"Oh Paul, come out where she can see you," Karolina said. Paul? A little boy came out from under the table. He had a mess of dark brown hair and bright blue eyes. He was missing his two front teeth. I nearly squealed because of his adorableness. I kneeled down so that I was his height, but since I was naturally short, he was still a little taller than me. He walked over and smiled.

He held his small hand out to me. I gently took it and shook it. Paul blushed and looked away. Her ran back over to Karolina and jumped into her arms. "Paul is my son," Karolina explained. Oh, I realized. That made sense. Yes, it would be a little odd if he was Olena's. "My daughter. Zoya, is in my room, sleeping."

"Oh, I see, Paul is beautiful," I said, still smiling. Karolina smiled back and patted Paul on the head as he looked away and crossed his arms, blushing. He also looks a lot like Dimitri, I thought.

Olena brought a steaming plate of eggs and then another of sausage and bacon. The final plate was stacked high with pancakes. She winked at me. "I made a traditional American breakfast just for our new Rose," she then brought over knives, forks, and napkins. The table was completely set up and it fit everyone comfortably. I crossed my legs and picked up a fork. I forked two pancakes at a time and dragged them onto my plate. Since I absolutely hated syrup, I ate them with a little added butter. I then bit into it, taking in the full taste, and holy crap, was this stuff addicting. I ate furiously, like I hadn't in days. I was well aware that it was incredibly rude, but I couldn't stop. Everyone just laughed and talked to each other. I filled my cup up with orange juice and took a long sip.

With my enhanced hearing, I heard footsteps. My heart rate increased. Oh God, here he came-

"Mama, I bought some-" he cut himself off when seeing me. I was still drinking my juice, but out of the corner of my eye, I was watching him... watching me. I then remembered that I had on merely underwear-and striped yellow and white ones at that-and was sitting with my legs crossed, giving a full view. Now, nothing was showing, but it was still a pretty nice view.

"Uncle Dimka! Stop looking at Auntie Rosie's privet parts!" Paul shouted. Dimitri and I blushed. He looked away and I slid my legs under the table. Everyone laughed except the two of us and Paul who held an angry expression and had his arms crossed once again. Dimitri walked into the kitchen and set down a little brown box on the counter. Olena took her son's face in her hands and placed a kiss on his forehead. Awe, I thought. If it weren't the fact that Dimitri was like a foot taller than her, it would be cuter. But hey, tall guys are hot.

"I'm going to take a shower," Dimitri muttered, with a blush still tinging his cheeks. He walked out of the room and went up the stairs. I thought about him for a moment and remembered why I was here, and that was to learn more from a master. It wasn't to fall in love with a my Russian teacher.

I then lost my appetite and pushed my plate away from me. I nodded to Olena who was standing in the kitchen reading a magazine or something. When I leaned over to read it, it was (no duh) in Russian. Olena looked up and had a concerned look. "Are you full, Rose?" she asked.

"Yeah, besides, I don't want to eat too much before I start training with Dimitri." When I said his name, it felt like silk rolling off my tongue. I mentally slapped myself, but in my physical appearance, I kept a straight face.

"Oh, but wouldn't you like to try some of the biscotti that Dimitri picked up from the bakers?" Olena asked innocently. I felt bad turning her down, so I reluctantly reached into the brown box and pulled out a small slice of what looked like bread, but was harder. I took a bite, and tried to taste it.

Oh, wow. That was good. It was like a cookie with almonds in it. It made my mouth water. I wanted more. And more. My face lit up. "That was really good, Olena!" I said. She smiled at my response.

"You can tell that to Dimitri when you see him upstairs. They're his favorites too," she said as she pointed upstairs. I nodded, still smiling, and walked up the stairs. When I made it into my room, I opened a drawer in my dresser and pulled out a sports bra and some spandex and laid them on my bed. I heard the creaking of the floorboards and twirled around to see Dimitri standing in my door frame with his shoulder leaning on the side. He had on shorts. Only. Oh God, he was doing this on purpose.

I tried furiously to hide my blush, but i still felt it burning on my cheeks.

"Hi," I said lamely.

"Hey, Rose," he replied and a smirk came over his lips. He must have noticed me observing his nicely toned, not to mention, sexy chest and said: "Like what you see? 'Cause there's ton more," there was his smirk again. As smug as ever.

I rolled my eyes and pushed my drawer closed. I turned around to the bed and lifted my jacket to only remember that I had on only a bra. It was over my head when I violently pulled it back down, remembering my company. "What do you want?" I asked, a snarl forming on my lips. He was annoying to say in the least. He was toying with my feelings.

"How did you get that?" he asked. I sent him a confused look and he pointed to the hoodie I was wearing. It was dark grey and it had black Russian writing over the breasts. "It's mine, did you go in my room to get it?"

This time I didn't even try to hide my blush. "What!" I asked. "Viktoria gave it to me. I would never go into your room! I have no idea what creatures are lurking in there," I yelled almost and he laughed.

"I can assure you, there are no creatures," Dimitri said, as if the word was completely ridiculous, where it pretty much was. "You look good in it," he continued to say. I then pulled it off, not caring whether or not that he saw my exposed breasts in only a bra and threw it at his face. With his fast dhampire reflexes, he caught it before it came near. I covered my chest with my arms and Dimitri continued to laugh. "There's no need to cover; I've seen you in much less," he said with a chuckle.

My mouth dropped. Was he serious? Did he just remind me of that. "PERVERT!" I screamed and he only laughed harder. I walked over to him and simply but boldly pansed him. He looked at me in shock as he backed up and pulled his grey work out shorts back up, a faint blush on his face. "You're such a damn sadist," I said harshly, though I hardly cared at this point. He crossed his arms and glared at me as I slammed the door in his face, and for safe measures, locked it.

I walked back into my room and clasped my bra. I dropped it on the floor and pulled on my black sports bra on. Then I pulled my spandex short shorts over my panties, wishing that I had earlier in Dimitri's presence. I pulled on some ankle socks and laced up some running shoes. I looked at myself in the full length mirror. I was showing off a lot of skin. I pulled out a white large V-neck shirt and tied it in the back. I would probably just take it off later. At least I didn't feel like such a slut now. I then remembered what Viktoria had said earlier about how this was my house now too, and that I should feel comfortable doing anything that I wanted to.

I unlocked my door and ran down the stairs to the kitchen. I saw Paul reading a picture book on Viktoria's lap. He looked up every once in a while to glare at Dimitri, and I mentally applauded him. Viktoria was talking to Sonya and Karolina. Dimitri was no where to be seen. Olena noticed me and smiled.

"He's outside, already starting," Olena said and I nodded and went out the sliding door that led to the back yard. I went over to the large field where I saw Dimitri running. I walked over and realized that there was actually a really big track out here. He noticed me and jogged over. He was looking stoic as ever when he looked at me. I smirked, he was probably still disturbed by me pansing him. Ass. He deserved it.

"Alright, we're going to start out by you running twelve laps, and then after that, we will do sparring. Work hard, and I might teach you some moves," Dimitri said and I rolled my eyes I started on the track and started running at an easy pace. I slowly went faster as the laps passed me. I was finally on my ninth lap when Dimitri yelled out: "If you don't finish your last three laps in the next two minutes, you're going to run it all over again. My face was aghast, and Dimitri looked smug at torturing me. My legs screamed as I sprinted the laps. In about a minute, I had a lap and a half down, and trust me-these laps weren't small. Christ. I pushed my body to the limit as I forced myself to go faster and faster by the second. I saw the red finishing line in the near distance as Dimitri held his hand up.

He slowly pulled a finger down as every second went by. Five, four, three... I pushed and pushed until I jumped, crossing the line in midair. Dimitri threw his arm out in the air and caught me. He pulled me into his arms and looked down at me.

"Twelve laps in nearly five minutes. Impressive," he whispered huskily to me. I puffed breath, in and out, I told myself. I was about to collapse from lack of air. Dimitri noticed, and pulled me to the ground, setting me down carefully, and handing me a water bottle. He crouched down in front of me. He lightly touched my cheek. "Hey, Rose, hang in there," he said softly and my eyes zoomed out. He unscrewed the cap and handed it to me. I hastily fed myself the water. The bottle was empty in a matter of seconds. I gasped in air and suddenly the world came back into focus.

"Sparring?" I asked quietly.

Dimitri looked at me and started laughing incredibly loudly. "You are so driven, Rose. I admire that about you," he said and patted my head. I looked up at him with a dazed expression and he smiled kindly. "Come now, lets spar," he said.

Dimitri pulled off his shirt. He was, once again, shirt less. I kind of liked him better this way. Much more cocky, yes. Much more hot, also yes. He walked over to a grassy spot and got into a stance. I did too. "Come at me, bro," I said deviously, and he threw a punch. I blocked it and pushed the weight of his arm away. I pulled my knee up to his face, but he used his other hand to smack it out of the way. I then brought my fist up to his chest and punched him in his chest. He grunted, but didn't halt his fire.

In fact, he brought it on harder. His face became full of rage. I smiled, knowing that I had caused this. He threw a couple hooks and jabs, but I blocked all of them except for one, which landed in my stomach. I was momentarily out of breath, but I sucked in a bunch and kicked him in the side. He growled and as I pulled my leg up again to do the same, but to the other side of him, he caught it, and pulled. Hard. Ouch, he almost pulled it out of the socket. I knew he meant business now. I screamed out when he caught my other leg by the back of my knee, forcing me to loose balance. I fell on my ass and Dimitri pushed my shoulder down into the ground. Ow, dude.

He pulled my arm behind my back in a death grip and I ground my teeth together and squeezed my eyes closed. I gasped in pain. He must have realized this, because he loosened his hold and looked me square in the eyes. "Don't be so cocky," he said and I glared harshly. I stuck my tongue out at him, and I saw the flash of temptation in his eyes. I reeled it back in quickly after. I blushed.

He then let go, and we went back at it a second time. After about a half hour of this, he had pinned me a record of seven times, and I... never once. I growled in anticipation. I was getting bored. I threw a severing punch at his face, and it him him square in the jaw. He stepped back a bit. As a counter-attack move, he back handed me across the face. I stepped back in disbelief. Out of all the hits he'd made on me, this one hurt the most, and I think it showed of my face, because Dimitri's face drained of color. I held a hand to my red, bruised cheek and my bottom lip jutted out. I looked as if I were almost about to cry. Keyword being looked.

Dimitri dropped his guard and stance, and walked over to me, concern written all over his face. "I'm so-" he didn't have time to finish that simple sentence when I quickly pulled my knee up with such force that it even scared myself. It rammed into Dimitri's crotch, successfully striking him in the nuts. His face turned blue and he was out of breath. He dropped to his knees and I then punched him in the nose. He fell back onto his back and I placed my hands on either side of his face. His face was incredibly pained, but regained it's self as the seconds passed. I glared down at him. He glared back, but then his eyes went wide. I looked at him confusedly.

A drop of blood splattered onto Dimitri's cheek. I opened my mouth, and Dimitri sat up, pulling me with him. He looked at my face intensely in the light of the sun. I lifted up my hand to my face to try and see what had happened to me. I had no idea what was going on. Dimitri scooped me up in his arms and ran back to the house. He pulled the sliding door open and brought me into the kitchen. Everyone was gone now, so the kitchen was empty and spotless. Olena had done an excellent job on the kitchen. Dimitri grabbed a towel and held it up to my face. He went into the freezer and pulled out an ice pack and wrapped it in the towel.

"What-"

"Hush," Dimitri said soothingly as he held the ice pack wrapped in towel up to my face. He looked really serious, so I didn't question any further. I must have zoned out, because Dimitri started lightly rubbing my left cheek with his thumb, murmuring "Roza, Roza." It was kinda of sexy really. Since I was sitting on the high counter, I was almost eye to eye with Dimitri. It felt kind of good for once not to have to be looked down on every moment.

"What happened to my face?" I asked. It was feeling kind of numb now since all of the ice was so cold.

"I'm not so sure I want to tell you, Roza," Dimitri said, standoffishly. He looked at the ground when he said this, looking any where but my eyes. I held my hands up and clapped them to his cheeks. Without much force, I made him face me.

"Tell me," I said.

"I broke your nose."

And I flipped out. Oh hell no. I pushed him out of the way and into the wall behind him, and hopped off the counter and ran around the house in search of a mirror. When I finally found the bathroom, I switched on the light and looked in the mirror. Sure enough, there was my face, with a slightly tilted nose. "OH MY GOD DIMITRI! YOU ASSHOLE!" I screamed loudly.

My face... it was still the same Rose Hathaway face that I had had since I stopped growing and developing, but with an adjusted nose. It looked frankly retarded. I was so embarrassed. How could Dimitri do this to me? I was utterly mortified.

He walked into the bathroom with his hand on his neck, awkwardly. I could tell by the look of him that he felt really bad. I looked up at him with teary eyes and he melted. His eyes widened. "I can fix it if you want," he said quickly. "It wouldn't be the first time," he continued to assure me. I shook my head. Tears threatening to fall.

"You broke my nose, you're so mean."

I knew that I was being extremely childish, but with a broken nose, I think it called for it. My lips formed the perfect pout that any girl could wish for, and the tears began to fall. I sniffled and whimpered and wiped my eyes with the heal of my hand. Slowly, the cries became louder, and more audible.

Dimitri picked me up in his arms and hugged me. I was too mad at first to hug him back. After maybe a minute or two of the angst hug, he took me out of the bathroom. I cried into his shoulder and he hand his hands firmly on my ass. I ignored it now, all I could care about was how embarrassed I was. Through the misery, I couldn't help but smell his aftershave. It was incredibly sexy and enticing. I sniffled loudly, snot covering my nose holes. I choked on a sob and squeezed Dimitri's shoulder and back, slightly clawing at them.

Dimitri laid me down on my bed, I realized. I looked up at him, and he looked down at me sadly. He put the ice back on my face. He leaned down and placed a kiss on my eye. I held up my hands and clutched his face, pulling him to me. I wasn't so sure what it was that I wanted from him, but nonetheless I held his face in the crook of my neck. My sobs quieted and I calmed down a little. Dimitri lifted his head and looked over me. He saw my pained expression and leaned in. Our lips were an inch apart, and I knew what he wanted. It killed me to admit it, but I did to. I pushed his lips down onto mine, and he gave me a kind, warmhearted kiss. It was gentle, and pure.

At first.

It then turned hungry. Dimitri's lips ravaged mine. My teeth raked his, and he opened his mouth, allowing mine and his tongue to wrestle each other. Dimitri got onto the bed-he had been standing up, leaning over me-and placed a knee on either side of my thighs. Our tongues danced around together and finally, I let his win. It entered my mouth and leave his saliva everywhere it went. Not that I minded. I did the same. Dimitri's hand went under my back and pulled me as close as he could to him. My breasts were pressed up against his bare chest as he continued to devour my lips.

"I can't resist you," Dimitri breathed. I moaned and felt his downstairs wake up. I blushed and applied more force to the kiss. I slid my hands under his shorts, but above his tight black briefs. I pushed his ass down towards me, forcing his erection to poke my stomach. This time, he was the one to moan. "Roza," he muttered into the kiss with his ever so sexy Russian accent.

Suddenly, a phone started ringing. It continued ringing and ringing, but we both ignored it.

"Ignore it," Dimitri worded our thoughts. I did so. About a minute later of kissing an the annoying ass tone continued. I pulled away and reached on to the side table. Dimitri leaned in and started placing kisses on my neck.

I looked at the collar ID. Lissa. I sighed in annoying. Bad timing, Lissa. I picked up nonetheless. "Hello?"

"Rose! How are you?" Lissa asked loudly. Dimitri probably heard it.

"I'm-" I stopped suddenly and gasped as Dimitri bit my neck lightly. It sent goose bumps down my arms and legs. I felt a blush burning my cheeks. I whimpered and Dimitri chuckled.

"Rose? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, um, I just stubbed my toe," I lied. "I'm doing well, how about you?"

"Well things are going fine over here, too. I met this guy yesterday, and-" I moaned loudly again. Dimitri was just fucking with me now. I slapped his ass as hard as I could. He chuckled, but continued on kissing and sucking my neck.

"Rose?"

"Sorry, Liss. My toe really hurts, shit. Go on," I said. My voice cracked at 'go'.

"Oh... okay, anyway. That guy, Christian? Yeah, I met him in the church attic. I know you think it's weird that I go up there, okay," she said and laughed lightly, "but he's really nice. And open. I kinda like him..." I gasped. Dimitri had just sucked on my collar bone.

Lissa giggled. She must have thought that I was gasping at her story. Wow, now I felt like an ass. "Really? Is that the best you can do?" I asked and Dimitri chuckled. I knew he could hear every word of this conversation.

"Rose, I knew you would think that! He really isn't a bad guy! He's just... rough around the edges-"

"Really?"

"Yes. Okay, he asked me if I wanted to meet him in the gardens tonight after dinner... and well, I accepted," Lissa admitted embarrassedly. I sighed as I ran my hand though Dimitri's silky hair.

"Okay, well, you're weird, I think that-"

Dimitri slid his hand up my shirt and under my sports bra and grabbed my breast. He was groping it. "Okay you know what?" I hung up on Lissa, immeditely after regretting it, but hit Dimitri on the head with my phone. "You are," I said and hit him again. "such an ass!" I yelled. He started laughing and leaned in and kissed my lips.

"I had to get you off that phone somehow," he said suggestively. I rolled my eyes and looked at him. I sat up and looked in my mirror across from my bed. I saw my nose in the mirror and my face fell.

"I think I'm going to take you up on that offer..." I said, referring to when he said he could put my nose back in order. Dimitri looked confused for a second, then smirked. He sat up and pushed me back so that I was laying down.

"You might want to... like squeeze something while I do it-"

"Is it going to hurt!" I demanded, suddenly scared for my life.

"Ehm, well, not hurt... actually maybe. I've never broken anything. Well, I know you'll probably scream. But that about it. Right after, it feels a lot better. I promise," he said sincerely. I nodded and grabbed the covers below me and squeezed my eyes tight. "Ready?" he asked.

I thought for a second. "Yep," I said finally. He nodded and looked concentratedly at my nose.

"Alright..." he took a deep breath. "Raz, dva, tree,"

I heard a loud snapping noise, and I screamed for the life of me. Then I passed out.

MMM. finally. Yay that was fun. (:

Yeah, broken noses aren't fun. Thanks to rugby. .

Anyway, things are moving pretty fast between rose and dimitri if you know what I mean :9 hehe

Review are always welcome! In fact, a double chocolaty chip frappacino from starbucks will be awarded! just kidding. My mom isn't paying me enough to pay for everyone. Does anyone like those? I'm like obsessed . haha Thanks for reading! I'm having a lot of fun writing this!